Yes! Yellow Submarine Coming to Blu-ray at End of May

The classic, psychedelic cartoon (and one of my childhood staples) finally arrives on Blu Ray at the end of May. Life is good.

The special features and restoration work sound decent:

Currently out of print, the film has been restored in 4K digital resolution for the first time by Paul Rutan Jr. and his team of specialists at Triage Motion Picture Services and Eque Inc. Due to the delicate nature of the hand-drawn original artwork, no automated software was used in the digital clean-up of the film’s restored photochemical elements. This was all done by hand, frame by frame.

Bonus features for the Yellow Submarine DVD and Blu-ray include a short making-of documentary titled Mod Odyssey” (TRT: 7:30), the film’s original theatrical trailer, audio commentary by producer John Coates and art director Heinz Edelmann, several brief interview clips with others involved with the film, storyboard sequences, 29 original pencil drawings and 30 behind-the-scenes photos. Both Digipak packages will include reproductions of animation cels from the film, collectible stickers, and a 16-page booklet with a new essay by Yellow Submarine aficionado John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios).

My only disappointment: no digital copy. I’m pretty sure after I show this to my wife she’ll want to have a copy for when she’s working in her art studio.

I may have fired my share of shots at the Baby Boomer culture of my parents’ generation — and I’ll continue to do so. And as Roger observed this week,

How could a generation that has not changed its worldview one jot since 1968 be considered cool? That’s 44 years dancing to the same DJ with no alteration of rhythm or style or even a change of venue. Since the sixties, it’s been one long variation on The Twist — and Chubby Checker did it so much better in the first place.

But let’s not throw the Boomers out with their bath water.

Every generation offers just as much good as bad. Culture and values are not synonymous concepts. Having outgrown the values of 1968 doesn’t mean we can’t still draw inspiration from the culture — and even reclaim it when necessary.

Never forget that the man who composed “Imagine” (Ben Shapiro’s choice for most overrated song) died a conservative Reagan supporter, embarrassed of the naivete of his utopian ode, who liked to pick fights with communists. John Lennon had second thoughts and embraced a Grown Up’s politics. A decade later, not long before his murder, he recorded a song with lyrics that could be a Libertarian Mantra: