What if the Disney classic Fantasia was launched on Blu?

[CMSBlu1]

Actually, Fantasia already has a re-recorded digital soundtrack. They did it for the 82 re-release. Be great to have a blu with both soundtracks.

[markjdye]

Irwin Kostal re-recorded all of the music for Fantasia in 1982 onto a digital recorder. (One of the first.) Disney released it to theatres with the new soundtrack. The quality is stunning. (I have the cd, Buena Vista Records CD-001)) They had a little problem with timing in some scenes but with today's digital audio editing programs they could solve those problems. I was hoping they'd add it as an additional soundtrack when they released it on DVD. Alas, no such luck. As a project, I combined my CD soundtrack to the video from the DVD and it works very well. A SERIOUS improvement in listening pleasure! Let's hope it finally gets released when it comes out on Blu-ray.

[seto]

Get ready for brainwashing in HD!

Just kidding. It was certainly a wonderful masterpiece and, if remastered for HD, would look splendind. I would certainly look forward to this. ^^

[dadkins]

Disney + Animation + Blu-ray = Blind Buy.
For me at least.

Now, if I had more money to spend it would be even better.

[Mark J. Marshall]

Too bad that it would probably be the PC sanitized version.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by Mark J. Marshall

Too bad that it would probably be the PC sanitized version.

Yeah, well, in principle I agree, but personally I can do without pickanniny centaurs. That was tacky enough that even in its time some folks working on the film were uncomfortable with it.

[Seretur]

Okay, this is turning into a serious film-buff thread.

Good work, guys -- we need more of this sort of knowledgeable enthusiasm here.

And as for the censorship: Disney weren't shy of putting risky material on their Treasures boxsets, so hopefully they'll utilize at least the branching technology of BD to enable this bit of history to be seen, however dodgy.

More than anything, we need Fantasia (and Fantasia 2000 -- good call, Joe!) to be done properly the first time out on Blu-ray. It's heartening to know that they're treating their classics with reverence; I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a particular hue of red in one of the knights attending Aurora's birth at the start of Sleeping Beauty, as DVD wasn't able to reproduce the Technicolor at all.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by markjdye

Irwin Kostal re-recorded all of the music for Fantasia in 1982 onto a digital recorder. (One of the first.)

And then they restored the original sountrack BACK onto 5.1, for the '01 DVD set--
Unfortunately, they'd lost about 3/4 of the Deems Taylor narration over thirty years of assorted cuts, so we'd had to settle for a dubbed imitator.
Still, the '01 restoration does end a few questions in the thread.

Fantasia '00, OTOH, was already film-mastered for IMAX, which--like the Beauty/Beast, Lion King and Aladdin upgrades--puts it ahead in line for a Blu version, seeing as its turn in the Platinums should be coming up soon...
Now, as noted, if the studio can only get over their 4:3 phobia (which seems to be hypnotizing the audience into ignoring 4:3 movies, as well--Snap out of it, people!)

(Oh, and before somebody brings up the half-informed "But Walt said the original flopped, didn't it?"--
The original movie ran for a year in the big cities--But Walt had to sell the '40 movie to RKO for the small-town engagements just to pay his stereo-sound bills, and you don't want to know how RKO chopped the thing to ribbons... )

[miokti]

true... when I showed this movie to my younger cousins, i kinda had to disappear when their parents asked about the little centaur chicks... but overall, the whole Fantasia experience was positive. It would be great if they re-mastered the audio with lossless encoding.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by Seretur

And as for the censorship: Disney weren't shy of putting risky material on their Treasures boxsets, so hopefully they'll utilize at least the branching technology of BD to enable this bit of history to be seen, however dodgy.

I agree that Disney's done a good job with the Treasures releases and making the effort present that "risky material" in some sort of context---thanks are probably due Leonard Maltin. But there's obviously a limit to how far the company's going to go in that regard: until the world is one big happy Benetton ad I don't think we'll ever see another release of Song of the South.

[RUR]

Originally Posted by Seretur

You can't re-record Leopold Stokowski, it would be a sacrilege....

Sacrilege indeed. Wonder how many folks realize that the conductor "spoofed" by Bugs Bunny in the fantastic "Long-Haired Hare" Loony Tunes cartoon is the legendary Leopold Stokowski?

[Ernest Rister]

The problem with releasing the 1982 version of Fantasia with Irwin Kostal is this -- Deems Taylor was cut out of the movie completely. Instead of an on-screen narrator, footage from the various silhouetted shots of the orchestra played on screen while Tim Matheson performed a voice-over. Additionally, the "Pastorale" was trimmed down to remove offensive material, and Kostal re-composed the sequence to provide musical bridges between the missing material and still maintain some semblance of timing.

So its not like simply adding a secondary soundtrack option. We're talking serious seamless branching and reviving a cut of the film that hasn't been seen in over twenty years.

[Memnoch71]

It's not even a question, Fantasia & Fantasia 2000 are a MUST BUY as soon as they come out on Blu! Though I do Believe it will be another 2 years for the 70th & 10th anniversaries. At least that gives them pleanty of time to get the Definitive Versions ready for release!

[Mark J. Marshall]

Originally Posted by Joe Cain

I agree that Disney's done a good job with the Treasures releases and making the effort present that "risky material" in some sort of context---thanks are probably due Leonard Maltin. But there's obviously a limit to how far the company's going to go in that regard: until the world is one big happy Benetton ad I don't think we'll ever see another release of Song of the South.

It's ironic how some stuff that we do today could never have been shown back then, and some stuff that was done back then can't be shown today. Are we moving forwards or backward... or are we not really moving at all? I think we're standing still and the targets have just changed. For example, it's ok to offend Christians now.

Seriously. I know of no one that is offended by Song Of The South. Do you?

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

...So its not like simply adding a secondary soundtrack option. We're talking serious seamless branching and reviving a cut of the film that hasn't been seen in over twenty years.

Now there's a showcase for seamless branching: why not go all out and include every edit ever released? There are...what, half a dozen or so?

[Mark J. Marshall]

That would be sweet, and I agree Fantasia is a perfect candidate for seamless branching.

C'mon, Disney, do it right. Don't change (or dismiss) history. You have a golden opportunity with Fantasia.

[mystiksuicide]

Originally Posted by jmlalit5

I still have never watched Fantasia. Is it really that good?

+1

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by RUR

Sacrilege indeed. Wonder how many folks realize that the conductor "spoofed" by Bugs Bunny in the fantastic "Long-Haired Hare" Loony Tunes cartoon is the legendary Leopold Stokowski?

Well, "Leopold!...Leopold!..." was a bit of a hint.

Elmer Fudd's Deems Taylor imitation in "A Corny Concerto" was a little more on the mark...(shirtfront flips up) Hahahaha.

Seriously. I know of no one that is offended by Song Of The South. Do you?

Yes: Ex-Disney board member Sidney Poitier, and 90's Clinton-buddy Maya Angelou...Both of whom were instrumental in keeping a '96 revival out of theaters, even when Disney offered to paste on a "black-history" intro.

(Although most historians today trace all the fuss back to a disgruntled black ex-animator from Disney, who started the "Walt is racist!" finger-pointing headlines after leaving the studio, even though the NAACP found no major objections to their SotS screening.)

[PA_Kid]

I'm not quick to dump money on DVDs or Blu-rays, but if they did another Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 set release I'd buy it day one. That would be a great one to have on BD.

That makes me realize that I'd love to have Oliver & Company too - same reason - I'd like to see what they could do with the sound on that one.

[RUR]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Well, "Leopold!...Leopold!..." was a bit of a hint.

Elmer Fudd's Deems Taylor imitation in "A Corny Concerto" was a little more on the mark...(shirtfront flips up) Hahahaha.

Now, how many know that Col. Klink's father was another famous conductor?
(Yes, yes, we'll get back OT in a moment.....)