FernGully: The Last Rainforest

[Daniel]

Shout Factory is releasing a new 30th anniversary edition on Blu August 23rd:

Celebrate thirty years of magic in FernGully: The Last Rainforest, now looking better than ever with a brilliant master created from a brand-new 4K scan and restoration of the original film elements!

Deep in the heart of the forest awaits a paradise filled with tiny sprites, winged fairies, tree spirits, and all kinds of animals who live together in joyful harmony. But when their home is threatened by humans, one courageous sprite must give her all to save it!

Featuring an all-star voice cast, including Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Tim Curry, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, and Tone Loc, FernGully: The Last Rainforest is an iconic classic for kids of all ages, presented here in a special 2-Disc, 30th Anniversary Edition!

Bonus Features:
NEW Introduction With Director Bill Kroyer, Including Never-Before-Seen Pencil, Character And Animation Tests
Audio Commentary With Bill Kroyer, Art Director Ralph Eggleston And Coordinating Art Director Susan Kroyer
"Seed Of The Story" – Script-To-Screen Comparison With Optional Commentary By Screenwriter Jim Cox
"From Paper To Tree" – Making-Of Featurette
"Behind The Voice: Toxic Love" – Multi-Angle Scene Study
Original Featurette
"If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody (It Might As Well Be You)" Music Video
Theatrical Trailers And TV Spots

Classic. Just in time for Avatar: The Way of Water.

[Ben]

New 4K scan and Kroyer intro…I knew there was a reason I never upgrades this on Blu from the DVD. All the other extras come from the previous Fox disc that I see Rand is selling on eBay. So that’s at least two copies of this Shout! can count on!

[Daniel]

Make that three!

[EricJ]

Shout and not Disney? Or do they only handle the 00's Fox animateds on upwards?

[Ben]

FernGully was a pickup for 20th Century-Fox from Australian company Fai Films, who actually bankrolled the Kroyer Films production. Producer Peter Faiman already had a relationship with fellow Aussie Rupert Murdoch — Faiman had directed Crocodile Dundee that Murdoch’s Fox had taken for international distribution.

The then-Fox might have only had limited distribution or maybe those rights have reverted back to Fai Films, who would be free to shop it around, as Faiman previously did with Dundee, which is now completely Paramount controlled worldwide. I noted that on Shout!'s box art there is no 20th Century logo on the side, so this is probably most likely.

[Daniel]

Shout! Factory secured exclusive worldwide rights. From November:

Leading multi-platform media company Shout! Factory and Machine Media Advisors announced a new entertainment distribution deal for the beloved animated feature FernGully: The Last Rainforest ahead of its 30th Anniversary. The announcement was made today by Melissa Boag, Shout’s Senior Vice President of Family Entertainment, and Matt Feige, Jon Sheinberg and Susie Sheinberg, Founding Partners of Machine Media Advisors.

The multi-year agreement provides Shout! Factory with worldwide rights to this timeless and charming animated feature, including digital, video-on-demand, broadcast, theatrical, and home entertainment. Shout! Factory is planning a strategic launch of the feature across all major entertainment platforms timed to the film’s 30th anniversary celebration in 2022.

Leveraging unparalleled access to archival content and collaboration with filmmaker Bill Kroyer, new bonus content, collectible packaging and specialty releases are in development.

[Randall]

Yep, looking forward to the new disc. I got the old Blu for just 5 bucks, so I don't mind upgrading for the new scan. I got the previous DVD as a screener, and sold that off earlier, too.

Shout generally only operates in North America as far as I know (plus their streaming channel), so perhaps they'll sublicense to other territories for disc releases elsewhere. I'm also curious about the claim of collectible packaging, of which we've heard no more of.

[Ben]

Shout! Factory secured exclusive worldwide rights. From November:

Well then, there ya go!

That’s the thing with these independently produced properties: even when they secure big studio distribution, that doesn’t mean it’s for life, and three things can end up being homeless and going out of print. Luckily here, Fai Films had something that had recognition and a newfound uniqueness in the marketplace, so were able to find new distribution.

I think the "new content" pertains to the Kroyer intro, and "collectible packaging" is a slipcover, which we've seen in the cover shot. Maybe there will be some store exclusives, or Shout! might have their own slip or something, but I’m not expecting anything much more than this. Goodness o owls where this leaves the (admittedly pretty awful) sequel, as that *was* bankrolled by then-Fox as a direct-to-video commission, so I suspect Disney has now ended up with that one…

[Evergreen]

Oh, yay, I'll have to get this! FernGully is one of my favorites. Always loved Magi specifically, she's one of the few older female characters in an animated film that is powerful without being evil, and I love the voice actress. My favorite scene in the film is the one where she summons the power together from everything and then sacrifices herself to give the others to defeat Hexxus. I always found that so powerful.

And there was so many environmentally-themed films out when I was a child, but this is the only one that really impacted me. Pocahontas was just way too preachy (and, well, not that good...) despite the music being pretty and while I enjoyed Captain Planet at the time, it doesn't hold up once you're older than 5. A lot of little moments for me--Crysta putting her hand on the cuts ("Don't you feel its pain?"), her horror when she finds out Max lied to her and she finds all the cut trees, Magi's line at the end ("All the power of creation exists within a single tiny seed"), the utterly gorgeous ending scene where Crysta re-grows everything that had been destroyed. One of my favorite animated scenes ever, beautiful. The whole movie is gorgeous and really accentuates how the world is.

And of course there's Tim Curry, who's always amazing, as Hexxus. I like that Pips isn't made into a villain like that type of character would be in other films, too. I personally found Batty hilarious, maybe that's a minority opinion though. I do wish the music was a little better, but I do like some of it ("A Dream Worth Keeping," "Some Other World," "It's Raining Life," "Toxic Love"). I'm glad the film is getting a restoration. If more animated films were inducted into the National Film Registry, I think this one would deserve to be there what with it being (I think) the only animated film ever shown at the United Nations. As it is, so many films that should already be there haven't been inducted yet.

[Dacey]

Welcome aboard, Evergreen! Always nice to have a new face here!

[Ben]

Can I also add my "Hi, Helen!" to Evergreen, in keeping with the Batty references…

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