What was the first PD hackjob you found

[BloodyChamp]

How about it? The thread where I responded with the same phrase is obviously where I got the idea to post this. I'll never throw away many of my better PD tapes for sentimetal reasons. My sister and me still enjoy them. We have the orders memorized on them all, except for the awesome 50 Famous Cartoons tape (or was it 50 Greatest...I should be smacked for no remembering it's title or distributor since this tape opened up the floodgates for my fandom). I actually had to order that bad boy through the mail. It was the first tranaction of any kind that I did. It happenned to involve both mail and money. I sent cash to the address, not knowing any better as a child, and still got my tape.

It has 50 cartoons on it in great condition. You can't hardly find a PD release today with 50 seconds of such condition. The first nutjob I ever found was Woody Woodpecker by Wondertoons. I was maybe 20 and was a huge fan of cartoons, but hadn't learned about public domain and how it pertains to cartoons. I obviously didn't know that the only Woody Woodpecker cartoon on that tape was going to be the same one on my 50 cartoons tape. I was in a Fred's store for it's grand opening in my hometown and snagged that bad boy for a dollar. Didn't even get my $1 worth if you ask me. The angry letter I mailed to the addy on the tape cost more to make and mail :D

[Tom Stathes]

I was around 10 when I started seeing Wondertoons tapes in the dollar stores 'round here. Simply put, it was the worst crap I'd ever come across.

[absolutpaul]

Those were aweful tapes, but I think the "Cartoons R Fun" tapes were the worst of all.
Were those distributed in the United States?

[Brandon Panther]

Those were aweful tapes, but I think the "Cartoons R Fun" tapes were the worst of all.
Were those distributed in the United States?
Those Cartoons R Fun tapes may have been aweful, but they were really the only way most kids in the 90s could see All This and Rabbit Stew.

[Tom Stathes]

I liked the CRF tapes, granted the earliest runs of them were the best quality (both in tape sleeve quality, cassette shell of course, and possibly tape quality). Isn't it funny that Wondertoons were a reincarnation of the CRF tapes? I guess the company figured they could milk profits from their stuff again and do so even more cheaply.
I believe the CRF tapes were dist. bu Vidtape Inc. for some or all of the original run.

[Debbie]

I think the worst PD compilations I've come across were those bulk cartoon DVDs (75 classic Cartoons, 150 Classic Cartoons, 150 Cartoon Collection, etc.) I never had too much trouble with PD videotapes. The best ones I remember were a series put out under the name Castle Cartoons, with at least two different Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck casettes, (all with the WB logos intact), a Mickey Mouse tape that included Fleisher's "Small Fry", a Donald Duck with Suisie the Little Blue Coupe and Hooked Bear...I can't remember all of them. But those were well worth my investment of $1-2 dollars.

[Tom Stathes]

Castle Cartoons were in fact good collections... those later became "Cartoon Classics", also with a yellow cover, and lastly the Alpha Video cartoon classics series (with individually designed sleeves.)

[Studio Toledo]

Those were aweful tapes, but I think the "Cartoons R Fun" tapes were the worst of all.
Were those distributed in the United States?
God don't remind me of those! I got the impression some guy in his garage duped those tapes for a quick buck!

[Studio Toledo]

Those Cartoons R Fun tapes may have been aweful, but they were really the only way most kids in the 90s could see All This and Rabbit Stew.
Also the first time I saw "Scrap Happy Daffy" through those in an orangey sepia-toned and slightly edited version on said tape.

[jonmayo15]

God don't remind me of those! I got the impression some guy in his garage duped those tapes for a quick buck!Yeah, I think he took whatever videos he could get and put cartoons over them, like my Yogi Easter Special Video that I discovered was yet another CRF tape. Also a training video for the store Ames.

[Jeffitarian]

Mine was a 'Cartoon Factory' DVD put out by Digiview. Most of the toons on those DVDs are not in the best of quality (surprise, surprise), but one dollar for over two hours of PD cartoons isn't bad.

[Bugsmer]

Also the first time I saw "Scrap Happy Daffy" through those in an orangey sepia-toned and slightly edited version on said tape.

That was the first time I saw the cartoon as well. It was all one colour (reddish-brown), and the sound was so bad that you could barely make out any words at all. It was very tinny. I remember thinking that it was the worst Daffy Duck cartoon I'd ever seen. I was unimpressed with the backgrounds, the story and everything else about it. I'm glad the fellows at Warners have issued a restored, black and white version on their Golden Collections. It looks spectacular.

[Leviathan]

Speaking of Digiview, if you want to talk about a REAL PD hackjob (http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showpost.php?p=55435&postcount=25).....

[Boy Wonder]

Or check out my thread on Wack(iki)y Wabbit!

I watched the PD tapes when I was REALLY young (some of my earliest memories was watching Porky's Railroad redrawn as the first cartoon on a tape), and I'm happy to see these Toon Factory/Cartoon Craze collections. Though I wish I had a VHS so I could convert it to DVD :). In any aspect though, there is a certain rough charm that is in those that no LTGC or Popeye or Treasure could ever match. I mark for (reasonably) bad quality as much as I mark for kinda-charred popcorn, which for my states, is definitely more than the average person.

[BloodyChamp]

I know. The LTGCs took time for me to warm up to because they were like a new pair of shoes that were gorgeous, but not broken in like an old pair that had to be thrown away despite being comfortable. I came around though. Ex quality is how they were made and meant to be seen.

You said mark.......ever watch any wrestling :p

[Jeffitarian]

Speaking of Digiview, if you want to talk about a REAL PD hackjob (http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showpost.php?p=55435&postcount=25).....

I couldn't agree more. Other than being a pathetic attempt to alter the content of the cartoon, you can still see what they were trying to cover up!:)

[Boy Wonder]

I know. The LTGCs took time for me to warm up to because they were like a new pair of shoes that were gorgeous, but not broken in like an old pair that had to be thrown away despite being comfortable. I came around though. Ex quality is how they were made and meant to be seen.

You said mark.......ever watch any wrestling :p

Not embarassed to say I am. I watch WWE every week either in TV or DVD form, so yeah, using a few insider terms in the mainstream. That's a word everyone can use, especially in random situation. But back to the thread, I wonder where I can find cartoon listings for some of these tapes?

[BloodyChamp]

Not embarassed to say I am. I watch WWE every week either in TV or DVD form, so yeah, using a few insider terms in the mainstream. That's a word everyone can use, especially in random situation. But back to the thread, I wonder where I can find cartoon listings for some of these tapes?

Nah...mark is a total wrestling word. Busted :p I lived for WCW. If WWE could get it together and produce some good wrestling then I'd shamelessly watch it like I did WCW.

[Marty26]

I once saw a PD tape generically titled something like "Bugs Bunny And His Friends." The only Bugs Bunny cartoon on the tape was Any Bonds Today?. :befuddled

[speedy fast]

I remember one christmas, me, my brother, and my cousins got different Cartoons R Fun videos. One of my cousins got an Egghead video, fetauring Hamature Night, and at the time I didn't know that Egghead was a Looney Tunes character, so I was surprised when I first read about the cartoon Daffy Duck and Egghead. One thing that I don't like about the Cartoons R Fun videos is that the packaging only mentioned one title, and the tape didn't have any titles listed (so if somebody lost the box and saw the tape they probably wouldn't know what it is).

I can't remember what the first public domain video I ever got was.

[Tom Stathes]

The Egghead tape was one of my favorites as a little kid- so was the purple Porky one where he's particularly heavy and standing in front of a train, obviously featuring Porky's Railroad. The latter included a beautiful print of JASPER IN A JAM, forget the appreciating the phenomenal cartoon itself, it began my interest in Pal all across the board.

[Lee Glover]

Those were aweful tapes, but I think the "Cartoons R Fun" tapes were the worst of all.
Were those distributed in the United States?

Unfortunately, they were also distributed in the UK, and they had the most gawd-awful PAL conversion job ever! I can even remember the audio on some of those tapes being extremely tinny! :mad:

[Brandon Panther]

I remember one christmas, me, my brother, and my cousins got different Cartoons R Fun videos. One of my cousins got an Egghead video, fetauring Hamature Night, and at the time I didn't know that Egghead was a Looney Tunes character, so I was surprised when I first read about the cartoon Daffy Duck and Egghead.
You mean this one?

[ebrand11]

a Mickey Mouse tape that included Fleisher's "Small Fry", a Donald Duck with Suisie the Little Blue Coupe and Hooked Bear...I can't remember all of them. But those were well worth my investment of $1-2 dollars.

A Mickey Mouse VHS tape I got have these contents:
Mad Doctor (Mickey Mouse) (1933)
Minnies Yoo Hoo
Simple Simon
Small Fry (Flesicher)

Donald Duck tape
All Together
Spirit of 43
Alice Gets Stung (1925)
Susie the Blue Coupe

I don't know if these are the ones your descibing but these were pretty good too.

[ebrand11]

I was around 10 when I started seeing Wondertoons tapes in the dollar stores 'round here. Simply put, it was the worst crap I'd ever come across.
A few years ago I came across Wondertoons Popeye and Many More. Given the tape was close to ten years old at that time. Anyway I bought that tape and it had Popeye meets Ali Baba and his 40 thieves (1937) an thats all. Where's the many more?

[AndrewGilmore]

I must have been around six or seven when my parents gave me three or four PD tapes for my birthday which I have to this day, two of which were better than usual because they featured six whole hours of cartoons!
One of the cheap 1-hour tapes contained "Prest-o Change-o", a cartoon which I watched over and over when I was a kid. That tape is pretty much ruined by now- IIRC, it plays OK but there's no sound anymore.

In fact, it was finding and rewatching those six-hour PD tapes when I was about 10 that first made me interested in learning more about classic cartoons- directors, years of release, etc. So, if it weren't for that, I wouldn't be on this board!:D

[dandu]

The first PD tape I remember watching was a 18 cartoon VHS by Starmaker, its a pretty good PD tape, I watched it over and over, and it still plays well today (I recently found out it was recorded on high quality TDK cassette), I was 5 years old when I first saw it, and 8 years later, my dad bought 2 50 cartoon tapes at goodwill by the Starmaker company and yet again they were very well put together, but on Volume One the contents are not listed correctly on the cover, showing some pleasant surprises like a slew of Porky Pig redrawns!!!


PS What happened to the Ugly PD Cover contest?

[Boy Wonder]

I wish I could find a good playing copy of the tape the poster above had. I would be in heaven for a while on that!

[mikematei]

Here's a few of mine. My first PD was the Daffy in the second row.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t75/MikeMatei/MATEIPD.jpg

[Tom Stathes]

Mike, even your relatively new collection makes some of the seasoned collectors drool. :D

[Boy Wonder]

Mike, even your relatively new collection makes some of the seasoned collectors drool. :D

Actually Tom, my mouth did not so much as drool, as it did shatter on the floor with pure awe. Hack and slash some toons, guaranteed 6-hour tape!

[jonmayo15]

Mike, fifth row, first tape, is awesome! It was the first time I ever saw "Crowing Pains" and the Clampett Tweety.

[Glowworm]

I have two Cartoons R Fun videos. The first one features Elmer dressed up in his "Corny Concerto" getup-complete with underwear showing. I think that I've only watched that tape once or twice. It features A Corny Concerto, A Tale of Two Kitties, and the Timid Toredor in which Porky sells hot tamales in a bull fighting ring. The last time I watched that video the quality was quite bad. I also have one with a picture of Daffy from Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur-and I'll admit that I'm somewhat proud of that one. See, besides a colorized version of Porky's Railroad and a seldomly seen short involving characters digging for gold(also a Looney Tune) this video tape actually had "Jungle Jitters" on it! Jungle Jitters! When I first saw that video I had no idea that that cartoon was one of the Censored 11. I also have a Popeye tape made by Kids Klassics. It contains 9 cartoons . Shut Eye Popeye, Ancient Fistory, FLoor FLusher, Bride's Gloom,Taxi Turvey, Insect To Injury, I Don't Scare, Fright to the Finish, and Big Bad SInbad.

[jonmayo15]

See, besides a colorized version of Porky's Railroad and a seldomly seen short involving characters digging for gold(also a Looney Tune) .The Merrie Melodie is called "Gold Rush Daze" and sorry, but "Jungle Jitters" and the redrawn "Porky's Railroad" aren't exactly rare nowadays.

[Glowworm]

The Merrie Melodie is called "Gold Rush Daze" and sorry, but "Jungle Jitters" and the redrawn "Porky's Railroad" aren't exactly rare nowadays.
You misunderstood me. I was merely listing what was on my tape besides "Jungle Jitters" I never thought that any of them were rare. I just felt astonished at the time that someone would actually put one of the Censored 11 on a video tape meant for kids. I also felt somewhat proud of owning that video tape merely because it contained Jungle Jitters.Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[ebrand11]

Visited a huge book sale with old VHS' yesterday they had some interesting public domain VHS' but nothing that really caught my eye. They had:
At least 5 Casper tapes with the similar contents on each one, The standard cartoons.
Porky Pig:porkys railroad, notes to you and pigs in a polka, the tape looked really old and since I had all these I passed it up.
Krazy Klassics Popeye meets Sinbad and Ali Baba and a few new three stooges. That was all except for a christmas tape with a abunch of common fleischer color classics.

[jonmayo15]

You misunderstood me. I was merely listing what was on my tape besides "Jungle Jitters" I never thought that any of them were rare. I just felt astonished at the time that someone would actually put one of the Censored 11 on a video tape meant for kids. I also felt somewhat proud of owning that video tape merely because it contained Jungle Jitters.Sorry for the misunderstanding.I'm sorry I misunderstood your initial post. The reason why "Jungle Jitters" was on there was probably that it is in the public domain(not under copyright) and the people who made the video probably didn't really care what they were marketing anyway and just trying to make some cash.

[Tom Stathes]

...the people who made the video probably didn't really care what they were marketing anyway and just trying to make some cash.

That was usually the case :p