Walt Disney Treasures is a series of two-disc DVD collections of Disney cartoons, television episodes and other material. They cover material from the studio's earliest days to its more recent work. There were nine waves, each containing two to four sets, for a total of 30 titles. All content is presented uncensored and uncut with digitally restored picture and remastered sound (except where noted on individual titles).
In 2000, Leonard Maltin met with the then chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Dick Cook at several studio screenings and press events. Cook and Maltin became friends, and one day at a breakfast meeting, Maltin pitched the idea of collector-orientated series showcasing classic Disney Shorts. [1] As he said: "You’re putting out all of these cartoons willy nilly on VHS. Why not do them in a more organized way? That way, you will get the collectors, Disney buffs, and families and kids." [2] Cook enthusiastically responded, "Let's do it." [1] [2]
The first wave was released to Region 1 DVD on December 4, 2001, as a part of Walt Disney's 100th birthday. They were sold in limited quantities. The numbered units are largely commercially unavailable. Only a handful of these titles have been sold outside Region 1.
Maltin, hosted and curated the sets, and appears in each disc of every set to introduce the collection. Maltin insisted that the all shorts be presented uncut and uncensored, and that certain shorts containing politically incorrect material be proceeded by an introduction with Maltin putting them into historical context rather than editing for censored them. [1] Maltin's tactic of using disclaimers for problematic content proved revolutionary within the home entertainment industry, and was later adopted by Warner Bros. for the release of their classic animation collections; first with introductions by Whoopi Goldberg at the beginning of each disc for Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 and Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection: Volume 2 sets, and text disclaimers on further volumes. In 2020, Disney Plus adopted the use of text disclaimers on certain films such as Dumbo and Peter Pan , and Warner Bros. provided an introduction by Jacqueline Stewart on the streaming release of Gone with the Wind .
Most of the sets are available in Europe (Region 2) except The Mickey Mouse Club Presents: Annette; The Complete First and Second Seasons of Zorro; Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh; The Chronological Donald Volume Four; Disneyland: Secrets; Stories and Magic; Your Host, Walt Disney; The Complete Pluto Volume Two; Elfego Baca and the Swamp Fox; The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure; The Adventures of Spin & Marty (The Mickey Mouse Club); More Silly Symphonies; Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s; Davy Crockett; Tomorrowland; Disneyland U.S.A and On the Front Lines. In Japan, more of the sets were produced for the Japanese market in Region 2, along with sets that are available in Europe: The Chronological Donald Volume Four, The Complete Pluto Volume Two, Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s, Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic and More Silly Symphonies. In Brazil, only five Walt Disney Treasures sets have been released: the two Mickey Mouse in Living Color volumes, Silly Symphonies, The Chronological Donald, Volume One, and The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, with those releases (with the exception of Oswald) also being released in Mexico. In Australia and New Zealand (Region 4) four sets were made available; the two Mickey Mouse in Living Color volumes, Silly Symphonies and The Chronological Donald, Volume One. The Mickey Mouse cartoon Runaway Brain is available on the Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color: Volume 2 sets in France, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and Australia. These are the only internationally released sets featuring the cartoon.
Each title has been packaged in a numbered tin case. The first two waves featured numbers stamped into each case, while subsequent waves contained certificates of authenticity marking their numbers. The first three waves were bound in a cardboard sleeve displaying the reproduced signatures of Maltin and Roy E. Disney. In 2003, a Costco-exclusive boxed set called The Ultimate Disney Treasure Chest presented the first two waves of the series without the tin canisters, later, in 2009, the D23 released the Walt Disney Treasures Premium Collection, a limited edition near-complete collection of all the releases in the series with the exception of the Elfego Baca and The Swamp Fox: Legendary Heroes set and the two Wave Nine releases.
Dick Cook used his position of power and influence within The Walt Disney Company to help Maltin negotiate with the Disney lawyers about releasing many of this vintage material, including controversial shorts like Der Fuehrer's Face and Mickey's Mellerdrammer . According to Maltin, the executives had initially rejected his idea to release the Zorro television series, since their previous attempts at releasing Season-by-Season sets of their television shows were financially unsuccessful. However after Maltin phoned Cook about the situation, Cook ordered the executives to restore and release the entire series. [1]
In 2009, the Walt Disney Treasures series came to an end when Dick Cook left the Disney company, and the new management of Walt Disney Home Entertainment was uninterested in continuing the series. As Maltin recalled: "Of all the projects I've worked on, the Walt Disney Treasures has cut the widest swath. People love those DVDs, and over a decade since their demise people continue to ask me if they will ever be released on Blu-ray. The apparent answer is 'no', because there is no-one to champion them within the Disney company... If I had my druthers I would've continued producing and hosting Walt Disney Treasures but as it stands I'm proud of what we accomplished over nine years." [1]
Currently all Walt Disney Treasures DVDs are out of print, and copies on eBay and Amazon are sold for extremely high prices.
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave One — December 4, 2001
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Two — December 3, 2002
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Three — May 18, 2004
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Four — December 7, 2004
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Five — December 6, 2005
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Six — December 19, 2006
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Seven — December 11, 2007
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Eight — November 11, 2008
Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Nine — November 3, 2009
In 2006, Gemstone Publishing published the first of two Walt Disney Treasures comic albums: Disney Comics: 75 Years of Innovation, reprinting approximately 160 pages of vintage international comics in chronological order. [3] Much like the DVD releases, the comic album featured some politically incorrect stories in unedited form, accompanied by an article to put them in historical context. The comic album also featured a cover designed to look much like the DVD series' cases.
In 2008, Gemstone published the second Treasures comic album: Uncle Scrooge: A Little Something Special, featuring various Scrooge comics from over the years. [3]
Two more Treasures comic albums were announced for 2009, with the titles: Mickey Mouse: In Death Valley and Donald Duck: 75 Unlucky Years. Due to the cessation of Gemstone's Disney comics license, these albums never came out in the Treasures series.
Mickey Mouse Works is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation featuring Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated shorts. The first Disney television animated series to be produced in widescreen high definition, it is formatted as a variety show, with skits starring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto and Ludwig Von Drake while Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Chip 'n' Dale, Scrooge McDuck, Pete, Humphrey the Bear, J. Audubon Woodlore, Dinah the Dachshund, Butch the Bulldog, Mortimer Mouse, José Carioca, and Clara Cluck appear as supporting or minor characters. Musical themes for each character were composed by Stephen James Taylor with a live 12-piece band and extensive use of the fretless guitar to which the music of the series was nominated for an Annie Award in both 1999 and 2001. Most of the shorts from the series were later used in House of Mouse.
Silly Symphony is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the Silly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time. The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck making his first appearance in the Silly Symphony cartoon The Wise Little Hen in 1934. Seven shorts won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The Band Concert is a 1935 American animated short film produced in 3-strip Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The 73rd short film in the Mickey Mouse series, it was the second release of the year, and notable as the first in the series to be produced in color.
Classic Cartoon Favorites is a series of DVDs by Walt Disney Home Entertainment. Each release would feature around one hour of Disney animated short films, grouped by a starring character or a theme. It is based on the original Walt Disney Cartoon Classics line of videotapes of the 1980s. As opposed to the chronological nature of the Walt Disney Treasures line, each release would feature various cartoons in no particular order. The series featured a total of four waves of releases, between January 11, 2005 and April 11, 2006. Another similar line was Walt Disney's Funny Factory.
Mickey Mouse is a series of American animated comedy short films produced by Walt Disney Productions. The series started in 1928 with Steamboat Willie and ended in 2013 with Get a Horse!, taking a hiatus from 1953 to 1983. The series is notable for its innovation with sound synchronization and character animation, and also introduced well-known characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Pluto and Goofy.
On Ice is a 1935 theatrical cartoon short in the Mickey Mouse film series, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was the 79th Mickey Mouse short film to be released, and the eighth of that year.
The first wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on December 4, 2001. It includes four different DVD sets.
The second wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released December 3, 2002. This was the final wave with the tin's individual number embossed on the tin.
The third wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on May 18, 2004. It was originally planned to be released in December 2003, but was delayed for almost half a year in order to meet an increased demand with a higher number of tins produced. This wave was the first to have a certificate of authenticity with the individual number of the tin on it, replacing the number embossed on the tin. This was the final wave released with side straps.
The fourth wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released December 7, 2004. This is the only wave that comes in White cases, and is the final wave that is in double DVD cases. Starting with this wave, the side strap was replaced with seal wrap with stickers and the back was no longer printed on the tin but included as a card glued to the back.
The fifth wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on December 6, 2005. Starting with this wave the DVD cases are now single opening, but the same size as the previous.
The sixth wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on December 19, 2006. It contains four separate DVD sets.
"A Disney Christmas Gift" is an animated Christmas television special produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was originally broadcast on CBS on December 4, 1982, as part of the Walt Disney anthology series.
Walt Disney's Funny Factory is a series of DVDs by Walt Disney Home Entertainment. Very similar to the Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites line, each release would feature around one-hour of Disney animated short films, grouped by a starring character, or set of characters. As opposed to the chronological nature of the Walt Disney Treasures line, each release would feature various cartoons in no particular order. The series featured two waves of releases, on January 17, 2006, and November 21, 2006.
The Pointer is an American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures on July 21, 1939, shown in theaters with Way Down South. The short was directed by Clyde Geronimi and animated by Fred Moore, Frank Thomas, Lynn Karp, Seamus Culhane, Ollie Johnston, Preston Blair, Lester Norvi, John Lounsbery, Claude Smitha, Art Palmer, and Josh Meador. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoon) in 1940. It was the 106th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the third for that year.
Hawaiian Holiday is a 1937 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon stars an ensemble cast of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, and Goofy while vacationing in Hawaii. The film was directed by Ben Sharpsteen, produced by John Sutherland and features the voices of Walt Disney as Mickey, Marcellite Garner as Minnie, Clarence Nash as Donald, and Pinto Colvig as Goofy and Pluto. It was Disney's first film to be released by RKO, ending a five-year distributing partnership with United Artists.
Pluto's Christmas Tree is a 1952 Mickey Mouse cartoon in which Pluto and Mickey cut down a Christmas tree that Chip n' Dale live in. It was the 125th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the second for that year. While the chipmunks are usually antagonists of Donald Duck, they have pestered Pluto before, in Private Pluto (1943), Squatter's Rights (1946) and Food for Feudin' (1950).
The Haunted House, also known as Haunted House, is a 1929 Mickey Mouse short animated film released by Celebrity Productions, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. The cartoon was produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Celebrity Productions. It was the fourteenth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the eleventh of that year.
Silly Symphony was a weekly Disney comic strip that debuted on January 10, 1932, as a topper for the Mickey Mouse strip's Sunday page. The strip featured adaptations of Walt Disney's popular short film series, Silly Symphony, which released 75 cartoons from 1929 to 1939, as well as other cartoons and animated films. The comic strip outlived its parent series by six years, ending on October 7, 1945.
Donald Duck is a series of American animated comedy short films produced by Walt Disney Productions. The series started in 1937 with Donald's Ostrich and ended in 1961 with The Litterbug. The series, a spin-off of the Mickey Mouse film series, stars the titular character Donald Duck, in addition to having recurring appearances by previously known characters such as Pluto and Pete, and also introduced well-known characters such as Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie and Donald's love interest Daisy Duck, as well as Donald's recurring rivals Chip 'n' Dale under their names.