R.I.P. Walt Disney Treasures series? See post #82!

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That really is too bad. It was perhaps the classiest series yet for classic content. Nice article on the series in yesterday's New York Times Arts section too.

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Really unfortunate for all those who wanted to see Donald finished but as for me personally I say good riddance. I didn't buy wave 5 because of the horrible quality and they had the chance to redeem themselves with wave 6 but instead they decided to skimp on the restoration yet again. Couple this with the Little Mermaid Platinum Edition fiasco, the constant re-releases of classics with little to no improvement, the dropping of original soundtracks and I'm done with Disney. Maybe for the next-generation format they could treat their properties with the respect they deserve.

Re: R.I.P. Walt Disney Treasures series

Unfinished business.

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This is bad news, but if I try a positive note, I'd say: perhaps they will still bring out the rest of the Donald's in one form or another (hopefully a good one - form, that is!).


Cees

Re: R.I.P. Walt Disney Treasures series

It would be horrible to not complete the Donalds ------- what about this new Legacy series they've started?

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I don't think Disney would want two collectors' type series (Treasures and the new Legacy Collection) to be in competition with each other. Even though wave one of the Legacy Collection is out now and a second wave of three that we know of to be out sometime in 2007, I'm sure we'll see more of them. And maybe Donald might get an extended run in the Legacy Collection.

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... except that his shirt will be red instead of blue.

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How can they do this before we get the last two volumes of Donald cartoons? What about all those misc. shorts?

Warner Bros. has six more of their Looney Tunes sets lined up, plus the intention to make sure everything left over is put out eventually.

At least we have all the Mickeys, Silly Symphonies, Goofy, and the WWII cartoons. It's inexcusable to quit before all the Donald Duck shorts are out, though.

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Of all the various series, I've enjoyed the Donald ones the most. It will be too bad if they never get a proper release.

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bummer

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Donald's always been my favorite of the classic Disney characters, and my most anticipated and enjoyed Treasures releases. This is a major bummer.

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Can't believe that they aren't going to finish off the Donalds, but at the same time, I'm not surprised. It sounds like the restoration was crap on the last few, but there's also no good reason to release these in such limited numbers. Why go to all that trouble to restore the first ones, and then just stop releasing them? I'd have bought some of the Wave 1 discs, but you can't just walk into a store and buy them. If these ended up as a wide release, perhaps they'd be able to spend the money on restoring them?

I'm sure people would buy more of the donald shorts though, as well as a bunch of the other misc. shorts.

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Well, THE HARDY BOYS set was marvelous for the most part with decent extras, and the episodes looking just fine. I am very sorry to read that they aren't going to continue with the series. I was hoping for the second editions of SPIN & MARTY and THE HARDY BOYS.

Disney did an astonsihing amount of restoration on the True-Life Adventures Legacy series if comparisons with the VHS tapes are any indication. I just watched THE AFRICAN LION this afternoon, and it was beautifully in focus and looked near pristine! The VHS tape of that feature was almost unwatchable.

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I really have enjoyed these releases and looked forward to them every year. Here's to hoping they do continue in one form or another.

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This is a shame. While not a gigantic Donald fan I did enjoy the first volume of cartoons. I'm glad they got to release the second volume of Silly Symphonies, anyway - these were the cartoons that enticed me to buy my first set of treasures tins, and a nice, if not ultimately very satisfying, way to bookend the series. As for restoration... they just didn't spend the time or money the last few times around to improve the quality of the content. Still, I thought wave six was better than wave five in this regard. It's not a big deal on my 27" tube, which isn't getting upgraded anytime soon.

Out of all the (animated) treasures tins, "Behind the Scenes" is the only set I regret not purchasing when it was first released (sealed copies are still available but they're pricey). Tomorrowland also had some gems that, if not for the HTF, I may have overlooked.

Come on, this is Disney. They'll find SOME way, eventually, to part our money from our pocketbooks. And again. And again. And again. Who knows? Maybe the fabled "hi-def revolution" is the real reason the plug was pulled. HD-TREASURES! A collective groan ensues...

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I'm surprised we got six waves to begin with.

Had Disney bothered to release the Donalds one per year, as they did with the Mickeys, Donald would be finished. I don't understand why wave 4 and 6 didn't have Donald sets. I also don't understand why pluto was two sets. Many of my favorite Donald shorts would have been in vol. 3 so I'm bitterly disappointed.

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They can just do two more Donalds and the hell with the rest of it, I guess. I think Disney sux more than ever, now!!

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This is a major let down. Not only do they need to release the remaining Donalds, they also need to re-release the last Donald with transfers that were done some time after 1988.

-Reagan

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There's currently talk at the Ultimate Disney forum about organizing a petition of some sort for one last wave to finish Donald and possibly an Educational Shorts/Rarities volume. I would definitely be in support of that and I think lots of people would go for one last batch of animation-related tins.

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Considering the fact that the rest of the classic animated shorts have been included in the WDT line so far, we definitely NEED the remaining 50+ DD shorts. These two volumes (?) could also include the three or so C&D shorts and Susie and Casey that for some strange reason were not included in the Rarities set.

We can't let them have peace until they've finished - it makes little sense to give up at 85%!

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Well the Legacy collection will at least have the Oswald shorts and Destino, so there is a possibility of more animation coming from that new series.

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I share the sentiments of everybody who's pissed about this. Not because I want the series to "keep going" or something. (I don't.) But simply because they're NOT DONE releasing the Donald shorts. If they would just release the last two Donald volumes, and then end the series, I would be glad it was over with.

I have a terrible feeling that the reason the last two Donald volumes aren't out yet is because the Disney co was kind of trying to spread it out so thin that they could continue milking as much money as they could out of a series that was getting into live action material that most of us don't care about. Would it have been so ridiculous for them to have instead done just one single 8-disc complete Donald set? A 7-disc Mickey set? A 2- or 3-disc Pluto set? But instead they had to make sure they water it down enough that they have more material than they have time with which to release said material.

For the last couple years I've had a feeling that if they keep spreading their classic animated shorts volumes out so thin, then something like this would happen. The feeling has always been that they're making efforts to keep us at the disadvantage.

The Walt Disney Treasures series was one of the few things that the company had going for it these days that didn't let me entirely write them off as sold-out, money-hungry, or completely out of touch with which of their properties consumers like us really care about... and I know that I'm not the only one that thinks this way. But if the Treasures really are gone, then they're shooting themselves in the foot.

And here's a reminder not to blame Leonard Maltin for anything. He's been our advocate all along. He loves these shorts just as much as any of us. It's the Disney company that we should be mad at.

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What a shame! I just don't understand how they do this to the collectors & buying public. I thank Leonard Maltin for his enthusiasm and participation with the Treasures series. I'll enjoy what I have so far. Shame on you Disney!
Wonder if Roy Disney has made any comments anywhere?

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Well, I sent an email to BVHE just now. Probably won't make much difference in itself, but I tried.

I know some (perhaps many) will disagree with this, but I wish more than ever now that space hadn't been annually wasted with lame stuff like THE SWAMP FOX etc. Get to that stuff AFTER the cartoons. Just IMO, of course.

Also, considering the demand for these on ebay last time I checked (at least, those from the first 2-3 waves), I'm surprised the series was deemed unpopular enough to be discontinued. It always seemed to me that the WDTs were issued to a great deal of fanfare.

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The worst part about this is; The Treasures will porbably be the only time the disney cartoons get a comprehensive, remastered, collector-oriented release in Home Video, EVER!!!!!

Disney'll go back to the VHS/Laserdisc route and never release another compilation with more than 7-8 cartoons on it again. There'll never again be a serious attemp to organize comprehensive box sets for the Disney shorts, or treat them to adequate restoration; The Wartime and Un-PC toons will never see the light of day again, disclaimers or not.

I don't understand the attempts to be optimistic here; Things are only going to get worse, not better.

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Since the Legacy series will have the very rare (not to mention very old) Oswald cartoons --- what makes us think there won't be a future Legacy set devoted to the remaining Donald Duck cartoons?

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I'm thinking they've cancelled the Treasures series because they're replacing it with the Legacy series. After all, they're almost the same thing, down to the tin cases.

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I think you're probably right Kevin, not only about Disney stuff but for a lot of non-mainstream films/TV etc, which is the main reason I have a big DVD collection. SO much of what has been released on DVD will not see the light of day on a high def format or will be relegated to nothing but pay-per-view/on demand. No thanks.

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Do you have some inside information that confirms your pessimism? If not, you're no more right than the people who are being optimistic.