Comparing Home Releases Cover Arts

[D82]

There's also this cover from the UK we had in Spain too:



I'll post my thoughts later. And I've realized I forgot to share my opinion of The Aristocats covers. I'll try to post that too.

[DisneyBluLife]

Different covers. Two Swedish VHS releases of Robin Hood.
https://www.sellpy.se/item/H1RIvlTgAv/w ... robin-hood

http://osc.boavideo.com/product_info.ph ... s_id=22575

[Disney Duster]

I love that UK and Spanish cover with Robin Hood swinging from the castle!

[blackcauldron85]

I really like that first Swedish cover!

[Marce82]

So.... lucky Robin Hood, all the covers are pretty decent. Ironic, since the movie isn't particularly good (IMO). The ONE furry-dedicated 2D disney movie.... ugh...

1) Spain/UK classic cover: I recall this one being promoted in the US I think... maybe it never became the official cover. But I have seen it before for sure. This one isn't executed the best; characters and render are a little off, but I do love the concept: all good guys in one corner, all bad ones in the other, and Robin somewhere in between. That fire above the bad guys looks terrible... almost looks like a corn field or something.

2) Gold Collection: I actually really like this one... simple. Classic Robin Hood pose, well drawn, great depth in the background. Love the "wanted" poster to add a little more to it. Very nice.

3) Classics/Masterpiece VHS: the composition is kinda bland, but all characters are well drawn and rendered, good sense of space and perspective. So pretty good overall.

4) First vhs: I looked up a bigger version of this one, and though the poses and layout are the same as the other VHSs, the artwork is different... much more painterly. Looks GREAT on the background: better textures and depth than the other VHS.... but the characters are not as well drawn.

5) Most Wanted edition: characters are generally well drawn and rendered.... but it feels like clip art randomly placed in the space given. And they tried to add some leaves to the background to suggest a forest... but it doesn't work because none of the characters are existing in that setting. I do like the shaft of light.


6) Blu ray: It feels like a worse version than the Most-Wanted edition. I see what they are trying to do with Robin's pose, but the foreshortening toward camera (with the arrow) doesn't work. Just looks like a short arrow. Also don't love all these characters existing in a vacuum.

Again, none of them are bad... in all fairness, human characters are a lot harder to draw than animals.

[Disney Duster]

Omg it does look like a corn field! Lol!!!

[Marce82]

Yeah, its a weird fire.

So... like I said, this is a movie I havent seen a million times, and I havent seen it in a while. DOES the castle catch on fire??

[DisneyBluLife]

Yeah, its a weird fire.

So... like I said, this is a movie I havent seen a million times, and I havent seen it in a while. DOES the castle catch on fire??

Yes.


What do you think about the two Swedish VHS releases of Robin Hood?

[Marce82]

Well.... Im not sure if those Swedish covers are official... or even sanctioned by Disney, that is why I didn't include them in my ranking.

The Classics video one is ok... nice rendering, but the spatial relations are absurd. They have placed the characters in a way that they seem to be in the same location... but Prince John looks tiny.... and the Friar looks minuscule compared to the gigantic maid Marian. The character's faces are mildly off. Interestingly, if you look at the back cover for that release, it is a partial re-use of the UK/Spain cover... without the fire/cornfield!

The "home video" cover.... that's just embarrassing. It looks like a semi-talented child made it. Everything about it is bad (characters off model, anatomy, layout, linework, spatial relationships) EXCEPT for the trees, which are fairly nicely painted in watercolor... which heavily clashes with the very dense colors of the characters. Ouch.

[DisneyBluLife]

Well.... Im not sure if those Swedish covers are official... or even sanctioned by Disney, that is why I didn't include them in my ranking.

The Classics video one is ok... nice rendering, but the spatial relations are absurd. They have placed the characters in a way that they seem to be in the same location... but Prince John looks tiny.... and the Friar looks minuscule compared to the gigantic maid Marian. The character's faces are mildly off. Interestingly, if you look at the back cover for that release, it is a partial re-use of the UK/Spain cover... without the fire/cornfield!

The "home video" cover.... that's just embarrassing. It looks like a semi-talented child made it. Everything about it is bad (characters off model, anatomy, layout, linework, spatial relationships) EXCEPT for the trees, which are fairly nicely painted in watercolor... which heavily clashes with the very dense colors of the characters. Ouch.

Those Swedish releases are official from the late 80s and early 90s. I myself live in the country and can ensure that they are official releases. I would never post "fan-made" covers in a thread taking about official home video covers.

[rodis]

Most of those swedish covers you've been posting in this thread are truly atrocious

I'm shocked someone actually approved them.

[Marce82]

Hey DisneyBlu,

I am sure you wouldn't post something fan made on here... this is a SERIOUS thread, life or death stuff!

But I was actually referring to what may be a mid-way between fan made and official: bootleg. I myself was raised in South America, and in the late 80's, when Disney was dragging it's feet releasing their classics, bootleg versions started popping up.... but those were made by a legitimate video company, not some random person in their basement. And they were only distributed to video stores FOR RENTAL, never for purchase to the public. Video quality was perfect, but the covers were usually pretty bad, and clearly not made by the Disney company.

I wonder if some of the very early Swedish VHS tapes may have had a similar history...

[JeanGreyForever]

The Swedish covers for Robin Hood weren't that bad. Although the first one looks like another studio made the film and is marketing their own cheaply animated film. If Disney updated the clipart, it would work quite well as a new cover. The second one reminds me of the vintage storybooks Disney used to make so I like it too although not so much as a movie cover.

I'm also thinking that most of the films until The Little Mermaid have very few new covers and tend to repeat a lot of them so should we do two a week like we did with the package films? As in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh/The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound/The Black Cauldron, and The Great Mouse Detective/Oliver & Company?

[DisneyBluLife]

Well.... Im not sure if those Swedish covers are official... or even sanctioned by Disney, that is why I didn't include them in my ranking.

The Classics video one is ok... nice rendering, but the spatial relations are absurd. They have placed the characters in a way that they seem to be in the same location... but Prince John looks tiny.... and the Friar looks minuscule compared to the gigantic maid Marian. The character's faces are mildly off. Interestingly, if you look at the back cover for that release, it is a partial re-use of the UK/Spain cover... without the fire/cornfield!

The "home video" cover.... that's just embarrassing. It looks like a semi-talented child made it. Everything about it is bad (characters off model, anatomy, layout, linework, spatial relationships) EXCEPT for the trees, which are fairly nicely painted in watercolor... which heavily clashes with the very dense colors of the characters. Ouch.

The covers are from the beginning theatrical posters.
The "Home Video" cover is from the French theatrical poster of Robin Hood from the 70s.
https://disney-planet.fr/robin-des-bois/
https://www.mauvais-genres.com/en/frenc ... 09181.html

And the "Classic" cover is a theatrical poster from the 80s/90s of Robin Hood.
https://www.justcollecting.com/disney-c ... robin-hood

[Marce82]

Thanks for the info, DisneyBlu.... that is so depressing.

And JeanGrey... that thought crossed my mind too... but its ultimately up to fareb.

[Farerb]

I don't really mind if that's what most of everyone want, though I think these films still have more than what the Package films had.

[JeanGreyForever]

The Rescuers has two VHS covers and the DVD cover is an exact copy of the second VHS cover. It has a Blu-Ray cover and the UK Steelbook cover. Plus any Villain or main character slipcovers from the UK or France that all the Disney classics get. That's basically just five or six

For Winnie the Pooh, it has a VHS cover, two DVD covers, the Blu-Ray cover, the UK DVD main character slipcover, and a UK VHS cover. So also about six or so.

It's up to you if you feel that five/six covers are worth their own week or if you should merge them together.

[DisneyBluLife]

The Rescuers has two VHS covers and the DVD cover is an exact copy of the second VHS cover. It has a Blu-Ray cover and the UK Steelbook cover. Plus any Villain or main character slipcovers from the UK or France that all the Disney classics get. That's basically just five or six

For Winnie the Pooh, it has a VHS cover, two DVD covers, the Blu-Ray cover, the UK DVD main character slipcover, and a UK VHS cover. So also about six or so.

It's up to you if you feel that five/six covers are worth their own week or if you should merge them together.

There are some more international Rescuers covers.

[Marce82]

Maybe it should be when the conversation about a release dies down?

Like.... pretty sure nothing is left to be said about Robin Hood...

[D82]

Personally, I would prefer to continue with one movie each week. I think five or six covers are enough to compare and discuss, plus each film will have some international versions, as DisneyBluLife pointed out. The ones that could be merged though, in my opinion, are The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. The latter has very few releases and both films have some shared covers, because they're combo packs. Anyway, that's just my opinion. Do what you think is best, farerb.

Here's how I'd rank the Robin Hood covers:

1. Gold Collection DVD: Simple, but really well drawn and perfect for a cover. I'm not sure if it makes sense that there's a wanted poster up there so high on the tower, but I agree with Marce82 that it's a nice addition to the cover. It would probably be too simple without it.

2. French steelbook: It's just a still from the movie, but one that's also perfect as a cover.

3. First VHS: The characters are not very on-model (especially Robin and Little John), but I like the idea and the composition.

4. Classics VHS: This one is an updated version of the first VHS. The characters are more accurate here, but the background is less detailed, I don't like the colors and I preferred the more centered composition.

5. Masterpiece VHS: It's the same drawing as on the Classics VHS, which I prefer because I don't like how they've cut the image here.

6. Most Wanted Edition: I like Robin's pose, the logo and the shaft of light, but Marian looks horrible and I don't like how the characters below the title are on a different layer while Marian seems to be in the same space as Robin. I wish they all were either part of the same drawing or they all weren't. I appreciate though that they tried to place the characters differently than in previous covers with the title in the middle.

7. UK VHS: I like the idea and the fact that it's quite different from the other covers, but the execution is not very good. The characters especially are quite poorly drawn.

8. 40th Anniversary Blu-ray: It's basically the same as the Most Wanted Edition, with just some changes. I like Robin's new pose, but he looks worse here. And the characters below the title are more awkwardly placed.

9. First Swedish VHS: I would like to rank this one a bit higher, because I like the idea and the composition is quite good, but the characters are so inaccurate. Little John is even in red! As JeanGreyForever said, it looks as if it was the cover for a cheaper version made by another studio.

10. Second Swedish VHS: The characters are even more inaccurate there. Anyway, I really appreciate that you share these covers with us, DisneyBluLife, even if sometimes there're not among my favorites, so keep doing it!