{"id":26901,"date":"2017-11-10T23:43:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T04:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=26901"},"modified":"2017-11-10T23:49:39","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T04:49:39","slug":"porky-pig-101-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/10\/porky-pig-101-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Porky Pig 101 (DVD)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve seen so many hours of Looney Tunes that it\u2019s obscene. My mom bought my brother and I about five or six Looney Tunes compilations on VHS when we were kids and I saw them at least eighty times a week. When I got cable television, I watched looney tunes almost obsessively. From the \u201cBugs & Tweety Show\u201d Saturday mornings, to various hour blocks on Cartoon Network like \u201cToonheads\u201d and \u201cAcme Hour,\u201d to twenty two day blocks of Bugs Bunny called \u201cJune Bugs\u201d my appetite was insatiable. One of the big things you learn being a Looney Tunes fanatic is that Bugs Bunny was not the OG of the Warner animated gallery, it was in fact Porky Pig.<\/p>\n

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Sure, Bugs is often cited as the mascot of the studio, but one of the earliest Looney Tunes were Porky Pig. I was never personally a fan as Porky\u2019s adventures were more about him getting in to trouble more than outwitting some nasty, or dumb bad guy. Only later in life did he finally find his groove working along side other better characters. That said, for Looney Tunes and Warner cartoon collectors, Warner Archive offers a five disc, 101 cartoon release that follows his life and evolution on the animated medium. After holding them back after being discovered by Warner, the set chronicles every bit of Porky\u2019s early career from his debut in 1935\u2019s \u201cI Haven\u2019t Got a Hat\u201d until 1943\u2019s \u201cPorky\u2019s Pig Feat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cartoons are presented chronologically and map every single step of Porky\u2019s progression, and his somewhat uneven array of shorts that range from slapstick to nothing but musical numbers a la Vaudeville. While most of the shorts feel dated (take context heavily in to consideration), and they\u2019re hit or miss ultimately, they\u2019re mostly for collectors and for folks that want to see where and how Porky started. You also get to see Termite Terrace try out a lot of their timeless comedy formulas that they kept alive through the nineties. Porky was Warner\u2019s first big star, and it\u2019s fascinating to see how he\u2019s depicted in most of his shorts. You figure there\u2019d be some kind of consistency, but he\u2019s almost in the vein of Elmer Fudd. One short finds him as tall and huge, another sees him short and chunky, while another may find him drawn in the style we know him as today.<\/p>\n

Despite being there first and making his mark, he was eventually reduced to a third tier player to more popular characters like edgy protagonists Bugs and Daffy, and troublesome foes like Sylvester. It\u2019s a remarkable record of a very important forefather of the animated Looney Tunes gallery, and it\u2019s highly suggested for animation buffs alike.<\/p>\n

Along with restorations, Warner includes commentaries for \u201cI Haven\u2019t Got A Hat,\u201d \u201cYou Ought To Be In Pictures,\u201d and \u201cOld Glory\u201d by animation historian Jerry Beck. Martha Segall and Beck comment on \u201cOld Glory,\u201d while \u201cPorky\u2019s Poultry Pant\u201d and \u201cPorky In Wackyland\u201d have commentaries by Michael Barrier. \u2018Poultry\u2019 also has an audio interview. There are wonderful commentaries on \u201cPorky In The North Woods,\u201d \u201cThe Case of the Stuttering Pig,\u201d \u201cThe Daffy Doc,\u201d and \u201cPorky\u2019s Romance\u201d by Mark Kausler, and commentaries on \u201cPorky At The Crocadero\u201d and \u201cWholly Smoke\u201d by Daniel Goldmark. There\u2019s a commentary by John Kricfalusi and Eddie Fitzgerald on \u201cPorky\u2019s Party,\u201d while there are fun storyboards for \u201cPorky\u2019s Party\u201d and \u201cPorky\u2019s Poor Fish,\u201d and \u201cPorky\u2019s Breakdowns.\u201d Finally there\u2019s a by Greg Ford on \u201cPorky\u2019s Preview,\u201d and a great commentary on \u201cPorky Pig\u2019s Feat\u201d by Joe Dante.<\/p>\n