I think we may need to save the Treasures series

[Duckburger]

Yes. Yes it is true.

It's obvious that something new and Disney Channel-ish makes far more money than old material. And after all Disney is the largest media conglomerate at this point. Its arguable whether the company Disney still cares about things like the Treasures or artistic stuff, but its fact that Disney wants to make money, a profit, stay in business, stay on top, and all that jazz. Money talks, and when something doesn't make the profit Disney expects they have no trouble in 'deleting' it from the market.

Ask yourself this - did they buy ABC because it was such a revelation, did they buy Marvel because it was a perfect addition to their company, Miramax, the Muppets, Saban, Pixar, and the list goes on and on. Face it, the reason they bought all of those assets is because a) they're profitable; b) recognition, awards, brands; c) merchandise, d) all of the above. Granted this has nothing to do with the Treasures-line, but still it gives a good view of Disney as a company instead of a charity that grants every wish.

Disney is a company first, the rest comes in second.

[Big Disney Fan]

It's obvious that something new and Disney Channel-ish makes far more money than old material. And after all Disney is the largest media conglomerate at this point. Its arguable whether the company Disney still cares about things like the Treasures or artistic stuff, but its fact that Disney wants to make money, a profit, stay in business, stay on top, and all that jazz. Money talks, and when something doesn't make the profit Disney expects they have no trouble in 'deleting' it from the market.

Making money to stay in business is one thing. But I'm wondering if they really are making money to stay in business, or if they're just making money just to make money. It's one thing to make money to live, but another to live to make money. And I'm wondering if maybe Disney is simply living to make money, rather than making money to live.

[Duckburger]

Money goes first like any business. So, making money just for the sake of it seems to fit. At the expense of other things as seen here.

[merlinjones]

One could argue is that there is still plenty of money to be made with the Walt Disney library given the proper marketing and awareness to the general public, but the reality seems to be that the rights holders would prefer not to have the distraction of these older products in the marketplace except as footnotes.

Clearly, there is a business in remarketing the classics that doesn't interfere with the contemporary products. It's not like alot of the people who like Walt Disney -- whether fans, film buffs, artists or just nostalgic baby boomers and gen x-ers -- will buy this other stuff instead - - (or that trend struck tweens will prefer the classic films for that matter).

It's like the comic book market - - new comics hardly sell any copies, but they have a broad influence on the culture that produces all the movies, TV shows, merchandise and pop culture spinoffs, so that investment is still necessary to generate and perpetuate the whole machine. (The new owners of Marvel will have to learn the longterm view patience to deal with that).

I believe that the entire Disney enterprise, new or old, is similarly dependent on the "heart and soul" provided by Walt Disney's classic and timeless works, that even the unrelated contemporary projects are dependent on the goodwill generated by the original material and its meaningful content. Consequently, it benefits the business to keep it in the public eye, even if peripherally.

Walt still IS the brand. Otherwise they are just another diversified media conglomerate without meaningful and lasting emotional ties to the consumer.

Fleeting "of the moment" successes like the Disney Channel shows will oneday engender nostalgia, but of the disposable "Brady Bunch" and "Saved by the Bell" variety, not the timeless "Mary Poppins" and "Snow White" kind that keeps giving generation after generation. Even the minor Walt Disney works help to paint that passionate picture, especially the classic animation, shorts and TV shows.

[ohmahaaha]

I still have yet to see some kind of official word that the Treasures are dead for this year, here or anywhere else.

[Heil Donald Duck]

Money goes first like any business. So, making money just for the sake of it seems to fit. At the expense of other things as seen here.

You can say that about every major Hollywood studio

[Big Disney Fan]

Money goes first like any business. So, making money just for the sake of it seems to fit. At the expense of other things as seen here.

You can say that about every major Hollywood studio

But wealth never meant much to Walt himself. He saw that only as a way to survive. Now everyone seems to want to survive on money.

[slave2moonlight]

I still have yet to see some kind of official word that the Treasures are dead for this year, here or anywhere else.

Agreed. This is a song I've heard every year it seems. I'm not going to freak out about it yet this time.

[Big Disney Fan]

Blu Ray can hold more materiel and they'd be able to get what took up two discs onto one, probably.

Only if they keep the sizes what they are. If they make HD transfers it would take up the extra space.

I did not say this originally, I got from elsewhere, but the shorts would probably not look all that much better on Blu-Ray than on normal DVDs. Several shorts had been released on the Bug's Life and Snow White Blu-Ray DVDs. Snow White and Pinocchio look superb, but they have gone through an vast and costly frame-by-frame digital restoration. They actually look better than the original prints of the films did (some would say unethically so).

There are a lot of artifacts on the old shorts, some there originally and some due to age, which only stand out more on Blu-Ray than they do on DVD. The shorts released on the Treasures series were cleaned up some, but nothing near what was done for the older features.

Like I said, I got this from elsewhere, so it's not really my own words.

[a-net-fan]

No doubt "Beaver's" numbers are way lower than any Walt Disney library release because Walt has such an ardent and active pool of fans and film buffs at the ready, but this is likely the case for why Blu-Ray "Treasures" are way off in the future - - the format is not yet wide enough for the studios to tackle the majority of vintage material.

But this is certainly not the case for the highly saturated DVD market, especially with Disney animation titles. I would therefore deduce that our only hope to see more of Walt's work any time soon is to encourage the rights holders to engage in further exploitation of the Walt Disney library on DVD - - especially with the Walt Disney Treasures - - or perhaps license the works to specialty companies.

Have you asked/encouraged Shout Factory to explore this?

Im trying to be optomistic and believe that if the Treasures are dead..... its NOT the death of the studio offering vintage entertainment. I think Video on Demand is the wave of the future and its likely..... sooner or later..... Disney will have its entire film library available in this format.

(PS- To anyone who read my previous post I must have still been asleep when I posted it! Geez! Sorry for that mess)

[merlinjones]

>>This is a song I've heard every year it seems. I'm not going to freak out about it yet this time.<<

History has shown that the best time to make your feelings known is before the bad thing happens - - when it is still a rumor with possibility for change.

[slave2moonlight]

>>This is a song I've heard every year it seems. I'm not going to freak out about it yet this time.<<

History has shown that the best time to make your feelings known is before the bad thing happens - - when it is still a rumor with possibility for change.

Yes, but in this case, history has shown that we hear this EVERY YEAR.

I'm not saying it's not over. It's going to end eventually, but I think when it does end, we'll just see a new line for this type of material.

[merlinjones]

>>Yes, but in this case, history has shown that we hear this EVERY YEAR.<<

And, fortunately, we all keep objecting EVERY YEAR. Why tamper with success?

Besides, we don't need just any line of "this type of material" - - we need more of the Walt Disney library that has not been released to date. Additions not repackaging.

[slave2moonlight]

>>Yes, but in this case, history has shown that we hear this EVERY YEAR.<<

And, fortunately, we all keep objecting EVERY YEAR. Why tamper with success?

Besides, we don't need just any line of "this type of material" - - we need more of the Walt Disney library that has not been released to date. Additions not repackaging.

Who said anything about repackaging? I mean, certainly I didn't anyway. I'm all about additions. But, additions in a new presentation, like what they tried with the Legacy Collection, would be fine with me, even though I'd prefer they stick with the Treasures and Mr. Maltin.

[pvdfan]

You can say that about every major Hollywood studio

But wealth never meant much to Walt himself. He saw that only as a way to survive. Now everyone seems to want to survive on money.

Walt never had shareholders who are looking for X amount of profits. He just had to pay his staff and himself.

[Big Disney Fan]

But wealth never meant much to Walt himself. He saw that only as a way to survive. Now everyone seems to want to survive on money.

Walt never had shareholders who are looking for X amount of profits. He just had to pay his staff and himself.

Exactly. That atmosphere is totally different now. I think that atmosphere changed when the new management team moved in 1984. Eisner and Wells, according to the book "Realityland", completely dismissed many of Walt's time-honored philosophies. Walt had built up long-term value in the company, and Eisner and Wells felt that the time had come for some of such value to be cashed in.

Back on topic, it may also be that they're trying to perfect the Treasures for Blu-Ray, because we all know how much Disney is trying to force people to pick those in favor of regular DVDs. It's because it's more expensive, which in turn makes it more profitable.

[Mouseketodd]

A couple of other serials from the Mickey Mouse Club:

1) Adventures in Dairyland
2) The Adventures of Clint and Mac

...Perhaps they need to be reminded how much Walt Disney enthusiasts care about this line, and that there are many viable titles still to be released, such as:

1. Song of the South (plus The Joel Chandler Harris Story, Trailers, promos, TV spots, Soundtrack, outtakes, artwork, etc.)
2. Ludwig Von Drake (18 episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color)
3. Ranger Woodlore and Humphrey Bear (all shorts plus 4 hour WWoC shows)
4. Jiminy Cricket (all educational shorts, MMC shorts, plus all 6 Jiminy hosted hour shows)
5. Chip an' Dale (all shorts, plus Walt Disney Presents hour show)
6. The Magic Mirror (all 6 TV hours hosted by Magic Mirror, including Walt's first two TV specials)
7. Disneyland Volume 3 (all remaining TV hours about the park including From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow and Disneyland Showtime!)
8. Mickey, Donald and Goofy on TV (TV hours featuring all the standard characters in original animation bridges)
9. Rarities 2 (with remaining animated shorts and featurettes like It's Tough to Be a Bird)
10. The Swamp Fox (all 8 episodes)
11. The Prince and the Pauper (all 3 Wonderful World of Color episodes plus the theatrical version)
12. Disneyland: Films From Park Attractions (America the Beautiful, Mouseketeer 3-D Jamboree, Story of Oil etc)
13. Annette 2 (Horsemasters, Escapade in Florence, music sequences)
14. Kurt Russell (TV movies and featurettes like Willie and the Yank, Secret of Boyne Castle, Disneyland Showtime and Dad, Can I Borrow the Car?)
15. Best of Disneyland Series Season Sets
16. Best of Walt Disney Presents Series Season Sets
17. Best of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Season Sets
18. Best of The Mickey Mouse Club
19. Moochie (Moochie of the Little League, Moochie of Pop Warner Football, Mooncussers, Johnny Shiloh)
20. Spin and Marty 2 and 3
21. The Hardy Boys 2
22. Corky and White Shadow
23. People and Places
24. The Fabulous 40's (uncut versions of all the 1940's animated package features)
25. Animal Stories (best of the TV hours like Sammy, the Way Out Seal)
26. The Mouse Factory - Complete Series
27. Disney Family Album - Complete Series
28. A Walt Disney Christmas
29. A Walt Disney Halloween

(And that doesn't even account for all the lesser known TV limited series and TV movies like Elfego Baca, Texas John Slaughter, Kilroy, Gallegher, et al).

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment: Information from Answers.com

Walt Disney Home Entertainment

Senior Vice President Worldwide Operations: William (Bill) Segil
Executive Vice President Worldwide Marketing, Creative Content, and Business Development: Gordon K. Ho
Executive Vice President Worldwide Sales, Distribution, and Trade Marketing: Patrick (Pat) Fitzgerald

Walt Disney Home Entertainment
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

The Walt Disney Company: Information from Answers.com

The Walt Disney Company

President, CEO, and Director: Robert A. (Bob) Iger
Chairman The Walt Disney Studios Rich Ross
Chief Creative Officer Walt Disney Animation John Lasseter

The Walt Disney Company
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-9722<<

[skippy]

Interesting find at the www.goldenagecartoons.com forums.

http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/sho ... hp?t=14651

Luke, have you heard this?

That would certainly be an interesting development.

[The_Iceflash]

Interesting find at the www.goldenagecartoons.com forums.

http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/sho ... hp?t=14651

Luke, have you heard this?

That would certainly be an interesting development.

That would definately be interesting. I wouldn't want those to be the only Treasures though. Especially seeing as two docs. could fit into one individual Treasures.

[merlinjones]

Those three titles: "El Groupo," "The Boys" and "Waking Sleeping Beauty" (even though fine and worthy documentaries unto themselves) don't even fit the idea of "Walt Disney Treasures" - - These are NOT the same thing.

We want more of Walt's actual films, his animation, his television programs - - to enjoy as true entertainment experiences, not just informational documentaries ABOUT Walt's films to further memorialize his time and help nail the vault shut. (...and "Waking Sleeping Beauty" isn't even about Walt's films at all).

Not to mention these recent theatrical releases would be coming out on video anyway, "Treasures" or none.

Great to see these docs made and released - - But they are not the same thing at all for my money.

We still need Ludwig VonDrake, Jiminy Cricket, Ranger Woodlore, Chip an Dale, The Magic Mirror, Annette, Moochie and the gang!!!