Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile at Walt Disney World again. How are you? So, there's big plans for the parks for 2020... New ride or show or something, most boat ride leaks fixed, sidewalk cracks painted bright colors, Princesses will wink more often. This just in, Disney's Hollywood Studios has reached capacity so they can only let in really thin people. Please note that the new Magic Band bracelets may interfere with cellphones, digital watches, medical implants, food digestion, cognitive reasoning, and speech. Just a heads up, kids.
Okay, Disney lovers, this is your chance!! Although you technically can’t live inside a Disney park, and you’re only allowed to stay in certain hotels and resorts around the area, one Florida house is on the market that will make you feel like you’re in Disney itself! The Palm Bay estate is located an hour away from Walt Disney World, but the best part about the home is that it is actually decorated with all sorts of Disney magic inside. The 6 bathroom, 5-bedroom home is situated on an eight-acre lot and comes with the opportunity to purchase another ten-acre lot right next to the home. According To Dave Settgast with Treasure Coast Sotheby’s International Realty, the house is listed for $849,000! Here's a pic of the home...
As expected, as soon as you walk inside the home, you feel like you’re at a resort. It’s like if Disney World threw up in the home and left its mark all around the walls. From top to bottom, the home is decorated with large character murals (including Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto, and more) on bright “loud” walls, while other areas such as the kitchen include small but meaningful touches with character painted above the appliances. The best part of the house? The mirrors! All mirrors are mouse shaped like… because of course, they are. The front door of the home even plays homage to some of our favorite classic characters, Minnie and Mickey Mouse, rendered in stained glass. From a floor to ceiling mural of Cinderella at her castle, to Snow White and her woodland creatures painted directly on the wall and near the stairs, safe to say the home has something for everyone. Aside from all the beautiful Disney decor inside, the house also features a small guest house, a billiards room, an enormous home theater, and a five-car garage. As for the outdoor space, it’s exactly like a Disney water park, including a Mickey Mouse shaped resort style pool and hot tub. Their outdoor also has a complete stone enclosed waterfall, a grotto, tiki-style hut, and a walking bridge. To make things even better, the house is situated on a lake and zone for grazing animals and horses, featuring a barn and go-kart track! Animal Kingdom at its finest, if you ask me. So, are you ready to move in? If so… can I get an invite?
Disney World has some pretty big fireworks shows nightly, but a massive firework launched over a Colorado ski resort town has set a record for the world’s largest aerial firework. The 2,800-pound shell flew 2,200 feet above the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival before it burst, turning the sky bright red and drawing gasps from the crowd, The Steamboat Pilot & Today reported. Tim Borden of Steamboat Springs headed the team that developed the firework over seven years. Borden first attempted to set the world record last year, but failed when the shell exploded inside the mortar without lifting off the ground, the newspaper reported. Guinness World Records representatives witnessed both attempts. Christina Conlon of Guinness said she verified the shell launched on February 8th was the world’s largest. The firework was 400 pounds heaver than the previous record-holder, a 2,397-pound explosive launched in the United Arab Emirates in 2018. During a ceremony after the launch to present Borden and his team with their certificate, Conlon said they showed tenacity and perseverance in coming back after last year’s failed attempt. A winter storm dumped more than 2 feet of snow on the 26-foot-long mortar used to launch the shell, and also made transporting the shell difficult. Borden said getting the area plowed was more trouble than setting up the firework itself.
It looks like actor Gary Sinise has some celebrating to do! Sinise has been awarded the Patriot Award, which is a Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s highest honor, for his charitable effort supporting service members and veterans throughout the years. Sinise, who is best known for his iconic performance as Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, was presented with the award at the Ronald Reagan Library which is located in Ventura County, California. According to the Department of Defense, the CMHS is a compromise of several members who have received the Medal of Honor. The society presents a Patriot Award every year to people who “through their life’s work, have distinguished themselves as Americans who are dedicated to freedom and the ideals represented.” It’s no secret that Lieutenant Dan has been helping veterans and servicemen for over a decade now. He celebrated 25 years of advocacy for the Disables American Veterans just last year and founded the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2010. The foundation aims to honor “our defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need by creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen, and build communities.” From several concerts featuring Sinise’s LT. Dan Band to several special events for military families, the actor has given his work full attention. A few months ago, he flew more than 1,700 military families of Fallen Soldiers to Walt Disney World as a special Christmas present. The actor stated, “They’re dealing with the grief and the loss of a loved one, a mom or a dad who have died in military service, and all these kids are going through the same thing, so the power of all of them in the same place at the same time, many of them... hundreds of them... was very healing for a lot of them.” Sinise also builds adaptable homes for wounded veterans. Just last month, the actor gave quadruple amputee keys to his new smart home which was 100% mortgage-free. He stated his dedication to helping others goes back decades since he has veterans in his own family. In January, the Gary Sinise Foundation awarded a $78,000 grant to Jefferson Township Fire Department in Ross County Ohio, which allowed them to buy new equipment.
As Americans’ urban areas further encroach on the habitats of coyotes, bobcats, foxes, birds of prey, and everything that lives in Florida, your sentient teddy bears are in increasing danger of becoming a food source in places like California, where coyotes already roam the hills of L.A. and coyote sightings and coyote problems are a nightly occurrence. Especially during breeding season. They could become pet food, in that they’re pets who will be some wild animal’s food. Unlike us, the coyotes aren’t being figurative when they see small dogs and think, “They’re just so cute I could eat them up.” They’re quite serious, and tired of scavenging through Hungry Man dinners in divorcee apartment complex garbage cans. Enter the Coyote Vest.
I’d never heard of this until yesterday, but apparently, it’s body armor to keep your dog safe in areas with coyote activity. The Coyote Vest is made from stab-resistant kevlar that can withstand bites from sharp canine teeth... coyotes, foxes, bigger dogs, etc. It will also turn your Corgi into a Mad Max villain. The dog vest has a flexible “coyote collar” that fits around pretty much any little dog’s neck and comes with spikes on the collar to make biting your dog as terrible as biting down on a Dorito that has shifted, unbeknownst to you, to a vertical position inside your mouth. If the layers of Kevlar aren’t enough, pet owners can add spikes to run along the dog’s back. Coyote whiskers, which are bright nylon bristles that irritate the attacking animal, can also be added to the Coyote Vest to further make your dog impervious to the totally natural and objectively understandable... but still evil!... urges of wild predators. I don’t mean to be alarmist, but given enough time something is going to pop out of a bush, try to rip open your small dog, and eat it alive. A Coyote Vest is the best protection against it, and the best way to bring you peace of mind about pet safety. Though, if it were me, I’d add a few features. A pressure enabled electric shock to electrocute anything that bites the dog. An artificial intelligence manned crossbow that sits on a turret on the dog’s back would be good too. And most important of all, a pre-recorded script of secrets about and personal threats directed towards the boys in your neighborhood most likely to kidnap, torture, or hurt an innocent dog, and activated upon said boy being within five feet of your dog or dogs.
Yesterday I mentioned that you won't believe how much Disney VHS tapes are worth now. I told you about The Little Mermaid tape... so today I will tell you about Beauty and the Beast. It is part of “A Walt Disney Classic” meaning some of the boxes have it written on the cassette itself. If so, these are worth quite a penny as well, starting at $1,200! The words need to be printed on the tape itself above the movie title, but you need to make sure the version has both the diamond and the phrase. “Disney’s Black Diamonds” editions were part of the firm’s attempt to sell directly to the home market, which is considered more valuable. This one is another one of my favorite movies since it wasn’t your “typical” Disney film. I mean sure, it had romance and music and laughter in it, but it also broke away from the stereotypical romance by creating a female protagonist who needs to rely on the prince for help. Belle is definitely one of the best Disney characters ever created.
Speaking of Belle, this is what she should've looked like in the movie to make it more realistic, am I right?
Did you ever see the sequel to Beauty and the Beast when they went to Ikea? No? Here's a screen shot...
Hahaha. Do you have Disney+? There's gonna be a new show coming out on it soon... take a look...
It'll be sooo good I think. Haha. Disney is making a live action Bambi movie and I have an exclusive pic on what Bambi will look like.
He looks like he has so much emotion. Hey, future kids, this is Danny DeVito...
Hahahahahahahaha. Do you kids like Elsa? I wonder what she's up to now... let's take a look...
Oh, boy. I feel bad for her. I even feel worse for Mulan... I think she has the coronavirus...
If I had a TARDIS I would go to Disneyland in the 50s and go to Club 33. Knowing my luck though it'll be crowded and I wouldn't get a table...
If you don't know what Club 33 is I will explain on the Phile tomorrow. Did you ever see that famous painting of Van Gogh? Well, there's a version not many people know about...
Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, here is...
Top Phive Walt Disney World Park Moments In 2019
5. Cinderella delights families by actually appearing at Breakfast with Cinderella.
4. Declaring it "retro ironically kitschy cool," goth girls once again decide to visit the parks.
3. After 87 guest complaints, Cast Member Alex is finally given a stern talking-to.
2. A ceasefire is declared in the Park Princess Civil War.
And the number one WDW park moment in 2019 was...
1. Selfie stick ban results in chaos as Cast Members must now figure out how guests' phones work.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. So, my son and I were talking how we used to watch "Sesame Street" when he was a kid. Now the show is on HBO...
I still can't believe Shania Twain was on the Phile a few days ago. I was meant to put this up on that entry. Haha. Okay, so, family traditions involving valuable, precious heirlooms can get pretty messy sometimes. While traditions are a beautiful way of preserving a family's memories, traditions do need to change with the times every now and then. Why does the eldest male in the family typically get diamond engagement rings to give to a woman? Let the women in the family have those rings, it means more to them to wear their own family member's ring! So, when a distressed mother of a trans teenage daughter emailed me about a dispute at dinner over a diamond necklace, I thought I'll try to give some advice.
"Question: am I wrong for refusing to give my trans daughter a family heirloom? I have three kids Susan (17), Jessica (18), and Matt (21). There's a tradition on my side of the family where the oldest daughter in the family gets a beautiful diamond necklace when they turn 18. Okay, so I was having dinner with my family last night when Susan casually asked me if she could please wear the necklace to her junior prom. I told her she could and joked that it doesn't matter because in a year it will be hers. This is where Jessica chimed in and said, "How come I'm not going to get it? I am the oldest daughter." This made us all quiet and I didn't really know what to say as I've never really thought about it since I always planned on giving it to Susan. After thinking for a few seconds I told Jessica that I have always planned on giving it to Susan and it wouldn't be fair but since circumstances have changed I am willing to go with you to a jewelry store and get you something equally special. This did not satisfy Jessica and she got progressively ruder to me. Jessica being rude to me and our fighting led Susan to say some very transphobic things to Jessica (which made her walk off and cry) that I don't wish to repeat. I'm at an impasse. I really don't think giving Jessica the necklace would be the right thing to do. Am I wrong?" Yikes. This is a tough one. Do I think that 18-year-olds are too young to deserve a diamond necklace? Yes. Is it right to take away something Susan thought she was going to get her whole life? Probably not. That being said, dismissing Jessica as the oldest daughter is also not the right thing to do. You are all in a difficult situation. Your trans daughter feels it’s yet another instance of her being considered less than a woman. Your female born daughter feels it’s being unfairly removed from her and you didn’t consider this possibility because who can really foresee this. I’m sorry you have this dilemma. My opinion, give it to daughter who always expected to receive it, explain to trans daughter how you respect and recognize her as your daughter but this was set in motion before anyone knew. I think starting a new heirloom is a great idea. You weren't purposely excluding Jessica, it just didn't occur to you because you'd always intended to give it to Susan. You're right, it wouldn't be fair to change that after she knew she was going to have it her whole life. You proposed a thoughtful compromise and she rejected it. So there you have it! This mom definitely isn't wrong, but she should realize that not even thinking about giving the necklace to Jessica makes Jessica think her mom doesn't consider her the "true" eldest daughter of the family. Getting something special for Jessica too is a good compromise. And, if there are anybody wrong here, it's Susan. You owe your sister an apology, girl.
The 114th book to be in the Phile's Book Club is...
I can't believe it but Julie Andrews will be on the Phile tomorrow.
Today's guest is an American animator, screenwriter, producer and director, best known for his work for the Walt Disney Company, where he worked from 1974 to 2003. His most notable credits for Disney include creating, writing and producing the animated series "Darkwing Duck." Please welcome to the Phile... Tad Stones.
Me: Hey, Tad, welcome to the Phile from Walt Disney World. It's so great to have you here. How are you?
Tad: I'm great.
Me: So, what kinda kid were you growing up?
Tad: I was a fantastic child. Everybody said so. Ha ha. No. I was just a kid.
Me: Okay, so were you interested in animation as a kid?
Tad: Yes, I was interested in animation... well, animation cartooning. My father wanted to be an animation cartoonist. He went to USC and did a daily comic for the paper but technology being that it was meant he was carving a linoleum block every day, so he couldn't really work on his style. When he graduated it was during the Depression so he took any job he could get. He was always doodling or cartooning on the margins of a newspaper but he didn't have that drive to keep working no matter what his job was. Anyway, he had a great long career with the Carnation company, and the Carnation company was affiliated with Disneyland so once a year we got to go to the company picnic which was at Disneyland. I was fascinated by the art of animation exhibits, I got the Art of Animation by Bob Thomas which was focused around the original version of Sleeping Beauty. I loved the Disneyland show where they went behind the scenes and showed the animators and showed the artists. Back then Walter Lantz had a Woody Woodpecker show and in between cartoons Walter would show how to draw Woody and whatever. So there wasn't a mystery to me, and there was never a point where I looked at a cartoon and thought, "What do you mean somebody draws them?" I assumed that. Plus my dad had these famous artists cartooning course by Al Capp of "Li'l Abner" fame and Milton Caniff of "Terry and the Pirates." So again the idea of the artists who create these stories was expected. That was a long rambling animation to yes, I wanted to be in animation.
Me: No, you're good. So, when did you first start to get into animation, doing it yourself?
Tad: Actually I'll make it a little more rambling, The thing was my thoughts like in high school were that the only place worth animating was Disney because everyone else was doing very limiting animation. My thought was Disney has all their guys, they're not looking. Which, when I got into the very small training program in '74 it was actually true at the time. It wasn't until The Jungle Book made a lot of money and Robin Hood made a HUGE amount of money, about 6 million dollars. I don't know what that would be today but they were impressed. They were saying what provisions have they made for training new people and they put Eric Larson in charge of the program and that's when I got in.
Me: So, did you have favorite Disney movies when you were a kid?
Tad: I would say Peter Pan. That's not a specific memory, I just liked it a lot. But remember, we didn't get to watch to over and over. It wasn't on tape, at best we got those Super 8 films that just had a scene or a chunk of that that we'd watch on a projector which was a big deal to set up. A few films I had like that were Ray Harryhausen monster movies.
Me: Did you watch Disney stuff on TV?
Tad: No, no. Remember again on television there was hardly any Disney other than "The Mickey Mouse Club." That would show maybe one cartoon show a day. It was Warner Bros. all the way. Those were the characters, all those cartoons, the classic cartoons, on. Actually when I was very young when I was about 5-years-old when I was in Los Angeles "Sheriff John" was on in the middle of the day. He would show cartoons and now in retrospect they were this weird assortment of cartoons of different packages. I saw early Fleischer stuff, stuff that probably was a silent cartoon that they would put music to like "Farmer Al Falfa." Just some really strange stuff like Koko the Clown coming out of the ink well. That's some of the earliest animations that were out there that was being shown in the middle of the day. When I was also young this was when "Crusader Rabbit" came out. I think that was the first cartoon produced for television. After that came "Ruff and Reddy" by Hanna-Barbera, which was their first big series. And then they created the system that made animation doable on television.
Me: I remember Koko the Clown. The others I have no idea. Haha. Which one was your favorite?
Tad: I didn't have a favorite, it was just massive input. I mean basically it would be Warners, it would be Bugs and Daffy. I watched the Porky Pigs and things like that but it was always Bugs and Daffy who were the stars as far as I was concerned. That was my sense of cartoon gags too.
Me: You mentioned Eric Larson who you worked with. Can you tell the readers who he was?
Tad: He was a legend amongst all the animators. He worked on Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinocchio, all the classic movies.
Me: Wow! So, what was he like?
Tad: I didn't take advantage of Eric as much as I should have. Because of my background in the Preston Blair Art of Animation which someone can still get now, it keeps being printed. No matter how bigger of an animator they were, even Glen Keane had a copy of that on his desk. Anyway, because I kind of knew that there was no formal system of training, Eric would take me in and tell me basic stuff. Some of it I heard when I visited before I actually got there. Then I was kind of fumbling along and I should've just like everybody else did, just constantly go into Eric's office bugging him because that was what he was there for. I got enough input but I didn't have the one on one relationship I could've with him. I did but I didn't suck him dry like some basically everyone else did of all his talent and knowledge. Years later I was in a room with Ward Kimball for nine months and we talked plenty, but not about animation.
Me: That's good. So, what was one of the first projects you worked on?
Tad: On the original Rescuers there's a scene with Bernard Mouse walking across the desk in Madam Medusa's pawn shop and the clock chimes and he turns and looks over his shoulder. That's all on me.
Me: Ha! That's so cool. At school we did the play of The Rescuers and I played Orville the albatross. I have to find a pic of it and show it on the Phile. That must've been a big deal for you to do that animation, right?
Tad: Unfortunately it was cleaned up by someone who didn't want to. It was a weird time. Suddenly there was a very strict kind of a class system at Disney back in the day. There were the directing animators, and there were the guys that had Walt's ear and there was a level under them, the Nine Old Men. There were plenty of guys that were in their second string who always had to be the assistant animators for the key guys or whatever. And then their were these young punks who came out of college and they were like, "Clean up this guys scene!" I caught my clean up artist in a bad day evidentially because he just barely cleaned it up. I did not try to get it on model so it's a pretty sketchy, literally, scene. But hey, at least I got one in there.
Me: Was that the one scene you did for that movie?
Tad: No, I was given another scene with the rabbit and the owl lighting fireworks at the bottom of a steamboat and that's part of the climax. They said, "This is the amount of footage you have." I kept fighting it and fighting it, I had the owl on top of the guys shoulder going back and forward and I just couldn't get it done. I couldn't do it, and I forget literally what I did but I gave back the scene or moved into story at the time, I forget. They probably would've just given it back. The scene was actually done by Cliff Nordberg. It was just one of those things where I was told they just had to enter down the steps, run over to the fireworks, and then start lighting them. I was being way too literal, I was thinking how do I get them form the steps to there. And then finish the scene. They maybe took one step to get from across the room to the fireworks and start lighting things. I do feel good that Cliff who did the scene, we actually recycled all our paper and rough drawings. He found the drawings in the recycling pile and when he was flipping through them he said, "Wow. This is looking pretty good. Why didn't we go with that?" Because I'm stupid, that's why.
Me: Do you have any regrets? Haha.
Tad: If there were any regrets, I had a great career and hopefully still having one, there is that whole being worried about bothering the veterans, where most of them were very open. I worked with story plenty, because I did story work for Fox and the Hound but they were there to be talked to and kind of get what I can from them and I just never felt comfortable about doing that. It was like I didn't want to bother them, they don't want to spend time with me. So I missed out on a lot of opportunities that way.
Me: I loved Fox and the Hound. So, you worked on a lot of the story?
Tad: Well, I worked on it. Saying I worked a lot on the story sounds like I came up with a lot of the sequences. No, they gave me a chance to move into story. That was back when credits were only a few cards long and it was totally up to the opinion of the director. I did all my work under Woolie Reitherman. I was also working with pastel and working with Mel Shaw who was a fantastic story artist and worked in pastel. I had him show me some of his tricks and techniques so he drew over my drawings which didn't do me any favors later when they were trying to figure out how much work I did. They just looked at the stuff quickly and said, "Yeah, that's Mel's stuff." Anything the first thing I did was they gave me some Frank Thomas animation that had already been done and they wanted me to rework it, which his chief was injured and they wanted me to rework it into the story as it occurred. I guess they were happy with that. I did the sequence where the hunter is setting out the trap to catch the Fox with Todd. Then I left and went to work at Imagineering which then was called WED. A few little things happened when I was away like Don Bluth and some people left the studio and tried to shut down the feature animation department and the directors all changed on Fox and the Hound and when it came to credit time the manager of the department called me and said, "You're not getting credit." In a weird Disney way only an insider can understand, it was almost the fact that I was ready for it and didn't scream and shout when he said, "Oh, let me see if I can go get you credit." Again what bothered me, one of the things that was said was, Fox and the Hound is coming along great, that sequence were they setting up there traps." I said, "Yeah, that's my sequence."
Me: So, did you get the credit?
Tad: No, I didn't get the credit, and it didn't bother me until when they were doing the credit cards they gave credit to Squeaks the caterpillar as himself because he was a sound effect. They thought it was a funny joke. I was like, "Oh, great, you gave a credit line..." We're talking about letters on a piece of paper. "You gave a credit line to a non-existent entity. But I who actually did sequences in this movie didn't get a chance."
Me: Hahahahahaha. Why did you move into story in the first place?
Tad: Basically me moving into story came from me on The Rescuers. Actually it came before that. Once someone makes it into the program we teach ourself to learn to animate and why we're doing a test we survive that and become an in-betweener. How to get ahead is to do personal tests and I kept coming up with tests to do, coming so far and getting a better idea, getting into that one and having another better idea and doing it I did that year and the management department happened to be walking by and I was looking at one of my tests on the Moviola and I said, "Ed, can you come in here and give me an opinion? I was thinking of going back into that and tightening it up and showing it to the review board." He looked at it and said, "Wow, that's good! We've given up on you!" Excuse me while I bend down and pick up the heart I just dropped on the floor. It was like maybe someone should've said something? Couldn't we have an update once a year? But anyway I realized I kept coming up with better ideas or what I thought were better ideas for tests. I was made assistant animator by showing that test. But I realized I was more interested in coming up what the characters should do rather than actually executing them actually doing the story. So that's why I pushed hard to get into story. During The Rescuers I storyboarded sequence just because I looked at the story and said, man, there's no face to face scene between Madame Medusa and Penny. So I had Madame Medusa in her room or whatever and Penny comes in and Madame Medusa treats her like crap. I got to show it to Woolie and Milt Kahl, Frank and Ollie and other people in the story department and Milt said, "She'd never be that harsh. She'll never be like that, it just doesn't seem right." But Woolie looked at it and said, "Maybe we'll give you a chance on stuff." Then later on I guess they did realize that these two characters should meet and the brilliant Vance Garry took over that sequence or created the sequence because like I said I just storyboarded the thing and he came up with the super memorable Mademe Medusa taking off make-up while Penny comes in and asks about being adopted and all that which was the brilliant tour de force by Milt Kahl. I was told that started with me, that it was my idea. That had gone right past me.
Me: So, you said you went to Imagineering. What did you do for them?
Tad: What had happened was they put me on an educational film about health and alcohol abuse. I did the storyboards, wrote for the storyboards and produced. It was done in New Zealand who used to be the assistant of John Lounsbery, another of the Nine Old Men and because it was an educational thing and it was entertaining that';s when they moved me to Imagineering to help without with Epcot. I worked on the transportation pavilion with Ward and the space pavilion which you'll notice doesn't exist although I did get to meet George Lucas. We had lunch, I sat across from him just by happenstance in the conference room we were meeting, eating chicken. There was a bunch of older guys in the room and I just said, "Okay, my friends back in animation will kill me if I don't ask about Star Wars." He said, "Oh, go ahead." I'm pretty sure this was between the original and Empire. He told me there were nine films and Luke would become a Ben Kenobi type of character. But the weird thing I didn't think about until recently was he actually said people won't like there first three films because they're about trades and negotiations and things. It's more of a political trilogy. And I think people don't like them for different reasons. It was just funny in two ways he said that... but secondly it's him making up this universe. "If you're creating films that you don't think people will like you're allowed to tell a different story." Anyway, that was a little bit of fun. It was a great time working with Ward on transportation then get to work with Tony Baxter, who was the chief designer of Disneyland.
Me: I love the prequels! So, how did you start getting into doing TV stuff for Disney?
Tad: I started going to the Word of Science Fiction convention once a year back then, which started with my Epcot stuff. We'd go for research and to meet various science fiction authors. I kept going and I was kind of flailing at Disney because it just was I was in this weird thing doing these Epcot documentaries and the networks said, "We don't want Epcot documentaries. We have our own news departments to do documentaries." The company was living in the past, they remembered how the networks were begging Walt to do a show based on his new park called Disneyland and they thought the network would beat down on their door and say, "Yes, we want to give you five hours of primetime programming to talk about your new theme park." Surprisingly because it was in the middle of the new season they said, "We're not interested." Anyway, what came out of that was we started to put some little animated sequences in production. Those shows fell apart and we strung them together in a show we called "Fun with Mr. Future." That was a goofy crazy thing that I think you can find on YouTube. It was hosted by the inside of Mr. Lincoln's head. They just put a bowtie on him and he talked about how personal computers were coming to your home. That parts pretty dated now. So that happened and it put me on the television live action side, I worked on Donald's 50th anniversary special and got to meet Dick Van Dyke and work with him. I began to fly around and it just felt like it was not going anywhere and I was called into the first meeting with Michael Eisner about TV animation and after that I ran into Mike Webster who was one of the first heard of TV animation and I said, "Hey, Michael, do you have any storyboard slots open?" My first thought was if I can make as much money I was then making as a freelance storyboard artist then I would quit and just do that and write fir my solo in my spare time. I would write science fiction short stories, that's what I would do. But instead he said, "You don't want to storyboard. Why don't you come visit us at our new studio?" I did and kept my mouth closed. I forgot that because of that first meeting they wanted me to be part of TV animation since the beginning and this was like 8 or 9 months into it. I met with Jeffrey Katzenberg who said the guys can use me over there and help them out and it's not a one way street. It turned out it was but...
Me: What did you like about doing TV animation?
Tad: That my job at Disney always changed, every year and a half I was doing something very different and I had enjoyed that. In TV animation I actually started out as an executive called Creative Manager of a department then quickly took over the third season of Gummi Bears because they needed a new story editor. From then on my show changed every two years or so. So really working on one story on a feature for four years or whatever probably would have driven me crazy.
Me: Then you went off and created "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers." How did that come along?
Tad: When Disney Afternoon came along they said let's do enough to fill out a 65 episode order so that the Gummi Bears was in the third season, I believe that was the final season on network. So maybe I killed it. Rescue Rangers was a chance to create a new show, the idea was Jim Megan and I created it together and then only one of us was allowed to be on the show because the other guy would be the person in development and give notes on shows so Jim became that guy and I became there guy to do the show. It practically killed me because back then we didn't know how to do the shows. Suddenly their were three units of artists, three directors and only two of us being story editors, myself and Bryce Malick. It was too much work and I was working seven days a week. My "day off" was Sunday's when I only went in for four hours. Saturday's were eight hours and everything else was insane. I was rewriting acts and finishing up act threes just in a few days. So Rescue Rangers was a stream of consciousness. They took me off the show, they thought I was making it "not too young." Bryce said, "It's a show about three inch high chipmunks. It's going to be cute. It's going to be young." Anyway, Jim came in to take over and I think he did only one or two episodes before they gave him "TaleSpin."
Me: Did you do any work for "DuckTales"?
Tad: Yeah, I was in a kind of creative development role back then. In development with "DuckTales" even though they knew they were going to do 65, they said they were going to do some initial episodes and they needed something to give it more juice to promote, so they were looking for new characters. I pitched Space Duck, which did not go over and Alien Duck. I remember he had thorn on his head, like a trumpet horn. And Gizmoduck, although I pitched it as RoboDuck, so I created him. The other was Bubba Duck who I named Caveman Duck, who was just a concept and a name. Then it took the story writers and editors to really flesh them out.
Me: Okay, so, I wanted to have you on the Phile to talk about "Darkwing Duck" so let's get to it. Haha. How was he created?
Tad: That was a lot of fun, The two favorite projects of my career was "Darkwing Duck" and "Hellboy." With Darkwing it started out, the world can thank Jeffrey Katzenberg basically because Jeffrey loved the name Double-0-Duck which came from the episode of "DuckTales" which was about Launchpad himself and it was a James Bond parody. Jeffrey loved the name again I was the guy currently on bat at development and he said, "Develop that." This was well before Austin Powers, which is a way to say we could've made it good. I went into it thinking it's just a spy parody, it has no drive, it has no sense of family. There's no heart to this, but I did it and it had all the typical James Bond gags with this character Double-0-Duck. I showed it to Jeffrey and Jeffrey said, "This is just a spy parody, out has no heart, no sense of family." I had that split second where I said, "Me and the boss think alike." Then he says do it over. That is something where I should've done in the first place where it was just I should not bother pitching something I don't believe in and instead went back to the pulps and thought about the Shadow and the Green Hornet and Silver Age comics and basically quickly got on the road to Darkwing. But it didn't all gel until I came up with Gosalyn. The idea of what if Batman had a daughter to raise who refused to stay at home. That was Darkwing, Gosalyn really was the heart of Darkwing. So a lot of people missed that, even Boom Studios when they did their comic run, I always said when they put Gosalyn in a superhero outfit whether it's Quivering Quack or a robot suit they've taken away what makes that special. Now she's just another hero. She's younger, they could play some ego things with Darkwing but she was there to complicate Darkwing's life. I kept telling them stop splitting them up, keep them together, that's where the heart is, that's where the humor is. It's not like wha they were doing was not funny, this was the unique thing that was part of "Darkwing Duck." In fact, in terms of favorite characters of that show Gosalyn is my favorite character and Darkwing.
Me: Do you think they would be another Darkwing show?
Tad: If Disney came to me, and they're not going to, and said, "We would love for you to do another Darkwing show." Sure, I'd love to do it. But I have characters in my brain that I want to do stories on myself.
Me: After Darkwing you did the sequel to Aladdin that was the direct to home video, right? How did you get to be a part of that?
Tad: The Return of Jafar was just a five episode introduction to the show which we always did four of five episode introductions, and I was said we're doing the sequel to Aladdin, They said not really, and until they released Aladdin on video and I made a second phone call and this time they were very interested. One day our boss came into a meeting and gave a bunch of notes and I said we have to get it done by this date. They asked why and I said because we got to get it to home video. That's gravy, worry about this, if we get it done and give it to them then fine. He left and again this was pointed out to me after the fact by people who were there that I said, "Okay, we've got to do all those notes but we have to get it done by this date." All I was trying to do was not this genius who was foreseeing this hime video avalanche that then came, out was just if they could sell a few copies maybe they wouldn't be cutting our budgets. I did it so we could keep up the budgets for the series so we could do quality work. Anyway, it went out, cost like three and a half million and made 200 million dollars domestic, and created a whole system that was the stain of my soul.
Me: But you also worked on the second one, right?
Tad: The second one we did with more intent. I was much happier with that, The King off Thieves. Then I did Buzz Lightyear after that. I never got the budget or time that the Lion King sequels, or those kind of sequels got, even though I was on it for a month or two. Mine we always in the category of cost a little, made a lot of money.
Me: You worked on the "Hercules" series as well. Was that your last series?
Tad: I did "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command." "Hercules" doesn't get much love. I don't see a lot of talk about it. It had an incredible list of stars. We were in the position we had to re-pitch the series after it was already in production because the movie didn't do well, or at last not what they expected. Michael Eisner could not believe the stars we had on the show as guest stars and I said, "Michael, I'm damn charming." We asked and they said yes.
Me: So, you left Disney, which I didn't know that. How and why did you leave Disney?
Tad: "Buzz Lightyear" again was a series that gets buried because John Lasseter didn't really like it, but he was there at the start of it. By definition we couldn't do the show that was in his head for both conceptual reasons and budget reasons. Then Disney wanted me to look at the other side of the door, then locked it.
Me: Oh, man. So, you worked on Hellboy? You said that was one of the top two things you worked on. That was after you left Disney?
Tad: I pitched Hellboy for Disney, I did a little sizzle piece and I'm sure he would've turned into Heckboy. I really cannot see people posing with him on Main Street. Then again they got Wolverine so why not? I did the animated movies of Hellboy. That was fantastic.
Me: You had such an amazing career, Tad. Thanks so much for being on the Phile, sir.
Tad: I'm glad you think so. Thanks, Jason.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guest Tad Stones. The Phile will be back tomorrow with the one and only Julie Andrews. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.
I don't want you, cook my bread, I don't want you, make my bed, I don't want your money too, I just want to make love to you. - Willie Dixon
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