Warner releases Looney Tunes on Blu-ray.

Today Warner released the first volume of their Looney Tunes Platinum collection on Blu-ray! Fans who have enjoyed the 'Golden Collection', which also had all the shorts collected in six volumes of 4 disc sets,released between 2003 and 2008, will finally be able watch Warner's classic cartoons in high def! The first Volume of the new 'Platinum Collection' contains three discs carrying 50 classic shorts, 11 behind the scenes featurettes. The third disc has five hours worth of the extra content and nine extra cartoons. You can choose bteween the standard digibook and an Ultimate Collector's edition featuring all kinds of extra gadgets (see above). In January next year Warner will also release their first volume of the 'Showcase' editions, which are single disc editions, with 25 cartoons each.

The shorts collected on the first Volume are from 1936 - 1966, directed by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett and Arthur Davis, Robert McKimson and Tex Avery (unfortunately only one short by Avery this time around, the early 'I Love to Singa' from 1936).

Among the many great cartoons are the celebrated Academy Award winning 'For Scent-imental Reasons' from 1949 feauring Pepe Le Pew and 'Speedy Gozales' from 1955. It also has the 1957 Chuck Jones short 'What's Opera, Doc? considered by historians as 'the best cartoon of all time' (according to Jerry Beck's book), the runner up is also featured in this volume: 'Duck Amuck' from 1953, again directed by Jones. Both were inducted into the National Film Registry, the first one in 1992, the second one in 1999.







Opening background by Irv Wyner from the 1955 award winning short 'Speedy Gonzalez' directed by Fritz Freleng (click to enlarge). What a great example of showing character through conflict: on one end the 'Ajax' cheese company (guarded of course, by Sylvester the cat) and on the other end, the Mexican border and the mice! This short was only the second appearance of Speedy. He started out in the 1953 short ''Cat-Tails for Two'. Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Ted Bonnicksen and Arthur Davis on a script by Warren Foster (he would later work for Hanah-Barbera on 'Yogi the Bear and 'the Flintstones').

Above and below: In 'What's Opera Doc' Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny while they're both singing to classical music. Directed by Chuck Jones this 1957 short plays like Disney's 'Fantasia' on steroids and is loaded with georgeous colorfull backgrounds by Philip DeGuard.










Below: Breaking the 'fourth wall' in Chuck Jones' 'Duck Amuck' from 1957. Daffy fights the scriptwriters and animators of this short, the scenery and in the end himself while the final scene reveals Bugs as the creator. Animation work by Ken Harris, Ben Washam and Lloyd Vaughan.

The extra's contain a pencil test from Chuck Jones' television special 'How the Grinch stole Christmas' from 1966 while the extra nine shorts feature a.o. Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers in 'Return of the 24 1/2th Century' from the Thanks-for-giving 1980 TV special and 'The Fright before Christmas' from Bugs Bunny's 'Looney's Christmas Tales' TV special from 1979. There are a couple of cartoons that were never released before and a lot of shorts are digitally restored and now have perfect quality, presented in their original format.