DVDs: February 2004 Archives
This is PBS's version of reality TV: Take four American families who are accustomed to the modern conveniences of the 21st century and plop them down in the middle of the Montana wilderness with nothing but 19th century technology, clothing, and transportation. The volunteer families even had to build their own log cabins, and use old fashioned medicine when they got sick. I was fascinated by the way the families adapted to their frontier lives (and sometimes cheated to get by) and how they started hating the other families. It was also interesting to see that the men loved the experience of making houses, farming, setting up fences, and corralling animals, while the woman couldn't wait to get back to pedicures, microwaves, and SUVs. Link
A lot of the 56 classic Looney Tunes cartoons in this collection have been shown on television over and over again, but the versions here are uncut, offering their full complement of cartoon violence. In addition, there are a bunch of cartoons in this 4-disc set I've never seen.
But the thing that makes this package worth the price is the supplemental material. There are tons of commentaries, documentaries, interviews, featurettes, excerpts from live-action shows, art galleries, and best of all, several cartoons with "music-only" tracks, so you can appreciate conductor Carl Stalling's genius. It's no surprise Entertainment Weekly said Looney Tunes Golden Collection was the best DVD of 2003. My six-year-old daughter and I like to watch at least two cartoons from this collection every night.
I hope Warner Bros. eventually gives the same treatment to the other 1000 cartoons in their vaults, especially the work of director Tex Avery, who is conspicuously absent from this collection. Nevertheless, this is my favorite DVD purchase in years.
