Yes folks, I’m back. I apologize to the small but valued handful of “regulars” here for taking a powder without notice, but c’est la vie. A too-short holiday in the mountains, a backlog of “real” work, some downtime as my web host moved its servers, March Madness (go Heels!) and the general azalea-blooming weather lately has been a distraction. More importantly, though, is the fact that most of the news out of the House of Mouse lately hasn’t been very inspiring.
Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t 2001 and we aren’t facing the constant strikeouts of the Eisner-Pressler regime. But perhaps my hopes got the better of me with the management change and I expected more than the singles and weak doubles we’ve been seeing lately. I certainly expected a damn sight more than this, but there will be more on that later. The point is that while many things in the Disney empire are OK on the micro level, at the macro level there’s a distinct lack of vision. Things are continuing to slide, and that’s a problem.
But I’m back, and here are a few tidbits to get the pump primed:
Thankfully the EPCOT Central blog is back at work, and have a post about EPCOT’s current state that touches on the themes I mentioned above.
Alain Littaye hits us with a slew of concept art – from Disney’s America (with props to me!), California Adventure before its budget was slashed, and the Disney-MGM Studios (1, 2). He also has some interesting photos from the Carousel of Progress.
The Hallmark Channel has acquired a 99-film library of classic Disney films to air on their network. According to the press release, the deal includes:
Disney’s “The Shaggy Dog,” “Flubber,” “Old Yeller,” “The Parent Trap,” “The Incredible Journey,” “The Princess Diaries,” “Freaky Friday,” “The Santa Clause,” “Bedknobs and Broomsticks,” “That Darn Cat,” “The Love Bug,” “The Shaggy Dog,” “Mighty Joe Young,” “Babes in Toyland,” “The Cat from Outer Space,” “Gus,” “Return to Snowy River,” “Snowball Express,” “White Fang,” “The Apple Dumpling Gang” and “Swiss Family Robinson.”
While it’s great that people are going to be able to see these films on television, and they’ll be made available to a new generation of fans, I can’t help to think that it’s sad that Disney doesn’t have their own cable outlet to show their classic films. Why, maybe someday there could be an entire “Disney Channel”, so to speak, that could show Disney material 24 hours a day! Oh I know, it’s just a pie in the sky dream… but wouldn’t that be a great idea? Man, I know I’d watch that channel all the time! But what do I know? I’m old enough to drive so Disney doesn’t really care what I think…
Old EPCOT geeks like myself will remember SMRT-1 from the glory days of CommuniCore. The Paleo-Future blog has a nice piece of concept art I’d never seen before, but the point of the link is the blog itself. You should definitely check it out, as it’s one of my favorites.
Page down for some nice side-by-side comparisons of scenes from Enchanted.
I’m working on a few things, but in the meantime I wanted to share this nifty video I’ve just seen. It does a nice job of summarizing the highlights of the upcoming billion-dollar DCA makeover.
The tsunami of Disney media excitement continues unabated. In a post on the Disney Music Discussion forum – an essential read for any Disney park music fan – producer Randy Thornton has announced the new track additions for the 2008 Disneyland and Walt Disney World Official Albums. The albums, which remain 2 disc sets this year, are scheduled for release on April 8th. The new tracks, and the eliminated tracks they replace:
The Official Album of Disneyland
Eliminated Tracks:
“Beautiful Beulah”
“All Aboard the Mine Train”
“Welcome To Tomorrowland”
“The Droid Room”
“Beauty and the Bees (Beauty and the Beast)”
New Tracks:
“The Happiest Place On Earth” (2:38) – Grand Marshall Pre-Parade
“Submarine Voyage” (15:12) – Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
The Official Album of Walt Disney World
Eliminated Tracks:
“Old Betsy”
“Welcome To Tomorrowland”
“The Tree of Life Theme”
New Tracks:
“Spaceship Earth” (10:52) – Spaceship Earth
“The Seas with Nemo and Friends” (4:42) – The Seas with Nemo and Friends
“Canada: You’re a Lifetime Journey” (5:50) – O Canada!
“Reflections of China Suite” (4:04) – Reflections of China
“Three Caballeros” (2:45) – Grand Fiesta Tour
Thornton also notes:
I don’t count these as ‘new’, but the “CTX Theme” has been expanded from (3:08) to (6:14). Also, “All Aboard the Mine Train” has left Disneyland, and is now on WDW – to represent Thunder Mountain for the time being.
Thornton points out that the Spaceship Earth track contains the entire score by Bruce Broughton. The CTX Theme is also a more complete excerpt of the 25-minute interior background music loop, and the theme from O Canada! begins with excerpts of the attraction’s load music.
For those that don’t know Thornton’s name, you should make a note of it. Whether you know it or not, if you’re a Disney fan you owe him a great deal. After coming to Disney in the late 1980s as a clerk in the music department, Thornton witnessed the production of some of the first albums Disney put out on CD. The first of these was the soundtrack album of Irwin Kostal’s 1982 re-scoring of Fantasia, which was the first film soundtrack to ever be recorded digitally. While that release pre-dated Thornton’s arrival, he contributed to the restoration of Disney’s next releases – two compilations of popular songs from classic Disney films.
The next project from Disney indicated the insistence on excellence that would mark Thornton’s career; upon discovering that Disney was reluctant to release the Mary Poppins soundtrack on the new CD format so soon after a recent vinyl re-release, Thornton found some long-lost Sherman Brothers demos for the film that spurred management to change their minds. Then, faced with management’s insistence on pressing the CD from the vinyl masters rather than remastering it from the original elements, Thornton resorted to a bit of industrial sabotage to ensure that the final disc was in fact the first digitally remastered soundtrack release.
Thornton spent the 1990s remastering Disney’s classic film soundtracks for a series of reference-quality releases; these were known for featuring complete cuts from songs and scores as well as unreleased tracks and demos. Then, mercifully, he began to produce the Official Albums of Disneyland and Walt Disney World. These albums, which had languished for years with stagnant track lists, poor-quality masters, and a general lack of panache were completely rejuvenated by Thornton’s efforts. Every year the park albums feature a refreshed list of cuts, as moldy oldies are replaced with remixed sound collages of popular attractions. Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion, all of which were formerly represented by short, creaky and poorly edited song excerpts, now take their place on the albums with full suites of music and sound direct from the rides themselves.
Thornton has also devoted a lot of time to restoring little-known albums from Disney’s past, many of which have been made available on demand in the theme parks and on iTunes. But for park fans, it’s his efforts such as the massive and justly praised A Musical History of Disneyland that have earned him so much audiophile love. His push for double-disc releases as well as greater accessibility to catalogue material only add to his legend. Keep up the great work, Randy!
Well it seems that all sorts of shenanigans are afoot today. When it rains it pours, I suppose. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Brad “Three for Three” Bird has signed to direct 1906, the long-rumored project that will mark Pixar’s first venture in the world of live action filmmaking.
The film, based on the 2005 novel by James Dalessandro, will be co-produced by Disney/Pixar and Warner Brothers. Bird will re-write the screenplay, the current draft of which was written by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator and – uh oh – Star Trek: Nemesis. Just kidding, John – I blame Berman for that one). Says the Reporter:
The story centers on a college student who begins to investigate the murder of his father, uncovering a web of deceit that has left the city vulnerable to the sort of fire that breaks out when the Great Earthquake of 1906 hits San Francisco.
Bird had previously explained the draw of the story to the Reporter:
“At the time, Chinatown was coexisting with the Barbary Coast, which was like the Wild Wild West, and at the same time Nob Hill had the upper class. It was a time between two centuries. You had horses and cars existing simultaneously. It’s just a volatile mix of things and then you throw in an earthquake. I mean, come on, if that doesn’t buy popcorn …”
The project has been an open secret for quite some time, as Bird had been working on it for a few years before he was asked to take over the director’s chair on Ratatouille. After that Oscar-winning diversion, he has returned to work on what will be his first live-action film. We’ve not spoken much about it here, as details were vague on where exactly Bird would be making the film. This confusion was due to the fact that the book’s rights were owned by Warner Brothers; the solution, apparently, has been to make the film an odd Disney-Pixar-Warners co-production. This is especially ironic considering it was Warners that practically buried Bird’s brilliant The Iron Giant, thus depriving audiences of a chance to see one of the best animated films ever made.
It’s unknown where the film will be shot and what each studio’s contribution will be; it had been speculated previously that the film would be used to set up a live action division at Pixar that will also be necessary for Andrew Stanton’s John Carter of Mars.
In any case, this is the second exciting bit of news from Disney today and it’s great that Bird is finally getting a crack at live action. Bird is a true lover of film, and has often spoken about how unnecessary lines of demarcation have been drawn between the animation and live action communities. He has expressed a desire to move between types of media as the story demands, and it looks as if he’ll be getting a chance to do just that. It’s another big step for a brilliant director who is fighting the good fight to destroy artistic stereotypes and to allow a wider range of storytelling styles and themes in animation and film.
At long last, there’s been some great news from Disney concerning another one of its shockingly underutilized properties – the Muppets. After fighting for more than a decade to obtain the rights to the Muppets, Disney has apparently had no clue how to properly use the characters. Thankfully, someone now seems to.
Variety reports today that actor-writer Jason Segal (right) and director Nick Stoller have signed a deal to create the next Muppet film. The pair will co-write the film, which Stoller will then direct. The two are currently working on Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which Universal releases on April 18th.
Disney has long toyed with the idea of new Muppet projects, including a new TV variety show and an alternate TV concept spoofing reality shows that centered around a competition to become “America’s Next Top Muppet.” These projects have yet to surface, and the Muppet projects that have been greenlit – like 2005’s The Muppet Wizard of Oz – have been sadly lacking the creative spark that made the traditional Muppet films so special.
Thankfully, this project seems to be different. Inspired by his work with Henson puppeteers during work on Sarah Marshall, Segal pitched his idea during a meeting with Kristin Burr at Disney and got a deal on the spot. I feel this bodes well, as the project stems from an original idea brought from outside and not from Disney just looking around for something to slap the Muppet name on in order to move some merchandise.
Segal’s career began in the first wave of the Judd Apatow media juggernaut; he appeared in both of Apatow’s prematurely canceled TV projects, Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Apatow also produced Forgetting Sarah Marshall. We can only hope that more creative talent from the Apatowverse comes aboard; it can go a long way to restoring a bit of the anarchic, hippie vibe that made early Muppet projects so great and provided an edge sorely missing from recent, blander productions. The Muppets used to be very, very hip; they were cool, instead of trying to be cool. There’s a big difference, and hopefully Segal and Stoller can restore a bit of that. We’re very excited about this one. But no exposing yourself in this one, ok guys? That’s just not cool.
Oh, and WDI? Muppet Movie Ride… Muppet Movie Ride… MuppetMovieRide… MuppetMovieRide… MuppetMovieRide… MuppetMovieRide… MuppetMovieRide… MuppetMovieRide… MuppetMovieRide… MuppetMovieRide…
From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats.
Thornton has also devoted a lot of time to restoring little-known albums from Disney’s past, many of which have been made available on demand in the theme parks and on iTunes. But for park fans, it’s his efforts such as the massive and justly praised 
that have earned him so much audiophile love. His push for double-disc releases as well as greater accessibility to catalogue material only add to his legend. Keep up the great work, Randy!
Well it seems that all sorts of shenanigans are afoot today. When it rains it pours, I suppose. The Hollywood Reporter has 
It’s unknown where the film will be shot and what each studio’s contribution will be; it had been speculated previously that the film would be used to set up a live action division at Pixar that will also be necessary for Andrew Stanton’s John Carter of Mars.
Variety 
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