Shuffling the Canon REDUX: A Shuffled Disney & Pixar TL Redone

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The Little Mermaid (1937)
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    The Little Mermaid (1937)​

    Taken from "The Production of the Little Mermaid: Disney's First Success", produced 1990

    Leonard Maltin: Walt had an extremely hard time choosing material for his first film. Walt has considered doing that novel "Bambi", then there was Peter Pan, the story about the boy who never grew up. Out of these two, Walt only produced Peter Pan. Some said that the reason Walt ultimately went with the Little Mermaid was due to his love for classic Andersen tales, which we can see reflected in the final film.

    Fred Moore (1): When Walt announced production on the Little Mermaid, we were all like "Oh this'll never work, Walt's finally gone off his rocker!". Some people called it Disney's Folly when it was still it production and expected the film to flop. Of course, that didn't happen and the Little Mermaid would be the start of what they call the Golden Age.

    Ward Kimball: We had a lot of story meetings on how to handle the ending of the film. One of our original drafts was more akin to Andersen's original tale, but Walt came in one night and said "Nah that's too dark it'll give kids nightmares!". So we scrapped that idea pretty quickly and had the Little Mermaid be revived in the end instead.

    Ward Kimball: I remember seeing Clark Gable cry that night, it was crazy! The biggest Hollywood celebrities crying of a cartoon, how was that even possible?

    Leonard Maltin: I think a big part of the Little Mermaid's success was the romance and the story itself as well as the side characters. We got Ariel the Little Mermaid herself who's resilient to her father's dissapproval, then there's Floppy Fish who's Ariel's best friend, and of course Sebastian the Crab himself, King Triton's majordormo. And who could forget Grimhelde the Sea Witch, such a memorable Disney villain, probably my personal favourite too.

    ---

    The name "Walt Disney Productions" had became a phenomenon by the mid-1930s thanks of the long-running Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony short series. Walt released "Steamboat Willie" which revolutionised sound cartoons in 1928 and also marked the debut of Mickey Mouse, introduced 3-strip color film with 1932's "Flowers and Trees" and truly struck gold with the 1933 short "Three Little Pigs". By 1934, Walt was looking for further, more darring endeavours. After looking for suitable material and adaptations, Walt settled on Hans Christen Andersen's "The Little Mermaid".

    Despite being the first film produced and subsequently released, Walt had actually greenlit a live-action aniamtion hybird of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" starring Mary Pickford. However the difficulty of combining live-action and aqnimation, as well as the unability of crafting a coherent story led Walt to shelve Alice indefinitely. Then there were the stories of Peter Pan and Bambi, both stories never came to fruition due to difficulties in purchasing film rights (or in the case of the latter, snatch rights away from MGM). Alice and Bambi never came to reality until the 21st Century, and Peter Pan wasn't made until a period known as "The Silver Age". Walt soon announced his plans to produce a feature-length animated film in an October 1934 story meeting.

    This became quite the ridicule when the announcement became public. The film was nicknamed "Disney's Folly" and many believed it would doom the Disney Studio. Walt's brother Roy and his wife Lillian tried to talk him out of it, but Walt wouldn't budge. Ultimately by 1937 and only a few months before the film's intended release date, Walt had to take a loan from the Bank of America, he only did so after showing a rough cut of the near-finished product.

    The mermaid Ariel is obsessed with human life, this obsession is fueled even further when Ariel saves a young Prince named Hans. Ariel's father King Triton discovers Ariel's obsession and destroys her collection of human artifacts. Ariel then turns to Grimhelde the sea witch, who plans to use Ariel to take over Triton's kingdom. Grimhelde sets a spell that gives Ariel human legs, she must get Prince Hans to kiss her or else she will turn into sea foam and die. While Ariel reunites with prince Hans, Grimhelde poses as Princess Arianna to fool Hans into marrying her. Now Ariel and her sea friends must warn Prince Hans and save the kingdom before it's too late.

    "The Little Mermaid" would become the first entry in the Disney Animated Canon and also Disney's first big success, paving the way for future Disney films and the Disney Company as a whole.

    Release Date: December 21st 1937

    Cast:
    Adriana Caselotti (Ariel, Grimhelde as Princess Arianna)
    Stuart Buchanan (King Triton)
    Mel Blanc (Floppy the Fish)
    Roy Atwell (Sebastian the Crab)
    Harry Stockwell (Prince Hans)
    Pinto Colvig (Grimsby, Hans's majordormo)
    Lucille La Verne (Grimhelde)

    Notable Songs:
    Someday My Prince Will Come (sung by Ariel after she first meets Hans)
    Music in Your Soup (sung by Grimsby during the dinner with Hans and Ariel)

    (1) See the 1961 film
     
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    • MemphisC

    MemphisC

    JoeCarioca2491 said:
    Taken from "The Production of the Little Mermaid: Disney's First Success"

    Ollie Johnston: Walt had an extremely hard time choosing material for his first film. Walt has considered doing that novel "Bambi", Peter Pan. At one point Walt even considered Snow White! Ridiculous isn't it? Of course, Walt would make Peter Pan and Snow White later on.

    Fred Moore (ITTL Fred Moore survives the car crash and lives until the 90s): When Walt announced production on the Little Mermaid, we were all like "Oh this'll never work, Walt's finally gone off his rocker!". Some people called it Disney's Folly when it was still it production and expected the film to flop. Of course, that didn't happen and the Little Mermaid would be the start of what they call the Golden Age.

    Ward Kimball: We had a lot of story meetings on how to handle the ending of the film. One of our original drafts was more akin to Andersen's original tale, but Walt came in one night and said "Nah that's too dark it'll give kids nightmares!". So we scrapped that idea pretty quickly and had the Little Mermaid be revived in the end instead.

    Ward Kimball: I remember seeing Clark Gable cry that night, it was crazy! The biggest Hollywood celebrities crying of a cartoon, how was that even possible?

    Leonard Maltin: I think a big part of the Little Mermaid's success was the romance and the story itself as well as the side characters. We got Ariel the Little Mermaid herself who's resilient to her father's dissapproval, then there's Floppy Fish who's Ariel's best friend, and of course Sebastian the Crab himself, King Triton's majordormo. And who could forget Grimhelde the Sea Witch, such a memorable Disney villain, probably my personal favourite too.

    ---

    The mermaid Ariel is obsessed with human life, this obsession is fueled even further when Ariel saves a young Prince named Hans. Ariel's father King Triton discovers Ariel's obsession and destroys her collection of human artifacts. Ariel then turns to Grimhelde the sea witch, who plans to use Ariel to take over Triton's kingdom. Grimhelde sets a spell that gives Ariel human legs, she must get Prince Hans to kiss her or else she will turn into sea foam and die. While Ariel reunites with prince Hans, Grimhelde poses as Princess Arianna to fool Hans into marrying her. Now Ariel and her sea friends must warn Prince Hans and save the kingdom before it's too late.

    "The Little Mermaid" would become the first entry in the Disney Animated Canon and also Disney's first big success, paving the way for future Disney films and the Disney Company as a whole.

    Release Date: December 21st 1937

    Cast:
    Adriana Caselotti (Ariel, Grimhelde as Princess Arianna)
    Stuart Buchanan (King Triton)
    Mel Blanc (Floppy the Fish)
    Roy Atwell (Sebastian the Crab)
    Harry Stockwell (Prince Hans)
    Pinto Colvig (Grimsby, Hans's majordormo)
    Lucille La Verne (Grimhelde)
    Click to expand...
    that is an interesting start to this TL.
     
    MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Hello everyone. This is the remake of my older Disney TL "Shuffling the Canon", which has the exact same premise of shuffling all 62 WDAC titles (including the Reluctant Dragon, Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart and the Nightmare Before Christmas), all Pixar films (including Inside Out 2 and Elio) and the Animated TV Shows into different release dates.

    Unlike with the old version, I wouldn't be posting hints to future titles and any necessary hints will be in the main updates themselves. Also updates would no longer be frequent as I want to polish every update up as well as do some preliminary research. Some necessary notes will also be added to every update.

    Speaking of notes, TTL's Little Mermaid is what Disney starts off with, and it's a mixture of OTL's Little Mermaid and the original Andersen tale.

    This should be a fun ride...
     
    MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Alright, these will be the list of TV Shows that'll be shuffled:

    The Wuzzles
    Adventures of the Gummi Bears
    DuckTales
    Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers
    TaleSpin
    Darkwing Duck
    Goof Troop
    Bonkers
    Gargoyles
    Quack Pack
    Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series
    Doug
    PB&J Otter
    Mickey Mouse Works
    House of Mouse
    Kim Possible
    Yin Yang Yo
    Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
    Phineas and Ferb
    Jake and the Never Land Pirates
    Gravity Falls
    Sofia the First
    Paul Rudish's "Mickey Mouse"
    The 7D
    Star vs the Forces of Evil
    Elena of Avalor
    Milo Murphy's Law
    Duck Tales (2017)
    Amphibia
    The Owl House
    The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse
    Hailey's On It!

    I am aware that there are other Disney TV Shows that are not on this lsit. That is because I aim to only include the most iconic and important ones, if I were to include all 110 TV Shows on the list, this TL would go on for far too long and I'd also get migraines just by figuring out how all these TV shows would work in different time periods.

    (The Proud Family isn't on the wikipedia list even though its reboot is there, so I'm not gonna include that in the shuffling)
     
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    MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    The only problem I have with the next title is the plot itself, everything else is already ok so expect the 1940a film to be completed soon
     
    Robin Hood (1939)
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Robin Hood (1939)​

    Taken from "Oo De Lally! The Making of Disney's Robin Hood, 45 Years Later"

    Ward Kimball: "The Little Mermaid" was a huge success, of course Walt would immediately come up with a follow-up. We all expected Walt to do something like Peter Pan or Snow White next, but then Walt came in with a 50 page long transcript titled "Robin Hood", and that was when we all knew what Walt have had in his mind. Of course the other films like what would eventually become Fantasia and Atlantis were all in production, in fact Walt wanted Atlantis to be his second film before he realised the complexity of the original novel.

    Fred Moore: Ted Sears, the guy who would write most of our earlier film scripts, was in charge of "Robin Hood". We had a lot of story meetings back in '37 or '38 I don't quite remember, and the story was basically going nowehere. We had no idea on how Robin would deal with the sheriff and Prince John, and Robin himself was a bit of a prick and wasn't very likeable. Production came to a halt one day and Walt had us redesign all the characters and rewrite the script, it was grueling but we managed to do it anyways, after all the film wouldn't have been as acclaimed today if we didn't redo everything.

    Frank Thomas: Originally we gave the film a Southern setting in America, it was pretty weird and didn't fit the film at all so we quickly scrapped it. Then there was the idea of having animals portray the Robin Hood characters, but that too was scrapped. Eventually after tossing around ideas back and forth, we settled on a winter setting. We did release the film on Christmas Day of '39 after all.

    Mel Blanc: Walt was pretty impressed with what I did with Floppy back in the Little Mermaid, so he phoned me up one day and told me all about Robin Hood. Walt then offered me the role of Little John and of course I accepted, I mean why would I pass on such a wonderful offer?

    Dickie Jones: When I was voicing Skippy, this little child who idolised Robin a lot, the animators would pay close attention to our mouths and how we acted during recording sessions, and use that for a reference. I remember those days a lot, it was an unforgettable oppoturnity getting to work with Mel Blanc and Walt Disney.

    Leonard Maltin: It was kinda sad to see Robin Hood bomb at the box office when it first premiered, you know with World War 2 going on in Europe and markets closed down. If WW2 had not happened, Robin Hood would've most likely became a huge success like the Little Mermaid, after all the film did earn back its losses upon re-release. There's a pretty good reason why Robin Hood is one of many animation historians and fans's favourite films, the story and the humour are all done perfectly.

    ---

    The story of Robin Hood was a natural for the medium of animation you might say, especially when Walt Disney was the one adapting the classic folktale. For Walt's second outing, he initially considered "Snow White" and "Peter Pan" (1), a failure to re-write the story of Snow White and Peter Pan would end up shelving the two for quite the while. Walt soon found material for his second film when he considered adapting the tales of "Reynard the Fox". However, Reynard was too unsympathetic and the storymen had no idea how to rework his practically villainous personality. It was soon decided that the project would be re-started from the ground-up and be based on new material, going from anti-heroes (at least from the original Reynard tales' perspective), the folktales of "Robin Hood" were chosen.

    In November 1937, Walt walked into a staff meeting holding a 50 page story outline, titled "Robin Hood", it was written by Ted Sears. Production started at earnest by January 1938 right after "The Little Mermaid"'s premiere, and yet the script had to be completely re-written during mid-production as it felt too much like the scrapped Reynard project. Walt initially aimed for a Christmas 1938 release, but the film had to expectedly be pushed to the later and more realistic date of Autumn 1939 and finally Christmas 1939.

    Robin Hood is a heroic outlaw who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, accompanied by his strong but dimwitted sidekick (and also the film's comedic relief character) Little John and the kind Friar Tuck. During Christmas time, the evil Prince John sends King Richard off to a crusade and taxes all of Nottingham into poverty. Robin Hood and Little John spend the winter gifting the citizens of Nottingham money and food. Eventually, the Sheirff of Nottingham captures Robin Hood by luring him into an archery match and prepares to hang him on Christmas Morning, but Little John manages to break him out. The rest of the movie revolves around Robin's big escape and Prince John's defeat.

    Due to European Markets being closed at the time, "Robin Hood" would flop at the box office but earn back its losses via re-releases. Today, "Robin Hood" is seen as a enjoyable Christmas movie and a Disney Classic

    Release Date: December 25th 1939

    Cast:
    Frankie Darro (Robin Hood) (2)
    Mel Blanc (Little John and King Richard)
    Sterling Holloway (Friar Tuck)
    Evelyn Venable (Maid Marian)
    Walter Catlett (The Sheriff of Nottingham) (2)
    Charles Judels (Prince John)
    Dickie Jones (Skippy)

    Notable Songs:
    Give a Little Whistle (sung by Robin Hood at Skippy's birthday party)
    Hi Diddle Dee Dee (sung by the Sheriff of Nottingham while collecting taxes)
    I've Got No Strings (Sung by Robin Hood, also his de facto theme)

    (1) Ferguson never brings in "Pinocchio" ITTL, so no attempts to adapt said novel were made
    (2) Catlett is also Robin Hood's singing voice here, given that Darro wasn't a good singer and was the main reason why "Three Cheers For Anything" in OTL's Pinocchio was scrapped.

    Notes: Instead of having the second WDAC film release in 1940, I'm having it release on Christmas Day 1939 like how OTL's Pinocchio was intended. Ultimately I chose to give TTL's Robin Hood a somewhat similar plot to OTL's counterpart but also changing enough so that it's different. For instance, Robin himself is captured by the Sheriff instead of Friar Tuck, and Robin's main motive is to spread Christmas joy during wintertime. While flopping in the box office upon release, "Robin Hood" (and the Little Mermaid while we're at it) is still an ejoyable and fun Disney Classic, even though it is absolute trash compared to what would come next...
     
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    The next title should be an easy one to knock out, but after this we'll run into a roadblock with the two 1941 films. So don't expect an update directly after the 1940b film.
     
    MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    PGSBHurricane said:
    I wonder how Robin Hood's characters not being anthropomorphic animals will change it's perception ITTL.
    Click to expand...
    Well it’s reception ITTL is the equivalent of OTL’s Dumbo (speaking of which, the original book is actually published this time around and it’ll appear sometime during the Silver Age), not as extravagant as the rest of the Golden Age but still a enjoyable film and a classic. Now the next film would have the reception of OTL’s Pinocchio and Fantasia.
     
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    The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1940)
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1940)​

    Taken from “Sanctuary: The Production of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney’s Darkest Masterpiece”, produced in 1990

    Ollie Johnston: The Hunchback of Notre Dame was an odd choice you might say. One of the earliest drafts of the film was made back in late ‘38, it originally had all the major characters die at the end. But like with the Little Mermaid, Walt and the others agreed that it was too dark and we changed it to what it is today.

    Ward Kimball: Walt wanted somebody or something to lighten the tone a bit, but couldn’t figure out anything even after many story meetings. Walt considered a trio of Gargoyles voiced by the Three Stooges, but that was thrown out the window and we were back to the drawing board. Around the same day I did some doodles of this little cricket character after work, I left it in the drawer and quickly forgot about it. And then one day Walt came around and saw my drawings, and that was when the idea clicked. I was assigned to work on the cricket character, who would now serve as a comedic character as well as Quasimodo’s only companion before Esmeralda showed up. I named the little cricket Jiminy for obvious reasons, funny isn’t it?

    Leonard Maltin: I think a big part of the film's praise today is due to Jiminy. Jiminy Cricket is this all-American wise-cracking little fella, always able to deflate a serious situation with a clever joke. The character resonated with American aduiences at the time, you know with the fear of war and all that.

    Paula Sigman: Ned Washington and Leigh Harline co-wrote the film’s score. There were a lot of great classic songs that we still hum today, like “A Happy Go Lucky Fellow”. sung by Jiminy Cricket. Then there was “Hellfire”, probably one of, if not the best Disney Villain song, sung to perfection by Claude Frollo. And of course, “When You Wish Upon a Star”, the film’s de facto theme song and also the theme song of Disney itself.

    Ollie Johnston: The film was a critical success when it premiered, but of course with WW2 still going on and the budget being way too high, the film sadly bombed at the box office. Regardless, the Hollywood stars cried even more at the ending than they did with the Little Mermaid, even Walt himself wept a bit at the premiere.

    Leonard Maltin: Walt was too ambitious with production and caused the budget to overflow, he never really brought up the Hunchback of Notre Dame again except in one episode of his TV Show. Of course, the film would earn a significant fanbase and its budget back when it re-released in the 1960s and 80s, and many fellow animation historians view either this film or Fantasia as the magnum opus in Disney's lifetime.

    ---

    "The Little Mermaid" and "Robin Hood" were both critically successful films, even if "Robin Hood" had flopped during its initial run. During the production of these two films, Walt was already planning on what to do after. A film concurrently in production with "Robin Hood" was an ambitious project titled "The Concert Feature", made to re-coup the financial burden of the prestigous Mickey Mouse short "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". "The Concert Feature" was initially coined for a 1940 release, but the main issues of choosing the right music pieces and anger from Igor Stravinsky over "The Rite of Spring" caused massive delays in production and wouldn't release until the next decade.

    Meanwhile Walt had already decided on what would take the 1940 slot. Animator Norman Ferguson showed up to work one day in September 1937 with the book "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo. Walt was disinterested and felt that a book as dark as "Hunchback" would be a risky move, considering the Hays Code was currently being implemented. However with some persuasion, Walt ultimately greenlit the film.

    To say that "Hunchback" had a troubled production would be a massive understatement. Its source material was one of the darkest and most complex pieces of literature, and the Disney staff had to re-work it into a family friendly Disney film. In a November 1938 story meeting, Walt decided to include one or more comedy relief characters and had Ward Kimball design a set of three gargolyes, and yet the gargolye trio would never make it past the drawing board. It was a few initially discarded sketches of an anthropomorphic cricket drawn by Kimball that caught Walt's eye. The cricket, now named Jiminy, was set to become the comic relief and also the heart of the film.

    For the songs, Ned Washington and Leigh Harline composed both the songs and the score. "When You Wish Upon a Star" caught Walt's attention and was set to become the film's general theme song, it would end up as Disney's most iconic and de facto theme song. Then there was "Hellfire", which Walt wanted to scrap but was impressed enough to keep in the film after watching a rought reel done behind his back. To compensate for the delay of "The Concert Feature", "Hunchback" would take the 1940 slot as it was nearing completetion around the same time "The Concert Feature" got delayed further.

    Quasimodo is raised by his adoptive and abusive father Judge Claude Frollo, because of his hunchback and his looks, Quasimodo is rejected from society, his only friend is a righteous cricket named Jiminy. On the eve of Quasimodo's 20th birthday, he is crowned winner of the Annual Fool Festival as a "birthday gift" from Frollo, however a Romani dancer named Esmeralda saves him. Frollo, Phoebus the Captain of the Guard all gain lust towards Esmeralda, but Quasimodo is the only one who loves her geniunely. Phoebus seduces Esmeralda but is knocked out by an obsessive Frollo. Esmeralda is charged with the attempted murder of Phoebus, Frollo agrees to bail her out on the condition that Esmeralda makes out with him. Esmeralda refuses and is set to be hanged at dawn. Jiminy overhears this and alerts Quasimodo. Led by Jiminy, Quasimodo alerts Clopin, the leader of the Roma. A fight breaks out where Paris is engulfed in flames. Ultimately, Phoebus succumbs to his injuries, Quasimodo is stabbed to death by Frollo, and Frollo himself plunges into the fire, seemingly the act of divine intervention. Clopin, Esmeralda and Jiminy Cricket all mourn the loss of Quasimodo before divine intervention revives him just in time for Quasimodo's 20th birthday.

    "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was met with mixed critical reviews, being criticised for its overly religious and dark tone. With a 2.5 million dollar budget, the film would bomb at the box office and it wouldn't be until the 1980s/1990s until the film earned back its losses. Despite this, the film would recieve universal praise through its various re-releases, today it's seen as a Disney masterpiece.

    Release Date: November 13th 1940

    Cast:
    Mickey Rooney (Quasimodo)
    Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket)
    Deanna Durbin (Esmeralda)
    Walter Catlett (Captain Phoebus)
    Stuart Buchanan (Claude Frollo)
    Billy Bletcher (The Archdeacon)
    Clarence Nash (Clopin)

    Notable Songs:
    When You Wish Upon a Star (sung by Jiminy Cricket during the titles and the opening sequence)
    I'm a Happy Go Lucky Fellow (sung by Jiminy Cricket to cheer up Quasimodo)
    Hellfire (sung by Claude Frollo during the fireplace prayer scene)

    Notes: This is TTL's equivalent to Pinocchio/Fantasia, being one of Disney's darkest and most ambitious films. Jiminy Cricket and “When You Wish Upon a Star” from OTL's Pinocchio are in this film, as well as one deleted song from OTL’s Pinocchio and “Hellfire”, albeit tweaked to fit the 1940s. The plot is a mixture of OTL's Hunchback and the original novel, often regarded as the strongest film in the Golden Age.
     
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    And with that three out of 66 films are done. Now the next two movies will take a while as they might be vastly different from their OTL counterparts, I will give away two hints for the 1941 films, but its limited.

    One film is a box office failure IOTL, and one is a box office success IOTL
     
    MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Alright, I plan to have the next update (1941a) come out by next weekend.

    And keep in mind, 1941a might not be in TTL'S WDAC even though it's included on this list. The same applies to 1946b, 1949a and 1993
     

    PGSBHurricane

    Interesting to see Phoebus act far closer to his novel counterpart here than his portrayal in the 1996 version IOTL. And Jiminy here? Is he the most remembered character in this version of Hunchback?
     
    MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    PGSBHurricane said:
    Interesting to see Phoebus act far closer to his novel counterpart here than his portrayal in the 1996 version IOTL. And Jiminy here? Is he the most remembered character in this version of Hunchback?
    Click to expand...
    It’s only natural for Jiminy Cricket, a minced oath for Jesus Christ, to be in this film. And yes, Jiminy and Claude Frollo are the most remembered characters, both for their OTL reasons
     
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