The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Allan Melvin, Howard Morris, Jean Vander Pyl (VOICES)

Release Date: March 25, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Direct from his Peebles Pet Shop habitat, Magilla Gorilla swings into the Blu-ray™ jungle, his inimitable goofiness and penchant for stumbling into trouble still intact to delight new generations of cartoon fans. As the naïve ape demonstrates, primates and humans share similar situations. Magilla gets to be an Army draftee (Private Magilla, featuring famous news anchor Walter Crancake), a football player (Gridiron Gorilla), an astronaut (Planet Zero) and more, ever silly situation an occasion for laughs. You can also relish the frisky feuding of Punkin’ Puss and Mushmouse in a rootin’-tootin’ shooting gallery of hillbilly hilarity. Lightning-fast sheriff Ricochet Rabbit and his coyote deputy Droop-a-long round out the animated animal antics. All 23 original, uncut episodes of this Hanna-Barbera classic series have been newly remastered from 4K scans of the original negatives (including the original Ideal Toys opening theme song, long-unseen bridges, the ‘curtain call’ and end credits) for pristine quality, along with eight bonus Magilla cartoons that are sure to please!

‘The Magilla Gorilla Show’ invites you to join Magilla, the beloved gorilla always for sale at Peebles Pet Shop who the owner just can’t seem to unload. As Magilla repeatedly gets caught up in one mishap or another, as well as being sold and returned time and again, Mr. Peebles just seems to end up stuck with him one way or another, regardless of how much he drops the price (or offers to pay them). The series also features the adventures of ‘Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-long’ which follows the pair of law enforcement workers in the old west; plus the shenanigans of the ever-feuding ‘Punkin’ Puss and Mushmouse’ as they repeatedly duke it out. Now with all episodes available in the original, uncut versions with all three animated shorts and the original opening, closing and curtain call segments, including the original IDEAL toys theme song.

Hailing from the iconic Hanna-Barbera team, ‘The Magilla Gorilla Show’ first debuted in 1964 and was sponsored in syndication by IDEAL toys (with the original theme song and opening now remastered and restored at last for this new Blu-ray release) and featured three segments in each thirty minute episode, featuring animated shorts of ‘Magilla Gorilla’, ‘Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-long’ and ‘Punkin’ Puss and Mushmouse’ with some amusing bridge segments and a curtain call featuring the stars together and now the original broadcast versions of the show are finally available to own, and in HD on top of it.

All three animated shows within certainly have their charms and keep the fun coming at a steady pace, but there’s no argument that Magilla is the star of the show and the title shorts often stand out over the other two; yet don’t misunderstand, it’s awfully special to have these in their original uncut versions at long last and it once again shows just how much care and work goes into these Warner Archive releases which always seem to go above and beyond. If you’re a fan of Magilla Gorilla or simply just of Hanna-Barbera in general, then this one is not to be missed. It also offers a great opportunity for older fans to introduce this classic cartoon to a new generation of potential fans, and in impeccable quality.

Get ready to celebrate with the original, uncut episodes of ‘The Magilla Gorilla Show’ in their entirety, now available in the 3-disc Blu-ray release ‘The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series’ courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection. This spectacular new Blu-ray release finally brings home the full episodes in their original, uncut versions, with each of the 23 full length episodes featuring all three animated series ‘Magilla Gorilla’, ‘Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-long’ and ‘Punkin’ Puss and Mushmouse’ along with the original IDEAL toys theme song opening, plus the original ending, curtain call segment and long-unseen interstitials/bridges recreating the original broadcast experience and all now in sparkling full high definition from newly remastered 4K scans of the original negatives and paired with rewarding lossless mono soundtracks that bring the beloved Hanna-Barbera animated series home looking and sounding better than fans could have dreamed (at least with the exception of a single Magilla short on disc three which has a notable drop in quality almost certainly due to issues with the source).

The new Blu-ray collection also features an additional helping of ‘Magilla Gorilla’ animated shorts and a few previously released extras which combined deliver the definite home entertainment release of ‘The Magilla Gorilla Show’ and marking its Blu-ray debut in addition. Fans should be beyond thrilled with what this release has to offer and for anyone considering a purchase it’s definitely highly recommended!

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation for all 23 original and uncut episodes (and bonus cartoons) of the series newly remastered in 1080p HD from 4K scans of the original negatives and utilizing the show’s original 1.33:1 4×3 Aspect Ratio. The video presentations look spectacular as a whole and with the sole exception of the Magilla Gorilla short “That Was the Geek That Was” which is significantly lower quality than all of the other shorts within (you can view a screengrab from it below at the bottom) everything else looks absolutely outstanding, with clean, sharp and gorgeously detailed presentations that look better and cleaner than ever before, yet still retaining their share of grain and staying true to their filmic roots. Coloring looks impressive across the board and delivers brighter, more vibrant colors than we could have imagined. Overall, these are fantastic high definition presentations that repeatedly impress and should have fans utterly thrilled.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release includes a 2.0 dual mono DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack for all 23 episodes and bonus cartoons of the animated series. These dual mono DTS-HD MA soundtracks do their job admirably as well and they provide clean, crisp and well balanced soundtracks for every episode and animated short within. All of the dialogue, music and effects are balanced beautifully and never struggle in sharing the channel; making certain that every effect and bit of dialogue remains clean, clear and fully audible throughout and never allowing any simultaneously occurring audio elements to contradict or negatively impact one another. Overall, these are great 2.0 DTS-HD MA soundtracks that never lose their way and shouldn’t disappoint whatsoever.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series’ features a few entertaining, previously released extras. Included on the release are ‘8 Bonus Magilla Gorilla Cartoons’, along with the vintage TV Special ‘Here Comes A Star’ (running approximately 25 minutes in length). Also included is the ‘Mr. Peebles Pet Shop’ Interview Gallery’ (running approximately 14 minutes altogether) and the ‘Magilla Gorilla Theme Song Live and Unplugged’ (approximately 2 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray from Warner Archive Collection

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You can Purchase ‘The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

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