Warner Exec, Animation Experts Ready ‘Looney Tunes,’ ‘Tom and Jerry’ Blu-rays

21 Jul, 2011 By: Chris Tribbey

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SAN DIEGO — George Feltenstein has waited for this for a very long time.

The SVP of theatrical catalog marketing for Warner Home Video was attending his first-ever Comic-Con July 21. But what he’s really excited about happens months later, when the studio releases the newly remastered Tom and Jerry Golden Collection and Looney Tunes Platinum Collection on Blu-ray Disc.

“Since the beginning of high definition, we’ve wanted to do this and planned on doing this,” he said before a panel discussing the releases. “This is 1080p, not upconverted, and we spent a ton of money cleaning it up. The film dirt, not the grain or cell dust. We knew we had to do it right.”

Jerry Beck, an animation historian, praised the finished product, calling the uncut, uncensored, un-dubbed, sparkling clean animations “the crown jewels.”

“I’m always saying these are as classic as The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane, but they’re treated as kids fodder,” he said. “They’re not treated with the respect they deserve.”

Meant to be seen in theaters, the animated shorts were meant for a wider audience than just children, Feltenstein said, and the Blu-ray restorations are “like [having] 35 mm in your home.”

Up until a year ago, the idea of a Tom and Jerry Golden Collection on Blu-ray wasn’t possible, with Warner and Feltenstein convinced that the original “Tom and Jerry” negatives had been lost in a 1978 fire. Just last year Feltenstein discovered that they were stored at the University of California, Los Angeles, instead.

“How they got there, I’ll never know,” he said.

The original negatives’ survival allowed Warner to present the classic animation in the best possible way, and even fellow animation experts expressed awe when Feltenstein showed off one “Tom and Jerry” clip, with DVD on one half of the screen and Blu-ray on the other.

“It’s like the Sistine Chapel,” said Spike Brandt, director of “The Looney Tunes Show.” “We’ve been looking at it through years of varnish and soot. Now [all that] is taken away and the colors just pop.”

Tom and Jerry Golden Collection will be released Oct. 25 ($34.99) and includes 37 of the original shorts, in chronological order. Looney Tunes Platinum Collection will be released Nov. 15 ($59.96) and will also be available as a limited edition gift set ($79.98).
 

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