Bedknobs and Broomsticks

[Neal]

You're lucky I'm not one of those 12-year-old readers on forums who like to pick fights with other members because they get lambasted for a great deal of their posts and can't stand having someone 'picking on them'. I'm not getting my feelings hurt by you, but even so, you're pretty condescending towards me. I love reading Animated News and Animated Views, but sometimes when the opportunity to have a question answered one-on-one in a thread comes up, then I'm going to ask it to live people rather than going to read an old article.

Especially when I was told not so long ago that my best bet for having a definitive Disney collection was to buy the SE/PE releases, and now it seems people are contradicting that earlier statement.

I know you're a busy man, and I'm sorry I irritate you so much. FYI I don't want to have every film Disney has ever touched ever. I have little interest in Disney live action films past or present, care nothing for Disney's TV animation, and don't really keep up-to-date on their shorts.

I don't care one iota for their current live-action TV films, for the childish 'Princess Party' or 'Sing-Along' DVDs, or the non-Ghibli foreign films they distribute.

What I like to watch, collect and learn about is the classics chronology and it's derivative works. That's truly just about it.

I'm sorry. I'm a 17-year-old, passionate animation lover who just wants to learn more about one of his hobbies, but if it really gets under your skin that badly, than please stop answering my posts! No one's forcing you to answer my questions just because your the moderator here. I realize you have better things to do.

That said, I do enjoy your responses, because when they aren't quietly belittling me for being 'annoying', they are actually quite informative and answer the questions I have about Disney classic animation better than I get at about any other site.

BTW, I read the Dalmatians 2 review previously and maybe I was skimming it too much, but I didn't feel my questions had been answered. I did see you had suggested against the SatS SE previous to my purchase at AV, but being as the GC copy was OOP, I didn't see a reason not to get the SE which was at least better than my many-year-old VHS.

Glad I made you laugh for once, not fume. Just like with the B&B GC DVD, many (I mean many) consumer reviews bashed it. Some called the bonus material worthless and whatnot. I come here looking for some more professional opinions. If you think I'm a schizo with this kind of stuff, you need to spend more time at the IMDb boards or Amazon reviews. Those 'fans' learn one ten-second segment of a credit sequence was altered and they begin to decry the film, labeling it not worthy of a purchase. I look like a softy compared to those manics.

That's why I ask questions here. To people who seem to know what they're talking about, because I sure as hell don't.

[EricJ]

I don't care one iota for their current live-action TV films, for the childish 'Princess Party' or 'Sing-Along' DVDs, or the foreign films they distribute.

Uh, have you SEEN any of the "foreign films they distribute" before lumping them into the same sentence with the mass-market material?

(Or did you find a disk that actually did include the "Magic Gourd" trailer, in which case it's okay...
If you were referring to the Studio Ghibli releases, however, head for the nearest safe foxhole.)

That's why I ask questions here. To people who seem to know what they're talking about, because I sure as hell don't.

Noted.

[Neal]

I was referring to the less-than-stellar releases like the Pokemon films or The Wild.

Studio Ghibli is amazing. I have actively followed Ghibli ever since I discovered them two years ago thanks to TCM showing My Neighbor Totoro

Howl's Moving Castle is one of my top five favorite films of all time!

I have seen the trailer for TMG, I believe it was on LM: AB or another quite-recent DVD. All I can say is I thought it looked terrible and usually I'm pretty soft about judging movies before I see them. The movie may have been fine in Japan or wherever its original release was, but the dub sounded/looked awful!

[Ben]

Well lumping The Wild in with that statement is highly unfair on that film.

Indeed, there is a threshold that you don't seem to understand...the difference between Disney funded films made by other studios and what are known as "pick ups"...completed projects that Disney distributes.

The Wild (and Valiant for that matter) were Disney funded projects, animated by other studios, but very much "Disney films". Pokemon - quite rightly - was just a pick up, and actually put out through Miramax, if I'm not mistaken.

I apologise for crashing down on you...I guess a lot of questions coming all at once and by someone that seems to be more interesting in collecting all this stuff rather than look at books, old archived pieces online and whatnot just got a bit too much. Every new post, every new question just seems to be about how you can see/get/watch a new piece of WDFA as if your life depended on it. You're really just best to start off at the beginning and work your way through the progression of things...not by starting to compile worthless lists and grand schemes. Rent the films you haven't seen...you don't have to own them all...some you may well find you don't like!

[Neal]

Addendum: I'm going to explain why I embarked on my quest to collect the complete collection of Disney animated classics and their derivative works on DVD so you can possibly see me as more than just an OCD teen with a seemingly bottomless wallet.

There are four distinct reasons:

1) Personal enjoyment. There's no other film making company that gives me as much joy as Disney. Well, besides Ghibli and Pixar. Disney films played a prominent role in my childhood. We had Disney-related cups and plates, clothes, computer games, etc. I can remember back to the days when I used to sit around and watch our taped-from-TV VHS of Sword and the Stone. I remember reading a book in fourth grade chronicling the life of Walt Disney and how at the time, I declared it the single best book I had ever read. A love for Disney was embedded in me as a child and will remain there for life. For almost seven years I stopped really paying attention to Disney. Oh, I knew about this film or that but really missed out on a lot of what was going on. In the last year, out of a nostalgic impulse, I decided to collect these films and it has awakened a love for animation I never knew I had before.

2) Passing on the joy. I didn't have very many Disney movies as a child. I remember watching The Rescuers on TV, owning a recorded VHS of Sword and the Stone, and owning 101 Dalmatians. In fact, 101 Dalmatians was the only official VHS we owned until late into my childhood when my sister was given Mulan and Oliver & Company one Christmas. Where I saw a great deal of Disney was at my grandparent's house. They had recorded many Mickey shorts from TV, and Mickey's Christmas Carol, and owned Cinderella. I remember how much fun my sister and I had watching all those films in their den. I want to be able to provide that for my children and grandchildren. I want to have a complete collection of Disney animated films so they, too, can experience the magic of seeing these films through the eyes of a kid - see the wonder for the first time. I'm looking forward to sharing with them the same feelings I got from the films, because Disney animation is timeless. My grandparents loved it, my parents recall seeing every film in theaters for years, I loved it and one day, hopefully, my children will too. I want to buy the DVDs so that I have something that lasts until then. My VHS are disintegrating, and even in 10 years when I'll probably have my own kids, the complete collection will not very likely be on Blu-Ray yet, so I'm getting the DVDs now before they're OOP. (I'm sounding a bit too much like a PR person )

3) Homage film. For my media class at school, we make several iMovies a year. One category we are required to make a movie in is 'something special'. Last year, it was mainly picture collages set to tear-jerking music or in my case, an hour and a half compilation of home videos of my sister and I. This year, I want to do something totally different - the homage film. It's going to be climatic scenes from the 47 released classics set to music. It's something special to me, and I'm looking forward to making it. I want to collect the DVDs so I have a crisp, beautiful film. Even though I have almost all the films on VHS, their quality is waning. I want the best-looking film possible so I have something I can watch over-and-over that's a tribute to a staple of my childhood - Disney.

4) Public exhibition. My parents own a 450 acre campground with around 300 sites and generally over 900 people here a weekend. We want to begin a weekly activity called "Disney Drive-Ins". We've purchased an Epson MovieMate projector and are in the process of getting our MPLC license to show Disney films publicly. We are going to begin showing classic Disney films weekly in our pavilion, and children will be able to come and see these films on a huge screen like the theater and afterward do related crafts and games to the movies. We're looking forward to adding a little magic to Saturday nights. The projector takes DVDs, and although it can have a VCR hooked in, we want to provide the best quality possible - so I'm collecting the DVDs to share with my parents, as well. FYI, we're specifically planning on showing the most engrossing/popular films. For example: Fantasia isn't likely to entertain a group of 8-year-olds. We're going to stick with the most popular of the 51 film chronology and throw in a few of the better DTV's like Pooh's Heffalump Movie. I wanted to collect the sequels, too, so we can do some rainy-day marathons like show the Cinderella trilogy all in an afternoon.

[Ben]

"Cinderella trilogy"

I told you...stop making me laugh...!

[Neal]

Hey, I didn't use that terminology... Disney did. It says it right on my box. Same with Beauty and the Beast!

For BatB, they directly call it the trilogy on the jacket text and have roman numerals I, I, III on the spine of both the VHS and DVD releases.

Cinderella just refers to as such it in the jacket-text.

[Randall]

Please excuse Ben,. He's a little grouchy today. (Plus, there is an irony of Ben calling someone else an overzealous collector. I've known him for years, so hopefully he'll let me get away with saying that.) However, you do tend to use this board more for questions than discussion. Doing a little research on your own is a good idea, then use this forum for hard to answer stuff. Now, to address your questions...

Are all of America's box-stores undergoing a re-arrangement process?

The fact is, all stores have to turn over their inventory, because there are always more items coming in. There's no way they could keep everything in stock. And, as a new format arrives, space gets that much tighter.

Also, does anyone else think that the way box stores arrange their Disney DVDs is really wonky?

Keep in mind that most of the workers are not movie experts. They just do their best.

I have seen Make Mine Music at my local Sam's Club and plan to get it next time I'm there. I've never seen Fantasia 2000 or Treasure Planet on DVD anywhere - retail or second-hand. Do you think it's a good idea to wait until F/2000 comes out on the PE DVD in a few years (and just rent the DVD for my homage project), or get it now?

I'd go crazy if I had to rely on retail for my purchases. Everything is so much easier with online shopping. As for F2000, it's a great disc, but the best bet is the three-disc Fantasia Anthology, one of the great DVD animation sets. Of course, the future Blu-ray will be even better (perhaps), and you'll need to pace yourself right now. You're only 17, you have lots of time to buy movies.

You talk a lot about LaserDisc. When was that era? I never heard of it until about a year ago and I only heard of it because of Disney home releases. Can you tell me a little more about how it works/when they came out. Are they hard to track down now and do they require a special player (as in, they can't be played on a DVD player?)

I'd suggest you learn to use Wikipedia for some of these big questions , but... LDs were around for about 20 years, ending with the advent of DVD. They're 12 inch platters, so you need a special LD player for them. I love my LD collection, but I wouldn't get into collecting them now, not if you have tons of DVDs you also want to purchase. That said, LD saw many great sets (MGM collections, Betty Boop, some Disney stuff), not to mention Song of the South.

Why was the Sword and the Stone Gold Collection DVD better?

Better extras.

[Neal]

Well, I'm no stranger to search engines, but actually my searches for this information (about Disney animated films, not laser discs) was largely turning up more misinformation than anything, so I turned to forums. I was finding a lot of sites with wishful thinking (did you know 'Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: A Kingdom of Kindness' is coming out this year?), outdated lists (The Wild was the 46th film in the Disney animated features chronology), and even some flat-out lies (did you know 'Rafiki the Movie' is coming this year?).

I gave up on that and came to a respectable forum, instead. And mostly you've all been helpful so I'm grateful for that!

I do discuss some stuff here. I'm not all bad.

Well I asked about store re-arrangement because my Wal-Mart and K-mart both pulled the same 180. Switching electronic devices with video games, CDs with movies. I thought the fact they both had the same reversal may have been sort of a national mandate for stores heading into 2009. I guess it wasn't nationwide, but probably wasn't a coincidence, either. One of the two stores saw the other was pulling a switcheroo, so they decided to copycat.

Well, I'm not blaming the workers. They're just given computer printouts with sketches of the shelves and where each movie must go in a correct, specified order. It just seems whatever higher-ups make this list have a cruel sense of humor for us consumers.

I'm now closely following some Fantasia Anthology e-bay auctions because you both are so positive about it. Previously, I had heard some negativity for it and therefore didn't have interest in it.

I don't have a Blu-Ray player yet! *sigh* I told my parents it would be a good family investment, but they didn't agree. They still buy VHSs (mind you, I do too, sometimes) so they don't see the big deal with Blu-Ray.

But I think I just have the me-me-me complex of most teens this generation. I want it all, and I want it now, amirite?

My high school library actually has two LD players that sit in the media cabinet unused.

Was the image quality worse on the SE than the GC or the same? Image quality is my foremost concern with the DVD releases, before supplemental features.

Anyways, thanks for answering my questions! And sorry we've had such a rough time so far, Ben!

[Ben]

No probs, Neal, but take some of Rand's advice!

The Gold DVD for Sword/Stone was better all around. More extras, same picture. They dropped some extras to swap in the useless "new game", but the transfer was the same. However, the extra they dropped was an original Walt TV show...gold for some of us.

BTW, a primer on LD:
http://animated-views.com/2002/laserdis ... ld-format/

...bear in mind that comes from 2002!

[Neal]

Okay, thanks! I'll read the article later tonight when I get home.

Also, yay! I hopped on over to e-bay last night and saw a copy of the Fantasia Anthology for $15.50 with 13 hours left. Got it this morning for a total of $34. Brand new, perfect condition, totally legit - just a mom selling it because her boys didn't like it. First seller I've ever seen with a 100% satisfaction rating (after 1,002 sales!)

I'm looking forward to getting that!

Oh, and glad to hear my SatS at least has the same image quality. I can live without a few bonus features...