Andy Wood

If you don’t recall what was on volume 1 , sorry but there are more of the classics coming at you.

The Saturday morning cartoons selected for Warner Home Video’s collection of 1960s and 1970s spotlights really hold up on HDTVs. They’ve got solid lines and bright colors despite a warning that the materials are worn. Sure, you see dirt in some of them but those are random spots on a full frame of picture. Plus, it makes them look more historical.

Saturday Morning Cartoons Volume 2 on DVD

Popular shows like Tom and Jerry and The Road Runner are sharper. More obscure ones like Adam Ant are fuzzier. The live action from Banana Splits looks awful but that’s not even a cartoon so I wonder why they included it.

Each cartoon displays a different aesthetic. Tom and Jerry is more fluid. Looney Tunes have their distinct exaggeration. Inch High Private Eye is stiffer. Valley of the Dinosaurs and the superhero cartoons have more realistic motion, down to the total celebrity mimicry of the animated Gilligan.

These collections showcase some creative mash-ups, like Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales with Road Runner and Tom chasing them. Stories like the Bigot ray are actually profound.

A five-minute featurette on each collection is a nice extra with some history about one of the cartoons. The Saturday Morning Wake-Up calls are recently produced headers intended to mimic a ‘60s or ‘70s announcer. You can tell they’re new, but it’s a nice atmosphere setting effort.

Okay, I was barely around for the 1960’s , bit I do fondly remember lost of the toons that are now available on Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1

Disc #1
TOP CAT – The Tycoon (Also on the Complete series DVD set)
ATOM ANT SHOW with PRECIOUS PUP & HILLBILLY BEARS – Up & Atom / Precious Jewels / Woodpecked
THE PETER POTAMUS SHOW with BREEZLY and SNEEZLY & YIPPEE, YAPPEE and YAHOOEY – Fe-Fi-Fo Fun / All Riot on the Northern front / The Volunteers
SECRET SQUIRREL SHOW with SQUIDDLEY DIDDLY & WINSOME WITCH – Sub Swiper / Way Out Squiddly / Prince of a Pup
THE FLINTSTONES – The Happy Household (Also on the seasonal DVD sets)
THE PORKY PIG SHOW – Often An Orphan/Mice Follies/The Super Snooper (Daffy Duck)
THE QUICK DRAW McGRAW SHOW with SNOOPER AND BLABBER & AUGIE DOGIE – Dynamite Fright/Outer Space Case/Growing Growing Gone

Disc #2
THE JETSONS – Rosey The Robot (Also on the season 1 DVD set)
MARINE BOY – Battle To Save The World {Anime}
SPACE GHOST/DINO BOY SHOW – The Heat Thing / The Worm / Zorak (also on the complete series DVD set)
HERCULOIDS – The Beaked People / The Raider Apes
FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES – The Shocking Electric Monster / The Bibbler / The Spinner
THE MAGILLA GORILLA SHOW with PUNKIN PUSS & RICOCHET RABBIT – Gridiron Gorilla / Small Change / Atchison, Topica and San Jose (Also on the complete series DVD set)
Bonus Materials:
THE QUCK DRAW McGRAW SHOW (with SNOOPER AND BLABBER and AUGIE DOGIE) – Dough Nutty / El Kabong Was Wrong / Gem Jam
Bonus Documentaries on QUICK DRAW McGRAW, MAGILLA GORILLA, FRANKENSTEIN JR. and THE IMPOSSIBLES.

I have a routine that I go through when it comes to TV watching.  I came up with this the 2nd year I had a Tivo.  Right around Sweeps Week and March Madness, I stop watching the ‘new’ TV that my DVR snags and either double up on the netflix or re-watch a TV series I have on DVD.

This way when there isn’t anything on TV (you know, Big Bang, Simpsons, Family Guy, etc) , you have new stuff to turn to still.

Now – I inadvertently deleted a LOST episode that I hadn’t watched and CBS has rotated it off their site, but I was able to locate another source, but I would have been forced to watch it on a computer screen. Dang it!

If you have an Xbox360 or Playstation , then you Tversity will be the answer to your streaming issues.

This is going to be a hoot!

I do not think I will ever be able to watch the classic again -

I normally do not post anything about being passing on (bums me out), but this gent is one that I would like to post about.  To some, he was a hero.  Sci-Fi had this to share:

Forrest J. Ackerman, the sometime actor, literary agent, magazine editor and full-time bon vivant who discovered author Ray Bradbury and was widely credited with coining the term “sci-fi,” has died, the Associated Press reported. He was 92.

Ackerman died Dec. 4 of heart failure at his Los Angeles home, Kevin Burns, head of Prometheus Entertainment and a trustee of Ackerman’s estate, told the AP.

Ackerman was legendary in science fiction circles as the founding editor of the pulp magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He was also the owner of a huge private collection of science fiction movie and literary memorabilia that for years filled every nook and cranny of a hillside mansion overlooking Los Angeles, nicknamed the “Ackermansion.”

Every Saturday morning that he was home, Ackerman would open up the house to anyone who wanted to view his treasures; everyone knew him as “Forry.” He sold some pieces and gave away others when he moved to a smaller house in 2002, but he continued to let people visit him every Saturday for as long as his health permitted.

Ackerman’s collection once included more than 50,000 books, thousands of science fiction magazines and such items as Bela Lugosi’s cape from the 1931 film Dracula.

His greatest achievement, however, was likely discovering Bradbury, author of the literary classics Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. Ackerman had placed a flyer in a Los Angeles bookstore for a science fiction club he was founding, and a teenage Bradbury showed up.

Later, Ackerman gave Bradbury the money to start his own science fiction magazine, Futuria Fantasia, and paid the author’s way to New York for an authors’ meeting that Bradbury said helped launch his career.

As a literary agent, Ackerman represented Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and numerous other science fiction writers.

He said the term “sci-fi” came to him in 1954 when he was listening to a car radio and heard an announcer mention the word “hi-fi.”

Forrest James Ackerman was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 1916. He fell in love with science fiction, he once said, when he was 9 years old and saw a magazine called Amazing Stories. He would hold onto that publication for the rest of his life. Ackerman, who had no children, was preceded in death by his wife, Wendayne.

I for one always looked forward to the next issue of Famous Monsters, it was a great magazine for those that stayed up late to watch shows like Bob Wilkins and other creature feature shows.

If there was ever a venue where Star Trek and Monty Python overlap, then I think this would be about the best picture that can be painted.

I can tell you what was my very first comic book that is still in my collection is Howard the Duck #8.  I can also tell you that Iron Man is my favorite comic book character, but who was my hero growing up?

Lone Ranger? Nah, didn’t like the whole cowboy and indian thing.  Neal Armstrong?  Cool idea, but someone like that just wouldn’t have been around enough.  Bob Wilkins?  It is very true, I spent many a late night in front of the black and white tube watching this dude, but then I would need to have an uncle like Tom Savini to make it a set.

Nope – since I was a typical kid growing up, I was hooked on the Saturday morning ‘toons.  The corny, but good ones like Space Ghost, Herculoids, Johnny Quest, but my absolute favorite was:

None other than Frankenstein Jr and his pal Buzz.

With our recent HD Swap , I thought I would dig deeper to see what the new receiver has to offer.  I saw the “demand” option and it said that it needed a broadband connection. (no problem)

Once I got it configured and working, I started surfing through what was available.  There is a lot of stuff out there, but my first stop was The Cartoon Network and I just big what was on the top of the list and pressed record.

I then continued to watch The Incredible Hulk

When I got up this morning, I took the time to see how the VOD did.  What I got was a slight shocker, if you know me at all.

The demand recorded a episode of Ben 10 Alien Force:  All that Glitters.  The episode opens up with a girl knocking at the door to this creepy house and later it shows her walking the streets looking like a Zombie!  Alright!

In addition to the above cartoon, I also dialed in some Discovery Channel, History Channel and some Clone Wars cartoons.

Andy like!