Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. So I decided to go ahead and do my overview of the Walt Disney Limited Issues home video line today otherwise it'll be another four months until I get back to it. There's even less background information on this lineup than there was for the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection simply because not as much happened with this lineup. The only significant piece of information that the Disney Wiki has on it, is that they were the first DVD releases of animated movies besides the 1998 DVD release of Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and the early 1999 DVD release of A Bug's Life. And because I don't have very much experience with this lineup aside from owning the Walt Disney Limited Issues DVD release of The Jungle Book, this is going to be more of a list than a personal retrospective. Though when I do get to The Jungle Book I'll talk about that release a little more in depth simply because that's the sample of the line that I have. Also, there's no fancy logo to use, so let's just get right into the releases shall we?
The Walt Disney Limited Issues lineup began with the first DVD release of Pinocchio. It had been seven years since it's last home video release, when it was released on VHS as a Walt Disney Masterpiece, as part of the Walt Disney Classics. They were re-releasing the film on VHS anyway for the 60th Anniversary of the film's release, albeit a bit early since the movie came out on February 23rd, 1940, so I guess they decided this would also be a good time to release the movie on DVD to start off this experimental line. And I say experimental, because that's exactly what it was. As I said before, Disney had previously released Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and A Bug's Life on DVD, but otherwise the only movie they'd released on this new format was Mary Poppins, in 1998. So Pinocchio has the distinction of being the first Disney animated classic to be released on DVD, so that's pretty cool.
Up next was 101 Dalmatians. Like I said, I don't have a whole lot to say since I already talked about this movie in my Walt Disney Classics and Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection overviews. However, what's interesting about this release is that it happened to be released only 8 months after the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection VHS had come out. Which is interesting and definitely not something that happens all that often, though the early DVD releases didn't always come out day and date with the VHS re-releases of a particular movie, same with more recent re-releases where the DVD doesn't come out day and date with the Blu-ray or Digital releases.
Next in line is the DVD debut of Hercules, which had just been released on VHS a year and a half earlier. Like 101 Dalmatians this DVD came out on November 9th, 1999.
The final release to come out on November 9th, 1999 was Mulan. The Walt Disney Limited Issues is probably the smallest lineup of Disney movies on home video ever, and the only DVD line to only have a DVD release with later lines having a VHS release or a Blu-ray and Digital release to accompany the DVD. Pinocchio is the only movie to have a corresponding VHS release as both were released for the movie's 60th Anniversary, as I mentioned before.
Peter Pan was released on DVD on November 23rd, 1999 along with Lady and the Tramp and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, which I will talk about VERY shortly. What's unique about this release of Peter Pan is that it's the first release since the 1990 Walt Disney Classics VHS release to not have the bonus featurette, You Can Fly!: The Making of Peter Pan included and the only DVD release to not include the bonus feature. In fact none of the releases in the Walt Disney Limited Issues have bonus features included on the disc. DVD had become more prominent by late 1999 and more studios were beginning to include a ton of bonus features on their releases, though most movies still only had a single disc. I think that's why most people forget about this set of releases, since the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection DVD and VHS releases had more bonus features on them, as did the Walt Disney Platinum Editions, which began in 2001. So I think the Walt Disney Limited Issues get forgotten about by Disney home media collectors. The only reason I even have The Jungle Book is because it had been my grandfather's before he passed away last year. But most of the time I don't hear people talk about them, I don't see collections of them on YouTube and I also don't see them pop up for sale on eBay or Amazon very much if at all. Which is part of the reason I'm doing this History of Disney Movies on Home Video series so that a chronicle can be made of each major home video release line.
Up next is Lady and the Tramp, which had also been released on VHS in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection only 14th months earlier. And unlike with Pinocchio, there was no anniversary to celebrate, so it's weird to me that Disney would release it on DVD so soon after it's last VHS release.
The most bizarre release in this lineup would have to be The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. This was the direct-to-video sequel to the 1994 Disney classic, The Lion King. Out of all of the movies that could've been released they chose this direct-to-video sequel, especially since films like Dumbo, and Robin Hood are noticeably absent from this lineup. Now don't get me wrong, I actually like The Lion King II. I had it on VHS in the late 90s and actually thought it was a decent movie. But to include it in an experimental home video lineup with classics like Pinocchio and Peter Pan is just weird to me. This wouldn't be the only time this would happen as Toy Story, A Bug's Life, A Goofy Movie, Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World would all be released on VHS and DVD as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection in 2000. Unlike the other Limited Issues DVD releases though, The Lion King II has bonus features on it. It has the music video for the song "Love Will Find a Way" by Heather Headley and Kenny Lattimore and the original VHS release trailer for the movie.
The final two releases in the Limited Issues lineup were released on December 7th, 1999. The first of these, according to the Disney Wiki page, was The Little Mermaid. According to the Disney Wiki page for the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, Disney considered the Limited Issues line to be a failure. Which is why they stopped after nine releases. It makes sense in a way because these DVDs don't really offer you anything new for these movies. Especially if you already have their previous VHS releases, which most people did at the time. I mean the then most recent VHS releases of Pinocchio, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, and The Little Mermaid all offered more in terms of bonus content on them between music videos and Making Of featurettes. Even the cover art is exactly the same. So I am absolutely not surprised that this lineup was considered to be a failure. It's even more evident almost 22 years later, because like I said, nobody seems to remember these releases at all. However, unlike the Disney of a decade and a half earlier, who would've cancelled future Walt Disney Classics VHS releases had one of them not sold very well, didn't shy away from DVD. Instead they continued on with the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection less than a year later, which I will be talking about next time.
And finally, the last release in the Walt Disney Limited Issues was The Jungle Book. Looking at the release and comparing it to the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection VHS release, the packaging is astonishingly the same. Right down to the film's logo design on the box, except it says "Walt Disney's The Jungle Book" instead of "Walt Disney's Masterpiece The Jungle Book". And the spines are the same too, with the purple bar and Baloo at the bottom. Also, the back covers are exactly the same as well, except the DVD is smaller than the VHS.
I really hate late 90s DVD menus. They're so static and boring. Also, there aren't any previews before the movie on this DVD either. Which is strange for a late 90s Disney home video release, even if it is an early DVD release. The heading called "Film Recommendations" is just static box art for the previous eight Walt Disney Limited Issues DVD releases. I can't tell you for sure, but I think the menus for the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection DVDs are similarly boring. It wouldn't be until the Walt Disney Platinum Editions that we'd get really cool DVD menus, including different backgrounds for each heading. One thing that's interesting is that between the traditional 90s Walt Disney Pictures logo and the movie's opening title card, the Buena Vista card appears. This isn't on the Masterpiece Collection VHS release, even though Disney used that transfer of the movie for this release. The only release I haven't seen is the 2007 Platinum Edition DVD so I don't know if it's on there or not. I do know it's not on the Classics VHS, the Masterpiece Collection VHS, or the Diamond Edition DVD. So I thought that was interesting.
And that's the Walt Disney Limited Issues lineup. I know I had to pad it out just to make this post interesting, because there really wasn't much to talk about with these releases. Except for Pinocchio and The Lion King II, which weren't included in the previous lineup, these releases are basically just the DVD versions of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection VHS tapes, right down to the same cover art being used for both. Next time I'll be tackling the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, which I will be splitting up into separate parts for the VHS and DVD releases, which I'll be doing moving forward with the series.
That's it for me for today. I'll be back on Friday for my review of Kingdom Come by Mark Waid, with art by Alex Ross. So until then have a wonderful day and I will talk to you later. Take care.
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