Manhattan’s slickest alley cat is finally on disc today as part of the Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection Series from Warner Home Video. Top Cat: The Complete Series arrives along with The Flintstones: The Complete Second Season and each deluxe collector’s box set features loads of bonus features.
Top Cat premiered on primetime television in 1961 and ran for 30 episodes. Inspired by the hit ’50s comedy series, The Phil Silvers Show, the toon follows the misadventures of a smooth-talking New York City puss and his Manhattan alley cat pals, Benny the Ball, Choo-Choo, Spook, the Brain and Fancy-Fancy. The feline felons are always out to make a big score or pull the ultimate swindle while eluding the relentless Officer Dibble.
The Top Cat four-disc collector set features more than nine hours of content, including 90 minutes of DVD bonus features. Three episodes offer commentary by animation historians Jerry Beck, Earl Kress and Mark Evanier, as well as Leo de Lyon, who voiced the show’s Spook and The Brain characters. Fans also get a storyboard showcase, a retrospective featurette titled Hoagy’s Alley: The Making of Top Cat, a sing-along, an art collection, the Top Cat Kellogg’s commercials and interviews with series writer Barry Blitzer and voice actors de Lyon, Arnold Stang (Top Cat) and Marvin Kaplan (Choo, Choo).
The Flintstones: The Complete Second Season is also available in a four-disc collector set that contains 32 episodes and more than 800 minutes of original TV programming and enhanced content. Extras include commentary on three episodes by layout artist Jerry Eisenberg, writer/animation historian Earl Kress and cartoonist/Hanna-Barbera historian Scott Shaw. There is also a retrospective documentary titled Carved in Stone: The Flintstones Phenomenon, sponsor interstitials, a song selection, an archival tutorial on how to draw Fred Flintstone and an art gallery featuring rare animation cells and backgrounds accompanied by Bedrock sound effects.
Warner Home Video is also releasing the theatrical feature, The Man Called Flintstone, on DVD for the first time. The spy spoof was produced right after production of the original Flintstones series ended and was intended as a swan song for the characters.
Top Cat: The Complete Series and The Flintstones: The Complete Second Season list for $44.98 on DVD. The Man Called Flintstone is available on DVD for $19.97.
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