Looney Tunes Remastered!

[Patrick McCart]

This is official, folks:

Warner Bros. is currently REMASTERING the Looney Tunes for DVD release.

This is all the info I have. (I'm not kidding, this is dead serious.)

[Jack]

That's great, can't wait to hear more!

I hope they use original negatives.


Jack:D

[BobChief]

I hope this means some of us can now sleep nights...:)

[Nelson]

Maybe we'll get to see the "Censored 11", once the dvd's come out?

But in other words!!!!
HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY...

[Patrick McCart]

Warners also mentioned in 1999 that the DVD's were pending because of remastering issues...If they're just getting to remaster the cartoons NOW...they might have spent a good amount of time getting excellent elements for the discs. Can you say "Book Revue" or "A Wild Hare?"

[Jaime_Weinman]

Whoa there. This info was announced on the "Rumor Mill" section of thedicitalbits.com -- the place where they put information that isn't officially announced yet. So it's not accurate to call it "official." That said, though, thedigitalbits has a lot of industry informants, and their info at "Rumor Mill" usually turns out to be reliable.

[hippety hopper]

I've been living out "Bedtime for sniffles" about this for ages now I know were getting somewhere I can finally go to bed,lets just hope my candle will go out.

[Paul Penna]

Originally posted by Patrick McCart
This is official, folks:

Warner Bros. is currently REMASTERING the Looney Tunes for DVD release.

This is all the info I have. (I'm not kidding, this is dead serious.)

I wonder if part of their "remastering" includes editing out controversial bits?

[Thad Komorowski]

Originally posted by Paul Penna


I wonder if part of their "remastering" includes editing out controversial bits?

I don't think so. WB doesn't usually edit their DVDs for content, do they? The only DVD I can think of is the T&J one, but most likely, CN's edited copy of "The Little Orphan" was possibly the only one they could find. However, this WAS the original copy, in which Tom gets his Indian headress turned into pigtales, rather than just a burnt headress. Also, for those who have seen the remake ("Feedin' the Kiddie"), don't you think it's edited more sloppy than CN did to the original?

-Thad:D

[Sveven Dvorking]

Hopefully remastering means (in part) restoring original title cards to all pre-48 WB cartoons.

[Patrick McCart]

WB first said something about remastering in 1999, so they could have spent the last 2 years getting better materials.

I highly doubt ANY Blue Ribbons will appear on the DVD since WB could easily re-create the cards if they don't get the original prints.

Remastering means that they're going to make some brand new transfers of the shorts. Even the newest (1998) transfers are obsolete now. Given that WB could be re-transferring up to 1000 cartoons for DVD, It would be a waste of time and effort if they used the same old BR and AAP prints. Also, if WB put ONLY original prints on the DVD's, they could easily sell millions of copies.

Also, with the recent ratings booms of June Bugs and Wartime Cartoons, WB knows that uncut cartoons will help sell the product better. Plus, if they find the original audio stems (recordings) to dialogue, sound effects, and music....we could be hearing brand new Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks that sound GREAT...unlike a certain Fox Lorber cartoon series.

Check out www.hometheaterforum.com because they'll be holding a Warner Bros. Home Video chat soon...

[Jack]

I highly doubt ANY Blue Ribbons will appear on the DVD since WB could easily re-create the cards if they don't get the original prints.
I think you mentioned this at the old board once too, but what do you mean by "re-create the cards if they don't get the original prints?" Do you mean make new ones?

If they were to really play up a restoration "footage not seen in over five decades" or "fully restored!," then I thnk they would sell well if it were reasonably priced.

Jack:D

[Thad Komorowski]

I'd buy that set as soon as it came out. They could sell it at a reasonable cost, like, say, $150. This is basically 17 discs (if they were to be two-sided).

-Thad:D

[Paul Penna]

Originally posted by Patrick McCart
Also, with the recent ratings booms of June Bugs and Wartime Cartoons, WB knows that uncut cartoons will help sell the product better. Plus, if they find the original audio stems (recordings) to dialogue, sound effects, and music....we could be hearing brand new Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks that sound GREAT...unlike a certain Fox Lorber cartoon series.

Well, I'll believe the "uncut" part when I see it. Also, let's hope they DO NOT 5.1-ize the sound; these are mono originals and they should stay that way. And another thing let's hope they don't do: DVNR the ever-lovin' hell out of the video. Some of the things on GAOLT 5 got that treatment and it stinks.

[Larry T]

DVNR totally sucks. The Betty Boop Definitive Collection was totally ruined this way. So was the Japanese laserdisc for the "Bugs and Friends Vol. 2", in addition to selected 'remastered' cartoons that have been airing lately.

[hippety hopper]

I'm just worried now that the DVDs wont get released in England(Where I live).

If the don't I will have to get myself a new DVD player,one that plays all DVDs.

PLEASE WB Release the DVDs internationaly!

[Randy Watts]

Forgive me for being a bit cynical, but I'm not getting my hopes up for WB cartoon DVDs until Warner Home Video comes out with a release date and specific details on disc contents.

--Randy

[Thad Komorowski]

What's DVNR? I'm not too smart when it comes to technical stuff.

-Thad:D

[Jon Cooke]

Originally posted by Thad Komorowski
What's DVNR? I'm not too smart when it comes to technical stuff.

There is an article over on Spumco's website about DVNR. Check it out: http://www.spumco.com/magazine/aa/aade01.html


-Jon

[Larry T]

Stands for "Digital Video Noise Reduction", and it's a process that is used on the digitzed video signal to "clean up" dust and specks. The only problem is that this is done electronically, not with the scrutinizing human eye. As a result, sometimes details are erased and blurred over because the computer thinks these small dots and lines are dust and scratches. There's lots of places where you see it in action. If you have these cartoons, take a look at:

1. Computer-colourized version of "Porky Pig's Feat": check the detail on the handkerchief when the hotel owner is wiping off his monocle. There's supposed to be a doily-like pattern on the edges, but after DVNR the edge just turns into a wiped blur.

2. "Big top Bunny": when the two characters grab the bicycle handles and ride into the air, watch their spinning feet. You'll see some colour wiping that doesn't match the line art underneath.

These are just a couple of examples, at the moment I can't think of any in particular from the Betty Boop collection.....

[Sveven Dvorking]

If the WB cartoon DVDs (originally released in 2049) have modified soundtracks, I won't even buy them. I am assuming that the titles on CN and on VHS have the original soundtrack. When the time comes, I might have to make my own DVDs.

[JaGSQ]

If they do touch up soundtracks, they can only do stuff using snips from other prints. Unless there's no dialogue, of course. As stated in an interview linked to the site awhile ago, after the films were made, the music and sound effects were kept because they could be reused, but the voice tracks were thrown out because they always thought they could just get Mel again if they needed to re-record it. This is why the tapes Mel and his son recorded over the summer months were important in getting him computerized, because all the other tapes were destroyed to save space. I don't really see what point there was in using the computers, though. Granted, they can produce simple phrases, but there wouldn't be any acting or emotion involved and it would take a long time to find stock tape tape that matched what kind of sound was needed to say one word just right, much less an entire cartoon soundtrack and certainly not all of Mel's Warner toons.