Walt Disney Treasures

Post by **EricJ** » August 6th, 2008, 2:32 am

To quote one poster on the Ultimate Disney forum:

My guess is, pulling from Mr. Maltin's Micky Mouse Club enthusiasm, that we will get:

"Annette" - entire serial from The Mickey Mouse Club
Documentary on Annette's life
Various musical numbers/clips

possibly one of the following:
- The Horsemasters
- Escapade in Florence

possibly some of the following:
- theatrical trailers for Merlin Jones/Monkey's Uncle
- theatrical trailers for Babes in Toyland

repeat anthology episodes:
- The Babes in Toyland episode
- The one where Tommy and Annette sing the parent trap song

The Toyland episode already showed up on "Your Host, Walt Disney", so we know they're not above repeating--
I'll agree with the poster that we can accept anything MMC as a given.
As for entire features, don't think we'll get Monkey's Uncle in its entirety, though, since that just recently turned up as a Club exclusive.

Post by **Ben** » August 6th, 2008, 12:07 pm

Love The Monkey's Uncle!

Looks like I'll need to wait until that and So Dear To My Heart make it into the Disney Rewards program before I can nab 'em.

But neat that it's out!

Post by **Daniel** » August 26th, 2008, 3:00 pm

A little more info on the Annette Treasure, from a member on UD:

Leonard Maltin just returned an email and said that they just finished the Annette set, that it had less singing than he had hoped due to clearances.

He also said the treasure would feature the Annette Disney family album, the 30 minute promotional video that came out with her box set in 1993, and interviews with Annette's husband, Richard Sherman, Sharon Baird, and Shelly Fabares.

And, thanks to this interview, we now know Disney is including ten Donald "Mickey Mouse Works" cartoons on Volume 4 of Donald. (as a bonus feature.) Sweet! Considering how Disney has yet to release any box sets of either "Mickey Mouse Works" or "House of Mouse", this is a neat surprise. I HOPE they include one of my favorites, that involves Donald and Daisy going to a restaurant. Just so funny!

Post by **Randall** » August 26th, 2008, 9:37 pm

The music clearance issue is a disappointment, but understandable. I supose that means Mickey Mouse Club episodes will be edited?

Having MouseWorks cartoons seems to go against the intent of these sets, but like the second color Mickey set, I approve. If there's room on there, then why not add some extra stuff? I've never seen those shorts before, so I'll be glad to have 'em!

Post by **Ben** » August 26th, 2008, 9:41 pm

On the Donald set...

Heck - I'd have MUCH rather the 1984 50th Anniversary live-action/animation special, hosted by Dick Van Dyke and featuring the last vocals of Clarence Nash.

Or how about the This Is Your Life: Donald Duck animated special hosted by Jiminy Cricket?

Just what are these guys thinking? Not like these were theatrical shorts or anything, like the Mickey additions. I can think of two or three additions that would make better, purer fillers for the space that ten TV cartoons are going to make up.

Post by **Randall** » August 26th, 2008, 10:24 pm

Yep, those would be much better choices. Agreed.

Post by **Daniel** » August 27th, 2008, 3:35 pm

Another special that would be cool is "Down and Out with Donald Duck".

I look at this way, maybe one of aforementioned specials will probably find its way on the Donald Treasure and what doesn't will turn up later on. I'm OK with the inclusion of MMW Donald shorts. I enjoy them, but they don't come close to classics, I especially don't like the background music. Well, we'll see.

Post by **Ben** » August 27th, 2008, 4:31 pm

Down And Out With Donald Duck was pretty cool, but was mostly made up of shortened cartoons and compilation material and was one of many Disney compilation shows made up in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Donald Duck's 50th Birthday special or the This Is Your Life program were full of all-new animation, thus more the thing to have in a retrospective collection, I would think.

Post by **Randall** » August 27th, 2008, 8:49 pm

How about At Home With Donald Duck? I actually have that on laserdisc, but haven't watched it in some time.

I agree, though, vintage stuff (of Walt's time, especially) for the Treasures would be much preferable to more recent fare.

Post by **Ben** » August 28th, 2008, 7:19 am

While I'd be up for seeing all those kinds of compilations again, they are 85-90% made up of shorts and sequences that we've already had in these sets!

The 1984 show was all new, a live-action special hosted by Dick Van Dyke, with new animated sequences and many an interview with a famous face. Since Donald's 1984 50th birthday was such a big deal, I'd have thought this would have been a no-brainer.

The This Is Your Life special, like some shows on other characters, was also made up of vintage cartoons, but wasn't a re-dubbed video-edited clips show like "Down And Out", "At Home", "In The Army", "Goin' Quackers" or the like, but was fully animated with that theme as its purpose. It had a lot of new material animated for it, including Jiminy Cricket's introductions, new linking material and a parade of all the major Disney characters in Donald's honor (okay, this was made up of reused walk cycles, but newly composited).

Either of these two (or both!!) would provide classic, original, of the era Donald fans with stuff they likely haven't seen, at least in a long while, or haven't got elsewhere.

The Mickey MouseWorks cartoons deserve to be seen, but in a season set or on their own release...not mixed with other inappropriate content. This can only lead to more double dipping when those shows make it out to DVD proper, if they ever do.

Post by **Daniel** » October 20th, 2008, 8:52 pm

Here are little updates on all three Treasures: Donald, Dr. Syn and Annette. Wish they would've listed the MMW shorts, even if they useless add-ons... no not contradicting, but more vintage material would've been nice. But trying to make the best of it, I still hope the cartoon I mentioned makes it on the set, I think it's "Donald's Dinner Date" and I would love if they included "Donald's Dynamite: Fishing" very funny short!

Post by **Ben** » October 21st, 2008, 8:38 am

Still think it's such a shame that Disney is packing in some redundant MouseWorks cartoons (hey, give 'em their own release!) over two vastly superior TV specials (the This Is Your Life and 50th Birthday retrospectives).

Dr Syn sounds great: a documentary on Walt's 1950s English productions is something I'm very keen on, though I wished that the feature film version be presented in the 1.75:1 ratio it was done in theaters. It was intentionally shot open matte for television and then cropped for widescreen presentation.

Post by **Daniel** » November 5th, 2008, 8:04 pm

UD has confirmed the print run for this Wave and the lucky number is... 39,500. Wow, just wow. I'm a little shocked, but at the same time I'm not. It doesn't help that everything in this years Wave hasn't aired on TV for who knows how long, which makes it difficult for people to buy these on a whim, and there's still no real advertisement - outside the web, that is. It's to be expected, but it's Disney's fault in a way.

Well, I''ll be buying my Donald ASAP. And I would suggest others do the same before they become scarce. I really hope we see another Wave, but with a print run this low, it's looking doubtful.

I don't honestly want to be part of another "Save the Walt Disney Treasures" campaign!

Post by **Daniel** » November 8th, 2008, 11:38 pm

Strike that about the Treasures not continuing, I forgot about a crucial email.

Anyway, here are a couple of promotional clips for the upcoming Treasures. "Paying the Piper" - entertaining clip and the Donald cartoon... one of my favorites!

Post by **Ben** » November 9th, 2008, 10:43 am

Crucial email? I've forgotten too Dan!