The Plot:
Starting with "Knock, Knock", Universal gives us 15 Woody Woodpecker originals. They then throw in five shorts featuring the character's collection of "friends" (Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, etc). Individually, here are the titles presented and the basic plots within each:

Knock Knock (1940) - Andy Panda and his father are tormented by a pesky woodpecker.

Pantry Panic (1941) - Unprepared for winter, Woody must find sustenance...or die.

The Barber of Seville (1944) - Woody substitutes for a missing business owner, and hijinx ensue.

Ski for Two (1944) - With the promise of an all-you-can-eat buffet, Woody checks out an mountain lodge.

Chew-Chew Baby (1945) - After being evicted from his boarding house, Woody returns as the proprietor's possible girlfriend.

The Dippy Diplomat (1945) - Woody crashes a barbeque intended for a visiting foreign dignitary.

The Loose Nut (1945) - Woody torments a city worker pouring concrete.

Who's Cookin' Who? (1946) - Woody is again unprepared for winter, and a wolf is hot on his heels.

Bathing Buddies (1946) - Woody and Wally Walrus are roommates - and driving each other crazy.

Fair Weather Friends (1946) - A storm strands a scarred - and starving - Woody and his pal the Wolf on a deserted island.

Musical Moments from Chopin (1946) - Woody and buddy Andy Panda play a concert of classical music for their barnyard peers.

Banquet Busters (1948) - Woody and Andy are starving musicians, and as luck would have it, a party is happening right down the street.

Wet Blanket Policy (1948) - Woody buys an insurance policy with Buzz Buzzard as the beneficiary...and someone wants to collect early.

Sleep Happy (1951) - Though he's very tired indeed, Woody turns out to be a very bad boarder.

The Redwood Sap (1951) - Once again, Woody is unready for the oncoming winter, and may starve without some help.

And here are the five shorts featuring Woody's "pals":

Fish Fry (1944) - Andy Panda has a new pet fish, and the local alley cat is very interested indeed.

The Legend of Rockabye Point (1955) - A salty sea captain tells the tale of penguin Chilly Willy.

Sh-h-h-h-h-h (1955) - A harried man travels to a far off retreat for some peace and quite.

Crazy Mixed Up Pup (1954) - A man accidentally treated with dog's blood experiences some unusual side effects.

Pied Piper of Basin Street (1945) - A jazzy score highlights this retelling of the classic fable.

The DVD:
Perhaps it's the narrow-minded naiveté of youth. Maybe it's the decidedly lowbrow level of the humor. It could be the Hellaspoppin' panache of the character. Whatever it is, Woody Woodpecker is one schizophrenic cartoon classic. On the one hand, we have the typical Tex Avery inspired (and sometimes helmed) madness that made animation in the '40s and '50s so revolutionary and rebellious. The slapstick is inspired and the visual humor and puns completely groan inducing in their greatness. This is old school wit at its wackiest and weirdest. But upon closer, more mature, inspection, Woody Woodpecker is kinda...lame. Don't shoot the messenger here, just follow along. As witnessed in this collection of Universal archives, the character comes across as lazy, shiftless, mean-spirited, and perhaps the biggest glutton in the entire avian population. All Woody cares about is food and recognizable foodstuffs. He envisions his potential enemies as succulent, stuffed roasts and will easily scarf down anything that isn't permanently affixed to the planet. Vague childhood memories suggest something much more to this birdbrain than successful dietary suggestions, but that's the definite impression one gets today.

Also, Woody tends to work better as the victim than as the victor. When he's tormenting his targets - be they Wally Walrus, that mangy ass wolf, or some bulky workaday Joe - his razor sharp abuse can be rather cruel. Sure, his lunkheaded objectives deserve their pain, but Woody's reactions to his own sorry lot in life are a heckuva lot funnier. Similarly, Lantz's writers weren't wizards of subtlety. In exceptional installments like "The Barber of Seville" or "Musical Moments from Chopin", you can practically see the dino-dung style gags coming down the pipeline. This doesn't mean that a Woody Woodpecker short is predicable. Instead, it simply indicates the level on influence and intermingling that went on during the era. You just know that when some character is considered "all wet", they'll be dripping with said mandatory liquid before too long. Outside such quibbles, however, the overall level of fun and entertainment is hard to beat. Even as the storylines start to repeat (how many takes on the Grasshopper and the Ant can we tolerate, Mr. Aesop?), there is still singular moments of home run hilarity to be found.

Of the 15 featuring Woody specifically, the best come from the earlier days of the Lantz cartoon cavalcade. "Knock Knock" may be too off model for some fans, but "Pantry Panic" and "Ski for Two" are true blue classics. "The Loose Nut" looses some of its steam about halfway through, while "Bathing Buddies" takes the whole "Odd Couple" ideal to dizzying extremes. On the downside, "Seville" just can't match the similarly inspired Warner Brothers romp starring a certain Mr. Bunny, while "Wet Blanket Policy" and "Redwood Sap" seem recycled. Of the non-Woodpecker offerings, "Rockabye Point" is wonderful, if only because of its debt to this critic's personal penguin favorite. "Pied Piper" is also clever in its jumping crackerjack jive. In essence, the vast majority of this Universal compendium is worth an artform fan's time. Unless you want to run out and buy the studio's previous DVD releases (75 shorts each, including 40+ Woody cartoons along with 30 others), you'll find this minor anthology well worth your time.

The Video:
Considering the source, the rarity, and the lack of a true preservationist bent at most studios, it's nice to see Universal taking its time to clean up these cartoons. The 1.33:1 full screen images are consistently good. While not quite up to the level that the Warner Brothers offer with their glorious Golden Looney Tunes Collections, the visuals here are quite impressive. The colors are dynamic and the details pop off right off the screen. Sure, there are some age spots present and we get some random fading, but overall, the transfers are terrific. In looking over James Rich's review of the Woody Woodpecker multi-disc sets, it would seem that Universal has indeed stepped up and remastered these titles.

The Audio:
Nothing new on the sound side of things, however. While the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is less tinny and thin than you'd expect, it definitely lacks some sonic heft. The music is mired by a lack of dimension, and Woody's womanly voice can be very grating at times. Still, for their age and overall technical limitations, these cartoons look and sound very good indeed.

The Extras:
The only added content provided is a pair of episodes from the television syndication of the cartoon shorts - The Woody Woodpecker Show. The include #53, which offers the titles "Kiddie League", "Charlie's Mother-in-Law", "The Bird Who Came to Dinner", and "Fish & Chips", and #56 which gives us "Billion Dollar Boner", "Coming Out Party", "Romp in a Swamp" and "Pest of Show". The questionable quality of the material provided demands consideration, especially when four shorts are being pressed into 26 minutes of TV time. Edits are not obvious, but the tone is definitely aimed more at wee ones than adults.

Final Thoughts:
As a part of the Saturday Morning/Afterschool Programming lexicon, Woody Woodpecker remains timeless. Many a '60s and '70s child grew up measuring their playground panache by how well they could imitate the bird's lunatic call. Forty odd years later, there's still a lot of insanity left in this red headed rebel. Dated as he may be (and there's some offensive racial stereotyping present as well), Woody Woodpecker still deserves a Recommended rating. While far from comprehensive, this collection of 20 titles does the character's, and his creator's, legacy a wonderful cinematic service. Walter Lantz may not have a name as recognizable as that of a certain Mr. Disney or a pair of pervasive Warners, but he did create one of the medium's most recognizable rapscallions. As an example of the screwball dynamic, Woody Woodpecker will always be first run. As a cartoon entertainer, however, his efforts are too hit or miss to truly play with the big boys.

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