The Disney Afternoon: The Making of a Television Renaissance

The Disney Afternoon: The Making of a Television Renaissance, a new book by Jake S. Friedman, has been pending for years. Its debut has been delayed over and over again, for reasons unknown to the public, in spite of the fervent desire from fans to get their hands on it, present company included.

Just in case it never sees the light of day (a fate worse than death!), here are some images from Mr. Friedman's own website to amp up the yearning:

The Disney Afternoon's Darkwing Duck can be found at Whatsits Galore.

DVDs That Ought To Be

In the not-too-distant past, it seemed likely that every movie and TV series known to man would eventually make its way to DVD. But now the explosion of streaming services seems to have killed that dream. Here are 10 TV shows that deserve to be on DVD but somehow missed the wave:

Strange Luck

It's hard to classify this show. Chance Harper suffers from extremely good and bad luck, all at the same time. Convoluted coincidences dog his steps in every twisted plot, leading up to a bizarre conclusion.

Disney's House of Mouse

Not the best of Disney's TV forays, but seeing the interaction between characters from different movies, each more obscure than the last, is something I never get tired of. Watching Jiminy's attempt at being Mickey's conscience, Cruella siziing up Beast's hide, and Capt. Hook making eyes at Maleficent make this series well worth owning.

The Eddie Capra Mysteries

Ellery Queen was a better show with better mysteries and better characters, but this is still a fun series. The cast has enough personality to keep you interested, and the stories are fair mysteries with real clues, providing real entertainment for armchair sleuths.

Wildside

At least this show got a VHS video release, but I'd sure like a DVD of these five quirky cowboys and they're slightly offbeat western adventures.

The Harlem Globetrotters

No, not Super Trotters. Not the Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine. The original Harlem Globetrotters cartoon featured the famous team traveling from stadium to stadium helping strangers, catching crooks, and generally having adventures. Oh, and playing basketball, too, possibly against a team of hillbillies, or kangaroos, or even blindfolded. It's a classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon at least as good as the more popular Josie and the Pussycats.

Salvage 1

Once upon a time, a junk man had a dream...a dream that began with a trip to the moon in a homemade rocket, just to salvage the equipment left by the astronauts. After that, the Salvage team went after a robot, a haunted house, an antique car with a secret, and just about anything else you can think of. The only DVDs so far available are of the few two-part episodes, which are, frankly, not the best of the series. The fact that there are five or so eps which were never shown on TV makes this show an even better candidate for DVD release.

Disney's Legend of Tarzan

The Disney animated Tarzan is a fantastic movie; the ape-man's further adventures as revealed in this series are also worth watching, especially for fans of the orignal Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, because many elements from those tales are used on the show.

Sword of Justice

Maybe this series about a playboy wrongfully accused of fraud who becomes a vigilante to avenge his wrongs is typical light '70s fare, but I sure liked it back then, and recently enjoyed an episode I found online. Besides, I think Bert Rosario is cute.

The Charmings

Snow White, Prince Charming, and family are transported to modern times in this fish-out-of-water comedy. The costumes, the Disney references, the miscommunications are all fun and, well, charming.

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

Another good Disney series that gives us the fictional tv show the Toy Story action figure comes from. Buzz has an interesting team of fellow Space Rangers and a rogues gallery almost as good as Darkwing Duck's. And speaking of DW...

...next week check out three Disney TV series that got short shrift on DVD.

By Whatsits Galore.

Toy Story 3 Glitches

Even my favorite Toy Story has bloopers, like these:

Woody's plan to escape from Sunnyside Daycare depends on several details he would be unlikely to know about, like Mr. Potato Head finding a hole in the sandbox and a child leaving a tortilla in his forgotten lunchbox.

The keys to Sunnyside Daycare are right where Woody was told: on the bulletin board. So how do the evil toys get outside?

Mr. Potato Head's parts can talk and move even when they are detatched from his body, but his wife's can't.

How do Woody, Bullseye, and the aliens get under the pail without being seen by Big Baby?

More Toy Story glitches.

Toy Story 2 Glitches

How about some bloopers from the first Pixar sequel, Toy Story 2?

Wheezy can't yell, but he could just tell Woody he's hiding behind a book.

Al's so honest, he doesn't even take the money from the cash box at the yard sale. Heck, he could steal the whole box to get Woody if he watnted to, instead of prying it open.

Why doesn't Woody know his own backstory? Buzz knows his from A to Zurg, yet Woody doesn't recognize Jessie or Bullseye when he meets them.

We know from his first movie that Woody has no control over his pullstring voicebox; when the string is pulled, he talks, even when he wishes he wouldn't. Yet in this film, Jessie playfully pulls Woody's string and he doesn't say a word. Well, except maybe "Yaagh!" Nor does he talk when he pulls the string at the climax.

Shouldn't a Pete the Prospector doll talk more like the TV version of the character?

Read all the Toy Story 2 glitches.

Toy Story Glitches

Check out these bloopers from the hit Pixar movie Toy Story:

Andy gets a Battleship game for his birthday, but the box is the wrong size.

Bo Peep is fond of leaving lip prints on Woody's face. Does she borrow Andy's mom's lipstick, or just use red crayon?

Woody's been Andy's favorite toy "since kindergarten." That makes it sound like Andy's been out of kindergarten for some time. Yet he still writes the word "bank" on a box with a backwards "n". Or does he keep his cardboard boxes to play with for years?

Buzz thinks Andy's bed is a spongy planetary surface, but moments later reveals that he can fly around "this room."

The debris from Combat Carl seems to fly awfully far, considering the size of the explosion.

The smear is immediately gone from Buzz's helmet.

That slime drink dispenser at Pizza Planet must make an awful mess on the floor every day.

Even more glitches at Whatsits Galore.

Toy Story Glitches

Here are some bloopers from the Disney/Pixar film that started it all: The original Toy Story.

The Whack-An-Alien mallet at Pizza Planet isn't attached to the game. Did some kid break it? Like Sid, maybe?

Although Buzz doesn't know he's a toy, he knows enough to freeze when a human being is present.

It's impossible for the mutant toys to take the porch light through the hole in roof and then put it back and make it fit.

More...

Toy Story of Terror TV Special

A brand new television special debuts this Wednesday: Toy Story of Terror on ABC.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Couture

If you've followed the adventures of the galaxy's greatest hero in the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, then you've seen Buzz in a hot tub, in a hospital gown, in his bathrobe and even in his underwear! But you've never seen him without his distinctive purple hood. Which begs the question: what does Buzz's hair look like? More...

Pixar Glitches

Think that CGI films have no mistakes in 'em? How about these from the first Toy Story?

Bo Peep is fond of leaving lip prints on Woody's face. Does she borrow Andy's mom's lipstick, or just use red crayon?

Buzz thinks Andy's bed is a spongy planetary surface, but moments later reveals that he knows he's in a room.

Although Buzz doesn't know he's a toy, he knows enough to freeze when a human being is present. More...