The Ultimate Underdog Collection Volume 2
(1964)
Underdog DVDs
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I have mixed feelings about these new Underdog DVDs (this one, The
Ultimate Underdog Collection Volume 1 and The Ultimate Underdog
Collection Volume 3). On one hand, I think the cartoons here are
great for kids. Originally airing on 1960s television, the Underdog
serials have just enough sarcasm ("Look! It's a bird! It's a plane!
It's a frog!) to engage even the most jaded child, and the show's
additional cartoons include not just Tennessee Tuxedo, but the great
Tooter Turtle and World of Commander McBragg. (Others include the
King and Odie, Klondike Kat, Go Go Gophers and The Hunter.)
That said, whoever put together this set apparently has no
appreciation for its contents. The shows on this disk are edited!
Not for anything racy or racist (this was '60s television, after
all) but just because someone is apparently too greedy, or too lazy,
to deliver what they promise. Despite the fact that these were
30-minute television shows, on this disk each Underdog show -- which
has two 'dog episodes and two additional cartoons -- runs only 19
minutes.
Worse, the cuts are done with the subtlety of a meat clever. For
example, in the Tooter Turtle shorts, after Mr. Wizard says
"Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome, time for this one to come
home"... the cartoon ends! As another reviewer points out, that's
NOT the end!
As for the Underdog stories on this particular "Volume 2" DVD, when
Riff-Raff plans to steal the gold out of Fort Knox in 1964's "The
Great Gold Robbery," he also captures Sweet Polly Purebred. Underdog
and Polly battle vicious rats when they get shrunk by bad guy Simon
Bar Sinister in 1964's "The Big Shrink." Finally, when aliens invade
Earth and turn everyone into their slaves in the 1966 serial "The
Marbleheads," Shoeshine Boy eventually finds a way to turn himself
into Underdog and save the day.
I gave this set four stars because of my fondness for Underdog,
Tooter and Commander McBragg. But if you buy it, be prepared to be
at least a little frustrated.
