It’s a good thing that this post goes under Unshelved, as this announcement is so new there’s not even a cover art image to give you. Warner Brothers has announced the 2nd of its Platinum Collection sets for Blu-Ray on October 16th, with 3 discs containing 15 cartoons and bonus features. There’s also a separate 2-DVD set with just the cartoons.
Like the first Platinum Collection, 80% of these cartoons have been previously released on the Golden Collection DVDs. If you have a fantastic audiovisual setup that shows the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD, you might want to buy them again. Otherwise, there are ten new to DVD cartoons here to inspire grumpy cartoon fans to purchase it anyway. So here’s a breakdown:
DISC 1
A Wild Hare (1940, Avery) (Academy Award Collection)
Buckaroo Bugs (1944, Clampett) (GC5)
Long-Haired Hare (1949, Jones)(GC1)
Ali Baba Bunny (1957, Jones) (GC5)
Show Biz Bugs (1957, Freleng) (GC2)
The Wise Quacking Duck (1943, Clampett) (GC5)
What Makes Daffy Duck? (1948, Davis) (NEW TO DVD)
Book Revue (1946, Clampett) (GC2)
Deduce, You Say (1956, Jones) (GC1)
Porky In Wackyland (1938, Clampett) (GC2)
You Ought To Be In Pictures (1940, Freleng) (GC2)
Porky In Egypt (1938, Clampett) (GC3)
Back Alley Oproar (1948, Freleng) (GC2)
Little Red Rodent Hood (1952, Freleng) (GC5)
Canned Feud (1951, Freleng) (GC1)
Gift Wrapped (1952, Freleng) (GC2)
Birdy And The Beast (1944, Clampett) (NEW TO DVD)
Home, Tweet Home (1950, Freleng) (NEW TO DVD)
Going! Going! Gosh! (1952, Jones) (GC2)
Zipping Along (1953, Jones) (GC2)
Scent-Imental Romeo (1951, Jones) (Pepe DVD)
The Foghorn Leghorn (1948, McKimson) (GC1)
The High And The Flighty (1956, McKimson) (NEW TO DVD)
Tabasco Road (1957, McKimson) (GC4)
Mexicali Shmoes (1959, Freleng) (GC4)
DISC 2
Wabbit Twouble (1941, Clampett) (GC1)
Rabbit Fire (1951, Jones) (GC1)
Rabbit Seasoning (1952, Jones) (GC1)
Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953, Jones) (GC3)
Drip-Along Daffy (1951, Jones) (GC1)
My Little Duckaroo (1954, Jones) (GC6)
Barbary-Coast Bunny (1956, Jones) (GC4)
Tortoise Beats Hare (1941, Avery) (GC2)
Tortoise Wins By A Hare (1943, Clampett) (GC1)
Rabbit Transit (1947, Freleng) (GC2)
Porky’s Hare Hunt (1938, Hardaway/Dalton) (NEW TO DVD)
Hare-Um Scare-Um (1939, Hardaway/Dalton) (NEW TO DVD)
Prest-O Change-O (1939, Jones) (NEW TO DVD)
Elmer’s Candid Camera (1940, Jones) (GC1)
Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid (1942, Clampett) (GC1)
The Bashful Buzzard (1945, Clampett) (GC5)
The Lion’s Busy (1950, Freleng) (NEW TO DVD)
Strife With Father (1950, McKimson) (NEW TO DVD)
An Itch In Time (1943, Clampett) (GC3)
A Horsefly Fleas (1947, McKimson) (NEW TO DVD)
Hollywood Steps Out (1941, Avery) (GC2)
Page Miss Glory (1936, Avery) (GC6)
Rocket-Bye Baby (1956, Jones) (GC6)
Russian Rhapsody (1944, Clampett) (GC6)
Dough Ray Me-Ow (1948, Davis) (GC4)
DISC 3 (Included in Blu-ray Only)
King-Size Comedy: Tex Avery and the Looney Tunes Revolution (new documentary)
Tex Avery, the King of Cartoons (1988 film)
Friz on Film (GC extra, 70-minute documentary)
ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons (GC extra, from the TV show)
Real American Zero: The Adventures of Private Snafu (GC extra)
The World of Leon Schlesinger (GC extra)
Friz at MGM (Captain and the Kids cartoons) (GC extra)
The Best of the Rest of Tex (MGM cartoons? unknown)
Private Snafu (GC extra)
Mr. Hook (GC extra)
So, what’s new? What Makes Daffy Duck is a great wacky Daffy cartoon, one of Davis’ best. Birdy and the Beast is the last Clampett Tweety cartoon to be restored for DVD/Blu-Ray, and he’s at his nastiest. Home Tweet Home is the last remaining early Sylvester/Tweety pairup not to be on DVD. The High and the Flighty features the one off pairing of Foghorn Leghorn with Daffy Duck, here a traveling salesman.
Porky’s Hare Hunt is the first appearance of ‘proto-Bugs’, a goofy, Woody Woodpecker-ish rabbit that eventually evolved into the Bugs who debuted in A Wild Hare. Hare-Um Scare-Um features the same rabbit, and should have its original ending, lost for more than 70 years, restored! (This is the biggest reason to get the set.) Prest-O Change-O features Jones’ Two Curious Puppies, dialogue-free characters he used in the early days, battling a white rabbit who, again, is one of Bugs’ ancestors.
The Lion’s Busy features Beaky Buzzard, and has him battling an eccentric lion in a battle of wits and patience. (Beaky is smarter here than his other three cartoons.) Strife With Father is Beaky’s last cartoon, and is a parody of actor Ronald Coleman, here cast as an English Sparrow. Lastly, A Horsefly Fleas features the return of the ‘Food Around The Corner’ flea, who is still looking for a place to stay and eat.
Is that enough to justify buying 40 cartoons over again? Well, I suppose it depends how hardcore a fan you are!
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