From this thread at the Home Theater Forum, the site owner says he got a response from Warner about the set, as follows:



The site owner says Warner will be alerted to that thread, so go on over if you wish to voice concerns. (Not that it should stop you from discussing it here, of course!)

I posted the foloowing on the HTF:

In the chat that announced this set it was stated that the set would be:
A:Chronological
B:Uncut and unedited.

Either your spokesperson was uninformed or(more likely) you got cold feet or we were lied to. I am betting the it is a combination of the last two. Jerry Beck said it was not Warner Home Video policy to release edited cartoons.

As hard as it is for me to believe it seems that Disney has more backbone than Warner in the packaging of their more controversial animation.

Warner you have taught your customers for classic animation a valuable lesson in your integrity.
I use to buy your animation packages sight unseen.
NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!

Them stating that these shorts were remastered is a blatant lie!!!

I mean Warner Home Video's spokesperson. Not Jerry Beck!
I feel he was hung out to dry by WHV.

Arrggghhh, I read this thread when I saw it thinking we would have some news, but it's really just a restatement of the problem - correct? This seems like old information.

Well, the new part is that, instead of vague promises delivered through others, WB has made a direct statement about the situation, and that statement is "buzz off".

Buzz off, indeed.

I think we saw it coming... I feel bad for Jerry, and bad for us.

Well, the worth of my laserdisc collection just went up, I guess... next investment: DVD recorder for archiving.

Nuts.

Now you know one of the reasons why Jerry can't leak information out to the fans. If he was permitted too, he'd definetely be expressing his anger about the edits and be tempted to curse WB, while WB would attepmt a "polite" approach.

As far as the statement WB made, well they've found themselves a loophole. They must be so proud. At least RHINO has some intellegence to fix their MST3K dvds.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of T&J, but it still is an outrage, that they'd do this.

Heck, there's even non-classic cartoons edited on dvd with no shame: Ren & Stimpy, and Invader ZIM anyone? Do the dvd makers care? Nope. It just makes us insecure about the upcoming LT:GC dvds.

Hopefully Jerry or George Frankenfurter (or whatever his name is) can kepp a more watchful eyes on the discs.

Well, so much for pre-ordering. *sigh*

Obviously, NOT the answer we had hoped for. I will be watching for volume 2 with great interest (that is, if there IS a volume 2) and I will wait for the reviews before I buy.

You know, I guess I understand what all the fuss is about. I like to see classic cartoons uncut, however, remastered doesn't mean un-cut. I bought this DVD set last week for $20.00. I read most of the posts re: the censorship issue beforehand. After seeing the first disc I must say I really enjoyed watching these toons. The quality is excellent and the commentaries and special features are very entertaining and informative. I've definately gotten my money's worth. I can't tell what the edits are. I don't think they detract.

That's what makes it so hard. On the one hand it's great to see Tom and Jerry on DVD at all. That these films are still entertaining millions of people decades after they were made is amazing.

But on the other hand, it's frustrating to see them handled in such a slipshod fashion (especially since so many things HAVE been done right on the Spotlight Collection). And it's even more frustrating when you consider the great un-edited Disney Treasures sets and what those have meant to animation collectors.

That's exactly the kind of attitude which keeps the censors in business, Bristol. I'm not going to excuse WB on this one: we were lied to, albeit in a roundabout, sneaky way. This "remastered" versus "uncut" answer is just playing the game of semantics. They knew exactly what we were expecting, and in their presentations and advertisements for the product they danced around the subject JUST enough to lead us all to believe that's what we were getting. That's what really bothers me, moreso than the censorship. When it's something you hold near and dear to your heart, it will have much more of an impact on you.

I'll leave the next set on the shelf, as well as any other censored animation sets. I urge all of you to do the same. All this outraged talk ultimately means nothing if we continue buying the sets. Like all companies, WB is really only going to understand a message when it's sent directly to their sales figures.

"Remastered" doesn't mean uncut, but "restored" certainly should, unless the trims are lost to the dustbin of history (which they apparently are not).

Regards,

Threads like this one make me *really* glad that I bought the Buddha Video set (from Hong Hong) last year -- 6 dvd's with just about all the T&J cartoons, in chronological order, uncensored & offering very good video quality.

You SHOULD be glad, Dude - better hold onto that set.

I am EXTREMELY DISSATISFIED with Warner's response here. While their packaging doesn't say uncut, the advertisements and hype prior to release all stated that they WERE uncut. This brings something else into light here ... if they were savvy enough to not have "uncut" on the packaging, they had to have known about this WAY before they're saying that they "realized the mistake," as was stated just after release. But that's besides the point ...

This bodes very ill will, to me anyway, on all future releases from Warner Home Video - including Golden Age of Looney Tunes. We all know that there have been obvious omissions from the DVD sets released so far by Warner, of course Mammy Two-Shoes in particular. Not a single one of her cartoons in "Spotlight Collection." For as many Tom & Jerrry cartoons she was in, if she is not in the next set (if there is a next set), it's pretty obvious what we can expect in the future. And we also know that there are certain cartoons that have been omitted so far from Looney Tunes Golden Collection so far as well.

Basically I am going to look at the list of cartoons to be included on all future Warner cartoon sets very very carefully (Yes, Warner, we know which cartoons are which), and unfortunately I will no longer pre-order any Warner DVD sets, I will wait until after release and the set has been reviewed. If the cartoons are edited in any way, I am not interested in buying them, and I would not have bought Tom & Jerry Spotlight had I known there were edits. But now, Warner has added insult to injury by waiting well beyond the reasonable time frame for any of us to return these for a refund. This is the ultimate slap in the face, a total lack of regard for the customer. Silly me, here I thought the customer was always right.

Warner has basically ripped off every single classic animation fan that bought this set. So Warner, fine - take and keep the money. But I will never buy one of your DVD sets again sight unseen.