The Official Disney Movie Club Blu-ray Exclusives Thread (2 Viewers)

[LouA]

Darlene Gillespie filed a lawsuit in the 1990s, but they must have settled that if the Treasures tin and mass-market compilation could come out. I never read that Lonnie Burr autobiography, but I did read Annette's, and she doesn't talk about royalties. The breakup between ABC and Disney was brutal, and only the anthology series survived it. They were legally forbidden to take either of their other shows to other networks.* This lawsuit may be part of the reason why the 1970s color videotape reboot (ignored entirely for the original's 50th anniversary while even the 1990s Disney Channel version got the token Britney-and-Justin-centric compilation disc although they weren't on until they almost canceled it) was syndicated. Of course, that one had to compete with the commercial-free Sesame Street and Mister Rogers while the original's steepest competition was Captain Kangaroo. Third time around was on cable, so they controlled the venue it was on and counted subscribers rather than viewers. I wonder how today's kids would respond to this material, especially when they would be viewing it through fresh eyes since it has barely been on the air this century.

On the other hand, the fact that it was only on for three seasons might make it easier to get out than, say, the rest of Saturday Night Live.

The oldest non-theatrical properties I've seen announced for Disney+ are TV cartoons made for Disney Afternoon, of which The Gummi Bears, the Saturday morning show that started Disney's forays into TV animation in the first place before joining its successors in syndication in season 6 (only half-finished on DVD in substandard, artifact-riddled masters from analog tape), will be included along with OG DuckTales, Chip 'n' Dale, Tale Spin, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, and Gargoyles. No word on the 1980s/1990s Winnie the Pooh cartoons** or one-season wonders like The Wuzzles and Bonkers. So they're getting warmer but still far short of the pre-Eisner treasure trove for which fans have been hoping.

*Netflix wasn't the first to try to pull this with the way they recently tried to do this (and failed) with the reboot of One Day at a Time. Meanwhile, I learned that after the original series ended, Bonnie Franklin almost got a deal for another series with Touchstone TV.
**ABC's The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was the first Disney Pooh show not to use the Sherman Brothers in some form though The Disney Channel's Welcome to Pooh Corner did. Meanwhile, the ABC cartoon had Christopher Robin (now thoroughly Americanized) but no narrator, and TDC's live-action puppet show, which hired ex-Mouseketeer Sharon Baird as a puppeteer, did not have Christopher Robin, though it actually showed us the narrator.

MatthewA, I couldn't help but notice your Enough is enough /Song Of the South statement . Isn't it bizarre the Disney continues to profit from Song of the South while keeping it locked up in their vault? Recently there was a "raft" of figurines , pins , Funkos etc . Yet the film is still awaiting a release on a legitimate home video format. Strange !

 

[holtge]

MatthewA, I couldn't help but notice your Enough is enough /Song Of the South statement . Isn't it bizarre the Disney continues to profit from Song of the South while keeping it locked up in their vault? Recently there was a "raft" of figurines , pins , Funkos etc . Yet the film is still awaiting a release on a legitimate home video format. Strange !

Not strange, exactly. Disney wants to capitalize on these songs and characters without stating explicitly where they came from. As long as they can sweep what they deem to be potentially racist under the rug, they will do it. But it's funny. There's way more racism in Gone With The Wind or Roots then there ever was in Song of the South. All it would take to present it to audiences today is a brief welcome screen stating that this film depicts life as it was back in our distant past and does not represent Disney's current stance towards these politically motivated themes and portrayals. That's it! But will they ever do it? Not even a no, but a hell no. Truly sad.

 

[RICK BOND]

Darby O Gill and Kidnapped .... Already Please ! ?? : (

 

[kitt1987]

Funny I never even considered Disney could potentially release their old tv series as part of the "Movie Club." Although I suppose we're more likely to see anything like that on their streaming service. It's too bad the old animated shorts, Donald, Mickey, etc couldn't have been upgraded to blu ray and at least offered to the club...but again probably just saving it for their streaming service.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Funny I never even considered Disney could potentially release their old tv series as part of the "Movie Club." Although I suppose we're more likely to see anything like that on their streaming service. It's too bad the old animated shorts, Donald, Mickey, etc couldn't have been upgraded to blu ray and at least offered to the club...but again probably just saving it for their streaming service.

The preview from the Dutch streaming service showed 0 classic tv shows. Very disappointing. Looks like a few Mickey Mouse cartoons and a handful of classic 50's-70's live action films. Better than nothing. Hopefully they will add more in the future but only time will tell. My guess is their target audience on the streaming service is not classic film and tv lovers so I don't think we will see much there but I hope to be surprised.

 

[MatthewA]

They may be waiting for year 3 to dig deeper into the vaults. Even The Disney Channel wasn't a 24-hour service at first, and they saved the heavy hitters for later; Pinocchio and Cinderella aired there in the late 1980s after their video debuts.

MatthewA, I couldn't help but notice your Enough is enough /Song Of the South statement . Isn't it bizarre the Disney continues to profit from Song of the South while keeping it locked up in their vault? Recently there was a "raft" of figurines , pins , Funkos etc . Yet the film is still awaiting a release on a legitimate home video format. Strange !

That's not entirely true. Only in the United States, where the movie was actually made and set, is it waiting for a release. It already got videotapes in the UK, several European and Asian countries, and Israel, and laserdiscs in Japan and Hong Kong, most with names that are not literal translations of the original English-language title. And it begs the questions of why accusations of racism bounce off Gone with the Wind and Birth of a Nation, which get re-release after re-release, and stick to this film, and why warnings good enough for cartoons with Mammy jokes and Al Jolson parodies aren't good enough for this. Drawings on paper inked onto cels they can deal with but not actual flesh-and-blood humans.

Not releasing the movie did nothing to stop bad publicity related to other unrelated matters. And in addition to cutting the two 1970s hybrids, they also try to downplay So Dear to My Heart* as much as possible; that was going to be an early Gold Collection release that got pushed back to the Disney Movie Club years later despite being available on DVD in other countries.

*This film's TV debut came on TDC in its early years before its home video debut around the time of the last Song of the South reissue.

 

[Mark-P]

Tidbits of new rumor just appeared: Again, no confirmation, not even the DMR Upcoming list yet so no promises

Someone spoke with DMC cast member today and was given a heads up that the next 2 DMC exclusives would release Oct 8 and is yet another major wishlist item for many if it comes to be.

The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh

The Thanksgiving Promise

We're getting real close to the new cycle (October 8th) and due to Disney Movie Rewards site shutting down to make way for a new site called Disney Movie Insiders, we didn't get any early information assuming the rumor bears out to be true. I do hope if Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (or whatever it is called) does materialize that it will be Blu-ray, but the rumor only said "the next Disney exclusives" which could easily be a repressing of the DVDs from the Disney Treasures release, which is what they did with The Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Applegate Treasure.

 

[David Norman]

New mailers should be sneaking out soon.

First report of a mailer late last night on bluray.com is a bit confusing, but it's possible that Dr Syn may be on Bluray and Thanksgiving Promise a DVD Exclusive. Given the TV Movie Roots of the latter, that wouldn't be unprecedented at all. I didn't realize it had never been released on DVD, but as I mentioned earlier, I'd never heard of it at all until the thread/post. My mailers don;t usually pop up until Wed or Thursday so I can't help much other than passing along information

"
I got my DMC flyer in the mail today. It confirms Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and Thanksgiving Promise as the October exclusives. It doesn't say anything about Thanksgiving Promise on Blu-ray though, just "first time on DVD".

It says 3-part adventure for Dr Syn, so hopefully it is the TV broadcast version with Walt's intro and outro like on the Treasures DVD. "

 

[Brian Kidd]

It says 3-part adventure for Dr Syn, so hopefully it is the TV broadcast version with Walt's intro and outro like on the Treasures DVD.

That would be fantastic, as the Treasures release was in the last wave and only had a small amount of sets released. I wasn't able to get it when it came out and they go for a fortune on the secondary market now.

 

[Mark-P]

I got my DMC flyer in the mail today. It confirms Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and Thanksgiving Promise as the October exclusives. It doesn't say anything about Thanksgiving Promise on Blu-ray though, just "first time on DVD".

It says 3-part adventure for Dr Syn, so hopefully it is the TV broadcast version with Walt's intro and outro like on the Treasures DVD. "

So even though you didn't say it outright, your flyer confirms Scarecrow is Blu-ray?

Edit: I realize now you were quoting the other board member, so you can't answer. However I went over there and looked for myself and that person has confirmed Scarecrow is Blu and Thanksgiving Promise DVD. Yay for Romney Marsh, I will be ordering first thing on Tuesday!

 

[David Norman]

So even though you didn't say it outright, your flyer confirms Scarecrow is Blu-ray?

Edit: I realize now you were quoting the other board member, so you can't answer. However I went over there and looked for myself and that person has confirmed Scarecrow is Blu and Thanksgiving Promise DVD. Yay for Romney Marsh, I will be ordering first thing on Tuesday!

Correct, I won't get my flyer until Wed at least so can't give you any direct info, but at least one person confirmed with DMC that Romney is Blu and Thanksgiving appears to be DVD only . That's certainly seems to agree with the report on the flyer

 

[Dick]

Darby O Gill and Kidnapped .... Already Please ! ?? : (

...and THIRD MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN and THAT DARN CAT! and THREE LIVES OF THOMASINA and THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE and JOHNNY TREMAIN and A LIGHT IN THE FOREST and TOBY TYLER and THE MOONSPINNERS and ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD and THOSE CALLOWAYS and ADVENTURES OF BULLWHIP GRIFFIN and THE FIGHTING PRINCE O0F DONEGAL and THE WILD COUNTRY, DR. SYN, ALIAS THE SCARECROW and...

But, at an absolute snail's pace, some of this stuff is actually, finally being loosed on the world!

 

[Thomas T]

...and THIRD MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN and THAT DARN CAT! and THREE LIVES OF THOMASINA and THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE and JOHNNY TREMAIN and A LIGHT IN THE FOREST and TOBY TYLER and THE MOONSPINNERS and ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD and THOSE CALLOWAYS and ADVENTURES OF BULLWHIP GRIFFIN and THE FIGHTING PRINCE O0F DONEGAL and THE WILD COUNTRY and...

But, at a absolute snail's pace, some of this stuff is actually being loosed on the world!

And The Sword And The Rose, Rob Roy and Story Of Robin Hood.

 

[RICK BOND]

If Disney is All about Anniversary Editions, then where is Darby O Gill ? It's the 60th Anniversary this year. 1959 2019 ??? : ( Also Dr. Syn (The Scarecrow) 1964 It's the 55th Anniversary this year 2019. ?? : ( 2020 will be the 60th Anniversary for Kidnapped 1960 !

 

[Jack K]

If Disney is All about Anniversary Editions, then where is Darby O Gill ? It's the 60th Anniversary this year. 1959 2019 ??? : ( Also Dr. Syn (The Scarecrow) 1964 It's the 55th Anniversary this year 2019. ?? : ( 2020 will be the 60th Anniversary for Kidnapped 1960 !

Yes, and how about the 60th anniversary of one of my favorites, THE SHAGGY DOG (1959)

 

[Darby67]

As a lifelong fan of Dr. Syn The Scarecrow of Romney March, I am overjoyed to hear that the DMC is releasing it on Blu-ray. I pre-ordered the Walt Disney Treasures DVD version on Amazon as soon as the link was available so I was able to obtain a copy back in 2008. I was shocked that it sold out so soon and felt that Disney could have done a bit better job of anticipating the demand for it.

Anyway, to the folks who held off paying the King's ransom that aftermarket sellers have been demanding for it for the last decade (Scarecrow himself would have been outraged!) and to the folks who will finally see it for the first time: Congratulations, buy it as early as possible, and savor and enjoy it many, many times over!

 

[David Norman]

This is all there is for now -- I think this is a scan of the mailer pic. Thanks to rdodolak for posting these. Again these should go live Tuesday Oct 8 -- some time after 1-2am ET, but that;s never exact and sometimes there can be a significant delay.

Blu-ray Exclusive

DVD Exclusive

 

[Arthur Powell]

Don't forget "The Happiest Millionaire"!

I'm glad to see Dr. Syn get a blu-ray, but oddly enough I'm not excited over that selection mostly because I was among the lucky few who was able to get the WDT version when it was released. I've watched it several times over the past decade with the most recent re-watch just a few months ago. A great series nonetheless, and I'll pick up the blu-ray at some point in the future to complement my WDT collection.

 

[RICK BOND]

This is all there is for now -- I think this is a scan of the mailer pic. Thanks to rdodolak for posting these. Again these should go live Tuesday Oct 8 -- some time after 1-2am ET, but that;s never exact and sometimes there can be a significant delay.

Blu-ray Exclusive

Will this Scarecrow have the Movie version also ? Dr. Syn like my old dvd release ??


DVD Exclusive

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just ripped the Treasures DVD version of Scarecrow to my HTPC so I could revisit it, but I’m delighted to wait a little longer for the Blu-ray. Keep ‘em coming, Mouse House!