Saturday Morning Cartoons - The 1960's
A Mixed Bag of Early Television Animation DVD Review by Jon Cooke
A Mixed Bag of Early Television Animation DVD Review by Jon Cooke
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kidswb.com |
One of the interesting things about watching the new Saturday Morning Cartoons - The 1960's DVD set is viewing the evolution of made-for-television animation during this early period. The sampling of shows scattered among this set's two discs give you examples some early triumphs and then the steady decline in quality by the end of the decade.
It should be noted that a few of the shows included here are not really "Saturday Morning Cartoons" at all. While they eventually lived on in reruns on Saturday mornings, The Flintstones, Top Cat and The Jetsons all originally aired in primetime and were made to appeal to both adults and kids. Another staple of Saturday mornings, the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts (represented here in an episode of The Porky Pig Show) were, of course, originally shown in theaters to general audiences. As a result, the above shows and select others definitely hold up much better than the contents of the 1970's Saturday Morning collection.
Some shows gathered on this set have been released previously on their own DVD sets (The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Magilla Gorilla, Space Ghost, and two of the three Looney Tunes shorts), but the folks at Warner Home Video have thrown enough new-to-DVD content on here that you may want to consider the "double dip". For example, Quick Draw McGraw makes his long-awaited DVD debut with two complete episodes. Licensing rights involving the incidental background music are said to be what has been holding up a more comprehensive release. Other new-to-DVD shows include Peter Potamus, Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel, an obscure early anime series called Marine Boy, Frankenstein Jr. & The Impossibles, The Herculoids, and Robert McKimson's 1960 Warner Bros. short, "Mice Follies" (included as part of The Porky Pig Show).
Also worth the price of admission, at least for me, was seeing many of the original show openings, closings, bumpers and interstitials reinstated. In some cases these haven't been seen since the shows originally aired (as a result, the condition of some of the source materials varies, as a disclaimer at the start of each disc informs us). A highlight for Looney Tunes fans is a reconstructed episode of The Porky Pig Show as it originally would have aired back in 1964. The memorable opening theme song of Magilla Gorilla is here as well, after being totally absent from the "complete series" DVD set from a few years back. Peter Potomus' show concludes with a catchy "curtain call" as the show's cast gathers on-stage to bid us farewell. You'll also see the opening and closing to Quick Draw McGraw in full color for the first time in years (altered slightly to remove the references to the show's original sponsor, Kellogg's cereals).
Bonus features include short featurettes chronicling the histories of Quick Draw McGraw, The Herculoids, and Frankenstein Jr. & The Impossibles featuring the usual mix of historians and folks who worked on the shows. Like the '70s set, this collection also features a "Saturday Morning Wake-Up Call" on each disc, giving you a rundown of the contents a la a TV promo (narrated here by Gary "Space Ghost" Owens). Here are the full contents of each disc:
Disc 1:
While I have never been a fan of H-B's action/adventure shows, I realize these shows have a cult following. I also find much of the later H-B comedy shows extremely bland and instantly forgettable (Precious Pupp or Winsome Witch, anyone?), but I am sure there are those who will enjoy seeing them show up on a legitimate release. I doubt I'd purchase a complete set of Peter Potamus or Atom Ant shows, but it is nice having one episode of each of these in my personal DVD collection. Needless to say, this set has a little something for everybody.Even if you didn't grow up with these shows, most of the contents of this collection set hold up much better than those on the 1970s set. Even with a few duds and unremarkable shows in the mix, there's still an entertaining variety of shows here. The reasonable price and new-to-DVD content will make this attractive to collectors. Here's hoping more unreleased and obscure shorts and shows find their way onto future volumes.
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