TVSquad

Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection will be released May 15. Here's an early look:

Tex Avery made a name for himself at Warner Bros before moving on to MGM. He helped create such iconic characters as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck while working for Warner Bros, but what I've always loved about Droopy (whom Avery created at MGM) is that, save for rare moments of abandon, he's the polar opposite of his cartoon contemporaries over at Warner Studios. Sure, Bugs could be unflappable and insouciant, but he still had that "looney" quality. Droopy, however, never seemed to care about annoying his nemesis the way Bugs did, he just lived by a code that the good guy would always win, and his universe always stretched and squashed to make sure that's exactly how things went.

It's fun to watch the twenty-four shorts included on this DVD set and see how Droopy's design changed as the years went on (I love the backgrounds in "Dixieland Droopy"). One can even see how the era in which these cartoon were made changed, as the later Droopy cartoons contain more than a few sarcastic references to television, the medium the ultimately extracted cartoons from movie theaters for good.

The DVDs also contain warnings about the "racist" content of some of the cartoons, which is just as worthy of discussion as anything else, though I personal don't believe these cartoons, which were never intended for children, had any agenda other than to make people laugh.

Purists may find some of the transfers less than stellar, but I'm not one to complain too much about having access to every Droopy short ever made. The special features aren't that great either, but again, I was too busy enjoying the cartoons to care.

And in other animation news:

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so Boomerang is having a marathon dedicated to that sexy stone age mother, Wilma Flintstone. The marathon will run from noon to 7 p.m.

Are you a fan of the anime series Bubblegum Crisis? AOL (which owns TV Squad) has episodes on the In2TV site. Check them out.

Finally, comic book and animation writer Paul Dini (Tiny Toons, Batman: the Animated Series) has a podcast. If you're an animation/comic book/movie nerd you'll enjoy it.

Also, I just discovered today that In2TV is finally allowing viewers to embed the free videos. I'll be putting a cartoon at the end of each of these weekly animation round-ups from now on. Today, enjoy The Jetsons: