Will Woody & Popeye Vol 2 be good?

[mikematei]

I'm not trying to start any arguments here. But I was just thinking about what the cartoons on these next two volumes will be. The later popeye and woody cartoons were generally not as good as the early ones. I'm glad that these cartoons are going to be released either way. But does anyone else think these next sets are going to be pretty bad?

[David Gerstein]

The 2-disc Popeye Vol II will presumably cover 1938-40. There are some brilliant Popeye cartoons in that period, obviously GOONLAND but also I YAM LOVESICK, WOTTA NITEMARE, HELLO HOW AM I, and IT'S THE NATURAL THING TO DO just to name a handful. I don't think we have anything not to look forward to there. (If anything, Vol III—with the final BW shorts—covers a slightly weaker period, though the presence of fascinating wartime cartoons makes up for it in a different way.)

Woody? Well, I share many fans' viewpoint that the 1940s Woody starring vehicles are the best. But there are droves of Woody viewers who appreciate the 1950s Woodys for other reasons. "If Woody had gone straight to the police..." "The story you are about to see is a big fat lie..." "Now I've gotcha, Chief Charlie Horse..." ""YAAAAY!"
The 1950s seem to have been the decade of the most beloved Woody cliches. If you look back on them fondly (as I in fact do, despite my own '40s preference), you'll love this set; and that's not even getting into Andy and Oswald, who will have some fine moments here too.

[mikematei]

You've givin me hope!

[Jon Cooke]

You've givin me hope!

If you end up liking the '50s Woodys on Volume 2, a third volume would still be worth checking out, IMO. There would be a bunch of funny Sid Marcus, Jack Hannah and Alex Lovy cartoons on there, including all the Woody cartoons that featured Gabby Gator. It may be a bit rough getting through all the late-60s Paul J. Smith Woodys that would be on a Volume 4, but, (if Universal gets that far), hopefully the rest of the set would feature some vintage misc. Lantz shorts.

[Duck Dodgers]

If you end up liking the '50s Woodys on Volume 2, a third volume would still be worth checking out, IMO. There would be a bunch of funny Sid Marcus, Jack Hannah and Alex Lovy cartoons on there, including all the Woody cartoons that featured Gabby Gator. It may be a bit rough getting through all the late-60s Paul J. Smith Woodys that would be on a Volume 4, but, (if Universal gets that far), hopefully the rest of the set would feature some vintage misc. Lantz shorts.

Guess Jerry is planning to release all the Woodys on DVD so I hope that if a volume 3 will be made it'lll include only 30 Woody shorts and 45 miscellaneous ones. This way almost 3-4 volumes could be made.
BUT the future of the series once gaain depends from the sales of this volume, so buy it as soon as it's available.

[Jon Cooke]

Guess Jerry is planning to release all the Woodys on DVD so I hope that if a volume 3 will be made it'lll include only 30 Woody shorts and 45 miscellaneous ones. This way almost 3-4 volumes could be made.
BUT the future of the series once gaain depends from the sales of this volume, so buy it as soon as it's available.

After Volume 2, it looks like there are still 106 Woody shorts left to release.

[jazzman78]

I feel that I will be buying the Popeye's until about 1946. I will only buy the Woody's including volume 2 for the extra stuff and one shot cartoons. I have never been a lover of Lantz's work - for me the over pacing is too slow and bu the 40's even the gags were getting stall and predictable.

For me the only interesting part of the Woody's is the development of the character and once you hit the 50's and the late forties for Popeye most of the cartoons become very routine, formula products and boring.

HS

[Duck Dodgers]

After Volume 2, it looks like there are still 106 Woody shorts left to release.

The maybe he could make 35 shorts for each of the following sets (the last with 36).

[MarkTheShark]

Guess Jerry is planning to release all the Woodys on DVD so I hope that if a volume 3 will be made it'lll include only 30 Woody shorts and 45 miscellaneous ones. This way almost 3-4 volumes could be made.
BUT the future of the series once gaain depends from the sales of this volume, so buy it as soon as it's available.

Can't speak for Jerry, but I have a feeling that he would love to get all the rest of the Woody Woodpecker shorts out on DVD. I was pleasantly surprised to see a second volume released, which must mean the first one sold better than the folks at Universal expected. I would love to see the rest available as well. Just like any other long-tenured series, not every single one is a classic, but they are part of a whole. It was a good approach to do the Woody shorts chronologically and add selected other Lantz shorts.

As for Popeye, I am very grateful for the first set, which I thought I'd never see (or at least not for a long time...thought it was at a Adam West "Batman" status level, glad to see I was wrong). A 2-disc set is fine; at least they're getting out there. (That's two DVDs more than what's available now!) I'll probably get the rest of the Famous too, if they eventually come out, though I think there is no comparison whatsoever between Fleischer's work and, say, the mid-1950s Popeyes. But again, they are part of the whole. (Like the DePatie-Freleng WB cartoons.)

Bottom line: As fans and collectors of this stuff, we need to do our part (buy them) to send the message the studios understand (that there is a demand for this material and it's worth the effort to make it available).

[J Lee]

Disc 1 of the Vol. 2 Popeye will be as good as the discs on Vol. 1, since it will cover the final few months of the series in New York, and the first few months in Miami, which was a very strong and diverse period for the series. Disc 2 will start to taper off at the end, since the Fleischer's weakest period was from mid-1940 through the start of the World War II cartoons in late 1941, when Hitler and Tojo gave the writers new material and the animators and directors reason to really speed up the pacing of the cartoons to West Coast levels.

It's the early part of Disc 1 on Vol. 3 that's going to be the one which is not all that entertaining, while I hope the decision to cut the DVD releases from four discs to two isn't due to WHV suddenly having qualms about a few of those early Famous Studio shorts that are scheduled for Vol. 3, Disc 2.