Our fearless leader, Jerry Beck, is in France at the Annecy Animation Festival (see photo above from his preservation screening yesterday – promoting our forthcoming Flip The Frog blu ray set). As he’ll be there through the rest of the week, I’ll make his tasks in prepping and posting a little easier by keeping things brief this week…
I do have something cool to show: here is the introduction video for the Flip the Frog Blu-ray. We now have both volumes built and as you read this, they’re on their way to the brain trust to take a look before committing to replication.
This short intro video has a few basics about the production of the Flip the Frog set. Filmmaker Leslie Iwerks was kind enough to do this introduction for the set, even while it was an incredibly busy time working on the Warner Brothers 100 anniversary documentary series. I’m very grateful for her participation, and I’m honored to have been able to have been able to restore this series of films. I do hope we can put some of them back on film in the coming years as well.
Seeing this project finally coming to fruition is a dream come true for producer Dave Gerstein and myself, and we’re so grateful for all the hard work, care and patience of everyone. I’m especially grateful to the supporters of Thunderbean sets through these years since it literally wouldn’t have been possible without you.
Other projects have already started to move forward here as Flip hops out the door.
Have a wonderful week all.
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Excellent work!
It was very nice of Leslie Iwerks to lend her imprimatur to this project. “The Hand Behind the Mouse” is one of the best animation documentaries I’ve ever seen, even though it somewhat underplayed the artistic achievements of Ub Iwerks as head of his own studio. I didn’t grow up with Flip; I never even heard of him until the late 1990s and didn’t see any of his cartoons before the early 2000s, but I’m a big fan now. Hopefully Thunderbean’s restoration will restore Flip the Frog to his rightful place in the pantheon of great cartoon characters.
Jerry speaking above in his best Pepe Le Pew accent.
can i pre order a copy of this soon to be released bluray?
Preorder at the official Thunderbean shop and get discs of the raw scans free!
https://thunderbeanshop.com/product/flip-the-frog-blu-ray-pre-order-with-special-bonus-set-flips-secret-vault/
The set has been available for pre-order for several years now. You can place your now on the Thunderbean website.
Where was Leslie’s intro filmed at?
I do not know for sure – but it looks like on a sound stage at Warner Bros. – probably shot between takes while filming her current Max’ Documentary “100 Years of Warner Bros.”
With all of the great work Thunderbean has done, I feel the Flip the Frog set is the company’s greatest achievement so far. I know this set will exceed everyone’s expectations.
Restoring, Remastering has made watching these classic cartoons come alive on every viewing level. An honor to keep the spirit alive of the artists and the time in which they were made.
Mariana Givens
Steve,
Was my preorder of Flip ever received?
Go to Thunderbean’s online shop and click Support Portal (Tickets) at the top of the page and open a ticket.
It keeps telling me Page Not Found when I try to get a ticket…
I’m so excited to finally get my hands on this set. I have a copy of these on DVD so I’ve seen many of them, but I can’t wait to see all of them in such great condition.
BOYOBOYOBOYOBOY!!!
Leslie did a very nice job introducing the collection, I liked her friendly smile at the end of the segment. She even mentioned Irv Spence! Did you write her material for this piece, Steve?
I thought she did a great job 🙂 !!!
any word on if Steve got the MoMA print of Alice yet?
Wow, bravo! What a wonderful intro. So looking forward to this set.
We had an Official Films Standard 8mm copy of a Flip cartoon when I was growing up, handed down with my mom’s family home movies.
oh boy. I hope this ships after my move in a few months. otherwise getting my pre-order is going to be complicated.