There's More To Kid-Vid Offerings Than `Flipper'

The major studios have mostly exhausted their libraries of family movies, so they keep recycling and repromoting the same material as the holidays approach.

Aside from the current theatrical film, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and this month's video release of "Toy Story," Disney has only one feature cartoon left (1985's "The Black Cauldron") that hasn't made it to video. No wonder the studio is so busy making direct-to-video cartoon sequels.

MGM/UA's "new" "Family Treasures" series rounds up the usual suspects ("tom thumb," "The Yearling" "Tom Sawyer" at $15 apiece) while adding a couple of mid-1960s relics ("Flipper," "Flipper's New Adventure") that are bound to confuse anyone shopping the shelves for the 1996 movie of "Flipper."

Paramount Home Video's latest package of "Family Favorites" (priced at $15 apiece) is a mixture of familiar titles ("Lassie," "Charlotte's Web") and straight-to-video movies ("Prehysteria 3," "Magic Island").

However, the company does have a few genuinely new additions to its kid-vid lineup, including "The Adventures of Corduroy," an animated version of Don Freeman's stuffed-bear fantasy that has sold millions of books since 1968 (each cassette sells for $12), and "The Oz Kids Collection," a package of cartoons inspired by "The Wizard of Oz." They're priced at $13 apiece; running times range from the 85-minute "Toto, Lost in New York" to the 43-minute "Christmas in Oz."

Paramount is also distributing kid-vid titles from its sister company, Nickelodeon, including "Allegra's Christmas" ($10) - an episode of "Allegra's Window" that won't air on the cable channel until December 1997 - and a couple of new-to-video "Rugrats" shows, "Rugrats Phil and Lil Double Trouble" and "Rugrats Tommy Troubles." They're priced at $13 apiece.

Several other video companies are adding new-to-video titles, including Martin Tahse's New Kid Home Video, which is introducing "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" to the cassette market on Tuesday. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of Burr Tillstrom's pioneering Punch & Judy show, which became NBC's most popular program when the network was launched. Not the least of its charms is the resourceful Fran Allison, the only human presence on the show - and a master at gentle improvisational humor.

Five digitally enhanced color episodes will be released next week; each $15 cassette includes a 30-minute program plus a 15-minute short subject made up of highlights featuring one of the characters. Tahse plans to release 39 episodes from the Emmy-winning series over the next 36 months. Information: (800) 309-2392.

Also on Tuesday, LIVE Entertainment will release "Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories From My Childhood" ($13 per tape), a series of animated fairy tales taken from the archives of the Russian studio, Soyuzmultfilm. Jessica Lange, Joe Pesci, Tim Curry, Amy Irving and others provide the new English-dialogue soundtracks for "The Twelve Months," "Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet" and Pushkin's version of "Beauty and the Beast," subtitled "A Tale of the Crimson Flower." Information: (818) 988-5060.

"Imaginit" ($13), the third children's video in Miramar Productions' Imagination series, is a typically eclectic Miramar collection of 14 computer-animated shorts from a variety of sources, including UCLA and Washington State University. Priced at $13, the 35-minute cassette features a lively soundtrack that includes old favorites ("Old MacDonald Had a Farm") as well as one catchy new tune ("Why Does the Wind Blow?," a segment that was animated in Vancouver, Washington). Information: (206) 284-4700.

Cabin Fever Entertainment has a direct-to-video movie, "Young Ivanhoe," starring Stacy Keach, Nick Mancuso and Margot Kidder, as well as a Disney Channel spinoff, "Kids of the Round Table," with Malcolm McDowell as Merlin and Johnny Morina as the young Arthur figure. They're rental-priced at $80 apiece. Information: (203) 863-5200.

Sony Wonder has just released "Return to Pooh Corner" ($15), Kenny Loggins' concert of songs that was recently performed at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Graham Nash, David Crosby and Patti Austin, who sang on Loggins' best-selling CD, returned for the concert version.

Also new are Attainment Company's "The Video Adventures of Lost & Found" ($15 apiece), a series of tapes that teach safety and pre-reading skills, and Playtime Productions' "Ebony Expressions" ($12), which claims to be the first children's video aimed at African-American infants. Attainment's number is (800) 327-4269. For information about the Playtime series, call (888) 963-2669.

"The Little Horse That Could - The Connemara Stallion: Erin Go Bragh" (Dreams Come True Productions, $13) is a behind-the-scenes look at the training and care of a champion stallion. Information: (800) 297-8787.

"Twin Takes" (Lil' Darlins, $10) is a 30-minute musical tape about twins, triplets and quadruplets at play. Information: (888) 469-8946.

Two companies have just released tapes about making ice cream: "Let's Have Fun: At the Ice Cream Factory" (Fun Factory Video, $13), which is more sing-along than instructional tape, and "Let's Go to the Ice Cream and Yogurt Factory" (Vermont Story Works, $15), the more informative of the two shows. Information about "Let's Have Fun": (516) 569-7196. Information on the latter: (800) 206-8383. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Video Watch by John Hartl appears Thursdays in Scene. For more information call the Video Hotline on InfoLine, a telephone information service of The Seattle Times. Call 464-2000 from a touch-tone phone and enter category 7369. It's a free local call.