Presentation and whatnot is pretty good, some double imaging, but nothing as bad as on the loony tunes DVD.
The extras, as stated, are three Terrytoons, two commentaries, and one half hour behind the scenes documentary. The Terrytoons are pretty good (better single episodes exist, but these are quite satisfactory) the commentaries are pretty fun and fairly informative, and the documentary is just flat out great.
A lot of the time I’m not really for extras, as long as the show is good, but this behind the scenes is no fluff. Everyone involved has interesting stuff to say, is pleasant to listen to (sad truth; some animators are boring technicians or have annoying voices) and because of the mass creativity involved everyone has some valid reflection of the show. And if nothing else you get some hilarious Ralph Bakshi impressions that conspire to make you believe Ralph really was like that.
Speaking of Ralph Bakshi, and he does get his two cents in, this documentary goes a long way to show that although he and John K. are most often credited, this show was really an amazing cauldron of talent. Tom Minton gets quite a bit of attention, and slightly less so for Jim Reardon (and they are important, being the long term writers) but it wisely doesn’t dismiss Jeff Pigeon (character animation), Vicki Jenson (colors) Tim Bruce (animation) and many more. You almost feel that it’s a document of a bunch of friends at a party that incidentally created a great show.
This doc is also essential viewing, but only after you see all the episodes. You watch them, and get a good percentage of the intent and love it, and then you see through the stories here some of the bizarre in jokes and you realize why there were so many Bakshi caricatures (probably averaging one an episode, at least) and odd surreal passages become clear. It makes you wan to watch the show again, which is perhaps the highest compliment you can pat a made for DVD TV documentary. Don’t miss it.
Overall this is easily one of my highest recommended purchases, and great crowd pleaser. Get it.
A lot of the time I’m not really for extras, as long as the show is good, but this behind the scenes is no fluff. Everyone involved has interesting stuff to say, is pleasant to listen to (sad truth; some animators are boring technicians or have annoying voices) and because of the mass creativity involved everyone has some valid reflection of the show. And if nothing else you get some hilarious Ralph Bakshi impressions that conspire to make you believe Ralph really was like that.
Speaking of Ralph Bakshi, and he does get his two cents in, this documentary goes a long way to show that although he and John K. are most often credited, this show was really an amazing cauldron of talent. Tom Minton gets quite a bit of attention, and slightly less so for Jim Reardon (and they are important, being the long term writers) but it wisely doesn’t dismiss Jeff Pigeon (character animation), Vicki Jenson (colors) Tim Bruce (animation) and many more. You almost feel that it’s a document of a bunch of friends at a party that incidentally created a great show.
This doc is also essential viewing, but only after you see all the episodes. You watch them, and get a good percentage of the intent and love it, and then you see through the stories here some of the bizarre in jokes and you realize why there were so many Bakshi caricatures (probably averaging one an episode, at least) and odd surreal passages become clear. It makes you wan to watch the show again, which is perhaps the highest compliment you can pat a made for DVD TV documentary. Don’t miss it.
Overall this is easily one of my highest recommended purchases, and great crowd pleaser. Get it.
1 comment:
Great recommendation. I actually like those behind-the-scenes stuff. That's fascinating to me. I would really love to see that documentary. Your glowing recommendations are getting me hyped up to get it.
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