The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries – The Complete First Season (Warner DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Episodes: B-

 

 

In what is likely to be the end of an era, the last major old “TV Square” series production of classic Looney Tunes/Warner Bros. characters, The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries – The Complete First Season was a hit and a surprisingly good revival of the shows, though Granny (still voiced by the legendary June Foray) is the actual detective.  Mix a fun mystery, good in-jokes, some big laughs (especially for a show meant for a young audience) and the charm of these characters looking good considering the budget and it deserved to be a hit.

 

Thirteen lucky half-hour shows are featured over two DVDs and this is much better than doing a single volume disc with only some shows; a practice all the studios should stuck with.  No, these are no match for the classic theatrical shorts with the same characters, but they are meant for a younger audience, have less violence and still retain the flavor and chemistry of the characters more than expected.  That is why they make a fun set.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image can be soft with minor aliasing issues at times, but color is consistent and the show is one of the better classic character revival shows in look and color richness.  Can’t wait to see the Blu-ray.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo automatically goes Pro Logic on home theater systems, but is better in stereo and though some shows sound better than others, the sound is not bad.  Extras are trailers for other Warner DVD animated releases, but there needs to be more extras on the next set.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo