I’ve received lots of e-mail lately and first of all, I have to apologize for not answering all of it personally. I believe this post will answer most of the questions posed.

Since posting so much upcoming DVD news lately, I’ve been inundated with people wanting to know what else is coming up. The simple fact is, I don’t know. Unless I’ve been asked not to post something, in which case I couldn’t disclose the information if I wanted to, I’ve posted everything I know as I know it.

But I’m willing to do a little prognosticating. This is from aboslutely no inside information! If Space Ghost and Birdman do well, I’m sure we’ll see more Hanna-Barbera action-adventure shows. I think the most likely titles would be Herculoids and Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles.

If the two recently announced Filmation shows, The New Adventures of Superman and The New Adventures of Batman, sell decent, I’m sure you can expect more of those DC Comics based shows, including Plasticman, which was a Ruby-Spears production.

Now let’s think about what NOT to expect. I know there have been a lot of questions about Ruff and Reddy. But think about it, if Huckleberry Hound didn’t sell well, how could a more obscure title do well. Ruff and Reddy has had very limited runs since it initially went off. There were several chapters of the Muni-Mula story on a laser disc and it may have run on Boomerang, a network with low clearance. Unless they could specifically market it to the over 50 crowd, it is not going to get released.

There are several one season shows from the 70’s and 80’s that people have asked about. I can’t see them releasing Roman Holidays or Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics, a show with a cast so big, Ben Hur looks like a one-man show. On the other hand, The Smurfs had a decent run on the network and was very highly rated for a time. It seems likely that they would release those, if they have the home video clearances, since that wasn’t a property that Hanna-Barbera owned.

As of the last thing I knew, the release of Quick Draw McGraw was in trouble due to music rights. Yes, I know that it’s basically the same music library as Huckleberry Hound and they were able to release those. But the truth is, it isn’t. At one time, that “needle drop” music was called the Capitol Music Library. There were many composers that contributed to it, including Jack Shaindlin, John Seely & William Loose, George Hormel and Phillip Green. Little by little, the Capitol deals expired and the rights reverted to the composers, most of whom are dead, and therefore controlled by the heirs. It’s very difficult to clear that music now, since you have to deal with many different entities. I don’t know the final outcome, but the last I heard it was in trouble.

Speaking of which, in this business, people come and go. Good contacts get promoted or move to other companies. Right now, for whatever reasons, I seem to be on the “out” list. Maybe they don’t want to “overuse” me. Maybe I’m too expensive. I don’t know the answers. But even with a plea from TV Shows on DVD to contact me about material I know about for the Josie and the Pussycats set, I have heard nothing from Warner Home Video. So, sad to say, that material will stay locked up in the vaults, as will the never-before-seen material from Animaniacs that I found.

And now, for the time being, I will not have that many exclusives. But things change and when I’m back on the “in” list, I’ll tell you what I know. And right now I know that it’s time to do something that actually pays… real money. What a concept!

Plenty of websites have already announced the July 31st release of Volume One of the original Popeye theatrical cartoons. Even TV Shows on DVD posted a story about it because these shorts were such a big part of 50’s and 60’s television.

But I wanted to talk about the box art. This is the most beautiful and appropriate packaging for a Warner Home Video animation release yet. Compare it to the Huckleberry Hound box on the right. Do I even have to point out what’s wrong with it? Okay, I will. Not only is this a situation that never happened in a cartoon or interstitial, what era is the show that’s contained within? If I saw this on the shelf, I would think this was one of those movie compilations they made in the 80’s. The artwork should reflect the contents. Yes, Huck played a policeman in a couple of shorts, but not dressed like that. What kind of a hat is that, anyway? It’s not a London bobby’s hat. It’s just wrong. You want to see what the cover art should have been? Here is what it should have been:

Maybe with “The” and “Show” added above and below his name, respectively.

I think that they think that vintage art will turn off today’s kids. But who’s buying this anyway? It’s boomers who have fond memories of these cartoons and want to share them with their children and even grandchildren. Yes, the baby boomer generation is that old. I saw Rhino do the same thing with the Hanna-Barbera music CD’s I produced for them. They put “modern” underground-looking artwork on the covers. Who does this appeal to? You’re not going to get Gen-X or even Y to buy these, because no matter how up to date the artwork is, they don’t know the material. And the people it’s aimed for are going to miss it because it blends in with all the other current “product” (to use a nicer word than I really want).

I hope this is the beginning of a new look for the Warner line. And I hope someday we can reissue Huckleberry Hound with as nice a cover as Popeye.

Back here I brought you news about a Dan DeCarlo tribute being prepared for the Josie and the Pussycats DVD. Now, here is some more exciting news from reader Chris Ferguson:

This weekend, I was witness to part of the making of the Alex Toth documentary to go on the Space Ghost DVD. John Hitchcock, the owner of the comic store at which I work (Parts Unknown: The Comic Book Store), was interviewed for the doc. John just released last year “Dear John: The Alex Toth Doodle Book” which is a chronicling of their 25-year correspondence through postcards, sketches, etc. The Toth family, as well as documentary director Jon Mefford, asked John to be a part of the doc. It was fun seeing the filming of the piece, in which John was asked about 30 or so questions about Toth’s life and work, although I don’t know how much of this will be included. Anyway, it should be a great documentary, as not much has been done on this great artist.

I agree. It’s just too bad they didn’t think to do this a year ago before he passed away. Here is an excerpt from a recent post from my pal, Mark Evanier on that subject:

I pointed out to the folks who’d made this decision (not to include certain extras) that they might consider that several people they might want to interview for the DVD were over eighty years of age. These people might not be available (or as lucid) if interviews are to be conducted a few years down the pike. But we’re not going to interview them for the current release because someone thinks the DVD can sell enough without it and wants to save something for another release several years from now. And we’re not going to interview them now and bank the material because the cost of that can’t be charged to some current budget. So it isn’t done…and four years from now, someone at the same home video company is going to call me and ask me a question that starts with the phrase, “Do you know anywhere we can find footage of…?”

If you want to read it in its entirety, you can find it here. It’s funny how most of these documentaries are now interviews with the guys that knew the guy, myself included among the “experts”. It’ll be even worse when it gets to the point where they’re interviewing the guy that knew me who knew Hoyt Curtin (or whoever), but it looks like that’s where we’re heading.

I was reluctant to post this over the weekend for fear of being played for an April Fool. But that has come and gone and the information seems to be solid.

Reader Ed Nelson writes:

I got some news you might want to post on your blog. I e-mailed Classic Media, the owner of the video rights to Jay Ward’s great cartoons, and I got an answer that I swear totally stunned me…and I am willing to send you a copy of the e-mail. George of the Jungle will be on DVD by the end of this year.

Well, Ed did send me a copy of the e-mail and it comes from Robert Mayo of Classic Media. He says there are further volumes of Rocky and Bullwinkle under consideration, but that George of the Jungle will be out before the end of 2007.

No word on whether these will be complete shows including Super Chicken and Tom Slick, but it’s still good news, right, Fella?

Incidentally, the drawing above was done by Gerard Baldwin, one of the show’s directors.