DMC Exclusive Disney Blus

[Ben]

Evin-rude!

[Daniel]

New Mickey and Minnie collection coming in January:

Celebrate 100 magical years of Disney with this collection of animated shorts! With new introductions by Mickey & Minnie, these 10 wonderful stories include such classics as the iconic Steamboat Willie, where Mickey Mouse first appeared, Brave Little Tailor, Hawaiian Holiday, On Ice and six* more delightful stories!

*"Figaro and Frankie", "Through the Mirror", "Mickey's Delayed Date", "Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip", "Bath Day", and "The Little Whirlwind"

What a pathetic amount. Thank goodness for the Treasures.

[Randall]

Meh. A mere piffle. If they're going to put out single disc collections, they could at least put out 12-15 at a time. And more that don't repeat in every collection. Yawn.

[Ben]

"Volume 1".

And half of them don’t have Mick 'n' Min together in them (and a couple others just barely)…!? Point being…?

[EricJ]

And the other half were already released earlier, in the Fantasia 3-box.

At least it's seven more than the Mickey cartoons most of us grew up with as kids.
If all you ever saw of Mickey for multiple decades was Steamboat Willie, Through the Mirror, Brave Little Tailor, Clock Cleaners and Sorcerer's Apprentice, you'd be wonder what was the big deal about him anyway, and never picturing any cartoon that wasn't from Walt's 30's.
(Which, again, accounts for those new toons.)

[Ben]

Actually, and no joke, those ten (or nine — Willie never got much play being b/w) *were* pretty much the most recycled Mickey shorts that got most airtime over here. My heart still kind of sinks a little bit when I see On Ice and Little Whirlwind included in compilations (along with a couple of more those, it has to be said), only because some of them weren’t the most exciting toons to begin with and I’ve seen them too many times.

We never really got Sorcerer's Apprentice here either, which is what made the Sterling Holloway telling of it cool (I had that on tape), and an exciting "I want" item on 8mm (though I never saved enough to buy it) and why it was so exciting when it was announced here for its own VHS release (many years before Fantasia itself got that big 90s release), but which never came out.

But the rest…yes…same old recycled toons. Yeah, Clock Cleaners was another one that got played over and over, but luckily I love that one, and Brave Little Tailor (and Through The Mirror), all of which manage to break free of the short format and feel much bigger and higher-quality made than the average short film.

And that cover! Why have they gone with the weird pre-Fred Moore eyes on the "modern classic Mickey" design? They *never* looked like that! Guess it’s trying to appeal to the Funko kind of crowd, but it just looks wrong (and are those ears just slightly too small, too?). Disastrous and disappointing release all around…

[Randall]

Watching the Treasures discs, one can see there were a vast number of amazing Mickey cartoons (mostly 1930s), yet they keep packaging the same few over and over and over again. So lazy, and really it does Mickey a disservice. Those Treasures sets came out a generation ago(!), and Disney bizarrely puts few of its classic shorts on D+. Such a shame.

[EricJ]

But the rest…yes…same old recycled toons. Yeah, Clock Cleaners was another one that got played over and over, but luckily I love that one, and Brave Little Tailor (and Through The Mirror), all of which manage to break free of the short format and feel much bigger and higher-quality made than the average short film.

Instead of showing the 3-D "Working for Peanuts", the regular 2-D theater screenings of Meet the Robinsons in '07 showed Mickey, Donald & Goofy in "Boat Builders", and my reaction was "So, there was ANOTHER cartoon with all three, besides Clock Cleaners and Lonesome Ghosts?? "

(And no, they didn't show the toons in that old 70's Mickey Mouse Club reboot--Not sure whether it was rights issues or the Ron Miller studio thinking Mickey was too "prestige" to show on mere TV, but all we ever saw were those creepy Silly Symphonies.)

[Daniel]

Another notable short was "Moose Hunters".

[Ben]

I love Boat Builders and Moose Hunters. Still have my 8mms of those, along with Mickey's Trailer. There were a whole bunch of Mickey/Donald/Goofy toons, and they’re all fantastic.

[Daniel]

Indeed. More examples: "Mickey's Fire Brigade", "Moving Day", "The Whalers", "Tugboat Mickey" and the one that introduced the trio formula "Mickey's Service Station".

[Daniel]

The Mickey collection is going to get a wide release from Walmart in February. A few films will also be getting new-ish covers for the 100th:



Steelbooks from Best Buy:








The Steelies are kinda cool as they remind me of the Treasures. I like the little touch on the back. Not enough to rebuy, though.

[Ben]

Gosh…er…nice, I…um…guess? But these could all have been so much more (and the same old same old discs).

[Randall]

More plain than elegant, though I might take the opportunity to get Encanto. Kinda nice to have at least one 100th release.

[Ben]

Yes, because Encanto is automatically the film we all think of when we think of the top Disney movies…

I’ll wait for a second wave and hope there’s something more deserving…