Saturday, January 28, 2012

I Love the Underdog DVD Set!


I got my advance copy of this, and I have to say that it turned out quite well. There are always problems always inherent in these sorts of things where all of the film elements had to be compiled from different sources. As a result (I'll go through the negative first), some of the opening and closing elements are of a rough bootleg quality, because they are! I supplied them. Somehow, even though these shows had aired endlessly for about 30 years, things got lost. The audio wasn't even transferred on many cartoons, so that we have many cases where audio from bootlegs is supplied to be reconnected with pristine video images.

Now for the positive, this is the most complete Underdog set that has been issued, and that you will probably ever find. Episodes are presented in chronological order and overall are very well. Unfortunately, some of the episodes have the updated titles, but this is very minor considering the excellent picture quality of a lot of these items. And the theme songs are all there, and all original, too!

The documentary segment plays very well and is quite informative. Everyone is very animated in their discussions...even me! My segments were recorded in Oregon last August. I haven't listened to the phone conversations yet, but I assume that they've come out well, also. I even learned something that I didn't include in my book, that Norma MacMillan voiced Sweet Polly from LA, and not New York. No one told me that before and I never thought to ask.

Overall, I'd give it 9 1/2 out of 10, for the few minor shortcomings this has, but really it is a 10 for the outstanding effort put in by me and Cliff MacMillan, Reed Kaplan, Mark Yurkiw, Dave Downey and all the rest of the interview subjects.

Next, comes Tennessee Tuxedo...

Friday, January 06, 2012

Ringo's Best


Poor Ringo. Nobody likes him, well except maybe some of his early 70s hits, when he puts out a new album, everyone virtually ignores him. So, for those who don't think Ringo is worth it, here's a short list of Ringo must have albums...

Ringo (1973)
Goodnight Vienna (1974)
Time Takes Time (1992)
Vertical Man (1998)
Ringo Rama (2003)
Y Not (2010)

Best live album: VH1 Storytellers (1998) or Live at Soundstage (2007)

Best compilation: Photograph (2007)

Ringo's next album Ringo 2012 comes out on January 30.