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By Michael - November 6th, 2007  A few weeks ago the folks at Disney HQ announced something that the net nabobs had been expecting for a long time – a name change for the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park in Orlando. These rumors go way, way back – litigation over the name began even before the park opened and extended well into the 1990’s. MGM management at the time realized that their predecessors had been totally chumped by Disney when they brokered the sweetheart deal over licensing rights, and have been trying to increase their take ever since.
So, for years we’ve been treated to a constant stream of rumors. “This is the year the contract is over… look for the name to change.” “Next year the contract with MGM is running out – it’s going to be Disney Studios then.” The park has been referred to as “Disney Studios” on WDW promotional videos for years, and the name change was always rumored to be right around the corner.
Things heated up again with the Disney – Pixar merger. The rumor mill started cranking with tales of the impending announcement of “Disney-Pixar Studios Theme Park”. Counter-rumors circulated that a thawing relationship with George Lucas after the departure of Michael Eisner would lead to an increased Lucasfilm presence in the park, and out of respect for that “Pixar” would be dropped from the name or “Lucas” added in some way. People photoshopped park logos with Mickey and their favorite Pixar character; various rumor sites contradicted each other but they mostly all agreed that the jury was still out at WDI on what to do with the park.
So, finally we get the announcement that WDW fans have been waiting for for at least a decade, and it’s something that no one had expected: in January 2008, the park will become “Disney’s Hollywood Studios”. No one really expected this name, and the web immediately began circulating with stories that it wasn’t necessarily a permanent name, and that it would change sometime in the near future once certain improvements were made to the park. But for now “Hollywood Studios” it is.
 What does this all mean, really? Well, in the words of Walt Disney World president Meg Crofton, “as a park all about entertainment, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will deliver like never before. Now we can say that Hollywood is literally our middle name.” Now aside from the fact that someone in PR actually got paid to write that press release, this big name change is worth just about as much as the handful of crumpled paper in the dustbin beside my desk. Namely, very little. The Studios theme park is a mess; a disaster of both theme and execution, and is in more desperate need of immediate and massive overhaul than I think WDC realizes. Slapping a new name on the marquee won’t change that; if this park is really going to catch up to its Florida siblings, the folks in Burbank are going to have to get serious about commiting to change.
Continue reading A skunk by any other name…
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By Michael - November 3rd, 2007  In addition to Ratatouille, Pixar has another release hitting stores on Tuesday, November 6. Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 collects the 13 shorts released by Pixar since the company’s inception (one short, The Adventures of André & Wally B, predates the creation of Pixar itself). While the disc itself boasts a few interesting features (read the review on Ultimate Disney), it’s way overpriced considering that only two of the shorts included have not been previously released on Pixar DVDs. Still, there’s some great work here and if you’ve never seen these shorts it’s worth checking out. Thankfully, the new management at Disney Feature Animation has seen fit to reinstate a shorts program there, so we’ll hopefully have many new releases like this in the future. The Pixar collection is available on DVD and Blu Ray.
 In other news, Disney announced specifics for the next release in the rapidly diminishing Platinum Collection of DVDs. 101 Dalmatians is now available for preorder and hits stores on March 4, 2008, just in time for me to not ask for it for my birthday. The movie is great, of course, but the specs for the disc (listed here and here) show that Disney continues its slide when it comes to these ‘deluxe’ releases. The line of releases which began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 2001 have slowly devolved from archive-quality troves of information for animation fans to kiddie-game and cheesy cover song laden panderfests. But hey, the movie is still a classic and hopefully they won’t skimp on the transfer (who knows – they may need all that bitrate for the no doubt seminal Selena Gomez performance of “Cruella de Vil”).
Also coming down the pipe: A Special Edition of The Aristocats on February 5, 2008.
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By Michael - November 3rd, 2007  This Tuesday, Ratatouille (subtitled for the lawyers out there: “A Disney-Pixar Presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios Film”) comes to home video. Since the movie came out this summer, more press has been devoted to the performance of the film at the box office and how it reflected on the Disney-Pixar merger than was written about the movie itself. This is a shame, as the movie itself is fantastic. While it certainly received a lot of love from critical circles, a typically clueless performance from Disney’s PR machine contributed to the film never reaching the level of awareness it deserved; Remy wound up getting lost in the flood of other, more crudely conceived ‘funny talking animal’ films that have come out in recent years.
Thankfully, good word of mouth kept the film going at the box office and it is currently expected to break Pixar records overseas. The little film with a troubled development process found its audience and, as of this writing at least, is my favorite of Pixar’s films.
 Sadly, the impending DVD release follows recent trends by presenting discs short on extras. Pixar discs used to be the gold standard in the early days of DVD; these “super genius” editions presented hours of background material on each film’s development process. Starting with Cars, however, Pixar DVDs have become mostly featureless affairs. A recent column on Jim Hill Media speculates on the reasons for this, and while two-disc premium priced ‘Special Editions’ of these titles may be coming out in two to three years, for now we’re stuck with the bare bones versions.
Thankfully, we’re not completely left out in the cold. The crown jewel of the DVD is the new 11 minute short “Your Friend the Rat”. The short, directed by Jim Capobianco, is not only the longest in Pixar history, but as can be seen in these stills is the first to incorporate traditional 2-D animation, live action, and stop-motion animation. The film features rat protangonists Remy and Emile as they indoctrinate viewers into the world of the rat so as to improve inter-species relationships. According to Sci Fi Wire, Capobianco cites the work of Ward Kimball as well as midcentury educational films as influences on the short.
In other Ratatouille news, director Brad Bird has spoken to Sci Fi Wire about his pleasure with the film’s performance and the benefits of viewing it in the home theater. He also tells Movieweb about the creative process behind the film, the quality of Blu Ray and digital film presentation, and hints about his future plans. Finally, Ultimate Disney reviews the disc itself and, while I disagree with most of their review, it does give a rundown of features and presentation. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should. It’s fantastic. And while you’re at it, buy the score!
Buy the DVD — Buy the Blu Ray
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By BeaconJoe - November 2nd, 2007 
Does anyone remember Showbiz Pizza, the brother/sister restaurant of the more illustrious Chuckie Cheese? I certainly do, looking forward to birthday parties and special events – with a decadence in theming and fun beaten only by regional theme parks Tweetsie, Carrowinds, and of course WDW. More on those other parks later.
Regardless, in doing some research for a future blog on the Country Bear Jamboree, I came across this site with some enjoyable and hilarious information. Some information is downright frightening. I cannot believe parents used to take their children to this! Such close proximity to such horrific creatures.
How it relates to our Disney blog? Well, not only was this attraction based on the Country Bear Jamboree, which will be further viewed in expose form in the future, but visionary Nolan Bushnell was admittedly turned down by Disney in the 70’s, as the website boasts.
Bushnell’s experience in the amusement park industry was also very influential to the entertainment aspect of Pizza Time Theatre, as was Bushnell’s love of Disney. Nolan had actually been turned down several times for employment by Disney, as he wanted very much to work there after graduating college.
Anyway, it’s a pretty interesting story starting with Pong and the founding of Atari, and ending in generally frightening animatronics and 80’s grandeur. The history page here is compelling, as is the Rock-A-Fire Explosion Page, The Pizza Time Players Page (from Chuckie Cheese’s), as well as the more modern Billy Bob’s Blog and Video Archive on Youtube.
Of course, you can jump to all these from the main page. Hope you enjoy, and are somewhat horrified. Or simply relive fond memories of the past.
Incidentally, I had a hard time picking out my favorite character. The pull of Uncle Klunk, Antioch the Birthday Spider, and Baby Bear Choo Choo were all strong. But in the end, my country came first.
Statue of Liberty
Voice – ???? Listen to Liberty Sound Clip
–>
The Statue of Liberty was introduced in 1986 in a special show to celebrate the Statue’s 100th birthday, but continued to be used after that. During the summertime around Independance Day, Rolfe and Earl would be removed and Liberty would replace them. The rest of the Rock-afire Gang then preformed a special show full of American themed songs.
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By Michael - October 31st, 2007  Cartoon Brew points out that today is the 95th birthday of animation legend Ollie Johnston. Ollie is the last surviving member of Walt’s closest circle of animators, the Nine Old Men. He joined the Disney Studios in 1935, and went on to animate for most of the major features of the Golden Age and beyond. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1989.
I highly recommend that everyone check out the fantastic documentary about Johnston and lifelong friend and fellow animator Frank Thomas, Frank and Ollie. It’s a great look at the lives of two legends. Thomas and Johnston also wrote a seminal animation text, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life.
Happy birthday, Ollie!
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