The Extras - Looney Tunes Collector's Vault Volume 2 Cartoons Announcement

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

Send us a textGeorge Feltenstein of the Warner Archive and animation historian Jerry Beck join the podcast to announce the 51 cartoons included in the Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault Volume 2 Blu-ray, coming March 24, 2026. We highlight some of the restorations, dig into the most highly anticipated cartoons, and celebrate this second volume of the Vault series.Pre-orders are not yet available, but should be sometime in early 2026.Check out our Facebook page for a full listing of the cartoons.The Extras Facebook page The Extras TV YouTube ChannelThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group Join our new public Facebook Group for Warner Archive Animation Fans and get the latest update on all the releases. As an Amazon Affiliate, The Extras may receive a commission for purchases through our purchase links. There is no additional cost to you, and every little bit helps us in the production of the podcast. Thanks in advance. Otaku 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. [e-mail]

Hey, are you a fan of the Warner Archive animation releases? Do you want to get the latest updates and news right away? If you're on Facebook, we have just created a brand new Facebook group called the Warner Archive Animation Fans Group. And we celebrate past releases, but really, we created this group because of all of the great releases that have come in this year and are anticipated in the coming years. So there have been a lot of great releases from the Looney Tunes, collector's vault series. There's the Tom and Jerry releases. There's all of the Hanna-Barbera

releases. I mean, there's just a wealth of animation coming from the Warner Archive. So we celebrate all of it. It's a community with other people who enjoy these releases and want to talk about them and share the latest news, reviews, and updates from the Warner Archive. So if that sounds interesting to you, check out the link here in the podcast show notes. And we hope to see you. soon. Hello and welcome to the extras. I'm Tim Larger host and joining me for one last podcast of 2025. A very big one here. Our George Feldstein of the Warner Archive and animation historian Jerry Beck. I'm here. Guys? Good morning. Hi. Yeah. Speaking of good

morning, we all have our coffee because we got up bright and early because this is a big day, exciting day. And I think, George, you have a big announcement for animation fans you want to tell us. Well, I'm happy to announce that on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026, fans who've been patiently waiting for the next release in the series of the Looney Tunes Collectors Vault, Volume 2 will become available on Blu-ray. It'll be a two-disc set with 51 cartoons, and the manufacturer's suggested list price is 2498. So basically, you're getting the cartoons for just slightly less than 50 cents a cartoon,

which is really awesome. This will be like the Collectors Volub Volume 1, in that the first disc contains cartoons, that have never been part of a Warner Brothers cartoon collection on DVD or Blu-ray in remastered form. So there's some real heavy hitters in there, as well as some very true rarity. And then on the second disc,

it's the Blu-ray premiere as part of a Warner Brothers cartoon collection in remastered form of 25 more cartoons that were previously only available in standard deaf DVD collections. Well, going to that first disc, George, what did you want to kind of run through some of the names on there or highlight? I'm going to reel off the names and let Mr. Beck make some comments that I may join in because there are certain titles, including the very first one,

that people have been oh, I'm dying again. There's a little reference to ape ball bunny, but anyway, the first cartoon on disc one, this is alphabetical.

We do that on purpose to just create a versatile viewing experience. First cartoon is a lad and his lamp, which has been specially remastered from a 4K scan off the original successive exposure negatives for this specific release.

It's a brand new right off the nitrate and a cartoon people have really wanted with Jim Backus as the genie. I know Jerry loves this cartoon as much as I do. Oh, yeah. It's great. I mean, as you said, it's a rare appearance of Jim Backus.

who hadn't been Mr. Magoo quite yet. He might have done the first one at that point, but Magoo wasn't a star yet. He's obviously well known for being on radio at that time, playing a character not unlike the genie personality that he puts in this film. This is one of those great McKimson ones. I'm finding an interesting,

I'm just in my head, I'm thinking, gee, all these cartoons that have been withheld before for various reasons, of which we have fought for... And are coming through. But the thing is, when we're able to present them from this point on and really anything in this set is going to be the best quality ever for these previously suppressed cartoons. I find it interesting that that's how it's all, you know, come out, that some of the ones that are the most outrageous are actually going to get the best presentation.

It's just the way fate in the world has worked. Aladdin's lamp Yeah Bugs versus the genie I mean One of the major ones That hasn't been And we don't really have too many

Major Bugs Bunchies That haven't been out So It's unbelievable that by Alphabetical Order It's the first cartoon that you will see If it warrants

I know many of the consumers I know me I would immediately have gone to this cartoon You know first you know to check it out but it's right there you can just push play all and uh you'll have a great experience on that that's really all i can say except it's about time i speak i also to be very fond of what mcimson did with bugs yeah in that late 40s period me too he turned out

some really gems yeah uh it wasn't just the uh the overweight bugs you know that yeah it's Weird period. ...quench in his design, you know. But it's a great cartoon. And the next cartoon is Ain't That Duckie with Daffy Duck directed by Fris Frilling. And then the next cartoon is Bone Sweet Bone, which is a non-character cartoon directed by Arthur Davis. Boston Quacky with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig directed by McKimson, Boulevardier from the Bronx. directed by frizz frilling that's a rarity uh the bird came cody with conrad cat yes i'm the

mind of the amazing chuck jones yes country boy that's an early cartoon that's an early one but the frustration on that one is drop dead gorgeous as you will see um you know vivid crystal clear nothing could top that except what's the next cartoon george the next cartoon the next cartoon is the Daffy Duckaroo in glorious black and white. Now, there's something special about the fact that this is another cartoon that was especially remastered from the original negative, in this case, a nitrate black and white camera negative for this release. And, Jerry, why don't you share the little piece of interesting information about this

cartoon when you saw it before? A lot of things one could say about this one. it's actually a great Daffy Duck cartoon, one of the best. It's black and white, and it's been rarely seen. And, you know, this is definitely a major piece of Daffy's filmography, I must say. It's almost like a clamp-it cartoon. A lot of clampets animators are on this. This cartoon, like Porky and Wackyland, made references in the cartoon to the studio, Warner Brothers.

You know, the famous scene in Wackyland with the Dodo is riding the Warner Bros. and there was always a splice. For years, that was actually cut out of that cartoon. That cartoon got restored years ago because it's such a classic. This one has a similar Warner Brothers reference. It's just a reference to Warner Brothers that's in the truck. It's no big deal. It's not even the greatest gag in the world.

But when they sold these cartoons to TV, this was in the 50s, the thick of, you know, how, Hollywood's battle with television. Hollywood hated television. And they figured out ways to sell cartoons ultimately to television. But in this case, they had to cut out, as they did with Wackyland, any references to Warner Brothers, whether it's the beginning shield, whether it's, you know, a reference in the cartoon. And this one suffered for that for a long time. I mean, there's a lead character in this. Daffy's adversary is a Native American. And so that was. was one of the many reasons that this one also has a lot of gags related to rationing and World

War II and that era, you know, very dated in that way, but yet beautifully animated, hilariously funny, one of the major daffies that has been omitted over the years, just overlooked. I think this will bring it back to the attention it deserves. And just to give the background on exactly why the Warner Brothers references and logos were cut a year before the major pre-August 48 for cartoons, pre-December 49 for features, was the big sale of the Warner Library, which took us 40 years to get back. Right. But a year before that, they sold black and white Looney Tunes in a package to Guild Films.

and Guild Films had to make those cuts because they didn't want any reference to Warner Brothers. The fine grains that were made for that purpose have those edits. That's why we had to go back to the original negative and we were delighted to find it had not been tampered with. So I'll move on to the next cartoon, which is Dr. Jerkels Hyde,

directed by Mr. Frelling. That is a favorite of a lot of people. The Excited Rooster with Foghorn Leghorn. Fastest with the Mostest with Wael E. Coyote Super Genius and Roadrunner. Foul weather, Will Sylvester, and Tweety. Here's a big one. Ita Putty Tat. Yeah.

Remastered, especially for this collection from the original Technicolor successive exposure, negative nitrate. Looks amazing. It's key. It's such an important cartoon. That it was included in Bugs Bunny Superstar, which was made by our mutual friend Larry Jackson 50 years ago. And that has remained in Bugs Bunny Superstar, but not looking very good. This new master is a revelation.

I think people would be very excited about it. Then we have I Gofer You with McIntosh, the Goofy Gophers, which is quite wonderful. I love them. I was a teenage thumb. Okay. which is a really unique cartoon. Jerry has to make a comment about that. I'm sure I do.

No, I mean, it's one of those, I call those one of those Jones' 60s experimental films. I mean, it really isn't. It's a little fable, but it's done in a high style. Jones, I think maybe of all the directors there, even all the animators there, ventured to the earliest Anisee in Zagreb animation festivals. He was becoming aware of the international animation scene

and how animation was treated in Europe and it was more of an adult medium than we had in this country, certainly by the 60s with the rise of Hannah-Barbera. Things were just different. And Jones chose to go the more artistic path and made films like High Note and Nellie's Folly and later on Dot in the Line. This was now his new sensibility was to do these,

try some things that hadn't been tried before. This is definitely one of those and has a great unique feel to it that's more closer to what Jones his own personal art was like. I love it. I love that they even tried stuff like this. You know what I mean?

That's the thing that I love. So that's why it's here. The next cartoon Little Blabber Mouse directed by Chris Frilling is one of those cartoons that was unfortunately on a disc before in awful looking form

from a terrible old master as a bonus. I was always against that. I fought against it. I lost that battle, but now we're making it available with a beautiful HD master. Mother was a rooster. Foggy.

Everybody was foggy. Of course. Pests for guests with the goofy gopers. They have a nice presence on this disc. Yeah. The rattled rooster, which is not a foghorn, leghorn cartoon, and it's directed by Arthur Davis. Yeah. A sheep in the deep with Ralph and Sam.

Sockadoodle do with foghorn, leghorn, again. And then Tennessee Williams, a great animated cartoon is street cat named Sylvester. Kidding about Tennessee Williams, but I love that title. To Itch His Own, which stars, drumroll. Angelo, the Mighty Flea from Chuck Jones. That's another cartoon that he was kind of doing something a little different with, I think. It's his own, yeah. That's another Chuck experiment, I call it.

Right. It's terrific. A waggly tail from Fris Freeling, which is very cute. Ralph and Sam return in Wollen Underwear. Oh, yeah. And then the last cartoon on Disc 1 is Zoom at the top with Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. So that is Disc 1. One, disc two contains cartoons remastered in high definition

that have never been part of Warner Brothers cartoon collection on Blu-ray. They may have been on DVD. I think almost all of them were. But now they're remastered in high-deaf for the first time as part of a collection. So the first cartoon is Awful Orphan. And that is, I love Charlie Dogg. I love all the Charlie Dog cartoons. That's Porky and Charlie Dog.

Then we have a burdened guilty cage from Mr. Frelling, starring Tweety and Sylvester. Tweety and Sylvester. I got to, I'll interject because I want to occasionally add to her commentary. I just want to say that some of these series are maybe considered, you know, or mainly overlooked because of bugs and Daffy and other classics that we put out. but even tweeting Sylvester, people don't recall that was really second to Bugs Bunny in popularity back in the 50s for sure. People love them.

That's why Freeling did so many of them. And they're incredible. The timing on those, the comedy in those, perfect. I mean, it's a real, real great series. And, you know, I'm a big advocate of it. And I just want to mention that. I mean, it's important. It's terribly important.

and I agree with you completely. We move on to Bowery Bugs in a rare directed by Arthur Davis cartoon, but a very memorable one. I remember this even from childhood. Yeah. It's about jumping off the bridge, which is kind of an interesting,

you know, little plot device for children to be exposed to. I always, I always enjoyed as a kid, like you, Georgia, I believe, who grew up in New York and in Queens. So whenever they would have like the hair, you know, hair, what is the... Hair grows in Manhattan. There grows in Manhattan and Bowery Bugs. I mean, you know, I love that that they would reference New York, you know, in Daffy Doodles.

Daffy's running all over New York skyscrapers going into the subway. Love that. Anyway, I'll stop. I love it too. We've got Claws for Alarm directed by Chuck with Porky Pig and Sylvester. crowing pains with popcorn, leghorn, courtesy of Mr. McKimson. Another one of my personal favorites, frigid hair with bugs, directed by Chuck Jones, hair remover, another one I love.

And this was Tashlin when he was leaving, right? Right. So McKimson got to the credit, but it's really Tashin's true. No, no, no, no, no. It's, hair remover is, I believe, Tashlin, whether there's credit or not, I'd have to go look. But I don't think both of them are credited, and I don't remember which one. I don't either. But that's why I put both of them as the director, you know, when people see the list, they will see that.

We credit both incredible legendary talents. Speaking of legendary talents, the next cartoon is by Fred Avery, Tax Avery, the heckling hair from 1941, fantastic cartoon. Hop and Go, directed by Norm McCabe, often overlooked, but a very, very funny cartoon. And then... People are going to want to know that the film has gotten a cleanup.

This is a specially remastered, yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So picturing sound are now where they should be. The next cartoon is another one I remember loving as a kid hiding hair

it's bugs directed by frilling but it almost has a Jones aspect to it a little bit around the edges you know the more you look at these cartoons the more you'll notice that almost on everybody's maybe not Joneses but the reason is

is they all work together as much as they were separate and they had their own units they looked over each other's storyboards they may have contributed this contributed that there's one of the I'm not going to remember the name of it offhand but the one of the Sylvester and Sun cartoons

with that McKimson did and the very first shot apparently there was a problem he couldn't get his animators to do the first get this first shot done they needed help and they used Ben Washam from you know Chuck Jones's unit and there's

one little shot of that opens the film as Sylvester talking to his son and it looks exactly like Chuck Jones cartoon. I'm like, if you ever wanted to imagine what a Sylvester and son directed by Chuck Jones, you know, this cartoon would show you that. But anyway, I digress. Yes.

Well, that's a perfect lead into our next cartoon directed by Chuck Jones with Porky Pig and Sylvester, Jumping Jupiter. Yeah. You couldn't have set it up better. Yeah, that's the final of that trilogy that they did. And it's also more way out, literally, than some of the other. ones. They're not in a haunted house. I'm not going to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it, but they're in a unique location in that cartoon.

Demer, we enjoy The Last Hungry Cat with Sweetie and Sylvester? The Last Hungry Cat, I much quickly mention that was a spoof, a takeoff of Alfred Hitchcock. Yes. Very strange, very unusual, very adult, grown-up cartoon for Tweety and Sylvester, as you will see, Sylvester smokes and has a nervous break down. But, Jerry, weren't cartoons made for kids? No. They were always trying to, the watch cried. People say, why do you spend so much time on cartoons?

These were animated short films made for theaters, for adults that were okay for the kids in the audience to enjoy too. When they became television fodder, it was a different story. Right. But they were made for theaters. theaters and adults, and just even the name of the cartoon coming off The Last Angry Man. You know, I mean, it's wonderful. The next cartoon is with Sylvester and Mr. Speedy Gonzalez, Mexican Borders. And then we have Mouse Menace, another Arthur Davis cartoon with Porky Pig.

Odor of the Day with Pepey Lapew, not from Chuck Jones, but another from Arthur Davis. And then Charlie Dogg returns with Porky Pig. Pig in Offen and Orphan, and then the pest that came to dinner with Porky, directed by Arthur Davis, ready-set Zoom with Wile E, coyote, super genius, and the Roadrunner sent a mental over you, which is Pepe Lepew directed by Jones, of course, and then stop, look, and hasten with YL.E and the Roadrunner, directed by Jones, to beep or not to beep. Also Wiley and the Roadrunner from Mr. Jones. Here's one that you don't get to see very often, but you should and you'll enjoy it here. Wagon heels. Wagon heels. Bob Clampett

and very, very funny Western spoof. You know, Westerns, I want us to say, for our audience, many, many cartoons parodied Westerns. And that's because from the beginning of cinema through the earliest days of TV into the 60s and 70s Westerns were a major genre. Americans love them. I love them myself. And, you know, everybody knew the cliches.

So it was, you know, prime for making fun of. And the Western genre is still hanging in there, popular on television. Oh, yeah. With the Taylor Sheridan shows, the Yellowstone and whatnot. but also, you know, we did our monogram cowboy collections. Yep.

And we've got a lot more westerns coming up in a live action. There's another monogram matinee on the way in Blu-ray. Good. It's a little sneak peek for the non-animated folks. But we love the Western cartoons that parody them. I usually think of just Yosemite Sam, but there were many others. So Wagon Heels, I'm very excited. That's a part of it.

The next cartoon is, Woe Be Gone from Mr. Jones with Wiley and Roadrunner. And then the next is rarely seen wise quackers with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. It's a fralling. There are certain aspects of the plot that were considered a little objectionable, but we have the freedom to release the cartoon in this adult collector's collection. And then last but certainly not least, Jeff Jones directs Daffy Duck, and you were never duckier. Yeah.

And there are the 51 cartoons, ladies and gentlemen, that will be yours on March 24th. Pre-orders will be going up long before that. There will be a very healthy pre-order period. I'd say the pre-orders will probably go up right after the new year. And I would recommend that people order early because... There isn't usually enough inventory because demand exceeds what the stock is built. I keep trying to tell people to build more inventory and anticipation of what the fans will want.

So hopefully we will have plenty of inventory on Street Day. I think this is a very exciting collection. I'm delighted we're going to be able to bring this to the fans. we're hoping there will be a volume three if volume two sells well there will be a volume three and we'll have enough time to know how to gauge that and again that just adds to what I was indicating earlier there will be a lot more theatrical animation in 2026 which I think is worth celebrating so this announcement I thought it would be really great to share with our loyal consumers and bands what the contents of Looney Tunes Collectors

Volute volume 2 are so they can have it as a little tiny Christmas present and a thank you from the Warner Archive Collection for the support of the audience, the fans, the consumers out there were buying our releases. We couldn't do it without your support and we appreciate your support. and hope to continue on for decades to come. Yes. Jerry, what do you say? Another 70, 80 years?

You want to keep doing this? Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely. It's definitely going to be a long while because we have so much more to mine. I call it mining. Mining. It's endless. It's endless.

So it's very exciting. People will be able to see that beautiful packaging. I think they did a beautiful job with the package. and the back package notes are by none other than Mr. Beck himself. And it's just going to be a terrific set that I hope all the fans will really be enjoying for years and years to come. Well, George, before we wrap up, were there any extras that were... Yes, I will mention. I'm glad you brought that up because the cartoons on Disc 2 that had commentaries from... animation historians on their DVD releases as part of the Golden Collections and whatnot.

So there will be commentaries on this disc. And I think it's just going to be a great deal of entertainment for a very reasonable price. Yeah. Well, fantastic. Like you said, this is a terrific little Christmas present for those anxiously waiting to hear. And then next year it's going to be fantastic to get this. But I'm excited to get my pre-order in. And thank you guys for taking time out.

Coming on the extras, sharing with us, because unlike just reading about this, I love hearing the little stories and where you guys point out which ones are kind of highly anticipated or expected or favored by yourself. But thank you guys. This is a fantastic, fantastic podcast and gift to the fans. So thank you. Well, and thank you, Tim. It's always a pleasure to be as part.

of the extras and to share our enthusiasm with animation enthusiasts of all ages. What a terrific Christmas gift for me, for you, for all of us who enjoy classic animation and have been waiting to hear what these cartoons are on Volume 2. So now we know and we can enjoy planning ahead and anticipating this release. We will put up the pre-orders when they become available, as George said, probably in early of 2026. So you can look for that. If you aren't yet on our Facebook group or following our Facebook page, you may want to do that. I put them up there right away as well. I want to wish everyone a happy holidays and a happy new year, and we'll look forward to a terrific 2026. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Malar. Stay slightly

obsessed about classic animation.