TVSquad

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

It occurred to me doing this post that I haven't seen - or even thought about - The Woody Woodpecker Show in probably 20 or 30 years. I'm not sure I'd go out and buy a bunch of DVD sets for the show, but a "favorites" collection might be good to own. He was never one of my favorite cartoon characters though. I was a Bugs Bunny kid.

The Baron I got in the mail last week. It was a British series from the 60s that starred Steve Forrest (yup, the one from S.W.A.T.) as an antiques dealer who was really a spy. I'll have to check it out this week and see how it is.

• The Baron - Complete Series
• The Best Years - Season 1
• Bonanza - The Collection

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Benson - Season 1
• A Bit of Fry and Laurie - Seasons 3 and 4
• The Crow: Stairway to Heaven - Complete Series
• Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law - Vol. 3
• Isis - Complete Series
• Land of the Giants - Giant Collection
• Philip Marlowe, Private Eye - Season 1
• The Pink Panther Show - Vol. 6
• The Real McCoys - Season 1
• Spenser: For Hire - A Savage Place and Judas Goat
• Star Trek - Captain's Log Fan Collective
• Stargate SG-1 - Season 10
• Suspense - Lost Episodes, Vol. 1
• Tales From The Crypt - Season 6
• Underdog - Vols. 1-3
• Weeds - Season 2
• Woody Woodpecker - Classic Cartoon Collection
• X-Games - Best Of

Hey kids, I've gathered up some cool animation news. Here's what's a-goin' on:

First, the second season of Ed, Edd n Eddy will be released on DVD April 24. The set doesn't include much in the way of extras, save for a behind-the-scenes segment with show creator Danny Antonucci and a "How to Draw Ed" segment. The younger kids this cartoon is geared toward probably won't care much about extras though, they'll just be happy with the thirteen full episodes.

The point of this edition of The Five, besides giving me yet another chance to talk about cartoons, is to examine those weird quirks that set certain cartoon characters apart from their constituents. That is to say, something beyond the usual bulging eyes, springing hair, unraveling tongues, mallet-induced head lumps and stars and birdies that twirl about the head whenever they crash through a wall. I'm interested in quirks and traits a character possesses that no other character does. Some of these are easy: Fred Flintstone's "Yabba Dabba Doo!," Bugs Bunny's various catchphrases like "What's up, doc?" and "Of course you know, this means war!," so I tried to delve a little deeper and come up with some oddities only incredible nerds like myself would notice.

Maybe this will make more sense if I just jump right into it:

John K wrote this on his blog recently: "The style of every scene in every cartoon I do depends on who is drawing the scene (both storyboard and layout), who painted the background and what the scene is about and how the artist and the characters are feeling at the moment."

Every animation studio seems to have its own unique style, whether it's Spumco, Disney, or Warner Brothers, but in reality, those cartoons are the work of several people who each bring their own unique style to the whole. Sixteen-year-old Thad K has set up a very cool blog dedicated to recognizing the styles of different animators. He already has two lengthy posts (including YouTube clips) dedicated to Tom and Jerry and Woody Woodpecker. Thad breaks the shorts down into segments, pointing out what each animator brought to the short. Perhaps going over these classic bits of animation with such a fine tooth comb extracts some of the fun from watching these cartoons, but I think it nicely reveals a depth these cartoons have which perhaps isn't as evident when viewing them casually.