If you’re shopping for your dad, brother or other guys this holiday season, you can usually do well by picking out DVDs or Blu-rays that they’ll love. With the introduction of “The Three Stooges Ultimate Collection” on DVD earlier this year, you might just have the perfect gift for tons of guys.

We all love slapstick and stupid humor, and nobody does it better than the Three Stooges. Many of us grew up watching these nuts on TV, and now we can have their entire catalog in one DVD box set.

The Three Stooges were the longest-running comedy act in motion picture history. The team included Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, Joe Besser and Joe “Curly-Joe” DeRita. Most will agree that the best shorts include those with Curly or Shemp of course, with Curly probably being the most popular. Still, Shemp was always underrated.

This collection features over 60 hours content, with the entire Three Stooges Columbia shorts catalog spanning three decades and 190 shorts. It also includes three discs of rare and unreleased content. Extras include several of the Stooges work separately in solo shorts, 28 never-before-released short films starring Stooges actors Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita, as well as feature length films. This 20-disc set will be the ultimate gift for any Stooges fan.

Check out our Holiday Gift Guide for more gift ideas, and check out these classic Stooges scenes as well.

Bullz-Eye: Not that you haven’t been asked this more than a few times, but…what’s your very first memory of experiencing the Three Stooges?

Peter Farrelly: You know, the God’s honest truth…? I don’t remember it. Because they were always there. I’ve been watching the Stooges since I could turn on a TV. But I guess the thing I recall the most is, for some reason, I went through a period when I was, like, a freshman in high school where they were on every day from I think 4 – 5 PM, and I just remember it being the highlight of that winter. [Laughs.] Every day, because it was freezing out, you’d just get in the house and turn on the TV. Every kid in my school at that time was watching. For some reason, they were going through some sort of a renaissance. Everybody was watching them that year.

BE: Not that you guys have ever been afraid of testing boundaries, but it would seem to be pretty daunting to update the Three Stooges. I think the last time anyone tried it was with “The Three Robonic Stooges.“

PF: Yeah, we knew it wasn’t gonna be easy, but we love the Stooges and…the God’s honest truth is that we felt like they were going away. I had little kids…well, they’re 11 and 13 years old now, but the last few years, I asked their friends, and two-thirds of them did not know the Three Stooges. Or they had heard of them, but they didn’t really know who they were. And that bothered us, because we’re huge Stooges fans – they’ve given me more laughs than anybody – and we wanted to bring them back. But we knew that…you know, look, anytime you do anything like this… There was a huge, huge opportunity to fall on our faces, but I did believe that it should be done, the movie should be made, and I felt very confident that we could pull it off.

BE: Who came up with the idea of dividing the film into three Three Stooges shorts as a framing device?

PF: Um…that’s really one of those questions like, “Who came up with this joke?” I never remember, honestly, if somebody says, “Peter, who came up with that line?” Because you’re kind of bouncing things around. It was our call, Bobby’s and mine and Mike Ferrone’s, who we wrote it with. We had struggled with it for a long time. “How do you do this?” Because the Stooges were 18-minute shorts, so how do you turn it into a movie and make people not lose interest? So we thought, “Well, wait a minute, what if we break it into two shorts, and each one picks up where the last one left off, so it holds together as a movie?” And originally, by the way, we had four shorts. There were four of ‘em, and they were more like 18 minutes…just about that, actually…and the problem was that when you got to the fourth short, there was feeling of, “Are you shitting me? There’s another one?” [Laughs.] “Three’s plenty.” So we extended each one and broke it into thirds. And now it’s nice, because when you get to that third short…we have on the beginning where it says, “Final episode,” so you know this is it, but you’re only 55 minutes into the movie, you’re thinking, “Jesus, this thing’s wrapping up!” Psychologically, it makes people happy. [Laughs.]

BE: To say that the Stooges themselves went through a few different casting incarnations would be a bit of an understatement…

PF: Yeah.

BE: …but did it ever reach a point where you began to wonder if the thing was ever gonna get made?

PF: [Long pause.] Nah. There were many points when people said, “It’s not gonna get made,” and the studio said, “No, we’re not doing it,” but I always figured someone else would do it. I never thought, “Nah, it’s just not gonna happen. It’s not meant to be.” I couldn’t go there, because I’d worked on the script too long. We really put a lot of time into the script. I’m proud of that script because it’s original. They look the same, think the same, act the same, sound the same, and we have some of the hits, some of the moves, but the stories are original and Stooge-like. And they weren’t easy to do. They took a lot of work, because it’s not like writing a normal movie, where you can just go in any direction and it doesn’t matter, where as long as it’s working, it’s fine. With this, there were a lot of times where we came up with something that was funny, but we thought, “The Stooges wouldn’t do it. The Stooges wouldn’t do this. The Stooges wouldn’t do that.” So it took…it was a hard, hard script to write, and that’s why I was very reluctant to give up on it. Too much work was put into it. I just couldn’t see quitting on it.

BE: Not to cast any aspersions on the final three guys, but was there anyone from the process of casting the film who was a real heartbreaker when you couldn’t get them into the film?

PF: You know, I know this sounds like bullshit, but, Will, I’m telling you the truth: I take a very Zen view of casting, and I’ve never had my heart broken casting, because…with “Dumb & Dumber,” Jim Carrey was about the 150^th guy we offered that movie to. Everybody had passed. Every single person had passed, and finally we got Jim Carrey, and it worked out in a way that was just beautiful. You can’t imagine it any other way. So throughout our career, we’ve been passed on in just about every movie by lots of guys, and I just always tell ‘em, “It’s okay, man, you gotta do what you gotta do. I don’t want you to do a movie that…” Because, you know, I always try to talk ‘em into it. I give them the old hard-sell, why they should do it. But at the end of the day, if they say, “I dunno, man, I just don’t feel right about it,” I’m, like, “Great! No problem! I have more respect for you than ever!” [Laughs.] And then we move on. Because I do believe that if you get everything in this world that you could imagine, then it’s gonna be as good as you could imagine it. But if you don’t get everything that you want, then sometimes the universe opens up and it gives you things that are better than you could’ve even imagined. And that’s how it’s been. In this case, everybody passed, ultimately, but it finally allowed us to do what we had asked to do in the beginning, which was to cast the three best people. And when we did a worldwide casting call, I guarantee you there’s no actors out there that could’ve done better than these guys. These three were geniuses.

BE: For me, Chris Diamantopoulos was the greatest surprise. Somehow you don’t expect a guy who’s successfully played Sinatra (in “The Kennedys”) to be able to turn a performance as Moe Howard.

PF: He’s a…I’m telling you the truth that he’s maybe the most talented guy I’ve ever worked with. He’s Jim Carrey talented. He can do anything. And I’d never heard of him before! He just came in, and apparently he’s well known on Broadway and has done a lot of Broadway stuff. I’ve met people since then who work on Broadway and said, “Do you know Chris Diamantopoulous?” “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah…” But I’d never heard of him. [Laughs.] But he blew us away. And not just his acting, but his total knowledge of the Stooges and of what we were trying to accomplish. It was sort of like having a third director on set, having him there, because he really did know about what Larry and Curly should be doing as well, and he would walk them through things. Everybody was great, but he was the guy who kind of made it all happen.

BE: How did Larry David find his way into the project? I figure he’d be someone who you’d either really have to twist his arm, or else he’d say, “Oh, yeah, I got a nun’s habit right here, I’ll be right over.”

PF: I think when he heard “Sister Mary Mengele,” he giggled and said, “Ah, okay, lemme look at it.” [Laughs.] And then with Larry, y’know, he’s an old friend. We’ve been working him for years trying to get him in a movie. I said, “C’mon, man, if you don’t do this one, you’re never gonna be in one.” So he said “yeah.”

BE: Has the Catholic Church had any official response to Kate Upton’s performance in the film?

PF: There was some response, actually. The Catholic League came out, and they criticized her, and they criticized Larry David and his portrayal of Sister Mary Mengele. But, y’know, it wasn’t a…it didn’t pick up any steam. But the day the movie opened, there were a couple of press releases.

BE: Did you take any hits for the “Jersey Shore” cast potentially dating the film in the long haul?

PF: You know, the truth is, I don’t read reviews. [Laughs.] So I’m not exactly sure. And I also stay off the internet. Because I’ve gone on the internet enough for my friends to see that if they’re saying that about them, what are they saying about me? I don’t wanna know! Like, I went on for Seth MacFarlane, I was looking at some of his reviews for Ted, which I loved, and I couldn’t believe the amount of hatred and anger. Anyway, I avoid that kind of stuff, so I’m not exactly sure. I haven’t heard too much backlash. I had one guy…I did an interview with a radio guy up in Chicago, Mancow, and he said, “Look, I loved this movie, it blew my mind, I couldn’t believe how good it was, I wasn’t expecting it, but the fucking ‘Jersey Shore’ ruined it for me! As soon as they came on, I was, like, ‘Goddammit, why’d they have to do that?” And, you know, my argument is, well, if you don’t like “Jersey Shore,” that’s who you should want in that role, given that we just beat the shit out of them for the whole time that they’re on there. [Laughs.] Didn’t that give you some satisfaction?

BE: A bit, yes. [Laughs.]

PF: By the way, I do have to say this about the “Jersey Shore” people: when they were coming, we were bracing ourselves for the worst, because, y’know, you read things about how horrible they are, how annoying, they seem like a lot of work, but they showed up on time, worked their butts off, and couldn’t have been more easy-going. No problems, no whining, did everything we asked. I really liked them. I’m probably the first person in the world to say that. [Laughs.]

BE: Over the years, do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

PF: Wow. Ah, boy, that’s really… [Long pause.] Yeah. Y’know, it’s funny, people ask me, “Well, what are your favorite movies?” And you’d expect it to be, like, “(There’s Something About) Mary” or “Dumb & Dumber,” and I love them, but…making movies is sort of like having kids. You feel closer and more protective of the kid who never made it than the kid who went off to Harvard Medical School. That kid’s gonna do fine. But you worry about the other kid who, for whatever reason, didn’t do as well. And you tried just as hard on that one, but…so, yeah, “Kingpin” was a crusher when that came out. It did nothing. Well, it did $25 million, but that was…I went into a dark place after that. I felt that “Stuck On You” could’ve done a lot better, too. I really liked “Stuck on You.” You know, those two come to mind. And I wish “The Three Stooges” had been released in the summer. It was a terrible time to release this movie. They released it in mid-April, and the kids weren’t even off on Spring Break. They were all done with Spring Break, and…on the weekend, it opened great, but in the week, it did zero, because kids were in school. And it did okay, but I believe that if they’d released it June, July, or August, it would’ve been double. But on the other hand, you can’t control the world, you can’t control everything, and, y’know, maybe nothing mattered. Maybe it could’ve been released at the best time ever and nothing would’ve changed. But, yeah, you do feel like some of them deserved better.

BE: How was the “Unhitched” experience for you? Would you go back to the small screen after the way that series was received on Fox?

PF: Well, I didn’t…you know, “Unhitched” was something that we executive-produced, and, honestly, it wasn’t my baby. It was friends of mine who I really admire and like, and they did it, and I helped them get it made, and they went off with it, so…it didn’t leave at all a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, I would still consider going off and doing a show. I’ve never really done a show on a day-to-day basis. I’ve never really created a show and then worked on that show. That’s something that I could see myself doing in the future, without question. But, no, “Unhitched,” I thought it was a valiant effort. I loved the guys who did it, Chris Pappas and Mike Bernier and Kevin Barnett. They’re sensational guys and sensational writers. It was fun. I believe if they’d given the show a little more time it might’ve done better. Who knows? But I have no bad feelings about it.

BE: To kind of bring this full circle by bringing up Larry David again, Wikipedia suggests that you guys wrote “Seinfeld” episode “The Virgin,” but IMDb says you just wrote the story.

PF: Yeah, we didn’t actually write the script. We pitched the idea and sold it. We went into a room and pitched it to Larry and Jerry (Seinfeld) and Larry Charles, and they bought the idea. We were given story credit, and they wrote it. So it was… At the time, we were trying to get in and wanted to get on staff with “Seinfeld,” but they didn’t hire us for that, but they bought that. When we look back in retrospect, if we’d ever been hired as writers, we would never have been able to go off and make “Dumb & Dumber” and those things. So it all worked out.

BE: Is there anything that you would’ve changed about the way “The Virgin” came out? Anything that veered way away from what you’d envisioned when you pitched the story?

PF: Nah. I thought it was great. Again, we had very little to do with it beyond the idea of…our idea was, “What happens when you go out with a woman who’s a virgin nowadays?” If the ‘50s, that was a great thing, but now, it’s, like, “What?” It raises so many questions. Why is she a virgin? Does she not like sex? Is it a religious thing? Is she nuts? I mean, what’s going on here? [Laughs.] It was the idea of taking it from the other angle and being horrified about having a virgin in your life and not knowing how to deal with it. And, of course, that led them into the next week, which was the masturbation episode. So I think it all worked out for the best for everybody.

BE: So what do you guys have on your plate for the future?

PF: Well, we’re hoping to do “Dumb & Dumber 2” next, but right now the studio and Jim Carrey are having…uh, they’re having some negotiating issues. [Laughs.] Basically, what happened is that New Line had released the original “Dumb & Dumber,” and when we got together to do “Dumb & Dumber 2”…and, by the way, as a reminder, we had nothing to do with “Dumb & Dumberer.” We never wanted to do that with young guys. We only wanted to do it with these guys. So, anyway, when everybody got together and we said, “Let’s do it,” we went off to write, and New Line cut deals for all of us. And then we gave the script to New Line, they loved it, they gave it to Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers said, “Great, but what’s with these deals? We don’t like these deals!” And that caused a problem, because they started renegotiating deals. But I hope and think it’s going to all be resolved. But right now we’re sort of in a holding pattern, waiting to see what happens there.

BE: I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I write for the Onion AV Club, and I talked to Jeff (Daniels) right before “The Newsroom” premiered – in fact, I was talking about the range it takes to jump from “Gettysburg” into “Dumb & Dumber” – and when I asked about the status of the sequel, he said, “Oh, I’ve read the script, it’s funnier than hell, and as far as I know, we’re just working out a deal.” And then two days later, Jim Carrey said, “Sequel’s off, we’re not doing it.”

PF: Yeah, well, I think it could all be fixed. They’re still talking. Right now, as we speak, it is off. But that could change any day.

It’s true. I really do. I’ve been a major proponent of the MOD (Made on Demand) format for DVDs ever since I first heard about the idea in the context of movies – “Want an obscure film from our vault released on DVD? We’ll print copies on an as-ordered basis!” – but when they started moving into doing the same thing for TV series, I practically lost my mind. Mind you, they eased into television, first offering up a bunch of TV movies, then miniseries, then a couple of more recent series that didn’t have massive fanbases, like “The Eleventh Hour” and “Dark Blue.” Soon, however, they started to delve into their back catalog of Hanna-Barbera series…and that’s when things really started getting interesting for me.

Throughout the ’70s, I was an obsessive watcher of cartoons: before and after school, Saturday mornings, even the occasional Sunday morning series. (Anyone remember “These Are The Days”?) As Warner Archive has begun to reissue the series that I watched in my youth but, in most cases, haven’t seen since, I’ve all but drooled at the prospect of getting to revisit them. Now that I have, I thought I’d shine the spotlight on the top 10 releases that have resulted in the most flashbacks for me:

The Addams Family: The Complete Series

Be delightfully miserable with the Addams Family as they take to the road in their Victorian-styled RV for spooktacular cross-country quests only they can conjure. From Nashville to New Orleans, New Mexico and Hawaii, these peculiar parents – Gomez and Morticia – treat their family to misadventures, including outwitting a band of gold thieves, freeing the animals from New York’s Central Park Zoo and racing a horse in the Kentucky Derby. They even win a piece of the moon and with Uncle Fester’s rocket, the trip will be a blast! You may remember them as “altogether ooky,” but the spirit of this family is contagious!

Although the “Addams Family” movies resulted in an animated series in the early ’90s, a lot of people don’t realize that there’d already been one back in the early ’70s. I remembered that I’d watched it as a kid, but I hadn’t seen it in years. Indeed, my only truly concrete memory of the ’70s animated version of the Addams Family came from when they appeared on an episode of “The New Scooby-Doo Movies.” Unfortunately, although John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan, and Ted Cassidy contributed to the Addams’ “Scooby-Doo” appearance, they’re nowhere to be found on this set. This is the sort of disappointment you never really get over as you’re watching it, but at the same time, if you’re a fan of “The Addams Family” in general, then it still makes for relatively enjoyable viewing.

Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: The Complete Series

Buzz Conroy is a heroic boy-genius who builds the powerful robot Frankenstein Jr. When the Ghastly Genie, the Junk Man and other evildoers get up to their old tricks, “Frankie” and his young creator crank into action. The crime fighting coalition continues with the Impossibles, a group of superheroes disguised as a beatnik rock group. At the direction of “Big D,” Multi Man, Coil Man and Fluid Man make hot-rockin’ musical justice thwarting thieves and corralling crooks with their transformative powers.

This remains one of the oddest – and therefore coolest – series ever to have emerged from Hanna-Barbera. There would seem to be little doubt that the Frankenstein Jr. / Buzz Conroy relationship was inspired at least in some part by Gigantor, the famous space-age robot who was under the command of Jimmy Sparks, but hearing Ted Cassidy’s voice come booming out of Frankie made it rather easy to dismiss the derivative nature of the premise. As for the Impossibles, I remain mystified as to why a series about a rock band who doubled as superheroes neither lasted very long nor made any sort of dent on the pop charts. Somebody at Hanna-Barbera really dropped the ball on that one, that’s all I can say.

The Funky Phantom: The Complete Series

One cold, wet night three lost teens – Skip, April and Augie plus Elmo their dog – stumbled inside a spooky old house hoping to get warm. The dusty clock showed the wrong time, so these helpful kids reset the clock hands. A gong rang out, followed by a voice: It’s the Spirit of 1776, even, at your service! Much to their surprise was the friendly ghost Mudsy and his mischievous ghost cat Boo. Antics abound when this motley group hits the road, cracking cases and thwarting crooks, pirates, ghosts and all kinds of strange characters.

For my part, when I think of the Funky Phantom, I think of the fact that, when the amusement park Kings Dominion used to be Hanna-Barbera-themed, we also used to end up parking in the Funky Phantom lot. Also, I always remember that Micky Dolenz of the Monkees did one of the voices on the show (Skip). Funnily enough, though, it wasn’t until years later that I actually saw my first episode of the show, by which point I’d already long since associated it with fond memories of childhood, anyway. Having revisited it, it’s still a fun little show, following the same general formula as “Scooby-Doo,” but with the twist of doing the ghost-hunting with an actual ghost.

Goober and the Ghost Chasers: The Complete Series

Get spooked with ghost hunters Gilly, Ted and Tina as they travel the globe from Scotland to South America with their reluctant pooch Goober on a search for paranormal action in this fondly remembered animated treat from Hanna-Barbera Productions. Full of good intentions and false bravado, Goober stands at the ready asking, “Who’s afraid of ghosts?” Turns out, he is! His distinctive striped hat is the only evidence he leaves behind when a ghost appears. Uncover urban legends, unmask bumbling crooks and solve wacky mysteries with popular guest stars like basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain and singing sensations the Partridge Family kids – Laurie, Danny, Chris and Tracy (voiced by actors Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce, Brian Foster and Suzanne Crough).

You kind of get the idea that, when it came to original ideas, Hanna-Barbera was in a bit of a rut by this point. “Okay, let’s do another ‘Scooby-Doo’ knock-off, but instead of the kids having a regular dog, let’s make it…a ghost dog!” “You got it, chief!” “Also, how’s production coming on ‘Partridge Family 2200 A.D.’? You know, the one that’s just like ‘The Jetsons,’ except with the Partridges?” “Still not ready yet, chief!” “Well, the kids are already under contract, so let’s not waste our money: somebody figure out a way to write them into ‘Goober and the Ghost Chasers’!” “On it, chief!” I can’t even theorize how the hell Wilt Chamberlain ended up in the talks, so I’m not even going to go there. I will say, however, that I remember “Goober and the Ghost Chasers” more fondly than just about any ’70s animated series this side of “Scooby Doo,” though my memories of it are actually from when it was packaged as part of a syndicated series called “Fred Flintstone and Friends.” When I watched the DVD, I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten that Paul Winchell did the voice of Goober. Then again, all I really remembered was the visual of Goober’s stocking cap and collar running around without a dog under them. (He could turn invisible, you know. Ghosts do that.)

The Herculoids: The Complete Series

Humanoid Zandor, along with his wife Tara and son Dorno, lead a group of unique creatures: Zok the flying dragon, powerful simian Igoo (who possesses rock-like skin), rhinoceros hybrid Tundro and two protoplasmic wonders appropriately named Gloop and Gleep. Together, they use their diverse super strengths to defend their utopian planet against attack from such sinister invaders as the Pod Creatures, the Reptons and the Mutoids.

Most awesome looking Hanna-Barbera series this side of “Space Ghost” and “Birdman,” which should come as no real surprise, as they were both designed by the legendary Alex Toth. This was one of those action shows that even kids who didn’t generally like Hanna-Barbera could get behind, because the creatures were just so bad-ass. Anyone who watched this series and says they didn’t wish they could pal around with Gloop and Gleep is lying to you…and the same thing goes if they tell you they never wanted Zandor to be their dad. That guy was the hero’s hero.

Jabberjaw: The Complete Series

Playing in a rock-’n’-roll band and saving the undersea world from diabolical villains? An impossible task for most, but not for Jabberjaw, the 15-foot talking great white shark from the fan-favorite Saturday morning cartoon series. The year is 2076 and Jabberjaw is the star of the Neptunes, a teenage rock group. In his spare time, Jabberjaw, along with teens Biffy, Shelly, Bubbles and Clamhead, fight deep sea crime. But its tough down there for a shark. Jabberjaw must also contend with the robot force of “Shark Ejectors,” guards who prevent sharks from entering into underwater cities. All he wants is a little respect!

It is not in any way coincidental that this series emerged at approximately the same time that “Jaws” was a huge success. As for Jabberjaw’s voice, which is an unabashed rip-off of Curly Howard of the Three Stooges, one can’t help but wonder how many stock impressions Hanna-Barbera’s stable of voice actors were required to have stored in their quiver at all times, just in case they might be asked to fire off a new idea for a character voice. Another HB show set in the future, another bunch of rock musicians trying to solve mysteries with the help of an unlikely mascot. I still can’t believe it took me as long as it did to realize these were basically all drawn from the same three or four templates.

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series

Rock stars Josie and the Pussycats are out of this world…literally! When the bumbling Alexandra accidentally launches Josie and the gang into outer space, they travel through the galaxy searching for a path back to Earth. Along the way, they meet cat people, robot monsters, evil dictators, space pirates and plenty of strange creatures, including their new companion Bleep. Fortunately, everyone’s a fan of Josie and the Pussycats, including aliens! Rocket through the universe with your favorite superstars as they save the day, sing a song and have a hip-happenin’ good time!

I can’t really defend my love of this show, so I’m not even going to try. It was one thing when Josie and the gang were touring the country in their van, playing rock ‘n’ roll and solving mysteries. Anybody can get behind that premise. But when you take them, throw them into a rocket, and send them into outer space…? Preposterous. And I didn’t give a damn. I watched it, anyway. And if part of the reason why I watched it is because I was heading for puberty and was fascinated by the possibilities of touring with an all-girl rock band, hey, it’s not like I’m alone…

Speed Buggy: The Complete Series

Don’t let the sputter and cough fool you: Speed Buggy is one fast-wheelin’ hero who always saves the day! Designed by master mechanic Tinker and his friends Debbie and Mark, Speedy can bolt, zoom, fly, dig, swim, and float his way to the finish line for racing thrills you won’t believe. Speedy and the gang zip around the world, collecting winner’s trophies and fighting diabolical criminals, including Dr. Kloog who plans to build an army of slave cars, or Professors Krishna and Digby who use an invisibility potion to steal ancient treasures. Speedy’s daring adventures abound with diamond thieves in Africa, a crazed pirate who intends to take over the oceans and a civilization of Amazon women with a mind-control machine, plus more evil villains that only Speedy can outwit.

Instead of a talking dog, it’s a talking car. Otherwise, it’s another goddamned “Scooby-Doo” knockoff. So why do I love it so? Because Speedy’s voice comes to us courtesy of Mel Blanc. Frankly, isn’t that enough reason right there to give the show a go? Alas, I couldn’t embed a clip of the theme song, but be sure to go check it out. “Who put the antifreeze…in my carburetor?” Oh, Speedy…

Valley of the Dinosaurs: The Complete Series

During a rafting excursion of an uncharted river canyon, Professor John Butler, wife Kim, kids Katie and Greg and family dog Digger get caught up in a mysterious whirlpool and resurface in a world of prehistoric creatures. Now everyday is an exercise in survival for the adventurous Butler family. They befriend a helpful cave-dwelling family and together must contend with an angry brontosaurus and a dangerous sabertooth tiger – and don’t forget the earthquakes and volcanoes! Any time the family can spare is spent building a boat or radio in hopes of finding their way back to the modern era.

Heed my words: although this sounds like little more than an expanded animated version of “Land of the Lost,” I’m here to tell you that “Valley of the Dinosaurs” is the forgotten jewel in Hanna-Barbera’s ’70s cartoon crown. Having just devoured episode after episode of this set, I honestly can’t think of another series of the era that holds up half as well. It’s smart, it’s surprisingly educational (with the caveat that the lessons being taught were devised more than three decades ago and may not match your child’s current educational curriculum), and aside from its general premise, which can be found in lots more places than “Land of the Lost,” it’s original…and as you’ve seen from several of the preceding series, that wasn’t something so easy to find in Hanna-Barbera’s ’70s programming. If you buy only one of the sets cited in this column, this is the one I recommended. As Saturday morning flashbacks go, it’s one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had in awhile.

Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch: The Complete Series

Zoom into gear with Wheelie, the world’s greatest stunt racing car, and his girlfriend Rota Ree as they outmaneuver the sneaky motorcycle gang Chopper, Revs, Riser and Scrambles. Not the smartest bike in the bunch, Chopper’s schemes range from scaring Wheelie with ghost cars at the car cemetery, tricking a trail bike into spying on Wheelie and cheating at a tractor-roping competition, plus many more shenanigans that never end well for the gang. Besides outwitting Chopper, Wheelie aids other vehicles needing a helping wheel, like a lost scooter, a sick tow truck and a stranded bulldozer.

Even if we weren’t looking at these series in alphabetical order, poor Wheelie would still be bringing up the rear. I’d tell you that time hasn’t been kind to the adventures of the Chopper Bunch, but in my heart of hearts, I think I even knew back then that it wasn’t a great show. What happened, I think, is that my memories were weighed so heavily on the Chopper / Scrambles dynamic (“I toldja! I toldja!” “I know!”) and Rev’s unmistakeable vocal similarity to Tigger (both were voiced by Paul Winchell, of course) that I’d convinced myself that it was better than it was. It isn’t. It’s cute, but it’s definitely not great.