Beetle Bailey – The Complete Collection (BCI Eclipse/Famous Studios)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C     Extras: D     Episodes/Shorts: C+

 

 

As soon as The Fleischer Studios became Famous Studios, the decline began very slowly in the early 1940s.  By the early 1960s, the productions were really problematic, even more so than many actual TV shows of the time.  This included the entire run of Beetle Bailey shorts, all brought together later in the decade into 13 half-hours for TV and featured here in BCI Eclipse’s new DVD set Beetle Bailey – The Complete Collection.

 

Despite the Vietnam fiasco that was raging on, these shows were still successful enough (propelled by the success of the comic strip) to be this on TV and even led to clips being featured on early seasons of Sesame Street.  Unfortunately, it plays like Gomer Pyle lite, with the storyline often being about important higher-ups arriving and the potential catastrophe Bailey’s antics might cause.  Still, they are a unique part of the 60s pop culture and deserved to be issued on DVD, thanks to voice actors like Howard Morris and Allan Melvin.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is not bad considering these are 35mm film shorts recut into shows and down a generation to begin with.  Fortunately, color is consistent and detail is not bad.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is softer and lower than expected, especially since theatrical mono sound is usually better than TV mono of the time, so be careful of playback levels.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo