Walt Disney Treasures Wave 4 - Press Release

[Class316]

I've updated the first post with revised press release details including full contents of the sets and Maltin write-ups.

NICE!

So the good news:

No major double dipping on Pluto

Mickey is indeed complete

Bad news:

Forced Maltin intros before EVERY "vault" short

Pluto split in two volumes

[PatrickvD]

Bad news:

Forced Maltin intros before EVERY "vault" short

oh yes, to remind us what's politically correct and what's not

[Ciaobelli]

Nice to see the list, thanks again.

Whats the deal with the tins, I don't see the blue band around them.
Could it be bacause of ROY??

[Joe Carioca]

Positive points:
-All Mickey Mouses are include, as it had already been posted here on the forum
-The bonuses seem to be very interesting, although there aren't as many as on the other waves.
-Good to see that the segment edited from the "Disneyland U.S.A." DVD is going to be included.

Negative points:
-No paper bands around the tins. Talk about uniformity.
-Why aren't there more Pluto shorts included on the DVD? I think they should at least include all the 1947 shorts. Let's hope the length of the extras are the reason for that.
-Too bad they couldn't get Annette for the DVD interviews. I know this is because of her health problems, let's hope they at least include some archival interviews of her.

[Prince Adam]

I know he's the reason we get these DVD's, but I really can't stand Leonard Maltin. He's so annoying-there's just something about his face and the way he talks.

And yes, most of his intros are just reminders that certain behaviour is not acceptable today: we know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Class316]

The frustrating part is, just who does the pc police think they are telling US was is "appropriate" or not

[Tannerman]

So, with all the talk we've had about the Pluto shorts and double-dipping, would someone in the know like to summarize what the press release means regarding the Pluto sets? Are we getting ripped off or is this a good thing?

[Ciaobelli]

They better have the blue bands, thats the SPINE of the sets, how am I gonna recognize each one on the shelf?
I don't want to get rid of the tins since I spent big bucks getting them. DARN U DISNEY!!!

[Tannerman]

I'm not worried about the bands... I think those images we saw are just early artwork. I'd hope

[Class316]

It's a hassle to open and close tins. I display them without the tins. Lessens damage to the tins.

Oh, another negative I thought of:

MMC is not in color

[Luke]

So, with all the talk we've had about the Pluto shorts and double-dipping, would someone in the know like to summarize what the press release means regarding the Pluto sets? Are we getting ripped off or is this a good thing?

Well, there are (I think) 22 Pluto shorts left for the 2nd volume. They're putting a lot more shorts on Mickey Mouse B & W Vol. 2, so they surely could fit more on the Pluto set. But had they put all they could without over-compressing, they might have been left with like 5-10 shorts or something, and then THAT would be a really lame Volume 2 release. Hopefully, there will be lots of extras on both volumes to account for the split.

[Tannerman]

Thanks for the breakdown, Luke.

[MK Sharp]

Well, it all sounds pretty good to me.

The completion of the B/W Mickeys makes me as happy as cheese (which, as we all know, is the most cheerful of all dairy products), and if that necessitates the inclusion of some intros from Leonard Maltin in order to keep the lunatic fringe off Disney's back, then so be it. I don't mind Maltin, he's a cheerful bright host on the discs, clearly passionate about the contents, and I often get the impression that he's faintly embarrassed to be doing the old "these are caricatures of black people - we like black people these days, remember that kiddies" spiel.

There's a significantly lower number of shorts on the Pluto discs than the MMIBW discs, but then I thought the Mickey Mouse In Living Colour Vol 1 film-count was light on too. Heck, as long as they're throwing a decent bit-rate at the films, I'm not too fussed. Anyway, I like the occasional Pluto cartoon - First Aiders is one of my all-time faves.

All in all, I think I'm going to be a happy camper this Christmas.

[deathie mouse]

MK Sharp is black and white cheese happy

41 b/w shorts = 27.33 color shorts (remember b/w video when done right occupies two thirds the space of color video) (or the inverse: color video occupies 50% more space than b/w video ). I think there's 41 new mickeys in his treasure, and there are 28 Pluto shorts in the Pluto treasure (And one of them is b/w, no? so that's equivalent to 27.66 color ones )

I count 27 Pluto appearances still "missing" (if I'm correct) that could be in the next vol/treasure. (Haven't double checked if some of these titles are on another treasure or possible treasure)

So, hopefully they are giving us the shorts with minimal compression.

Here's my list of the 27 remaining ones:

1-"A Feather in his Collar"(1946) "Made for the Community Chests of America, Pluto demonstrates his community spirit by donating his collection of bones." (maybe this is a secret easter egg on this vol? )
2-"Rescue Dog"(1947)
3-"Mail Dog"(1947)
4-"Pluto's Blue Note"(1947)
5-"Bone Bandit"(1948)
6-"Pluto's Purchase"(1948)
7-"Cat Nap Pluto"(1948)
8-"Pluto's Fledgling"(1948)
9-"Pueblo Pluto"(1949)
10-"Pluto's Surprise Package"(1949)
11-"Pluto's Sweater"(1949)
12-"Bubble Bee"(1949)
13-"Sheep Dog"(1949)
14-"Pluto's Heart Throb"(1950)
15-"Pluto and the Gopher"(1950)
16-"Wonder Dog"(1950)
17-"Primitive Pluto"(1950)
18-"Puss-Cafe"(1950)
19-"Pests of the West"(1950)
20-"Food for Feudin'"(1950)
21-"Camp Dog"(1950)
22-"Cold Storage"(1951)
23-"Plutopia"(1951)
24-"Cold Turkey"(1951)
25-"Pluto's Party"(1952)
26-"Pluto's Christmas Tree"(1952)
27-"The Simple Things"(1953)

[MK Sharp]

Having just wandered off to check, there are 27 shorts on MMILC Vol1. So that seems to be about standard for colour, "big name" sets. (Although the Goofy set is pretty much packed to the gunnels, so who knows.)

There is the other factor that the later, colour shorts tend to be longer than the early 30s b/w ones. Standard lengths seem to be 6-7 minutes for early 30s, but up to 8-9mins by the end of the decade.

And yes, I am in a monochrome delirium of bliss...

[deathie mouse]

The average of short's length being 7.5 minutes, with NO supplements you could fit roughly about 30 color shorts or 45 b/w shorts with the maximum quality (minimum compression possible) on a treasure.

well there's about 35 minutes of video bonus material in the Goofy treasure plus the 46 shorts, that roughly would make the Goofy treasure be compressed about 67% more than minimum compression (1.67x)

But there's also the sound issue, the shorts are mono "2 channel" sound, so that takes less space than a surround track, so the exact video compression amount may be less than this rough calculation compared to the modern blockbuster with 3 or 4 multiaudio tracks and 80 bazillion subtitles

Anyway, since these are Treasures I think it's not so bad that they are splitting Pluto in two if this means we're getting better quality, for in using almost the minimum compression (while giving us a few extras) they are in a sense doing the Treasures now nearly as a "Superbit" edition (Cus that's really what a Treasure/Superbit edition should be: The maximun quality the format can hold)
Not that it's a world of difference, but if done optimally, theoretically if the Goofy shorts are compressed about 60-70% more, they are noisier/less sharp by 2 dB's

So Goofy is normalbit and Pluto is superbit. (I'd woulda liked it the other way around tho, as I said on a previous post )

As for all this space/compression guacamole, all i have to say is just one more thing.

Think Blue

[Chernabog]

How disappointing to see that Pluto is split in two volumes!
Why should they begin which such nonsence now after so many years of Treasures?
All Goofy cartoons fitted on one set and the Pluto cartoons should have done the same, if they didn´t have decided to put in a handful of cartoons that is not Pluto cartoons. So in the end IT WILL be double things on the Treasures due to this fact.

[Loomis]

How disappointing to see that Pluto is split in two volumes!
Why should they begin which such nonsence now after so many years of Treasures?

Probably because after so many years of Treasures they are running a little thin on animated shorts to put on there. It probably isn't so much how MANY can fit on 2 DVDs (as we know Goofy easily did it), but how many more sets can they milk from this puppy.

As for the bands, if this is true then I have to admit being a little disappointed. I know it is a piece of cardboard, but it I do dig uniformity on my shelves from a collector's standpoint.

However...

From a 'just happy to have them' standpoint, great to see all the Mickey toons will be on there. I think the 'From the Vault' idea, first introduced with the Frontlines discs, really helps Disney out of a PC nightmare. It kind of puts them in a different category (with a little help from Leonard), and helps parents avoid them completely I guess. So as far as content goes, it looks pretty sweet. I do place a lot of value on cosmetic things though

[ichabod]

At least the Pluto DVD is not full of shorts we alredy have on the other volumes! i don't mind if it has fewer shorts as long as we are not double dipping!

[Class316]

Shhh….I know two methods to get around Maltin’s blabber, but I won’t post them till AFTER we get all uncensored MM B&W shorts