Released in 2003, this marks the absolute first DVD set that was released in America featuring the cartoons and also one of the absolute first to expand upon the restoration project previously seen on I Love Tweety.
As a preliminary volume, it was primarily aimed to see how the shorts would be received to the DVD audience. It was a success - none of the shorts had ever looked any better on VHS, LaserDisc, or television airings at the time. Many of the shorts now look almost as close to how they aired in theaters. To boot, it even came with a plethora of bonus features, ranging from commentaries to documentaries and miscellaneous content from the studio's vault.
Disc 1 is the Bugs Bunny showcase, providing a handful of classics to start off. Disc 2 is the Daffy and Porky central disc, containing shorts featuring either of the two. The final two discs are the "all-stars" collection featuring a selection of shorts featuring a majority of the major and minor stars at the time.
Being an early DVD release, it does contain a handful of differences from later volumes in terms of prints used. This is the only such release in the Golden Collection to use 1998 dubbed versions in its main lineup. They were first seen in some of the later VHS releases, such as The Collector's Edition series, and were primarily restored in SD resolution. They usually came with a disclaimer at the end that can be seen in some television airings, but it was removed for most of its home media releases. Additionally, this is the only volume that only featured 14 main cartoons in each disc due to the heavy reliance on bonus features; later volumes bumped that up greatly as bonus features were reduced slightly for more disc space.
Due to the fact that most of the shorts here were restored for the SD resolution in mind, they have since been re-restored in later years. They were serviceable for a DVD release like this, but they didn't scale well by the time of HD displays years later. As a result, many of the shorts included here have since been re-restored and given improved prints for the HD resolution later on. Several were completed during the Platinum Collection and related releases around the time, while most others were redone in 2020 around when HBO Max launched. Only a handful of shorts were not given a new restoration, as they managed to be restored for HD beforehand; these shorts without a newer re-restored print are the following:
As a preliminary volume, it was primarily aimed to see how the shorts would be received to the DVD audience. It was a success - none of the shorts had ever looked any better on VHS, LaserDisc, or television airings at the time. Many of the shorts now look almost as close to how they aired in theaters. To boot, it even came with a plethora of bonus features, ranging from commentaries to documentaries and miscellaneous content from the studio's vault.
Disc 1 is the Bugs Bunny showcase, providing a handful of classics to start off. Disc 2 is the Daffy and Porky central disc, containing shorts featuring either of the two. The final two discs are the "all-stars" collection featuring a selection of shorts featuring a majority of the major and minor stars at the time.
Being an early DVD release, it does contain a handful of differences from later volumes in terms of prints used. This is the only such release in the Golden Collection to use 1998 dubbed versions in its main lineup. They were first seen in some of the later VHS releases, such as The Collector's Edition series, and were primarily restored in SD resolution. They usually came with a disclaimer at the end that can be seen in some television airings, but it was removed for most of its home media releases. Additionally, this is the only volume that only featured 14 main cartoons in each disc due to the heavy reliance on bonus features; later volumes bumped that up greatly as bonus features were reduced slightly for more disc space.
Due to the fact that most of the shorts here were restored for the SD resolution in mind, they have since been re-restored in later years. They were serviceable for a DVD release like this, but they didn't scale well by the time of HD displays years later. As a result, many of the shorts included here have since been re-restored and given improved prints for the HD resolution later on. Several were completed during the Platinum Collection and related releases around the time, while most others were redone in 2020 around when HBO Max launched. Only a handful of shorts were not given a new restoration, as they managed to be restored for HD beforehand; these shorts without a newer re-restored print are the following:
- What's Up Doc?
- Wabbit Twouble
- Duck Amuck
- Yankee Doodle Daffy
- Porky Chops
- Boobs in the Woods
- For Scent-imental Reasons
- Frigid Hare
- Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
- Tortoise Wins by a Hare
- Elmer's Candid Camera
- Speedy Gonzales
- Devil May Hare
Disc Specifications
- Release Date: October 28, 2003
- Format(s): DVD
- Disc(s): 4 (DVD-9)
- Shorts Included: 56 (+ 2 bonus shorts)
- In Print?: Yes
- Runtime: 411 minutes (6 hours, 51 minutes)
- Region: Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4
Bonus Content
- Disc 1
- A Greeting from Chuck Jones
- Behind the Tunes: Bugs: A Rabbit for All Seasonings
- Behind the Tunes: Short-Fuse Shootout: The Small Tale of Yosemite Sam
- Behind the Tunes: Forever Befuddled
- My Dream is Yours scene with Bugs
- Two Guys from Texas scene with Bugs
- The Bugs Bunny Show: "A Star Is Bored" bridging sequences
- The Bugs Bunny Show: "The Astro-Nuts" audio recording sessions
- Bugs Bunny's Cartoon Festival trailer
- Bugs Bunny's Cartoon Jamboree trailer
- Camera Three: The Boys from Termite Terrace, Part 1
- Stills gallery
- Disc 2
- Behind the Tunes: Hard Luck Duck
- Behind the Tunes: Porky Pig Roast
- Behind the Tunes: Animal Quackers
- Camera Three: The Boys from Termite Terrace, Part 2
- Stills gallery
- Disc 3
- Behind the Tunes: Too Fast, Too Furry-ous
- Behind the Tunes: Merrie Melodies: Carl Stalling and Cartoon Music
- Behind the Tunes: Blanc Expressions
- ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons
- "Hair-Raising Hare" schematics
- "The Hypo-Condri-Cat" schematics
- Disc 4
- Behind the Tunes: Needy For Speedy
- Behind the Tunes: Putty Problems and Canary Rows
- Behind the Tunes: Southern Pride Chicken
- Documentary: Irreverent Imagination: The Golden Age of Looney Tunes
- Virgil Ross pencil test reels
- Stills gallery
- New-to-format score (up to 2 points): 1.79
- Upgrade score (up to 3 points): 3
- Doesn't have an better version score (up to 5 points): 1.64
It might be somewhat ideal to get this set for collection's sake. It may contain a good amount of shorts available in their best state, but contain significant amounts of double dips and/or inferior versions of the shorts. If majority of the set contains unrestored versions of the shorts, they will likely to be subject to being upgraded in future sets. You may get a better value getting a higher rated set.
Included Shorts
| Disc 1 | |||
| Short Name | Release Date | Status | Notes |
| February 2, 1946 | Restored SD | ||
| September 20, 1952 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version; includes commentary by Michael Barrier; includes music only track | |
| June 25, 1949 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| April 30, 1949 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Greg Ford; low pitch audio | |
| August 8, 1953 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier; low pitch audio | |
| June 17, 1950 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Greg Ford; includes music only track | |
| November 15, 1952 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Stan Freberg; includes music only track | |
| April 19, 1952 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| April 22, 1950 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| December 1, 1951 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| December 4, 1948 | Restored SD | ||
| December 20, 1941 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| October 6, 1951 | Restored SD | ||
| December 16, 1950 | Restored SD | ||
| Bonus Shorts | |||
| June 13, 1997 | Unrestored | Includes commentary by Greg Ford | |
| Disc 2 | |||
| Short Name | Release Date | Status | Notes |
| February 28, 1953 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier; includes music only track | |
| September 3, 1949 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| November 17, 1951 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier; includes music only track | |
| December 18, 1948 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| September 2, 1950 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| March 4, 1950 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier; includes music only track | |
| July 3, 1943 | Restored SD | ||
| February 12, 1949 | Restored SD | ||
| July 14, 1951 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version; includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| September 29, 1956 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| January 28, 1950 | Restored SD | ||
| August 5, 1950 | Restored SD | Includes music only track; low pitch audio | |
| May 19, 1951 | Restored SD | Low pitch audio | |
| July 25, 1953 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| Disc 3 | |||
| Short Name | Release Date | Status | Notes |
| March 2, 1940 | Restored SD | ||
| February 26, 1944 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Stan Freberg | |
| September 17, 1949 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| May 25, 1946 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier and Greg Ford | |
| January 29, 1949 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version, low pitch audio. | |
| July 24, 1948 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| November 12, 1949 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| October 8, 1949 | Restored SD | ||
| April 15, 1950 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| January 10, 1959 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version; includes music only track | |
| February 2, 1952 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version; includes commentary by Greg Ford; includes music only track | |
| January 3, 1953 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| July 11, 1942 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| February 20, 1943 | Restored SD | ||
| Disc 4 | |||
| Short Name | Release Date | Status | Notes |
| October 7, 1950 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Jerry Beck | |
| September 23, 1950 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| November 6, 1948 | Restored SD | Low pitch audio, uses 1955-56 reissue closing rings. | |
| February 24, 1951 | Restored SD | Includes music only track | |
| March 13, 1954 | Restored SD | ||
| February 3, 1951 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version; includes commentary by Jerry Beck | |
| June 25, 1955 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version | |
| September 17, 1955 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Jerry Beck; includes music only track | |
| September 22, 1951 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| October 9, 1948 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version; includes commentary by Michael Barrier | |
| March 26, 1949 | Restored SD | ||
| May 12, 1951 | Restored SD | Low pitch audio | |
| September 26, 1959 | Restored SD | 1998 dubbed version; includes music only track | |
| June 19, 1954 | Restored SD | Includes commentary by Jerry Beck | |
| Bonus Shorts | |||
| Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid | May 29, 1929 | Unrestored | |
