Nicktoons Golden Collection

The Nicktoons Golden Collection was an annual series of six four-disc DVD box sets from Paramount's home video unit Paramount Home Entertainment containing many episodes with its original theatrical titles.

Overview
The Golden Collection series was launched in the aftermath of the success of the Walt Disney Treasures series that itself collected archived Disney material and the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. The cartoons included on the set are uncut, unedited, and digitally restored and remastered from the original successive Technicolor film negatives. However, some of the cartoons in these collections are derived from the "Blue Ribbon" reissues (altered from their original versions with their revised front-and-end credit sequences), as the original titles for these cartoons are presumably lost. Where the original titles, instead of the "Blue Ribbon" titles, still exist, Paramount has taken the "Blue Ribbon" titles out. A handful of cartoons in the first two collections and the bonus cartoons on vol 6. have digital video noise reduction (or DVNR) artifacting. The noise reduction process sometimes unintentionally erases or blurs some of the picture on certain scenes of the cartoons, which has caused controversy among some Looney Tunes fans. The most recent collections, however, lack such artifacting. Since August 2007, Warner Bros. Home Video has been quietly reissuing copies of the fourth disc of Volume 2 that lacks artifacting and interlacing, because of numerous complaints by consumers. Beginning with Volume 3, a warning was printed on the packaging explaining that the collection is intended for adults and the content may not be suitable for children. This goes along with Whoopi Goldberg's filmed introduction in Volume 3 that explains the history of ethnic imagery that frequently appears in cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s. Beginning with Volume 4, a singular disclaimer text card similar to Goldberg's spoken disclaimer precedes each disc's main menu. The DVDs also feature several special features including interviews/documentaries of the people behind the cartoons such as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Carl Stalling, and Mel Blanc, pencil tests, and audio commentaries by animation historians Jerry Beck, Michael Barrier, and Greg Ford, as well as current animators Paul Dini, Eric Goldberg, and John Kricfalusi. In some regions, such as Regions 2 and 4, each disc in each volume is packaged (or re-packaged) separately.

Volume 1
Volume 1 (released on October 28, 2003) contains 56 cartoons (all in color) mostly from the 1950s with a smaller selection of shorts from the 1940s. Popular shorts include:
 * Rabbit of Seville
 * Duck Amuck
 * Speedy Gonzales
 * Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
 * Rabbit Fire
 * Rabbit Seasoning
 * Baseball Bugs
 * Drip-Along Daffy
 * Deduce, You Say
 * Elmer's Candid Camera (the first appearance of Elmer Fudd)
 * For Scent-imental Reasons

Disc-by-disc breakdown

 * Disc one is dedicated to Bugs Bunny
 * Disc two is dedicated to Daffy Duck and Porky Pig
 * Discs three and four consist of random shorts featuring other characters, grouped by director: Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett on disc three, Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson on disc four

Statistics

 * 47 cartoons on this collection were released no earlier than August 1, 1948 and thus have been part of WB's own television packages. The remaining 9 cartoons were released prior to that date and thus were part of the Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) television package later owned by Turner (including the latest-released cartoon in this package, Haredevil Hare).
 * Three of the creditless Blue Ribbons in the former package are featured with restored technical credits: The Foghorn Leghorn, Kit for Cat, and Scaredy Cat.
 * Bugs Bunny dominates the set. In addition to having his own 14-cartoon disc, he appears on 12 more cartoons spread across the other three discs (along with one cartoon featuring the prototype), for a total of 26 (or 27, if counting Elmer's Candid Camera) cartoons with Bugs Bunny (though in Duck Amuck, he remains an unseen character until the end of the short).
 * 55 of the cartoons on the set were directed by one of the more well-known directors (either Clampett, Freleng, Jones or McKimson). Only one cartoon directed by a lesser-known director is included: 1949's Porky Chops, directed by Arthur Davis.
 * Also, 55 of the cartoons contain at least one recurring character. The only one-shot on the set is Early to Bet.
 * A total of 14 character debuts are on this set: Bugs and Thugs (Mugsy), Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (The Three Bears), Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid (Beaky Buzzard), Canary Row (Granny), Devil May Hare (Tasmanian Devil), Don't Give Up the Sheep (Ralph and Sam), Drip-Along Daffy (Nasty Canasta), Elmer's Candid Camera (Elmer Fudd), Fast and Furry-ous (Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner), Feed the Kitty (Marc Antony and Pussyfoot), Golden Yeggs (Rocky), Hair-Raising Hare (Gossamer), Haredevil Hare (Marvin the Martian), and Rabbit's Kin (Pete Puma).
 * Chuck Jones is the most-represented director on the set, with 27 cartoons, including the first two entries in his "hunting trilogy", Rabbit Fire (disc 2) and Rabbit Seasoning (disc 1).
 * Two of the Oscar-winning cartoons are contained on this set: For Scent-imental Reasons (1949) and Speedy Gonzales (1955).
 * Yankee Doodle Daffy is the only public domain cartoon to be restored on the set.

Volume 2
Volume 2 (released on November 2, 2004) contains a broader selection of cartoons from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s including This was the first volume to have 60 cartoons, which would continue to be the "standard" number in later volumes (though most would also include additional "bonus" cartoons).
 * What's Opera, Doc?
 * One Froggy Evening
 * A Bear for Punishment
 * The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
 * Show Biz Bugs
 * I Love to Singa
 * Tweetie Pie
 * The Dover Boys
 * Porky in Wackyland

Disc-by-disc breakdown

 * Disc one, as in the first edition, contains all Bugs Bunny cartoons.
 * Disc two has 11 Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner shorts, along with two Hubie and Berties, 1 starring a group called the dover boys, and 1 with the Three Bears.
 * Disc three contains 9 Sylvester/Tweety shorts, along with 6 cartoons starring Daffy Duck and/or Porky Pig (most of which are directed by Tweety creator Bob Clampett, along with one from Sylvester creator Friz Freleng, and one from Chuck Jones - who paired Sylvester and Porky in a series of shorts in spooky settings, though the Jones cartoon on this disc is Old Glory). One in the latter set of cartoons actually stars a version of Sylvester.
 * Disc four is an all-stars disc, though there is some co-relation between each cartoon on the disc: they are either musicals (with lots of singing), Hollywood parodies, set on a stage, or incorporate other forms of show-business.

Statistics

 * 31 of the color cartoons on the set were in WB's own television packages (released August 1, 1948 or later), while the amount of a.a.p.-owned color cartoons (released before August 1, 1948) tripled from the last set to 27. The remaining two cartoons are the first from the Sunset Productions package (all black-and-white cartoons except the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies from Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! onward) to be released on one of the sets.
 * Bugs Bunny, despite appearing in fewer cartoons in this set, still has the most representation, with 20 cartoons.
 * This volume was the first to contain creditless Blue Ribbons released as such - in other words, their original credits were not found.
 * Despite that, four Blue Ribboned cartoons did get restored to their original form on this set: Baby Bottleneck, Back Alley Oproar, Book Revue (reissued as Book Review), and I Love to Singa. In addition, although its opening wasn't found, Old Glory does have its original ending restored. Similarly, although it is still a Blue Ribbon, Have You Got Any Castles has previously-excised footage featuring a caricature of Alexander Woollcott restored.
 * The number of one-shots on the set is 7, up from 1 on the last set.
 * This set has the first restored cartoons from the following directors: Tex Avery, Cal Howard/Cal Dalton, and Frank Tashlin.
 * Chuck Jones defends his title as most-represented director on an LTGC set, having 22 cartoons. Friz Freleng is a close second with 21 cartoons. Combined, they have 43 cartoons on this set, nearly 3/4 of all cartoons on this set.
 * Two character debuts are on the set: One Froggy Evening (Michigan J. Frog, considered a one-shot in the classic era) and Tortoise Beats Hare (Cecil Turtle).
 * The number of restored Oscar-winners goes up to 3, as Tweetie Pie (1947) joins the list.
 * Four public domain cartoons have been restored for this set: A Corny Concerto, The Dover Boys, Have You Got Any Castles?, and Hollywood Steps Out.

Volume 3
Volume 3 (released on October 25, 2005) contains a selection of cartoons (52 in color, 8 in black-and-white) mostly from the 1930s and 1940s, but with some from the 1950s and 1960s including such popular shorts as Additional features include three Private Snafu cartoons, a 1963 television show pilot entitled Philbert, and two Harman-Ising era shorts:
 * Robin Hood Daffy
 * Hillbilly Hare
 * Birds Anonymous (Academy Award Winner)
 * Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
 * Walky Talky Hawky
 * No Barking
 * Sinkin' in the Bathtub (the first Looney Tunes short ever)
 * Its Got Me Again, the first WB cartoon nominated for an Academy Award (originally going to be Lady, Play Your Mandolin!, the first Merrie Melodie).

Disc-by-disc breakdown

 * Disc one, as with previous volumes, is all Bugs Bunny.
 * Disc two features Hollywood caricatures and parodies.
 * Disc three mainly concerns Porky Pig, with a few other pig-related cartoons thrown in.
 * Disc four is the all-stars disc.

Statistics

 * 31 of the color cartoons came from the a.a.p. package - more than any other set. The other 21 color cartoons were in WB's own packages. The 8 black-and-white cartoons were in the Sunset Productions package.
 * Bugs Bunny remains the most-represented character, having 20 cartoons on the set (same as last volume).
 * Two Blue Ribboned cartoons have their original titles restored: Daffy Duck and Egghead and Speaking of the Weather. Both shorts have incorrect ending music though due to the soundtrack being sourced from the Turner "dubbed versions".
 * Birds Anonymous joins the list of restored Oscar-winners.
 * Two directors are represented for the first time on this set, Jack King with Hollywood Capers and Ben Hardaway with Porky and Teabiscuit.
 * Chuck Jones is once again the most-represented director, having 15 cartoons on this set, including the third and final entry of his "hunting trilogy", Duck! Rabbit! Duck!. The only others with at least 10 are Friz Freleng (12 cartoons) and Robert McKimson (11 cartoons). These three combine for 38 of the cartoons on the set, almost 2/3.
 * 6 character debuts are on this set: I Haven't Got a Hat (Beans, Ham and Ex, Kitty, Oliver Owl, Porky Pig), Odor-able Kitty (Pepé Le Pew), Porky's Romance (Petunia Pig), Rabbit Punch (The Crusher), and Walky Talky Hawky (Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg).
 * 7 cartoons that fell into the public domain years before have been restored for this release: Case of the Missing Hare, Falling Hare, Hollywood Capers, Pigs in a Polka, Porky Pig's Feat, The Wabbit Who Came to Supper, and Wackiki Wabbit. In addition, the original release version of An Itch in Time was released without copyright protection, but for the Blue Ribbon version, a copyright was filed, and still stands to this day.
 * The number of one-shots restored on this set is 9 - more than the previous two combined.

Volume 4
Volume 4 (released on November 14, 2006) contains selections (51 in color and 9 in black and white) ranging from 1936 to 1966 (the latest Looney Tunes cartoon yet), including such popular shorts as
 * Knighty Knight Bugs
 * Cat-Tails For Two
 * The Night Watchman

Disc-by-disc breakdown

 * Disc one continues the tradition of the all-Bugs Bunny disc.
 * Disc two is dedicated to director Frank Tashlin.
 * Disc three contains only Speedy Gonzales cartoons.
 * Disc four consists of cartoons starring obscure cats, with a few Sylvester cartoons thrown in for good measure.

Statistics

 * 40 of the color cartoons on this set (2/3 of the selection) were in WB's own television packages. The remaining color cartoons were in a.a.p. package. All 9 black-and-white cartoons were in the Sunset Productions package.
 * Bugs Bunny keeps his title as the most-represented character, though his number of cartoons is down to 15, and now he shares the title with Speedy Gonzales.
 * Frank Tashlin, with help from his own disc, is the most-represented director on this set, breaking a three-year streak from Chuck Jones - who, along with Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson, each have 14 cartoons. The remainder are directed by either Bob Clampett or Arthur Davis.
 * The last Oscar-winner to be restored is Knighty Knight Bugs, the only Bugs Bunny cartoon ever to win an Oscar.
 * Three character debuts are on this set: The Aristo-Cat (Claude Cat and Hubie and Bertie), Cat-Tails for Two (Speedy Gonzales) and Mississippi Hare (Colonel Shuffle).
 * The number of one-shots is now at 11.
 * The Night Watchman is the only cartoon on this set with its original titles restored after years of existing only as a Blue Ribbon reissue.
 * Porky's Railroad is the only public domain cartoon restored for this set.
 * This set features the first three cartoons with the "Abstract WB" titles to be restored: A-Haunting We Will Go, Pancho's Hideaway, and The Wild Chase. These are also the first three cartoons from the DePatie-Freleng era to be restored.

Volume 5
Volume 5 (released on October 30, 2007) is the next-to-last volume to be released, with 41 color cartoons and 19 black-and-white cartoons (the most of any set thus far), including such popular shorts as
 * Ali Baba Bunny
 * Bewitched Bunny
 * A Tale of Two Kitties
 * The Old Grey Hare

Disc-by-disc breakdown
Special features includes the 2000 PBS documentary Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation, and the director's cut ending from Hare Ribbin'.
 * Disc one features Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. This is the first time that the first disc is not entirely dedicated to Bugs Bunny, now sharing the spotlight with Daffy Duck.
 * Disc two contains parodies of fairy tale stories.
 * Disc three honors the work of director Bob Clampett.
 * Disc four features Porky Pig and other early classics - all in black-and-white (the first such disc in the LTGC).

Statistics

 * 22 of the featured color cartoons are from the a.a.p. package, while the remaining 19 were in WB-owned packages. All 19 black-and-white cartoons are from the Sunset Productions package, a record.
 * Bugs Bunny, with only 13 shorts, is no longer the most-represented character. That title now goes to Porky Pig, with 17 cartoons on this set.
 * Bob Clampett, helped in part by his own disc, is the most-represented director on this set with 21 cartoons.
 * Directors making their LTGC debuts on this set are Tom Palmer and Hawley Pratt.
 * Two character debuts are on this set: A Tale of Two Kitties (Tweety) and Bewitched Bunny (Witch Hazel).
 * I've Got to Sing a Torch Song (part of the Sunset package) is the first black-and-white Merrie Melodie to be restored on DVD.
 * The Bashful Buzzard marked the first time that a Blue Ribbon with a static title card saying "THE END" in Lydian lettering was refurbished for DVD release.
 * A record 5 creditless Blue Ribbons have their original titles restored on this release: The Bear's Tale, Holiday for Shoestrings, Little Red Walking Hood, The Trial of Mr. Wolf, and You Were Never Duckier (the latter being the first cartoon in WB's Post-1948 package as well as the first Daffy Duck and Merrie Melodie in said package).
 * 8 public domain cartoons (also a record) have been restored for this release: Eatin' on the Cuff, or The Moth Who Came to Dinner, Farm Frolics, Foney Fables, Porky's Pooch, Porky's Preview, Scrap Happy Daffy, A Tale of Two Kitties, and The Wacky Wabbit.

Volume 6
Volume 6 (released on October 21, 2008) concludes the entire series of the Golden Collection. The ratio of color to black-and-white cartoons (41 to 19) is the same as the previous volume. This volume contains such popular shorts as
 * Hare Trigger
 * Bear Feat
 * Norman Normal
 * Satan's Waitin'
 * Herr Meets Hare

Disc-by-disc breakdown
In addition, there are 20 bonus cartoons, including various Warner Bros. shorts and several shorts directed by Friz Freleng for MGM in the late 1930s.
 * Disc one is an all-star disc comprising cartoons from various characters.
 * Disc two (Patriotic Pals) is a war-themed disc, primarily featuring shorts released during World War II.
 * Disc three, which is all black-and-white, focuses on the early days of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and features many shorts with Bosko and Buddy.
 * The fourth and final disc is filled with the most requested shorts (all one-shots), including Horton Hatches the Egg and Norman Normal.

Statistics

 * Among restored cartoons in the main program: 24 of the color cartoons were in WB's television packages. A total of 23 cartoons (17 color and 6 black-and-white) are in the a.a.p. package. The rest of the black-and-white cartoons are in the Sunset Productions package.
 * This set is the first not to contain a disc at least partially dedicated to Bugs Bunny. In fact, not counting bonus cartoons, this set has the fewest Bugs cartoons with only 2.
 * Sylvester and Bosko, with 6 cartoons each, are the most-represented characters on this set.
 * Chuck Jones, with 17 cartoons, regains his title as most-represented director on this set.
 * This set has the first Harman/Ising-era cartoons to be restored for DVD release. 12 H/I cartoons are featured on this set.
 * Three character debuts are on this set: Buddy's Day Out (Buddy), Hare Trigger (Yosemite Sam), and You Don't Know What You're Doin'! (Piggy).
 * A record-shattering 15 cartoons from the public domain are restored for this release: The Booze Hangs High, Bosko the Doughboy, Congo Jazz, Crowing Pains, Daffy - The Commando, The Ducktators, Fifth Column Mouse, Meet John Doughboy, One More Time, Page Miss Glory, Rookie Revue, Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!, To Duck or Not To Duck, We're in the Money, and You Don't Know What You're Doin'!
 * Crowing Pains is the only creditless Blue Ribbon to have its original titles restored on this set.
 * Norman Normal is the first cartoon from the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts era to be restored for DVD release.
 * There are 27 one-shots on this set - more than any other volume.

Other DVD releases of Looney Tunes
Concurrently with the Golden Collections, WB also released the Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection, each volume of which packaged half of the cartoons of a Golden Collection, on two DVDs. The exception to this practice was in 2005, with Warners Home Video instead releasing the somewhat-misnamed Looney Tunes Movie Collection, which featured DVDs containing edited versions of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie and Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales. In November 2009, it was reported that two new single disc DVD releases, with 15 cartoons each, would be released in April 2010. It was also reported that these 30 cartoons would not contain any duplicates that had already been released as part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection releases. This new series of DVDs is called Looney Tunes Super Stars, and the first two titles are Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire and Daffy Duck: Frustrated Fowl, which were supposed to be released on April 27, 2010, but have been rescheduled to August 10, 2010. These new DVDs still have the cartoons digitally restored and remastered - in addition to being shown uncut and uncensored. A second set of Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs was released on November 30, 2010. The titles in the second wave are Foghorn Leghorn & Friends: Barnyard Bigmouth and Tweety & Sylvester: Feline Fwenzy (which featured a collection of 15 previously-on-DVD shorts). Sadly, upon release of the discs of the first wave proved to be cropped and distorted and otherwise poorly restored to present the shorts in "widescreen" as opposed to their original aspect ratio (though these were just for the post-1953 shorts). Warner Bros. stated the reason for this was that all post-1953 WB shorts were shown in matted-widescreen in theaters. On December 1, 2010, animation expert Jerry Beck explained on the Shokus Internet Radio call-in talk program, Stu's Show that Warner aimed this series not at collectors but at the mass market who expect it to fit on their widescreen TVs. He speculated that at some point down the road there will probably be a double-dip release of those shorts in a collector's DVD version with the video in full-frame format. However, the Foghorn Leghorn disc contains both the matted-widescreen versions and the original full screen (and will most likely continue for future waves featuring new-to-DVD shorts). Jerry Beck stated on Stu's Show on December 1, 2010 that 2011 will see new Super Star releases of Road Runner (which will feature new-to-DVD shorts), another Sylvester (titled Sylvester & Friends), and another Bugs (it's unknown at this point if the Sylvester release or the Bugs release will be a double-dip) A new series, Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, was released on Blu-ray. The first volume was released on November 15, 2011.

Available shorts
This is a listing of the shorts in the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series currently available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collections, and its successors, Looney Tunes Super Stars and The Essential Bugs Bunny. A new series has made it to Blu-ray with the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection. See the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography for a more detailed list of all the shorts. This list also provides shorts included as bonus cartoons on misc. DVDs.

Key

 * = Looney Tunes
 * = Merrie Melodies
 * = was reissued as a Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodie
 * NT = Non-Theatrical Shorts
 * X:Y = Volume X, Disc Y (s if unrestored and/or included only among special features.)
 * PC = Looney Tunes Platinum Collection
 * BB = Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire
 * DD = Looney Tunes Super Stars' Daffy Duck: Frustrated Fowl
 * FL = Looney Tunes Super Stars' Foghorn Leghorn & Friends: Barnyard Bigmouth
 * SH = Looney Tunes Super Stars' Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote: Supergenius Hijinks
 * PP = Looney Tunes Super Stars' Pepe Le Pew: Zee Best of Zee Best
 * FF = Looney Tunes Super Stars' Tweety & Sylvester: Feline Fwenzy
 * WW = Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Wascally Wabbit
 * EBB = Essential Bugs Bunny
 * EDD = Essential Daffy Duck