The History of Disney Movies on Home Video Part 4: Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection

 Hey guys! How's everybody doing today? I'm actually pretty good. Originally I had planned on splitting these next sections into subsections, to cover the multiple releases individually. However, I decided to just do each section as a whole and talk about however many releases each movie had in that particular lineup as I talk about each movie. So without further ado let's talk about the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, the first line where each movie had both a VHS and a DVD release.

After the failure of the Walt Disney Limited Issues DVD line, which I talked about last time, Disney decided to launch a new line of videos and DVDs known as the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, with the fancy banner you see in the image above appearing on both the VHS clamshells and the DVD cases. I actually don't have much experience with this line, as we owned most of the movies in this collection from previous home video lines and so my parents felt we didn't need them again. However I do have one experience that I'm going to talk about shortly. This line only lasted until March 20th, 2001 before being discontinued due to low sales because so many releases were coming out all at once, something the Walt Disney Classics and Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection had previously avoided by staggering their releases. Let's talk about these releases shall we?

What's weird about this lineup is that they started it with the home video re-release of Toy Story, which is a Pixar film and had only been distributed by the Walt Disney Company at the time. So it's bizarre that it would be included in a Walt Disney Home Video collection such as this. But, Toy Story had been extremely successful for Disney at the box office back in 1995, as well as on home video in 1996, so it makes sense they would release it with the other Disney classics that you will see on this list. While some of the anniversary editions in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection included a Making Of featurette, the Walt Disney Limited Issues DVDs had been barebones, and featurettes weren't standard on VHS releases yet. However the Gold Classic release of Toy Story was the first time that music videos, bonus cartoons and featurettes were included after the tape, a practice that would continue into the later Walt Disney Platinum Edition VHS releases. 

The first DVD release of Toy Story is even more interesting because it's a 2-pack that includes the first sequel, Toy Story 2. Not only is this the only 2-Movie Collection release in any of the major lineups, but it also means that Toy Story 2 is part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. It's interesting because the DVD didn't come out until October 17th, 2000. Which was in between other releases in this collection, rather than day and date of the VHS release. That's just because Toy Story 2 didn't get it's VHS release until October 17th, 2000, and so the DVD release of the first movie wasn't ready for the January 11th, 2000 release date of the Gold Classic Collection VHS release. I do have some experience with this DVD release however. I've never watched it, but I remember my uncle got it for Christmas in 2000 and I remember seeing the packaging when he opened it.

Up next is Mulan, released on VHS and DVD on February 1st, 2000. This was a strange move for Disney as Mulan had been released on DVD in 1999 as a Walt Disney Limited Issue release as well as having been released on VHS in 1999 as one of the last tapes released in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. This is where you start to see Disney stop their policy of only re-releasing a movie every seven years as they'd been doing since Robin Hood was first released as the first in the Walt Disney Classics line back in 1984. 

The Gold Classic Collection DVD release for Mulan is just a re-issue of the previous Walt Disney Limited Issues DVD release for the movie. Including the same bonus features that were on the previous release. Which are the music videos for "Reflection" by Christina Aguilera and "True to Your Heart" by 98 Degrees and the movie's theatrical trailer. It was released on February 1st, 2000 along with the VHS release. 

Next is Pinocchio. This release is just a re-issue of the 60th Anniversary VHS release that came out in 1999. Including the featurette "A Wish Come True: The Making of Pinocchio". While I don't have this release, I do have the 60th Anniversary VHS release in my collection currently. The cover art is the same, though this release has the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection banner across the top instead of the 60th Anniversary Edition banner that was on the previous VHS release. It was released on March 7th, 2000. 

The DVD release is the exact same as the Walt Disney Limited Issues DVD release, with the exception of the bonus features being included here. It was released on March 7th, 2000 along with the VHS release. 

Next up is The Aristocats. There aren't any bonus features on the VHS release. Of course I saw this movie in the Masterpiece Collection VHS release, though I actually watched it for the first time in 2000, either around the time this release came out, or in the summer. It had to have been the Masterpiece Collection VHS that I saw though, because I remember the previews from the Masterpiece Collection release rather than the ones on the Gold Classic Collection VHS. It came out on April 4th, 2000.

The DVD release includes the film's theatrical trailer and a Trivia game. That's it. I haven't talked about the cover art yet, because there's been nothing to talk about as the cover art for Toy Story, Mulan, and Pinocchio are just reused from previous DVD and VHS releases. The cover art for The Aristocats is brand new for this release, and was actually never used again as it got new cover art for the 2008 Special Edition DVD, again for the 2012 DVD and Blu-ray releases, and again for the 2018 Disney Movie Club Exclusive Blu-ray release which is interesting considering how much Disney loved to reuse cover art for earlier VHS and DVD releases. The DVD was released day and date with the VHS release.

Next is The Fox and the Hound, a movie that I've enjoyed since I first saw it in it's Walt Disney Classics VHS release back in the mid 90s. The VHS tape doesn't have any bonus features on it, but I watched the previews on YouTube, and there's a preview for the final individual home video releases of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, as the fourth Winnie the Pooh cartoon, Winnie the Pooh and A Day for Eeyore was included as a bonus feature on the 25th Anniversary VHS and DVD releases of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 2002 and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was released as a bonus feature on the 2006 DVD release of Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin. So I thought that was cool. I don't actually have anything else to say about the VHS release since there aren't any bonus features on it. It was released on May 2nd, 2000.

The DVD release however is interesting. While it has a Trivia game (I don't know if it's the same one) like the DVD for The Aristocats did, there's also a theatrical trailer. However it's not the original 1981 theatrical trailer. Instead it's the 1988 re-release trailer. I think this is the only time where a re-release trailer is included, outside of the Platinum Edition DVD releases as they have an entire trailer section on those releases, which I'll be talking about in the future. It was released day and date with the VHS release (May 2nd, 2000).

Also released on May 2nd, 2000 was the fifth VHS release of The Three Caballeros. However, unlike the previous VHS releases in the Gold Classic Collection, this release has two cartoon shorts on it, Don's Fountain of Youth, and Pueblo Pluto, both of which I have never heard of before, which is interesting. As I mentioned in my Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection overview, I mainly know of The Three Caballeros from the song, "The Three Caballeros" on the Disney Sing-Along Songs: Heigh-Ho VHS that I had when I was a kid. I have seen the movie since then, but it's not one I grew up with outside of the Sing-Along Songs.

The DVD includes the cartoons I mentioned above, as well as the film's original theatrical trailer as bonus features. I know I mentioned the cover art for The Aristocats, but I really like that they didn't just reuse the cover art from any of the previous home video releases for these movies, outside of the three that I mentioned before of course. Also, this release is actually the final individual home video release for The Three Caballeros as when it was re-released on DVD in 2008 and released on Blu-ray in 2018 it was packaged with Saludos Amigos as a 2-movie collection. It was of course released day and date with the VHS release.

Speaking of Saludos Amigos, this is the first home video release of the movie, also released on May 2nd, 2000. Individually anyway as it had been released on Laserdisc in 1995 as part of Disney's Archive Collection, paired with The Three Caballeros. I think it's because the movie is actually only about 40 minutes long and so it didn't get a VHS release until 2000 for that reason probably. This VHS release actually has a bonus feature on it. It's a Making Of featurette called "South of the Border with Disney" which was filmed during Walt's good will tour of Latin America at the beginning of World War II. It had been previously included in the bonus features on the Laserdisc I mentioned, as well as on the two subsequent DVD releases.

Along with the documentary, the only other bonus feature on the DVD for Saludos Amigos is the original theatrical trailer. Again, the movie isn't super long and this was still relatively early in the Gold Classic Collection's lifespan, so this DVD is probably the most bare in terms of content given not much is on it and the movie is short.

Released on June 6th, 2000, this is the first home video release ever of Make Mine Music. It's also the only VHS release of the movie. This is another movie that I didn't grow up watching as it never aired (in it's entirety anyway) on TV, and of course we didn't have this VHS release. I've seen it as an adult of course, but this movie has mainly stayed in the vault for the last 21 years. Both The Band Concert, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to be made in colour, and the Silly Symphony, Farmyard Symphony are included as bonus features.

While it's VHS release is the only release on that format, this DVD for Make Mine Music is also the only other home video release this movie has ever seen. It's never been re-released in North America, and it's not even on Disney+. Other countries have had other VHS and DVD releases of the movie though. And I think that's because the Martins and McCoys segment is considered to be offensive or something along those lines. It doesn't explain why Disney chose to release it on VHS and DVD in 2000, but not any other time as you'd think it'd be more offensive in 2000 than in the late 80s and early 90s when The Three Caballeros, Dumbo and Peter Pan were being released on home video. In any case, because Make Mine Music has never been re-released in 21 years for reasons unknown, the DVD is either a rare find because Disney took it out of print, or it's going to be the easiest to find because Disney DIDN'T take it out of print because it's the only release out there of the movie in North America. The VHS release is definitely out of print by this point given that movies aren't being released on VHS anymore.

This is the final VHS release of Melody Time. It's also the second as the movie had been released on VHS in 1998, near the end of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection's lifespan. There isn't a whole lot to say about this VHS release as there aren't any bonus features on it. Like Make Mine Music, Melody Time was released on VHS and DVD in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection on June 6th, 2000.

Like with Make Mine Music this is the only DVD release of Melody Time in North America. However, unlike Make Mine Music, Melody Time is on Disney+. There are also three cartoon shorts on here, Casey Bats Again, Donald Applecore, and Lambert the Sheepish Lion. There really isn't much else to say about this release.

Next up is Pocahontas. Also released on June 6th, 2000. We're starting to get more into the releases where the exact same bonus features are included on both the VHS and DVD releases for the collection. There are only two music videos as bonus features but they are "Colors of the Wind" by Vanessa Williams and "If I Never Knew You" by Jon Secada and Shanice. 

The original theatrical trailer is the only additional bonus feature on the DVD version of this release. One thing that I like about the cover is that it's a slightly modified version of the art used on the original theatrical poster from 1995. Both VHS releases of Toy Story also used a modified version of the theatrical poster for their covers as well, but most Disney home video covers are made specifically for those releases. And that's really the same across all studios that have home video releases. The VHS tapes from the 80s usually used the movie posters for the cover art. As did alot of the ones from the 90s (outside of Disney of course).

The next release is bizarre because it's not even a Walt Disney Animation Studios (Walt Disney Feature Animation at the time) release. A Goofy Movie was actually produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, which handled all of the Disney Afternoon animated shows. The VHS release only has two bonus features. One is the Goof Troop episode, "Calling All Goofs" and the other is the music video for "Disney Mambo No. 5" by Lou Bega, which I remember seeing on Family Channel in 2002 or 2003. It's fitting as well because I heard "Mambo No. 5" on the radio all the time in 1999 and 2000. I mean my grade 7 class did our own performance of the song in a very Glee style fashion, before Glee was even a thing. Including me in my wheelchair. 

The DVD has those two bonus features, as well as a Trivia game, a DVD storybook, the original theatrical trailer, and "The Goofy Success Story", which is an episode of the old Disneyland TV show that would become the Wonderful World of Disney in the 80s and 90s. While I didn't have this DVD or the accompanying VHS release, I did have the original 1995 VHS release of A Goofy Movie when I was a kid. I loved this movie as a kid. Honestly when I was in high school I felt like Max does in this movie sometimes. Not because my parents were intrusive like Goofy was at the beginning of the movie, because they weren't, but because I was different from everyone else and people made fun of me for it, whether I knew it or not.

Next is Fun and Fancy Free. As I said in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection post, I didn't have this movie when I was a kid, on any home video format, but Mickey and the Beanstalk was on TV all the time and I'm pretty sure I watched it every single time it was on. Especially if it was on during The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights, the only time we were allowed to eat in front of the TV. There are two bonus features on this tape. The first is the Making Of featurette, "The Story Behind Fun and Fancy Free" which was also on the Masterpiece Collection tape. The second is the music video for "Disney Mambo No. 5" by Lou Bega. I told you that "Mambo No. 5" was hugely popular in 1999, 2000 and into 2001, and I guess the Disney version was too, because it was everywhere during this time.

The DVD isn't much different than the VHS edition. It just added a Trivia game and a "Mickey and the Beanstalk" read-along as bonus features in addition to the two that had already been on the VHS release. While this is the only DVD release of the movie, in it's full form, Mickey and the Beanstalk had a separate DVD release in 2009, Fun and Fancy Free did have a Blu-ray release in 2014 when it was released with The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in a 2-Movie Collection. No individual Blu-ray release though.

With the release of Alice in Wonderland we start getting into movies that have had multiple VHS releases in previous lineups. I've talked about this movie so much in two of my previous Disney home video overviews that I really don't have a whole lot to say about this release. The cover is the same one used for the 1999 Masterpiece Collection re-release even though it's not the exact same release like the Gold Classic Collection releases of Pinocchio and Mulan were. The only bonus feature is the 1951 promotional featurette, Operation Wonderland, which was one of Disney's first TV specials, long before Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club started. Which is still pretty cool.

The Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection DVD release of Alice in Wonderland is the first DVD release to include Sing-Along versions of songs from the movie as bonus features. Basically these segments are from the Disney Sing-Along Songs VHS releases, but they're pulled out of the tapes and included on the DVD. The Platinum Editions as well as the non-aligned special edition DVD releases would have this feature as well. A DVD storybook, a Trivia game, and the 1974 theatrical re-release trailer are all included on the DVD as well. 

Then we have Mary Poppins. I don't have much to say about this release. The only bonus feature on the VHS is a featurette called "Hollywood Goes to a World Premiere" and that's it. This is also one of the movies that had so many releases in the 90s and 2000s that I'm amazed the Disney Wiki managed to keep track of all of them. 

The DVD includes the documentary "Mary Poppins: Practically Perfect in Every Way- The Magic Behind the Masterpiece", the theatrical trailer, and a Trivia game. Having never owned any Gold Classic Collection releases, I have no idea if the Trivia game is the exact same on all of them, or if they're tailored specifically to the movie contained on the disc. Also this is the movie's second DVD release as a DVD release had come out on March 24th, 1998 and was Disney's very first DVD release ever. I would actually be interested to find out what Disney's first VHS release was as well.

The next release was Robin Hood. You all know my history with this movie so I won't talk about it again here. A colourized version of the Mickey Mouse cartoon, Ye Olden Days, is included as a bonus feature after the movie on this tape. The original black and white version would appear on all subsequent DVD releases as well as the movie's only (so far) Blu-ray release.

The DVD release, the first for the movie, includes the colourized cartoon as a bonus feature. Otherwise there really isn't that much more than that on this release. There's the standard DVD storybook, Trivia game and the Sing-Along for the song, "Oo-De-Lally". And that's pretty much all that the later DVD releases include as well, with the addition of some deleted scenes.

I also don't have anything to say about this VHS release of The Rescuers Down Under either. There aren't any bonus features on it, it's just the movie. I've also already talked about this movie in the Walt Disney Classics overview that I did before. So let's just move on to the DVD release.

The DVD release has a Read Along feature, as well as bloopers, which don't usually happen in an animated movie, and the original theatrical trailer. One of the things you may notice as we continue through our journey going forward is that there's alot less information on each edition of the movie that has been released. The Walt Disney Classics and the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection had the most to talk about because for the vast majority of the movies they were the first time the movies had been released on home video. But except for Saludos Amigos and Make Mine Music, all of the movies in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection have all been released one or more times on home video even if this was the first time that most of them had been released on DVD. There's also alot less information on the creation of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection than there was for the Walt Disney Classics as well. 

It also doesn't help that I don't have any examples of tapes and DVDs in this line, whereas I have at least one example from each of the other lines going all the way back to the Walt Disney Classics VHS tapes. Anyways let's get back to the releases.

Next is Hercules. Amazingly this is probably the only Gold Classic Collection tape where there's a Making Of featurette on the tape. There's also a music video for the Ricky Martin version of the song "Go the Distance" as a bonus feature as well.

The DVD for Hercules is a direct re-issue of the Limited Issues DVD release from the year before. Which includes the music video, the Making Of featurette and film recommendations, which included the other Limited Issues DVD releases, at least the ones on the Limited Issues DVD of The Jungle Book were. If the film recommendations on this release are different than the previous DVD release, then that would be the only difference between the two DVDs.

By 2000 most movie studios had started to embrace the DVD format, it having effectively replaced Laserdisc as the premium format for movies, though it would still be about five years until studios stopped releasing movies on VHS. Disney, as always, was slow to embrace the new format. I'm not sure how the 1998 DVD releases of Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas sold, but the Walt Disney Limited Issues DVDs were deemed a failure with sales as well, as would the Gold Classic Collection, which is probably why Disney would continue putting out VHS releases of the Platinum Editions until 2007 and why they were slow to pull the plug on VHS releases in general since that format had made them tons of money since 1984. This is also probably why they simply ported over content from previous DVD releases to certain releases through the early 2010s as well for the classic films. 

Next up is Pixar's second feature, A Bug's Life. This release contains the Pixar short, Geri's Game, which had also been released on the movie's previous VHS releases. However the alternate outtakes and original outtakes aren't included on this tape during the credits like they are on the previous releases. And unlike the previous releases which had five different covers, as well as a widescreen edition, this release has the combined cover with everyone, except for Hopper, on it and it's just presented in fullscreen. 

The DVD edition is just a port of the original single disc release that came out in early 1999. Same bonus features and everything. However it's also a step down because a two-disc collector's edition DVD of the movie was released in November, 1999 with tons of bonus features, including an audio commentary, a behind the scenes documentary, similar to the one that's on the DVD for The Incredibles, and other early Pixar films, the short, and the outtakes. This one just has the short and the outtakes and that's it.

 Next is Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. I honestly don't know why this movie was even included. Not only is it a direct-to-video sequel, but it's also a sequel to a movie that people had mixed reactions on, AND this sequel didn't sell very well back in 1998 when it was first released on VHS. I've actually heard nothing but bad things about it. Although this is the only time where a movie and it's direct-to-video sequel are released in the same home video lineup. The old cartoon Little Hiawatha is included on this release as the only bonus feature.

The DVD release has the cartoon short as well as a Trivia game and a DVD storybook as the bonus features. And that's all I have to say about this release, except that it's still a really odd choice, when certain movies were completely left out of this lineup. Like Aladdin for example. By 2000, the only home video release of the movie was the original 1993 Walt Disney Classics VHS release, with it's accompanying Laserdisc release. It was absent from the Masterpiece Collection and didn't get an individual VHS release or a Walt Disney Limited Issues DVD release either. In fact the next time it would appear on VHS would be the 2004 Platinum Editions VHS and it's first time on DVD would also be the Platinum Edition.

Surprisingly the next release would be The Black Cauldron, a movie that Disney had attempted to distance itself from in previous years. However, it must've sold pretty well when it first came out on VHS in the Masterpiece Collection since it got re-released so soon. They included the Donald Duck cartoon, Trick or Treat, as a bonus feature on this VHS release and that's it.

It's still weird to me that The Black Cauldron was released on DVD before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was. This DVD also has some decent bonus features. There's a full game called "The Quest for the Black Cauldron", the original theatrical trailer for the movie, which probably hadn't been seen on home video since the original 1985 Walt Disney Classics VHS release of Pinocchio, and a full behind the scenes still image gallery, which was a first for Disney DVD releases. At least for those in this line. All of this would be ported over to the 25th anniversary DVD release that came out in 2010. It hasn't been released on DVD since then and there hasn't been a Blu-ray release. The Black Cauldron is on Disney+ though.

The next release in line is The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which is a pretty great movie. Though I do prefer The Wind in the Willows over The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, both are pretty good. This release includes the Mickey, Donald, and Goofy cartoon, Lonesome Ghosts, which is actually one of my favourite Mickey Mouse cartoons from the 1930s. 

The DVD release has a few more bonus features on it. In addition to Lonesome Ghosts, the DVD includes the Sing-Along Songs version of The Merrily Song sung by Mr. Toad, a cartoon from 1952 called Susie the Little Blue Coupe, a The Legend of Sleepy Hollow storybook (not sure if it's a physical storybook or a DVD storybook), and a "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" game. The cover art would also be used for the 2014 DVD, the 2014 individual Blu-ray release, and the 2014 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray release where it was paired with Fun and Fancy Free which is a bizarre pairing and the storybook would be carried over as well to all three releases.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas is a movie that I have never seen, but I do remember seeing the home video commercials for the original VHS and DVD releases that came out in 1999. I had actually planned on watching it on Disney+ at Christmas time, but time just got away from me last year and I never got around to it. This year for sure though. What's strange about this release is that while the 1999 VHS release didn't have any bonus features, this one does, taking the music video by SheDAISY (anyone remember her/them?) for "Deck the Halls" from the 1999 DVD release, which is interesting.

The DVD adds a few more bonus features that weren't included on the VHS. In addition to the music video there's a DVD storybook of "The Gift of the Magi" and Sing-Along Songs versions of "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle Bells". I really should try to track down some of the Gold Classic Collection VHS or DVD releases, just so I can say I have an example from the line as I have one or more examples from the other home video lines. 

Up next is Pete's Dragon. I've seen this movie only once, maybe twice as it's one we didn't own and we only rented it maybe once or perhaps twice, I honestly don't remember. Actually, I think I actually watched this movie at school when I was in grade 2 or 3 for the Greely Elementary School Winterlude event, where the entire school, except those of us who couldn't, would go skating on the Rideau Canal and the rest of us would play games and watch movies all day. That's how I watched FernGully: The Last Rainforest for the first time. It was an earlier VHS release that we watched though, not this one, since I left Greely Elementary School in 1999. This release just includes a 1946 Donald Duck cartoon, Lighthouse Keeping, because there's a lighthouse in Pete's Dragon and that's the only connection.

The DVD has a game based on the movie called "Where's Elliot? The Disappearing Dragon Game", a stills gallery, excerpts from a 1956 episode of Disneyland and an episode of Disney Family Album which focused on animator Ken Anderson, who wasn't one of Disney's Nine Old Men, but worked closely with them on the animated movies of the 60s and 70s like 101 Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone. There's also a 1974 cartoon called Man, Monsters, and Mysteries which features the Loch Ness Monster, because Elliot is the Dragon in Pete's Dragon. Such weird justification for including those particular cartoons. 

Next is The Sword in the Stone. As I said in my previous Disney home video overviews, this is a movie that I watched a few times on VHS or on TV, but never owned it. Mainly because Madam Mim scared the crap out of me when I was a kid and I always covered my eyes when she was on screen. Because of that I never got the movie on any home media format. However, I think if there were releases from the Gold Classic Collection that I would get if I could it would have to be the DVD releases of The Sword in the Stone and A Goofy Movie. Or even this VHS release of The Sword in the Stone. There's a featurette on the Sherman Brothers, Richard M and Robert B, who did so much of the music for Disney in the 60s and 70s. Not just in animation but for live-action as well and for Disneyland as well. Then there's the cartoon, A Knight for a Day from 1946, and starring Goofy.

The DVD includes the 1957 Disneyland episode, "All About Magic", the Mickey Mouse cartoon Brave Little Tailor, a DVD scrapbook, the Sing Along Songs versions of the songs from the film, "Higitus Figitus" and "That's What Makes the World Go Round", Film Facts, the Sherman Brothers featurette, and A Knight for a Day. Which is why I would buy this DVD for my example of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. Alright we're down to our final two releases. One is the final VHS and DVD release, and the other is a VHS only release strangely enough.

The final VHS and DVD release in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection is Bedknobs and Broomsticks. As I mentioned in the Masterpiece Collection overview, I saw the 1986 VHS release of this movie on a few occasions so I'm pretty familiar with this movie, though I haven't actually seen it in about 30 years. I remember enjoying it. This release has the same Sherman Brothers featurette that the release of The Sword in the Stone has. The DVD has it as well, but it's the only bonus feature on this VHS.

And finally we're at the last DVD release in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. I think of all the DVD releases in this lineup, this one has the most bonus features. It has the featurette as well as several cartoons, tons of theatrical trailers including the 1979 re-release trailer, a scrapbook, Film Facts, a recording session sequence for the song "Portobello Road" and a reconstruction of a missing musical number, which would be an interesting feature to watch.

The final release in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection is Oliver & Company. The only bonus feature on this release is the Mickey Mouse and Pluto cartoon, Lend a Paw which was released in 1941. That's it. I think that's just because they were getting ready to launch the Walt Disney Platinum Edition line and they ended up releasing Oliver & Company on VHS and DVD in a Special Edition release in 2002 with more bonus features, but with the same cover art, minus the Gold Classic Collection banner.

The Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection is a bizarre compilation of movies from all across the company. I mean you had Walt Disney Feature Animation films, Walt Disney Productions films with the live-action movies, Pixar films, and Disney Television Animation films. To this day that hasn't happened since. Also this was the last lineup that Hercules, The Black Cauldron, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Melody Time, Oliver & Company, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Aristocats, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Mulan, Pocahontas, The Rescuers Down Under and The Sword in the Stone are part of. After this they all started getting released separately, all in similar packaging to the Platinum Edition DVD releases.

Alright guys that's going to be it for me for today. Again, apologies for the length of this post. Originally I was going to split it up into two parts before deciding that that would be way more work than was necessary for this series. Especially since I talked about the same things for the VHS and DVD releases. Next week I'll be talking about the Walt Disney Platinum Edition line, where hopefully I'll have more interesting things to say about each release. I'll also be back on Friday to review the final issue of Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

A Look Back at the Live-Action Disney Sing-Along Songs #5: Beach Party at Walt Disney World (1995)

 Hey guys! How are your weekends going so far? I was actually pretty busy this weekend for a change, which was nice. I only have four live action Disney Sing-Along Songs (including this one) left to do, so I decided that I'm going to alternate with Video Game Memories until this series is over. Today I'm taking a look at Beach Party at Walt Disney World, the last of the Mickey's Fun Songs tapes to be released. So let's get right into it because I am really excited to be talking about this one.

This video is probably my favourite of the Mickey's Fun Songs releases and my favourite, so far, of the live action Disney Sing-Along Songs tapes, next to Disneyland Fun. I don't know if it's because there's more energy to this one than the others or if it's just because I love going to the beach and the beach theme is more timeless than the circus theme, which is very 90s, and more accessible than the camping theme as while not everybody has gone camping, most people have been to the beach at least once in their lives. Whatever the case is, this is the best of the Mickey's Fun Songs tapes in my opinion. And in a few other people's opinion too as this seems to be the tape I see reviews for the most on YouTube and it's the one that people speak of the most highly after Disneyland Fun, even if they didn't watch it when they were kids. There's just something about it that screams fun.

Unlike with the other two Mickey's Fun Songs tapes there are no songs from The Jungle Book anywhere on this tape. Instead we get "A Pirate's Life (Is a Wonderful Life)" from Peter Pan and "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, sung by Jodi Benson herself, reprising her role as Ariel's voice from the movie. Which is pretty cool. The rest of the songs are a mix of classic beach and celebration themed songs such as "Surfin' Safari" by the Beach Boys, and classic children's songs like "Three Little Fishies", which is a fun combo.

Other Disney characters show up like Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Ariel, Aladdin and Jasmine (the theme park walk around characters). However I noticed that this tape is much more focused on the kids with the Disney characters barely having any speaking lines. Tiffany Burton and Toby Granger are the only kids to appear in all three Mickey's Fun Songs videos, with Tiffany having the most screentime because for whatever reason the camera kept focusing on her, especially during songs. Another thing about the kids is that unlike the other Disney theme park set tapes, we actually learn all of their names, both during the song "Set Your Name Free", a song that I was completely unfamiliar with before watching this tape, and at the end of the tape before the end credits start rolling, which is pretty cool.

Originally released as the final volume in the short-lived Mickey's Fun Songs series, Beach Party at Walt Disney World is another Disney Sing-Along Songs tape that I missed when I was a kid. I think I mentioned this back in one of my other Sing-Along Songs reviews, but we stopped renting tapes from the series after Colors of the Wind had come out. I only owned Heigh-Ho, The Bare Necessities, and Disneyland Fun, but after Colors of the Wind I actually stopped seeing the series at the video store, aside from the earlier tapes that we'd either rented before or I'd watched when I was in the hospital. Especially the live-action tapes. Those I don't remember seeing at the video store at all. 

The video got released on DVD in 2005, but like I said, I missed out on all three releases of it. One interesting thing to note about Beach Party at Walt Disney World and it's home video releases is that the picture on the front cover is the same through all three versions. Which is interesting. But that seems to be par for the course when it comes to the Disney Sing-Along Songs tapes. 

There are a few things that I wrote down in my notes that I wanted to be sure to bring up. I know Mickey is magical, but when did he gain the ability to teleport everywhere? I mean the clown in Let's Go to the Circus! threw glitter on everyone to send them to their seats in the big tent, but in Campout at Walt Disney World they used conventional transportation to get everywhere. I swear Barney's existence must've had alot of influence on this tape and how Mickey is portrayed in it, as Barney & Friends was a year or two old at the time this tape was produced, assuming it was produced in 1993 or 1994 (it came out in 1995) and it was the 90s so anything is possible. Also, I never realized this before but Peter Pan is kind of a jerk. I mean, the pirates weren't doing anything except singing and Peter just shows up and fights Captain Hook until Hook falls over the side of the pirate ship. 

Overall this tape is excellent. Despite missing it when I was a kid and not seeing it until I was an adult (gotta love YouTube), it's a fun video to watch. While I didn't find myself singing along with all of the songs, like I do with the three Disney Sing-Along Songs tapes I owned when I was a kid, there were a few of them that I did sing along to, mainly "Surfin' Safari" because it is a Beach Boys song and I can't help but sing along whenever I hear a Beach Boys song. If you're a 90s kid and you haven't seen this tape before, I definitely recommend checking it out. 

Alrighty I think that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back on Wednesday though for my overview of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection VHS releases and then on Friday I'll be reviewing the final issue of Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew. Next week I'll be taking a look at Super Mario Bros. 2 (the North American game, not The Lost Levels), and then in two weeks, I'll be looking at the next live action Disney Sing-Along Songs tape, Pongo & Perdita, which I haven't watched yet, but something tells me it's not going to be good. I'm almost tempted to skip it and just look at the next Disney theme park set tape, Happy Haunting Party at Disneyland, but I said I would review all of the live-action Disney Sing-Along Songs tapes and that one is included. So until next time have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Comics for Teenagers in the 90s and Early 2000s

 Hey guys! Happy Friday! I hope you all have fun this weekend it being Easter and all. Today I decided to pick a topic for a comic book discussion that is of interest. I'm going to be talking about teen comics that came out from 1991 until 2003. But I'm not just going to talk about American comics. I'm also going to be mentioning a couple of Manga series as well. This is not going to be a definitive list or anything. Far from it. It's just a few that I've read at least one issue of at some point in my life. Also, I'm going in fairly chronological order here, so let's get started.

First up is Codename Sailor V by Naoko Takeuchi. This was the precursor to Sailor Moon and ran for 15 chapters from 1991 until 1997 in the Manga magazine, RunRun. The Manga volumes were released from 1993 until 1997. The story is about Minako Aino, who is chosen to become Sailor V, a superhero who fights crime in Tokyo, Japan. As the series goes along Mina discovers more about her role as Sailor V and about the much larger picture. If you've read this series, you can tell just how much Naoko Takeuchi re-used in Sailor Moon right down to Minako's personality being similar to Usagi in Sailor Moon. Of course Minako actually gets better with her new abilities much faster than Usagi, but honestly, that's just because this series was short compared to Sailor Moon and she didn't have as much time to flesh Minako out. When Kodansha Comics re-released the series in 2011, I picked the two volumes along with the first few volumes of Sailor Moon and I was startled with how similar the two books were. Alright so let's move on to the next book.

In 1992 Super Sentai was a pretty popular series in Japan. Naturally, Naoko Takeuchi was a fan, and as a result she redeveloped her Sailor Soldier concept into a mash-up of Super Sentai with the equally popular Magical Girl genre to create Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon or Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon as the Manga became known as here in North America. While 14 year old Usagi Tsukino is the main protagonist of the series, and it initially focuses on her life as a junior high school student and as Sailor Moon, she is joined by (initially) four other girls including Minako Aino, a.k.a. Sailor V or Sailor Venus as she is now known as. So it takes the superhero team concept, including a sixth member who is different from the core group of five (Tuxedo Mask), from Super Sentai and combines it with the concept of a teenage girl given magical powers to fight evil with the assistance of a talking animal. I didn't read the Sailor Moon Manga until I was an adult and Kodansha Comics re-released the paperbacks here in North America, but the Anime came here in 1995 to capitalize on the success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and I watched that with my siblings all the time. The Manga is pretty good though.

 Now moving on to DC Comics, we come to one of my favourite comic book series of all time, Robin, starring the third Robin, Tim Drake. While previous Robins, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, occasionally went out on cases on their own, Tim is the first Robin to be almost entirely his own character, apart from Batman. And even though Dick Grayson had his own solo series in Star Spangled Comics from 1947 until 1952, I don't think many people actually remember that it existed. Tim Drake actually had three mini-series prior to the monthly title coming out, with the first one starting in 1991 right after Tim officially became Robin. But then Knightfall happened and suddenly Jean Paul Valley became Batman and Tim was no longer welcome in the Batcave. Even after Bruce Wayne returned after Prodigal, Tim continued with his own adventures until Robin was cancelled in 2009 following Bruce's supposed death in Final Crisis. What made Tim Drake unique from Dick Grayson, is that Tim had his own supporting cast, including the villains he fought. Occasionally he'd fight a Batman villain, but mostly he fights his own bad guys. 

Probably my favourite supporting character in Robin is Stephanie Brown, a.k.a. the Spoiler. Originally introduced in Detective Comics #647, Steph became a staple of the Robin comic and was almost a secondary protagonist because she and Tim were the characters who had story arcs throughout the series. Steph even became Robin for a little bit in 2004 after a storyline where Tim's father discovered Tim's secret identity and reacted badly to it. Once Robin was cancelled in 2009, Steph went on to become Batgirl in her own series, Batgirl. So that was pretty cool. I also like how Nightwing shows up from time to time in Robin too. I've never had the chance to read the entire series, but aside from owning several issues, I've also read a bunch in trade paperback collected editions.

 While I never read Impulse, I am quite familiar with the character. Bart Allen was a member of Young Justice, and then as a member of the Teen Titans after he became Kid Flash. I also remember seeing advertisements for his solo series in various DC books from 1995, as well as an article in the Summer 1997 issue of Disney Adventures. I don't know much about it, aside from the fact that, like Tim, Bart has a solid supporting cast such as Max Mercury. Of course it totally makes sense because Mark Waid wrote the first 27 issues of the series, and created Impulse during his time as the writer of The Flash.

In the same issue of Disney Adventures that I read about Impulse, there was a blurb about a comic book called Leave It to Chance about a girl named Chance who helps her father solve supernatural mysteries. And that's all I know about it. I've never read an issue, I've never even seen an issue in person before. I just know the name and the basic premise from the blurb in that issue of Disney Adventures. 

1998 was the year where teenage superhero comics were really starting to become popular at DC and Marvel, as three books came out that year that had teenagers as stars. The first one I'm going to talk about is Young Justice which was sort of an in between book between volumes of Teen Titans. This had the now classic team-up of Robin, Impulse, and Superboy and was probably the book that made Superboy a popular character since the solo title starring the character following Reign of the Supermen, didn't do quite as well. I've only ever had one issue of this series, issue #2, but I loved Peter David's humour in it and the banter between the three heroes. I find that the late 90s and early 2000s really made the sidekick characters into heroes in their own right, separate from their Justice League and Avengers counterparts and were the beginning for teenage superheroes that had no adult counterparts.

Next up is Spider-Girl, about Spider-Man and Mary Jane's daughter, in an alternate version of the Marvel Universe, who takes on the Spider mantle after Peter retires, becoming Spider-Girl. Unlike with the other characters I've brought up, Mayday Parker's supporting cast is pretty much made up of the kids of people that Peter Parker went to school with like Flash Thompson and others. So unlike Robin and Impulse, Spider-Girl's supporting cast, including villains, is tied much closer to Peter's history as Spider-Man. This series is really hard to find nowadays, but I managed to get the second issue at a local comic book sale.

The final series to be started in 1998 (of the three I'm talking about) was the debut of a team that would not really be known until they were turned into an animated movie by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2014. That team was Big Hero 6 and the book was Sunfire & Big Hero 6. In the late 90s Marvel was starting to find influence from Manga and Anime with this book which would later lead to the Marvel Mangaverse in 2000 and books like Agent X which was written by Gail Simone. Of course Anime had taken the world by storm with Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, and Pokemon among others, so it made sense that Marvel would want to cash in on that craze with comics that had similar art styles to Manga titles. I mean if you look at Sunfire on the cover of issue #1, he looks like he could be a Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z. 

 In 1999, a character was created that would also remain obscure until 2020 when she'd get her own TV series. That character was Courtney Whitmore, a.k.a. Stargirl, created by Geoff Johns. Of all the characters written by Johns, Courtney is nearest and dearest to him because she's based off his late sister, Courtney. While Stargirl has mainly been in Geoff Johns's run on JSA, she did have a 13 issue series that ran from 1999 until 2000 called Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. which was written by Geoff Johns. She hasn't had a solo book since then, though like I said, she's become a popular member of the Justice Society of America. People are loving the show as well, whose Showrunner is the character's creator, Geoff Johns. I haven't seen the show yet, and I don't know a whole lot about the comic, as I've never come across it at any comic book store, geek sale or comic book sale. The entire series has been collected in trade paperback recently as a tie-in to the TV series so depending on how I like the TV show, I might buy the trade and read the comic.

In 2000, Joe Quesada decided to revamp Spider-Man, going back to the character's origin for a more modern audience. He hired Brian Michael Bendis, and Ultimate Spider-Man was born. This had Peter in high school again, though this time around his best friend was Mary Jane Watson, and I think Harry Osborne was a friend of Peter's as well. Also, Uncle Ben and Aunt May are made younger and Aunt May is more tech savvy, similar to what DC tried to do with Jonathan and Martha Kent after Smallville started in 2001 whenever they did an updated origin story for Superman. I've only read a few sporadic issues of Ultimate Spider-Man so I'm not super familiar with this series as I wasn't reading current comics in 2000, and had no idea what Marvel Comics really was, outside of Spider-Man: The Animated Series from the mid 90s. Now we're going to get into three series that started in 2003 that I really enjoyed what I've read of it. One is from Marvel Comics, one is from DC Comics, and the third is from Image Comics.

I still wasn't reading current comics in 2003 so I didn't discover Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways until Brad lent me pretty much all of the trade paperback collections in 2009, going up to the beginning of the series's third volume. I absolutely loved it. It got made into a TV series for Hulu a couple of years ago and ran for three seasons. The comic is about a group of kids who discover their parents are actually supervillains as part of a secret organization, so they run away from home and decide to take their parents out by any means necessary, while there's a traitor among them. This series started at the height of the teen drama craze in the early 2000s when Smallville, Degrassi: The Next Generation, The O.C., and One Tree Hill were hugely popular.

The next book I'm talking about is Invincible by Robert Kirkman with art by Corey Walker and Ryan Ottley. Of the three books I'm talking about that came out in 2003, Invincible is the one that ran for the longest in terms of consecutive issues, as Runaways has come and gone in small increments, and the next book I'm going to be talking about, Teen Titans, only ran for 100 issues from 2003 until 2011 when DC revamped their continuity and began the New 52. Invincible on the other hand ran for 144 issues from 2003 until 2018. I've already reviewed the first issue on this blog back in November but I love this series, even though I've only read up to issue 8 as that's all I have in trade paperback form. Kirkman, who created The Walking Dead in 2003, after he created Invincible, wrote the series for all 144 issues and is now writing the episodes for the animated series based on the comic that's on Amazon Prime now. Walker did the art for the first seven issues, and Ryan Ottley took over starting with issue #8, though Walker returned for issues #127-132. So I thought that was pretty cool. I definitely wanna see the show as well as read more of the comics because I really enjoyed what I've read so far.

The final book I want to talk about today is Teen Titans. Now the Teen Titans have been around since the 60s, but this incarnation was written by Geoff Johns for the first 46 issues, with Adam Beechen taking over with issue #47, and included many of the characters featured, or introduced, in Young Justice. As with other comics from this era, I didn't read Teen Titans when it first started. Instead I read a couple of the trade paperbacks when I borrowed them from the library years ago, just before the series ended in 2011. I haven't read all of it though and I would definitely like to because I love Geoff Johns's work alot. While this comic never got a TV show adaptation, Titans is kind of an amalgamation of every version of the Teen Titans and there are definitely elements taken from Johns's run since he's one of the executive producers on the show, though he's not the Showrunner like he is on Stargirl.

As I said at the beginning, this is not a complete list of comics aimed at teenagers by any means. It's just meant to be a list of ones that I've read or that I would like to read. Of course I didn't include series that began in the 40s to the 80s like The Amazing Spider-Man, Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld, Superboy, the original Teen Titans, X-Men, or The New Teen Titans. I also didn't mention Archie Comics as a whole. These are just the ones that I probably would've read had I been reading current comics in the 90s and early 2000s.

That's going to be it for me for this week. I will be back next week though when I will be taking a look at Super Mario Bros. 2 (the North American game), the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection VHS releases, and the final issue of Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew. So until then have a great weekend, Happy Easter, and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Video Game Memories: Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Lost Levels) (1986)

 Hey guys! How's everybody's week been going? Mine's been pretty great. I hung out with Katie on Facebook Video Chat on Monday and I saw Brad on Tuesday, so that was cool. I'm not completely ready to do my overview of the VHS releases in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection yet, so that's why you're getting only two posts from me this week. Not to worry though I'll be back in full force next week. Right now though I'm here to do my Video Game Memories post on Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, which was known in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2. So let's get into it.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was originally released as Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo Famicom Entertainment System in Japan in 1986 as the sequel to the hit Nintendo game, Super Mario Bros. However, the problem with this game is that players found it to be much more difficult than the original game and so Nintendo of America decided not to localize it for the NES, and it remained a Japan exclusive game for the rest of the NES's life. 

North America ended up getting the 16-bit version when Nintendo released Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES in 1993. This is how I played it. It's how I and my family attempted to play it. None of us were very successful for the reason Nintendo decided not to release it on the NES in 1986. It's HARD!!! Even my mom couldn't get very far in this game because of how hard it is and she was REALLY good at Super Mario Bros. on the NES. So I honestly don't have much to say about this game because I've played it maybe only once and even today when I get out the Super Nintendo and play Super Mario All-Stars I usually only play Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (Super Mario Bros. USA in Japan), or Super Mario Bros. 3. Who knows, maybe the next time I get out the Super Nintendo I might try to play this game, just to see if it gets any easier for me now that I'm 28 years older than I was when we first got Super Mario All-Stars. I doubt it because I've seen YouTubers review this game and they all find it really hard still even though they're all adults now.

It was still fun sitting in the living room in our small log farmhouse, watching my mom try to play this game and then giving up in frustration to play one of the other games included in this compilation. One interesting thing is that Nintendo has ported it to the handheld consoles as well as the virtual consoles on the Wii, 3DS, and the Wii U, and to the Nintendo Switch. Though the NES Classic only includes the three Super Mario Bros. games that were originally released on the NES in the 80s. At least here in North America. I'm sure it showed up on the Famicom version in Japan. 

Alright guys I think that's going to be it for me for today. I've got a comic book post coming out tomorrow that I'm really excited about because it's not a review. Instead I'm doing a piece on a few comic book series published by DC, Marvel and Image from 1995 to 2003 that I honestly feel don't get talked about very much. So until then have a great day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.