Series of DVD box sets from Warner Home Video
The Looney Tunes Golden Collection is a series of six four-disc DVD sets from Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" animated shorts originally released from the 1930s to 1960s. The initial run of the series was in folding cardboard packaging issued gradually from October 28, 2003, to October 21, 2008. A boxed set combining all six volumes was released in 2011, and each volume was reissued separately in standard Amaray-style cases in 2020.
Overview.
The "Golden Collection" series was launched following the success of the "Walt Disney Treasures" series which collected archived Disney material.
These collections were made possible after the merger of Time Warner (which owned the color cartoons released from August 1, 1948, onward, as well as the black-and-white "Looney Tunes", the post-Harman/Ising black-and-white "Merrie Melodies" and the first H/I "Merrie Melodies" entry "Lady, Play Your Mandolin!") and Turner Broadcasting System (which owned the color cartoons released prior to August 1, 1948, and the remaining Harman/Ising "Merrie Melodies"; most of these cartoons had been released as part of "The Golden Age of Looney Tunes" laserdisc series), along with the subsequent transfer of video rights to the Turner library from MGM Home Entertainment to Warner Home Video.
The cartoons included on the set are uncut, unedited, uncensored, and digitally restored and remastered from the original black-and-white and successive exposure Technicolor film negatives (or, in the case of the Cinecolor shorts, the Technicolor reprints). However, some of the cartoons in these collections are derived from the "Blue Ribbon" reissues (altered from their original versions with their revised front-and-end credit sequences), as the original titles for these cartoons are presumably lost. Where the original titles, instead of the "Blue Ribbon" titles, still exist, Warner has taken the "Blue Ribbon" titles out.
A handful of cartoons in the first two collections and the bonus cartoons on Volume 6 have digital video noise reduction (DVNR) artifacting. The noise reduction process sometimes unintentionally erases or blurs some of the picture on certain scenes of the cartoons, which has caused controversy among some Looney Tunes fans. The most recent collections, however, lack such artifacting. Since August 2007, Warner Home Video has been quietly reissuing copies of the fourth disc of Volume 2 that lacks artifacting and interlacing because of numerous complaints by consumers.
Beginning with Volume 3, a warning was printed on the packaging explaining that the collection is intended for adults and the content may not be suitable for children (except for Volume 6, which states that it "isn't" suitable for children). This goes along with Whoopi Goldberg's filmed introduction in Volume 3 which explains the history of ethnic imagery that frequently appears in cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s. Beginning with Volume 4, a singular disclaimer text card similar to Goldberg's spoken disclaimer precedes each disc's main menu. This is seen on the "Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection" discs and even on the back of the "Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection" discs (though for the latter, they are from Universal, not Warner Bros.).
The DVDs also feature several special features including interviews/documentaries of the people behind the cartoons such as Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Robert McKimson, Chuck Jones, musical conductor Carl Stalling and voice-artist Mel Blanc, pencil tests, and audio commentaries by animation historians Jerry Beck, Michael Barrier and Greg Ford, as well as current animators Paul Dini, Eric Goldberg and John Kricfalusi and voice actors Stan Freberg and June Foray. In addition to the appearances by the above-mentioned, there is interview footage of Stan Freberg, June Foray, Noel Blanc, Billy West, Keith Scott, Mark Evanier, Bob Bergen, Joe Alaskey, Bill Melendez, Willie Ito, Corny Cole, Peter Alvarado and the children of the various directors: Robert McKimson Jr., Ruth Clampett, Sybil Freleng and Linda Jones. Audio footage of Mel Blanc in recording sessions is heard as a bonus feature on several of the discs, as is an obscure audio clip of Arthur Q. Bryan rehearsing a line as Elmer Fudd in "What's Opera, Doc?". In total, there are 356 cartoons (18 more than "The Golden Age of Looney Tunes") spread throughout the six volumes.
In some regions, such as Regions 2 and 4, each disc in each volume is packaged (or re-packaged) separately. In this format, it was titled "Looney Tunes Collection" omitting 'Golden' from the title. There were no boxes to group the various volumes, and no numbering on the spine of each individual cover, so storage order was not easily maintained.
The Region 1 box set has since been released in Regions 2 and 4.
Releases.
Volume 1 (released on October 28, 2003) contains 56 cartoons (all in color) mostly from the 1950s with a smaller selection of shorts from the 1940s. Popular shorts include:
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Disc-by-disc breakdown.
Volume 2 (released on November 2, 2004) contains a broader selection of cartoons from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, including:
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This is the first volume to have 60 cartoons, which would continue to be the "standard" number in later volumes (though most would also include additional "bonus" cartoons).
Disc-by-disc breakdown.
Volume 3 (released on October 25, 2005) contains a selection of cartoons (52 in color, 8 in black-and-white) mostly from the 1930s and 1940s, but with some from the 1950s and 1960s including such popular shorts as:
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Disc-by-disc breakdown.
Volume 4 (released on November 14, 2006) contains selections (51 in color and 9 in black and white) ranging from 1936 to 1966 (the latest Looney Tunes cartoon yet), including such popular shorts as:
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Disc-by-disc breakdown.
Volume 5 (released on October 30, 2007) contains 41 color cartoons and 19 black-and-white cartoons (the most of any set thus far), including such popular shorts as:
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Disc-by-disc breakdown.
Volume 6 (released on October 21, 2008) concludes the entire series of the Golden Collection. The ratio of color to black-and-white cartoons (41 to 19) is the same as the previous volume. This volume contains such popular shorts as:
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Re-release.
On December 27, 2011, Warner re-packaged all volumes in a single boxed set. From January through June 2020, each volume was reissued separately in standard Amaray-style cases.
Other DVD releases of Looney Tunes.
"Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection".
Concurrently with the "Golden Collection"s, Warner Home Video also released the ', each volume of which packaged half of the cartoons of a "Golden Collection", on two DVDs. The exception to this practice was in 2005, with Warner Home Video instead releasing the somewhat-misnamed "Looney Tunes Movie Collection", which featured DVDs containing "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie" and '.
"Looney Tunes Super Stars".
In November 2009, it was reported that two new single-disc DVD releases, with 15 cartoons each, would be released in April 2010. It was also reported that these 30 cartoons would not contain any duplicates that had already been released as part of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection" releases. This series of DVDs is called "Looney Tunes Super Stars" and the first two titles are ' and '. These new DVDs still have the cartoons digitally restored and remastered - in addition to being shown uncut and uncensored. A second set of Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs was released on November 30, 2010. The titles in the second wave are ' and ' (which featured a collection of 15 previously on-DVD shorts).
Some viewers noted discs of the first wave proved to be cropped and distorted and otherwise poorly restored to present the shorts in "widescreen" as opposed to their original aspect ratio (though these were just for the post-1953 shorts). Warner Bros. stated the reason for this was that all post-1953 WB shorts were shown in matted-widescreen in theaters.
On December 1, 2010, animation expert Jerry Beck explained on the Shokus Internet Radio call-in talk program, "Stu's Show" that Warner aimed this series not at collectors, but at the mass market who expect it to fit on their widescreen TVs. He speculated that at some point down the road there will probably be a double-dip release of those shorts in a collector's DVD version with the video in fullscreen format. However, the Foghorn Leghorn disc contains both the matted-widescreen versions and the original fullscreen (and will most likely continue for future waves featuring new-to-DVD shorts). Jerry Beck stated on "Stu's Show" on December 1, 2010, that 2011 would see new "Super Stars" releases, such as a release titled "" (which features new-to-DVD shorts), another Sylvester release titled "Sylvester and Hippety Hopper" (with more new-to-DVD shorts) and another (with double dips).
"Looney Tunes Platinum Collection".
Another new series, "Looney Tunes Platinum Collection", was released on Blu-ray. The was released on November 15, 2011. A 2-disc DVD version of the "Platinum Collection" was made available on July 3, 2012. The first two discs overlap with releases from the "Golden" and "Super Stars" collections. Two more volumes were released on Blu-ray and DVD in the following years.
"Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection".
In 2012, Warner Home Video released a 2-Disc Blu-Ray and DVD set titled "Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection" that contained both Sniffles and Hubie and Bertie's entire filmography.
"Porky Pig 101".
In 2017, Warner Archive released a 5-disc DVD set called "Porky Pig 101" featuring the first 101 cartoons of Porky Pig's filmography.
"Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection".
In 2020, Warner Home Video released a 3-Disc Blu-ray Disc set collecting 60 Bugs Bunny cartoons, all digitally restored in HD, including 40 cartoons previously unavailable on DVD or Blu-ray Disc.
"Looney Tunes Collector's Choice".
In January 2023, Warner Archive announced they would be releasing newly restored to disc shorts via the single disc Looney Tunes Collector's Choice series, with the first volume releasing on May 30, 2023.
Available shorts.
This is a listing of the shorts in the Warner Bros.' "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" series currently available on the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection" DVDs, and its successors: "Looney Tunes Super Stars", "Looney Tunes Platinum Collection" "", "The Essential Bugs Bunny", "The Essential Daffy Duck", "Porky Pig 101", "Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection" and "Looney Tunes Collector's Choice".
Key.
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Additional cartoons included as Special Features.
In addition to the main Looney Tunes DVD and Blu-Ray collections, many cartoons have been released as bonus cartoons on miscellaneous DVDs by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Some Looney Tunes collections like "Golden Collection: Volume 6" and "Mouse Chronicles" included unrestored cartoons as extras. Until 2020, most of these bonus cartoons were unrestored using Turner and THIS Dubbed Prints, however after the launch of HBO Max, restored versions of the cartoons from the service began to appear.
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References.
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