After years, and years, and years of waiting, the Warner Archive Collection is finally able to get The Quick Draw McGraw Show on a home video format.
The company's Facebook page notes:
Each episode delivers the original triple-segment broadcast experience: the satirical Western antics of Quick Draw McGraw and his faithful sidekick Baby Looey [sic], the heart-warming domestic comedy of Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, and the sharp-witted noir parodies of Snooper and Blabber.
Setting aside the typos and some of the rhetoric (I've never thought of Snooper as a "noir" parody; the artwork doesn't have that kind of atmosphere), this is amazing news.
You've read about the almost 20-year-long difficulties of getting these cartoons available. Elements were not in the best of shape. Clearing the Jack Shaindlin music and some of the other cues. And initial skittishness because the Huckleberry Hound DVDs didn't sell as well as expected.
At least this is what I was told by Earl Kress (and I believe he explained this on the GAC Forums back then) when he was doing some work to try to get the series out then. It's sad that he's not alive to see this happen.
The release says "all 45 episodes." Whether it's safe to assume the little cartoons between the cartoons will be included (or the Kellogg's commercials), I can't tell you. I would hope Greg Ehrbar would have George Feltenstein of the Warner Archive on his podcast to talk about this. And I do hope the original credits are there so we can learn who did what on each of the cartoons.
It doesn't appear there are any commentaries. However, there is a special featurette called "The Good, the Bad and the El-Kabong." It was on the Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Vol. 1 set.
Quick Draw is my favourite of all the Hanna-Barbera shows, and I hope Warners has done justice to these cartoons for the many fans who have been waiting for this.
Specs:
1080p HD MASTERS FROM 4K SCANS OF THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVES!
MSRP $39.98
6 BD-50
Running Time: Approx. 1050 minutes
COLOR
Subtitles: ENGLISH SDH
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 1.33:1 with side mattes
Audio: DTS-HD MA 2.0 MONO
Oh, the release date. Silly me. It is September 29th.
Will you be buying this, Yowp? This is outstanding news!
ReplyDeleteI confess I don't have a BluRay player and my PC has problems reading external drives. But it's been at the top of my list for a long time to get when it comes out.
DeleteAs with all of us, I've been watching dubs with the Boomerang bug on them (with the exception of the Sat. AM DVDs which had some of the cartoons with the Hoyt Curtin cues). This should be far superior.
Have it on display Yowp. So you can walk by everytime and marvel that this thing actually exists after so long.
DeleteTrue! It will also give you memories of Earl perhaps
DeleteIT’S HAPPENING BOYS
ReplyDeleteAnd to think this happening at all was once thought impossible even just 5 or 10 or 15 years ago!
ReplyDeleteWhen Earl and I talked about this before his death, he thought the challenges were impossible to surmount. He was heavily involved in trying to make it a reality after the Huck set came out. I think he would be satisfied in being wrong.
DeleteI'll be buying this. Last year's Huck set is wonderful. I suspect the shows on the Quick Draw blu ray will be cartoons only based on the total time of 1050 minutes for 45 shows, each show would run 23.5 minutes. I don't know how long that documentary is and whether that would cut from the time. We might get the opening of the show with end credits and bumpers. I can't wait.
ReplyDeleteThe documentary, if I recall, is six minutes. Not long.
DeleteGeorge F. usually talks on THE EXTRAS podcast about all Archive releases. By the run time and episode count, I don’t think they are going to have Kellogg’s commercials on this release like they did on the Huck set. I am looking forward to hearing George tell us all about it on THE EXTRAS podcast soon.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Feltenstein is a treasure
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see how cancel culture handles Baba Looie's "Queeksdraw" dialect (let alone El Kabong).
ReplyDeleteEven though we all knew this was in the works deep inside Warner’s, the anticipation has been tremendous — and I’m glad we have this blog insofar as it appears to be the one place where people congregate to cheer for HB news.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s interesting is that the price is less than the Huck Blu-Ray. Perhaps there are less interstitials collected or maybe it’s just the smaller amount of episodes. Either way, I can’t wait to get the set and I look forward to seeing these shorts on MeTV toons (or at least Tubi).
This surprised me a little given that The Extras TV hadn’t posted about this yet, but I can’t wait to hear about this. Given the lack of home releases this show had in it’s history (only 4 episodes with the other 2 segments on the DVD). I couldn’t wait for this to release. I really loved both characters. Especially Baba himself (and also Quick Draw McGraw, for the funny lines Maltese puts within the episodes) And to Yowp’s response regarding the documentary length. Yes, it is around that mark. And i did listen to in full. They did a great job remarking what the show was known for and why people loved it back then and even now. I’ll also keep note on MeTV Toons promos for this when it comes on too. But for now, I’ll plan on buying this. What a welcome surprise. Even as good as the Triumph song “Fight the Food Fight” (which is one of my favorite rock songs of all time). for that price, I don’t expect commercials (due to the fact the price is lower) but given the fact people are waiting for this release including myself. We’ll find out, but until then. I’ll plan on treasuring it with the rest of the stuff i own. Thank you for posting this. — Corbin
ReplyDeleteCorrections: 1. The song was actually titled: “Fight the Good Fight”, not “Fight the Food Fight” as that was a autocorrecting error.. Whoops. 2. About my response to your comment about the length, Yes, I was correct it was nearly 6 minutes in total length (5:59) but i’m also commenting also because I did forget that same Paul Dini was in “The Good, The Bad and the El Kabong”, (the same one who was involved in Batman and so much more, also with Scott Jeralds, they worked together before this), was in this, while i do fondly remember the late Earl Kress in there. Such a great person (and a great writer in his own right), given his history with the company and your past interactions with him. Even Jerry Beck and the late great layout artist Jerry Eisenberg (who did layouts for Pixie and Dixie, Snooper & Blabbers, etc.) was involved and George Feltenstein as well (who now does interviews with “The Extras TV”, who i also liked). 3. Before i go, My one question is that (to George or the others), would the credit cards be fixed like with last year’s “Huckleberry Hound” Blu-Ray release? As this was an issue with the old Boomerang prints in some episodes, as for example: “El Kabong Was Wrong”: The wrong credits was used before the title card shows up (the cartoon was actually animated by Lew Marshall). And sometimes, they would skip straight into the cartoon which makes it harder to identify (I blame it on the fact that in the 80’s they had to update it to skip the title cards for the people who did their work on the cartoons themselves due to time constraints). Given some of the prints of the show was not in the best shape from what I’ve heard. I’ll leave this comment here so in that way i’ll get to know what would most likely happen so i’ll know what to expect with this release. — Corbin
DeleteCorbin, I only know what's on their page. I have no insider knowledge of what the release entails. I suspect if these are from original masters, the credits would be intact.
DeleteVery good news,this~
ReplyDelete