Blog DVD Review: Woody Woodpecker Favorites

Saturday, March 21, 2009

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly blog DVD review. This week we take a look at Universal Home Video's Woody Woodpecker Favorites. Woody Woodpecker is of course the classic TV woodpecker that made his mark in the 40s-70s in feature films! Not only do we get Woody cartoons, we also get classic theatrical cartoons of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, some Cartune Classics, and some Music Favorites. See my Blog DVD review of Woody Woodpecker Favorites:

Woody Woodpecker Favorites (Universal, $14.98) brings 15 classic unedited Woody Woodpecker cartoons and 5 other unedited classic cartoons from the legendary Walter Lantz to DVD on a sample one-disc set! If you have bought the first two volumes, then this is just a sample of that. We get select episodes here from those two volumes, along with some extras from those.
On this set we not only get 15 Woody Woodpecker cartoon favorites, but also 5 classic favorites featuring friends such as Andy Panda and Chilly Willy. The Woody Woodpecker cartoons generally are between 6-7 minutes. The other classic favorites on this set are also in that range. There are no chapter stops, which is acceptable here because the episodes are very short. There are 20 total shorts.
The video is digitally remastered and uncut and it looks great! If you have the two volumes, then you'll know. You see some dust and debris here and there. The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it. It is in mono, but very good for its age.
Packaging is a simple keep case, that is move style. It has a blue color scheme, and we get a nice artwork of Woody greeting us on the front. The back cover has information on the set and has some screenshots of the shorts along with a big photo of Woody. A box titled Bonus Features is also listed on the back of the box. Inside the case is of course the disc. The disc is totally in red with no artwork. Simple.
The menu screen has Play All, Cartoon Selection, Bonus, and Languages...exactly the same as the volumes. The main menu has Woody pecking to start and then we hear Woody's famous laugh....again the same as the volumes, but that is good! Languages section has us in English only, but subtitles can be added for English, Espanol, and Francais, as we had on the volumes. Bonus Features list the two full Woody Woodpecker Show episodes we have. Cartoon Selection is where we can choose the classic shorts...we get a list of titles in a tree hole.
Moving on to the extras. We have two full episodes of The Woody Woodpecker Show. Both of these are different from the full episodes we got each on the two volumes. So that is a plus and pure fans would want to get this, just for that! We get episode 53 and episode 56 and they run 27:01 and 26:58 with 6 chapter stops each. Nice!
I highly do recommend any fan of classic cartoons and Woody Woodpecker to pick-up this set...but really this is for fans who haven't gotten those yet or people who want to try this series. We certainly will need about 4-5 volumes to finish up the entire run, so let's hope Universal continues to do that. This favorites set is fine, but we need more volumes as well to keep fans happy and the series gets complete Let's hope we do and we get all of the Woody shorts released and the other Lantz shorts. So, this set is not all repeat, since we get two different Woody Woodpecker Show full episodes! Peck your way to buying this set, fan or tester...try it!
-- Reviewed by Pavan

(4/5 stars)

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Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
The Woody Woodpecker Show TV.com Page

Stay tuned next week for a Blog DVD review of Smurfs Volume 1! See if there is anything new there!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, December 23

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Vote" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dave gathers everyone for a lengthy ballot-palooza party to discuss the merits of every candidate and prop on each of their election ballots. Also, Gemma is determined to run a tight ship as their local precinct captain when polls open at Walcott Academy.

Poppa's House - "Sleepover" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Dr. Ivy Reed joins Poppa’s family for dinner, she begins scrutinizing Nina and Junior’s relationship for potential catastrophe. Junior spends the night at his dad’s house while Nina and Ivy devise a plan over a bottle of wine.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Black Ice" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
On Valentine's Day, when it comes to showing affection, Bob and Abishola have to find a way to meet each other in the middle.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Where's Your Other Wives, Tunde?" (The CW, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dottie, Auntie Olu and Uncle Tunde must find a way to reconcile when they're forced to eat dinner together; Bob and Abishola have differing opinions on the progress of their relationship.

The Conners - "Rage Against the Machine" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Dan gets injured while covering D.J.'s vending machine route, the decision to sue the company could cost D.J. his job; Jackie is appalled when Becky seeks life coaching from her nemesis.

The Conners - "Smoking Penguins and Santa on Santa Action" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dan is disappointed when everyone but Becky forgets about his birthday; Darlene faces another issue; Dan excludes Jackie from the family Christmas Santa photo for mistreating Louise.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 23)

Monday, December 23

John Mulaney (Mulaney) - Watch John on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Linda Cardellini (No Good Deed/Dead to Me/Guys Like Us) - Linda is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) - Sabrina appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Nathan Lane (Only Murders in the Building/Modern Family/Charlie Lawrence/Encore! Encore!/One of the Boys) - Nathan is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Rosemarie DeWitt (United States of Tara) - Rosemarie appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Brandon Kyle Goodman (Human Resources) - Brandon is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana appears on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Megan Hilty (Sean Saves the World) - Megan appears on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
James Van Der Beek (Friends with Better Lives/Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - James chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Tony Shalhoub (We Are Men/Stark Raving Mad/Wings) - NBC's Today has The 70 Club with Tony in the 9am hour.
Jennifer Love Hewitt (Shaky Ground) - Jennifer talks about Lifetime's The Holiday Junkie on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Alexa PenaVega (Ruby & the Rockits) - Alexa talks about Great American Family's Love at the Kettle on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.