Aladdin - Diamond Edition

[Escapay]

Speaking of that deleted Aladdin song... The Aladdin soundtrack have to get a proper/ultimate release featuring the entire Alan Menken score, cut songs and demos. Disney simply MUST expand their legacy collection and include Aladdin...

Agreed. I'd love for the soundtrack to actually be in order (as opposed to the "songs first, score later" listing), and for everything from "The Music Behind The Magic" as well as "My Finest Hour" to be on one supplemental disc. The "Music Behind the Magic" release split Aladdin across two discs as it repeated quite a few tracks from the original soundtrack. So it would be nice to see them consolidated and organized better.

Albert

[Kyle]

They were more than good enough for what they were and all I ask for out of something like this. The colors could have used some tweaking, but the animation itself was nice enough.

Okay, we can agree to disagree. Sorry if I seemed condescending, that wasn't my purpose.

You weren't condescending, I'm just not sure what more you would be looking for (aside from better color as I mentioned). Not trying to argue but I'll put it another way, it was better than what we would see in something like house of mouse or the timone and pumba animated series. And it was better than just a storyboard. For something that as far as I know never even made it to the big screen and made exclusively for the diamond edition it was well done I think.

[bruno_wbt]

Here's the official list of bonus features:

BLU-RAY/DIGITAL BONUS FEATURES

- The Genie Outtakes – Robin Williams’ Genie outtakes are magically brought to life
- Genie 101 – Our host, Scott Weinger (the voice of Aladdin), takes us through the various transformations of the famous (and formerly famous) celebrity references of the Genie
- Ron & John: You Ain’t Never Had a Friend Like Me – Directors John Musker & Ron Clements sit down and discuss the experiences of their long-running partnership together at Disney
- Aladdin: Creating Broadway Magic – Join host Darren Criss as we take “a new fantastic point of view” at the story of how Aladdin went from a classic Disney animated film to become Broadway’s smash hit with composer Alan Menken and others
- Unboxing Aladdin – Our host, Joey Bragg from Disney Channel’s Liv & Maddy, explore the Easter eggs and hidden secrets of Aladdin in this unboxing video
- Classic Bonus – ALL classic bonus from the original DVD release


DMA EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURE

- Deleted Song – “My Finest Hour” – Jafar takes the stage in this never-before-seen deleted song. Includes intro from Ron & John.

[ProfessorRatigan]

- Deleted Song – “My Finest Hour” – Jafar takes the stage in this never-before-seen deleted song. Includes intro from Ron & John.

Damn, how many songs did they write for Jafar? Humiliate the Boy, Why Me, the Prince Ali Reprise. And now My Finest Hour... I wonder who penned the lyrics for it? I'm assuming Tim Rice, because SURELY we'd have heard of it all ready if it were an Ashman song. I'm excited about this, actually. I'd been considering just importing the U.K. Blu-ray and not bothering with the Diamond Edition, but this may make me want to pick it up...

[Pasta67]

Classic Bonus – ALL classic bonus from the original DVD release

The use of the word "all" is pretty gutsy. Like, even the galleries? I'll believe that when I see it, but the thought of truly getting everything ported over is nice...

I honestly thought we'd seen all there was to see of Aladdin's deleted songs, so I'm very interested in listening to "My Finest Hour" and figuring out just exactly who wrote it. Shame it's a DMA exclusive, but I'm sure it'll be online for all to see in no time.

[Sotiris]

Damn, how many songs did they write for Jafar? Humiliate the Boy, Why Me, the Prince Ali Reprise. And now My Finest Hour...

Menken also wrote (both music and lyrics) a song for Jafar called "My Time Has Come". There's also the song "Master of the Lamp" written for Jafar by Tim Rice as well as a song called "Wazir's Song" written by Howard Ashman. So, that makes it a total of 7 songs for Jafar (or 8 if you count Broadway's "Diamond in the Rough" by Chad Beguelin).

I wonder who penned the lyrics for it? I'm assuming Tim Rice, because SURELY we'd have heard of it all ready if it were an Ashman song.

That was indeed written by Tim Rice.

[Sotiris]

New interviews with Eric Goldberg talking about Robin Williams and the making of Aladdin.

A touch of magic
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/get_ou ... ff633.html

Interview With Animator Eric Goldberg
http://noguiltlife.com/interview-eric-g ... d-blu-ray/

Disney Animation Studios with Aladdin & Eric Goldberg
http://www.missirosesviews.com/2015/10/ ... addin.html

Interview: ‘Aladdin’ Animator Eric Goldberg on Working with Robin Williams
http://nerdrepository.com/interview-ala ... -williams/

Bringing the Genie in Aladdin to life with Eric Goldberg
http://ocmomblog.com/bringing-the-genie ... -goldberg/

Genie Animator Eric Goldberg Talks Robin Williams & Bringing Genie To Life
http://www.womenandtheirpretties.net/ge ... nbloggers/

12 Behind-the-Scenes Aladdin Facts From Legendary Disney Animator Eric Goldberg
http://thatsitmommy.com/2015/10/12-behi ... -goldberg/

How Eric Goldberg created the Genie Outtakes for Disney's Diamond Edition of Aladdin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-hill/ ... 85678.html

Eric Goldberg On Animating Genie’s Outtakes from Aladdin
http://blogs.disney.com/insider/2015/10 ... m-aladdin/

Here’s How This ‘Aladdin’ Animator Turned Robin Williams’ Genie Outtakes Into Something Timeless
http://www.mtv.com/news/2355070/aladdin ... -outtakes/

[ChrisLyne]

Here's the official list of bonus features:

BLU-RAY/DIGITAL BONUS FEATURES

- The Genie Outtakes – Robin Williams’ Genie outtakes are magically brought to life
- Genie 101 – Our host, Scott Weinger (the voice of Aladdin), takes us through the various transformations of the famous (and formerly famous) celebrity references of the Genie
- Ron & John: You Ain’t Never Had a Friend Like Me – Directors John Musker & Ron Clements sit down and discuss the experiences of their long-running partnership together at Disney
- Aladdin: Creating Broadway Magic – Join host Darren Criss as we take “a new fantastic point of view” at the story of how Aladdin went from a classic Disney animated film to become Broadway’s smash hit with composer Alan Menken and others
- Unboxing Aladdin – Our host, Joey Bragg from Disney Channel’s Liv & Maddy, explore the Easter eggs and hidden secrets of Aladdin in this unboxing video
- Classic Bonus – ALL classic bonus from the original DVD release


DMA EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURE

- Deleted Song – “My Finest Hour” – Jafar takes the stage in this never-before-seen deleted song. Includes intro from Ron & John.

Ok, I already have the UK release but I'm importing the US release for the Genie Outtakes and Broadway Magic alone. Considering Aladdin was one of Disney's best DVD releases if they really bring everything over this will be the best Diamond Edition they've done in years!

The only real negative is My Time Has Come (I'm amazed and overjoyed that this is being released) is DMA exclusive. I mean really? That just isn't right! Can't they give everyone the song and make something like Unboxing Aladdin the exclusive? Or better yet, no exclusive!!

Personally I also wish they'd got James Monroe Iglehart to present the Broadway feature. Nothing against Darren Criss at all (and I'm much happier for him to do it than a current Disney Channel star since he's actually a big Aladdin/Alan Menken fan and may even play the part someday) but I was just really hoping for JMI.

[Sotiris]

I was looking around on YouTube and found some cool Aladdin-related videos so I thought I'd share.

Genie's Great Minds Think for Themselves from Disney's One Saturday Morning (You can find a couple of storyboards for the shorts, here).

Albert Einstein
Barbara Rose Johns
Benjamin Franklin
Clara Barton
Jackie Robinson
Louis Armstrong

Commercials with original animation

Make a Wish Foundation
Euro Disneyland
Halloween at Disneyland
Fruit Loops
Kellogg's Corn Flakes
KODE-TV

• Genie Pencil Test

[Flanger-Hanger]

Commercials with original animation

Thank you for posting these commercials! Like this Zorro themed ad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3mR52qUJdA), the Aladdin commerical shows how good the marketing was for Euro Disney when the resort was new.

[disneyprincess11]

Oh my goodness! I forgot all about Genie's Great Minds Think for Themselves until now! Thank you for posting this!!!

[Prince Edward]

Disney should have brought in Jonathan Freeman to record the "My Time Has Come" song (and any other unused Jafar songs for that matter), if they did not already have a recorded version from the movie production. And Disney better include all those Jafar songs on a proper soundtrack release (legacy collection for example) someday soon!

7(!) songs written for Jafar, yet he only ended up with a reprise of Prince Ali in the movie? Such a shame that Jafar never got a villain song in the movie, and it's also a shame that Disney did not manage to give Jafar more time in the spotlight in the Broadway musical.

And yes, this whole DMA exclusive stuff is so stupid. When costumers pay for the Blu-ray, why just don't give us all the available bonus material? So annoying that Disney does this.

[DisneyFan09]

Thanks for posting these adds, Sotiris! Great find! I remember seeing the EuroDisney one on TV as a kid.

[Avaitor]

So this will have all the previous DVD features?

[Flanger-Hanger]

So this will have all the previous DVD features?

We don't know for sure yet. If past is precedent, then the galleries (for example) probably won't be.

If however everything is included, along with the new bonus stuff, then I will gladly get this edition and get rid of my Platinum DVD and UK Blu-ray.

[Pasta67]

Genie's Great Minds Think for Themselves from Disney's One Saturday Morning (You can find a couple of storyboards for the shorts, here).

Thanks for the storyboards! I've never seen any of those before.

Would anyone happen to know how many "Great Minds Think For Themselves" shorts they produced? I get conflicting numbers at nearly every website I visit. I'd love to be able to track them all down.

Commercials with original animation

Make a Wish Foundation

This commercial was on Aladdin's Platinum Edition DVD, and I really hope an anamorphic version makes its way to the blu-ray (although I doubt it will). I've always thought the animation here was really good, and I think this might be the most recent appearance of Dan Castellaneta as Genie (outside of archival audio in Kingdom Hearts).

[Sotiris]

Would anyone happen to know how many "Great Minds Think For Themselves" shorts they produced? I get conflicting numbers at nearly every website I visit. I'd love to be able to track them all down.

Yes, there's a lot of confusion on the exact number of episodes. On some IMDb pages there are 12 episodes listed, on other pages there are 13, and on others 14. The Library of Congress website mentions 13 episodes. However, I've discovered there are 14 episodes in total.

Here's the list of episodes I've found (this list is based on the info on IMDb, the D23 website and the show's Emmy For Your Consideration ad).

Albert Einstein
Barbara McClintock
Barbara Rose Johns
Benjamin Franklin
Cesar Chavez
Clara Barton
George Washington Carver
Jackie Robinson
John Muir
Louis Armstrong
Sequoyah
Sojourner Truth
Susan B. Anthony
Thomas Jefferson

We've found 5 full episodes so far (the Clara Barton video is only a fragment.) There are 9 left. Happy hunting!

It's a shame that such an acclaimed show had no official release of any kind. The series was nominated for 2 Emmys in 1998; one for "Special Class: Animated Program" and another for "Performer in an Animated Program". It was also nominated for 5 Annie Awards.

I've always thought the animation here was really good.

That's because the Make a Wish ad was produced by the Special Projects division of WDAS.

[bruno_wbt]

DMA EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURE

- Deleted Song – “My Finest Hour” – Jafar takes the stage in this never-before-seen deleted song. Includes intro from Ron & John.

Here we have it!!! No need to have DMA!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkJ0I-r9vMI


Also, new music video for Friend Like Me by Ne-Yo from the new album We Love Disney

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/ne-yo-d ... d-34115509

Is this music video going to be included on the blu-ray?

[Matt]

Return Of Jafar is available on Amazon on Digital HD! That's so weird. I am wondering if I would wait though for the Blu-Ray combo pack. Hmmm.

[Sotiris]

Here we have it!!! No need to have DMA!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkJ0I-r9vMI

It's not the whole thing though. It's just a clip.