Random Notes - Dukes 35th Anniversary, New Friends, Animation Cel

Things have been busy here at DukesCollector HQ (again, just the kitchen and back room of my office) and I love it.  CMT's airings of the Dukes of Hazzard is of course the root of most of it.  Having the show back on TV reminds people why they love it.  In the last week, many fans have rediscovered our favorite show, and many of those fans have searched for Dukes online and wound up here at DukesCollector.  I'd like to welcome those fans.  I've also been quite busy on the old Twitter account (@larryafranks) talking with fellow Dukes lovers, collectors, cast members/museum owners, and a whole bunch of other people.  It has been a fun week.



Speaking of CMT, I've had the fortune of having some interaction with them about the Dukes.  Seems I still have some contacts from back in the contest days.  As of right now, they are fully invested in the Dukes.  CMT did not perform the remastering of the show to HD.  That came from Warner Brothers, so in my opinion, the idea of a Blu-Ray release is not out of the question.  CMT has been playing the heck out of the show. They had a mini-marathon this past Friday and two back to back episodes Sunday night.  They told me they are aware of the upcoming 35th anniversary of the premiere of the show (January 26, 2014) and have marathons planned.  On Friday, January 24, CMT will air the show from noon  to 5pm (eastern) showing the episodes, "Gold Fever," "Luke's Love Story," "The Big Heist," "Mary Kay's Baby," and "Repo Men."  Then on Sunday, the actual anniversary, it will be shown from 2pm until 10pm.  This marathon seems to be a day of greatest hits of episodes.  All of the best episodes will be shown  including my two favorites. It starts with my favorite,  "The Ghost of The General Lee" and also include "Grannie Annie," "Happy Birthday General Lee," (my other favorite) "Road Pirates," "The Fugitive," "Hazzard Connection," "Limo One is Missing," and finally "Arrest Jesse Duke."  This is a great selection, but I would have shown the pilot, "One Armed Bandits" at 9pm, the same time it was on thirty-five years earlier in 1979.

A new friend of DukesCollector, Kevin, sent over this picture of his new Neo Rosco 1/43 car along side his Hot Wheels 1/43 Charger.  He was midway through converting it to a General when he found out about Auto World's upcoming 1/43 here on the blog.  I think he should finish the conversion, as it is already looking very nice.  Thanks for coming aboard, Kevin.

I recently bought this one of a kind collectible from another prominent Dukes of Hazzard collector.  It is an original animation cel used during the production of The Dukes Hanna Barbera cartoon.  It features Bo, Luke, and Daisy as well as the 01 from the Gen'ral.  I am very happy with it.  It will hang in a featured location on the walls of the future Dukes Collector Museum.

The complete Johnny Lightning Dukes of Hazzard line: Series 5

Rolling with the Johnny Lightning Dukes line brings us to Series 5.  This series came out in 2008. We get fun versions of the two main cars from the show and one monster version.

The package is similar to the previous series.

The packages have a die-cut opening on the back so you can read the details about each car on the card that is included.  These cards are the "add-in" for this series.  They are the most informative add-ins in the entire line, but oddly enough I can't find the ones that came with my open cars, so I took pictures of each still in the package.  

The General in Series 3 is the perfect 1/64 General.  They got the push bar, the decals, and the wheels all correct.  No more need to improve.  In Series 4 they changed it slightly to make a movie version.  Here in Series 5, they made an episode specific version, and they picked a great episode.

"The Ghost of the General Lee" is my favorite episode.  In it, a couple of hustlers steal the General Lee while Bo and Luke are skinny dipping.  Rosco and Enos chase the car thinking it is the Duke boys.  The hustlers drive the General into a pond and sneak away unharmed, but Rosco and Enos dont't see them.  When they dive in looking for the boys, they only find their clothes.  ('80s TV logic tells us that clothes in the water means the wearers died, of course.  Similar plot points used throughout the world of television lead us viewers to believe quicksand was terrifying and inescapable.)  Hazzard thinks the boys have died. There are very emotional scenes between Jesse, Rosco, Daisy, and Cooter.  Boss Hogg takes the situation as an opportunity to rip off an insurance agency by claiming the boys stole a priceless watch.  Once the "good guys" figure out Bo and Luke are just fine, only naked, they concoct a scheme to scare the truth out of Boss by haunting him with the Ghost of the General Lee.  They make him glow, open and close the hood and trunk, and have Luke's voice come from the car.  They even drive through Hazzard square while hiding below the dash.  They get through town this way, but Rosco, driving normally, crashes several times.  The plan works and Boss spills the beans over the CB to Rosco.  My favorite line from the episode is between Boss and Rosco.  Rosco calls the car "The Ghost of the General Lee" and Boss says it can't be a ghost cause cars can't die.  Rosco asks why cars can't die because batteries can.  The boys clear their good name and the hustlers are even caught.  All is right again in Hazzard County.

As you can tell from my lengthy description, I love this episode and have seen it more times than any other.  I remember watching it as a kid.  It's one of the few episodes I remembered lines from when I was about 5.  The car in this series has a different color orange and really captures the glowing feel the car had in the episode.  

The picture used on the add-in card is not from the episode, but a stock photo of the General photoshopped to look like it's glowing.

The back of the card gave a description of the episode as well.  It's not as good as mine, but it gets the job done.

'Ol Crazy Cooter already had a car in the line, his Camaro in Series 1, but we saw him driving a tow truck more than anything else.  He drove several throughout the show.  The red, white, and blue one might be the most memorable and he also drove a yellow one, but we saw this brown one quite a few times.  The Hazzard County Garage logo is very nice.  

The add-in card features a picture of Cooter that isn't used too often as well as a screen shot of the brown tow truck.  

Cooter did turn a mean wrench.

There are as many police cars in this line as there are General Lees.  Beside Hazzard cars, most are neighboring counties'. This is a creative way to add another police car to the mix, and another car that is episode specific is Rosco's Camo Cruiser.  I don't think it was ever actually called that before this toy came out.  The add-in card mentions the episode.  

I guess JL couldn't get a good enough screen shot from the episode.  They just used a picture of the toy.  Great picture of Rosco.  I'm sure he's saying "Alright you Dukes, I got ya this time."

As in Series 4 we get another car from the Carnival of Thrills.  This is a Ford Torino that can be seen driving on two wheels in the two part episode.  

Bo had a Carnival of Thrills jumpsuit, but it was white and matched the design and logo on the cars.  This isn't it.  

These descriptions are nice, but you have to mention the fight between Bo and Luke when you talk about the Carnival of Thrills.

The second General Lee in the series is dirty.  We got a dirty General Lee in Series 1, but this is the improved General Lee covered in mud.  This is a great car.  

The final car in the series is a beast.  This is the General Lee monster truck.  As in Series 2 and 4, Johnny Lightning took inspiration from other popular diecasts and gave them the Dukes of Hazzard spin.  "Everyone loves a monster truck, everyone loves the Dukes, this is genius!"  This thing is a monster.  

Obviously there is no screen shot of this bad boy because JL created it.  The picture used looks like Bo and Luke approve of the monster truck. 

Hey! JL called it a "bad boy" too.  We must think alike.

This truck is huge compared to standard 1/64s.  The General on a box from Series 4 isn't even as tall as the monster truck.  This is a cool, unique addition to the collection.