“Life is like a hurricane…”: DuckTales; plus Sonic and Snow White at 70!

by Ben | December 17, 2007 7:40 am

Hello! First up this week, Rand has posted a look at Disney’s latest classic TV series DVD, DuckTales: Volume 3[1], the third collection of the Carl Barks-inspired action adventure show that was a big hit for the Mouse’s fledgling television animation arm back in the mid-80s. As such, does the Disney of today merit the release with any decent extras? Nope, not a zip, though as Rand’s words confirm, it sure is fun to hang out with these ducks again, and this volume does make it to worthy status for fans due to completing the original series run and the ten episode/two adventure block commonly referred unofficially as season two. Though the series did slide after these episodes, there are still enough to fill out a Volume 4, which I hope we do see, to round out the program proper on DVD.

In other site news, we’ve a new Sonic Underground contest[2] gone up to win one of five copies of Shout Factory’s new multi-disc set.

Around the web, DVD Active[3] has posted the cover art for the ludicrous The Ten Commandments, the recent CG rip-off of DreamWorks’ sadly forgotten The Prince Of Egypt, which barely made it to a $1 million box office take a couple of months ago. With the trailer proclaiming “Elliott Gould as the Voice Of God”, I’m not sure how anyone could take it at all seriously.

Nothing against Mr Gould, who has consistently entertained me in many projects over the years, from M*A*S*H* through Capricorn One and the new Ocean’s… trilogy, but those words just sound as hysterically bad as the movie looks, though you’ll notice the playing down of poor CG imagery on the front for what looks like a more traditionally animated feature. Wow, folks are going to be disappointed, and then they’re really going to be disappointed!

Of much better quality, and bringing a little historical perspective to things, is the Great American Ink website’s latest little project. Celebrating 70 Years Of Snow White[4] And The Seven Dwarfs, the animation art gallery has pieced together a lovely tribute to the making and premiere of Walt Disney’s groundbreaking film which, at just under five minutes, expertly packs in all the info one might need on the subject.

The fun film scratching and the narrator’s newsreel tones (with a touch of Gene Kelly to my ears) only helps invoke the feeling of Old Hollywood and that magical night on December 21 1937 when animation and filmmaking was changed forever. The site also has some extra pages on the cels and history of the film, while the promo can also be seen directly at YouTube[5] in slightly higher (and certainly bigger) quality. The first and fairest one of all, she’s still looking good on her 70th birthday!

Obviously we’re coming into Christmas over the next weekend, so we’re doing our best to get some juicy Crimbo content up for you while we take a break over the holidays. There isn’t a great deal coming out in the first quarter of 2008, so we’ll also be catching up on some of the other recent titles we may have skipped over the year during the quiet months. Next up: our takes on a slew of late December titles, including the anticipated Walt Disney Treasures and some not-so anticipated video sequel reissues. Rest assured, while it may feel a little quiet around here, we’re still working hard!

Stay tooned! – Ben.