On November 12, 2019, Disney+ launched, and for the most part, it's great.
What makes it great is that they do in fact tout several Disney movies of old (that is, movies from the days of Walt Disney himself), as well as a handful of classic Disney cartoons with Mickey, Donald and the rest. They even tout some old TV shows, including
The Mickey Mouse Club (albeit the first week) and even a few episodes of the anthology series (i.e.,
Disneyland,
Wonderful World of Color).
However, as with many things in life, there is definitely room for improvement. In this case, one thing is that there are all of two episodes of the anthology series available on Disney+ right now.
One is the 1956
Disneyland episode "The Plausible Impossible", in which Walt explains that how drawings and animation have things that are impossible in reality seem plausible, in ancient history and in a handful of classic Disney cartoons. It's a classic episode, and a good one, too. I think what makes this a classic, and the reason it is available, is how it shows an unfinished scene from
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that was cut from the final film (where the dwarfs have dinner).
The second episode available on Disney+ is the 1966
Wonderful World of Color episode "Disneyland Around the Seasons". It actually aired on December 18, three days after Walt's passing. Here, Walt (this was filmed long beforehand, apparently) takes visitors to Disneyland circa 1966 to see several of the latest things there at that time, including It's a Small World, New Orleans Square (but without Pirates of the Caribbean, as it was still under construction at the time), and Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, followed by footage of Christmas goings-on (again, it aired in December), with Fantasy On Parade (featuring Winnie the Pooh an d his friends fresh from their first appearance in
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree) and the Candlelight Procession.
The Small World footage, interestingly, is derivative of an earlier episode set at that 1964 New York World's Fair where the ride originated. My guess is they used as a cost-cutting measure, but it shows that A) the sequence of events is shuffled around and B) not everything in the actual Disneyland ride is present (Walt does admit that the ride in Disneyland is longer with more to see). As in the World's Fair episode, after Latin America, it goes straight to the finale, even though in the actual Disneyland ride, there's still Oceania and the South Pacific yet to go (the rainforest scene is in South America, rather than the South Seas). My guess is that Oceania and the South Pacific were not used in the World's Fair but created especially for Disneyland (and by extension, all subsequent versions (Florida, Japan, etc.)).
Anyway, there are literally all of two episodes of the classic Walt Disney anthology series available. I would like to see on Disney+ several more episodes. In the interest of time, I would like to see the respective premiere episodes of
Disneyland and
The Wonderful World of Color, "The Disneyland Story" and "An Adventure In Color/Mathmagicland".
In "The Disneyland Story", premiering in October of 1954, as the title implies, viewers are treated to previews of Disneyland, both the park and the TV show (future episodes are previewed). For a sequence on Frontierland, viewers are introduced to the Davy Crockett miniseries (and by extension, the movies based thereon, which are available on Disney+) and the song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", sung by Fess Parker himself. For Fantasyland, there is footage of various Disney movies, including the Laughing Place scene from
Song of the South (which is being soundly kept off of this streaming service). After going through the park, viewers are then treated to a retrospective on Mickey Mouse's career, culminating in the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of
Fantasia.
My guess is that this series may or may not see the light of day because of the
Song of the South segment.
The second request of mine, however, is a lot more exciting and, shall we say, colorful.
The premiere episode of
The Wonderful World of Color, "An Adventure In Color/Mathmagicland", premiering in September of 1961 on NBC, is a great episode, which has even been released on home video at one point:
Here, Walt shows off the wonders of color on television (after spending so many years in black-and-white on ABC) and then introduces viewers to a new character, Ludwig Von Drake, who provides an interesting lowdown on color (at one point performing "The Green with Envy Blues" and "The Spectrum Song", all about different colors). At one point also, the NBC peacock, in full cartoon form, makes an appearance:
Then the viewers are treated to beautiful scenes of nature and splashes of color and kaleidoscopic imagery that would be used to introduce the show later on, all set to a song all about color, "The Wonderful World of Color", written by Richard and Robert Sherman.
After that, the viewer is then treated to the 1959 theatrical short
Donald In Mathmagicland, the first-ever theatrical short to air on television in color.
I'm told this is actually available on iTunes, so there's no reason not to have this episode on Disney+ as well. They may have to make a deal with Apple to do it, but it's not impossible. I like Ludwig Von Drake, so I really think it should happen here.
Anyway, those are just two requests for episodes of the Walt Disney anthology series to be shown on Disney+, particularly since they have all been shown on the Treasures From the Disney Vault events that TCM would show every few months.
UPDATE: According to the D23 website, on February 28, the 1959
Walt Disney Presents episode, "I Captured the King of the Leprechauns", will be available. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the then-upcoming movie
Darby O'Gill and the Little People, with Walt Disney himself visiting Ireland to seek out leprechauns to star in this movie. Incidentally, the aforementioned
Donald In Mathmagicland played before this movie on its release.
Does anyone have any episodes they would like to see? Post in the comments below.
