I missed the earlier thread on the Vol. 2 collection, so thanks WordMan for the follow-up, from me anyway. Had no idea it was out! Zeeped over to the store right after I saw this thread! And now, the DVD set, she is mine!
Oh, this is Christmas. So far, I don’t feel like this set compares poorly to the first set at all. True, it doesn’t contain all of the classics that I was hoping a second set would, but this just demonstrates the hand of the marketing people at Warner’s: they probably feel that if anyone is willing to shell out fifty or sixty bucks for a DVD collection of cartoons that have been freely available on television for the last forty years, then why give them all the good stuff at once when you can spread the stuff out over multiple 4-disc collections? It’s eerie how well they know me.
I admit that it would have been nice to have the cartoon collections released in a more systematically chronological order, or by director, but I’m not going to let it kill my joy. Man, for someone like me who knows these cartoons from indifferently color-corrected Saturday morning broadcast television, it is still amazing how breathtakingly beautiful they are on DVD. Disc 2 on the new set, especially, is a revelation to me. The Coyote/Road Runner series is the very Brancusi-esque apex (acme?) of cartoon art, and the shorts chosen here showcase that quality perfectly. If there is a heaven, its landscapes must surely be courtesy of Maurice Noble and Phil DeGuard.
I’m happy. I haven’t even gotten into the extras and commentaries yet, except to find out if animator Bill Melendez could shed any light on what that one Zoot-suited wolf was supposed to be saying to transvestite Elmer on the corner of Hollywood and Vine in The Big Snooze (he didn’t, but the mere fact that the question even occurred to me says something about…um…my love for these cartoons, I guess. At least I’m hoping that’s all it is).
Boy, that one cartoon has it all, don’t it? Drug-induced hallucinations, pop culture references, shameless puns, Elmer Fudd as a disturbingly voluptuous drag queen…no wonder this was chosen to lead the second collection. And of course on Disc 3 you have one of my all-time favorites, the classic flagwaver Old Glory, which features Porky Pig trying to memorize the earlier, godless version of the Pledge of Alliegance. Believe me, you can’t truly know what it means to be an American until you witness the Pledge of Alliegance being recited by a stuttering cartoon pig. This cartoon is also invaluable to anyone who ever wondered what Christopher Walken’s portrayal of Uncle Sam might be like. He will haunt your dreams.
