Cartoon stuff I bought today...

[Jon Cooke]

I had the day off today and decided to venture out into the world and look for some classic cartoon junk (what else?? :D ), I came back with some really good stuff:

-- The Underdog Chronicles DVD. The follow-up to last year's Collector's Edition DVD. I think this one is better, it features bonus cartoons of all the Total Television supporting characters. They are not listed on the box, but the DVD includes:

Commander McBragg: "Khyber Pass"
Go Go Gophers: "Moon Zoom"
The Hunter: "The Brooklioned Bridge"
The King and Odie: "Riches to Rags"
Klondike Kat: "Honor at Steak"
Tennessee Tuxedo: "The Rainmakers"
Tooter Turtle: "Failspin Tooter"

Picture quality is excellent, much better than the faded syndication prints I remember watching on TV a few years back. Found it for $14.99 at Best Buy.

-- Max Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels DVD. The "Fully Restored" version from the folks who brought you Cartoon Crazys. However , this DVD had the option of listening to the original soundtrack (even for the two bonus Gabby cartoons). It also includes a newsreel showing us a behind-the-scenes of the Fleischer Studios look at the making of a Popeye cartoon ("Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp"). Picture quality was surprisingly good. I found this new at Suncoast for only $5.99!

-- Speaking of great deals, at Borders I found a copy of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Book for only $7.99 (original cover price: $50.00). I haven't sat down and read it yet, but there looks like there are lots of color pictures in there.

-- Rhino Record's new Toon Tunes: 36 Funny Bone Favorites CD. Most of these theme songs were previously released on other Rhino collections, but there are enough new tracks to make this one worthwhile, including:

* Extended versions of The Jetsons and Pixie and Dixie themes (I will have it stuck in my head for weeks :p )
* A longer version of Donald Duck's theme song I had never heard before
* Rocky and His Friends, Mister Magoo, Mickey Mouse Club March, and Bozo the Clown are among the few I had never seen on CD before.

There is also an action cartoon Toon Tunes CD available... which I didn't buy today. Maybe another day.


-Jon

[Argus Sventon]

That documentary probably was the Jerry Fairbanks Popular Science short about the Fleischer studio.

[Garrett]

Originally posted by Jon Cooke
There is also an action cartoon Toon Tunes CD available... which I didn't buy today. Maybe another day.

What shows' themes were on the CD? (Expects mucho Sunbow from a Rhino CD......)

Garrett

[Thad Komorowski]

Jon-

I advise you NOT to buy the ACTION TOONS CD. They only have a few "classic" themes, ones I can remember are:

Popeye
Mighty Mouse
Atom Ant

But if you can find it for less than $10 some where, you mights as well buy it, but I personally wouldn't pay $16.99 for only a few songs I like.

-Thad:D

[Sveven Dvorking]

I wouldn't call "Atom Ant" a classic, because it is a TV show. Actually, I have hard feelings towards TV shows made while classic cartoons were still in production.

[Garrett]

Originally posted by Sveven Dvorking
I wouldn't call "Atom Ant" a classic, because it is a TV show. Actually, I have hard feelings towards TV shows made while classic cartoons were still in production.

Why? I've never seen Atom Ant, but it seems to have legs. Besides, some of the earliest TV cartoon shows are the ones that were shown for the longest period of time, and therefore remembered by the most amount of people. Granted, the animation is primitive, but that's because the networks are cheap. They were making boatloads of money, for instance, in the 70s, when H-B shows were all the same (just with different character models), and Filmation was sealing its doom by refusing to shift the animation to Far Eastern companies (as opposed to using Union animators from the States).

Garrett

[Jon Cooke]

Atom Ant is far from my favorite Hanna-Barbera series ...but there are plenty of H-B cartoons I consider classic: Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Pixie and Dixie, Augie Doggie, Snooper and Blabber, Yakky Doodle, Snagglepuss, The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Jetsons. I even think many of those are a lot funnier than most of the theatrical shorts that were being made at the same time. Non-HB series worthy of being considered classics in my book also include anything from Jay Ward, Beany & Cecil, The Alvin Show...


-Jon

[Sveven Dvorking]

I still think TV shows made at the same time as theatrical cartoons are not classic, and are insulting to the classics. Many of them are pretty good, it's just the idea that bothers me.