Bad news on the Harveytoons dvd collection
 

During the last week, I was able to make some contacts over at Classic Media and I have gotten word from the company, that the long awaited Harveytoons dvd collectors set, has been "DELAYED" until sometime next year.:(

Although, the folks at CM will be contacting me in the coming weeks, on any new updates and I will share them with all of you.

Any word from CM about a possible release date for the Mister Magoo set?


-Jon

I did mention to CM about the Magoo collection and if a street date had been annnounced and from what a CM represenative told me, that no date has been set as of this writing.I can say (if anyone is interested) that CM/Sony did release the Casper cartoons on dvd last week, as each disc(I think it might be three sets?) contains nine cartoons and the Casper dvd cover art looks like the old Harvey Comics covers of the 50s and 60s and the disc states the "ORIGINAL HARVEYTOONS".

I'm a little confused...

The only upcoming listing for Casper cartoons that I can seem to find, is a DVD from Sony Music / Classic Media called, "Casper's Spookiest Tales", which was supposedly released on August 16th even though most e-tailers don't seem to have stock. There are a couple of auction listings up at Ebay though, but it's certainly not a multi-disc set (nor did I find mention of any other newly issued titles anywhere online) and the covers certainly don't resemble the old Harveytoons comics nor did I see mention of Harveytoons anywhere on the cover for that matter either...


Weren't there supposed to be two upcoming releases of classic 1950s Casper TV cartoons?



Here's a list of ALL the Famous Studio 'Casper The Friendly Ghost' 1950's theatrical productions and 60s syndicated TV shorts:


As far as I'm aware, Sony Music / Classic Media have released 3 DVD compilations of these cartoons beginning with "Casper And Wendy's Ghostly Adventures", "By The Old Mill Scream" and "Peek A Boo".


I've highlighted each title a specific color corresponding to the DVD release in which it's presented:



"Casper And Wendy's Ghostly Adventures"

"By The Old Mill Scream"

"Peek A Boo"



...



- Casper's Spree Under The Sea (1950)

- Once Upon A Rhyme (1950)

- Boo Hoo Baby (1951)

- To Boo Or Not To Boo (1951)

- Boo Scout (1951)

- Casper Comes To Clown (1951)

- Casper Takes A Bow-Wow (1951)

- The Deep Boo Sea (1952)

- Ghost Of The Town (1952)

- Spunky Skunky (1952)

- Cage Fright (1952)

- Pig-A-Boo (1952)

- True Boo (1952)

- Fright Day The 13th (1953)

- Spook No Evil (1953)

- North Pal (1953)

- By The Old Mill Scream (1953)

- Little Boo Peep (1953)

- Do Or Diet (1953)

- Boos And Saddles (1953)

- Boo Moon (1954)

- Zero The Hero (1954)

- Casper Genie (1954)

- Puss 'n' Boos (1954)

- Boos And Arrows (1954)

- Boo Ribbon Winner (1954)

- Hide And Shriek (1955)

- Keep Your Grin Up (1955)

- Spooking With A Brogue (1955)

- Bull Fright (1955)

- Red White And Boo (1955)

- Boo Kind To Animals (1955)

- Ground Hog Play (1956)

- Dutch Treat (1956)

- Penguin For Your Thoughts (1956)

- Line Of Screammage (1956)

- Fright From Wrong (1956)

- Spooking About Africa (1957)

- Hooky Spooky (1957)

- Peek A Boo (1957)

- Ghost Of Honor (1957)

- Ice Scream (1957)

- Boo Bop (1957)

- Heir Restorer (1958)

- Spook And Span (1958)

- Ghost Writers (1958)

- Which Is Witch (1958)

- Good Scream Fun (1958)

- Doing What's Fright (1959)

- Down To Mirth (1959)

- Not Ghoulty (1959)

- Casper's Birthday Party (1959)



+ "The New Casper Cartoon Show", Syndicated TV Shorts:



- Greedy Giants (1962)

- Red Robbing Hood (1962)

- The Lonesome Giant (1962)

- Wendy's Wish (1962)

- A Visit From Mars (1963)

- Bedtime Troubles (1963)

- Bored Billionaire (1963)

- City Snicker (1963)

- Cold Wave (1963)

- Growing Up (1963)

- Kings Of Toyland (1963)

- Little Lost Ghost (1963)

- Mother Goose Land (1963)

- Professor's Problem (1963)

- Small Spooks (1963)

- Super Spooks (1963)

- The Absent-Minded Robot (1963)

- The Enchanted Horse (1963)

- The Heart Of Gold (1963)

- The Magic Touch (1963)

- The Timid Knight (1963)

- The Wandering Ghost (1963)

- The Witching Hour (1963)

- Twin Trouble (1963)

- Weather Or Not (1963)



So that only leaves 20 remaining Paramount theatrical shorts left to be released, and according to the disc specs on this newly issued DVD from Sony, we should be seeing an additional 13 cartoons. Luckily, Sony Music seems to be focussing towards the earlier Famous Studios productions first so that's a pretty good sign. If the details posted by Nelson concerning 2 or 3 news discs turned out to be accurate, we'd probably see a completion of ALL the Casper Paramount theatrical shorts on DVD...

I'd really like to try and figure out what's going on with these mysterious discs?

Also, I wonder if I should bother picking up this new "spookiest Tales" disc considering the low msrp just for completists sake, or if I should hold off to see how the Harveytoons set will be handeled?

I wonder if Classic Media will eventually revisit all of these Casper theatrical shorts (well the syndicated Harveytoons TV versions of them) from the individual releases next year with this set?

I've seen copies of CASPER'S SPOOKIEST TALES at Wal-Mart. I don't know what the contents are (the DVD comes packaged with a Casper trick-or-treat bag attached to the back cover making it impossible to read). One of the pictures I was able to see on the back cover looked like it was from one of the 1960s made-for-TV cartoons.


-Jon

Here's a shot fo the cover Jon...

http://i24.ebayimg.com/04/i/04/c4/ea/20_1_b.JPG


I have no idea what the actual disc specs are, but I see no connection to the Harveytoons name anywhere.

I don't think there were any other Casper DVDs released recently, they certainly aren't available from any online retailers, not even for pre-order, and nobody's got them on Ebay which would lead me to believe they never came out (if they were even scheduled)...

I haven't heard anything apart from this disc and the delayed Harveytoons set.

I think one of the CGI movies might have recently been reissued or something like that, but no new classic Harveytoons...

Cartoon list on new Casper DVD
 

This is a great example of how *not* to do these on DVD. These cartoons pretty much could be marketed to two audiences: (1) kids and (2) adults who grew up with them. They lose on both counts, because the product doesn't really have a whole lot of appeal for today's children in the first place when compared with contemporary properties such as Spongebob, Rugrats, etc. And as clueless as these people are about this, they lose a good chunk of the adult "retro" sales because they mess around with the cartoons and don't release them in their original form. The Casper cartoons I've seen from CM are just duped from the "Harveytoon Show" versions. In fact, the first cartoon on this new disc has a frame or two of the fade out of the "Harveytoon Show" opening. The shorts have a more or less standardized opening title format, with a cut-down version of the opening, and this is where they lose me: on the made for TV Caspers, they drop the original opening and closing altogether and substitute a cut-down 1950s era opening (from the theatrical short "Boo Moon") and superimpose the title of the 1963 cartoon over the last title card. Why?

Other than that, the quality (visual and audio) is excellent, so they do get points for that.

For me, I would love to see remastered versions with original (not faked) Paramount titles, but even if we can't have that, I'd be happy with just complete Harvey titles.

I also think CM missed the boat by making these discs all Casper, rather than including other Harvey characters like Buzzy, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, etc. Face it, the Casper shorts (indeed, many of the Harvey shorts) are quite formulaic and they don't really lend themselves to watching a half dozen of them in one sitting. I have an old Worldvision Buzzy VHS tape (which includes all the Harvey-owned Buzzy shorts) and it's like watching the same cartoon seven times in a row. One at a time, they'd be more enjoyable.

In another "get a clue" move, the titles are not listed anywhere on the package on this new DVD. Here are the cartoons included:

A Visit From Mars
The Absent-Minded Robot
Bedtime Trouble
Boos And Saddles
Doing What's Fright
The Enchanted Horse
Little Lost Ghost
Small Spooks
Super Spooks
True Boo
Twin Troubles
Zero The Hero
Growing Up

Thanks for the content list, I'll update my above post with the issued shorts.


As per the openbing titles, SONY/Classic Media does not own the rights to release the theatrical version of these films which is why we've been seeing the redone Harvey openings instead of the full cartoons with original Paramount cards.

I believe there were a few shorts with Baby Huey on one of the earlier discs thiough, and a couple of shorts with Wendy Witch, though I agree they could be doing better with these compilations. I still don't think they're that bad considering the legal; issues that have been tying these up. At least we'll be seeing the Harveytoons set next year which will offer a better assortment of character shorts...

So here's the revised list with ALL the officially released Casper cartoons available on DVD. Lots of post-Paramount television shorts on the latest disc and unfortunatrely, Sony decided to rehash one of the titles for some reason. Here it is:


...



"Casper And Wendy's Ghostly Adventures"

"By The Old Mill Scream"

"Peek A Boo"

"Casper's Spookiest Tales"



...



- Casper's Spree Under The Sea (1950)

- Once Upon A Rhyme (1950)

- Boo Hoo Baby (1951)

- To Boo Or Not To Boo (1951)

- Boo Scout (1951)

- Casper Comes To Clown (1951)

- Casper Takes A Bow-Wow (1951)

- The Deep Boo Sea (1952)

- Ghost Of The Town (1952)

- Spunky Skunky (1952)

- Cage Fright (1952)

- Pig-A-Boo (1952)

- True Boo (1952)

- Fright Day The 13th (1953)

- Spook No Evil (1953)

- North Pal (1953)

- By The Old Mill Scream (1953)

- Little Boo Peep (1953)

- Do Or Diet (1953)

- Boos And Saddles (1953)

- Boo Moon (1954)

- Zero The Hero (1954)

- Casper Genie (1954)

- Puss 'n' Boos (1954)

- Boos And Arrows (1954)

- Boo Ribbon Winner (1954)

- Hide And Shriek (1955)

- Keep Your Grin Up (1955)

- Spooking With A Brogue (1955)

- Bull Fright (1955)

- Red White And Boo (1955)

- Boo Kind To Animals (1955)

- Ground Hog Play (1956)

- Dutch Treat (1956)

- Penguin For Your Thoughts (1956)

- Line Of Screammage (1956)

- Fright From Wrong (1956)

- Spooking About Africa (1957)

- Hooky Spooky (1957)

- Peek A Boo (1957)

- Ghost Of Honor (1957)

- Ice Scream (1957)

- Boo Bop (1957)

- Heir Restorer (1958)

- Spook And Span (1958)

- Ghost Writers (1958)

- Which Is Witch (1958)

- Good Scream Fun (1958)

- Doing What's Fright (1959) + Doing What's Fright (1959)

- Down To Mirth (1959)

- Not Ghoulty (1959)

- Casper's Birthday Party (1959)



+ "The New Casper Cartoon Show", Syndicated TV Shorts:



- Greedy Giants (1962)

- Red Robbing Hood (1962)

- The Lonesome Giant (1962)

- Wendy's Wish (1962)

- A Visit From Mars (1963)

- Bedtime Troubles (1963)

- Bored Billionaire (1963)

- City Snicker (1963)

- Cold Wave (1963)

- Growing Up (1963)

- Kings Of Toyland (1963)

- Little Lost Ghost (1963)

- Mother Goose Land (1963)

- Professor's Problem (1963)

- Small Spooks (1963)

- Super Spooks (1963)

- The Absent-Minded Robot (1963)

- The Enchanted Horse (1963)

- The Heart Of Gold (1963)

- The Magic Touch (1963)

- The Timid Knight (1963)

- The Wandering Ghost (1963)

- The Witching Hour (1963)

- Twin Trouble (1963)

- Weather Or Not (1963)

Any news about the Harveytoons dvd set,Nelson? A release date ?