Cartoon Brew
Disney History 1984-2008
by jerry
May 16, 2008 4:30 pm


Ryan Peterson, a student of Media Studies at Vassar College, created this mini-film (technically an animatic) about the Michael Eisner years and how Disney got to where it is today. A bit crudely assembled, but it sums it all up in a nice, concise way.

05/16/08  4:39pm
Aaron says:

The cross-outs of Hamlet and Leo were pretty damn funny.

05/16/08  6:02pm
Paul N says:

Um… technically, he calls it an animatic in the credits…

05/16/08  6:06pm
ridgecity says:

better than the Biography Channel…

05/16/08  6:27pm
EHH says:

Mulan 7: Hang 10. LOL
He did make one mistake. He showed Lasseter in a suit and not a hawaiian shirt.

05/16/08  6:43pm
Beckee says:

funny :)

The maniacal looking Ted Turner was my favorite part.

05/16/08  6:50pm
sasha m says:

Very interesting!

8 SHREKS?!! That’s some amazing creative and intellectual bankruptcy.

05/16/08  7:00pm

Jerry…

Thanks for sharing this. This should be basic fodder for any Disney Geek / animation enthusiast! A very condensed version of The Disney War.

05/16/08  7:27pm
Chris Sobieniak says:

Everything I need to know about the animation scene, but was afraid to ask!

05/16/08  7:44pm
Mr. Semaj says:

They said they were ending the 5th Shrek.

Already four Shreks too many. :(

05/16/08  8:22pm

Nicely done, although Eisner looks more like Gerald Ford.

The bloated company with too many business school execs reminds me of fixing government with more bureaucrats. Won’t humans ever learn?

05/16/08  9:09pm

Haw! This gave me a fit of giggles; loved the very - um - descriptive images for each corresponding film! Good work, Ryan =)

05/16/08  9:29pm
Thad says:

Dinosaur: No image found. Even the Internet forgot this film existed.”
Hilarious.

05/16/08  9:31pm
Magnusson says:

Jessica P:
Wow, thanks! That really means a lot coming from you. Your artwork is fantastic! I can only hope that when I finally get accepted into animation school that my work can get to that level.

05/16/08  11:06pm

ridgecity:

Wouldn’t it be great if someone at the Biography Channel paid this guy to do more “biographies” like this?

05/17/08  7:21am
Keith Paynter says:

Spot on!

Especially Hamlet, er, Kimba>, er, The Lion King.

05/17/08  7:34am
Daryl T says:

Sums it up quite nicely doesn’t it.

05/17/08  8:44am
Gobo says:

Very cool. Needs more sketches though; “dead air time” with white screens and a voiceover isn’t compelling viewing.

05/17/08  8:56am
Artisticulated says:

So how many luft balloons went up during the credits?

05/17/08  9:48am

Ha ha. Even I forgot Dinosaur existed.

Loved the images with Hamlet, Kimba and The Lion King.

Eight Shreks. Heaven help us.

05/17/08  10:09am
Dave says:

I realize the video is a humorous broad overview , but this is somewhat inaccurate starting around 3:50 mark:

“all the other assets were relocated to their new 3D film development dept. starting with Dinosaurs (sic) and Chicken Little.”

Not quite. Dinosaur was under way at least as early as 1995 and released in 2000. Dinosaur was made by Disney’s FIRST attempt to build a CG studio, but was subsequently shut down by Disney. Then later they retooled the feature animation dept. in Burbank to do CG animated features , starting with Chicken Little (which was in production from 2003 - 2005 ) . So the chronology is a little more extended than you would think from what the narrator says in the video.

05/17/08  11:07am
OliverB says:

it’s just some geek narrating wikipedia facts over pencil drawings for what I can only assume would be some lame artschool project…

whats the point of this?

05/17/08  11:43am
IKR says:

LOL at “No Image. Even the internet forgot “Dinosaur” ever existed.”

05/17/08  11:55am
Zep says:

…and the point of this is? Was this an assignment for a business/media class at Vassar? Sorry, not impressed. There are one or two semi-witty seconds in a long, pedantic video that’s not so much crude-funny as it is cheesy-for-real execution.

05/17/08  12:18pm
Pedro Nakama says:

Well I heard that Dinosaur cost about $500 million to set up the CG studio, hire artists and produce, which is the reason for the downfall of the Disney Feature Animation department.

I loved it when Disney bought Pixar. They bought a company that was doing what Disney forgot how to do… tell a story and tell it good to everyone!

05/17/08  12:46pm
Keith Bryant says:

How delightfully cynical. I love it!

05/17/08  1:21pm
David Brachiosaur says:

Uh, and he forgot that “Shrek” won the first Oscar for Best Animated Film. But a nice capsule survey of the past quarter century or so, centered on Disney’s players.

05/17/08  2:52pm

They forgot to mention that Lasseter ressurected 2-D animation at Disney, as well as Lilo and Stitch. Otherwise, very nice and very funny.

05/17/08  6:48pm
Some Guy says:

This video is a great crash course in animation corporate history.

“it’s just some geek narrating wikipedia facts over pencil drawings for what I can only assume would be some lame artschool project… “

It’s easier to criticize things than to do them, isn’t it?

05/18/08  3:38am
OliverB says:

It is when you have access to the internet, a basic facts comprehension of an overly conversed subject and zero creative inspiration or aptitude coupled with cheap flash/editing tools unfortunately.

Making a bulletin list in MS Word would have served just as effective. Again I ask, what’s the point?

05/18/08  6:17am
DaggerMind says:

“So how many luft balloons went up during the credits?”

Swedish =/= German

05/18/08  10:09pm
Bobby D. says:

Fun little piece…a lot of major gaps and harsh generalizations, but, this is the “bash anyone who’s not Pixar” era.

Oh, and while we’re talking about Pixar, (don’t we always end up there no matter what the subject:)…memo to WALL-E…ET called…he wants his voice back:)

05/18/08  11:10pm
Masten says:

I liked it pretty well, but man…If I had tried to pass off wikipedia as a legitimate academic source when I was in college (a scant few years ago) I’d have gotten an “F” no matter how funny it was.

05/20/08  10:37pm
Chris Sobieniak says:

Sad fate of today’s world where people end up using Wiki for their ordeals. I remember when I had to turn in a report and cited magazines and other periodicals I footnoted in the process, and got a terrific grade over. That was what I called “work”. Kids today have it TOO easy.

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