Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology is on sale for a nice discount at Amazon. The newly released Blu-ray collection is up for grabs for $46.79 (was $60). The Golden Era Anthology compiles over 100 classic animated shorts starring the iconic duo. The six-disc box set also comes with a wealth of bonus features and a physical sketchbook. The Golden Era Anthology is also available on DVD for $46.79 (was $55), though it doesn’t include the bonus content disc or sketchbook.
Warner Bros. released The Golden Era Anthology on December 2 to celebrate Tom and Jerry’s 85th anniversary. Unsurprisingly, this awesome collection quickly became a bestseller when preorders opened in September. Though Amazon’s store page notes a $60 MSRP, the retailer has listed the collection for as high as $66.49. Amazon previously offered the $46.79 deal in mid-December, but it disappeared within a day.
Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology (Blu-ray)
$46.79 (was $60)
Part of the Warner Archive Collection, The Golden Era Anthology features 114 theatrical shorts across six discs. The shorts were restored in 1080p resolution and support DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Three of the shorts have stereo audio, while the rest are mono.
The box set collects nearly 20 years of Tom and Jerry history. The animated shorts, which played before feature films, originally appeared in theaters from 1940 through 1958. All 114 shorts are presented in chronological order, and three of them–Casanova Cat, Mouse Cleaning, and His Mouse Friday–were completely remastered for the first time.
The Golden Era Anthology’s sixth disc is loaded with bonus content, including audio commentaries narrated by animation experts, featurettes, and extra shorts. Two of the featurettes are exclusive to this release: Lady of the House: The Story of Mammy Two Shoes and Animal Hijinks: The Friends and Foes of Tom. The included physical sketchbook features archival character art and designs.
Special Features
- 20 audio commentaries
- 9 classic featurettes
- 2 new featurettes
- 3 bonus animated shorts
- 32-page sketchbook
All told, The Golden Era Anthology includes approximately 20 hours of content. The cover art features Tom in his Zoot suit from the 1944 animated short The Zoot Cat.
The Golden Era Anthology is notable for including two remastered shorts that had never received home media releases in the US: Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat. These are controversial Tom and Jerry episodes due to them being racially insensitive, and while they were scheduled to appear in Tom and Jerry: The Golden Collection Volume Two, that release was ultimately canceled. Older–and extremely dated–content like this has appeared in several other Warner Archive releases over the years, as the company has added disclaimers to these shorts to indicate their historical context, problematic nature, and racially insensitive jokes.