The Quick Draw McGraw Show: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

The Quick Draw McGraw Show: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

El Kabong rides again!

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 27, 2026

Hanna-Barbera's third venture into small-screen animation and another popular variety-style series in the vein of The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Quick Draw McGraw Show finally arrives on Blu-ray in a complete series collection from Warner Archive. That's great news for fans since this series was almost completely absent from DVD, only appearing on a few assorted all-purpose collections like WB's Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1 set. It's yet another ground-up rebuild from the ashes of Hanna-Barbera's notoriously scattershot archives and has been fully polished to a purist-friendly shine that's sure to please fans of the studio. Get on board, or be left in the dust!

Each episode of The Quick Draw McGraw Show features an opening and closing segment starring the main characters and also includes the original sponsorship plugs for Kellogg's. Three cartoon shorts are sandwiched in the middle and run for seven or so minutes apiece including the individual title cards and "The End" closer. The featured cartoons usually vary in order, but each 23-minute episode always features the following familiar faces:

Snooper and Blabber follows the tracks made by cat and mouse detective duo Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse, who travel around solving mysteries and tracking down criminals. Their cases often involve stolen valuables, suspicious characters, elaborate disguises, and criminals who prove more difficult to catch than expected. Snooper regards himself as a brilliant detective, but his overconfidence and questionable judgment regularly lead to confusion and mistakes. The much smaller Blabber, who speaks with a distinctive lisp and calls his partner “Shnooper”, generally follows instructions obediently even if they don't make sense. Bucking the typical trend of cat-and-mouse cartoon rivalries, these two are professional partners rather than enemies but still have contrasting personalities: Snooper tries to run the show while Blabber serves as his loyal, sometimes bewildered assistant; their shared adventures parody the detective stories and crime dramas popular during the 1950s and early 1960s, which adds some much-needed location variety to The Quick Draw McGraw Show... even if, by most accounts, it usually stands in the shadow of the other two.

Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy is a family-oriented cartoon centered on the endearing but lightly exasperating relationship between a beloved pup and his single dad. Augie is full of curiosity, ambition, and big ideas: he wants to explore the world, accomplish impressive feats, and demonstrate that he's growing up, all while seeking his father's approval along the way. Doggie Daddy usually tries his best to guide, protect, and discipline his son, but things don't always go as planned. Typical stories begin with Augie developing an unusual scheme or wanting to try something new, while his dad gives him guidelines and warnings that are often ignored or bypassed. Despite their disagreements, the relationship is built on affection and mutual admiration; it's clear that the little guy loves “dear old Dad,” who reliably reciprocates with pride for his prodigy. Combing slapstick, gentle satire, and familiar family situations, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy offers a nice tonal contrast that will likely make it the most relatable of the bunch.

Quick Draw McGraw is the de facto main (or is it mane?) attraction, treating viewers to the joyously silly adventures of an anthropomorphic horse who serves as a lawman in the American Old West. Quick Draw views himself as a brave, capable defender of justice but, much like Super Snooper, is overconfident and thus usually prone to misunderstanding situations. His attempts to capture outlaws, protect townspeople, and uphold the law regularly lead to plenty of comic confusion, slapstick, and exaggerated action. Standing behind him is Baba Looey, his loyal burro sidekick who speaks with a Mexican accent and demonstrates much better judgment. Baba Looey often tries to explain the obvious, prevent unnecessary trouble, or steer Quick Draw toward the sensible solution... which means that his advice is rarely heeded. Also swinging into action every so often is "El Kabong", our hero's guitar-swinging alter ego who debuts in episode #7 and returns more than a half-dozen times. Regardless of its protagonist, Quick Draw McGraw smoothly satirizes heroic gunfighters, daring sheriffs, and frontier adventures from then-popular Western films and TV programs; this makes it the most dated of the three, but nonetheless extremely fun and nostalgic in its own right.

All three seasons of The Quick Draw McGraw Show -- that's 45 three-segment episodes in total -- are divided between six Blu-ray discs, and a helpful episode list is printed inside if you want to find a favorite. Warner Archive has of course lovingly remastered these vintage cartoons, going back to the original camera negatives to produce an overwhelmingly great-looking Blu-ray set that also includes a few vintage bonus features just for good measure.

The Quick Draw McGraw Show: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As seen in these direct-from-disc screenshots, Warner Archive's admirable efforts to fully restore The Quick Draw McGraw Show have produced extremely impressive results. This shouldn't come as a surprise, either: in all but two confirmed cases*, WAC's team was able to track down the original camera negatives from Hanna-Barbera's scattershot archives and rebuild these 45 episodes in a way that closely resembles their original broadcast. (A number of bumpers, commercials, and other items were also part of the true TV experience, so see the bonus features below for some very good news.) For starters, the original opening and closing segments -- complete with Kellogg's sponsorship plugs -- can be seen during each episode and, in keeping with H-B tradition at the time, each episodes' three shorts varies in order. Much like these opening and closing segments, nearly all of the included shorts look borderline flawless with a natural amount of film grain, crisp line detail, excellent colors, and occasional cel dirt and other imperfections that add to its nostalgic charm. On a related note, all of the age-related wear-and-tear has been carefully removed to make it shine like never before... and in full color to boot, as such a novelty wasn't always the norm back then.

In all regards, Quick Draw and company look just as strong as the best-handled H-B material from this era including WAC's treatment of The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Magilla Gorilla Show, and is again nicely encoded on six dual-layered (50GB) discs with no obvious compression artifacts including banding or macro blocking.

* - The original 35mm negative for the Quick Draw McGraw short "Slick City Slicker" no longer exists, so a 16mm internegative was determined to be the best-available surviving element (screenshot #36); though fine detail, color, and contrast take a noticeable dip in quality, it's still quite watchable. The McGraw short "Kabong Kabong's Kabong" similarly has no surviving negative, so a very serviceable 35mm interpositive was able to be used in this case -- it's pretty damn close to "the real thing", but doesn't have quite the same level of grain or fine detail. Regardless, this set still deserves a 5/5 rating in my opinion, since the overall great condition of these shorts -- not to mention the difficult task of finding and organizing everything -- more than makes up for two unavoidable shortcomings.

The Quick Draw McGraw Show: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio is the result of a solid restoration effort that capably preserves The Quick Draw McGraw Show's no-fuss mono audio in a split two-channel container for wider playback. As with the visuals, the often chaotic but uncluttered dialogue, sound effects, and music sound clean and true to their source with most age-related defects carefully removed. It won't be confused for a modern 5.1 mix or even a 1990s cartoon with its fancy stereo sound... but within the boundaries of its era, this is a top-notch effort that will please die-hard fans.

The Quick Draw McGraw Show: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This six-disc release ships in a slightly thicker-than-average keepcase with multiple hinges as well as attractive cover art and design elements. A handy episode list (with three-segment breakdowns) is printed inside and, while the Quick Draw artwork is identical on all six discs, they're at least different colors. Two extras are also on board.

• The Good, the Bad, and the El Kabong (5:58) - This short but sweet 2009 featurette was created for Warner Bros.' Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1 DVD collection, which offers brief interviews with animators and other industry professionals talking about Hanna-Barbera's switch from theatrical shorts to TV dominance with The Ruff and Reddy Show, The Huckleberry Hound Show, and of course Quick Draw McGraw, which is the only segment talked about. There's nothing particularly deep here, but fans will want to give it a look.

• Archival Rarities (20:51) - Seen here is a fun collection of bumpers, bridges, and television commercials first glimpsed during original broadcasts of The Quick Draw McGraw Show; although it's noted right up front that their original source elements were not treated with care, these miniature time capsules of varying quality are here thanks to the valuable support of several collectors. They're presented in a mixture of color and nostalgic black-and-white, so pour yourself a heaping bowl of Kellogg's Sugar Smacks and enjoy!

The Quick Draw McGraw Show: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Warner Archive has blessed fans of Hanna-Barbera with a multitude of great Blu-ray collections in the last few years; their new full-series set of The Quick Draw McGraw Show continues this hot streak with six discs full of classic cartoons, most of which never materialized on DVD. Featuring great new masters sourced from recent 4K scans of the original 35mm camera negatives and a few appreciated bonus features, it's an outstanding and surprisingly low-priced release that will greatly appeal to die-hand fans of classic H-B animation. Highly Recommended.