After stalling out in the process of getting all of their classic Looney Tunes cartoons out on DVD, Warner Brothers is taking a second stab at getting that entire catalog into fans hands starting with the release on blu-ray disc of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One.
As you can see from the list of shorts in the press release excerpt below, some of these cartoons have already appeared in the six volume Looney Tunes Golden Collection that Warners had released on DVD although some new to home video titles are in here as well. Frustrating for those of us who had been buying up the Golden Collections, but I can see the marketing decision to make sure that some of the most popular shorts are included in the set in order to generate sales. And yeah, one of those sales will be mine.
Here’s the press release excerpt laying out what is on the set –
50 of some of the greatest Looney Tunes cartoon are together for the first time on Blu-ray in this ultimate collector’s edition. This collection is limited and includes the following:
– Character collectible glass featuring Bugs Bunny
– Souvenir tin sign magnet featuring an image of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck
– Framed litho-cel featuring your favorite Looney Tunes characters
– Certificate of authenticity!
– Digibook with rare images and cartoon guide by historian Jerry Beck (same digibook & disc as Blu-ray)Releasing in a digibook with rare images and a cartoon guide by historian Jerry Beck, this collection has been digitally restored and remastered. This 3-disc collection contains some of the franchise’s most enduring shorts featuring all your favorite Looney Tune Characters!
Disc 1: features 25 classics from the immortals: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote and more
Disc 2: 25 shorts featuring One-Shot Classics and the complete collection for each of the following characters: Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Witch Hazel, Marc Anthony & Ralph Phillips
Disc 3: Contains over 5 hours of content saluting animator Chuck Jones, insightful documentaries and rare shorts from Jones and others!
Disc 1 Episode Guide:
Hare Tonic
Baseball Bugs
Buccaneer Bunny
Old Grey Hare, The
Rabbit Hood
8 Ball Bunny
Rabbit Of Seville
What’s Opera, Doc?
Great Piggy Bank Robbery, The
Pest In The House, A
Scarlet Pumpernickel, The
Duck Amuck
Robin Hood Daffy
Baby Bottleneck
Kitty Kornered
Scaredy Cat
Porky Chops
Old Glory
Tale Of Two Kitties, A
Tweetie Pie
Fast And Furry-ous
Beep, Beep
Lovelorn Leghorn
For Scent-imental Reasons
Speedy GonzalesDisc 2 Episode Guide:
One Froggy Evening
Three Little Bops
I Love To Singa
Katnip Kollege
Dover Boys, The
Chow Hound
Haredevil Hare
Hasty Hare, The
Duck Dodgers In The 24th Century
Hare-way To The Stars
Mad As A Mars Hare
Devil May Hare
Bedevilled Rabbit
Ducking The Devil
Bill Of Hare
Dr. Devil And Mr. Hare
Bewitched Bunny
Broom-stick Bunny
Witch’s Tangled Hare, A
A-haunting We Will Go
Feed The Kitty
Kiss Me Kat
Feline Frame-up
From A To Z-z-z-z
Boyhood Daze
I can understand how this is awkward for the die-hard fans and completists who are already sitting on stacks of DVDs (or even laserdiscs, I remember those!). . . However, for a more casual fan like me, a generous “best of” collection with a nice mix of characters is perfect. I’ve read that they put a lot of work (and money) into cleaning up the source films and “remastering” them for hi-def. I’m looking forward to seeing the results.