DIS' 'n' DAT "All Disney news fitted to print" ____________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 May 93 Edition ____________________________________________________________ In this issue... + Future Animated Flix From Disney + Plot Summaries + That was then; This is now + NHL Update + Find the Hidden Mickey... ____________________________________________________________ Future Animated Flix From Disney ____________________________________________________________ The Walt Disney Company has announced, and is working on, two new animated features, ``The Lion King'' and ``Poca- hontas'' to be released in 1994. These movies have been discussed at length in other media and it makes no sense to rehash any tidbits about them. At DIS' 'N' DAT, we were curious about what animated features would be released after these two. Apart from some gossip, which we love to repeat anyway, WDC has been silent. Sequel mania seems to be hitting all over Disney, with a sequel to ``Fantasia,'' a prequel to ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'', and something called ``Silly Hillbillies'' that seems to us like ``Spaced Invaders Meet Jed Clampbett.'' We decided to do some rummaging through our information sources, and a Disney inciter, Deep Ears, has come through. Yes, we are told, Disney has its sights set on sequels, but the most interesting of them brings together two rela- tively recent Disney classics: ``The Aristocats Meet 101 May 93 DIS' 'N' DAT Page 2 Dalmations.'' The plot, we are told, is that Roger, Pongo's ``pet'' in the original 101D, moves his Dalmation Plantation to France (a plug for Euro-Disney is sure to be inserted), where they meet the cast from The Aristocats. This is an apparently an attempt to cash in on the cur- rent success of action pictures like ``Lethal Weapon,'' ``Rambo,'' etc. because all of the storyboards show fur fly- ing and characters being thrown all around. To our taste, this seems more like Disney's attempt to capture the classic Warner Brother's style from the 40's and 50's. What other projects can we expect? ``The Little Mermaid'' will have her own sequel, where Ariel and Eric become activists and start an organization that pickets seafood markets, restaurants, Sea World [appar- ently a snipe at Disney's competition in the Theme Park business], and other places where sea creatures are killed or shamelessly exploited. The counter movement is called ``Les Poissons'', and are spear-headed by Chef Louie from the original TLM movie. Although we have not yet seen the storyboards for this one, we understand that references will be made to such current events involving abortion rights/pro-life groups and AIDS activism. Ariel and Eric (accompanied by Sebastian and Flounder) evolve from peaceful demonstration to blowing up entire theme parks. The climax, we are told, will feature Monstro the Whale from ``Pinoc- chio.'' ``Aladdin'' will have its own sequel that features less of the main characters from the original movie and focuses on the Genie and Abu (the monkey). Robin Williams, who played the voice of the supreme sorceror in the original film, could not be reached for comment, as he was working on the promotional materials for the forthcoming video release of ``Toys.'' We were told that this particular project is still a bit ``iffy.'' I am sorry to disappoint ``Beauty and the Beast'' fans, but there is no plan as yet to give Belle and the as-yet unnamed Prince any sequel. This may change if the current plans for BATB on Broadway gets better than expected recep- tion. Disney Afternoon viewers may want to watch for a return of Hewie, Dewie, and Louie in a new series called ``The Mighty Ducks - The Animated Series,'' to be sponsored locally in the greater Los Angeles area by the Anaheim NHL expansion franchise. May 93 DIS' 'N' DAT Page 3 ____________________________________________________________ Plot Summaries ____________________________________________________________ We now continue the plot summaries started in the last issue of DIS' 'N' DAT. Since we realize that not all of our readers may be exactly familiar with the work of Walt Disney Productions, we are issuing this continuing series as a pub- lic service to our readers. This month, we feature two recent animated ``clas- sics'': THE LITTLE MERMAID A young mermaid is fascinated by humans, and is turned into a voiceless human by a witch. The girl must get a prince to kiss her, but the prince apparently is in love with her old voice. The prince kills the witch and marries the girl when she gets her voice back. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST A prince is turned into a beast by an enchantress. The beast locks up a girl's father for trespassing on his property. The girl, tired of offers of matrimony by the local hero, offers herself in exchange for her father. The beast falls in love with the girl. The local hero dies in an attempt to kill the beast, where- upon the girl falls in love with the beast and breaks the spell. ____________________________________________________________ That was then; This is now ____________________________________________________________ THEN NOW Walt Disney is in charge. Michael Eisner is in charge. First animated film was First animated file was "The "Snow White and the Seven Black Cauldron." Dwarfs." "Fantasia" "Fantasia Continued" (maybe) May 93 DIS' 'N' DAT Page 4 THEN NOW Live action and anima- Live action and animation: tion: "Mary Poppins." "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Film "20,000 Leagues "Under the Sea" gets oscar Under the Sea" gets oscar for best music. for special effects. "Walt Disney Presents" TV "Walt Disney Presents" TV program hosted by Walt. program hosted by Michael. Asked Annette to wear Darryl Hannah was topless one-piece bathing suit when making "Splash!" when she was making beach movies. Phil Harris does voice of Gilbert Gotfried does voice Baloo the bear. of Iago the parrot. Disneyland attendance Euro-Disneyland attendance higher than expected lower than expected after after first year. first year. "Old Yeller" is based on "Super Mario Brothers" is an American story. based on a Japanese video game. ____________________________________________________________ NHL Update ____________________________________________________________ As mentioned in the previous installment of DIS' 'N' DAT, Walt Disney Company is the proud owner of a spanking new NHL expansion team going by the dubious name ``The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.'' In an apparently unrelated area of business, Disney has also purchased the rights to the Queen catalog of songs. We thought that these two items were unrelated until a Disney inciter (Deep Gawrsh) explained the connection. ``With the rights to Queen's music,'' says our source, ``Disney will be able to get royalties from _all_ the other NHL teams when the fans start that familliar `STOMP-STOMP! CLAP! STOMP-STOMP! CLAP!' during the game.'' May 93 DIS' 'N' DAT Page 5 ____________________________________________________________ Find the Hidden Mickey... ____________________________________________________________ Our first ever contest, and we have had a flood... er... um... well, two entries. The contest is for readers of this glorious newsletter to ``Find the Hidden Mickey'' that is cleverly concealed on Michael Eisner, the CEO of Walt Disney Company. Keep the entries coming in, and we will reveal the location in a future issue of DIS' 'N' DAT. All people that care to enter, simply send mail to ``lg@dino.keyops.wang.com,'' with a subject line containing the phrase ``Hidden Mickey Contest,'' and describe exactly where you have spotted (or think you have spotted) Ole Mick' on the CEO of the Walt Disney Company. Contestants may enter as many times as they wish, and make as many ``findings'' as desired in each entry. If you wish your entry to be anonymous, please state so in your entry. The results will be posted in a future issue of DIS' 'N' DAT. An interesting tidbit was that this contest was origi- nally supposed to be ``Find the Hidden Goofy in the WDC Man- agement Structure,'' but test marketing of this contest showed that everybody got the correct answer (Jeffrey K.). So, all you out there in net-land... help the Great Mouse Detective find the hidden Mickey on Mikey and see your name in the pages of this rag! ____________________________________________________________ DIS' 'N' DAT is published semi-regularly by Larry Gen- sch. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without attribution to DIS' 'N' DAT. All incidents, situations, and events depicted or described in DIS' 'N' DAT are fictional, and any semblance to real life is really, you know, coincidental. People wishing to contribute to DIS' 'N' DAT should send email to the publication at the internet address "lg@dino.keyops.wang.com." Please state explicitly if you wish to retain copyright for any material submitted. May 93