http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-hunt-for-flip-the-frog-begins/ 

So this was the licensed set that Mr. Stanchfield kept hinting at!! [flip]

I don't know how to express how happy I am!!

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Why is it Blu-ray only? o_O

Because Blu-ray is, in the right hands (like Mr. Stanchfield's), the more accessible home video equivalent of physical film, which is really the best way to experience these cartoons. Except Blu-ray doesn't run the high risk of combusting into flames like many of these Flip the Frog materials could easily do (and yes, I'm aware that there are safety film elements, as mentioned in the article).

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Wait... is it just a Blu-ray? I'm not *sure* yet.....the French set that was just released a year or two back is standard def, so I'm not sure if there's a market for the new version.

Right now we're thinking about putting out a 'Willie Whopper' set first, since really amazing material just became available on nearly all the shorts, including two in color. There's 14 all together, and if we did a
Blu-ray of those we'd want to have some bonus things-- perhaps another short or two. I can't wait to see some of this stuff in the next transfer session!

There are just some safety elements on the Flips right now (in 35mm). Many of the films do not have 35mm safety elements as of yet (there are 16mm elements on everything of course). Since the nitrate is a generation up, that's what we're trying to do for any of them that have a nice element there first. Happily, the nitrate is in a safe place with very little chance of explosion, but deterioration will continue, though very slowly, over time. At archives the film is kept just over freezing temperature to slow down the deterioration process as much as possible.

(This is *one* of the licensed sets... there are a few others so far. One has 79 films transferred for it already, another is waiting for the various machinations to happen not related to us..)

I'm in favour of Blu-ray/DVD combo sets, if you're looking for feedback. I think the majority of people who have a Blu-ray player in their "main" viewing area still have DVD players in their bedroom or in their laptops etc. Are combo sets a real pain? They're the best of both worlds for the consumer, but if they're no good for you...


A complete Willie Whopper set would be very high up my shopping list!


79!? Very short cartoons, or a multi-volume deluxe box set in the offing? Come on, Steve - give us a clue! [bugs]

I like the Blu-ray/DVD combo sets...it really isn't that much more to put a DVD in with the Blu-ray, and it's kind of good if you don't have a Blu-ray player yet but may someday. I hadn't thought about main viewing area vs others. The harder part becomes figuring out how to have multiple Blu-rays and multiple DVDs in a combo set. Blu-rays cost a lot of replicate at first, so if there's more than one the trick is to not have the price of the set go up too high but still be able to cover the costs and make a profit. This balancing act was easier with just DVDs... but I think it's going to work out fine on Flip to have a two disc set.

I just got an HD TV at home about a week and half ago! Before, all I had was this little tiny HD TB about the size of a small computer monitor...I had to go to my work to see the cleanups of each film bigger!

The Willie set has started to come together faster than I thought it would.

I *wish* I could talk more about that one set, but there's more business stuff to take care of before that happens. Super hoping it WILL happen, eventually- the best clue I can give is that it has a lot of things on it that
you've never seen before, period....the prints for them just are not out there except in archives and many in personal collections.. it has some that you've seen, but, funny enough, a lot of the best ones were hiding..s o I think they need to be out there.

Can't wait to see the Willie materials on their way here. One of the distributors may have changed some title cards on some of this stuff, but on these films it's a matter of tracking down the other material that does have the original title. That may be easier on the Willies, harder on the later Flip the Frog cartoons.

I'm in the middle of all this stuff and don't even have the French set, nor do I really ever think about or remember it much. I have a feeling it won't be a monkey wrench here...yours would be HD (even if a DVD is included) and a Thunderbean release, at that [flip]

Though, considering that release does exist, and there are better elements of some Flips still to find, I do like the idea of Willie coming out first. Nice and easy one-disc set with beautiful looking prints that are already available.

Back to Flip again, for a moment. Maybe create separate volumes, to have both a BD and DVD in one case? I think people would buy separate units, sort of how people used to collect the Cartoons That Time Forgot and Uncensored Boskos way back when.

Is it wrong for me to hope that the "one set" Steve can't talk about yet is a Puppetoon set?

You talk about the MK2 "Coffret Flip the Frog" set, right? But that was first released back in 2004.
http://www.mk2pro.com/film-fr/flip-the-frog/?lang=en 
I think I posted a brief description of the set back then on GAC (or was it still Toonzone? I can't find it right now).

Apparently it was re-released in 2009. Compare and contrast:
http://www.amazon.fr/Coffret-Cartoons-vol-1-Flip-Frog/dp/B0002V60A6/ 
http://www.amazon.fr/Cartoons-vol-1-flip-Ub-Iwerks/dp/B002ZIZK2S/ 
I've got one of them (don't know which one, but it's very good), and I've no idea if there's any difference between the two. No doubt Steve can do a better job, though. [flip]

It's not the Puppetoons- those are all in one place, in beautiful original materials.

We're thinking about an advance 'sneak preview' on some of the Willies for the IAD forum members (with the final disc sent on release as usual)....

ok, I'm lost here. French releases would be PAL format, so the cartoon would run faster time wise (I come to find approximately 15 seconds on a 7 minute cartoon). I would rather have an NTSC format release, unedited/censored any day regardless of format. Reason being, with tech today you can make about anything with anything!

From what I have heard, PAL and NTSC are more or less obsolete on Blu-Ray, which, when it comes to films made at 24fps, always plays at 24fps accordingly, even in countries that had used PAL (and sped films up to 25fps accordingly, resulting in the accursed high pitch and higher speed).

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Interesting info, see just proves you're never to old to learn! But along those thoughts, why here in the basically TV schedules are some noted as PAL. They run faster timeline wise. I dabble with older formats of video. From what I have learned, I can make NTSC to PAL with good results, but not the other way. Another thing I have learned is, you can strip audio, take a PAL stretch and lay over an NTSC or vise versa with good results.

Care to give us another hint (ie. is it a theatrical or TV cartoon)?

PAL runs at 25 frames per second vs. 24 FPS of NTSC (really 23.987 fps). If you capture the 25 fps file, you could do two different things to make it run the 'correct' speed, depending on if it's made to run at 25 or 24... After effects I've found is the easiest way, but just reconforming the speed (it lets you change speed without any actual loss of frames). Having a non-fielded starting point is good so there's a progressive file (rather than having fields). There's a little program called 'Jes Deinterlacer' that works wonders for removing fields and doing a 'reverse' telecine...

I wish I could Nick! Someday soon I hope!

I am hoping it is a Scrappy set! I know Steve has lots of Scrappy material, so maybe!.....

I'm hoping, too, having in mind how big a Scrappy enthusiast Steve is.
And it would be awsome if Steve could get access to the original, or recently restored, Columbia archive material (instead of the always muddy-looking Samba prints). Oh, and we need a Scrappy smiley!