Kino Lorber announced on their Facebook page they are planning to release the non-Pink Panther DFE theatrical series on DVD/Blu-ray:

https://www.facebook.com...1646/?type=1&theater 

Yahoo!!!

Granted, they're not all great or even good, but at least they're all coming out. (I wonder how much Blu-ray will expose the lackluster animation on the later ones?) Hopefully they won't use the DNRed transfers that were on Boomerang, in the case of the Blue Racer.

EDIT: I notice that the non-Pink Panther DFE cartoons are gone from Hulu. Perhaps preparation for these sets?

EDIT 2: Perhaps this is a tie-in to Mark Arnold's upcoming DFE book ?

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I was gasping in total joy when I heard this!!! I am so happy! :)

UPDATE: They'll be in original full screen!!!!:
http://forum.blu-ray.com...0921463&postcount=17 

Weren't these cartoons matted to widescreen for thier theatrical release (except Crazylegs Crane and Misterjaw)? I'm not too bothered since full screen is still a valid way of viewing these cartoons as they were shown on television. I think the only way for Kino to make a call about the aspect ratio is to examine the original film elements and primary documentation rather than rely on what previous home video masters suggested.

From Kino's Facebook!:
"The tentative street dates for these are late November - they should be available for pre-orders in August."

UPDATE!!! 6/16: Release date is November 24th!:
http://forum.blu-ray.com...39851&postcount=3137 

Looks like I may have found stuff to add to my wishlist. ^_^

And yes dbear, they were matted to widescreen for theaters (all post-53 cartoons were to a point where it was decided to make cartoons into widescreen to begin with), but some if not a lot of fans prefer the original (full screen) format as they were made.

But I suppose we could suggest to have the DVDs original full screen while the Blu-rays have both formats.

Weren't these cartoons matted to widescreen for thier theatrical release (except Crazylegs Crane and Misterjaw)? I'm not too bothered since full screen is still a valid way of viewing these cartoons as they were shown on television. I think the only way for Kino to make a call about the aspect ratio is to examine the original film elements and primary documentation rather than rely on what previous home video masters suggested.

Yep, the ones that were release theatrically were matted to fit the widescreen theater. While the ones made for TV were never matted in widescreen thankfully.

I am quite happy about this news.

So they will be on DVD as well as Bluray? I wonder how much of an upgrade Bluray would be -- I have yet to get a player.

Ant & Aardvark I already have on DVD, as well as the first half of the Inspector, but I have wanted to get the rest for a long time. I enjoyed watching these cartoons (many of them) on Saturday mornings. Some, like Hoot Kloot, Roland & Ratfink, Dogfather and Blue Racer were only theatrical; I don't remember ever seeing them on TV until TNT showed them along with the Pink Panther and the rest. But bring them on anyway!

One thing I really want to see released are the bumpers/interstitials from the various Pink Panther TV shows. We know they have them (at least a lot of them) because they have been shown on TV within the last five years, and have appeared on line. It is a complete mystery to me why that material wasn't used as extras on past releases of the Pink Panther cartoons on DVD. Maybe next time. I ran across a posting where someone said the Pink Panther is not part of this deal because MGM will be doing those themselves.

It's wonderful to see some vintage (or semi-vintage) classic (or semi-classic) animation coming out that isn't a re-release of something already available -- well, at least some of these haven't been released before.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=16965 

Weren't these cartoons matted to widescreen for thier theatrical release (except Crazylegs Crane and Misterjaw)? I'm not too bothered since full screen is still a valid way of viewing these cartoons as they were shown on television. I think the only way for Kino to make a call about the aspect ratio is to examine the original film elements and primary documentation rather than rely on what previous home video masters suggested.

Yep, the ones that were release theatrically were matted to fit the widescreen theater. While the ones made for TV were never matted in widescreen thankfully.

Weren't many of the later Pink Panther cartoons shown on TV first, and then later retroactively released to theaters? In those cases I would say the "OAR" is 4:3. (Although they may have been filmed with "safe areas" in anticipation of possible theatrical release.) I remember the first Pink Panther DVD set coming out (in the UK?) and fans were ticked off that they were all cropped for widescreen. This would have been in the early days of the DVD format.

Weren't many of the later Pink Panther cartoons shown on TV first, and then later retroactively released to theaters?

Yes, that's correct.

http://forum.blu-ray.com...15077&postcount=3543 

Hopefully they are commentaries by Jerry Beck and others (like Charles Brubaker). Maybe throw in an interview or two with a surviving DFE staffer like Art Leonardi?

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Hopefully they are commentaries by Jerry Beck and others (like Charles Brubaker). Maybe throw in an interview or two with a surviving DFE staffer like Art Leonardi?

I didn't actually think of that! I was kinda thinking of an interview with Hope Freleng Shaw.

Mark your calendars; March 8th 2016!!!
http://forum.blu-ray.com...09566&postcount=5433 

Update time!!! The good news; original full screen!!!! The bad news; there will still be laugh tracks:

http://forum.blu-ray.com...03615&postcount=5712 

Something seems fishy about this laugh track business. After all, even the theatricals that were put on DVD with laugh tracks still had their original credits restored...so why couldn't MGM and now Kino-Lorber source the actual cartoons from whatever prints had those titles, rather than continuing to use TV prints? Did DFE splice the laugh-tracked soundtracks onto the original negatives?

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Something seems fishy about this laugh track business. After all, even the theatricals that were put on DVD with laugh tracks still had their original credits restored...so why couldn't MGM and now Kino-Lorber source the actual cartoons from whatever prints had those titles, rather than continuing to use TV prints? Did DFE splice the laugh-tracked soundtracks onto the original negatives?

That's what it sounds like to me (pun not intended).

You did thought with all this modern technology that they could edit out the laughing tracks without affecting the sound track, no?

You did thought with all this modern technology that they could edit out the laughing tracks without affecting the sound track, no?

Speaking of that, of course the first episodes of Rocky & Bullwinkle had laugh tracks, but were fortunately omitted from the DVD releases.

I am quite happy about this news.

So they will be on DVD as well as Bluray? I wonder how much of an upgrade Bluray would be -- I have yet to get a player.

Ant & Aardvark I already have on DVD, as well as the first half of the Inspector, but I have wanted to get the rest for a long time. I enjoyed watching these cartoons (many of them) on Saturday mornings. Some, like Hoot Kloot, Roland & Ratfink, Dogfather and Blue Racer were only theatrical; I don't remember ever seeing them on TV until TNT showed them along with the Pink Panther and the rest. But bring them on anyway!

One thing I really want to see released are the bumpers/interstitials from the various Pink Panther TV shows. We know they have them (at least a lot of them) because they have been shown on TV within the last five years, and have appeared on line. It is a complete mystery to me why that material wasn't used as extras on past releases of the Pink Panther cartoons on DVD. Maybe next time. I ran across a posting where someone said the Pink Panther is not part of this deal because MGM will be doing those themselves.

It's wonderful to see some vintage (or semi-vintage) classic (or semi-classic) animation coming out that isn't a re-release of something already available -- well, at least some of these haven't been released before.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=16965 

It's sure that I remember of these bumpers from The Pink Panther Show! More exactly of the ones from 1971 series, which involved the Pink Panther and the Aardvark on them.

Releases now delayed to 4/12:
http://forum.blu-ray.com...76614&postcount=5847