Disney, Henson, Vinton, Rankin Jr. & Bass: What More Can You Want!

One day watching  The Adventures of Mark Twain by Will Vinton I started to piece the  puzzles of my childhood entertainment, and where it came from.  In the world where corporations are merging, going through bankruptcy, being bought out, having assets sold (intellectual rights ) or all of the above or combination.  In this case – even though the corporate end is worth knowing – I wanted to know the artist, and people that the legacy has lived beyond the life. After great thought and deliberation I have decided on four (five) individuals (No secrets, look at the title).

There were certain criterion when deciding on the top four (five), and that is placed at the bottom, so you the reader do not get completely bored while waiting for the list.

To the List:

Walt Disney, Jim Henson, Will Vinton,  and Aurthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass have dominated my childhood cinematic and television existence more than anyone else.  These are the producers, directors, thinkers, and tinkers of different worlds with each style is different, the mediums which they tell their stories varies from each other.

Walt Disney: The Patriarch of the Animated Movie

Walt Disney with all his flaws (only human) created some of the most beloved programing that will remain at the top of the mountain.  The legacy that he created did not stop on  December 15, 1966  when he passed away.

He and his group of imagineers helped prepare me for the future genre of horror.  Movies such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty have some of the most terrifying scenes that one could watch (at any age). There are brilliant stories as well as the three listed,  but also (my favorites) Robin Hood, and The Sword in the Stone which I would argue are the best two adaptions (adult or children) for their particular parent story (Robin Hood & King Aurthur) in the history of film.  Other adaptations that I watched continuous as a child were from book to film were Winnie the Pooh, Marry Poppins, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  The list can continue form the 90’s to the most recent revival.

Image 1. Of course this is a brief list of motion pictures, and only one cartoon short that were created either to the producing skill of Walt Disney, or his legacy. I also decided that anything made form a subsidiary company would not be on this time line.  All images were found on Wikipedia, some of the images might be in public domain, and others are owned by Disney.  I have manipulated the images to make a unique piece of coolness.

Jim Henson: A legacy of the Muppet from Kermit the Frog, Big Bird to Yoda

Jim Henson is another one that his legacy inspired others way passed his passing away.  The Muppets were the most awesome creature like beings of television and film for a child, and even today going to the theater with of child at age five or was it four the movie seemed more for me than for him.  When Kermit is walking through his mansion he sings “Pictures in My Head,” and watching the still framed pictures of the other Muppets become living 3d hallucinations make me (almost) tear up.

Jim Henson has did not just rely on Kermit the Frog, but also he used Muppets in other ways such as Yoda in two of the three Star Wars movie (the only three worth mentioning).  There were films such as the Dark Crystal, and the Labyrinth.  Then there were televisions shows such as Fraggle Rock, and The Storyteller.

The Jim Henson production team has kept on lending their expertise for television shows such as Farscape, Dinosaurs, Sid the Science Kid, MirrorMask, Dinosaur Train, and The Witches.

Will Vinton:  Singing Raisins, Dinosaur Christmas, Satan, Adam & Eve, and Mark Twain

Will Vinton is the most obscure and the most alive out the four chosen.  He pretty much lurks in the shadows, and unless you par take in a Google search or watch the extras in the The Adventures of Mark Twain most likely you will not know who he is.  He is responsible for some of the best motion picture with the use of clay that one could possibly create.  He even coined the term “claymation.”

He is the one responsible of the California Raisins, Christmas features that spotlighted dinosaurs, the claymation of Return to OZ, the M&M characters on the commercial (you know the sentient beings that will be eaten), a short version of Rip Van Winkle, and of course The Adventures of Mark Twain.  There are other projects as well he worked on.

Vinton was not always the most child friendly production and creation team, but his claymation saturated at least two decades of fun TV shorts, TV movies, and commercials.

Image 3. © 2013, Vinton Entertainment All Rights Reserved. “Claymation®” is a registered Tradmark of Laika Inc.

Aurthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass : Red Nose Reindeer, A Grumpy Santa,  Big Bosomed Trees, Hobbits, and of Course B. Franklin

Aurthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass has produced or/and directed a good portion of the holiday classic cartoon, and stop motion animation that were born in the 70’s to the 80’s.  They have not only gave life to those classic TV movies/shorts, but also gave life to tradition and current mythology.  Aurthur Rankin Jr. recently passed away in the beginning of 2014, and according to IMDB he was a “consultant producer” of the latest Thundercats.

Did you notice in the movie, Miracle on 34th Street the 1947 version, that Kris Kingle walks down the street all jovial then notices the store worker is placing the reindeer in the wrong order there were no mention of Rudolph “the most famous” reindeer?  Even though there has been references in the past, and even cartoon shorts before Rankin and Bass’s version that was aired in 1967 on NBC solidified Rudolph’s statue in the pantheon of as the “Savior of Christmas”.

They have re-told stories not only of the reindeer, but also colorful and extreme imaginative stories of  Santa, Jack Frost, Biblical stories, the Easter Bunny, and Frosty.  They were responsible to the best filmed version of the Hobbit (Peter Jackson has nothing), and of course created The Flight of the Dragons (Don McLean helped the soundtrack by performing “The Flight of the Dragons”), and of course  The Last Unicorn.

Image 4. This image was found by Google on the left side connected to Wikipedia.

Criterion:

1. The introduction had to be at childhood.  This means twelve or younger.
2. The relationship had to exist well beyond childhood as well in the form of either watching the clips on the internet, purchasing a copy, or/and introduce the article in question to my children.
3. Quality and Quantity
   1. Quality: This can be subjective, and some of these products of art might be despised by others.  One (like myself) might love something that majority of the viewers want to tar and feather (Howard the Duck) the production and the people who say “wait a minute.”  In this case the quality is based on the (subjective) on going relationship, and the memories as a child.  There will not be comparing an adult liking something versus a seven year old.
   2. Quantity: The creative production has to be ten or more.  This can be done by the individual or the legacy that was left behind.  Adding distinct piece of works are up the author (me) of this list.
4. There has to be one person that has dreamed up the foundation of the legacy.
   1. For Example: I would place Stan Lee & Jack Kirby together and have them the entire Marvel Empire.
5. Corporations will be involved (this is unavoidable), but there will be some boundaries.
   1. For Example: Walt Disney will be part of the list (what a surprise) and certain  movies production will count and some will not just because Disney bought Marvel Studios or Lucas films does not mean bought subsidiaries will count toward Walt’s legacy.   There are films that has been created through Disney the main parent corporation such movies created after his death long into the 70’s through recent times that will count.
   2. Intellectual property rights do not decide the the creator, but only the owner such in the examples of Marvel.  All Marvel by-products would fall under Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.

 Extra Links

• Feat of Clay: The Forgotten ‘Adventures of Mark Twain’
• Legacy of Television, Film, and Cinema!

Notes

• I have referenced six producers/creators/directors/writers with the help of IMDB.
• I have reference to comic book artists (one was part of six), and the other was the help of Wikipedia.
• I have referenced one composer with the help of IMDB.
• I have listed 55 to 65 titles depending on how you count.
• I have four images.  Each image as manipulate by me.
• Image one and two were from Wikipedia, and manipulated by myself.
• Image three are three separate images as a logo for Will Vinton’s Animation Art Collection, and I have merged them together.  The image’s copyright is such © 2013, Vinton Entertainment All Rights Reserved. “Claymation®” is a registered Tradmark of Laika Inc..
• As far as having a works cited for this the majority of information was either discovered on IMDB or Wikipedia.

DVD Counting and Storage

Figure 1. My tower of binders.

The opened binder is designated for the Star Trek Universe.  The full series of Enterprise, and “Star Trek Into Darkness” are the only two that I do not own.   The other binders are  divided by children’s movies, space & alien movies (that are not Star Trek), and other hodgepodge.

Storage

Temperature and humidity, well something like ” Discs kept in a cooler, less-humid environment and not subjected to extreme environmental changes should last longer (Byers 2003). ”  What does this mean?  The image below is a short response, a more in-depth chart can be found by clicking the Byers link.

Figure 2. Image is from “Information Technology: Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs —A Guide for Librarians and Archivists,” by
Fred R. Byers

Apparently there were studies done on DVDs, such as the temperature and humidity, but also ….

Figure 3. Apparently, the U.S. Post Service conducted studies on radiation affecting DVDS          (anti-terrorism).  The end result in a nuclear war you will not survive, but your copy of the ten seasons of “Friends” will survive.  The mutated cockroaches will develop opposable thumbs and start watching the episode that Joey acted all stupid.

One other key factor about environment and temperature that Byers hinted on but said that there needs to be enough evidence that most likely DVDs being stored in room temperature that you are playing the DVD in will effect the quality in the direction of the good.   He mentioned freezing DVDs and CDs, but warned against.

Take Notice!

By the Numbers! (The reason is simple.  The collections are mixed together, and so this is easier in the end of the day.)

How Many?

• The count includes:
  • My Collection
  • The family Collection
  • My Wife’s
  • Children’s as well

The reason is simple.  The collections are mixed together.

Each Movie counts as one.

For Example: Many years ago I wanted to own “Revenge of the Nerds,” but a problem was a foot.  The consumer had to buy one of those double movie DVDS.  On “side A” the movie that you want to purchase, and on “side B” the movie you do not want to purchase.  I had to own ” Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise.”  This is not a problem usually since I have a chaos in my genre taste.   Instead of being one movie, I count this as two even-though the physical copy only comes with one DVD.

Figure 3. This might not always be true.

Each Season counts as one.

For Example:  One of the first TV Series that I have successfully own in full is “Star Trek: Deep Space 9.”  DS9 has seven season, so each season purchased counts as one.

One Does not Equal One.

Keep in mind you can have a DVD wallet that stores 256 CDs/DVDs.  You might own 256 DVDs.  This will not mean that you will be able to hold every single DVD in that wallet.  There are 48 DVDs in the entire DVD collection of DS9.  The television series are not the lone corrupter of the numbers.

Figure 5. DS9 from Amazon: Take notice of the number of discs.

Movies can just be as guilty.

For Example: “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”

Peter Jackson, the director, came out with the “extended” and not so extend version by selling them in one collection.  This would equal four DVDs along with the two other squeals having four DVDs each.  By the end three movies became 12 physical DVDs.

Keep in mind that either DVDs of movies or TV shows might have an extra disc or two.  Not just because of the “extended,” “unrated rated,” and/or “director’s cuts” but also because of the special features.

For Example: Robotech

There are many different choices when purchasing the Robotech Series.  When I decided to place Robotech on the list of “I wanted TV/Movies” I had to visit the official Robotech website to figure out which set was the best.  In 2011 Robotech: The Complete Original Series was sold.  There are 18 discs, and four of them are special features.

Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital Copy (But Physical)

Some DVD sets will contain a Blu-Ray, regular DVD, and Digital Copy that you can download/upload into your computer.  Also, the extended versions, and special feature discs could be part of this.

Emotional Attachment to In-Animated Objects:

I transferred from the cases to the binders  a year and half ago.  This was emotional.  The space was getting tight, and since I am not a big fan of digital I had to give way.
I still have the cases in storage (blue plastic bins from target).  I am not completely emotionally detached from the cases.

Storage Devices:

As I stated “Big Blue Plastic Bins” from Target for the cases.  At one point I had each DVD displayed alphabetically, and that took a lot of space.  Now, there are a couple “big blue plastic bins” extra, but are out of the way in the garage.

I decided to purchase  the Memorex Travel Case Active CD & DVD Wallet 256-ct this can only purchased at Target.  In the past I tried buying other brands, and they have fallen apart.

Notes:

• In this post, four movies were referenced, three TV shows, and one film insider were referenced with the help of IMDB.
• Is this boring?
• The second image was
• One image was captured from Amazon, and then manipulated by myself.
• There are two images are part of my creations, and I reserve the rights to my intellectual property.
• There is one image that is part of my creation, and I obtained the information from Byers 2003
• The next few posts will be a re-hash, getting more depth of DVD and movie collection, of the post “Searching, Collecting, and Maintaining DVDs!“
• “Information Technology: Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs —A Guide for Librarians and Archivists,” by
  Fred R. Byers
• The next post will cover maintenance.