Final volumes of Disney Afternoon DVDs?

[DisneyMatt89]

It's been years since we've heard any word on the final volumes for DuckTales, Chip and Dale, TaleSpin, or Darkwing Duck. Any chance these are ever getting released? Maybe Disney could look into one of the several MOD manufacturers for these if they're worried about sales?

[milojthatch]

As the Head Admin for Open Vault Disney, I've spent the last two years of my life fully devoted to getting these titles released. I don't know too much, but I do know that each of these titles have been talked about at Disney Home Entertainment and that if/ when they get released, it will be a retail release, not a MOD release. Disney seems more interested right now in using the MOD releases for obscure Disney tv/ theatrical movies. For now, I would not expect Disney tv shows to be released via the MOD route (even if I think they should do it), but I've been wrong before...

If you have not done so yet, you can sign our various petitions and help with our letter writing events. Just visit openvaultdisney.com for more.

[DisneyMatt89]

Great to hear. I really think they should look into MOD though, especially since, from what I've heard, the reason that the final volumes were not released soon after the other is because they were unhappy with the sales. As a huge Survivor fan, I can vouge for the fact that its fansbase was a huge victim of getting shafted from DVD releases due to poor sales, and saw a 4-year gap in between releases. A couple years ago CBS looked into Amazon's MOD service and decided to release a few seasons that way and since then they've been happy with sales and we've gotten 7 seasons released in the past two years.

[milojthatch]

Great to hear. I really think they should look into MOD though, especially since, from what I've heard, the reason that the final volumes were not released soon after the other is because they were unhappy with the sales. As a huge Survivor fan, I can vouge for the fact that its fansbase was a huge victim of getting shafted from DVD releases due to poor sales, and saw a 4-year gap in between releases. A couple years ago CBS looked into Amazon's MOD service and decided to release a few seasons that way and since then they've been happy with sales and we've gotten 7 seasons released in the past two years.

Right now, Disney may be the biggest studio not fully invested in MOD titles. In almost a year, they have released 13 Generations Collection titles, 3 "Little Einsteins" titles, "Trenchcoat," and two seasons of their web series, "I Heart Vampires" for a grand total of 19 titles. Lionsgate released 100 titles in their first outing on MOD releases. Lionsgate for heaven sakes! On their FIRST MOD release!

I don't think I need to point out the great work Warner has been doing with the Warner Archive and even CBS/ Paramount has done a better job then Disney in the MOD department, going so far as to release not only vintage/ obscure films, but full season sets of various shows/ cartoons like the various NickToons. Granted, the prices are a bit high, but progress is progress.

To say I'm not frustrated would be an understatement, but what can you do but just keep trying? While I'm excited if some of these cartoons do end up on DVD via retail, I really feel Disney is missing the boat with the whole DVD-on-Demand thing, which is all part of my campaign ultimately.

Vintage titles like "Texas John Slaughter" or 80's/ 90's shows like "Adventures in Wonderland" would be PERFECT for a MOD release. Maybe something like "TaleSpin" should get a retail release, but something like maybe "The Wuzzles" or "Lloyd in Space" may not do as well. I can fully buy into the feeling that the fan bases for those shows may not be what they once were, but that is the point of the MOD style releases.

All we can do is keep chugging away and hope that sooner or later, they finally "get it." With enough support for Open vault Disney, I think they will.