"Tonight what heights we'll hit -- on with the show, this is it!" - Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck singing "This Is It"
Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
"Feed the Kitty." "Deduce, You Say." "Water, Water Every Hare." The titles may not ring a bell, but chances are you have seen these Looney Tunes shorts countless times over the years. Originally created to precede Warner Brothers movies in theatres, these timeless classics found new life on network television both in primetime and Saturday mornings starting in 1960.
Now Warner Brothers has collected fifty-six of these priceless nuggets in the four DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection. This sampling of Warner's extensive collection presents at least one appearance by each of the series' main characters, including rascally rabbit Bugs Bunny, doofus Elmer Fudd, Sylvester the cat and his dubious dinner, Tweety bird, hothead Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, stuttering Porky Pig, Foghorn T. Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, and ladies' skunk Pepe le Pew. Other lesser characters like Marvin the Martian, Rudolph the red haired monster, Ralph the sheepdog, and tough-dog with a heart of gold Marc Anthony also make appearances.
Each of the four discs is themed. Disc one is devoted to the "Best of Bugs Bunny." Disc two presents the "Best of Daffy and Porky." Discs three and four are more eclectic, featuring a mix of "Looney Tunes All Stars." Each disc contains fourteen animated shorts and a gold mine of extras. See the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Individual Disc Details page for a complete listing of the shorts included on each disc. The extra features are discussed below.
The studio produced hundreds of memorable shorts over the years. As a result, several of your favorites are probably missing from this collection. It would be easy to argue about which other shorts should have been included - indeed, people started doing so even before the collection was released - but with the high quality of the shorts that were included (and the promise that more collections will be forthcoming), it's perhaps best to sit back and enjoy this treasure trove.
These shorts are as fresh and exciting as the day they were created. They are visually inventive and witty, yet they never lose sight of the fact that sometimes dumb is funny. Like Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends, they manage to appeal equally to kids and adults, usually for different reasons. Kids will delight at the sight of stinky Pepe le Pew blithely bounding past horrified Parisians while adults will chuckle at the amusing signs written in "French."
The shorts are not presented in any particular order, but even watching them randomly it is interesting to note how the characters evolved through the years. In the early short "Wabbit Twouble," for example, Elmer barely resembles the character he would become. Physically he is part blow-up punching-bag and part Curly of Three Stooges fame. He is also more of a helpless simp than he would be in later years. In the same short, Bugs is a crazy trickster more akin to early Daffy Duck than later Bugs Bunny. (Daffy himself started out as a wild lunatic and evolved into an egocentric hothead).
The collection includes many beloved classics, like "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century" (the beautifully designed short in which Daffy and Marvin the Martian compete for dominance of Planet X), "Water, Water Every Hare" (Bugs tries to prevent an evil scientist from stealing brain and outsmarts Rudolph, the monstrous mass of red hair), "Rabbit of Seville" (Bugs grows flowers on Elmer Fudd's head to the music of "Barber of Seville"), and "Duck Amuck" (Daffy battles a rogue animator). Thankfully, the set also includes great shorts that do not happen to star major Looney Tunes characters. A prime example is "Feed the Kitty." In this classic, mean dog Marc Anthony has his heart softened by a tiny kitten who "adopts" him. As Marc Anthony tries to keep the cute but clumsy cat as secret from his exasperated female owner, he also struggles to keep the kitty out of harm's way. The short culminates with a devastated Marc Anthony mistakenly believing that his little charge has been baked into a cookie. This is a highlight of the collection, but not an obvious first choice for inclusion.
The four discs that make up this collection are housed in a foldout digipak, which in turn fits into a cardboard sleeve. For what should have been a centerpiece of Warner's DVD catalogue, this release has been given surprisingly shoddy packaging. The artwork is not attractive - the characters are rendered in a newfangled faux-3D style that just does not fit in with the classic animation style. No indication is given as to when the shorts were produced or when they premiered. Instead, the lists of shorts are simply printed onto the digipak's extra cardboard flaps. This type of packaging may be appropriate for the similarly designed Friends sets, but seems chintzy and out of place when paired with such an important part of Warner Brothers history.
Even worse, the copy editing on the packing is sloppy. The panels also list the bonus features found on each disc. The names of the bonus features as listed on the packaging, however, are inconsistent with the actual names of the bonus features on the DVDs. There are also several instances of the wrong words in the bonus feature listings are italicized or put in boldface print. Warner Brothers has made a big deal of the fact that only fifty-six shorts can be put out at a time because it takes so long to restore the shorts. If only their packaging designers had used that same amount of time to create appropriate packaging for a project of this magnitude.
Luckily, this shoddiness does not carryover to the DVDs. (Well, there is one misspelling, but I'll put down my red pen). The menu designs are vibrant and fun - and relatively easy to navigate. From the main menu, viewers can choose to play all of the shorts, access the individual shorts, go to the setup menu, or view the extras menu. The individual shorts menus feature stills from each short, helping to jog viewers' memories as to which shorts they want to see. If the individual shorts have a related extra - a commentary, a music-only track, or a "Behind-the-Tunes" featurette - then the extra is also accessible from the same menu. These same extras - and all others - are also found in the extras menu.
Video and Audio
Although there are the occasional scratch and white speck, for the most part, these cartoons look as if they were created yesterday. The colors are deep and rich, the detail amazing. They also sound great.
The shorts are subtitled in English, Spanish, and French. The language tracks are in English and French.
Extras
This collection would be golden even if it only contained the fifty-six shorts, but Warner Brothers has seen fit to also stuff the set with a wealth of extra features that are sure to keep Looney Tunes fans glued to their TV sets for hours on end.
The first extra on disc one, "A Greeting from Chuck Jones," is pretty self-explanatory. In this three and a half minute feature, the late director introduces the Looney Tunes characters and talks about how they symbolize the best of American ideals. Clips from various shorts illustrate his points in this nifty featurette.
"The Boys from Termite Terrace" is a documentary produced in 1975 as part of the series Camera Three. Part one of the documentary is included on disc one while part two is housed on disc two. Each part runs approximately thirty minutes. Termite Terrace was the bungalow on the Warner Brothers lot which served as the creative epicenter of the Looney Tunes shorts. Through archival photos, clips from shorts, and interviews with key members of the creative team, this documentary provides a fine history of Looney Tunes. The pacing is a little slow, but this is nevertheless a fascinating must-see. Not much effort has been made to spruce up the visuals, but the scratched, washed-out clips from the shorts serve as an excellent point of comparison to the freshly restored full length ones included in the set.
With the success of Bugs Bunny's shorts, Warner Brothers decided to let the mad hare cameo in several of its feature releases. Disc one's "Bugs Bunny at the Movies" presents his appearance in dream sequences from Two Guys from Texas and My Dream is Yours. Jack Carson (Gooper in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Dennis Morgan appear in animated form with Bugs in Guys, while Carson and a young Doris Day perform a live action musical number in bunny costumes along with the animated rabbit. These movies are all but forgotten today, so these clips give viewers a rare chance to see Bugs' first two appearances in feature length films.
When The Bugs Bunny Show premiered on ABC's primetime schedule in 1960, new footage offering a humorous "behind-the-scenes" look at Looney Tunes was created to act as a bridge between preexisting shorts. "A Star is Bored Bridging Sequences" on disc one presents a reconstructed version of what viewers saw in that episode, including the familiar Bugs and Daffy "This Is It" song and dance opening sequence. Much of the six minutes presented here have not been seen in decades. The clips are partially in black-and-white - they were produced in black-and-white because ABC did not broadcast the show in color - but footage that was recycled for subsequent Bugs Bunny series is seen in color. "The Astro Nuts Audio Recording Sessions with Mel Blanc" presents raw audio of Mel Blanc recording bridge dialogue. The audio is accompanied by stills from the shorts and of Blanc. This four minute extra reveals that the dialogue was recorded one line at a time with no continuity.
Disc one's "Blooper Bunny: Bugs Bunny's 51st and ½ Anniversary" presents animated faux "behind-the-scenes" footage of the filming of Bugs' anniversary special. This is a clever idea, but at eight minutes, it eventually wears out its welcome. Optional commentary by director Greg Ford is also available.
"Trailer Gallery" on disc one presents vintage trailers for the compilation films Bugs Bunny's Cartoon Festival and Bugs Bunny's Cartoon Jamboree. These minute and a half trailers are a fun peek at how Looney Tunes "revues" were sold to audiences.
Disc three's Toon Heads: The Lost Cartoons presents long lost WWII propaganda films, shorts, commercials, gag reels, and other footage. Originally produced for Cartoon Network, this forty five minute compilation is a fun glimpse at some historic but unfamiliar bits. Some of the footage - clips from My Dream is Yours and Two Guys from Texas as well as the "Bosco, the Talk-Ink Kid" short - will be all too familiar to Golden Collection owners as they are included as extras elsewhere in the set. Still, overall this is a fine collection of animated ephemera. One complaint - brief mention is made of a short called "Orange Blossoms for Violet," a live action short in which real animals are employed Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp-style. A tiny clip is shown, but the complete short is not. Chapter stops would also have been helpful.
Disc three's "From the Vaults" section contains "Hair-Raising Hare Schematics" and "The Hypo-Chondri-Cat Schematics." These are essentially the shorts with storyboards cut in. This will definitely be of interest to fans.
Disc four includes "Irreverent Imagination: The Golden Age of Looney Tunes," a new fifty minute documentary about Looney Tunes and the people who created them. This zippy extra features interviews with many of those involved with the shorts, from directors to ink artists. This is an entertaining documentary, but it inadvertently points out that many seminal Looney Tunes are not included with this set. For example, "The Wild Hare" (the first pairing of Bugs and Elmer), "Tweety Pie" (the first Academy Award winning Looney Tunes short as well as the first teaming of Sylvester and Tweety) and "What's Opera, Doc?" ("Kill the rabbit.") are all discussed glowingly, but not one of the three are in the Golden Collection. There are no chapter stops.
The "From the Vaults" section of disc four starts out with the short "Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid." This is the cartoon from which all Looney Tunes sprung - its creation convinced Leon Schlessinger to begin production on the famed Merry Melodies series. This slight racist artifact is also included as part of disc three's Toon Heads. "Virgil Ross Pencil Tests" is a beautiful reminder that each Looney Tunes short is made up of hundreds of individual drawings and paintings. These brief tests are a must-see.
Several shorts on each disc contain "Commentaries" by historian Michael Barrier, filmmaker Greg Ford, actor Stan Freberg, or historian Jerry Beck. These will mostly be of interest to hardcore 'toon heads, but they are a welcome addition.
Several shorts on each disc also feature a "Music-Only Audio Track." With the dialogue and other sound effects taken out, this allows us to see how great a contribution the silly, inventive music is to these shorts.
"Behind-the-Tunes" featurettes are also included on each disc. With the help of historians, critics, actors, artists, and others who were directly (or indirectly) involved with the production of the Looney Tunes, these short documentaries (which run approximately three to five minutes apiece), take a look at various behind-the-scenes aspects of the Looney Tunes. On disc one, "Bugs: A Rabbit for All Seasonings" examines the appeal of the world's favorite rabbit, "Short Fuse Shootout: The Small Tale of Yosemite Sam" looks at hothead Yosemite Sam and his inspiration, Tunes director Friz Freleng, and "Forever Befuddled" tells of the development of Elmer Fudd, and of Elmer's voice, provided by Arthur Q. Bryan. Disc two's "Hard Luck Duck" takes a look at the irascible Daffy Duck, "Porky Pig Roast: A Tribute to the World's Most Famous Ham" details the development of the stuttering pig, and "Animal Quacker" other characters that appeared in few cartoons but still maintain a cult following. Disc three presents "Too Fast, Too Furry-ous," the tale of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, "Blanc Expressions," a look at vocal artist Mel Blanc, and "Merrie Melodies: Carl Stalling and Cartoon Music," a tribute to the legendary composer whose contribution to Looney Tunes cannot be overstated. Wrapping things up on disc four, "Needy for Speed" tells of the development of Speedy Gonzales, the Academy Award-winning Mexican mouse (with no mention of the controversy surrounding his non-P.C. qualities), "Putty Problems and Canary Rows" looks at the pairing of Tweety and Sylvester, and "Southern Pride Chicken" focuses on Foghorn Leghorn. These featurettes are a joy to watch. Although they are brief, they are incredibly informative, and together they present an interesting look at the history and development of Looney Tunes. They also provide glimpses of other classic Looney Tunes shorts that are not included in this collection. The only flaw is that the thirty second title sequence precedes each featurette and is not skippable - viewers are forced to watch it or fast forward through it each time.
Each disc also includes a "Stills Gallery" featuring character drawings, storyboards, posters, background paintings, and other materials.
For a complete breakdown of which extras are found on the individual discs, visit the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Individual Disc Details page.
Summary
So, someone fell asleep when it came time to approve packaging. Who cares? Looney Tunes Golden Collection is absolutely indispensable. The shorts are even better than you remember them to be, and the voluminous extras are instantly addictive. Have no doubt about it - this is a collection that every fan must own.
11/12/03
