Tom and Jerry: Spotlight Collection, Volume 2

It has become something of a full-time job tracking DVDs, not because of the sheer number of discs being released, but because of the editing done to our favorite TV shows, movies, and cartoons on the format. One of the more spectacular examples in recent memory was the first Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection, which featured 3 edited shorts and was quickly followed up with promises from both Warner Bros. and animation historian Jerry Beck that this error would be rectified.

Fast forward a year, and Volume 2 is announced with renewed claims that the shorts contained are uncut. While some of the shorts featuring the now-controversial character Mammy Two-Shoes have the original voice (which belies a reference to Hattie McDaniel of Gone With the Wind fame), others feature the redubbed "politically correct" voice that Turner created in the '90s. The bottom line here is that Warner Bros.' (or at least their children's video division) can't be trusted to produce an uncut DVD set (or even a restored set, as most of the prints here are the same ones seen on Cartoon Network and Boomerang), much less to be honest with their intentions. Of course, with a growing list of edited, time-compressed, and music-replaced cartoons on DVD, the average viewer quickly gets the idea that most studios view classic animation as disposable entertainment not worthy of a correct, well cared for release. And until we stop buying such shoddily-produced DVDs, that view will continue to prevail.

Not only are 4 cartoons using redubbed voices for the maid, but my favorite Saturday Evening Puss is poorly mastered and looks worse than any cartoon on this set. Plus they repeat Texas Tom from Vol. 1. Did nobody involved in this project look at the set list and notice that Texas Tom already came out? And it wasn't even one of the three cartoons snipped on the first set. Expect to see it on Vol. 3.

political corectness is an absolute travesty and to say that tom and jerry or bugs bunny may not be suitable for younger viewers is an absolute disgrace. i love tom and jerry but will not purchase this set on principle alone. it boggles my mind to think that a visual disclaimer should be shown to bemoan the "hurtfull" images shown for two seconds in a cartoon from fifty or sixty years ago while todays generation is fed a steady diet of filth and corruption with not so much as a peep from this p.c. crowd. i recently purchased the looney tunes volume 3 dvd and while the cartoons are "unedited" (i cant believe this is even an issue) whoppi goldberg is at the beginning of each disc to make sure and tell us that these cartoon contain objectionable material. thanks whoppi, because you know i might forget i was watching a cartoon and take it literally. is this a joke? has she watched mtv lately? is what kids are watching today less objectionable then what recent generations were watching back then? are rap music thugs less objectionable than a maid shown in a tom and jerry cartoon? please dont insult my intelligence by omiting and hopeing i wont notice. five stars for the real tom and jerry, zero stars for p.c. palookas.