Customer Reviews

Harvey Toons - The Complete Collection

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Animation Historian and self-proclaimed Famous Studios fan Jerry Beck posted this on his excellent Cartoon Brew web site:

"Sony Wonder has just released a boxed set called Harveytoons: The Complete Collection. 'Harveytoons' was the generic name affixed to the 1950s Paramount/Famous Studio cartoons (featuring Casper, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, Buzzy, etc.) when they were originally syndicated to television back in the 1960s, after Harvey Comics acquired the TV and non-theatrical rights to the library. Classic Media owns the collection today and authorized this new set. I haven't had time to review the whole set, but what we have here are 52 episodes of THE HARVEYTOONS SHOW, a program I formatted for Harvey Entertainment and Fox Kids back in 1998. Unfortunately, this set does NOT constitute 'the complete collection' under any condition. For a variety of reasons we did not incorporate the entire Harveytoon library into the original series. Certain cartoons (particularly the Screen Songs) are edited. The fact that their were 78 episodes should tip you off right there. Here's the list of the original Fox Kids series. Sadly the contents of the DVD set doesn't even match up to this list (for example, episode 52 on the DVD is actually #53 of the series).

"Oh, how I wish someone from Classic Media had consulted with me. For one, I would have made sure to include certain cartoons (like the politically incorrect Chew Chew Baby) and it would have been fun to create some bonus materials. The good news is that the cartoons look nice and clean, the cult classic La Petite Parade is included (episode #40 on the DVD) and they've restored the original Jackson Beck vocal tracks to Buzzy The Crow."

First of all...this is NOT the complete collection. Secondly, the cartoons are butted together with hardly time for one to end before the next one begins. And lastly, there is no booklet, no listing, no menu of any kind on the DVD itself.
Very shoddy package of some very fine cartoons and characters. I hate to sound like an old-timer...but why do most people not care anymore about what they produce? How could you sign you name or be part of a team that worked on this very mediocre (at best) packaging, and walk out of work with any sense of pride?
Dramatic, I know, but fight the urge to be any part of mediocrity. Be proud to sign your name to anything you produce. No one should be proud of being any part of this packaging.

Classic Media, Harvey and Sony Wonders have released Harveytoons-The Complete Collections. If you are old enough to remember these classic shorts you will be glad to finally own these classic cartoons on DVD. If you are new to the Harveytoons collection, you will enjoy yourself getting acquainted with the original Casper The Friendly Ghost, Wendy, Baby Huey, Katnip, Little Audrey and other characters.

The four discs included with the set are dual disc in nature, which means that DVD content is on both sides of the disc. What I found most frustrating about this set is that there is no booklet included. If I were a connoisseur of these classics shorts I wouldn't know which disc to start with or where to look for the episode I wanted to watch. So I just put the discs in and started watching cartoons.

Harveytoons are almost completely new to me, so please bear with my review. I have a vague memory of seeing these cartoons in syndication when I was three or four years old. Casper is probably the most well known of the HarveyToons characters. In the shorts featured on the set he has to deal with people being afraid of him sometimes. He can't understand why because after all he is a friendly ghost. In one short he goes to the zoo and befriends a baby elephant. The most interesting of the Casper shorts are when his naughty cousins are included in the episode. Katnip is another popular HarveyToons character. He is a mischievous feline. My son said some of the Katnip episodes reminded him of Tom & Jerry, I'm sure he was referring to the storyline because Katnip did have a mouse named Herman who was involved in many of his adventures.

The HarveyToons-The Complete Collections is pretty barebones. There is nothing that tells you how much content is on each disc. The title screens in between shorts includes episode credits. As someone new to the HarveyToons collection I found this one aspect rather frustrating. Sometimes I really didn't know what I was watching and then if I did find and episode that I liked I had to make a point to remember the episode number. In the episode selection menu the episodes are listed by number. A booklet would have been really handy as many of these shorts had names.

The picture quality is decent in my opinion as is the sound quality. This is an enjoyable collection but if you are a true connoisseur of the HarveyTunes Collection you may have some issues about the bare bones nature of the set. There are not bonus features included and nothing notes about the episodes being re-mastered. The set has a running time of 19 hours and includes 52 cartoon episodes. I enjoyed watching the set.

"Matty's Funday Funnies" ran on Sunday (Funday) on ABC from 1959 to 1962. The show was immensely popular, featuring Casper the friendly ghost and other characters from Harvey Famous theatrical cartoons, which were shown by Paramount in theaters in the '50s. Casper was also syndicated in 1953 for TV in seven minute cartoons. "Matty" in the title of the 1959 series referred to the sponsor, Mattel Toys, and the cartoon hosts, Matty and Sisterbelle. The show's second incarnation, "Matty's Funnies" in 1962, featured Beany and Cecil Bob Clampett's: Beany and Cecil Bob Clampett's Beany And Cecil, Vol. 2.

It's difficult now to imagine how good cartoons were at this fledgeling time. The 1959 show ran against "Rocky and His Friends", which must rank as one of the all-time great shows. The 1960 season brought "The Flintstones", which ran until 1966. Bugs Bunny also appeared in repackaged Warner theatrical cartoons this year. Along with the Oscar-winning rabbit, "King Leonardo and his Short Subjects" made their dubut, and were later syndicated along with Rocky and Bullwinkle shows. 1961 saw "The Alvin Show", "Top Cat" and "Beany and Cecil" take the stage, followed in 1962 by Hanna-Barbera's other early triumph, "The Jetsons". Along with the "first family of the future", "Supercar" arrived from the UK, the vanguard of the futuristic Supermarionation shows that would include "Fireball XL5" and "Thunderbirds", announcing to US kids that the future is now.

I never liked the super-violent "Tom and Jerry" shows, and I think that H-B's greatest achievements came after that, when they moved into gentler slapstick, their "buddy" cartoons, and the radio-like dialogue that typified the early shows like "Ruff and Reddy", "Huckleberry Hound", and Yogi Bear". Not to mention the modern, appealing character design, the witty writing, and the brilliant use of limited animation in order to do the impossible: produce a season of TV cartoons for the price of one theatrical animated short. Aside from Casper, the other Harveytoons here, like "Herman and Katnip" do range into T and J territory, although perhaps not quite as violent. The writing is not particularly witty, but the goal for a theatrical cartoon differed from the later intent for a series: loud, fast, lots of ethnic jokes and stereotypes (because that makes characters immediately recognizable). Following radio and early TV, it's all Vaudeville: anything for a laugh (that gets by the censor).

However, as a kid I didn't see it that way. I had a talking Mattel Casper plush pal that I took everywhere. My sister and I devoured Harvey comics. My favorite was Hot Stuff, the Little Devil, of which no cartoons were made. Her's was Wendy the Witch, who very briefly appears in this series. I still love reading old Harvey comics. Interestingly, the on-screen menus for this series begin with comic panels being colored in, emphasizing the connection between the cartoons and comics.

As other reviewers have noted, this set is compiled from the 52 shows Jerry Beck put together in 1998 for Fox Kids. Each show has three cartoons, sometimes based loosely around a theme like fishing or space travel, and a piece of a cartoon called a "Toon Take". Some of the later shows have four cartoons instead of a TT. These shows, on four double-sided discs in a hinged package, include cartoons of Casper, Baby Huey, Little Audrey, Herman and Katnip, Buzzy the Crow, one-offs, and my favorite, "Modern Madcaps". These were simple, modern-styled,'50s one-off theatrical cartoons. Some of the older cartoons here also have redone, modern-look titles.

This is not the complete run of Harveytoons, as there were 78, and this set is 20 shy. Nevertheless, it's a great deal for 19 hours of cartoons for anyone interested in animation history, or who just wants to watch some cartoons. Show one a day to your kids (mix with other favorite cartoons) and you don't need cable. Onscreen menus let you select a show by number.

Contents are as follows:

Disc One Side A:

1. "Boo Moon" -Casper; "Dizzy Dishes" -Little Audrey; "Out of This Whirl" -Modern Madcap.
2. "Mouse Trapeze" --Herman and Katnip; "Casper Comes to Clown" -Casper; "Jolly the Clown" -Modern Madcap.
3. "Scout Fellow" -Baby Huey; "Boo Scout" -Casper; "Scouting for Trouble" -Modern Madcap.
4. "Cat Tamale" -Herman and Katnip; "Bull Fright" -Casper; "Pedro and Lorenzo".
5. "Once Upon a Rhyme" -Casper; "Little Audrey Riding Hood" -Little Audrey; "Dante Dreamer" -Modern Madcap.
6. "Mousetro Herman" -Herman and Katbnip; "Boo Bop" -Casper; "The Animal Fair".
7. "Huey's Ducky Daddy" -Baby Huey; "The Seapreme Court" -Little Audrey;"Feast and Furious".

Disc One Side B:

8. "Herman the Cartoonist" -Herman and Katnip; "Ghost of Honor" -Casper; "Rabbit Punch".
9. "Which is Witch?" --Casper, with Spooky and Wendy; "The Case of the Cockeyed Canary" -Little Audrey; "Perry Popgun" -Modern Madcap.
10. "Mice Meeting You" -Herman and Katnip; "True Boo" -Casper; "Jumping with Toy" -Baby Huey.
11. "Boos and Saddles" -Casper; "Git ALong Little Duckie" -Baby Huey; "Shootin' Stars" -Modern Madcap.
12. "Casper Takes a BowWow" -Casper; "Dog Gone" -Little Audrey; "Fido Beta Kappa" -Martin Kanine.
13. "Cat in the Act" -Herman and Katnip; "Ghost Writers" -Casper; "Top Cat" -Modern Madcap.
14. "Swab the Duck" -Baby Huey; "The Deep Boo Sea" -Casper; "Ship a Hooey" -Herman and Katnip.

Disc Two Side A:

15. "Of Mice and Menace" -Herman and Katnip; "Ghost of the Town" -Casper; "TV Fuddlehead"-Modern Madcap.
16. "Do or Diet" -Casper; "You Said a Mouseful" -Herman and Katnip; "The Voice of the Turkey".
17. "Mice Kapades"-Herman and Katnip; "Fright from Wrong" -Casper; "Crazytown".
18. "One Funny Knight" -Herman and Katnip; "Red, White, and Boo" -Casper; "Silly Science" -Modern Madcap.
19. "Boo Kind to Animals" -Casper; "Surf Bored" -Little Audrey; "Okey Dokey Donkey" -Spunky.
20. "Robin Rodenthood" -Herman and Katnip; "Cage Fright" -Casper; "Boppin' Hood" -Modern Madcap.
21. "Good Scream Fun" -Casper; "Mouseum" -Herman and Katnip; (no title) -Modern Madcap.

Disc Two Side B:

22. "Drinks on the Mouse" -Herman and Katnip; "Pig a Boo" -Casper; "Newshound" -Snapper.
23. "Owly to Bed" -Herman and Katnip; "Boo Hoo Baby" -Casper; "Bouncing Benny" -Modern Madcap.
24. "Ground Hog Play" -Casper; "Sock-a-Bye Kitty" -Buzzy; "talking Horse Sense".
25. "Party Smarty" -Baby Huey; "Casper's Birthday Party" -Casper; "The Miceniks" -Modern Madcap.
26. "Zero the Hero" -Casper; "Cat-Choo" -Buzzy; "Finnegan's Flea" -Modern Madcap.
27. "City Kitty" - Herman and Katnip; "Spooking About Africa" -Casper; "Travelaffs" -Modern Madcap.
28. "Of Mice and Magic" -Herman and Katnip; "Puss'n'Boos" -Casper; "Funderful Suburbia" -Modern Madcap.

Disc Three Side A:

29. "To Boo or Not to Boo" -Casper; "Monsieur Herman" -Herman and Katnip; "Good and Guilty" -Goody the Gremlin.
30. "Boos and Arrows" -Casper; "Fiddle Faddle" -Modern Madcap; "Land of Lost Watches".
31. "Pest Pupil" -Baby Huey; "Hooky Spooky" -Casper; "Kozmo Goes to School" -Modern Madcap.
32. "One Quack Mind" -Baby Huey; "Heir Restorer" -Casper; "Cool Cat Blues" -Modern Madcap.
33. "Boo Ribbon Winner" -Casper; "Goody the Gremlin"; "Cape Kidnaveral" -Modern Madcap.
34; "Monkey Doodles" -Modern Madcap; "Hide and Shriek" -Casper; "Spex" -Modern Madcap.

Disc Three Side B:

35. "Little Boo Peep" -Casper; "Trouble Date" -Modern Madcap; "The Shoe Must Go On".
36. "A Bicep Built for Two" -Herman and Katnip; "North Pal" -Casper; "The Kid from Mars" -Modern Madcap.
37. "Huey's Father's Day" -Baby Huey; "Peekaboo" -Casper; "Lion in the Roar" -Louie the Lion.
38. "Sky Scrappers" -Herman and Katnip; "The Old Mill Scream" -Casper; "Pop Goes the Weasel" -Waxey Weasel.
39. "Audrey the Rainmaker" -Little Audrey; "Casper Genie" -Casper; "Right Off the Bat".
40. "From Mad to Worse" -Herman and Katnip; "Doing What's Fright" -Casper; "Stork Raving Mad" -Modern Madcap.

Disc Four Side A:

41. "Hide and Peek" -Herman and Katnip; "Le Petite Parade" -Modern Madcap; "The Oily Bird" -Inchy.
42. "Down to Mirth" -Casper; "Turtle Scoop"; "The Inquisit Visit" -Modern Madcap; "Katnip's Big Day" -Herman and Katnip.
43. "Keep Your Grin Up" -Casper; "L-Amour the Merrier" -Modern Madcap; "Possum Pearl".
44. "Not Ghoulty" -Casper; "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"; "Galaxia" -Modern Madcap; "Grateful Gus".
45. "Penguin for Your Thoughts" -Casper; "Mr. Money Gags"; "Electronica" -Modern Madcap; "Baby Huey".
46. "Spook and Span" -Casper; "Mice Paradise" -Herman and Katnip; "Cock-a-Doodle Dino"; "Kitty Kornered".

Disc Four Side B:

47. "Felineous Assault" -Herman and Katnip; "Dutch Treat" -Casper; "Fit to Be Toyed" -Modern Madcap; "Party Smarty" -Baby Huey.
48. "Railway Rodents" -Herman and Katnip; "Spook No Evil" -Casper; "Mike the Masquerader" -Modern Madcap; "Better Bait Than Never" -Buzzy.
49. "Spunky Skunky" -Casper; "The Awful Tooth" -Harveytoon; "The Planet Mouseola".
50. "Line of Screamage" -Casper; "As the Crow Flies"; "The Lion's Busy" -Modern Madcap.
51. "Spooking With a Brogue" -Casper; "Will Do Mousework" -Herman and Katnip; "Be Mice to Cats" -Herman and Katnip; "The Phantom Moustacher".
52. "Frightday the 13th" -Casper; "Frighty Cat" -Herman and Katnip; "Spooking of Ghosts"; "Can and Able" -Modern Madcap.

After searching and searching for the Screen Songs, and then to find so many listed as available on this disc I was very excited.But after viewing it I was very dissapointed. There are only the first minute or so of the Screen Songs included, NONE have the follow the bouncing ball segments with the sing a long songs and that was the sole reason I bought this dvd. The cartoons are great and the dvd is worth the price but it is not what I was expecting and I would not have bought it if I had know that the Sceen Songs were essentially not on the dvd. If you are looking for the Paramount Pictures Screen Songs, they are not on this dvd.

First off, I want to say I was very glad to get these classic Harvey toons. They look great, color is great, toons are still great. What's really really lousy is that you can't get to any specific cartoons from the menu. Menu? That's a joke, practically speaking there isn't a menu. AND THIS IS MY MAJOR MAIN complaint. Horrible useless menu that doesn't list any, none, zero titles. There is no way to get to any individual cartoon because they're all hidden inside their repackaged versions of "Episode 1" Episode 2, etc. Each of the DVD "episodes" is a repackaged DVD version of an episode and each "episode" lists no individual cartoon titles. What does this mean? Let's say you want to watch a particular Little Audrey cartoon, or for that matter, ANY Little Audrey cartoon. Good luck, there's no way to find it, no listing, no titles, no nothing on the menu, no listing on the box itself, no identification of any cartoon title or where in the world in the multi-double-sided discs to find it. Disastrous DVD packaging because of the no menu style DVDs you get. Also a major complaint, is that the introduction music beginning for each cartoon, the theme music for each toon if you will, the Casper song, the Herman & Catnip song, etc. they're all cut off after about 5 seconds, you get no opening theme credits for each toon and no complete opening theme for each toon!!! One of my fondest memories of these toons is the theme songs used at the beginning of each toon, they're all chopped off after about 5 seconds, forget reliving these wonderful theme moments, they've been edited out. Also the Harvey Giant Jack in a box himself, the opening is a NEWLY created opening, NOT the original Harvey opening. The credits that run at the end of each supposed "episode" are also newly created, not original credits that originally appeared in the complete opening theme of each toon, not at the end of the so-called episode. IF THEY HAD ONLY LEFT WELL ENOUGH ALONE AND NOT RE-CREATED OPENINGS AND EDITED THEMES DOWN TO NOTHING AND RECREATED CLOSINGS AND MOST OF ALL IF THEY HAD INCLUDED A MENU WITH EACH TOON'S TITLE LISTED, this would have and could have been an excellent set. As it is, I am now re-recording the entire set, toon by toon and giving each separate toon on my own created menu a title so that in the future I'll use my own created discs that will have title menus that I can go to any specific cartoon I want. Classic Media, you really messed up on this one. By the way, they did a very nice job on their Mr. Magoo DVD set that is currently available. On their Mr. Magoo set there IS a menu the DOES include titles for each individual toon that allow instant access to specific toon. So it goes to prove that Classic Media can do the job right IF they want to. The key to success? DO NOT TRY TO IMPROVE AN ALREADY PERFECT PRODUCT WITH YOUR RE-CREATED BITS AND YOUR CHOPPING AND SLICING AND DICING CLASSIC THEMES. I am disappointed. One good note, the cartoons themselves look excellent, bright colors, accurate coloring, no fading, the picture itself is great looking.

Well, as most of you know from reading other reviews, this is nowhere near the complete HARVEYTOONS collection. In fact, I'm a bit disappointed that Classic Media didn't take the same idea they had with the DICK TRACY cartoon series and include a miniature HARVEYTOONS comic book wrapped in the package, but okay.

Packaging errors aside, I have to admit being entertained throughout each half hour as most of my favorite titles are included here--cartoons like "DIZZY DISHES" (LITTLE AUDREY), "LA PETITE PARADE", "DANTE DREAMER", "OF MICE AND MAGIC" (HERMAN & KATNIP--no doubt the cartoon that inspired the title of Leonard Maltin's essential overview of the art of animation in America), "THE SEAPREME COURT" (LITTLE AUDREY), "HERMAN THE CATOONIST" (HERMAN & KATNIP), "GHOST OF HONOR" (CASPER--both of these interesting for their impressions of life inside a cartoon studio), "WHICH IS WITCH" (CASPER, WENDY), "FRIGHT FROM WRONG" (CASPER--who didn't really have to take mean pills, or so it turns out, to find his truly sadistic side), "MOUSEUM" (HERMAN & KATNIP), "MICENICKS" (episode 25, for that reviewer who wondered), "CAT-CHOO" (KATNIP & BUZZY--and all BUZZY cartoons as the original soundtracks and voices were neatly left intact) and so many others that i half-expected...

...And even some that I didn't expect, like a wild toon called "TV FUDDLEHEAD", about the ultimate couch potato, so entranced by the tube that every waking moment to him is one big info-mercial, or "POP CORN AND POLITICS" an interesting animated essay on how one imagines a kid sees the office of President of these United States. Cartoons like this make me wish that the folks responsible for physically transferring all this to DVD had been allowed to compile the actual theatrical prints with commentaries by Jerry Beck, who consulted for the actual syndicated packages here, and enough background so that viewers of all generations understand social commentary that might show up on occasion and caricatures of entertainers, like Ed Sullivan actually voicing is own caricature in "GHOST OF HONOR".

Well after most studios were starting to find shortcuts to their animation product, Famous Studios, a major East Coast operation for Paramount, was still doing full animation and coming up with some great scripts. Not enough of the really interesting of these kinds of stories are included here in their entireties, but perhaps Classic Media could be persuaded to actually take the full leap and give us fully restored theatrical impressions of these characters, even with the HARVEYTOONS Jack-in-the Box logo instead of the original Paramount/Famous banner. Just having the cartoons uncut in a future set would be enough for me.
But having some of the best of these cartoons even in edited form brought back vivid memories of the shows on which they played, hosted by the likes of Sandy Becker and Soupy Sales. We need more clear-headed history of the art of animation so fans can know what eventually inspired shows like "REN & STIMPY" and "THE SIMPSONS" and others that sometimes give back-handed complements to the golden age.

A horrendous excuse for a collection. Many of the shorts are cut and incomplete. Some of them have no title given, they just start up right after the previous toon. As others have said, there's no episode title listing any where in the packaging. I would have rather paid more money for a truly complete collection. Unless Sony Media changes the way it's doing these types of collections, I'll never buy another. It's a waste of money for the true Harveytoon fan.

By far, the biggest drawback to this set is the lack of useful menus, along with the fact that there is no included list of the cartoon shorts found on each of the 8 blank sides of the discs included in the set. This information can be found on the web, but it is awkward to refer to with every viewing. I have created an easily downloadable file which, when printed and carefully trimmed, will fit neatly within this set. Add my small booklet, and this collection that many would rate as only 2 or 3 stars becomes 4.5 or 5! I took the time to format the page, so all you need to do is log in, download it and print it out. It is my gift to all who love classic animation.

Go to www.wimpy.biz/harveytoons to download the file, and add it to your set. If you are contemplating buying the set and its lack of content description is making you think twice, by all means go ahead and buy it, then print the menu out when you receive it. I believe you will find it to be an invaluable addition to an otherwise frustrating package. You won't be disappointed.

Okay, I just got my copy of "Harveytoons" the complete collection. These are the cartoons that I grew up with, loved them on Saturday Mornings on the "New Casper Cartoon Show" etc. It is great that they have put this out finally. But my question is this...why didn't they have a booklet so you could know what was on each disc? Everyone seems to be upset about this, and I can't blame them! It will take me some time to see if all my favorites are there! There is one bright spot though in all the set...run the 49th selection, and speed through the first Casper cartoon...right after that is an original 1950's-1960's "Harveytoons" opening, with the Big Red "H" and the fuqua color background with the Harvey Stars on both sides with the Jack-In-The Box! It is the only cartoon that has that opening on all four discs! I love the music from these cartoons and I smile whenever I hear it because it reminds me of more happier days as a child! Winston Sharples (God rest his soul) I still love your cartoon scores! Being a musician myself, many times I wish I were in that studio orchestra! But have fun with the set, and do what I did...I am writing down the name of the cartoons on each disc to refer to on paper so I'll know what to choose! Did anyone who has this set run across the the "Modern Madcap" cartoon, "Miceniks?" The one with "Scat" the cat trying to catch some mice who were beatniks making music in an Expresso Coffee shop? If so, please respond and let me know what disc and number! :) I think I would have liked it better with the orignal "H-Harveytoons" opening! The excitment of Herman & Katnip, Little Audrey, and if I remember correctly, there were variations of music with the "Modern Madcap" openings! Enjoy! You'll go back to being a child again...and for me, time isn't on my side as I get further away from that age! :)