The successor to the Viddy-Oh! series, Cartoon Moviestars aspires to release original, completely untampered versions of the AAP shorts onto home media for the first time. It also marked George Feltenstein's first official Looney Tunes home media project.
Background
MGM/UA started to see a transition during 1986, when the aforementioned company was bought out by Turner Entertainment. After several negotiations, Ted Turner was able to keep ahold of several MGM and Warner Bros.-related works, including the AAP package. The home media studio had a new dilemma: if they were to ever release any of the AAP shorts again, MGM/UA would have to pay Turner themselves to license Turner's library.
George Feltenstein, who previously played a hand in releasing public domain VHS releases and had a history of resurfacing several older cartoon films, helmed the programming department of MGM/UA Home Video. As George has openly stated in several contemporary podcasts, he criticized that the Viddy-Oh! series, while still a huge seller, paled in comparison to the Golden Jubilee collection that marketed better for the family market and even had received accolades for their releases. Pursuing an AAP equivalent towards the Golden Jubilee series, Cartoon Moviestars was born in March 1988.
The Cartoon Moviestars series expanded towards MGM/UA's animation library, much like its predecessor, Viddy-Oh!. Despite that, there was a focus on the Warner Bros. animation library. It also marked the first time that the shorts were released for the LaserDisc format, an analog disc format that would serve as the first commercial optical disc media for the market. A few documentaries were also released in the series. It was ultimately succeeded by the Golden Age of Looney Tunes series, which released all of the shorts in this collection on LaserDisc. As a result, it is more recommended to obtain the Golden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDiscs for collection purposes.
Volumes
LaserDisc Volumes
- Bugs! & Elmer!
- Daffy! & Porky!
- Bugs Bunny Classics: Special Collector's Edition
- Bugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
- Cartoons for Big Kids
