The Looney Tunes Golden Collection is a series of six[1] 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.[1] A boxed set combining all six volumes was released in 2011, and each volume was reissued separately in standard Amaray-style cases in 2020.
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 Tuneslaserdisc 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.).
In some regions, such as Regions 2 and 4, each disc in each volume is packaged (or re-packaged) separately.[2] 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.
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:
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
Disc one, as in the first edition, contains only Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Disc three contains nine Sylvester/Tweety shorts, along with six cartoons starring Daffy Duck and/or Porky Pig.
Disc four is an all-stars disc, though there is some relation between each cartoon on the disc: they are either musicals, Hollywood parodies, set on a stage, or incorporate other forms of show business.
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:
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:
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:
Disc one features Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. This is the first time that the first disc is not entirely dedicated to Bugs Bunny, now sharing the spotlight with Daffy Duck.
Disc two contains parodies of fairy tale stories, mostly of Little Red Riding Hood.
Disc three honors the work of director Bob Clampett.
Disc four features Porky Pig and other early classics - all in black-and-white (the first such disc in the LTGC).
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:
Disc two features cartoons with a World War II theme (and possibly World War I in the case of Bosko the Doughboy).
Disc three features early 1930s black and white cartoons that star Bosko, Buddy and other characters.
Disc four features a collection of one-shots.
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.
Concurrently with the Golden Collections, Warner Home Video also released the Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection, 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 Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales.
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.[3] This series of DVDs is called Looney Tunes Super Stars and the first two titles are Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire and Daffy Duck: Frustrated Fowl.[4][5] 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 Foghorn Leghorn & Friends: Barnyard Bigmouth and Tweety & Sylvester: Feline Fwenzy (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.[6] 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 Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (which features new-to-DVD shorts), another Sylvester release titled Sylvester and Hippety Hopper (with more new-to-DVD shorts) and another Bugs release (with double dips).[7][8]
Another new series, Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, was released on Blu-ray. The first volume 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.
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.
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.[9]
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.
Looney Tunes Super Stars - the successor series of DVDs dedicated to one star of the series per DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Blu-ray successor
Related Research Articles
Daffy Duck is a cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, in which he is usually depicted as a foil for either Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig or Speedy Gonzales. He was one of the first of the new "screwball" characters that emerged in the late 1930s to replace traditional everyman characters who were more popular earlier in the decade, such as Mickey Mouse, Porky Pig, and Popeye.
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil. He was born and raised not far from Hollywood and, early in life, showed an interest in animation and puppetry. After dropping out of high school in 1931, he joined the team at Harman-Ising Productions and began working on the studio's newest short subjects, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
Robert Porter McKimson Sr. was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. He wrote and directed many animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Hippety Hopper, Speedy Gonzales, and the Tasmanian Devil, among other characters. He also developed Bugs Bunny's design in the 1943 short Tortoise Wins by a Hare.
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films. The characters featured in these cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, are among the most famous and recognizable characters in the world. Many of the creative staff members at the studio, including directors and animators such as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, Arthur Davis, and Frank Tashlin, are considered major figures in the art and history of traditional animation.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on October 28, 2003. The first release of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD series, it contains 56 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements. The set won the Classic Award at the Parents' Choice Awards.
Bugs Bunny: Superstar is a 1975 Looney Tunes documentary film narrated by Orson Welles and produced and directed by Larry Jackson. It was the first documentary to examine the history of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes with its animated cartoon characters, as well as the only Looney Tunes film to be distributed by United Artists.
Warren Foster was an American writer, cartoonist and composer for the animation division of Warner Brothers and later with Hanna-Barbera.
Roderick Henry Scribner was an American animator best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons. He worked during the Golden age of American animation.
This is a list of all cartoons featuring Porky Pig. Directors are listed in parentheses.
Bugs Bunny's Easter Special is a 1977 Easter-themed Looney Tunes television special directed by Friz Freleng and features clips from 10 Warner Bros. cartoons. It originally aired on the CBS network April 7, 1977.
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes is a collection of LaserDiscs released by MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. There were five sets made, featuring a number of discs, and each disc side represented a different theme, being made up of seven cartoons per side. The first volume was also released on VHS, with each tape representing one disc side.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 is a Looney Tunes collection on DVD. Following the pattern of one release each year of the previous volumes, it was released on October 30, 2007.
Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special is a Looney Tunes animated Halloween television special directed by David Detiege, which first aired on CBS on October 26, 1977.
The character that would evolve into Bugs Bunny appeared in four cartoon shorts before his first official appearance in Tex Avery's A Wild Hare. While this early version is commonly referred to as "Happy Rabbit", animation historian David Gerstein disputes this, saying that the only usage of the term was from Mel Blanc himself; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as April 1938, from a model sheet made by Charles Thorson which was used for the short Hare-um Scare-um. Bugs was also mentioned by name from an August 1939 review of the short in the Motion Picture Herald.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 is a DVD box set from Warner Home Video that was released on October 25, 2005. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical short subject cartoons, nine documentaries, 32 commentary tracks from animators and historians, 11 "vintage treasures from the vault", and 11 music-only or music-and-sound-effects audio tracks.
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