“What’s up, doc?” Simply put, these are some of the greatest cartoons ever made and the ones that aren’t here will be on subsequent volumes. These laugh-out-loud cartoons are smart-assed sensations, a blend of wit and physical violence unequalled by other cartoons of the time. Take “Rabbit Seasoning,” for example. In its mayhem-filled minutes, Elmer Fudd suffers from “pronoun trouble” and repeatedly shoots Daffy Duck in the face at the urging of both Bugs Bunny and Daffy himself. The directors, animators and writers always claimed they were making these cartoons to please only themselves, and thank goodness they did: they pleased almost everyone else in the process.
From surreal masterpieces like “Duck Amuck” to the sci-fi lunacy of “Duck Dodgers In the 24 1/2th Century,” almost half of the cartoons in this set were directed by Chuck Jones. Others are by Robert McKimson and Friz Freleng, and a few others. Bugs Bunny is well-represented, along with Daffy Duck, Tweety, Porky Pig and even Foghorn Leghorn and the Road Runner. Not everything on the disc is a genuine classic, but this is still a great way to kill a few hours. When they aired on TV over the years, the cartoons were edited for time, violence, and everything else, but these are the uncut versions as they were originally released to movie theaters.
Lots of great commentary is included from animation historians like Mike Barrier, and there’s even the classic John Canemaker documentary, “The Boys from Termite Terrace,” that shows how these cartoons were made back in the day.
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