Top Cat - The Complete Series (1960-61) (Warner Archive Collection)

[DawnShadow]

Originally Posted by Dragon78

Regardless of how how old the HD version is, it is better then nothing.

Of course, I just mean it's not more likely to come next than anything else that has HD masters on the shelf for a while

[grim_tales]

Hey,
Does anyone know when Top Cat will be available to pre order?

[dhwm]

Would love to have MeTV Toons, but alas, I'm rural and no antenna gets a signal. Maybe another time.

[Leviathan]

Interview with Neal Sabin, the creator of MeTV Toons.

MeTV TOONS Exclusive! New Toons Coming Soon, Bugs Bunny Birthday, Censored Cartoons | Interview - YouTube

It looks like there will be a lot of restored Hanna-Barbera coming up, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Magilla Gorilla, Dastardly and Muttley, Wally Gator, Loopy De Loop and Frankenstein Jr.

It's a virtual guarantee those will be WAC releases like Top Cat is. Question is, are they going to restore shorts like Looney Tunes?

[Bubbles-11]

Originally Posted by Leviathan

Question is, are they going to restore shorts like Looney Tunes?

i think they're focusing on the hanna barbera library.. we already got the Superstars 10 films and Hey There It's Yogi Bear, and after Top Cat I think The Yogi Bear Show is up next. they also mentioned ages ago that A Man Called Flintstone w/ original logo intact was being planned but that was probably shelved because it's already on the Home Ent division's Flintstones set

[milojthatch]

I wish WEH would take on some of the more popular vintage cartoons. If both WHE AND WAC were working on getting these titles out, that would be best.

Still, excited for what is to come.

[Ketchrust]

From 4K Scans? Sweet. So eventually 4k bluray too?

Yeah, Metv is great. @Leviathan while Im happy for those shows potentially, I want to see action shows on Bluray again. Centurions, Swat Kats, Galtar, Pirates, etc.

[UHDLoverForever]

Please restore Wacky Races and all its spin-offs.

[DavidRoylance]

...and Banana Splits please!

[grim_tales]

It looks like they're trying for TMNT 1987 - the first few seasons (say 1-3) restored would be good

[Dragon78]

Grim Tales, where did you that? Also who specifically is trying to get it?

[Strumm]

Originally Posted by Dragon78

Grim Tales, where did you that? Also who specifically is trying to get it?

He got it from the interview with Neal Sabin posted earlier. Neal Sabin is second in command at Weigel and runs MeTV and MeTV Toons. TMNT may be difficult; its with CBS/Paramount under Nickelodeon, which may be an issue. Same with Garfield and Friends

[Dragon78]

Okay, from the video though what I got from conversation was that it would be hard to get that and anything from Disney would be almost impossible.

[myuacc1]

Originally Posted by UHDLoverForever

Please restore Wacky Races and all its spin-offs.

I know Wacky Races itself already had a HD restoration that is airing on MeTV Toons.

Wacky Races - Intro and Credits (1080p HD) - YouTube

Originally Posted by Strumm

He got it from the interview with Neal Sabin posted earlier. Neal Sabin is second in command at Weigel and runs MeTV and MeTV Toons. TMNT may be difficult; its with CBS/Paramount under Nickelodeon, which may be an issue. Same with Garfield and Friends

Garfield and Friends is under the same situation that '87 TMNT was in until last year: Nickelodeon owns the show, but not distribution rights. In '87 TMNT's case, Fred Wolf Films had the distribution rights, and Lionsgate had home video rights. and in Garfield and Friends' case, PAWS in 2016 signed a deal to licence out distribution rights to it and the 80s-90s Garfield specials to 9 Story Media Group, 3 years before they sold Garfield to Nick, and 9 Story, in turn has licenced out home video rights to PBS, of all things, So Garfield and Friends might be possible for MeTV Toons through 9 Story.

[grim_tales]

Recently Garfield and Friends was "remastered" by making the cartoons widescreen - I haven't seen those versions myself though

[Ketchrust]

I wonder why some shows benefit from the bump more than others. Despite all being basically cels and mostly on same format film. Some seem softer than others.

[brenton2000]

I’m hoping the September announcements have more cartoon releases like maybe a movie this time such as The Man called Flintstone.

Also hoping this release won’t be delayed like the July releases.

[milojthatch]

Originally Posted by Bruhingtonbruh

I'm really excited about what MeTv has been doing for the classic Hanna-Barbera library, for the longest time alot of the catalog had been stuck in a purgatory of not being on streaminf at all and stuck on dvd, excited to see all these hb shows get proper HD restorations, this'll probably mean that shows such as yogi bear and wacky racers will get Warner Archive Blu rays. also hopefully it'll also lead the way to H-B shows without any releases at all such as Yo-Yogi! or The Cattanooga Cats getting dvds or blu-rays.

Originally Posted by Dragon78

At least there is a good chance to get most HB series on blu ray though I am still puzzled why we haven't gotten Animaniacs, Freakazoid, and Tiny Toons.

Originally Posted by Dragon78

What non-Scooby-Doo movies do they have left from HB?

Originally Posted by grim_tales

Recently Garfield and Friends was "remastered" by making the cartoons widescreen - I haven't seen those versions myself though

I wish they'd stop doing that. It's just as annoying cropping full screen content to widescreen as it was 20ish years ago cropping widescreen content to full screen. Let the content keep it's original aspect ratio!

[Dragon78]

Yeah, I prefer the original aspect ratio as well.

[ClassicCraig]

Originally Posted by milojthatch

I wish they'd stop doing that. It's just as annoying cropping full screen content to widescreen as it was 20ish years ago cropping widescreen content to full screen. Let the content keep it's original aspect ratio!

One thing to remember is: TV cartoons from the '60s through the '90s probably were laid out with the "overscan" area empty of important information, so a tiny bit of cropping of the top and bottom (and sides) should be OK. Cropping for broadcast to appeal to a wider audience could be acceptable as long as it is done with quality control. That may not be practical, though. I think any home video releases from WAC would not be cropped, though.