Walt Disney Treasures Wave 6 Discussion

[jwa1107]

Where did you get this information? I doubt that Disney would make a deal for the rights to 26 cartoons if only 12 or so were available. What good are the rights to a completely outdated character, other than the value of releasing its classic material? They certainly won't be making any NEW shorts, so you'd have to think they want this character to own Walt's entire animated canon (and for some light merchandising...possibly a WDCC figurine?).

if you go visit Jim Hill Media today, he notes that Oswald is big merchandise in Japan right now, so Iger is looking at it from a modern day licensing aspect in additon to a historical aspect.

So regardless of how many of the originals are available, Disney will be able to make money off Oswald and build up their "newest" character.

To explain: Given that Oswald-related merchandise is still very popular in Japan, Disney's reportedly looking into creating some brand-new animation of this classic cartoon character as he appeared back in the 1920s. So that this lucky rabbit can then make appearances on cellular phones and/or on other handheld devices.

whole article here:
http://www.jimhillmedia.com/article.php?id=1844

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Also, are there enough one-shot/misc. Cartoons that aren't Already in the Rarities Vol 1. treasure to warrent another treasure?

There were two, "Susie, the Little Blue Coupe" and "Casey Bats Again", that were curiously left out of the Rarities set. Then there are three (or so) Chip and Dale shorts and an equal number of Figaro shorts.

All that, a handful of Oswald, a handful of Alice and some worthy post-Walt shorts from the late 60s and after - and you've got what you need for a second Rarities set.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I have heard that only about a Dozen or so of the Disney Oswald Cartoons still exist (about 7 in the Disney/Universal Vaults, and the rest in the hands of Private Collectors),

Where did you get this information? I doubt that Disney would make a deal for the rights to 26 cartoons if only 12 or so were available.

I haven't got any numbers right here, but it's an unfortunate fact that a very high percentage of the pre-Mickey works are no longer known to exist. So no one should ever expect to get Alice or Oswald completed.

A book named "Walt in Wonderland" is probably one of the best sources on this particular subject, although it could happen, basically anywhere, that supposedly lost films are rediscovered.

[Bill W]

I can't speak for everyone here, but I don't think the Mouse Works produced Goofy shorts qualifiy as "Treasures" to me. I put them in the same bin as the cheapquels.

I haven't seen most of these recent cartoons, but I agree with you that they don't qualify as "Treasures". The series is called "Walt Disney Treasures" for a reason. And that reason is because the material was produced by Walt Disney himself, not the company. The only original material on any of the sets that was produced after Walt's death were a few shorts on MMILC vol 2, and that was because they had the space and they could fill it with Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Prince and the Pauper, and Runaway Brain. If they were trying to do everything, I'm sure there are tons of Mouse Works, House of Mouse, Once/Twice Upon a Christmas, Three Musketeers, etc, etc. I would very much prefer the treasures line to remain faithful to Walt Disney's original works.

[creid]

Where did you get this information? I doubt that Disney would make a deal for the rights to 26 cartoons if only 12 or so were available. What good are the rights to a completely outdated character, other than the value of releasing its classic material? They certainly won't be making any NEW shorts, so you'd have to think they want this character to own Walt's entire animated canon (and for some light merchandising...possibly a WDCC figurine?).

I sure the deal was done for all the other reasons and Oswald was a nice throw-in. ABC had a large contract with Al and no longer needed his pricey services. If they wanted to break contract with Al Michaels, that would have been costly. NBC with Sunday Night Football and maybe the Olympics wants the most noted sports announcer today so that why the deal was done. This deal was probably negotiated three ways, Disney, NBC and the agent(s) for Al Michaels. ABC got better Olympic highlights, Ryder, etc as well as a no cost buyout.

This has got be quite a morale boost for the Disney bringing home the great animation missing link. The Alice series were fine cartoons but not as good as the Felix & Koko cartoon series. Then the cartoons improved by leaps and bounds during Oswald which led to Mickey Mouse & Disney domination of the animation field. By 1930, Felix was basically finished with various reincarnations and Koko was used as Betty Boop supporting cast. The series of events of Oswald Rabbit would make a great movie as the Disney, Warners, Universal, and MGM cartoon studio all had roots from the Oswald series.

Lastly, this is the most exciting animation news in a long time because I have every confidence Disney will release an excellent Treasure with Oswald toons on it and the bearded one telling the great history of Disney/Mintz/Oswald. With Universal owning the rights and their poor reputation with classic Hollywood, there would be only the remotest possibility of getting a near PD-quality DVD of these Oswalds.

[Mouseketodd]

While I don't know what Goofy cartoons appeared on Mouse Works, I'm familiar with the Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy and Pluto cartoons on House of Mouse. I don't consider these worthy of a Treasure release. Some of them seemed to be modernized versions of the classic shorts, too.

I would like the older Goofy Freeway cartoons -- was there also a drivers education cartoon a la Goofy?

[feedmelinguini]

There were two, "Susie, the Little Blue Coupe" and "Casey Bats Again", that were curiously left out of the Rarities set. Then there are three (or so) Chip and Dale shorts and an equal number of Figaro shorts.

All that, a handful of Oswald, a handful of Alice and some worthy post-Walt shorts from the late 60s and after - and you've got what you need for a second Rarities set.

To say nothing of a few Laugh-O-gram shorts and the one theatrically released Bonkers short...

-Lon

[Mr. Toad]

While I don't know what Goofy cartoons appeared on Mouse Works, I'm familiar with the Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy and Pluto cartoons on House of Mouse. I don't consider these worthy of a Treasure release. Some of them seemed to be modernized versions of the classic shorts, too.

I would like the older Goofy Freeway cartoons -- was there also a drivers education cartoon a la Goofy?

A lot of the MouseWorks shorts were recycled for house of mouse. In fact only a few new ones were created for House of Mouse.

[MikeyMouse]

With Universal owning the rights and their poor reputation with classic Hollywood, there would be only the remotest possibility of getting a near PD-quality DVD of these Oswalds.

???

Forgive my temporary amnesia, or my ignorance, but what are you referring to with "PD-quality"?

[creid]

My fault for not explaining myself. I use PD for short for Public Domain and most of these are bargain bin with poor quality.

I made several posts of my complaints of Universal's releases of classic Hollywood in which there is no effort to improve the picture quality. (ie. Dracula, Marx Brothers and latest one was Mae West.) We are not talking about the minor blemishes on Treasures Donald Duck II, I mean Universal DVDs are only modest improvements over most bargain bin $1 at Wal Mart releases. Quite honestly, Universal simply releases videotape quality on DVD.

[MikeyMouse]

Ahhh...it all makes sense now. I haven't seen "PD" as an abreviation for Public Domain anywhere else.

Yes, I totally agree...had Universal continued to hold on to the rights, we may have never even seen these cartoons on DVD, let alone a set along the quality lines of a WDT release.

[MikeyMouse]

No, I'm not just trying to keep this on the front page. I have it on good information from our "insider" that one of the live sets will NOT be a Disneyland-only set, so our predictions seem a little off, although for the most part I've been told we're close to on target.

[reyquila]

Susie the Little Blue Coupe is an Easter Egg in the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

[Tony]

No, I'm not just trying to keep this on the front page. I have it on good information from our "insider" that one of the live sets will NOT be a Disneyland-only set, so our predictions seem a little off, although for the most part I've been told we're close to on target.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!..... Tell me this is not true !....

I MUST have a new Disneyland set !

[Mr. Toad]

Susie the Little Blue Coupe is an Easter Egg in the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

Yes, but it would be nice to have a remastered copy.

[ohmahaaha]

No, I'm not just trying to keep this on the front page. I have it on good information from our "insider" that one of the live sets will NOT be a Disneyland-only set, so our predictions seem a little off, although for the most part I've been told we're close to on target.

Well ... I was hoping for another legendary heroes set anyway, particularly Swamp Fox. They kind of left us hanging with this year's set!!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Susie the Little Blue Coupe is an Easter Egg in the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

Yes, but it would be nice to have a remastered copy.

...and it would be nice to have it included in one of the Treasures.

[MikeyMouse]

Yes, but it would be nice to have a remastered copy.

...and it would be nice to have it included in one of the Treasures.

Well, we won't be getting it in a Treasure just yet, but it looks like it'll be re-released in the new upcoming "Walt Disney's It's a Small World of Fun" series.

[Escapay]

So, what do you guys think about Hardy Boys being one of the four treasures?

I've never seen the series (or Spin and Marty), but they seem like very worthy blindbuys.

Escapay

[reyquila]

Im hoping for a Song of the South and So Dear To My Heart Treasure Set!! Anyway, I have a copy of Song of the South and I just ordered So Dear To My Heart from Amazon UK. I cannot wait to see it.