"Looney Tunes DVD Vexes Fans"

From MSNBC.com

http://www.msnbc.com/news/986228.asp?0dm=N15WL

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28 — What’s the rush, doc? That was Warner Bros. response to the backlash from some “Looney Tunes” fans who complain that a handful of their favorite cartoons are missing from the collection of 56 shorts released Tuesday.

“LOONEY TUNES — The Golden Collection,” the first-ever DVD release for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, includes such classics as “Rabbit of Seville,” “Duck Dodgers in the 24th-and-a-half Century” and “The Scarlet Pumpernickel.”

Animation fans, however, have debated and second-guessed the selection of shorts endlessly on Amazon.com and elsewhere on the Internet.

Among the notable absentees: “What’s Opera, Doc?” with Bugs tormenting co-star Elmer Fudd, who sings “Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!”; and “One Froggy Evening,” which showcased the “Hello, My Baby!”-singing amphibian Michigan J. Frog.

“We held back some of the jewels for future releases,” acknowledged George Feltenstein, the marketing executive who helped pick the shorts for the inaugural DVD release. “We couldn’t release all the best ones at once ... what would we do for an encore?”

Some fans see that response as cynical, saying they feel like their loyalty is being abused. “I would have rather never had these shorts be released than to deal with this garbage,” Aaron Strader of Houston wrote on Amazon.com. “I hope it sells well enough to justify a full release on DVD of everything.”

Warner Home Video counters that its plan to release a set of 60 cartoons each year is not just a marketing ploy — it’s as fast as they can clean up the originals. Dorinda Marticorena, WHV’s director of children’s marketing, said it takes months to restore the original cartoon prints to their original bright colors.

“Looney Tunes” admirers could have a total collection sooner, but it would be a DVD full of grainy, faded cartoons.
The “Golden Collection” ($64.92) and the lesser “Premiere Collection” of 28 shorts ($26.99) is part of a bid by the studio to rejuvenate its trademark characters, Marticorena said. A new feature film, “Looney Tunes: Back in Action,” is set for release Nov. 14.
Fans have waited nearly six years since Warner Bros. began creating the DVD of classics, so Feltenstein said he understood why they’re as impatient as Porky Pig’s speech therapist.
He described the “Golden Collection” as “an all-star sampler,” with a lot of Bugs and Daffy, and a little bit of Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Marvin Martian and the Tasmanian Devil. There is also the first Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon, “Fast and the Furry-ous.”
Nearly 1,100 “Looney Tunes” cartoons were created between 1930 and 1969, so there are a lot left to choose from for future DVDs, he added, although not all of them are created equally.
“About 300 of them are excellent,” Feltenstein said, “300 of them are very good, 300 are good, 100 of them are OK, and 100 of them are lousy.”
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Well, at this point I'm happy to have any Looney Tunes at all. I do hope they start doing more than 60 a year though. Not many when there's 1,100 to work from. I picked mine up at Sam's Club today for $38.24 and can't wait to watch it.

 

People need to chill out. There's so many shorts. Give it time.

 

Yeah I know. This story doesn't discourage me one bit. I already snookered a friend who's a Sam's Club member to snag my set. Hopefully I'll have it by tomorrow.
Dan C

 

Sheesh - Time/Warner has gotta spread them out. They won't be able to sell them if alla the goodies are in one set. Mebbe they'll slap together a Cool Cat set for the completists someday!

 

So many shorts and plenty of time....

 

I'm enjoying what is there too much to worry about what isn't there.

 

What a bunch of nin-cow-poops.

 

If anything, they've put too many prime cartoons in the first set. The laserdiscs were better balanced.

I doubt they'll ever release the whole lot. By the time they are up to volume ten they'll have entire sets of b&w 'Buddy' shorts and 1960's dreck like the DePatie-Freling 'Daffy/Speedy' shorts. Those will not sell.

 

I actually thought of that too. Lots of the best cartoons are on this new set.

 

Frankly, as much as I know and love "One Froggy Evening" and "What's Opera, Doc", I've seen them so many times on broadcast and on VHS, that I'm glad to have a few shorts that haven't been run into the ground on this set.

Of course, MY favorite, Duck Amuck is there, maybe I'd have felt differently if it wasn't.

 

I wouldn't mind a couple Buddy shorts but I want all the Porky and Daffy B&W shorts.

 

The single biggest source of avatars on this site.

That was the first one I played.

"This is a closeup?" Great!!!!

 

I'm glad the 2 red Monster shorts are there. I love that guy!

 

Don't get me wrong, there are tons of great B&W LT/MM. I cherish many of the B&W shorts on my Golden Age laserdiscs.

I still think they are 'blowing their load' too soon.

 

Ken,

That approach will work fine if there is no intent of ever releasing every short.

The laserdiscs were more diverse from day one. (Almost) no b&w shorts on the first DVD set? Seems odd to me.

 

This 1st set was intended for a big launch so everyone would want to buy it probably.

 

I do think as far as the mainstream, non-enthusiast viewer (but old enough to have some nostalgia), they can't do five releases with this degree of (mainstream) appeal.

For me, the animation/cartoon buff, they can certainly do five or more additional releases at the same level of quality/interest. I don't think they've blown their load for me, but for the non-enthusiast buyer.

That said, while the non-enthusiast may not find subsequent sets quite as stellar as this one, the sets can still be very attractive.

I certainly admit this is all nitpicking. I'm not unhappy at all with this collection, which I find to be a steal at $40-$45.

 

Rabbit's Kin is on the current box, with Stan Freberg commentary.