Earl Kress is an animation historian, and a writer on episodes of shows such as
Kim Possible and the original
Transformers. He's participated in extras on various Warner animation DVD sets such as
Top Cat, Wacky Racers, Yogi Bear, Tom & Jerry and previous season sets of
The Flintstones. Now Kress has just recently started
his own website/blog, and it's very cool...be sure to check it out! Fans of NBC's
My Name Is Earl will get a chuckle out of the logo.
On his weblog's first day, Kress began talking about his participation on extras for
The Flintstones - The Complete 6th Season. He mentions that the bonus material was taped in late March, including his hosting of the story of "The Great Gazoo." He lamented how Gazoo's voice actor, the great Harvey Korman, was unavailable to participate unfortunately.
But wrtier Joanna Lee was available, and participates heavily. (SEE CORRECTION BELOW) There's also an overview of all six seasons of the original primetime animated series, and its effect on pop culture. Stephen Baldwin ("Barney" from the second live-action film) hosts. Kress also teases us with these comments:
We also dug up a surprise from the archive, in the form of something that’s never been seen before. As much as I’d like to, I can’t give everything away here, so, you’ll have to buy the set to find out what it is. I have to say, I thought it was truly fascinating and something you won’t find from any other source!
He also mentions the recording of a podcast for this DVD set. Some of the things he talks about that WON'T be found on this release, though, include a couple of things that were asked about by TVShowsOnDVD reader Greg Chenoweth, who we owe a thanks to for the heads-up about Kress' blog. Kress responds publicly to Greg's questions about whether or not we would see Winston cigarette commercials or a Fred & Barney-hosted tour of a Budweiser plant. Since other old TV shows, like
I Love Lucy and
The Beverly Hillbillies, have included cigarette ads in their DVD sets, it's not an unreasonable question. Warner vetoed the idea, though, probably with the thought in mind that this is even more kid-oriented than the other two shows. Kress also wished that a new, improved version of a CD that Rhino once released called "Modern Stone-Age Melodies" could be included as a bonus disc on this set, but it looks like this "didn't come to pass." It's interesting to note some of the ideas that were kicked around for updating it, though. Read it all in Earl's weblog. It looks great; I know I'll be bookmarking it!
CORRECTION (4/9):
Earl Kress has very kindly contacted us directly, and nicely let us know that we had a very critical misunderstanding of his comments in his blog regarding Joanna Lee! He tells us, "Joanna Lee passed away in 2003. We just made the FOCUS of the piece about her and the creation of Gazoo. She, nor her heirs, had any direct participation." Earl, thank you very much for taking the time to make sure we understood that. TVShowsOnDVD regrets the error.
