The Extras - The Puppetoon Movie Director's Cut Blu-ray PLUS The Day The Earth Stood Still Screening

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Send us Fan MailWe catch up with animation historian and producer Arnold Leibovit on his newly restored, re-edited Blu-ray release of The Puppetoon Movie, built from a 4K scan of the original 35mm negative. We also dig into the legacy of George Pal, the new documentary and other extras, and a live theater event that brings classic sci-fi and Puppetoons back to the big screen. Purchase The Puppetoon Movie Director's Cut Blu-rayAlso available from Amazon:The Puppetoon Movie Volume 3 Limited EditionThe Day The Earth Stood Still Screening Event Info on FacebookTICKETS to Screening LINK The Extras Facebook pageThe Extras TV YouTube ChannelThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog GroupJoin 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]

Hi, I'm animation historian Jerry Beck, and you're listening to The Extras. He made Destination Moon. Before he made War of the Worlds, before he made The Time Machine, George Powell made Puppadoon. Join your host, Gumbi, Poki, and Arnie the Dinosaur, as they explore the puppet animation masterpieces of George Pau. Enter the magical world of Pau, and is rarely seen Academy.

Award-winning Puppatoons. All right. Let's swing it. A one, a two, a three, a four. Hi, Tim Lard here. And today we're catching up with animation historian and producer Arnold Lebovitt, who has been on the podcast several times to discuss his ongoing work with George Powell's Puppet tunes.

Arnie, it's good to see you again. It's great to see you, Tim. How have you been? Good. And I see you have all of your great props in the background. I love that, all the fun stuff. Well, let's dive right in because every time I talk to you on the podcast, there's something fun that you're doing. I've always amazed at how you're just so active in the Puppetoon world.

But you have a brand new Blu-ray coming out with the restoration of the Puppetoon movie. And I wanted to know more about that. So tell us about it. Well, I made the film in 1987 with the help of Mrs. George Puckett. pal. We compiled many of the most well-known at the time puppetunes that had been available. Several of the Academy Award-winning puppetunes, Tulip Shoghrow, John Henry Nienkeepie, The Tubby the Tubba, which is beloved, and a whole lot of European puppetunes. And that's what I've decided to restore. And it's very different than what's been released before.

because people are thinking it's the same thing we did like from before and it's not. Every one I do is a new release. The whole point is it's new. It's something you haven't seen. It's a whole new package. It's a whole new release. It has all new extras, everything. But it's also restored.

Right. Far better than anything had done before because I restored it from the 35 millimeter negative, which I had never done before. We only used the interpositive in the past because I was, was a little wary of taking my negative, sending it over to a facility, and having them transfer the negative. Because if anything happened to the negative, you know, I'd be gone. And I was always so nervous about that. And so I never did it. So I took the chance. I said, so I took the negative for the very first time I sent it to a laser graphic scanning lady who did it for me,

which is the best scanner in the world. It was like a $150,000 scanner. And she, She did a fantastic job, and it looks amazing with the new restorations. It's beautiful. You know, you get the clarity, and you'll see that in the film. It's like a whole new movie. Yeah, I mean, I've seen the trailer, and it looks fantastic. Do I have it correct here? It's a 4K scan from that original 35 millimeter negative.

I mean, that's exactly what we talk about in terms of the studio scans. So from what I can see of the footage you've shared, looks fantastic. Now, did you make any changes to the length of this original film, or is it primarily a restoration? Oh, no, I did. I re-edited the film. It's a director's cut. Okay. For instance, I added Wilbur the Lion as an example, which wasn't in the original.

I wanted to add it, so I did it have a new restoration of Wilbur, and that's in the film. And then I redid all the transitions in the film, all the opticals and transitions have been redone and upgraded. So they're all new, looks better, cleaner. and in addition to that, all the original titles of the puppatoons, the ones that I removed from the other one, the beginning credits, the end credits of the key puppetunes of how all been reinstated for this release. And that's going to have been a big issue people have talked about for years.

So that's been done. Plus the fact it's a new stereo mix. It's a new 5.1 surround. It was all done redone again. It's literally like a whole new movie. I mean, it's practically a whole new movie. movie starting all over again. Plus the new introductory in piece, which was with Gumby and Poki, we shot, you know, an epilogue and prologue sequence, which was a very elaborate

thing that we decided to do as a decision I made. I didn't want to just string together a bunch of shorts. I decided to come up with a whole movie introduction with original animation, stop motion animation. And it's the first time Gumby ever appeared in a feature-length film. It's the very first time he was ever used in a feature-length film. Gumby and Poki, Art Clokey helped me do that. Dallas McKinnon, the original voice of Gumby is the voice of Gumby. Peter Kleino, who was the original animator of Gumby, did the animation. Gene Warren Jr. with Fantasy 2. They did Terminator, Gremlins, all these big-scale movies. Their company helped me with the animation. Buddy Baker was hired the Walt Disney composer, a famous composer that did, you know, the Haunted Mansion and

Epcot and Disneyland, The Wonderful World of Disney. He was the composer for the film. So I have one of the literally Disney legends doing the music for the film. And of course, voice-wise, Paul Freese is the voice of Arnie the Dinosaur, the Pillsbury Doe Boy, and all the characters in the film. And everyone in your audience must certainly know who Paul Freese is, the greatest voice actor, legend that's ever lived. And so the film is amazing in that sense. It's a wonderful, legendary, historical thing. I decided it's about time to talk about how it all happened. So on the disc, I decided to make an extra, which is what the disc is. It's got all these extras I added. And one of them is a new documentary. It's called...

Tell us about this. a 50-minute documentary extra. Yep, it's a whole new movie I made. It's called The Puppetoon movie A Legacy Revisited. And it stars Joe Dante, Phil Tippett, Dennis Muran, Peter Lord with Wallace and Gromit, Jerry Beck's in it. He does an introduction in there. You have Mick Garris, who is a producer, a director,

just a whole host of people commenting. Floyd Norman is in it, the Disney animator, and Bob Kurtz, also with Kurtz and Friends. He's in it, too. It's this wonderful collection of people commenting on the history, the tribute to George Powell, the making of the puppet tune, how we did it, the people that worked on the film, and it kind of is something that should have been done years ago. So literally, it's like a whole separate movie that's on it. 50 minutes. That is, that's broadcast length basically of a documentary. And Why did you feel that it needed that, you know, that you could do that?

Is it because so much time has passed or? Well, I mean, why I didn't do it before or why I did it now? No, why you did it now? I did it because I had nothing else to do, right? So I just... I doubt that because I've seen how much output you do. I'm assuming it's because you wanted to get this all down. I wanted to get it all down.

I felt it was something I should have done a long time ago, problem is a lot of the people that worked on the film have passed away. Exactly. And that was a big concern. I wanted to give them their credit, the credit due to those people, the tremendous contributions they made to the project. I had people that knew them talking about them. You were talking about the lineage of George Powell linked to the past, the son who worked

on the sequence. His father did the original time machine. He got the Academy Award with George Powell. So there's that linkage and Pete connection to Gumby and Poki. And then you have the whole history of the animation business that are kind of tied into this sequence. The Kyoto brothers, puppets, Dave Allen, who the animator who did prime evils. You have all these people that worked on it, contributed to it. It's really a wonderful tribute in a way.

And I decided that's why I needed to happen. I needed to kind of explain it. And you'll see. I'm doing screenings of it. And for people that buy the disc, they'll get to see that. There's also an extra with Peter Lord from London. He did a whole thing on George Powell and how George Powell influenced him in the making of his films

and how he got started. And then there's a whole series of extras I did of films that have never been seen before of George Powell's movies from European archives that I managed to get, restored them. it's a whole new product is what I'm getting at. It's not like just a retread. Well, this is much more than I had originally when you had told me about it, because I was thinking it was more just a, oh, hey, this is a Blu-ray version

with a little bit of a remaster thrown in there that's terrific and some extras. No, this is really a whole new movie. And then, of course, going back to that original scan, that's going to make such a big difference. But you've added so much more to it, and that's amazing. And then one thing we haven't even mentioned yet is this booklet. Tell us about this booklet that also is a part of the Blu-ray release. With every one of these releases, I like to do a booklet because I want to give the historical context.

But it gives me the opportunity to also show some of these rare technicolor photographs of the puppets that don't get a chance to be seen. So I pulled out of the archive a number of the original technicolor photographic material that was actually shot on set that I have. And I put some of that into the booklet. So in a way, you're getting like a piece of a book in a way of what could happen if we ever did a book. And then it's 28 pages. Plus the fact, my graphic designer is Jim Titus, who is really literally, in my opinion,

the greatest graphic designer in the whole country. He does stuff for Spielberg and Lucas. He's done Superman for you for Warner Bros. He does so many of the movies and soundtracks. And he has just a wonderful sense of style and, design, and you'll see it in the poster that we've created all those graphics he did. It's so professional. Oh, yeah, it's beautiful.

Yeah, it's beautiful. Now, I want to go back for one second, Arnie, and just for those folks who are watching this or listening to this, who don't really understand your relationship to the Puppetunes. Just give me like a one-minute rundown on why you created the Puppetoon movie in the beginning and your relationship to George Pau. Well, it started with meeting George Pau. I mean, I was friends with him for a good year, year and a half before he died. And that made a great impact on me.

I was working on a project. I talk about this in the booklet a little bit, and I do discuss it and send a project to him, basically, that I was interested in for him to work. I wanted to be involved. And he was interested in trying to help. Back in the 80s? Yeah, it was around 1978, 79. Oh, 78.

Actually, the way the story goes is I was a friend of Dan O'Bannon, who wrote Alien with Ron Chuset. And he also made a film called Darkstar with John Carpenter. And he was a good friend of mine. And he kind of took me under his wing. He really loved my project. And he said, you know, you should take it to George Powell. And I was thinking, George Powell, is he still around? You know, I wasn't sure.

You know, I had followed him as a kid because Time Machine was my. life-changing film for me. And I was like, oh, my God. So I got to meet him. I got to go to the house, and we got friendly, and we talked. And that's how it all started with George. And he was a wonderful man, and it was an honor to have really a privilege just to have been able to be with the man. He was such a sweet, warm, self-effacing. You never know he was a genius, really. He was just such a wonderful guy. Yeah. Anyway, he passed away about a year, year and a half after that. And I stayed in touch with Mrs. Powell. And I told Mrs. Powell, we need to do a tribute to George.

And that led to my making a documentary on his life, you know, like three, four years later. And it was called the fantasy film worlds of George Powell, which was a very big tribute we showed at the Motion Picture Academy. All the people that involved in George's career were there, all the stars that made the film. Rod Taylor, Jolten Heston, Janet Lee, Tony Curtis, you name it. Everyone had worked with George was there. It was a wonderful evening. And that kind of kicked things off for me. And the way it happened on the Puppetoon movie itself,

I was basically in George's office at his home. And I saw a bunch of films in the closet, you know, that were like on the floor. And I asked Mrs. Powell, I said, what are those? She said, well, there were films that George used to show to audiences when he used to go around to conventions. So it was like a demonstration reels. I said, why don't we look at them? So she just happened to have a Bell and Howell projector, an old Bell and Howell projector, which is the way people used to watch movies at that time. And I was one of those film geek kind of guys. I knew how to use a projector. And so I took the projector, put it in the

living room. We set up a screen. He had a screen. We set up a screen in the living room. And the first reel that I put on the projector was Tubby the Tuba. It was in 16mmeter. It was a technical 16 millimeter print of Tubby the Tuba. I'd only seen it on television in black and white. I'd never seen it in color before. And I was just blown away. I couldn't believe how beautiful it looked and what a beautiful, sweet, animated story it was. And I said to Joka, I said, we've got to do something about this. We've got to preserve these things so people can see them. And that was the beginning of making the Puppetoon movie.

That's fantastic. Yeah. I love that story. And that led to this unbelievable 40-year, you know, Odyssey that I've been restoring Puppetunes, bringing the works to the world audiences. showing his features, his movies, and doing the restorations. And it's been a life, you know, a miracle, really, a life miracle for me. Yeah.

You know, the passion. It was definitely a passion for sure. Yeah. You know, I eventually remade the time machine with Steven Spielberg, but he was such a tremendous fan of George Powell. I mean, George was like the magic two words that opened the doors for me. You know, really. Yeah.

But that's the way it's been ever since. But along the way, I met a lot of other people in the industry. I became friends with Robert Wise, which is with this screening coming up. We can talk about. We'll talk about that in just a second. Yeah, I was friends with Gene Roddenberry, who did Star Trek. But all these people were influenced by George. He was sort of the mentor to all of these key people in Hollywood in 1950s and 60s.

He was Mr. Sci-Fi, really, before there was sci-fi. He was Mr. Animation before there was stop motion animation. He basically sort of invented so much of what we have been able to see today that's been made ever since. All the special effects, CGI animation, all these things we see today, the Disney Studios. George was a friend of Walt Disney's. That relationship influenced the animators at the Disney Studios.

I knew all the nine old men at the time. And, you know, they had an influence by seeing the puppatoons in the making of Snow White and Pinocchio. And eventually led to Disneyland and audio animatronics. I mean, after all, it's a small world, is a puppetoon. Exactly. And so there's this linkage there that's just so enormous, from my perspective, on how the industry worked and how it all happened. And I'm not just being, this isn't just hyperbole.

This is actual input that I received from dozens and dozens and dozens of people. And you see that in some of these documentaries that I did. People talk about this. Well, this Blu-ray comes out, I think, sometime in late April this year, you're taking pre-orders. I'll be sure to put the link in to the show notes here so that people can put in their pre-orders with you so that they can get that as soon as it comes out. really looking forward to it. So it should be fantastic. I love it. And I'm glad that we had a chance to talk about it. Now let's shift gears for a minute because like you did last year when we talked,

you are doing some more of these screenings in theaters. So tell us about the one you have coming up. I've done several of these fantasy screenings of science fiction movies. We've done War of the Worlds, the Time Machine. We did Forbidden Planet with Robbie the Robot on stage. Well, I've decided to go off on my own. Now I'm doing a whole new sequence of these at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, which is only about 15 minutes from Disneyland. And we're going to show the Day the Earth Stood Still. It's the 75th anniversary of Day the Earth Stood Still.

Restored on a big screen. I don't think anyone's seen it on a movie screen. Even I haven't seen it on a movie screen before. So that's a big deal. Yeah. Plus the fact, I was a friend with Robert Wise, as a director, who was another mentor of mine. And so I get to talk about that, introduce the day the earth stood still,

and also show two puppet tunes that I've restored. I try to show a couple of puppetunes with every one of these showings. And there's nothing like seeing a puppet tune on the big screen in Technicolor, as it was originally intended to be seen. It's a whole new experience when you see a puppet tune. Yeah, I went to the one last year, And it really is fantastic. Seeing them, I love it, seeing them on the big screen.

You see them at home and you see how great they are. But the theatrical experience is fantastic. The audience, it's really the audience that makes the difference because when you watch a puppetoon with an audience, you see the audience laughing, applauding. You understand what it's all about. You know that the audience participation, the experiential effect of being in a movie theater,

watching these movies is what it was intended for. And it makes a hundred percent difference in how you appreciate a movie. And that's what really is so exciting. So we're showing that. We're also, big news, is the eight-foot Gort Robot from Baylor-Stoodstool is going to appear on stage live at the theater for when we do this show. And so people will be able to take their picture with him. A fellow that's bringing it has a special framing picture thing that he's set up as well.

So if you want a professional thing, he'll work with him and he'll do it for you. But you'll be able to take a picture with yourself and Gort, eight-foot Gort. And then at 5 o'clock, before that show starts, we're going to do a premiere of the documentary that I made on the Puppetoon movie. See, it's called a Legacy Revisited, which has all the star people I mentioned earlier that are in it. Some of them actually are going to be coming to the theater. We're going to show that at 5 o'clock before it. And it's a way to launch, in a way, the Puppetoon movie, Blu-ray, etc. It's a way to launch it in a way.

So I'm showing that to an audience. And the theater is basically closing down just for this. I mean, they're dedicating that whole evening for this. So it should be pretty good. And what date is that again? April 18th. April 18th. It's a Saturday right in the middle of the month, which I thought it was a good day, April 18th.

Starts at five, doors open at four. And what's so nice about these screenings is the people. people. It's so amazing. I mean, there's a company called Monsters in Motion. That's one of the biggest sellers of science fiction models and movies and music and everything. And they're a supporter of this as well. They're in Orange County. And with them come all these science fiction and fantasy and animation people. It's like this community of all these people that just love this the history and the nostalgia and the things they grew up with as kids. So the great aspect of it are the people.

You and me, they're the people that just love the kind of things that we love. And that's the beauty of it. It's the people. I'm telling you, the people are wonderful. And that's why I really enjoy doing it. Yeah. That's a lot of fun. And then are you having any special guests that you can mention yet coming to the screening?

Well, I don't know for sure, but I've invited several of them, you know, that we're in the documentary. Bob Kurtz may come with Floyd Norman. I can't say anymore because they don't know for sure all the people are coming up. There are a few people that were in the documentary that will be there. I'll certainly introduce them. Well, I recall last year you had some special guests show up, and that was kind of fun as well. It just doesn't happen in L.A. that often where you have, you know, Robbie the Robot, for instance, talking to an audience. Right.

And here having Gort in front of an audience at a screening of the day the earth stood still, it's literally the first time this has ever happened. Of all of movie history, you think that someone would have done that. And here we are. I said, why not? Let's try it. So I think that's pretty amazing, you know? It's like a first.

Literally a first. Yeah, that's awesome. I know Jerry has been posting about this. He's good friends with you. you have so many friends in the industry, both in the animation industry, as well as just the film industry. You are a champion for George Powell and these puppatoons. I mean, what more can be said there? And I'm always glad, you know, to let people know about the work you're doing. That is always fantastic. But I'm also happy to see these theatrical screenings, because like you said,

who of us, or very few of us, have actually seen the puppetunes on the big screen and or films that are celebrating their 75th anniversary, like the day the earth stood still. Most of us did not see it, you know, obviously when it first was out. It's wonderful that you're doing it. There's really nothing quite like it. There's an emotional connection here that's real. It's really palpable. When I did the screening for the time machine, for instance, we did that last year, the one

that you went to, and then I did also with the Frida. Yeah. I mean, there were people in the audience that actually either knew George or it worked with people that worked with George. It came to the theater, people that knew Paul Freeze, for instance. And I also showed my documentary, and people were literally in tears. I mean, people were hugging each other. That's a wonderful thing. So I'm really a big believer in this aspect.

And so in my later years, this has actually become a big part of the joy of living for me. Well, Arnie, as always, it's great to get you on the podcast, hear your enthusiasm about these great puppet tune cartoons, the movies you're working on, the Blu-Rays you're releasing, the live events that you have going on. It's always a joy to talk to you about these things. So, thanks again for coming on the podcast. And thank you. And I appreciate what you're doing, the work you do, because you've been doing a great job of profiling some of this great, great material and subject matter. And I do, I appreciate you greatly for that. So thank you.

We have kindred spirits and wanting to be sure that we can get this stuff out on physical media and that people know where to buy it and how to buy it and everything like that. So it's terrific. Thanks, Arnie. Thank you. If you'd like to learn more about the director's cut of the Puppetoon movie that's coming out on Blu-ray at the end of April, I have some links here in the show notes so that you can either pre-order or just get more information about the work that Arnie does.

So if you don't know the Puppetunes, I really, really, really encourage you. you to learn more and explore them. And of course, we'll have more information in the show notes about this event in Santa Ana, right there not too far from Disneyland and the showing of the day that the Earth stood still. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Ballard. Stay slightly obsessed about animation. Hey, are you a fan of the Warner Archive animation releases? Do you want to get the latest updates and news right away?

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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.