Now, two new DVD collections of Bugs' best work, Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire and The Essential Bugs Bunny, have been issued by Warner Home Video to remind viewers — who might have forgotten about his charms or carelessly classified him as a mere childish pleasure — of what the wascally wabbit could accomplish. Hare Extraordinaire features 15 previously unreleased-on-DVD Bugs shorts, and The Essential Bugs Bunny is a capacious two-disc set, with 12 original shorts joined by television specials such as How Bugs Bunny Won the West and a tribute documentary, Ain't He a Stinker.
Yes, Id'm a cartoon junkie at times. But not the cartoons you might think. Case in point is the recent release of Bugs BunnyC's Easter Funnies on DVD. I1'm a huge Bugs Bunny fan and have loved all of the classic cartoon characters from the 1940s and 1950s, even though I grew up in the 1970s - Bugs, Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Pepe Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, and all the rest. But starting in the 1970s, the cartoons I saw were compilations of bits and pieces from those earlier classics mixed with bridging clips for continuity of a particular story or theme.
As a kid, I didnt't catch on that the studios were doing this and I just enjoyed the shows. But as I got older, I noticed that the voices werene't the same for the characters in some places or that the animation style was slightly different here and there. And to see Bugs Bunnyl's Easter Funnies on DVD after all this time, it really drives home how weird those bridging segments really were in a few places. (It originally aired in 1977, which makes me feel really old!)
These thoughts about the Bugs Bunny oeuvre, as well as the increased frequency with which his disembodied voice calls me a cld"maroon,rd" hmdash; a reflection of his linguistic playfulness, and not some strained slur rmdash; have been spurred by Warner Home Videohrs"s release this week of hld"The Essential Bugs Bunny Collection. rd" The two-disc DVD set purports to include 20 old"classic rd" cartoons that mark ld"essential milestones rd" in Mr. Bunnyirs"s career. As Daffy Duck might advise Elmer Fudd: Donurs"t fall for this old gag.
