The Three CommentEARS Episode 13: Beauty and the Beast

[pap64]

Hi guys! Just wanted to let you know about an exciting new project my fellow UD members and I have started. It is called "The Three CommentEARS" - a series of monthly audio commentaries in which Albert "Escapay" Gutierrez, Kelvin "Disneykid" Cedeno, and yours truly, Pedro "Pap" Hernandez share our thoughts on various Disney films.

When the Blu-Ray edition of Cinderella failed to include an audio commentary, we decided to create one for any fans who might be interested in learning more about the film. This was partly due to our own interest in researching the production history, but also in re-examining our own personal experiences with the film. As we reflected on the film, we realized that such a commentary - one that mixes factual information with personal viewer experience - might be of interest on other Disney films. And thus, "The Three CommentEARS" was born. Since then, we have been recording monthly commentaries that celebrate various Disney film releases on home media and anniversaries. These fun, easy-listening commentaries place emphasis on the film's production history and overall legacy, while also providing critical and cultural analysis, as well as the anecdotal values that reflect the everyday Disney fan.

Here are the commentaries we have done so far. Click on the film title to be taken to its exclusive From Screen to Theme page, which also features directions on how to sync up the commentary with the feature. In addition, by right-clicking "MP3" at the end of each description here, you can save the file directly to your computer.

Cinderella:This is essentially our pilot episode. Since we were focusing on finding our groove, some mistakes may surface, of which we have become aware.
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Peter Pan: Each of us share different perspectives towards this film, including critical analysis and characterization, informative backstory about the production, and the film's impact to its audience on more personal levels.
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Wreck-It Ralph: We discuss the history behind the various video game references, critical analysis and comparisons to other films in the Disney canon, informative backstory about the production, and the film's own intercultural themes.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame: In this commentary, we take a look at the history behind the production, critical analysis and comparisons to other films in the Disney canon, and reflection on the film's heavy marketing and merchandise.
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Meet the Robinsons: Each of us share different perspectives towards this film, as we discuss the production of the film, our own interpretations regarding the "rules" of time travel, several theme park connections between the film and Disneyland, and the film's recurring theme to "keep moving forward," including its impact for the audience.
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Monsters, Inc: For this episode, we take a look at 2001's Monsters, Inc. Each of us share different perspectives towards this film, as we discuss the production of the film, analysis of the character journeys, impact on a post-9/11 audience, and our own experiences with monsters in the closet.
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The Sword in the Stone: Medieval Summer begins with 1963's The Sword in the Stone. We discuss the production of the film, literary comparisons to both Arthurian Legend and the first book in T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" tetralogy, intentional anachronisms that both contemporize and date the film, and our own personal views towards the film in both a childhood context and as academic study.
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Robin Hood: The Medieval Summer concludes with 1973's Robin Hood. We discuss the production of the film, earlier concepts set in the American South, literary comparisons to incarnations of Robin Hood and Aesop's fables, the film's connections to popular culture and world events of its era, and our own personal views towards the film in both a childhood context and as revisited nostalgia.
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The Little Mermaid: To commemorate the new Diamond Edition Blu-Ray, we discuss the production of the film, the inner struggles and outward action of heroine Ariel, literary comparisons to the Hans Christian Andersen tale, the model and structure of the film in comparison to previous and future Disney Animated Classics, the film's place within the 1980s teen movie genre, and our own personal views towards the film in both a childhood context and as revisited nostalgia.
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Hocus Pocus: For this episode, we take a look at 1993's Hocus Pocus, celebrating its twentieth anniversary. Each of us take different approaches to this film, primarily in terms of the film's connections to Disney's other forays into the supernatural and the macabre, tales from the production of the film, and several notable instances of illogical and anachronistic storytelling, while still celebrating the film's loving tribute to the Halloween season, viewers' reaction and nostalgia through the years, and our own personal views towards the film in both a childhood context and as revisited nostalgia.
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Tangled: For this episode, we take a look at 2010's Tangled, revisiting the film just as another Disney fairy tale hits theatres: Frozen. Unlike past commentaries, this one spends more time analyzing the story and characters of Tangled, as each of us offers different interpretations, discourse, and criticism. In addition, we continue to delve into the production of the film, as well as the influence found in non-Disney sources, along with the film's impact on viewers since its release.
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Mary Poppins: Joining us for this commentary is special guest commentator Aaron Wallace, author of The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom. For this episode, we take a look at the 1964 landmark film Mary Poppins. The film holds a special connection for all of us, as we trace its production, make comparisons to both the original P.L. Travers books and stage musical, and look into how it impacted our lives over the years. In addition, we examine some of the film's spiritual themes, its high-ranking reputation within the Disney company, the various "Disney Achievements" represented within the film, several connections to 2013's Saving Mr. Banks and Travers herself, and the film's impact on all viewers since its release.
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Beauty and the Beast: We feature three commentaries for your listening pleasure, as we take a look at the 1991 Academy Award-nominated film Beauty and the Beast. But this is not just one look at the film, we've created commentary tracks for three versions of the film. Both the Theatrical and Extended versions of the film feature commentary from Albert Gutierrez, Pedro Hernandez, and Kelvin Cedeño. This track focuses primarily on analysis and the film's cultural impact, with production information peppered in at key points. In addition, Albert Gutierrez and Pedro Hernandez provide an additional commentary, meant to be played with the Work in Progress version of the film. This track takes a more expansive look at the production of the film, occasionally in comparison to other famous renditions of "Beauty and the Beast" lore.
MP3 for Theatrical Release
MP3 for Extended Edition
MP3 for Work in Progress

In the future, these commentaries will be available on iTunes (and perhaps, YouTube). For now, they are exclusively available at From Screen to Theme in streaming format with download options available in this thread. If you wish to provide further comments, suggestions for future episodes, or just send a message to us directly, email us at commentEARS at gmail dot com.

Moderator's note: Updated for Beauty and the Beast

[DancingCrab]

Sounds like an awesome idea. I'll have to give one of these a go soon.

Fans supplying "special features" to other fans. I love it.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Now who do you three think you are, Rudy Behlmer? Making comments, providing anecdotes and so on and so forth...

Anyway, I listed to your Cinderella commentary and I definitely enjoyed it. I'm not sure how a pumpkin could be orange in June, and I thought the original version had fur shoes instead of glass so you wouldn't see missing toes, but it was still good.

More commentaries for movies that don't have them would be great. If you ever need someone to talk for three hours about The Happiest Millionaire, you know who to call.

[pap64]

Thank you for the feedback so far, guys! And FYI, Flanger Hanger, we are Brian Sibley, John Canemaker and Leonard Maltin... But Rudy works WAY better!

[Escapay]

To echo pap's sentiments, thanks! We're brewing a few more ideas (which have yet to be announced), so any feedback is welcome.

Albert

[Disneykid]

Anyway, I listed to your Cinderella commentary and I definitely enjoyed it. I'm not sure how a pumpkin could be orange in June, and I thought the original version had fur shoes instead of glass so you wouldn't see missing toes, but it was still good.

Well, pumpkins take approximately three months to ripen, and even though most people plant the seeds in the summer so it's ready for fall, who's to say Cinderella didn't plant a few in March? As for the slipper thing, I rechecked the Brothers Grimm version which involves the severed toes. Turns out the slipper was gold in that version (I'm guessing the fur one was from oral tradition that Perrault heard and subsequently misunderstood when writing his). It still doesn't explain how no one noticed bloody stubs being fitted in the slipper, though. Even wrapping said stubs in layers of gauze or whatever would kind of defeat the purpose of cutting off their toes to begin with. But it's a fairy tale, so we just go with it.

Thanks a bunch for the comments! Cinderella's our roughest one due to many factors, the biggest of which involved having to string three different sessions into one due to connection errors. So if you found that one good, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the others!

[Elladorine]

Hmm . . . you guys seem kind of familiar . . .

But seriously, I think what you're doing is awesome. Commentaries are always my favorite bonus features anyway, and I plan on listening to them all when I've got the time.

[estefan]

I was very disappointed there wasn't an audio commentary on the Wreck-It Ralph commentary, so I listened to that one and I thought you did a wonderful job. A fan commentary could easily descend into happy talk of just spending all the thing just praising it (and even official filmmaker commentaries can be prone to this), but you actually provided plenty of interesting info in relation to deleted scenes, little character moments and video game references I thought were interesting. It was simply a very fun and informative listen.

I will definitely look forward to your future commentaries. I think The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Rescuers Down Under and The Emperor's New Groove would be interesting to listen to.

[Disneykid]

Thanks for the kind words, estefan! The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh's my second favorite Disney animated classic, and The Emperor's New Groove's in my top 10, so I'd definitely love to tackle both of them. We have most of our commentaries planned out month by month, but there are few months that are up in air. We may use those one or both of those films to fill in the gaps. We'll keep you posted!

[pap64]

I was very disappointed there wasn't an audio commentary on the Wreck-It Ralph commentary, so I listened to that one and I thought you did a wonderful job. A fan commentary could easily descend into happy talk of just spending all the thing just praising it (and even official filmmaker commentaries can be prone to this), but you actually provided plenty of interesting info in relation to deleted scenes, little character moments and video game references I thought were interesting. It was simply a very fun and informative listen.

I will definitely look forward to your future commentaries. I think The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Rescuers Down Under and The Emperor's New Groove would be interesting to listen to.

Thank you very much!

Wreck-It Ralph was a challenge, because unlike the other movies which had these tremendous legacies that we could easily discuss, Ralph was just a few months old, so we focused instead on the themes, references and story analysis, which I think worked very well.

Funny you should mention how commentaries can often descend into "congratulatory pats in the back". I think one of the greatest advantages to fan created mediums is that they can discuss things that the official companies often ignore. For example, if we were ever to discuss Bolt, we could easily spent a great chunk of time talking about the movie's transformation from the quirky and odd Chris Sanders effort into the movie we have today, whereas Disney would pretend the movie went super smoothly when discussing it in their features. It allows people to view movies in different ways, I think.

[estefan]

Indeed. That's why I think Emperor's New Groove would be really interesting, even though the DVD already has a commentary as Disney's legal department very likely told the filmmakers not to talk about the incredibly troubled production. So while that was still a good commentary, Mark Dindal and crew had a limit in what they were allowed to discuss (which kind of makes the "this commentary reflects the views of the filmmakers and not the company" disclaimer at the beginnings of the DVDs kind of humourous in retrospective).

[emotionboy]

You guys really need to get it on iTunes. Would love to listen and tried Safari, Firefox and Chrome with no success in downloading. And if I'm having problems, then other people may be too. iTunes is easy to set up as well so there's no excuse- get to it already!

[pap64]

You guys really need to get it on iTunes. Would love to listen and tried Safari, Firefox and Chrome with no success in downloading. And if I'm having problems, then other people may be too. iTunes is easy to set up as well so there's no excuse- get to it already!

That's the plan, eventually. Though it is odd that none of those are working for you. I think you need the missing plug in since I run Firefox and without fail the audio commentary starts up.

[Escapay]

As always, thanks for any and all feedback. It is much appreciated!

We are in the process of setting up an iTunes account (and more ). In the meantime, we've updated the first post of the thread by adding direct links to the mp3 files, although it is still recommended that you visit the hosting page for directions on how to sync to the film.

Albert

[pap64]

emotionboy, the MP3 links for download have been included on the first post. See if you can download them now

[russds]

Great idea, I will try out the Wreck it Ralph one. I like fan made commentaries for the same reasons, they don't have all the 'legal' obligations of the film makers. I would love to hear one on Tangled. There was one done for Tangled by the animators, which was really nice to listen to, but it did have some of the pat-yourself-on-the-back type stuff, also it was a large group, and hard to hear everyone, and once in a while there would be bursts of laughter, and as a listener you didn't know why, but either way, it's so fun to hear others talk about your favorite movies. If you're looking for ideas, would love any Up, Wall-e, or Toy Story(s).

Thanks! Can't wait for more.

[pap64]

Tangled is in the cards, but we are not sure for when. We were thinking of doing it for the release of Frozen later this year, but nothing has been set in stone yet. I would love to talk about Tangled, though. Since that movie has such a rich production history, it does provide an opportunity to analyze how it would have been like if it they went with Rapunzel Unbraided instead.

Thanks for the response! Remember that now we have MP3 links on the thread so check it out

[emotionboy]

Been listening to your Cinderella and Peter Pan commentaries.

It's great that you have been sticking with trivia and observation, and have kept subjective opinion and speculation to a minimum.

It would be nice if perhaps you mentioned which version of the film you are watching (i.e. Blu-ray or DVD), perhaps you could talk about aspect ratio and sound issues, and rather than focus on films from the same year you could possibly focus on directly related films/shows (i.e. Anthology series episodes that focused on the film being commentated on, Disney Sing Along Songs, sequels- only if there's time of course).

Well done for keeping it relevant and not detouring with too much chit chat or other irrelevant stuff.

All in all, excellent work! Look forward to hearing more.

[Disneykid]

It would be nice if perhaps you mentioned which version of the film you are watching (i.e. Blu-ray or DVD), perhaps you could talk about aspect ratio and sound issues, and rather than focus on films from the same year you could possibly focus on directly related films/shows (i.e. Anthology series episodes that focused on the film being commentated on, Disney Sing Along Songs, sequels- only if there's time of course).

It's funny you mention that because the three of us have never used the same home video release to watch a film so far (in case you couldn't tell, we all record from different parts of the globe and edit the tracks together). For example, on Cinderella, I was watching the Diamond Edition BD while Albert and Pedro were watching the Platinum Edition DVD. Because of that, we don't like to discuss home video-specific things like restorations (though I know we did momentarily on Cinderella) that way even someone matching the commentary with their VHS (or, 20 years from now, with their holographic immersion edition) can follow along.

I like the idea of discussing Anthology episodes that correlate with the film in question as I do find Disney's marketing fascinating, something we get into a bit with Hunchback's commentary. I'll keep that in mind for our next 50s-80s film (which won't be for a while as our next few are a bit more recent).

Thanks everyone for the great feedback so far!

[Flanger-Hanger]

Just watching the Peter Pan commentary now and yes, Skull Rock and the pirate ship were removed as part of the Fantasyland renovation which opened in 1983. The ship suffered from wood rot and could not be saved without replacement so it was scrapped to make space for other things like the relocation of Dumbo.

However, both the ship and rock were rebuilt for Disneyland Paris' Adventure Island attraction, which is similar to Tom Sawyer Island and still remain there.

The voice of the Chief was also Fidget in The Great Mouse Detective, although with his voice sped up, and one of the ghosts in The Haunted Mansion (the executioner).