Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970s Volume 2
Wait – some of these are from the 60s…
Tags: Misc DVD 2009 Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Nov 5th, 2009
Following the release of the first volume, we now get the second sampler of Saturday Morning Cartoons – 1970’s. What I said in my review of the first volume still holds true. This is a collection of shorts and episodes from the 1970s that isn’t organized well. I’m not saying that everything needs to be released in complete season or series sets, but this is a decent sampler, but altogether falls short when combined with the previous collection.
As a nostalgic trip down cartoon lane, this collection works very well. Unfortunately it isn’t organized very well. There is nothing on the case listing what is on the discs, and the menu layout is needlessly cumbersome. For those interested, here is what is included on Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970’s Volume 2:
Disc 1
The Hair bear Bunch episode “Keep your keeper”
The New Adventures of Gilligan episode “Off Limits”
Sea lab 2020 episode “Deep Threat”
The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan episode “The Mardi Gras Caper”
Sazzan featuring the segments “The Living Island” and “Master of the Thieves”
Yogi’s Gang episode “Mr. Bigot”
Disc 2
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour featuring the shorts “Duck, Rabbit, Duck”, “For Scent-imental Reasons”, “Stop, Look & Hasten”, and “Hare-way to the Stars”
Valley of the Dinosaurs episode “Forbidden Fruit”
The Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show with the shorts/segments “”No Way Stowaway”, “That Was No Idol”, “The Ski Bunny”, The All American Ape” and “Stay Awake Or Else”
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour with the segments “Joining the Knights” (Arabian Knights cartoon), “Danger Island” (a live action continuing adventure serial) and “The Littlest Musketeer” (A Three Musketeers cartoon)
Inch High Private Eye episode “Diamonds are a Crook’s Best Friend
The New Adventures of Batman episode “A Sweet Joke On Gotham City”
The first disc features a short featurette on Shazzan, which is decent enough, but like almost all of these types of featurettes it doesn’t give much details about the show (such as when exactly it was broadcast, what it was up against, why it was cancelled, etc.). And Shazzan and Banana Splits were actually from the 60’s – so why are they here? Other series that would have been better represented include Harlem Globetrotters, The Pebbles and Bam Bam Show, Jabberjaw, among a long list of memorable (and not so memorable) series.
So is this a collection worth picking up? You get over 5 hours of cartoon fun for a list price of $25. You should be able to find it for much less than that. Some of these shows are available on DVD (Jetsons, Scooby Doo) while others are not. So it really comes down to nostalgia. That sense of nostalgia is very strong here, and this collection is a great visit down memory lane and a great way to introduce today’s younger (and more jaded) cartoon viewers to the simple pleasures of when cartoons were much more entertaining not simply marketing ploys.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Some of these haven't been seen in years + Intro and outro segments to the various programs |
7.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Special features provide little context for the modern viewer - Some of this stuff has already been released - Warner Brothers wants us to pay how much? - Poorly designed menus and packaging |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Doyou remember when Saturday morning meant something? You might after spending 5 hours going down Memory Lane. | |
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Tags: Misc DVD 2009
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Nov 5th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
