Porky Pig 101


Porky Pig 101 is a DVD box-set released by Warner Archive Collection, collecting the first 101 animated short subjects starring the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies character Porky Pig. The set features all 99 Porky Pig cartoons made in black and white, as well as two cartoons made in color: Porky's debut appearance in I Haven't Got a Hat and the color "special" Old Glory.
This is the first Looney Tunes DVD collection produced by the Warner Archive boutique label, as opposed to the main Warner Home Video "family division", which had handled previous Looney Tunes DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases such as the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Platinum Collection and Super Stars sets. According to Jerry Beck, after several years of both him and Warner Archive president George Feltenstein lobbying, the "family unit" relinquished the distribution of the black-and-white Porky Pig cartoons to Warner Archive since they believed children were uninterested in black-and-white cartoons.
Of the 101 cartoons included on this set, 38 of them were previously restored for the aforementioned Golden and Platinum collections and The Essential Daffy Duck, with 37 of them being ported over to this set and one being an unrestored vault print; the other 63 are new to DVD. All shorts are presented uncut with all 99 black-and-white cartoons shown in their original format - as opposed to the various redrawn and computer colorized versions that commonly aired on television. The set has no new special features - but the set does include audio commentaries and other supplements from the previous Golden and Platinum releases.
According to Beck, production on the set started in 2012, and since this was Warner Archive's first Golden Age of Animation release, the restoration team was given a very limited budget. Therefore, unlike the Golden Collection and Platinum Collection series, they were unable to digitally restore the 63 new-to-DVD shorts from the original camera negatives, and instead had to simply remaster them from high quality 35mm black-and-white "vault prints". This resulted in several shorts having some minor errors including incorrect opening and closing themes.
Porky Pig 101 received mixed reviews from animation fans and collectors, who tended to praise the complete and chronological nature of the set - featuring rare never before released shorts, and presenting them uncut and in their original black-and-white format - but also criticized the restoration quality; noting several splices, dirt, brightness and contrast issues - and overall feeling it lacked the pristine image quality of the cartoons restored for the Golden and Platinum collections.
Porky Pig 101 was a modest financial success, and led Warner Archive to release more classic theatrical animated content as Blu-ray sets, such as Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Tex Avery Screwball Classics, Looney Tunes Collector's Choice, Looney Tunes Collector's Vault, and Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology, all of which garnered a much more positive fan reception.

Disc 1

Special features

Disc 2

Special features

  • Audio commentaries
  • * Mark Kausler on Porky's Romance and The Case of the Stuttering Pig
  • * Daniel Goldmark on ''Porky at the Crocadero''

Disc 3

Special features

Disc 4

Special features

  • Audio commentaries
  • * Jerry Beck on You Ought to Be in Pictures
  • 'Porky's Poor Fish'' storyboard reel'''

Disc 5

Special features

  • Audio commentaries
  • * Greg Ford on Porky's Preview
  • * Joe Dante on Porky Pig's Feat
  • 'Porky's Breakdowns'' '''