Progress City, U.S.A.

From your pals at Progress City. Thanks for reading, as always – this wouldn’t be nearly as fun without you fine folks. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or whatever floats your boat.

“You know what they say Douglas – they never come back!”

Turner Classic Movies, that paragon of movie networks, continues its role as Disney Channel-in-exile with tonight’s primetime lineup. The fun starts at 6:30 PM, with a showing of last year’s The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics. This original documentary features lots of faces from classic Disney live-action films, and while such a wide survey can never be as comprehensive as we would like it still features lots of interesting stories and rare interviews.

At 8 PM, TCM will air a trilogy of Herbie movies – The Love Bug, Herbie Rides Again and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. The Love Bug is the strongest of the group, but I’ve always thought Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo gets a bad rap. I loved it as a kid, at least. Herbie Rides Again suffers from a strange story and the lack of Dean Jones, and everyone benefits by the fact that they’re not showing the truly dire Herbie Goes Bananas. The schedule in full:

6:30 PM – The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics

8:00 PM – The Love Bug

10:00 PM – Herbie Rides Again

11:45 PM – Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

Be there, aloha!

I’ve been occupied with a bit of research lately, trying to cobble together something interesting as well as trying to ascertain what the current economic situation is going to mean for the tenuous future of many long hoped-for park enhancements. So I’ll let other writers do the heavy lifting, as I empty out my bookmarks once more and share a few interesting stories from the last few months.

When we previously discussed the impending vintage Disney park music boxed set, Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair, it was scheduled for a November release. Now that’s changed, but while park music fans might be frustrated with a delay in this long-hoped for boxed set, they’ll be pleased with the eventual outcome. Disney park music overlord Randy Thornton has stated that the set will now be released in February, a delay necessitated by the last-minute addition of new material to the collection. An entire extra disc of music has been added, making the final release a whopping five discs. Thornton has yet to announce what this new disc will consist of, but thankfully he was able to secure the funding and time to make this the best release possible.

For more about Thornton, his work at Disney and the philosophy behind his groundbreaking park music releases, check out this interview recently published at LaughingPlace.

One of my patented latter-day Disney diatribes involves the galling lack of any Disney-related content on the Disney channel. Ever since we lost Vault Disney lo those many years ago, fans have had to look elsewhere for their fix of Walt-approved entertainment. Thankfully, my beloved Turner Classic Movies has stepped up to the challenge and a posting on MiceAge has revealed that December will be a good month for television-viewing fans of classic Disney live-action film. What’s more, TCM will debut a new 90-minute documentary, The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics. Gotta love TCM. The schedule:

December 7th, beginning at 12:00 PM:

Treasure Island (1950)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Old Yeller (1957)
The Parent Trap! (1961)
Pollyanna (1960)
The Barefoot Executive (1971)

December 14th, beginning at 12:00 PM:

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)
The Strongest Man in the World (1975)
The Absent Minded Professor (1961)
Son of Flubber (1963)
The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008)
The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979)

December 21st, beginning at 12:00 PM:

The Black Hole (1979)
Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
Return From Witch Mountain (1978)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Candleshoe (1977)
Freaky Friday (1976)

December 28th, beginning at 10:30 AM:

The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008)
The Shaggy Dog (1959)
The Shaggy D.A. (1976)
The Love Bug (1969)
Herbie Rides Again (1974)
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)
Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)
The World’s Greatest Athlete (1975)

TRON 2 (or TR2N) is on the way. After managing to announce the film without actually committing to it at this year’s ComicCon, Disney executives confirmed the project at a lavish Hollywood shindig in September. Jeff Bridges spoke to The Guardian about the project, mentioning that some degree of motion capture technology will be used in the project. Director Joseph Kosinski spoke to Ain’t It Cool News, revealing that the film will be shot in stereoscopic 3-D and is aiming for a release sometime in 2010. Original TRON director Steven Lisberger is indeed consulting on the project, and Watchmen costume designer Michael Wilkinson is also on board.

Also announced at September’s Disney press event was that Johnny Depp would indeed be returning to the high seas in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film (surprise!) as well as saddling up as Tonto in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Lone Ranger revival (surprise! in a non-ironic way!) John Lasseter showed up to trumpet that Cars 2 has been bumped up a year to 2011, which no doubt led to a ticker-tape parade at Disney Consumer Products. No word on what happens to the two Pixar films already announced for 2011, but whatever happens to newt and The Bear and the Bow, it looks like Uncle John’s attempt to top pigs with pigs is on its way. The Brad Lewis-directed film will be preceded by several new shorts, known collectively as “Cars Toons”, which will play on the Disney Channel and possibly in theaters. The first of these shorts debuts later this month.

Jeff Kurtti’s long-awaited book about prominent Walt-era Imagineers finally shipped recently after years of delay. Thankfully, it’s a good read and includes information about a number of individuals who not only made critical contributions to the development of theme parks but might also not be well-known to the general public. Disney historian Didier Ghez has posted an interview he conducted with Kurtti.

Quick Hits:

- Discussing the legacy of the 1941 Disney Studios strike

- Collecting Fastpasses

- The Joel Chandler Harris museum’s take on Song of the South. Bob Iger, free this movie!

- A great new resource: The Walt Disney World map library

- Vote President GARCO in 2008!

- Proof that the Disney Studios was a friendlier place to work than Don Draper’s office

FREAKOUT!

From the “writers I wish I were” department: EPCOT Central is back with as concise distillation as I’ve found discussing what’s wrong with Team Disney’s mindset these days. Meanwhile, Passport to Dreams Old & New takes a look at walkthough attractions from the parks’ past and present. Germane considering the impeding re-opening of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, I’ll bet you’ll never have realized how much you missed CommuniCore.

So, here’s something that I just found out.

While doing a little bit of fact-checking for my recent spiel about the 2003 Disney short Destino, I found that it was suddenly and mysteriously absent from Disney’s home video release slate. The film had previously been announced as part of this November’s Walt Disney Treasures Wave VIII release:

“Destino,” began in 1946 as a collaboration between Walt Disney and the famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali. A first-hand example of Disney’s interest in avant garde and experimental work in animation, “Destino” was to be awash with Dali’s iconic melting clocks, marching ants and floating eyeballs. However, “Destino” was not completed at that time. In 2003 it was rediscovered by Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, who took on the challenge of bringing the creation of these two great artists to fruition. In addition to the completed “Destino”, this exciting addition to the Walt Disney Treasures line also includes an all-new feature-length documentary that examines the surprising partnership between Dali and Disney plus two new featurettes; “The Disney That Almost Was,” an examination of the studio’s unfinished projects; and “Encounters with Walt,” which addresses the surprisingly diverse group of celebrities and artists who were attracted to Walt Disney’s early work.

Well, it seems that Disney Home Video has updated their press release and Destino is nowhere to be found. The two other planned releases, The Chronological Donald, Volume Four and Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow, remain on target for their November 11th debut. So what happened to Destino?

Judging from statements by the host of the Treasures series, Leonard Maltin, it appears that early fan concerns were correct and there just wasn’t enough material present for this title to support a 2-disc Treasures release. Destino had originally been planned as a one disc “Legacy Series” release, only to be promoted to the Treasures line when the “Legacy” brand was abandoned. Destino was an odd fit for the Treasures line, and apparently despite the fact that the supplemental materials they announced sound fascinating, it all wasn’t enough to wrap a 2-disc DVD set around a six minute animated short.

Luckily, Maltin has been quoted as saying that Destino will receive its home video release in a one disc format later this year. This is great news as the short definitely deserves its time in the spotlight and I’ve been eager to get a copy for years. I only hope they take care to include all the planned extras from this set; they all sound very interesting.

In the meantime, Treasures fans need not despair – according to Maltin, a replacement release, centered around Annette Funicello, will readied in time for November. The once imperiled DVD line looks to continue next year, as well; Maltin hopes for a release of Zorro episodes in 2009.

I was extremely saddened to read on Blue Sky Disney this evening that artist and illustrator Dave Stevens passed away yesterday. Stevens, 52, had been fighting a long battle with leukemia.

A masterful artist, Stevens specialized in styles reminiscent of the 1930s and 40s. He reveled in the lost art of the pinup girl, and his drawings crackled with art-deco style and film serial excitement. He wasn’t prolific; a notoriously slow artist, he did things with pen and ink that most artists could not achieve with an array of brushes and paint. I’ve always been fascinated by artists that work in pen and ink; such simple tools can yield amazing results in the hands of someone as meticulous as Stevens.

Sadly, many might not even know of Stevens’ work, or what place it has on a Disney blog. In 1982, Stevens created the Rocketeer in the pages of Pacific Comics’ Starslayer #2. Over the next thirteen years the Rocketeer would make occasional appearances in print but his connection to Disney comes through the 1991 film adaptation, The Rocketeer. This film, perhaps more than any other, is the most underrated film in the entire Disney canon. Directed by Joe Johnston and with a fantastic cast and score by James Horner (portions of which are still played at EPCOT Center’s “Fountain of Nations”), The Rocketeer deserves far more attention than it has received.

Improperly marketed by Disney, and opening the same weekend as Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Rocketeer underperformed at the box office and plans for a sequel were scuttled. This was a character that deserved a franchise, and one of my personal obsessions is the idea of creating a ride based on the film for the Hollywood Studios park. Oh, what one could do with a KUKA robocoaster and The Rocketeer…

Unfortunately, Stevens rarely returned to the character himself, and plans to continue the Rocketeer’s adventures after 1995 never came to fruition. We only have a handful of stories scattered amongst different publishers by which to remember Cliff Secord, the Rocketeer. Thankfully Stevens himself continued to work, but not on comic projects. Mostly it seems he spent recent years doing art by commission, and selling his famous pinups at comic shows across the country. Perhaps someday the Rocketeer will continue in some form – it would be a fitting tribute to an artist lost far before his time.

Read an excellent remembrance of Stevens at The Beat
Contribute to the American Cancer Society, because… screw cancer.
More at The Comics Reporter

UPDATE: Thanks to Pat in the comments, who pointed out that Stevens’ mother has requested that fans donate to the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation.