jediliz wrote:
Does this mean that its possible that the 2D classic animation MIGHT get revived? And maybe they'd have the Disney Saturday Movie on every week on ABC or at least more often.
Here's hoping.
I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. I mean I think Bob Iger wants to make CG movies since there is no denying it that 2D animated movies have not met the BO standards of CG movies.
As for ABC movies, hmmm, I thought they were still doing that.
As for ABC movies, hmmm, I thought they were still doing that.
They are, but they've been playing movies I'd consider not family friendly so it definitely wasn't a DISNEY movie night. ABC thinks they need to repeat shows like LOST and Alias on Saturday nights, too.
Disney Channel died when they stopped airing movies with Haley mills (Parent Trap and Pollyanna) and fun adventure movies like Swiss Family Robinson. R.I.P. the REAL Disney Channel. Date of Death: When the shows became teenie bopperish.
As for ABC movies, hmmm, I thought they were still doing that.
They are, but they've been playing movies I'd consider not family friendly so it definitely wasn't a DISNEY movie night. ABC thinks they need to repeat shows like LOST and Alias on Saturday nights, too.
Essentially, they canceled The Wonderful World of Disney this season. Moving it to Saturdays last season was baaaaaad.
Escapay
WIST #60:
AwallaceUNC: Would you prefer Substi-Blu-tiary Locomotion?
WIST #61:
TheSequelOfDisney: Damn, did Lin-Manuel Miranda go and murder all your families?
Mr. Toad wrote:So in the final analysis, it was great to have him. We would likely never have had the Disney renaissence without him. However, he overstayed his welcome by a good bit and it is more than time for him to go.
You most likely wouldn't of had a Disney without him, with it becoming part of Viacom or Time Warner without him!
And hey, I know some people are worried, but he's not pennyless yet. He's still being paid full salary until his contract expires September 2006. I'm pleased. I was worried he may end up living on the streets. Now at least he had a year to get himself into shape.
Mr. Toad wrote:So in the final analysis, it was great to have him. We would likely never have had the Disney renaissence without him. However, he overstayed his welcome by a good bit and it is more than time for him to go.
Nicely said. He did a lot of good for the company, but in later years, he's done a lot of bad. Disney fans have waited a long while for this day.
Let me preface this by saying that I was just growing up in the late 80s and 90s, so haven't really been able to keenly observe Eisner until he was in his rut years. I was growing up during the Rennisance period and after, and hold all of their musicals 1989-1999 (counting Tarzan as a loose musical) very dear to my heart as the films that I grew up on. Thus, animation -- and particurarly grand-style animated musicals -- are my biggest concern and passion within my larger love for Disney as a whole, complete company.
Okay, now, from my research and observations, here are my thoughts on Eisner, Iger, what's happened up until now and what will and should happen next. (Those are not nessesarily the same things, unfortunately.)
Michael Eisner was ABSOLUTELY the right man for the job from 1984-1994, and really brought Disney back from a state of desperation, making it a comercially viable major entertainment company again. He deserves the respect of every Disney fan for what he helped do during that time.
And heck, even in 1995 or so he was all right (if unspectacular) from what I can tell. But by the time The Lion King had ended its long, leggy and enormous theatrical run and was released to VHS, where it promptly shattered every record in the book, things started to go to his head. And I think that's when he really started to slip; he should have been on the lookout for a replacement that year. But his vanity kept him holding on 11 years longer than he should have. Lately I've heard that he wanted to build a legacy, but by 1994 he had already done that. He had brought Disney back from the edge of death, and would have been brilliantly remembered as a true visionary if he had exited at the top of his game. He did many important things for the studio, but the most important was his helping to re-energize Disney's animation department. He should have quit while he was ahead.
Instead, he dug in his heels and in the process lost sight of what the company really stood for. He had helped the company regain its identity, only to forget all of that in a quest for glory that he really had already obtained. This caused that glory to fade as he began to dismantle and then completely destroy the classical animation studio that he had helped to rebuild. He turned his own and the company's back on the art form that they had pioneered and neutured with tender, loving care for decades, and that's a sad, sad thing.
It leaves his legacy tarnished -- once brilliant and recently stupid cancel each other out, and most people are now likely to remember the later, stupid Eisner instead of the more distant brilliant one. I respect him and give him my grattitude for 1984-1994, but beyond that, he REALLY missed the point and passion of the company that he was trying (unsuccessfully) to lead.
As he exits the studio, Eisner has started to reinvent Disney animation once again as a "hip" CGI outfit; they have become a follower in the industry, not the leader that they have always been in the past. The new movie slate allows Iger the same chance that Eisner had 21 years ago; he can now redefine what the Disney studio does as the animation company it was founded to be. He can either continue with Eisner's second rennovation and turn the company into a CGI copycat in a market way too flooded with those right now...or, if he's really bold, he can allow the films that WDFA currently has in the middle of extensvie production to play out and then go back to its roots to find something both new and classical all at once.
The key to his success or failure with Disney animation, as I see it, is the Rapunzel project, which is currently in production for 2009 as a Shrek-like joke CGI movie, "Rapunzel Unbraided." It is obviously far too late for him to tinker with Chicken Little and the like; Wilbur Robinson is too far into production as well, and I don't know what's gong on with American Dog. But Rapunzel Unbraided presents him an oppertunity to make a big statement here, and I think that's really where we can begin to judge Iger as Iger and not "Iger dealing with the remnants of Eisner."
I believe very strongly that traditional and CG animation can and should goexsist; I love both forms and wouldn't give up either one. I think traditional animation needs a major studio to jump behind it with force and say, "We still believe in you." If they do this, no studio will make a stronger statement on it than Disney, and given their wonderful trdition of classical fairy tale musicals, dating all the way back to the film that founded their feature animation empire -- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -- there is no better film to make this statement with than Rapunzel, and the oppertunity is right there ripe for the picking.
With Rapunzel, Iger can bring the studio back to its classical epic fairy tale roots and create a savior film to regenerate traditional animation in the same way that Cinderella did in 1950 and The Little Mermaid did in 1989. I have nothing against CGI, but think that certian stories are suited to it, while certian stories are suited to traditrional animation. Rapunzel, as a story, screams to be treated in the vein of those films I just mentioned. It should be a big, bold, daring, beautiful, epic-scale take-no-prisoners fairy tale romance musical that will take audiences' breaths away.
If Iger moves EXTREMELY quickly, he can probably still steer the Rapunzel production in that direction -- and singlehandedly show the world that traditional animation is still a viable art form. It's DEFINATELY got the talent to do it there in SPADES -- just to name a couple of many pros, Glen Keane, who is a legendary traditional animator, directing presents tons of great possibilities, and whoever hired Kristin Cennelworth to voice and sing for the title character deserves an immidate pay raise and promotion. Wheather Iger will be smart enough to see this talent and put them all to their proper use is the big question mark.
If he does move this production to big traditional musical status and revive the animation department with its own unique voice again because of it he will have earned my love and respect just for that. It has been far too long since a big Disney musical truly set the world on fire, andd I miss when that used to happen. I dream fondly of a day when that will happen again, and I hope I am here to see it.
If, on the other hand, Iger lets that one golden oppertunity slip past him, it will probably not appear again for a looooooong time. Therefore, I think we need to wait and see what he does -- or doesn't -- do with the Rapunzel project before we can really see if he's got the smarts to do right by Walt's legacy. I know and love the fact that there are other areas of the Disney company that deserve his attention as well, but animation is the thing that the company was founded on and I think any real distinct definition of how he handles Disney will and should start there.
As I say goodbye to Eisner and am tempted to thank him and hug him before being just as tempted to scream and slap him in the face, I wish Iger luck in cleaning up and fixing the mess that Eisner left him with and reinventing it into something great once again. I hope for the best.
Very well said, Jake Lipson! I can't agree, more. Eisner does deserve our respect for all the good he did. It's a tragedy that he let it all go to his head, and ended up turning his back on what he accomplished.
I, too, wish Iger all the success in the world, and pray that he will usher in a grand new era for Disney.
That was sad news. I posted it on the other forum called GAC Forums (GAC stands for Golden Age Cartoons) where I had thoughts about Michael Eisner leaving Disney. I always like Michael a lot since he took over from Paramount back in 1984 or '85. He was the most powerful man in the industry. Bob Iger is taken over Eisner's place. Don't worry folks. I always love the 2D animation rather than the 3D animation (aka CGI). The movie "Chicken Little" is coming out soon. I saw it on subway Billboards while I was down in the city last weekend. 2D animation lives. I won't give up any Disney classics either. Back in 1966 when Walt Disney died, Ron Miller took over to released a number of Disney films from late 60's, 70's and the early 80's. Now, it's very sad to see Michael Eisner go. Bob Iger will take its spot.
I don't think he was a bad person; the only thing he ever did that bothered me was when he took it upon himself to host the Wonderful World of Disney. I just thought he came across as smug; touting his company's wares and grand tradition when I knew for a fact that he was never behind any of the creative decisions of the company; he was a money man, and a good one. He should have remained far less visable in the public eye; then we'd have praised him more. They should have let Roy host the shows; in fact he did a few of them. Roy was not terribly creative, but at least Roy was a Disney and could tell us about the works of his famous uncle. Eisner was painful to watch; he was barely articulate on camera; seemed to have bananas in his mouth while talking. I believe a lot of the negative public opinion about Eisner comes from his on-air hosting duties. There's no quicker way to make people hate you, than to appear regularly on tv.
I posted it on the other forum called GAC Forums (GAC stands for Golden Age Cartoons) where I had thoughts about Michael Eisner leaving Disney. I always like Michael a lot since he took over from Paramount back in 1984 or '85. He was the most powerful man in the industry. Bob Iger is taken over Eisner's place. Don't worry folks. I always love the 2D animation rather than the 3D animation (aka CGI). The movie "Chicken Little" is coming out soon. I saw it on subway Billboards while I was down in the city last weekend. 2D animation lives. I won't give up any Disney classics either. Back in 1966 when Walt Disney died, Ron Miller took over to released a number of Disney films from late 60's, 70's and the early 80's. Now, it's very sad to see Michael Eisner go. Bob Iger will take its spot.
