The Extras - Warner Archive February & Early March Release Announcement

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

George Feltenstein announces the Warner Archive's February and early March Blu-ray releases.  George provides background on each film or TV series, the remaster, and all of the extras that are included.  And he drops a special announcement at the end of the podcast. There is no better way to learn about what is on the Warner Archive schedule than to hear directly from George. MovieZyng Affiliate The BEST place to buy all of your Warner Archive and Boutique DVDs and Blu-raysDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.The Extras Facebook pageThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog GroupOtaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv

Hi, I'm film historian and author John Fricke. I've written books about Judy Garland and the Wizard of Oz movie, and you're listening to The Extras. Hello and welcome to The Extras, where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies, and animation, and they're released on digital, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Millard, your host, and I'm very excited. George Feltenstein is joining me again today,

and this is to announce the February Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive. And there's also some from March we'll be talking about, which are very exciting. And I just want to tease that you want to be sure to listen all the way to the end here, because we have a surprise here at the end. But hi, George, welcome to the podcast. Hi, Tim. I guess this is our first podcast of the new year, if I'm getting things correctly. Well, we had the review one, George, and it kind of overlaps because we were reviewing the December titles, but we actually did quite a bit there that we recorded, I think, before the end of the new year, but I released it in January. Right. And we'll be talking about the January releases that will be hitting the street on January 30th. So there's a lot going on, which we're very happy about. Yes, yes, yes, for sure.

Well, I know a lot of people have been anxiously waiting for the February releases, and it looks like it's a little different this month from the traditional kind of five or six films that you've had for the last few months. And that was a kind of a great few months in the last, well, last six months and last year as a whole, as we talked about. But it's a little bit different this month. Tell us a little about what we can expect in February. Well, February will be basically 10 telefilms, if you will. These are films that were made for first-run syndication in 87 and 88 by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and they feature all the big Hanna-Barbera stars in full-length

feature films that were made for television. We have three with Scooby-Doo. We have three with Yogi Bear. We have the Jetsons beat the Flintstones. We have Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats and the Good, the Bad and the Huckleberry Hound and Rockin' with Judy Jetson. All of those others have original voice casts where possible. The original voice cast of the Jetsons were all still alive when that was recorded, the Jetsons beat the Flintstones. The Flintstone cast had Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble and Gene Vanderpile as Wilma. Alan Reid, the original

voice of Fred Flintstone, died in the late 70s. So his, by that time, 10-year replacement, Henry Corden does the voice of Fred. And most importantly, through a lot of these, And most importantly, through a lot of these, especially Huckleberry Hound is in more than just his own film. He's also in some of the other pieces. in animation history, the great Dawes Butler, who also did his thing at MGM for both Tex Avery and Hanna and Barbera. He was a genius, and thankfully, he was still alive at the time that this was happening. So these are the last voices we get of the original Yogi and the original Huckleberry Hal. I found an article from 1987 that was an interview with Joe Barbera where he talked about why they wanted to make these films. Of course, they put a big focus on Scooby,

who at that time, it was already in his, well into his second decade of popularity, almost at the 20-year mark since the 1969 debut. But to this day, Scooby has been the prime character of continued new works. He's never gone away. But if you're of the generation that grew up with Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, and everybody grew up with the Flintstones, thanks to new iterations and reruns, this is just a good trip for one to revisit their childhood or to share their childhood with their children and or their grandchildren, because these films are all designed in such a way to be entertaining to adults, but perfectly appropriate for children. And they had higher budgets in making them, and they put a lot of care into making them.

And that shows as the result. Now, if my memory is serving me correctly, we released most of these without the three Scooby movies as DVDs for the first time through Warner Archive. And this was probably about 10, 11 years ago. But to be able to have them in high definition with Blu-rays that are really quite gorgeous, and to be able to do so with a value proposition that is, I believe, attractive to consumers, I hope they will feel the same way. The price for the whole collection of all 10 films is $69.98. That's the suggested retail price. But for those who opt to want to own just one or two or however many singles, they're also being released as singles with a $14.98 suggested retail price, which I really wanted it to be something that wasn't going to gouge the wallet.

We don't have any special features on any of these except two, And the two is for a very special reason. The last two films of these 10 were not using the traditional ink and paint, go out to film negative method. Hanna-Barbera started using digital ink and paint to make the last two cartoons in a very primitive technology manner, and they did not do any kind of film out. on these features. They finished to a one-inch analog video master, which is unfortunate. So in order to make these acceptable, and we also explained for the program to the viewer why these aren't going to look as good as the others. We did up res and used various tools to try to make them look better. And I think they look the best they ever have, better than they did originally. But compared to the other eight, you see, obviously, it's a little softer and whatnot, but there's no interlacing, and the colors are nice and bright and bold and clean.

So for those two titles, I wanted to add something that gave it a little more heft. So Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, which in and of itself has been a highly requested title, which in and of itself has been a highly requested title, that has a one-hour TV special from 1979 called Scooby Goes Hollywood. And that's an HD remaster right from film. And it looks amazing. And then for Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears, which is the other film that was finished to one-inch tape and had to be up-res.

We have the Yogi's Gang episodes entitled Yogi's Arc Lark. And those are also HD remasters, and they look great. They feature all the Hanna-Barbera favorite characters. all the Hanna-Barbera favorite characters. And so the value to the consumer who buys either the box set or these individuals, I think has been heightened. And we also were at a point where we have right now probably between 50 and 60 feature films either close to being ready or that have

been approved to be remastered and that will be coming over the future months. So I still stand by my statement that 2024 is going to beat 2023 handily in terms of exciting releases and people getting things that they didn't expect. But we weren't able to get the feature films we had hoped to get released by the end of February without being disrespectful to our colleagues and urgent needs. And every film takes as long as it takes, and we didn't want to rush anything. So by offering these 10 at this time, and of course, which we'll talk about in a moment, the Colt 45 TV series in early March, we will have a full release of classic films at the end of March and be back on a schedule. This is kind of a special event. We're flipping things around a little bit, but also it reflects a little bit of the diverse content that we were able to offer in the DVD days that we haven't, because of cost, been able to offer in the Blu-ray era because we couldn't do collections and so forth and so on. So to do all these together is reflective of what we might see more of,

at least in terms of television series. And we'll be talking about television series shortly. So a little bit of diversity, but those who feel that, you know, we've neglected a lot of what has been our prior focus. This is like a one-time special event that we would dedicate a month's worth of releases to animation. But the animation that we released from Hanna-Barbera to the DVD market 7, 8, 10, 12 years ago was enormously successful. And people want to upgrade. And now that is possible. So hopefully we'll just be broadening our efforts.

And we've gotten a lot of correspondence from people who've been asking for this because they know, you know, we had completed series like Secret Squirrel and Adam Ant and Peter Potamus and Space Stars, you know, which we reconstructed with bumpers and bridges. And that was a very, very large initiative. And those were new masters at the time. So we know that customer and that customer has kind of been shut out because we haven't had Blu-ray content to be able to offer them that meets our standard. Now we do. I think that no group should feel they're being left behind. We're just trying to please a broader swath of the people who've been supporting us for the last 15 years. So only good things are ahead. I did have one question, George, and I can't recall if you totally explained this, but this box of 10 is called the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10. How did that title come about for that? That was, and the logo on the front of the cover,

which very much reflects its aegis from 1987, that was the marketing initiative Anna Barbera created to sell this package of 10 films to local television stations to run as primetime event programming via syndication. And that would be what you used to call, I don't think there's much of it anymore, at least in prime time. First-run syndication, meaning product created specifically for local stations. In the 1980s, especially the late 80s, there was a lot of that, and in the early 90s. And you had certain series, you know, like Star Trek The Next Generation, that was basically sold into first-run syndication. It didn't run on CBS, NBC, ABC, or the brand-new network Fox in 87. It was through a consortium of stations brought together by Paramount Television. So Hannah Barbera put together a consortium of buyers to buy the Superstars 10.

And I can't say this is factual, but knowing how Joe Barbera thought and how he ran their business, he was seeing that Saturday morning programming was changing. And they made a decision, at least by some articles I've read, they made a decision to embrace their current superstar, Scooby-Doo, who had been riding on top for, you know, at that point, 19 years, but also embracing their original big, big stars, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Flintstones, Top Cat, Jetsons. You even see guest appearances in these films with quick drama bra. I mean, it's a lot of favorite characters. And so the Superstars 10 was the way they were marketed to stations. I don't recall, and it's very possible that this did happen, but I don't recall if that was something that was marketed to the consumer, to the viewer.

There's somebody out there who will be able to enlighten me if I'm incorrect about that. But, you know, I've seen trade ads from the era and we had some marketing materials. This is how the 10 films were sold into local television stations in the United States. And they were also circulated around the world. So just to reiterate, they are also going to be available individually for around that $15 price point. And then the complete box there of the 10, right around $69.99 there. So, uh, so people have the option, you know, if they want to, they want to get the whole collection takes up a little less, uh, space on your shelf

to have them all. And I kind of liked that packaging of the superstars 10. Um, that's a great price. And then of course, if they're only interested in one or two or three or just the Scoobies or just the Huckleberries or whatever, those are available individually. So that's a pretty robust release right there, just in those 10. We felt it was worth, you know, the extra commitment because we always want the consumer to know that we're thinking about what they want and we need to make a profit, but we think we can make more profit by pricing in an attractive way, especially since our cost at remastering these films isn't anything like of detailed restoration and the hours and hours of hand manual cleanup. It's just the nature of the beast. Also, films from 1987, if it was a live-action feature, that's not going to require all the time. You can't say it across the board.

Sometimes it does, but it doesn't require the same amount of painstaking work if you're working on a feature from 1937. So it's all about how the elements were cared for in terms of the old films. And in the case of these, the ones that were finished to film were very well taken care of. And that made everybody's job a little easier. So the success of this initiative, I think, is driven by the fact that if it's popularly priced, I think people will be more apt to support their choice. will be more apt to support their choice, whether they choose to pick up two or three of the singles or whether they choose to want to buy the whole box. And I know there are some collectors who will do both because they want to have the individual

covers. And we prepared them both ways so that people could have choice. prepared them both ways so that people could have choice. Giving consumers a choice is, I think, the most friendly way to approach. And we've always been a very consumer-minded business. We've always known that our customers are dedicated and they're passionate and they're knowledgeable. And we want to bring them something that they feel good about purchasing and they can enjoy. We feel very good about having made this decision and put a great deal of work into it. And I think it's also a way of honoring Phil Hanna and Joe Barbera and their fantastic world.

Stay with us. We'll be right back. Hi, this is Tim Millard, host of The Extras Podcast. And I wanted to let you know that we have a new private Facebook group for fans of the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers catalog physical media releases. So if that interests you, you can find the link on our Facebook page or look for the link in the podcast show notes. And I appreciate, because I did like the covers of each of the individual releases,

but I also appreciate the fact that you're making them available at the same time. You know, there are times when studios will only make the box set available and you have to wait a year or something if you aren't interested in every film in that set. And this allows people to have both those options right away. You don't have to wait six months, a year or whatever for those individual releases. So I think that's a great and very consumer-friendly way of doing it. Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate that. And that is the goal. I've been on the other side of it. There have been things that have come out in collections

that I wanted to buy only one or two of the six that were in the collection. And some of those singles still aren't out yet. So that's pretty frustrating. Yeah, it is. You mentioned earlier that there's some releases in early March as well. And I think there's a lot of excitement for what you're going to talk about next. of excitement for what you're going to talk about next. Well, on March 12th, we're going to be releasing the complete series, Cult 45. It ran for three years on the ABC network. Warner Brothers Television was really the prime supplier of programming for ABC television. ABC was the third rated network and they didn't have the strength and

finances that CBS and NBC had. So developing this relationship with Warner Brothers was beneficial to the studio because it kept more people working and it was beneficial to ABC because Warner Brothers could bring its entire major Hollywood studio apparatus to producing these series. And the first big hit from Warner Brothers television was Cheyenne with Clint Walker. And that led to, in the fall of 1957, three shows that hit ABC that were all Westerns. And Cold 45 was one of those three. Unlike most of the Warner Brothers Westerns, this is a half-hour show.

And it starred a newcomer, Wade Preston. He immediately became an audience favorite. Now, what sets this apart is this has never had a home video release. In the early days of the Warner Archive, we released a truckload of the Warner Brothers classic TV westerns on DVD. We completed Cheyenne, we completed Maverick, we did Lawman, we did Bronco, we did Sugarfoot. But when we went to Cult 45, the problem was there was some music clearance involved, and also there were no tape masters of any kind. These needed to be remastered. So as part of corporate preservation, we looked at this series and said, we need to scan these negatives. We need to protect the magnetic audio. And so the camera negatives were scanned at 4K.

The original MAG tracks, where they could be located, were put through a restoration. And the net result is we now have all 67 episodes that cover the three seasons in a box set of 10 discs. There are some amazing guest stars in these episodes. There are three appearances by Adam West in three different roles, which is very interesting. There's a very small supporting role in one episode with Leonard Nimoy.

It's just really fascinating to see character actors that you may remember from or know about. There's not as much to remember, but there are some silent comedians in these episodes, you know, from the silent days who were elderly at the time. And, you know, they got little jobs here and there. And you can see some of them in these Westerns. You can also see former Western serial actors from the 30s and 40s in shows. They're well-made, and they're representative of the Warner Brothers Western television ethos. Western television ethos. And that was really a byproduct of an incredibly creative executive who really shaped Warner Brothers Television into being a prime supplier, not just to ABC, but eventually to other networks as well. And that was William T. Orr,

other networks as well. And that was William T. Orr, father of your recent guest Greg Orr. Bill Orr's work of building Warner Brothers Television, especially between the Westerns and, as everybody is probably thinking, the Detective series. Those were really the cornerstone of what Warner Brothers Television did. And Colt 45 was notoriously absent. And I remember being asked about it years ago. I don't know if it was via Facebook or a letter. You know, I said, I don't know when we're ever going to be able to get to that because there's such an expense involved. But we didn't have anything on hand that would be distributable to any market. And we all got together and made a decision of what would be best to move forward with. And this was a prime priority because we

had nothing to offer. And now we do. And hopefully there will be, well, I can say I know for certain that a very popular Warner Brothers Western, which we have made available on DVD in the past, is being remastered in 4K scans for HD finish for eventually release to one archive. It could be a year before that happens, but there will be more television is the bottom line. And from many eras, there may be some recent television that will be popping up on Blu-ray that was only DVD. on Blu-ray that was only DVD. If there aren't onerous music clearance issues involved and there really is evidence of audience interest, we'll certainly be moving forward with things like that

as well as more animation. The success of the animated collections that we've done over the past years has given us the support within the organization to do more. And that's why we have a Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 3 upcoming. And that's due to the support of the consumer buying the product and enjoying it and letting us know they want more Looney Tunes. Just like we know they want more classic television on Blu-ray, they want more television on Blu-ray. Could be contemporary television. contemporary television. So we're widening our berth. And yet, we've also got this commitment and approval to be remastering 50 or so feature films that is going to contain many, many titles that have been frequently requested. Big titles, important titles. There'll be Technicolor Restorations and films from

virtually every genre that is popular. So a lot of exciting things to look forward to. Well, George, I teased at the beginning of our conversation that we'd have a little surprise for the listeners as well. And so I think it's probably time that we reveal what that is. What can you tell us? Well, what I'd like to be able to happily share is that the same day Colt 45 comes out, March 12th, will be the day that Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 3 will be released, March 12th. It will contain 25 cartoons, just as we did with Volume 2. It is spanning from the 30s to the 60s. None of these cartoons have ever been on Blu-ray before,

for, and I don't believe any of them were on DVD either. If they were on a DVD, it was in non-remastered form, coming from an ancient video source. These are just gorgeous to look at, and the major characters are all represented, and there's also some real rarities in there that haven't gotten the light shined on them. We were very pleased at the reaction to Volume 1 and certainly to Volume 2. And we expect that this Volume 3 will be equally exciting to the fans. And right now I've got my pitch out to get a volume four approved so we can start working on that right away. And I'm hoping that we will be able to do other classic theatrical animated short collections as well because we know there's a huge appetite for them because the consumers have shown us their

support with buying these programs and releases when they are made available, not waiting for a sale, helping us know that there's real demand there. And we're hoping that volume three of the Looney Tunes collector's choice will offer the same excitement to consumers as we found with volumes one and volume two. Well, that's exciting. I didn't expect it to be quite this soon. I know you had said the last time that we talked about volume two, that it wouldn't be too long, but this is a much closer to the release of volume two than two was to volume one, or it feels that way to me anyway. So it's terrific to hear. And we're not going to go into the titles. Those will all be posted on your Warner Archive Facebook page. And we'll also have it on the extras pages on Facebook

and social media. So people should look for those there. But thank you so much for letting us know about that as well. That's very, very, very exciting. And of course, March is a special month, isn't it? Yes, it is because March 23rd is our 15th birthday. And they said we wouldn't last. and they said we wouldn't last. So it's a moment to celebrate and how better to do that by having a month where we'll have a Looney Tunes collector's choice at the beginning of the month,

a classic Warner Brothers Western TV series remastered from 4K scans off the camera negative at the beginning of the month as well. And at the end of the month, we'll have an ample portion of classic films and maybe some not that old classic films, meaning they're classics, but from a modern era. We're going to have just a lot of fun. modern era. We're going to have just a lot of fun. Try, as we always try, to give the fans what they're looking for and what we know they appreciate.

Well, George, as always, thanks for coming on the podcast so that we can hear from you directly and get a little background on each of the releases. And it's always very exciting to hear. Well, thank you, Tim, as always. It's a pleasure to be on the X-Fuse. Well, as always, these announcement episodes not only give you insight into the upcoming releases from the Warner Archive, but you also get a sneak peek into future months and the rest of the year. So if you're enjoying these and you haven't left us a review, please think about doing so at your favorite podcast provider. For those interested in purchasing the titles discussed, we will post the purchase links as they become available, either on our website or our social media sites. And you can always find the most up-to-date

information about these films on our Facebook page and in our Facebook group. So look for those links in the podcast show notes. And as George mentioned, there are feature films scheduled for later in March. So be sure and subscribe to the podcast so that you get that announcement episode when it becomes available. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Millard. Stay slightly obsessed. The Extras is a production of Otaku Media, producers of podcasts, behind the scenes extras, and media that connects creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals at www.otakumedia.tv or look for the link in the show notes.