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Customer Reviews of The Archie Show: The Complete Series

Late '60s Saturday Morning Gem!
I was really surprised to see that "The Archie Show" was available, in it's complete season, on DVD. Previous releases on VHS and DVD just seemed to offer a few episodes of this Saturday morning classic from 1968. First off, this DVD offers a crisp and vibrant picture. The prints used have been digitally remastered, and they are in top form. The sound is pretty good too. On previous DVD releases, the voices of the characters were very screechy. On this release, the voice track sounds normal, like how it sounded when first telecast. Genius Entertainment has packaged this 2 disc set nicely too. It comes in a plastic slide case, and inside, offers a fold out cardboard case which contains the discs. There is a reproduction comic book inside that features a comic of the Archies visiting Filmation Studios-the studio where the Archies cartoon was produced. Also contained in this comic book is the episode listings, and the songs appearing in each episode. There is also some info on the voices behind the characters, which gives this DVD a nice added touch. Special features on the 2 discs include a jukebox setting, which lists the songs on the disc, and you can just watch the music performance of the Archies. There is an interview segment, and also an episode where you can watch one of the shows without vocals, just the music and sound effects. I don't really understand why this is offered, because you just see the characters mouths moving, but there is no sound. The Archies paved the way for other Saturday morning fare, in the early '70s, like Josie & The Pussycats, Goober & the Ghost Chasers, Scooby Doo, and Speed Buggy. One thing with "The Archie Show" is that it's very dated. Lots of tongue & cheek humour, like the same style as "Laugh-In", and you hear the word "groovy" at least once an episode. For this reason, I don't know if it would appeal to kids today. It is aimed at the audience that originally experienced this show. As far as the animation goes, it's not bad, but you can tell that the animators used a lot of the same poses, with different background art throughout the show. This was to cut down on production costs. Even though "The Archie Show" is not Walt Disney calibre animation, it still remains a classic in my books!

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Everything's Archie
Into the SatAm world of caped crusaders in 1968 came the carrot- topped teen from Riverdale, star of radio and comics, the inimitable Archie. The first SatAm cartoon with a laugh track, from the start Filmation's show was all about music. The Archie Show opened with The Archies in a band. Each episode consisted of two ten minute cartoons, a dance and a song by the Archies. One of the songs, "Sugar Sugar", from a later incarnation of the show (there were eight), hit no. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1969. <
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>Anyone who understands how limited were the budgets for kids' TV cartoons, as compared to the lavish resources for theatrical animation, will enjoy watching shows from this era to study what might be called the art of limited animation. As with Hanna- Barbera, it means characters running by the same shops and barber poles repeatedly to minimize backgrounds. It also meant finding clever ways to reuse footage. Here, one way was to use the dance visuals for the song segment. The musical production was supplied by Don Kirshner, fresh from TV's live action teen hit, The Monkees. Archie comics from this era were published by Archie Music Corporation, so the musical angle is not an accident. Another clever Filmation touch is to sometimes use no backgrounds at all, strobing the background color in time to the music. This burgeoning sense of psychedelia in SatAm cartoons would reach its height in Hanna- Barbera's 1969 Cattanooga Cats. <
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>This set is excellently presented, with two single sided discs that look like 45 RPM records. The Archie Show ran 17 episodes, unusual since a season generally has 13. Bonuses on the discs include character sheets and a Jukebox to play the song segments as videos. But what's worth the price of the set is the interview with Filmation producer Lou Scheimer. This hopefully signals a trend for Filmation DVD releases, as interviews were also a high point bonus on their live-action Ghost Busters set. <
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>The packaging is an engaging mix of art from various styles in Archie comics and the animated Filmation characters, which were simplified for the show. They still retain the sense of the comic book however, and the writing also echoes the comic. Jughead's dog, Hotdog "voices" his thoughts to the viewers, and Archie and pals talk to viewers between segments. You even get a miniature reprint of a story from the first "Everything's Archie" comic from 1969 in which the gang meet Norm Prescott, Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland of Filmation. The back pages cleverly include the DVD menu and a subscription blank to subscribe to Archie comics in what can only be called a total packaging deal of "Everything Archie". One episode of the show also has the gang meeting Mayor Prescott, a caricature of Norm Prescott. All in all, this ground breaking series made with way more heart than money gives yet more evidence why since 1941, readers, listeners, and viewers can't get enough of Riverdale's most famous teen.

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Now "Everything's Archie"!
I am elated to see that "The Archie Show" has finally come to DVD. <
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>I was four years old when the series premiered in 1968, and it changed my life by introducing me to music that wasn't my father's Al Hirt albums, which is virtually all I knew up to then. I still have my original copy of "The Archies" vinyl LP as well as all of the studio group's subsequent records. <
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>"The Archie Show" created nothing short of a phenomenon, and this DVD set, complete with an interview with producer Lou Scheimer, demonstrates why. The series was unlike anything else on Saturday morning television, and its appeal spread to teenagers, not just pre-teens. While a perfect example of Filmation's trademark limited animation technique and obvious re-use of stock character poses, the series set the standard for numerous subsequent animated shows that incorporated teen-oriented music -- "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour," "Josie and the Pussycats," "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?," "The Hardy Boys," and "The Bugaloos" among them. <
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>Do yourself a favor and pick up "The Archie Show" today!