Starring Allan Melvin, Howard Morris, Jean Vander Pyl
Written By:
Directed By: Joseph Barbera, William Hanna
Studio: Warner Brothers
Buy on Amazon.com link

Remember when Saturday morning was a box of sugar-loaded cereal and 5 hours of cartoons? Well grab that box of Count Chocula & pick up Hanna Barbera’s Magilla Gorilla The Complete Series. I can’t believe how much better the cartoons of yesterday were. First of all, they are like 7 minutes or so. Just enough to hold our attention after twitching like a crack baby after 16 bowls of sugar. They were funny, sometimes a bit racy but for the most part innocent. The Magilla Gorilla DVD set is a 4 disc compilation of all 23 episodes. For those of you who don’t know Magilla – you should. A classic HB character. He’s an ape who from birth ends up in Mr. Peebles pet shop and gets into all sorts of trouble. Mr. Peebles of course can’t sell him or give him away to anyone because of his antics. The only one who really wanted Magilla was a little girl named Ogee who appears in most of the episodes. But at the end of every episode, no matter what Magilla was originally bought for or given away he’d always end up back in the pet store eating up the profits.

The cartoons are presented in their original format and look pretty good. The packaging is great for a cartoon set. Full color box and 4 disc full color insert. Allan Melvin provided the voice for Magilla and various other cartoon characters including runs with Scooby Doo and the Smurfs. What was great about Hanna Barbera was the variety they offered. Along with the Magilla cartoons in this set there are other favs including Richochet Rabbit, Punkin’ Puss & Mushmouse. They basically run in their original segments of 3 episodes per half hour. I made it though the entire collection on only 1 box of Trix.

Favorite episodes include Motorcycle Magilla and Planet Zero. On the 3rd & 4th disc there are some pretty good extras too. There’s footage of the original theme song unplugged & played by Bill Hanna at the piano. Also an interview with the voice actors and a old but cool behind the scenes tour of Hanna Barbera studios during the introduction of Magilla’s character.

All in all a fun few hours of retro-cartoon coolness.

Features:
Magilla Theme Song, Live and Unplugged: Rare Footage of Hoyt Curtin and Bill Hanna at the Piano, Introduced by Series Animator Jerry Eisenberg
Mr. Peebles Pet Shop: Interactive Interview Gallery with Magilla Gorilla Voice Allan Melvin, Series Animator Jerry Eisenberg and Animation Historian Jerry Beck
Here Comes a Star: Archival TV Special Goes Inside Hanna-Barbera Studios to Introduce This New Simian Character

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Mono
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Mono

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes:
Rating: NR
Running Time: 539 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: