The Looney Tunes Golden Collection is a series of six four-disc DVD sets from Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts originally released from the 1930s to 1960s. The initial run of the series was in folding cardboard packaging issued gradually from October 28, 2003, to October 21, 2008. A boxed set combining all six volumes was released in 2011, and each volume was reissued separately in standard Amaray-style cases in 2020.
Overview The Golden Collection series was launched following the success of the Walt Disney Treasures series which collected archived Disney material.
These collections were made possible after the merger of Time Warner (which owned the color cartoons released from August 1, 1948, onward, as well as the black-and-white Looney Tunes, the post-Harman/Ising black-and-white Merrie Melodies and the first H/I Merrie Melodies entry Lady, Play Your Mandolin!) and Turner Broadcasting System (which owned the color cartoons released prior to August 1, 1948, and the remaining Harman/Ising Merrie Melodies; most of these cartoons had been released as part of The Golden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDisc series), along with the subsequent transfer of video rights to the Turner library from MGM Home Entertainment to Warner Home Video.
The cartoons included on the set are uncut, unedited, uncensored, and digitally restored and remastered from the original black-and-white and successive exposure Technicolor film negatives (or, in the case of the Cinecolor shorts, the Technicolor reprints). However, some of the cartoons in these collections are derived from the "Blue Ribbon" reissues (altered from their original versions with their revised front-and-end credit sequences), as the original titles for these cartoons are presumably lost. Where the original titles, instead of the "Blue Ribbon" titles, still exist, Warner has taken the "Blue Ribbon" titles out.
A handful of cartoons in the first two collections and the bonus cartoons on Volume 6 have digital video noise reduction (DVNR) artifacting. The noise reduction process sometimes unintentionally erases or blurs some of the picture on certain scenes of the cartoons, which has caused controversy among some Looney Tunes fans. The most recent collections, however, lack such artifacting. Since August 2007, Warner Home Video has been quietly reissuing copies of the fourth disc of Volume 2 that lacks artifacting and interlacing because of numerous complaints by consumers.
Beginning with Volume 3, a warning was printed on the packaging explaining that the collection is intended for adults and the content may not be suitable for children. This goes along with Whoopi Goldberg's filmed introduction in Volume 3 which explains the history of ethnic imagery that frequently appears in cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s. Beginning with Volume 4, a singular disclaimer text card similar to Goldberg's spoken disclaimer precedes each disc's main menu. This is also seen on the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection discs and even on the back of the Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection discs (though for the latter, they are from Universal, not Warner Bros.).
The DVDs also feature several special features including interviews/documentaries of the people behind the cartoons such as Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Robert McKimson, Chuck Jones, musical conductor Carl Stalling and voice-artist Mel Blanc, pencil tests, and audio commentaries by animation historians Jerry Beck, Michael Barrier and Greg Ford, as well as current animators Paul Dini, Eric Goldberg and John Kricfalusi and voice actors Stan Freberg and June Foray. In addition to the appearances by the above-mentioned, there is interview footage of Stan Freberg, June Foray, Noel Blanc, Billy West, Keith Scott, Mark Evanier, Bob Bergen, Joe Alaskey, Bill Melendez, Willie Ito, Corny Cole, Peter Alvarado and the children of the various directors: Robert McKimson Jr., Ruth Clampett, Sybil Freleng and Linda Jones. Also included are several obscure, miscellaneous pieces of Looney Tunes media, such as original segments from The Bugs Bunny Show, theatrical compilation releases, trailers, rediscovered cut content, clean music and sound effect tracks of various shorts, and reconstructions of partially lost material. Audio footage of Mel Blanc in recording sessions is heard as a bonus feature on several of the discs, as is an audio clip of Arthur Q. Bryan rehearsing a line as Elmer Fudd in What's Opera, Doc? and a recorded session of the Warner Bros. studio orchestra. In total, there are 356 cartoons (18 more than The Golden Age of Looney Tunes) spread throughout the six volumes.
In some regions, such as Regions 2 and 4, each disc in each volume is packaged (or re-packaged) separately. In this format, it was titled "Looney Tunes Collection" omitting 'Golden' from the title. There were no boxes to group the various volumes, and no numbering on the spine of each individual cover, so storage order was not easily maintained. The Region 1 box set has since been released in Regions 2 and 4.
Releases Volume 1
Volume 1 (released on October 28, 2003) contains 56 cartoons (all in color) mostly from the 1950s with a smaller selection of shorts from the 1940s. Popular shorts include: Disc 1 Baseball Bugs Rabbit Seasoning Long-Haired Hare High Diving Hare Bully for Bugs Wabbit Twouble Ballot Box Bunny Rabbit of Seville
Disc 2 Duck Amuck Drip-Along Daffy Scaredy Cat The Ducksters The Scarlet Pumpernickel Rabbit Fire Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
Disc 3 Fast and Furry-ous Hair-Raising Hare Haredevil Hare For Scent-imental Reasons Feed the Kitty Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
Disc 4 Canary Row Bugs and Thugs Speedy Gonzales Devil May Hare
Disc-by-disc breakdown Disc one is dedicated to Bugs Bunny. Disc two is dedicated to Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Discs three and four consist of an assortment of shorts featuring other characters, grouped by director: Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett on disc three, Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson on disc four.
Volume 2
Volume 2 (released on November 2, 2004) contains a broader selection of cartoons (58 in color and 2 in black-and-white) from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, including: Disc 1 The Big Snooze Broomstick Bunny Bugs Bunny Rides Again Little Red Riding Rabbit Tortoise Beats Hare Baby Buggy Bunny
Disc 2 Beep, Beep Going! Going! Gosh! Stop! Look! And Hasten! Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z The Dover Boys at Pimento University A Bear for Punishment
Disc 3 Bad Ol' Putty Tat Gift Wrapped Snow Business Tweetie Pie Kitty Kornered Baby Bottleneck The Great Piggy Bank Robbery Porky in Wackyland
Disc 4 Back Alley Oproar Book Revue A Corny Concerto Three Little Bops One Froggy Evening What's Opera, Doc? You Ought to Be in Pictures
This is the first volume to have 60 cartoons, which would continue to be the "standard" number in later volumes (though most would also include additional "bonus" cartoons).
Disc-by-disc breakdown Disc one, as in the first edition, contains only Bugs Bunny cartoons. Disc two contains eleven Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote shorts, along with four cartoons from Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote creator Chuck Jones. Disc three contains nine Sylvester/Tweety shorts, along with six cartoons starring Daffy Duck and/or Porky Pig. Disc four is an all-stars disc, though there is some relation between each cartoon on the disc: they are either musicals, Hollywood parodies, set on a stage, or incorporate other forms of show business.
Volume 3
Volume 3 (released on October 25, 2005) contains a selection of cartoons (52 in color and 8 in black-and-white) mostly from the 1930s and 1940s, but with some from the 1950s and 1960s including popular shorts such as: Disc 1 Hare Tonic A Hare Grows in Manhattan Hillbilly Hare Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
Disc 2 Daffy Duck in Hollywood Thugs with Dirty Mugs Swooner Crooner The Last Hungry Cat
Disc 3 I Haven't Got a Hat Porky's Romance Porky's Party Porky in Egypt Pigs in a Polka Porky Pig's Feat Robin Hood Daffy Claws for Alarm
Disc 4 Super-Rabbit A Gruesome Twosome Draftee Daffy Falling Hare Birds Anonymous An Itch in Time Odor-able Kitty Walky Talky Hawky
Disc-by-disc breakdown Disc one, as with previous volumes, is only Bugs Bunny. Disc two features Hollywood caricatures and parodies. Disc three mainly concerns Porky Pig, with a few other pig-related cartoons thrown in. Disc four is the all-stars disc.
Volume 4
Volume 4 (released on November 14, 2006) contains selections (51 in color and 9 in black-and-white) ranging from 1936 to 1966 (the latest Looney Tunes cartoon yet), including popular shorts such as: Disc 1 Rabbit Hood Operation: Rabbit Mississippi Hare 8 Ball Bunny Knighty Knight Bugs
Disc 2 The Case of the Stuttering Pig Plane Daffy Puss N' Booty The Stupid Cupid
Disc 3 Cat-Tails For Two Tabasco Road Mexicali Shmoes The Pied Piper of Guadalupe
Disc 4 The Night Watchman The Aristo-Cat Dough Ray Me-ow Mouse and Garden
Disc-by-disc breakdown Disc one continues the tradition of the only-Bugs Bunny disc. Disc two is dedicated to director Frank Tashlin. Disc three contains only Speedy Gonzales cartoons. Disc four consists of cartoons starring obscure Looney Tunes cats, with two Sylvester cartoons thrown in for good measure.
Volume 5
Volume 5 (released on October 30, 2007) contains 41 color cartoons and 19 black-and-white cartoons (the most of any set thus far), including popular shorts such as: Disc 1 Ali Baba Bunny Buccaneer Bunny A Pest in the House Stupor Duck The Stupor Salesman The Abominable Snow Rabbit You Were Never Duckier
Disc 2 Bewitched Bunny The Bear's Tale Goldimouse and the Three Cats Little Red Walking Hood The Trial of Mr. Wolf
Disc 3 Buckaroo Bugs Hare Ribbin' The Old Grey Hare The Wise Quacking Duck The Daffy Doc A Tale of Two Kitties Eatin' on the Cuff
Disc 4 Porky at the Crocadero Scrap Happy Daffy Gold Diggers of '49 Porky's Preview Wholly Smoke
Disc-by-disc breakdown Disc one features Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. This is the first time that the first disc is not entirely dedicated to Bugs Bunny, now sharing the spotlight with Daffy Duck. Disc two contains parodies of fairy tale stories, mostly of "Little Red Riding Hood". Disc three honors the work of director Bob Clampett. Disc four features Porky Pig and other early classics - all in black-and-white (the first such disc in the LTGC).
Volume 6
Volume 6 (released on October 21, 2008) concludes the entire series of the Golden Collection. The ratio of color to black-and-white cartoons (41 to 19) is the same as the previous volume. This volume contains popular shorts such as: Disc 1 Hare Trigger Crowing Pains My Favorite Duck Satan's Waitin' Bear Feat Dog Gone South A Ham in a Role
Disc 2 Herr Meets Hare Russian Rhapsody The Draft Horse The Ducktators
Disc 3 Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! Bosko's Picture Show Ride Him, Bosko! A Cartoonist's Nightmare
Disc 4 Horton Hatches the Egg Fresh Airedale Chow Hound Rocket-Bye Baby Much Ado About Nutting The Hole Idea Now Hear This Page Miss Glory
Disc-by-disc breakdown Disc one features an all-star collection. Disc two features cartoons with a World War II theme (World War I in the case of Bosko the Doughboy). Disc three features early 1930s black-and-white cartoons that star Bosko, Buddy and other characters. Disc four features a collection of one-shots.
Re-release On December 27, 2011, Warner re-packaged all volumes in a single boxed set. From January through June 2020, each volume was reissued separately in standard Amaray-style cases.
Other DVD and Blu-ray releases of Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection