Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies: collect them all!

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Michelle66, Jun 12, 2017.

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  1. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member Thread Starter

    I've just begun what looks to be a major undertaking – trying to track down every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon on home video, and rip MP4 versions for easy viewing on my phone and tablet.

    A collection of MP4s will allow for easy sorting, as well as putting files from different original sources (laserdisc, DVD, bluray, iTunes) into one standardized format.

    Years ago, I made a database that lists all the cartoons and where they could be found, but have likely overlooked many sources.

    That's where this thread comes in.

    These are the main sources I know of:

    1.) The Golden Age of Looney Tunes (5 multi-disc laserdisc sets) – Pretty much every pre-1948 color WB cartoon. Later DVDs upgrade many of the cartoons found in these sets, but there are still at least 100 titles that are only found here.

    2.) Looney Tunes - The Golden Collection (six 4-disc DVD sets) – a fine series, but many of the discs in vols. 2,4, and 5 have self-destructed on me. This is infuriating as they've sat unwatched for a few years now. All are in pristine visual condition, but no longer play at all. (This seems to be a common problem with Warner Home Video releases. So many of my WB discs no longer work...:realmad:)

    3.) "Superstar" collection (DVD) - the Bugs and Daffy discs have fake widescreen versions for most of the titles, but the later entries are OK.

    4.) "I Love Tweety" (DVD) – Three bilingual discs, released in Japan during the early days of DVD. A number of Tweety and Sylvester cartoons are only found here.

    5.) The Platinum Collection (blu-ray) – Three 2-disc sets. Most cartoons double-dip the Golden Collection DVDs, but that's business as usual for Warner Bros' cartoon releases.

    6) Assorted "themed" laserdiscs WB released in the 90s – Still the only source for a number of cartoons, including "A-Lad-In His Lamp".

    What else is there?

    The so-called "censored 11" will be tough ones, as will the B&W Looney Tunes. (The late-60s cartoons will also be hard to get, I fear.)

    Getting all the MM & LT cartoons is likely a pipe dream, but it looks like a DIY project will be necessary as WB doesn't seem interested in releasing this stuff themselves.
     
  2. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
  3. I have this. The Sniffles cartoons aren't for everyone but if you're going for completeness this is a must have. The 'Non-Sniffles' cartoons on Disc 2 are generally great and there are 11 additional unremastered cartoons in the bonus section many of which are great!. All the cartoons on both discs feature mice.
    Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection - Wikipedia
     
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  4. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    There was a rumor awhile ago that we were going to get an official DVD release of the Censored 11 at some point. It would be nice to see them all resorted instead of from crappy old public domain sources.
     
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  5. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    What is that? Is this even old Looney Tunes?
     
  6. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member Thread Starter

    D'oh! I actually have that one!

    It's a great collection! Sniffles isn't too bad. He's likable enough.

    Seemed like an odd choice for a blu-ray release though.
     
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  7. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

  8. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    There are also lots of public domain releases out there, some of which include certain titles which have not been "officially" released. Like this one:

    Amazon.com: Cartoon Mania: Wimpy, Popeye, Three Little Pigs: Movies & TV

    This has a bunch of 1930s/1940s Merrie Melodies from Turner video masters (about 2/3 of them have the old a.a.p. intros at the beginning):

    Ding Dog Daddy
    Foney Fables
    Farm Frolics
    Pigs In A Polka
    The Wacky Worm
    A Day At The Zoo
    Sport Chumpions
    Hamateur Night
    Bars And Stripes Forever
    Fin 'N Catty
    Gold Rush Daze
    Rookie Revue
    Robin Hood Makes Good

    A good number of these were later on the Golden Collections, but some still haven't seen official DVD release.

    A company called Digiview put out a whole series of "dollar DVDs" under various series titles like "Cartoon Craze." Lots of the Warner Bros. cartoons showed up there as well, including two of the "Censored 11" ("All This And Rabbit Stew" and "Jungle Jitters"). Quality varies on these, but most were sourced from 16mm film prints or video transfers of same.

    None of these were too bad, but of course they are blown away by the restored DVD versions.
     
  9. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member Thread Starter

  10. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    There is (or was) a site that listed all the laserdiscs. I'll try and find that. All the a.a.p. shorts were on laserdisc except the "Censored 11," right?

    I have both Uncensored Bosko DVDs. They are decent quality but most of the cartoons are windowboxed. They are mostly TV print sourced.
     
  11. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    Someone took over that division of Warner, who is vehemently opposed to releasing any non-PC stuff. This is why the Tom & Jerry Golden Collection only had one volume. That's the rumor, anyway.
     
  12. Anthology123

    Anthology123 Senior Member

    You can also buy the Private Snafu series, which is considered part of the Looney Tunes collection. I myself have about 14 VHS tapes with many of the old LTs-MMs. Many that are on DVD, but many that are not. My total runs around 700, according to the Jerry Beck book. One day, I may go over all the VHS tapes and digitally copy the ones I cannot find anywhere else.
     
  13. You're right. The 2nd Tom & Jerry set was ready to go when the powers that be decided that "Mouse Cleaning" and "Casanova Cat" weren't PC enough to release thereby rendering this 'complete' set incomplete. There was an outcry amongst purists and it has yet to see the light of day and that was 4 years ago. Put a Whoopi Goldberg qualifier on these things and just release them already!
     
  14. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    The thing about that is, there were other T&J cartoons which were non-PC which did get released (for instance the Lillian Randolph ones were held back from the first volume) but those two titles were left off the old Spotlight Collections altogether. This leads me to believe that this decision was based on their exclusion from those older DVDs, as opposed to someone specifically screening them and finding them objectionable, or more objectionable than other shorts which got the green light. That's how a lot of this stuff works. People think with their emotions.
     
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  15. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

  16. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    The Censored 11 are out there -- quality varies widely. You just need to know where to look, and who to ask.

    A fair number of B&W titles have been released, and surprisingly, so have a fair number of later 1960s ones. The majority, though not all, of the late 1960s Road Runners are on the Road Runner Super Stars DVD. IIRC the Porky Pig one has the Bunny & Claude cartoons on it, and Merlin The Magic Mouse appears on the Mouse Chronicles set. A selection of Daffy/Speedy titles are scattered among various releases. But like everything else, they haven't done anything really comprehensive. Mouse Chronicles contains the complete Sniffles and the complete Hubie & Bertie, and the Platinum collections have done the same for some of the more obscure characters -- but unfortunately, 90% of the cartoons on the Platinum collection sets are repeated from the Golden Collections. I couldn't bring myself to buy those.
     
  17. Dave Garrett

    Dave Garrett Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, TX
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  18. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Have it. Don't feel the need for anything else! :p
     
  19. Johnny Rocker

    Johnny Rocker Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW
    Bugs Bunny a true American Classic!!![​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  20. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member Thread Starter

    AFAIK, the Golden Age of Looney Tunes LD sets will give you every* pre-1948 color WB cartoon (both Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies), plus a number of B&W Merrie Melodies. (The B&W Looney Tunes and a year or two of B&W Merrie Melodies were sold to Guild Films back in the 50s.) (* not including the Censored 11)

    A few years ago, someone had posted all of the Censored 11 cartoons online (at YouTube?), including what looked to be a restored version of Coal Black.

    Around the same time, a gorgeous-looking print of Tokio Jokio was at YouTube. (Too bad the film itself is so unfunny – even by wartime standards.)

    One frustrating part of all this is that there are still pre-recorded VHS tapes out there that are still needed for certain cartoons that are unavailable elsewhere. (For example, Upswept Hare is only found on a 90s-era Elmer tape, and you need to go all the way back to an 80s Elmer compilation if you want to get Hare Brush.). (Of course, Hair Brush is probably the worst Bugs Bunny cartoon ever released, so that's no big loss. But still...)
     
  21. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
  22. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    I have a bunch of those late 1980s MGM/UA "Cartoon Moviestars" tapes. They are remastered, but not restored like the DVD ones. The ones that are character-themed are great, because at the time, MGM/UA only had the pre-1948s to work with, so the majority of the cartoons of that era with the "star" characters made it out. I remembered "Slightly Daffy" leading off the Daffy Duck tape, and looked down my list to see which DVD collection it was on. It's not on DVD. That's a downside of Warner Bros. buying out Turner. Yes, now all the cartoons are under one roof and they have access to the best elements, but now it's over a thousand cartoons to restore as opposed to under 400. When MGM/UA had their library and Warner had theirs, more titles came out because they both needed product. I'll have to go down the lists to see which shorts are on those tapes (which were also released on Laserdisc) which haven't made it to DVD. (It frustrated me later when both companies started double-dipping and repeating cartoons on different compilations.)
     
  23. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    That was one HILARIOUS episode!!!
     
  24. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    Were those tapes sourced from the a.a.p. prints?
     
  25. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    Yes, but by that time (late 1980s) the color was faded. The a.a.p. intros that were present had faded from their original blue to almost pinkish in some cases.
     
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