Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 (Special Edition Combo Pack) (1 Viewer)

[ChadMcCallum]

I don't understand the Disney Vault crap either.

Sure, you may get a rush of people buying it before it goes in the vault to sit for 5-10 years but wouldn't they make more money, or at least the same amount of money, if the title was easily available, especially when its a niche title like Fantasia? People discover new films all the time, children are born, the audience for Disney films should always be expanding. Its not like Disney makes a profit off of the inflated Ebay prices after the title is withdrawn. You would also think this practice is promoting piracy. If its not available and the Ebay price gets too high I imagine those who really want a copy of the film will just fire up Bit Torrent and get the films that way.

It doesn't make sense to have such a short release window for blu-ray either. The blu-ray market share still isn't massive but its going up every day. In a few years I expect there will be a lot players in homes and that should increase demand too. Why not keep it on the shelves longer so people can adopt the format get a chance to buy the films?

With the economy in the crapper I don't think a lot of families are really focusing on their dvd collections, rather they're spending their money on bills or groceries and other essentials. Seems really stupid to pull popular titles from the shelf in this day and age.

At least Fantasia has a 4 and half months on the shelves. The extended version of the first Narnia film was only out for a month and a half before it was pulled.

 

[ahollis]

The limited time only is a tool that Disney uses to limit the number of classic releases they have available at one time. Disney gives and order for a certain number of discs and supply the dvd distributors until a certain date. By the time that date comes around they are in the midst of releasing another classic title. Such as Bambi this spring along with Dumbo and Alice In Wonderland. This really dates back to the old film distribution model where they would lock up a print in the vault for several years until it was time for a re-release. They felt another generation had come along that is ready to see the film. The same thought is with the DVD's.

 

[Brian Borst]

For those who are wondering what the difference is, here's a comparison between Deems Taylor's original voice, and Corey Burton's dub:



Burton is more or less similar, but it would have been much better to find a soundalike, to fill in the missing parts.

 

[MBrousseau]

Another thing that surprised me is that before Taylor's first appearance in the beginning of Fantasia, when the musicians are practicing, the sound is a new recorded sound. It was also that way in the latest 2001 DVD edition. I have a feeling that this was the 1982 re-recording from the Kostal era. The sound is so pure and natural. It can't be from the original 1940 soundtrack. Then, when Stokowski enters and conducts the orchestra, the 1940 soundtrack kicks in, with rather distracting effects from Fantasound engineers playing along with sound balance and shifting from left directly to right and so on. I hate that. It is so unnatural.

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by MBrousseau
Then, when Stokowski enters and conducts the orchestra, the 1940 soundtrack kicks in, with rather distracting effects from Fantasound engineers playing along with sound balance and shifting from left directly to right and so on. I hate that. It is so unnatural.

It wasn't intended to be natural; that was the intentional sound design. Period reviews of Fantasound presentations make note of the way the music moved about the theater in relation to the images on the screen. Distracting or not, that was the artistic concept.

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by Craig Beam
Today I got an email from the Disney Movie Club, pushing blu-rays that are "disappearing soon" and "going back into the vault." The titles are Pinocchio, Snow White, and....

Fantasia/Fantasia 2000.

This motivated me to finally order the Pinocchio Blu-Ray, and I found that Amazon had reduced it to $22.99. But by combining it with a pre-order of the Blu Bambi at $24.99, I got another $10 off for the whole order, thus bringing Pinoke down to $17.99.

 

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst
For those who are wondering what the difference is, here's a comparison between Deems Taylor's original voice, and Corey Burton's dub:



Burton is more or less similar, but it would have been much better to find a soundalike, to fill in the missing parts.

Thanks for posting this.

The voice of Deems Taylor is important to Fantasia. Too important to remove entirely. There is no excuse for not including it as an option on the menu, with a properly-chosen voice actor filling in the missing sections, which are short. It's a little thing, revoiceing a short dialogue, and a bigger thing to completely revoice him throughout the film. Somebody at Disney has their priorities in reverse.

I bought the 1990 VHS, as pictured in post #45 by Eric Scott Richard, from an amazon marketplace seller. It was issued on laser disc as well, and I'm debating with myself whether or not I should buy that. I can't play a laser disc but I might hook up with someone who can transfer it for me. There appears to have been an earlier VHS release, and I may try that as well.

 

[Brian Borst]

Originally Posted by Richard--W
Thanks for posting this.

The voice of Deems Taylor is important to Fantasia. Too important to remove entirely. There is no excuse for not including it as an option on the menu, with a properly-chosen voice actor filling in the missing sections, which are short. It's a little thing, revoiceing a short dialogue, and a bigger thing to completely revoice him throughout the film. Somebody at Disney has their priorities in reverse.

I bought the 1990 VHS, as pictured in post #45 by Eric Scott Richard, from an amazon marketplace seller. It was issued on laser disc as well, and I'm debating with myself whether or not I should buy that. I can't play a laser disc but I might hook up with someone who can transfer it for me. There appears to have been an earlier VHS release, and I may try that as well.

I agree that it's important, but apparently Taylor's voice was sometimes cut a line at a time, making his voice mixed with another person's really distracting. Disney went for the less protruding option for the modern day viewer. I don't agree with that, but it's understandable.

As for the black centaurettes that were cut, on the Blu-ray they're now removed in a different manner than on the previous DVD. She's digitally removed in most places, instead of just zooming in, making the cuts less jarring than before.

 

I can't wait to get this for Christmas!!!! I don't know about showing this to friends with Fantasia2000....they both include Apprentice. FF?

 

[TonyD]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard
I can't wait to get this for Christmas!!!! I don't know about showing this to friends with Fantasia2000....they both include Apprentice. FF?

sorry, what is the question?

 

Should I fast forward through Apprentice, even though it plays an important part in the second film?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Finally got it over the weekend. The edits are still annoying, but it's great to see the Pastoral and Dance of the Hours segments look this good. The 2000 DVD looked very contrasty. Worse, there's color fringing at every cut for the first minute or so of "Hours". Perfect here. I was concerned how the Lowry Process would treat the textured animation of Fantasia, but it's very pure.

 

[Jonathan Peterson]

I agree that the picture looks great and the edits are now pretty much seamless. The annoying thing though is they goofed and show the same scene twice. They show the first blonde centaurette pose twice and they skip out the reaction shot of the guys watching her. Having seen this film many many times before, this stuck out like a sore thumb. Quite disappointing.

 

[bgart13]

The doc on the Schultheis Notebook is pretty amazing (well, the book is). The image quality is pretty stunning too. I'll probably put off watching F2k for a while, since I didn't really like it the first time I saw it.

 

I pretty sure that the reaction shot of the males was duplicated before. I think they still show it. They chose to duplicate a different shot this time.

 

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard

I bought this on amazon marketplace for $4 plus $3 shipping on Friday and I received it today.
I'm surprised at the size and heftiness of the thing.
2 inches deep, 11 inches wide, and 15 inches long, approximately.
Inside are two VHS tapes: the film, and a tape of supplements.
There is also a 2-CD edition of the soundtrack music (still sealed), pictured here:

http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disneys-Fantasia-Remastered-Soundtrack/dp/B000001M4K/ref=pd_bxgy_m_img_a

Also inside is a certificate of authenticity, a 30 page 11 x 15 four-color glossy pictorial book on heavy paper containing an essay and history, an 11x15 art lithograph of Mickey from 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in a protective cover, a proof of purchase card, and a questionaire card to fill out and mail in. I'm sure it will have an equivalent Blu-ray package through the Disney Movie Club in a few months after we've all bought the initial editions.

The film opens with the title, cuts to black, and fades in on the shadow play of musicians taking their seats and setting up their instruments as they cast enormous silhouettes on the backdrop. It seems to me this opening is shortened on the blu-ray. Then the low flat authoritative and familiar voice of Deems Taylor is heard as he takes his place. It is a much better and more fitting voice than the one heard on the blu-ray. To hear Deems Taylor is to realize that there is no other voice appropriate to Fantasia but his, and there is no reason why his voice cannot be an option on the menu of the bl-ray.


Richard

 

[bigshot]

It's obvious that they not only replaced Deems Taylor's voice, but all of the tuning up sounds and shuffling the orchestra makes as well. The only original bit of soundtrack left is the jazz break and the sounds the soundtrack makes.

 

[Charles Smith]

Nice find.

Funny, I don't even remember seeing that deluxe VHS set back then, only the regular release and the LD box which I only acquired a few years ago on eBay. (FYI, last I looked, there still seemed to be plenty of unopened ones available for cheap.)

But in a really odd twist, the deluxe LD set does not include the CDs!

 

[robbbb1138]

I just watched both Fantasias for the first time yesterday, and I was bothered at a couple of points by the voice of the narrator on the original not seeming to match the visual, so thanks to everyone here for pointing out why they might be the case.

 

[David_B_K]

Posted by Richard--W:
The voice of Deems Taylor is important to Fantasia. Too important to remove entirely. There is no excuse for not including it as an option on the menu, with a properly-chosen voice actor filling in the missing sections, which are short. It's a little thing, revoiceing a short dialogue, and a bigger thing to completely revoice him throughout the film. Somebody at Disney has their priorities in reverse.

I bought the 1990 VHS, as pictured in post #45 by Eric Scott Richard, from an amazon marketplace seller. It was issued on laser disc as well, and I'm debating with myself whether or not I should buy that. I can't play a laser disc but I might hook up with someone who can transfer it for me. There appears to have been an earlier VHS release, and I may try that as well.

What drives me up the wall about this is that they jettisoned Deems Taylor's voice to include some new roadshow footage that is primarily more Deems Taylor footage! Everyone that excuses the removal of Taylor does so by saying "his voice wouldn't match the roadshow version". Why did they let the missing voice of a rather small part of the film affect the rest of Taylor's narration?

I guess we are lucky that they did not entirely redub Laurence Olivier in Spartacus to match Anthony Hopkins' dub of Olivier in the "snails and oysters" scene.

Richard, BTW, I have recorded the laserdisc to DVD.