DVDizzy Forum

You only have to look at the general state of this site at the moment to see what I mean about lack of commitment. There's no dispute that there's fewer DVD releases now than there ever has been in the past (since about the year 2000 when Disney really committed themselves to the DVD format).

Not only are Disney generally presenting lacklustre DVDs of current films - look at the single disc Cars and Ratatouille for examples, but they seem reluctant to go back and double-dip on what would undoubtedly be popular titles.

Where's the 2 disc Lilo and Stitch for example? It's been out overseas for over a year and is possibly the last of their great feature packed animated twin DVD sets for traditional animation. It has a remarkable, never before seen "filmed and documented as it happens" making of that really does capture all of the important moments of the creation of the film, from the initial idea and pitch to the red carpet premiere. The "making of" is truly is unique, totally fascinating, and worth owning just as much as the film itself. Nothing, apart from the Atlantis: The Lost Empire 2 disc set can compare to this – not even any of the Platinum Editions. The fact that Disney are withholding this from it's biggest single market is baffling.

Not only are Disney US still sitting on it, but they've missed two prime examples of synergistic marketing when Lilo and Stitch 2 and Leroy and Stitch were released.

Not to mention how many great, live action films they could release again, this time in widescreen (if applicable) or with boosted special features. Where's the definitive Honey I… Collection? Or George of the Jungle? Or Mighty Ducks films? Or... I could go on. Disney has so many 80s and 90s properties quickly pushed out in the early 2000s with what seemed like a "catalog title production line" mentality.

And there's no sign of Disney re-evaluating the marketplace for new releases, so Disney seems basically content to let the old releases sit on shelves, constantly being devalued.

I know some companies - Anchor Bay and Sony/Columbia have a bad reputation for double and triple dips, but the simple fact of the matter is given a wide enough break between releases, double dipping can be welcome - especially when the market and technology has changed. Thus we'd be more likely to get widescreen transfers and a higher quality transfer/encoding. Would anyone really complain about a second, improved "Special Edition" release for any of these five or more years since the original barebones, full screen release?

And that's not even touching upon Disney beloved vintage live-action films. So many of these seem to have been released with a half-hearted almost attempt to make them special, but failing.

I mean, what exactly happened with Treasure Island? One of the most important films in the company's history and its shoved out totally barebones just to tie-it into an animated release that (sadly) the company felt was a huge flop anyway. Just think of some of the special features that could have contained? What was given to us, was nothing short of a disgrace. So many other beloved films fall into the same category from so many different decades – what about The Black Hole?

I know its hard in the crowded marketplace for older films to get noticed – there's so many new releases, direct to video and super-special editions coming out each week, its easy for a store to ignore a film from the 1960's. But Warner Bros have constantly delivered incredible quality – both restoration and supplemental – on their vintage releases. It can be done.

Perhaps that's what Disney should do – themed boxsets of their classic live action titles. The Merlin Jones films boxset, the Honey I films boxset, A Haley Mills boxset, a Disney Classic Literature boxset. There are always solutions to any problem. I just don't think Disney are even looking for a solution.

I know people will say Disney are waiting for Blu-Ray to take off, but I don't agree with this at all - are we really going to see a knock-out super-sized Treasure Island Blu-Ray release? Is there a even a demand on High Definition for 1950's films with mono soundtracks?

Sadly, live action to Disney these days seems to mean Disney channel series compliations.

Well almost 18 months ago I felt a creaking beneath my feet and sense the ship was starting to sink and I started a thread called

<a href="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... Decreasing quality of Disney DVDs: Laziness or a subtle ploy</a>

Since then however I have watched the ship fully submerge so that now all I see is the crow's nest poking above the surf. What's more concerning is that my theory/hope that Disney were giving us weak releases now so that we would have more incentive to upgrade later sadly seems to be untrue.

We now know that the pitiful DVD releases of Cars and Chicken Little were not merely weak just so we would all jump at a later hi-def release, because the hi-def releases are barely an improvement often with only a couple of deleted scenes and a commentary more than the original DVD.

Most of my arguement here is repeated from the earlier link.

It is clear that Disney's special edition are no longer as special as the cover proclaims. When VHS still ruled the roost during the early days Disney offered us packed DVDs like "Atantis the Lost Empire", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Tron" or The Vault Disney series.
The word packed to the brim barely describes them, whereas these days 2 disc are rarer, I mean Brother Bear's 2 disc was inferior to that of New Groove and Atlantis and Chicken Little (which was more financially succesful than either of the previous 3 mentioned, only gets treated to a (rather so-so) 1 disc DVD.

The Platinum lines have decreased drastically in terms of quality, the grandeur of "Snow White" and "Aladdin", was not mirrored in the recent additions of "Peter Pan", "The Little Mermaid" and "Cinderella". Granted the features present were nice and imformative, but there are 1 disc DVDs with I've seen with more features. The upcoming release of "The Jungle Book" has got a few forum members excited because it seems to be meatier than previous releases, but that's only because we have been starved. I mean if you take the DVD of The Little Mermaid or The Jungle Book and compare them to the releases of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Atlantis: The Lost Empire they are pathetically laughable.

I agree completely with what 2099net has said. Where are the rereleases? Why are films like Honey I Shrunk the Kids available with an awful transfer and no bonus features considering their stature?

Where is the 2 disc Lilo and Stitch furthermore where is the 2 disc The Hunchback of Notre Dame? At least the lilo 2 disc has seen the light in some parts of the world. But we know that the bonus features for the Hunchback set are sitting somewhere ready to go. Back in 2002 the 2 disc DVD of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was announced and put up on Disney's website with specs and then vanished. 5 years later, where is it?

Even films from the same franchise have gone on a downward slide. Look at the 2 disc edition of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, that quality was not matched with the DVD of Dead Man's Chest and again the level of quality has dropped again looking at the miserable profering for At World's End. Similarly often the rule of thumb Disney has is "Cram it full of fluff and crap to make it look like there's loads of bonus features" whereas in reality it's all a bunch of effortless crap.

Now I know that in such a crowded market it will be hard for certain titles to compete, particularly older titles, but as Netty clearly shows there are opportunities that can be taken up. Boxsets, double packs, collections.

I know that creating bonus features for certain titles is difficult, but most of the older titles had segments on the anthology series. If a release of The Great Locomotive Chase comes up, it wouldn't be likely to expect Disney to go bonus feature mad with such a title, but there are always ways around it. For example an entire hour long episode of the Disneyland anthology series entitled "Behind the Scenes with Fess Parker" was a look at the making of this film. I mean if Disney took that and put on the disc, dug out the original trailer and I suspect most would be happy. In an ideal world the they'd be digitally cleaned up, but I could live with a bit of grain as long as we got something!

There are so many missed opportunities with Disney like Netty points out. I mean the DVD of Treasure Planet has more bonus feature content related to Treasure Island than the Treasure Island does.

This probably concerns the UK more than the US, but given the BBC recent smash hit TV show "Robin Hood", (shown on BBC America I believe), surely any dum-dum would realise the current renewal in interest of the character would provide the perfect moment to release the original Disney film? But no.

Similarly given the recent liking of historical TV shows like The Tudors, surely the films from Disney's vault along similar lines like The Sword and the Rose would seem likely candidates for release?

Where was the special edition of The Black Hole released around the same time as Star Wars? The special edition of The Santa Clause to tie in with the release of the sequels? The rerelease of Treasure Island considering the current pirate hype brought about by Pirates of the Caribbean? And as morbid as it may sound, where were the Ernest films and a Don Knotts compilation box set following the deaths of Jim Varney and Don Knotts? And morbid as it may sound after a celebrity's death people will probably look for their films.

I mean similarly some actors are almost synonymous with Disney like Dean Jones, Hayley Mills, Kurt Russell and Fred MacMurray. I can understand that their older films may not survive as well on their own, but if you take the lesser known titles like "The Moon Spinners" and "In Search of the Castaways" and shove them in a Hayley Mills boxset with an academy award winning film people know and love like Pollyanna, they'll get more notice.

On a different angleI DVD sets often have ludicrous omissions too, like a number of behind the scenes bits that could have gone on the True Life Adventure DVDs which in themselves had some horrific shorts which had been plucked off the shelf unaltered looking awful. I mean Nature's Strangest Creatures is a disgrace. Even the Treasures series has become a joke with cartoons such as "In the Bag" incorrectly framed, non anomorphic and the dingy transfer for "No Sail", "Noah's Ark" etc.

Where are the original trailers on some releases? I mean original trailers have to be one of the most requested bonus features of all, it's usually what gets complained about the most as an ommission. And the ridiculous thing is the studio doesn't have to spend money on them, they can just find where they are hidden and voila!

There is a genuine feeling of lacklustre around Disney DVDs these days and I sense the oncoming of blu-ray won't make a difference at all.

It's true. It's like we are in a black hole or some kind of transitional stage between the DVD and the blue-ray where neither format has quality releases. And don't get me started on the latest Platinum edition releases. You call that "Platinum"? More like bronze if you ask me...

I think that it's sad that movies like "Tarzan" and "The Emperor's New Groove" were re-released on 1-disc inferior sets than the initial 2-disc Collector's Editions. I have the initial 1-disc "Tarzan" DVD, and I would have double-dipped if Disney would've re-released something similar to the Collector's Edition. As for TENG, I bought the 'New Groove Edition' since I only had the VHS...but, had they re-released a 2-disc TENG, I would have bought that...

I think that the latest "Robin Hood", "Dumbo", & "The Fox and the Hound" rereleases, as well as the ones mentioned above, will be the standard for a while...how can we expect better when they haven't offered us better?

Internationally, was the "Lilo & Stitch" 2-disc edition the only version available, or was there a 1-disc DVD available, too? If the latter (which I don't think is true), then maybe the 1-disc outsold the 2-disc (again, I think there was only the 2-disc, but I could be wrong). How has "Lilo & Stitch" done in terms of VHS/DVD sales? I know that I bought the VHS when it was released, but that broke so I got the DVD. Does Disney think that those of us with the 1-disc won't double-dip? I just don't understand their mindset.

Disney must know that the second-hand market for their films is a lucrative one. Do they not know how much a brand new (heck, or even a used) "Snow White" or B&tB Platinum Edition goes for on eBay or Amazon? And they must know about the bootleg market. I applaud them on rereleasing "Cinderella II", even for just the short time it'll be out. I swear, that has been the hardest Disney DVD to find over the past few years- when it was in stores, I passed due to the $23 or so price, and I've been kicking myself ever since (I do have the VHS, but I don't know how to use the VCR...).

I wonder (no pun intended!) how much of an impact "Sleeping Beauty"'s Blu-Ray sales will have on rereleasing the other animated classics on Blu-Ray. I wonder how many traditional DVD units will be sold vs. how many Blu-Ray discs will be sold for "Sleeping Beauty". If more DVD units than Blu-Ray units of it are sold, will the next Platinum Editions ("101 Dalmatians", "Pinocchio", & "Fantasia") be available in both formats, and will the upcoming rereleases (SW, B&tB, etc.) be available in both formats?

Since Blu-Ray players also play traditional DVDs, how many people will continue buying DVDs (and not having HD TV or a Blu-Ray player) until they are forced to switch? I know that we won't be buying a HD TV or a Blu-Ray player anytime soon, which is fine by me. I just hope that Disney continues selling traditional DVDs for a long time. Disney was still widely selling VHS tapes 5 years + after they introduced their animated movies on DVD. And, since Blu-Ray players do play DVDs, I'd think that they should continue selling DVDs for an even longer period of time.

I think my rant is done...

Well, one might say that the market was flooded with DVDs for quite a few years, so it could make sense to slow down a bit now... Seriously, we know that Disney knows how to sell, so less releases and less quality now could seem like an intended marketing "strategy". I think it'd be strange to phase out the format already, though, if that's what's going on. It's been around for ten years and in the mass market considerably less than that, really. Nevertheless, blu-ray or whatever it's going to be is basically just an improved DVD.

The two disc Lilo and Stitch came out much later than the single disc in most markets. Italy was the first country to get it (I believe) but even then it was only a few months before Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch was out. In the UK the 2 disc Lilo and Stitch came out the same time as Lilo and Stitch 2.

As for Blu-Ray, I think many people are over estimating the impact this will have, especially it's take-up. Remember, you need a new player and a new TV to get the best out of a Blu-Ray disc.

As for DVD and Blu-Ray existing together, the last "Platinum" VHS release was (as far as I can see) Cinderella in 2005 - a whole 6 years after DVD's US introduction.

I really don't know what to say that hasn't already been said by others here. Like Ichabod, I figured Disney was slacking off with their DVD titles in order to go all-out on Blu-Ray and make the format more enticing. Now I can see that's no longer the case as the Disney Blu-Rays (so far) only improve slightly upon their SD counterparts in the supplemental department.

Then again, perhaps it will be a different case with the animated classics. Remember that the only animated classic DVDs so far (Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons) are modern films that aren't high up on Disney's priority list. Perhaps when we really delve into catalogue titles, we may see 2-disc BD sets for films like Lilo and Hunchback. The lack of both these sets so far in (R1) SD is troubling because the material's already created for both. Hunchback just needs to transfer its LD supplements to DVD and add new menus for them (not to mention a direct-from-CAPS transfer). Heck, not even Lilo requires that much effort, because the entire set is DONE. The only effort Disney needs to put on that release is new cover art, sneak peeks, and the actual pressing of the discs for R1.

I don't know what Disney's expectations for Sleeping Beauty are on BD. I always said that when Disney started releasing classic animated films on Blu-Ray, then I'd switch to the format. I'm still standing by that; Sleeping Beauty will be my first BD title, and I'm asking for a player for Christmas of '08. That said, not everyone will be doing the same. Considering it'll be released concurrently on SD, sales of the latter are undoubtedly going to overshadow the former. Just look at Snow White. The VHS wildly outsold the DVD, and I think the same happened to Beauty and the Beast, which is why so many people are clamoring for their re-releases now. If Sleeping Beauty at least proves to be successful, I expect Disney will re-release former 2-disc sets like Tarzan and The Emperor's New Groove to Blu-Ray. That's the only logical explanation as to why the 2005 re-releases were glorified versions of the original single disc editions.

Live action titles are up in the air. As Netty pointed out, WB has done a fantastic job with its catalogue titles. Even lesser films are given a handful of supplements. If Disney would just treat every film to some sort of featurette (either retrospective or vintage), a gallery, and a trailer, there'd be a lot less complaints from fans, especially if the transfer is solid. It hurt me when Disney abandoned their Vault Disney Collection. Those sets were actually better than most of the Platinum Collection ones (and they ALL came with commentary and TRAILERS). Treasure Island fully deserved an elaborate 2-disc set. It was ONLY the first fully live-action Disney film, after all. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its sequel are two of my favorite live-action Disney films, and yet I own neither because of the insulting DVD releases they received. The same goes for Babes in Toyland, a film that Disney promoted the heck out of, and yet none of that content is on the disc.

I'm really hoping that Disney will re-evaluate themselves when it comes to releasing live-action classics on BD. The Witch Mountain films, The Apple Dumpling Gang, and Freaky Friday all supposedly had material ready for the Vault Disney Collection but were then scaled down at the last minute. That material better resurface again on BD. WB knows there's a market for classic titles. Why can't Disney do the same? Why are they so determined to ignore adult consumers? If they're afraid of catalogue titles not selling well, make them in limited quantities ala the Treasures. They're sitting on a gold mine and yet they're only content with squeezing the life out of the Princesses, Pirates, Pooh, and Mickey and the Gang.

BVHE-Rep has been making more appearances lately on the boards, I've noticed. If you're reading this, PLEASE relay this thread back to Disney management. Remind them that it's not the 10 and younger crowd that's spending money on these releases. The studio needs to treat its films with more care and their fans with more respect. If you're going to scale back on SD, fine, but you better put sincere effort into your BD releases, then.

As a fan of Disney's product, its hard to not agree with most of the points being made. I am inclined to say that I don't necessarily agree that all these catalog titles mentioned would sell just because their most hardcore fan base wants them. As an example, the Treasures sets are still some of the easiest sets to buy despite their <i>extremely</i> limited pressings, save for maybe MMILC1, which you can still buy sealed on eBay!-ya, I know its expensive, but obviously there are many unwatched copies still out there... I was able to get 3 . I can see that Disney would look at those historical titles as a testing point for sales of future ones. I have a feeling they were disappointed.<br>
As I discuss with fellow Disney/Disneyland fans films and such, most if not all don't even really know any of the older live action films. Many will say they remember really good programs they watched as kids on a certain night of the week, and it was all about the good feeling they got gathering around the TV with the family and always enjoying the feature. But thats been Disney's big problem .... Keeping the older titles in todays conscience....besides, who wants to sit around to watch Hanna Montana or Raven?? ( for the record, Not Me! )

Hmmm... also, since I'm already rambling I will say, as much as I hear about this 2 disc Hunchback, and Lilo sets, I dont think the general public
cares in the least. I think there's 18 of us that want this, but honestly, I can take it or leave it. My 5 year old daughter loves Stich so much I have to watch it constantly, and everytime I do it looks and sounds great! She doesnt care about the Trailer, (there's always trailers on all these DVDs and Im sure there's a Lilo one on one of the older titles-dontcha think its fun to see a 'coming soon' trailer for something thats been out for a while randomly while watching something else?) the transfer,or any of that stuff. She just wants to see a great story with great characters.
So.... before I get attacked here, like I was saying before, I'm fan too!... and I am all for more stuff! .. I am just saying that as a huge corporate entity, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to release all this stuff considering the lackluster sales of whats already out there. Oh, and can I add that it probably doesnt help any that I dont purchase the really badly live action FF barebones stuff either, And I dont expect a good version of
'That Darn Cat' to ever be released , but oh well!

Hi fans,

It is really fun, but since Blu-ray appears, the versions on the DVD program get “smaller”, and the advertising from Disney gets more bluish.

This isn’t nice. Disney pushes his customers to Blu-ray if they want or not.

Personally I will get in big struggle with my Disney collection:

The battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD isn’t over. It must be a winner. The market only can serve one format. There is no coexistence! What if (like Cinderella’s stepmother) HD DVD wins or nobody? Do you want that your blu-shining Disney collection is going to be the same fate as your laserdisc collection? OK, laserdisc is fine; they have a magic in it, if you can get or have the right player for it.

We need a solid direction from the people who make a new disc format. I want only one HDTV DVD format without any discriminations through region codes.

What are your opinions why Disney put everything into early DVD's like Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, but on Blue Ray releases like Cars and Ratatouille there is nothing different except for some games? It is a good bet that they made hours of bonus features for future releases of both films, because it is harder to make making of features after the fact when memories have faded and people have left. I have seen displays at Costcos of Blue Ray dvds which look really nice, but to me not worth the price of repurchasing my whole collection (which has all of my favorite movies), buying a new player and TV. For traditional animation I have read that it probably wont be that big of a difference in high definition. I think blue ray will be one of those in between formats which techies buy but the mass public will not embrace like the dvd format. Good discussion.

I remember when Disney was putting out their live action movies from the 60's / 70's in full force. What happened to this? I want the sequel to Merlin Jones damnit! I was impressed w/what they were releasing and I snatched it up left and right, but they seem to have stalled and don't have any more plans to finish it all out. I'm surprised they haven't yanked the Apple Dumpling Gang VD release back in the vault and did a double bill w/the sequel yet. I do agree about the original trailers and re-release trailers and whatever other trailers that exist, I buy special edition dvds for the extras above the movie that I love, and I want the trailers. The way that they treated the Pixar Cars release as a single disc after all the other Pixar releases were 2-disc speaks volumes about Disney's direction in the future.

ichabod wrote:I know that creating bonus features for certain titles is difficult, but most of the older titles had segments on the anthology series. If a release of The Great Locomotive Chase comes up, it wouldn't be likely to expect Disney to go bonus feature mad with such a title, but there are always ways around it. For example an entire hour long episode of the Disneyland anthology series entitled "Behind the Scenes with Fess Parker" was a look at the making of this film. I mean if Disney took that and put on the disc, dug out the original trailer and I suspect most would be happy. In an ideal world the they'd be digitally cleaned up, but I could live with a bit of grain as long as we got something!

Where was the special edition of The Black Hole released around the same time as Star Wars? The special edition of The Santa Clause to tie in with the release of the sequels? The rerelease of Treasure Island considered the current pirate hype brought about by Pirates of the Caribbean? And as morbid as it may sound, where were the Ernest films and a Don Knotts compilation box set following the deaths of Jim Varney and Don Knotts? And morbid as it may sound after a celebritied death people will probably look for their films.

Maybe we need Leonard Maltin to poke around in their vaults more.

I completely agree that Disney needs to improve their DVD releases. All 46 of their animated features should be released as 2 disc sets. There must be enough stuff in their vaults for lots of bonus features for their movies.

As for the live action movies they need to improve the aspect ratio releases. White Fang only available in full screen? They got to have it somewhere in widescreen.

Maybe not all of there live action stuff is deserving of 2-disc sets but some that should have gotten them are Treasure Island, The Journey of Natty Gann, and The Rocketeer. Why did Newsies get the DVD release that it did? Tron was good. 20,000 Leagues was good. The 2-disc Narnia was alright. And then there's the stuff that hasn't even made its way to DVD yet like Dr. Syn Alias The Scarecrow.

Barbossa wrote: Why did Newsies get the DVD release that it did?

Because huge "Newsies" fans (like myself) deserved it...it does have a good release, but I'd selfishly like a 2-disc release...I don't even know if they have any other extras for it, but I'm sure they could scrounge up something. Even though I'm happy with the current release.

At least it's one less title to complain about...

I honestly think the lack of extras is coming from all the 1 disc vs. 2 disc releases. The 1 disc almost always sells better than the 2 disc, so studios are starting to just produce 1 disc releases.

Why? The 1 disc costs less to make, and sells better.

The majority of people only buy a DVD for the movie. Bonus features are just extras that most don't even bother to look at most of the time. I honestly don't think this has to do with HD DVD and Blu-ray at all.

Just to put matters into perspective, this Saturday I watched the special feartures on three of Warners' Hanna-Barbera collections newest releases.

Josie and the Pussycats, Space Ghost and Birdman. Big names huh? Not really. The latter two especially are now nothing but "jokes" thanks to Adult Swim's series. And yet Warners contributed thoughtful extras to all three.

Josie and the Pussycats had a brief but imformative look back on the life and career of Dan DeCarlo: from his days at a pre-Marvel Comic's Timely working with Stan Lee, to working at Archie comics and coming up with the Archie Comics graphical style still used today, to even odd projects he undertook after he "retired" and left Archie Comics. It also looked at how Dan himself was instrumental in creating Josie (originally on her own, and based on his wife) and then created the still popular today Josie and the Pussycats.

You may not know who Dan DeCarlo was before watching this supplement (but you'll know of his work), but after watching this for 20 odd minutes, you will know who he was. All that on a 2 disc set of Josie and the Pussycats, which while it will obviously sell, won't exactly set the DVD chart on fire.

Birdman has an even shorter featurette, where the current creator of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law who fondly discusses the creation of the series, how it fitted in with other 60's saturday morning cartoons and comics, we hear from an animator and background artist who worked on the show and we also see a number of Alex Toth's detailed and descriptive model sheets (more on Toth later). Again, its a great little documentary, and done with obviously love and respect of the subject. All for a show that is basically unknown compared to it's Adult Swim spoof revamp.

Finally, the best has been kept for last. Space Ghost contains a full length documentary on Alex Toth. Like Dan DeCarlo, you may not know who Alex Toth was, but you'll be familiar with his work. This documentary is incredibly detailed and tells us of his early days, then his time working at DC (doing comics of Green Lantern, The Flash and the JLA) to how he was approched by Hanna-Barbera to design the look and style of most of their action cartoons in the 60s. It also covers his relationships with aspiring artists who looked to him for advice and inspiration, and his relasionship with his family. Unexpectedly, it also covers times of deep depression and tells us how he became a shut-in and a recluse. Finally it shows how he fought to overcome his personal problems in the final years of his life and how he managed to once again live a life (even doing special comissions for DC now and then). Alex Toth was a huge influence on American Comics, especially in their early days, and I'm thrilled that Warners have made such a documentary about him, and more than that, one which covers issues that could easily be swept under the carpet, but doesn't.

So, three animated series that - quite frankly aren't going to race up the charts - but given loving care and attention by Warner Bros. What does Disney do with it's TV cartoon releases? I'll give you a clue. Nothing. Narda. Zilch.

And no, I don't buy the waiting for Blu Ray line - especially on releases like this. After all, Warner has released far more HiDef material than Disney to date, yet can still make restrospective documentries for their standard def (standard def only at that) releases. Disney is just being lazy.

A point that most of you are missing is the fact that we all have to have 'new Digital-ready' television sets by the year 2009 or we won't be able to see regular television. All television channels by government decree will be digital and your regular analog television won't be able to receive the signals unless you are with a good cable or satellite company, who will offer conversion boxes for those who are still too stubborn to make the switch.

As a Disney collector I have watched the Disney release schedule dwindle down each year, and I know that the "suits" at Disney have a master plan for all of us consumers. While we might not agree with what is up their sleeve, we will all wait, with our budget money available, and line-up to get what the next big release will be, whether it comes as a single-disc or a multi-disc release.

It doesn't matter which format wins the 'war', if you have a Blu-Ray player, as I do, or a HD-DVD player, you can still play your regular DVD's and they do look considerably better when they are upconverted than what we are watching today with a regular television.

So, when you or your parents get ready to dive into the digital market with a new television, it will only be the wise thing to do, to go with a HDTV monitor, that way you won't be left behind in all this technology. And while looking at the new TV's, don't forget the number of HDMI inputs you will need for all this new technology.

Let's hope that Disney can keep up with Joneses when it comes to the technology, and they don't price themselves out of an audience that is waiting for what is the next big thing to come down the pike.

We have digital TV here in the UK, and you can buy a set-top box to pick-up digital transmission and put it on your old-style TV for as little as £15 (about the price of a single DVD).

Most of what I think about this has already been said, but I would also like to draw attention to Hercules.

Here is a film which has its tenth anniversary this year -- THIS YEAR, Disney! -- and badly NEEDS a special edition. Yes, Hunchback and Lilo deserve more. And it SUCKS that Tarzan, New Groove, etc. were released with less than they had before. But at least their transfers are pretty decent and have anamorphic enhancement. And while there is no excuse for withholding the more extensive suppliments from us, at least the stuff that *did* get on there was pretty good. Hunchback even had its vintage 1996 making-of featurette. Not even the Platinum Editions have had that.

But Hercules? HELLO? This film has not been revisited since the Limited Issue DVD WAY back in 1999 and there are no plans to do so. Yes, the Gold Collection release is available, but it's the same content. It's still a NON-ANAMORPHIC transfer taken from the LASERDISC and has NO in-depth suppliments AT ALL. The vintage featurette on there doesn't count like the Hunchback one does because it's so short and fast that no one gets a chance to say anything of consequence. And really, NON-ANAMORPHIC? In 2007? Seriously?

And don't even get me started on the Pixar DVDs. The release of a new Pixar DVD used to be an event that ALMOST rivaled their theatrical releases because they were FAR AND AWAY better than anything else in the industry. Now, ONE-DISC releases without even a COMMENTARY TRACK? Uh-uh, not cutting it.

George of the Jungle? The DIRECT-TO-VIDEO SEQUEL has 1.66:1 anamorphic AND extras, but the first one can't even be treated to widescreen? Same goes for A Goofy Movie (though its suppliments are quite good, I hear.) Angels in the Outfield is still non-anamorphic barebones and it didn't even come out that long ago.

And -- um, yeah -- there's a little movie called The Jungle Book coming out on Tuesday. I'm going to be all over it, but given the debate about its aspect ratio, would it really have killed them to include both 1.75 and 1.33 versions? Not to mention that OTHER Jungle Book film. You know, the live-action version from 1994. I liked that movie and missed it when it was first in print on DVD. PERFECT OPPERTUNITY to reissue it, or at LEAST repress the old out-of-print disc to go along with the animated classic. Are they doing that? NOPE. Will they do that with the live-action 101 Dalmatians next year, which didn't even get an anamorphic transfer? I hope so. Would I buy that? Yep. Do I actulally expect it to come out? Nope.

What gives, Disney? Get your act together. I'm still buying the titles I don't have yet for the sake of completing my collection of animated classics and the other titles I want, but my enthusiasm is waining, and when I *do* complete my collection you are going to have to come out with something pretty special to get me to double dip again. I will be MORE than happy to do so if given enough GOOD-QUALITY new content. But with a few exceptions, I think you've forgotten what good-quality new content is.

I am still waiting for "Pete's Dragon" to be released as a 30th anniversary edition BEFORE Mickey Rooney leaves us. And while I am at it, please Disney, stop with using "Jonas Brothers" and other music groups I don't care to hear, to sing classic movie songs and ruin them! Do you think any adult collector of the films really wants to hear e.g., "Once upon a Dream" sung by Ally and AJ? I don't. Of course, I was smart and bought the Sleeping Beauty SPECIAL EDITION that was released......the same year as either Beauty and the Beast or was it Lion King? One of those.

And while I am at it, stop with the rerelease of vault disney movies packaged with their sequels if they had one. I never got to have "Parent Trap" Vault Disney before it went out of print (and boy am I regretting it) and the only way to get the ORIGINAL movie now is to buy the stupid 2 disc with the television sequel which I don't want. I ended up recording the movie from Hallmark Channel to a DVD-R.


Features I like:

Deleted Scenes
Behind the Scenes
Original Trailers
Games (depends on what kind)

what I don't like:

Pop Music groups / solo artists singing classic disney songs although "The Little Mermaid" 'Kiss the Girl' was rather interesting when sung by Ashley Tisdale. And an ESPN thing about NFL players (Cinderella story) has NOTHING to do with Princesses!

The digital switch in 2009 isn't going to be as big of a deal as everyone thinks. People that are using Satellite or Cable boxes are fine, and their programming should continue like normal.

There may be some problems with people still on analog Cable, and of course people using OTA that do not have a digital tuner will no longer get their programming. I even read recently that a lot of Cable companies are going to continue offering the analog Cable for awhile after the switch over to ease the transition (It was either that or offer something to help out the process.). I'm sure if any boxes are not compatible the companies will switch them out. They don't want to lose customers, and not everyone will replace every TV in their house with a digital set by 2009.

If all non digital sets just stopped working in 2009 there would be HUGE problems.

As far as HD DVD and Blu-ray I don't see a "winner" anymore. Both formats are going to survive for several years, and I'm sure eventually combo players will take care of the format war that is going on now.