Part Twenty-Eight: Moments In The Woods:
“That was the problem that
The Little Mermaid faced. It came right out after
Into The Woods. It's like Disney never quite realised why no one released a disaster movie after
Airplane!”
- Quote from Claxon, member of Alternate History Forms, 2013
“
Into The Woods is the first original production by Nelvana under its Studio Eleven banner and it is the right way to make an impact. Based off Stephen Sondheim's hit musical on Broadway,
Into The Woods takes the fairy tales we all know so well and applies real consequences to them. Director Don Bluth has given the film a dark and foreboding feeling throughout that helps bring the characters and story to life. This is very different from the classical Disney fairy tale which has become something of a new tradition for Studio Elven itself.”
- Extract from a review of Into The Woods from the Chicago Tribune, October, 1989
Into The Woods:
Released: October 20th, 1989
Studio: Studio Eleven
Budget: 35 Million US Dollars
Box Office: 168.4 Million US Dollars
- Run down of Into The Wood's information and performance
The Little Mermaid:
Released: November 17th, 1989
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Budget: 40 Million US Dollars
Box Office: 166.1 Million US Dollars
- Run down of The Little Mermaid's information and performance
“For the first time, we'd beaten Disney on our own terms. A movie we'd created and produced had gone up against them and we'd come out on top. Not just money wise, but also on a cultural basis. Sondheim's subverting the typical fairy tales as he did really was a great way to show how times had moved on from the standard Princess story. It wasn't a case of telling a story like that anymore, things had to be different. We really owe Sondheim a lot for his work as
Into The Woods really helped secure our name as an independent studio away from what we were doing with Ghibli. The success also allowed us more freedom from the studios in pursuing other avenues for our films. It was a huge boost to the studio in general.”
- Extract from an Interview with Clive Smith, 1998
“I honestly think
The Little Mermaid is one of Disney's strongest movies, it just had really bad luck following
Into The Woods. Despite what people say, Ariel wasn't your stereotypical Disney Princess, she was pro-active and actually pursued her goals. But, people got the impression from Nelvana's press releases that what Disney was doing was cliched and just out of date. Even then, people forget about movies like
The Great Mouse Detective and
Oliver And Company which came out before
The Little Mermaid showed that Disney could easily do something different from that formula. But, thanks to stuff like
Grave of The Fireflies really redefining what an animated movie could be, Nelvana could dictate the narrative on what things were like, at least until the second
Evangelion movie came out.”
- Quote from QLeaper, member of the Freakin' Awesome Network, 2015
With the ending of the 'Big Three' in the late 80's and early 90's, Nelvana was looking for more animated output to help fill in the gap. In 1989, Nelvana approached Marvel Comics in regards to their
X-Men franchise. With a team of extraordinary beings still facing relatable problems being the lynchpin of the comic, it was felt that it would help develop on the strengths of their previous animated shows. After some negotiations, Nelvana was given the license to make the show with the creative process leading to a debut in the Summer of 1991.
- Extract from A History of Nelvana, 2006
“I'd finished working on
Duck Tales for Disney when I heard about Nelvana asking for writers for their
X-Men cartoon. By that time, I'd gotten a reputation for some solid output and they were interested in what I had to offer. I read some of the comics to get a feel for the characters and helped start writing the pilot episode. Working for Nelvana was a great experience and I really enjoyed myself over the years. We did a lot of great stuff with the M.A.U.”
- Extract from an interview with Paul Dini, 2009
Roster:
Cyclops
Jean Grey
Storm
Wolverine
Nightcrawler
Jubilee
Beast
Psylocke
Professor Xavier
- Main characters of Nelvana's X-Men series
“The team we chose for the
X-Men was based off the teams that had come before for the most part. Chris Claremont's stories were a big influence and we included a lot of the team members from that period. We brought in Psylocke as a way to bring in another female character and with a very different outlook from the others. We tried to give as many different characters with their own beliefs as the sheer variety is one of the group's biggest strengths. Jubilee was brought in as the newcomer character, letting the audience be introduced to the world that way. Paul was a great asset to the team from the start, able to bring out the individual quirks of the characters. When you have such a diverse cast of characters, it honestly makes writing the episodes a lot of fun.”
- Extract from an interview with Tom Ruegger, 2000
The division of Studio Eleven and Nelvana continued its success throughout the early 90's. Although there were some concerns after the ending of the 'Big Three' that Nelvana would struggle to find shows to carry on the high quality precedent set by those programmes. The
X-Men did a lot to put these fears to rest as it started out on a strong note and soon became one of the highest rated animated shows on television. Following the success of
Into The Woods, Studio Eleven also continued its dubbing of Studio Ghibli movies with
Kiki's Delivery Service getting a summer 1990 release to commercial and critical success despite attempted boycotts from campaigns led by Jimmy Swaggart and other evangelists. The continued success allowed for the increased creative freedom for Studio Eleven, resulting in 1992's Evangelion movie and its 1995 sequel.
- Extract from A History of Western Animation, 2014
“Is there no end?! Is there no end to this indecency?! These blasphemous images, designed to do nothing more than corrupt our Christian society and our children are being broadcast nation wide! A movie where a young girl surrenders herself to Satanic forces to become a witch will be released soon! Turn away from this, show your disgust by refusing to see it. Make them realise that the Christian faith will not be oppressed!”
- Extract from a sermon by Jimmy Swaggart, 1990
“Needless to say, we were all happy when we saw what Craig Charles did to that guy.”
- Quote from an anonymous source in Nelvana
“It was a tough choice that could have gone either way at the end of it. I had been working with Nelvana for some years when the Warner Brothers offer came in and I spoke to numerous people in the company about it. But, I decided to go with it since the
Justice League was going to be a show where I was going to be in charge. It was a huge opportunity I couldn't afford to miss out on. When it was time to leave Nelvana, they threw me a going away party and it was a great parting. I even received four little statues of the Usagi Yojimbo characters as a parting gift and they've always been near me ever since that point in my career.”
- Extract from an interview with J. Michael Straczynski, 2015
Superman
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern
Batman
Black Canary
Zatanna
The Flash
- Line up of the Justice League for Warner Brother's Justice League cartoon, 1991
Justice League
Green Lantern
Superman
Wonder Woman
Batman
The JSA
- Line up of the 'DCCU' animated shows that would last throughout the 90's and early 00's
The X-Men
Spider-Man
Captain America
The Avengers
- Line up of the Marvel animated shows tin the 1990's
Studio Elven's continued rivalry with Disney saw it take greater risks as it looked to keep an edge on the competition. MGM executives allowed them to look further into expanding themselves in a creative fashion. The Japanese influence was felt in the creation of the
Evangelion movies and later acquisition of Artmic's creative properties. Disney would eventually respond, going back to fantasy but with a greater emphasis on better storytelling, leading to its adaptation of the
Lord of The Ring novels in response. This would lead to the highest point of the rivalry in the late 90's where many believed the companies reached their creative heights with films from both companies receiving Best Picture nominations.
- Extract from The Mouse & The Bear: The Two Giants of Western Animation, 2012
“Disney want us to do what?”
- André Olbrich in a conversation with Hansi Kursch, 1992