Cheyenne (1955 - 1962*)/Dog Man: Collector's Edition 2000 (2025/DreamWorks/Universal Blu-ray)/The Magilla Gorilla Show (1964 - 1967/Hanna Barbera/*both Complete Series Warner Archive Blu-ray Sets)

Picture: B-/B/B Sound: B-/B/C+ Extras: C-/B/C+ Main Programs: C+/B/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The Cheyenne and Magilla Gorilla Show Complete Series Warner Archive Blu-ray sets are now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

And now for a group of new family entertainment releases...

Cheyenne: The Complete Series (1955 - 1962) has received a new upgrade for all seven of its long-running seasons. As I pointed out when covering Season Six on DVD...

''...the hit Western series that alternated with Sugarfoot (reviewed elsewhere on this site, also on DVD from Warner Archive) with Clint Walker on the title role of a man just trying to make his way in The West when injustice, deception and greed keep getting in the way. It made him a big star in the genre at the time and led to a long career, but this show really put him on the map and he carries it well.''

This is true of the entire series run, a consistent Western show among the biggest of Warner Television's classic Western hits on the small screen, along with Maverick and even the likes of the shorter-run comedy F-Troop. Smart (if sometimes predictable and formulaic teleplays) writing for a audience treated with respect, backed by Warner's resources and a consistent, capable combination of solid writers and directors kept it all going well and well in the ratings.

Also helping were guest stars who were names or about to become bigger names like Richard Crenna, Dan Blocker, James Garner, John Carradine, Dennis Hopper, Angie Dickinson, Michael Landon, Claude Akins, Marie Windsor, Adam West, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Connie Stevens, Whit Bissell, Max Baer, Dawn Welles, Stacy Keach, Alan Hale Jr., Philip Carey, Ellen Burstyn, Lee Van Cleef, James Coburn, James Hong, Cole Younger, John Anderson, Sally Kellerman, Jack Elam, Ellen Corby, James Best, Andrew Duggan, Denver Pyle, Lee Van Cleef, Frank Cady, Jeanne Cooper, Regis Toomey, Ruta Lee and Dick Foran. Spotting the stars here is a fun plus when watching the show. Now you can see it as cleanly and clearly as ever, yet!

An interview with Clint Walker on the Season One set is sadly the only extra.

Dav Pilkey's Dog Man series of graphic novels for young readers is singularly silly and surreal. The books are a spin-off, of sorts of Pilkey's other blockbuster series Captain Underpants. In those books, George and Harold, the fourth-grade main characters, make comic books when not going on adventures with the titular superhero. One such creation is Dog Man, a ''supa cop'' with the head of a dog and the body of a man, stitched together after Petey, the world's most evilest cat, blows them up. There are currently 13 Dog Man books (not counting its own spin-off series) and kids love them, my 6-year-old daughter among them. She's obsessed with the characters, the situations, the wordplay, the interactivity, all of it. And, honestly, so am I. It's a fantastic series with a wonderfully cracked sense of humor that's equally spiky and gentle and never pessimistic, like so many go-for-the-easy-fart-joke content made for children.

Naturally, when a Dog Man movie was announced, my daughter was bouncing off the walls waiting for it to be released. My wife and I, however, were more reticent. We hoped the filmmakers didn't miss the point of the books or gut their spirit in a studio-mandated rush to make some lowest-common-denominator IP. The first reviews weren't promising, with most tsk-tsking that DreamWorks Animation had churned out yet another movie for kids that isn't - I don't know - Toy Story 3? You know, a bleak, sepia-tinged existential meditation on obsolescence and death. Fun for all ages! (I love the movie, but it is the nadir of Pixar's adults-first run of masterpieces and not for young kids.) But when we saw Dog Man (2025) opening weekend in a packed theater - our daughter loved it. The other kids loved it. WE loved it. Against the odds and expectation, the movie works. And it works because director Peter Hastings and his team have a genuine love of the material.

Based primarily on book 3 in the series (A Tale of Two Kitties) but incorporating elements from the first two entries, at least, the film gives us Dog Man's origin story and establishes the dynamic between the supa cop (voiced by Hastings, though he just ''speaks'' in ruffs, barks, and ah-ooo's), Petey (Pete Davidson), Petey's little-kid clone Lil' Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon), world's greatest reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher), and Dog Man's boss Chief (Lil Rel Howery). There is a coherent story here, not just a stack of disconnected segments: In his quest to destroy Dog Man, Petey attempts all sorts of schemes (like a giant vacuum cleaner and the Butt Sniffer 2000) that fail and land him in cat jail, which he promptly escapes from. He tries cloning himself, but instead of an evil adult cat he gets the big-hearted kitten Lil' Petey. And when he tries to bring back to life the evil telekinetic robo-fish Flippy (Ricky Gervais) by dropping him into the Living Spray factory, things really go off the rails. Flippy comes alive, but so does the factory and a bunch of other buildings in the town that can only communicate by growling ''Gooba Gabba!'' This is all pulled directly from the books, and it's insane in the best way. It's also sweet without becoming maudlin, sincere but never preachy.

This is all exceptionally true to the spirit of the source material. Hastings, who previously worked on a Captain Underpants TV show, has a deep understanding and reverence for the Dog Man series. The script (co-written with Pilkey) feels like it could have been ''written'' by George and Harold, as the books are meant to be. Hastings said he wanted the adaptation to be ''sophisticatedly silly,'' which perfectly describes both it and the books. And the animation here, while not the crude flatness of a 4th grader's drawings, retains much of that sensibility. Hastings said he wanted the film to have a tactile, ''high-end handmade'' quality where imperfection and tactility are prioritized over perfectly rendered realism, and he and the animators accomplish that. If any of this didn't work, kids who love the books would have destroyed the movie. Luckily, that didn't happen. Hastings created a film that respects its young audience (and the adults watching with them) - giving them permission to be weird and creative and emotionally intelligent with zero judgment. It's a movie made for kids - and for grownups who are still in touch with their childhood selves.

Yes, I enjoyed this nutso film. But, to me, the real measure of its success is that my daughter saw in a theater - twice - and since the Blu-ray was released has watched it another five times. More, she has asked to watch the disc's extras just as often. In the streaming era, with endless options for brain-rot kids content (hi, Netflix!), there's something meaningful in this 6-year-old returning to this 90-minute feature, knowing it means putting on a disc, not firing up some service. That speaks to intention, not the kind of habitual behavior streamers have inculcated in nearly everyone but especially kids. It's hard to think of a better seal of approval.

Dog Man is a love letter to the books. And so is the Blu-ray. Those extras my daughter keeps going back to are worth the time, and, like the movie, true to the spirit of the source material. There are eight deleted scenes, some alternate versions of moments from the film and others sequences cut entirely. All are in rough-draft storyboard shape, but they're complete enough to understand the intention and why they were cut. Hastings, who knows how to speak to kids, provides short intros to each to help guide young viewers through what they're about to see. There are also two five-minute-long featurettes, one focused on the cast and the other on the making of the film. The latter is especially excellent, a kind of micro intro to filmmaking course for kids where the Head of Story, Art Director, Head of Character Animation, and Production Designer appear to explain their job on the movie and the work they did. And, just as the books give readers how-to guides on drawing a couple characters, there is a collection of videos with Head of Story Anthony Zierhunt walking kids through the steps to creating Dog Man, Petey, and Lil' Petey, as well as a Flip-o-Rama, a device used in the books to simulate animation. (A final video extra teaches viewers how to make doughnut dog treats.)

The extra that I was most surprised to find, though, was a commentary with Hastings. In 2025, commentaries on new studio films - that is, non-catalog releases from not-boutique labels - have been all but abandoned. A Blu-ray of Dog Man is the last place I'd expect to find one. More shocking is that it's good. Hastings knows how to commentary, leading us through how this or that was done but also going deep into a production decision or teasing Easter eggs dropped through the film. Kids patient enough to sit through it will learn a lot, but this is the one extra squarely for the parents. And this parent, for one, appreciates it almost as much as I do the film.

With the success of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstone, Top Cat and Quick Draw McGraw, animation creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera established themselves as the premiere creators of hit TV animation for children and their company kept generating new ideas and characters. The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series (1964 - 1967) was yet another hit, seeing them putting more money into the animation and his show was especially aimed at very young children.

Allan Melvin, the actor known for hit turns on All In The Family, The Brady Bunch, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and the under-syndicated Phil Silvers Show (aka You'll Never Get Rich aka Sgt. Bilko) also had a huge career doing voiceover for tons of animated TV shows, et al and voices the title character here. For sale in a window, a little girl (a sort of slightly older variant of Pebbles Flintstone and very loving of the gorilla at that; can she get him for 2 cents?) he drives store owner Melvin Peebles (voiced by Howard Morris) nuts, unsold and driving up his own expenses.

Sometimes charming and amusing enough, it was a hit that played in syndication for years and once the studio made enough episodes in the original run, there were not revivals or continuations, though our antagonist showed up in other Hanna Barbera shows as he remained just popular enough. Popular enough to also finally have a Blu-ray set issued and there are more than enough fans and new ones to be to more than justify this set.

The regular episodes also add two other sets of characters in their own separate adventures: the Old West-set Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-Long and Mushmouse and Punkin' Puss, a Tom & Jerry variant with placement in the South. They are also amusing and interesting, even if they were not as successful or memorable. Still, it is an interesting package and in another twist, it was openly co-sponsored by the then-major toy company Ideal who produced many classic toys. The ones they did for Hanna Barbera at the time are sometimes very hard to find and in mint condition (alone, in their original packaging and especially if that packaging is in mint condition) can be worth more money than you might think. The audience for those items might not be as wide as Star Wars, but it is a loyal one that will pay up, so they too will be buying this set if they already have not.

So I make a qualified recommendation, for very serious fans, the very young or the very curious. Now, more than ever, you can see for yourself.

Extras include extra segments of the show not included of Magilla not originally in the actual episodes, later added to mix up the releases in syndication to add to their rewatchability, plus three featurettes (per the press release): MAGILLA THEME SONG: Live and un-plugged: Rare footage of Hoyt Curtin and Bill Hanna at the piano. Introduced by series animator Jerry Eisenberg, MR. PEEBLES PET SHOP: Interview gallery with Magilla Gorilla's voice Allan Melvin, series animator Jerry Eisenberg, and Animation Historian Jerry Beck and HERE COMES A STAR: Vintage TV Special which goes inside the Hanna-Barbera studios to introduce this New Simian Character, and the process which brought him to television stardom.

Now for playback performance. The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfers on the Cheyenne episodes are welcome 4K-scanned upgrades from the weak DVD transfers, with both Video Black and Video White looking good. However, fine detail is sometimes not 100% there and full sharpness is not present like other recent monochrome TV classics we've reviewed on Blu-ray, including some recent Warner Archive entries. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes are also an improvement over those lossy DVDs, but the sound is still boxy and limited throughout all seven seasons, so I am a little disappointed. We recommend you be careful of high volume playback and volume switching to be on the safe side.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Dog Man looks really good here with nice color, definition and a smooth look that only a 4K disc could improve on, while the lossless Dolby TrueHD 7.1 sounds good, but is apparently a mixdown of the original Dolby Atmos/DTS: X soundmaster, which they are likely saving for a future 4K release. The combination is just fine.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Magilla Gorilla comes from 4K scans of the original camera negatives in almost all cases and the color is impressive almost entirely throughout, save some moments where it is on the faint side. Nice these Hanna Barbera 35mm archival negatives keep yielding great results. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix has background hiss a bit and can be a bit boxy, but that is typical of most early Hanna Barbera productions sonically, so this is about as good as these episodes are going to sound and purists would likely prefer some hiss to compression or some kind of idiotic digital reprocessing, so I can add it is better than the old DVD set (unreviewed) that was tiny and tinnier. Just be a little careful of high volume playback and volume switching.

To order either the Cheyenne and/or Magilla Gorilla Show Complete Series Warner Archive Blu-ray sets, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20

- Nicholas Sheffo and Dante Ciampaglia (Dog Man)