Does anyone know the story behind it, or at least what it was about?
Silly Hillbillies from Mars
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Silly Hillbillies from Mars
Yes, this was once an actual project at WDFA. (in the late 80s)
Does anyone know the story behind it, or at least what it was about?
Does anyone know the story behind it, or at least what it was about?
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
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The following is what had been floating around on the disney usenet newsgroups back in 1992. In an interview with him in 1999, it was found out the truth behind this rumor that the movie never actually existed but started out as a joke from Kirk Wise after Beauty and the Beast had been completed. How it started was Kirk Wise and Gary Trusdale were asked in an interview what they were working on since Beauty and the Beast was done. Since they didn't have any idea what they wre working on next, they made a half-joking response about Silly Hillbillies from Mars. Well, here is what floated around for 7 years about it.
"Silly Hillbillies from Mars"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deleted Feature Animated Movie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Cast _
With the vocal talents of Pat Butram, Jim Cummings,
Eva Gabor, Phil Harris, Sterling Holloway, Haley Mills,
Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Winchell
_Story_
Loosely based on Red Planet (Robert Heinlein) and Out of the Silent Planet
_ Why Deleted_
Wise and Trusdale were given a choice between "Silly
Hillbillies from Mars" and "The Swan Princess" when BATB
was completed in the fall of '91. They decided on the former
when the Richard Rich refused to abandon his version, and
soon after, sometime in the summer or early fall of 1992, SHFM
was abandoned as they couldn't figure out a decent plot. So
they did Huchback.
_ About _
In light of Disney's recent stream of hits, it was bound to
happen: eventually, they would come up with what looks to be a dud.
But who was to know it would be one of such staying
power? Over 25 years in the making, and tentatively scheduled
for release in 1998, Silly Hillbillies on Mars is, without a doubt,
the longest-running project in animation history.
According to sources at Disney (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) the company was demorilized after Walt's death, and was looking around for a project to devote to his memory. The next (animated) feature to be brought out was The Jungle Book, but that didn't seem to be good enough for the late Disney. A better idea had to come.
Then, in 1969, the people at Disney, like nearly everyone else in the U.S.,
were inspired by the Apollo moon landings. Inspiration struck: Disney had not yet done a science fiction flick, and the genera was popular at the time. Since the moon landing had already been done, and the moon wasn't really a very inspiring place after all, they chose to base their film on Mars, and loosely followed both C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet and Robert Heinlein's Red Planet for story inspiration.>>>> Though they realized this dicotomy might pose certain problems,(!!!) they felt the challenge would be inspirational in the way Walt was: demanding that which they weren't sure they could deliver.<<< [emphasis mine, JMB]
In typical Disney fashion, an animation branch was set up in Houston, and
animators began to pore over the various pictures of Mars that Nasa had made publicly available, and some animators were sent to the dry valleys of Antarctica to get a feel for what life on Mars would be like. "It was a real blow when Nasa lost track of Magellan," said one animator. "I didn't want to go back to Antarctica."
The project hit a rocky period starting in the mid eighties, when
Michael Eisner and his team took over. To put it bluntly, they were appalled by the amount of time and effort spent on Silly Hillbillies already without it reaching the theaters, and a new director was brought in. Soon, however, it was decided to scrap the whole thing, and it looked like the end for this cartoon epic. But Roy Disney was not about to let his brother's tribute get lost, and work continued in secret.
"Jeff never did figure out why work was going so slowly from '86 to '88," said Roy. "I had animators working on Hillbillies, and hiding their work when Jeffrey came by. But now that he's gone, we can all come out of the closet." In '89, work was moved to Bluth Studios in Ireland, as Mr. Katzenberg was becoming suspicious. Mr. Disney visited his animators under the pretence of "golfing trips."
Now, the film is getting close to completion, and they are trying to figure out how to condense 318 minutes of film done over 3 decades into a coherent whole, of reasonable length. If they succeed, this film may indeed be the magnum opus Walt would have treasured.Silly Hillbillies on Mars Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Don Bluth, and Roy Disney Songs by Robert Sherman and Richard Sherman, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Metallica
"Silly Hillbillies from Mars"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deleted Feature Animated Movie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Cast _
With the vocal talents of Pat Butram, Jim Cummings,
Eva Gabor, Phil Harris, Sterling Holloway, Haley Mills,
Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Winchell
_Story_
Loosely based on Red Planet (Robert Heinlein) and Out of the Silent Planet
_ Why Deleted_
Wise and Trusdale were given a choice between "Silly
Hillbillies from Mars" and "The Swan Princess" when BATB
was completed in the fall of '91. They decided on the former
when the Richard Rich refused to abandon his version, and
soon after, sometime in the summer or early fall of 1992, SHFM
was abandoned as they couldn't figure out a decent plot. So
they did Huchback.
_ About _
In light of Disney's recent stream of hits, it was bound to
happen: eventually, they would come up with what looks to be a dud.
But who was to know it would be one of such staying
power? Over 25 years in the making, and tentatively scheduled
for release in 1998, Silly Hillbillies on Mars is, without a doubt,
the longest-running project in animation history.
According to sources at Disney (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) the company was demorilized after Walt's death, and was looking around for a project to devote to his memory. The next (animated) feature to be brought out was The Jungle Book, but that didn't seem to be good enough for the late Disney. A better idea had to come.
Then, in 1969, the people at Disney, like nearly everyone else in the U.S.,
were inspired by the Apollo moon landings. Inspiration struck: Disney had not yet done a science fiction flick, and the genera was popular at the time. Since the moon landing had already been done, and the moon wasn't really a very inspiring place after all, they chose to base their film on Mars, and loosely followed both C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet and Robert Heinlein's Red Planet for story inspiration.>>>> Though they realized this dicotomy might pose certain problems,(!!!) they felt the challenge would be inspirational in the way Walt was: demanding that which they weren't sure they could deliver.<<< [emphasis mine, JMB]
In typical Disney fashion, an animation branch was set up in Houston, and
animators began to pore over the various pictures of Mars that Nasa had made publicly available, and some animators were sent to the dry valleys of Antarctica to get a feel for what life on Mars would be like. "It was a real blow when Nasa lost track of Magellan," said one animator. "I didn't want to go back to Antarctica."
The project hit a rocky period starting in the mid eighties, when
Michael Eisner and his team took over. To put it bluntly, they were appalled by the amount of time and effort spent on Silly Hillbillies already without it reaching the theaters, and a new director was brought in. Soon, however, it was decided to scrap the whole thing, and it looked like the end for this cartoon epic. But Roy Disney was not about to let his brother's tribute get lost, and work continued in secret.
"Jeff never did figure out why work was going so slowly from '86 to '88," said Roy. "I had animators working on Hillbillies, and hiding their work when Jeffrey came by. But now that he's gone, we can all come out of the closet." In '89, work was moved to Bluth Studios in Ireland, as Mr. Katzenberg was becoming suspicious. Mr. Disney visited his animators under the pretence of "golfing trips."
Now, the film is getting close to completion, and they are trying to figure out how to condense 318 minutes of film done over 3 decades into a coherent whole, of reasonable length. If they succeed, this film may indeed be the magnum opus Walt would have treasured.Silly Hillbillies on Mars Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Don Bluth, and Roy Disney Songs by Robert Sherman and Richard Sherman, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Metallica
-
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 10
- Joined: January 21st, 2005
- Location: http://animationarchive.net
The following is what had been floating around on the disney usenet newsgroups back in 1992. In an interview with him in 1999, it was found out the truth behind this rumor that the movie never actually existed but started out as a joke from Kirk Wise after Beauty and the Beast had been completed. How it started was Kirk Wise and Gary Trusdale were asked in an interview what they were working on since Beauty and the Beast was done. Since they didn't have any idea what they wre working on next, they made a half-joking response about Silly Hillbillies from Mars. Well, here is what floated around for 7 years about it.
"Silly Hillbillies from Mars"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deleted Feature Animated Movie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Cast _
With the vocal talents of Pat Butram, Jim Cummings,
Eva Gabor, Phil Harris, Sterling Holloway, Haley Mills,
Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Winchell
_Story_
Loosely based on Red Planet (Robert Heinlein) and Out of the Silent Planet
_ Why Deleted_
Wise and Trusdale were given a choice between "Silly
Hillbillies from Mars" and "The Swan Princess" when BATB
was completed in the fall of '91. They decided on the former
when the Richard Rich refused to abandon his version, and
soon after, sometime in the summer or early fall of 1992, SHFM
was abandoned as they couldn't figure out a decent plot. So
they did Huchback.
_ About _
In light of Disney's recent stream of hits, it was bound to
happen: eventually, they would come up with what looks to be a dud.
But who was to know it would be one of such staying
power? Over 25 years in the making, and tentatively scheduled
for release in 1998, Silly Hillbillies on Mars is, without a doubt,
the longest-running project in animation history.
According to sources at Disney (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) the company was demorilized after Walt's death, and was looking around for a project to devote to his memory. The next (animated) feature to be brought out was The Jungle Book, but that didn't seem to be good enough for the late Disney. A better idea had to come.
Then, in 1969, the people at Disney, like nearly everyone else in the U.S.,
were inspired by the Apollo moon landings. Inspiration struck: Disney had not yet done a science fiction flick, and the genera was popular at the time. Since the moon landing had already been done, and the moon wasn't really a very inspiring place after all, they chose to base their film on Mars, and loosely followed both C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet and Robert Heinlein's Red Planet for story inspiration.>>>> Though they realized this dicotomy might pose certain problems,(!!!) they felt the challenge would be inspirational in the way Walt was: demanding that which they weren't sure they could deliver.<<< [emphasis mine, JMB]
In typical Disney fashion, an animation branch was set up in Houston, and
animators began to pore over the various pictures of Mars that Nasa had made publicly available, and some animators were sent to the dry valleys of Antarctica to get a feel for what life on Mars would be like. "It was a real blow when Nasa lost track of Magellan," said one animator. "I didn't want to go back to Antarctica."
The project hit a rocky period starting in the mid eighties, when
Michael Eisner and his team took over. To put it bluntly, they were appalled by the amount of time and effort spent on Silly Hillbillies already without it reaching the theaters, and a new director was brought in. Soon, however, it was decided to scrap the whole thing, and it looked like the end for this cartoon epic. But Roy Disney was not about to let his brother's tribute get lost, and work continued in secret.
"Jeff never did figure out why work was going so slowly from '86 to '88," said Roy. "I had animators working on Hillbillies, and hiding their work when Jeffrey came by. But now that he's gone, we can all come out of the closet." In '89, work was moved to Bluth Studios in Ireland, as Mr. Katzenberg was becoming suspicious. Mr. Disney visited his animators under the pretence of "golfing trips."
Now, the film is getting close to completion, and they are trying to figure out how to condense 318 minutes of film done over 3 decades into a coherent whole, of reasonable length. If they succeed, this film may indeed be the magnum opus Walt would have treasured.Silly Hillbillies on Mars Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Don Bluth, and Roy Disney Songs by Robert Sherman and Richard Sherman, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Metallica
"Silly Hillbillies from Mars"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deleted Feature Animated Movie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Cast _
With the vocal talents of Pat Butram, Jim Cummings,
Eva Gabor, Phil Harris, Sterling Holloway, Haley Mills,
Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Winchell
_Story_
Loosely based on Red Planet (Robert Heinlein) and Out of the Silent Planet
_ Why Deleted_
Wise and Trusdale were given a choice between "Silly
Hillbillies from Mars" and "The Swan Princess" when BATB
was completed in the fall of '91. They decided on the former
when the Richard Rich refused to abandon his version, and
soon after, sometime in the summer or early fall of 1992, SHFM
was abandoned as they couldn't figure out a decent plot. So
they did Huchback.
_ About _
In light of Disney's recent stream of hits, it was bound to
happen: eventually, they would come up with what looks to be a dud.
But who was to know it would be one of such staying
power? Over 25 years in the making, and tentatively scheduled
for release in 1998, Silly Hillbillies on Mars is, without a doubt,
the longest-running project in animation history.
According to sources at Disney (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) the company was demorilized after Walt's death, and was looking around for a project to devote to his memory. The next (animated) feature to be brought out was The Jungle Book, but that didn't seem to be good enough for the late Disney. A better idea had to come.
Then, in 1969, the people at Disney, like nearly everyone else in the U.S.,
were inspired by the Apollo moon landings. Inspiration struck: Disney had not yet done a science fiction flick, and the genera was popular at the time. Since the moon landing had already been done, and the moon wasn't really a very inspiring place after all, they chose to base their film on Mars, and loosely followed both C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet and Robert Heinlein's Red Planet for story inspiration.>>>> Though they realized this dicotomy might pose certain problems,(!!!) they felt the challenge would be inspirational in the way Walt was: demanding that which they weren't sure they could deliver.<<< [emphasis mine, JMB]
In typical Disney fashion, an animation branch was set up in Houston, and
animators began to pore over the various pictures of Mars that Nasa had made publicly available, and some animators were sent to the dry valleys of Antarctica to get a feel for what life on Mars would be like. "It was a real blow when Nasa lost track of Magellan," said one animator. "I didn't want to go back to Antarctica."
The project hit a rocky period starting in the mid eighties, when
Michael Eisner and his team took over. To put it bluntly, they were appalled by the amount of time and effort spent on Silly Hillbillies already without it reaching the theaters, and a new director was brought in. Soon, however, it was decided to scrap the whole thing, and it looked like the end for this cartoon epic. But Roy Disney was not about to let his brother's tribute get lost, and work continued in secret.
"Jeff never did figure out why work was going so slowly from '86 to '88," said Roy. "I had animators working on Hillbillies, and hiding their work when Jeffrey came by. But now that he's gone, we can all come out of the closet." In '89, work was moved to Bluth Studios in Ireland, as Mr. Katzenberg was becoming suspicious. Mr. Disney visited his animators under the pretence of "golfing trips."
Now, the film is getting close to completion, and they are trying to figure out how to condense 318 minutes of film done over 3 decades into a coherent whole, of reasonable length. If they succeed, this film may indeed be the magnum opus Walt would have treasured.Silly Hillbillies on Mars Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Don Bluth, and Roy Disney Songs by Robert Sherman and Richard Sherman, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Metallica
-
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 9050
- Joined: October 25th, 2004
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That's really interesting ....thanks!
However, this might sound really weird...I had a 1989 profile of Katzenberg and Disney, and this project specifically WAS mentioned. (along with Swan Princess)
Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. 
However, this might sound really weird...I had a 1989 profile of Katzenberg and Disney, and this project specifically WAS mentioned. (along with Swan Princess)
Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
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That's very interesting, I did a little more research and it was at the San Diego Comicon in 1992 when I first heard about it. It was also apparently mentioned in the June 29 1992 Variety magazine, but I am unable to actually pull up the actual article.
If you still have the 1989 profile of Katzenberg and Disney I would like see what they say about it.
The more I am finding out about it maybe there is actually truth in it.
If you still have the 1989 profile of Katzenberg and Disney I would like see what they say about it.
The more I am finding out about it maybe there is actually truth in it.
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- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 9050
- Joined: October 25th, 2004
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Actually, it didn't say much other than listing it with other planned projects like "Swan Princess", "An Arabian Night: Aladdin and his Magic Lamp," and "King of the Jungle." (I think Sinbad might even have been somewhere in there too--was probably axed sometime down the line)If you still have the 1989 profile of Katzenberg and Disney I would like see what they say about it.
It was basically about JK and the comeback of Disney, specifically Disney animation. It was written right when Little Mermaid was being released. (mid-November) The fact that Mermaid actually had Broadway songs and some "mature" themes (for 1989 anyway) made it a pretty big deal.
Oh and on this thread it DOES come up briefly:
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=sill ... 1&.intl=us
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
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- Posts: 9050
- Joined: October 25th, 2004
- Location: Binghamton, NY
I think that the Hillbillies project might have been entertained for a brief time at Disney, maybe as a "side project." It might have eventually "morphed" into My Peoples, which also has something of a hillbilly (not prejoritively intended) theme.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!