Song of the South

First off I want to apologize for the long break between my last post and now, my life has been a bit buys lately. But I just have to write about Song of the South right now.

I should start out by making sure you all know a few things about Song of the South and how I got interested in it. Firstly, I have been to Disneyland at least 10 times starting in 1995, and from my first ride on Splash Mountain I fell in love with the ride (well all but the final drop until recently). Now interestingly, during one of my trips in '98 (I think) I rode the great ride and I decided to ask my parents if they knew more about Brer Rabit, Brer Bear, and Brer Fox. They told me they thought these characters were from a movie but they weren't sure. I decided to ask someone that would know more about it, one of the cast members that worked in the hat shop near the Splash Mountain que, she told me that they were from the Disney movie Song of the South. I asked her if they had the movie in the park because I was very interested in seeing the movie (keep in mind this was the summer between 1st and 2nd grade for me). She looked at me with an apologetic look and told me that it hadn't been released to VHS (DVDs didn't exist yet let alone Blu Ray) in the United States. She did tell us that it was released in other countries and that my parents should look for a copy from the UK.

So I kept an eye out for it online, but I couldn't find anything affordable, and we wanted to get it from the US if possible. The next important thing you need to know about me is that I did spend a few years in late elementary and junior high where I was more of a closet fan, and I only really watched the 90s animated movies and Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course Pixar, but I had lost interest in Disney animation so I kind of stopped looking for the movie. Then my interest was sparked again, and I think this happened when I started Band because the teacher had us play Disney music every now and then. When I was in 9th grade I got my 1st ipod and while looking for free content to put on it, I discovered 2 very interesting podcasts. The first was the "Official Podcast of the Disneyland Resort" hosted by Michael Geoghegan, I found this interesting because it offered behind the scenes looks at things going on at the park. This podcast has since switched from lengthy audio podcasts to short 2-5 minute video podcasts. The other show I discovered was the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod  hosted by Aaron Wallace which I found interesting  for its content, and the title being a play on one of my favorite Disney songs. His podcast is always book-ended by the beginning of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, yet a version I hadn't heard before by James Baskett.

Now I wouldn't bring up the podcasts at all if it weren't for the fact that it is actually thanks to the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod that I was actually able to FINALLY watch Song of the South. In episode 23 of his podcast he Aaron dedicated it to Song of the South and why Disney absolutely MUST release it, despite Bob Iger's personal feelings about the movie. Now it just so happens that he then played a voice mail from yet another podcast host who gave his thoughts on the movie, and where this guy got his copy: Scarecrow Video in Seattle. I have recently listened to this episode again and I decided to contact Scarecrow to see if they had any copies of Song of the South anymore. They have 2 copies now, 1 that is a Laserdisc, and 1 that is a PAL VHS (UK), they also rent players for both media types. I decided to rent it when I knew I would have time. And I can now say that there is absolutely no reason for Disney to keep this wonderful movie in the vault.

Song of the South is now approaching its 70th anniversary in 2016. The 70th anniversary and no home video/DVD releases in the US. This movie is the 1st Disney live action movie and Disney hasn't released it yet. One of their most popular attractions at any park is Splash Mountain which is directly themed to the animated characters from Song of the South. For more on this I am going to direct you to episode 23 of the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod because I don't feel like writing the same things Aaron talked about.

And I must say I agree with another point he made about the Splash Mountain shirt pictured above. Due to wanting to keep this blog PG I will only say that the saying is an obvious twist of the term "It Was F***ing Awesome". I ask you, if Disney is willing to sell such a vulgar shirt in their park, why won't they sell the much less offensive movie Song of the South. For more on this go to this episode of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod.




I think i'll wrap this up with this for now, and my next post will likely be about some recent announcements and rumors from Disney regarding the Disneyland Resort and the movies.


You can all follow me on twitter @wraithkelso and I highly recommend subscribing to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod. which for now is the only Disney podcast I listen too. I also am subscribed to the Disneyland podcast and the D23 Disney Geek podcast which are both video shows.

How MGM could use Stargate to make more $$$

Ever since Brad Wright announced that the end of Stargate was here (for now), I have been thinking about how to enjoy some of my favorite Stargate episodes in different ways. And I think I came up with a way that MGM could make (essentially) free money off of Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe episodes, while only paying for some new editing of the old footage: Turn the multi-episode arcs into movies.

The idea came to me while watching the mid-season two part episode from Stargate Atlantis season 5, because it doesn't make sense to have the DVD version have the opening title sequence twice for one story. They already did this with Children of the Gods and I think they could do it for other episodes from the series.

They can release them as a couple a year, maybe every other month they release a new Stargate Movie for us to buy. Since they have already done Children of the Gods, I think the next set of episodes they should turn in to a movie are There But For The Grace Of God-Politics-Within The Serpent's Grasp-The Serpent's Lair. This is not only the first time SG-1 had to save Earth, but alo the next multi episode direct story arch, and with Politics you can take out all the flashbacks and leave the actual story (cuts out at least 20 minutes making it about 2.5 hours. The DVD case could look similar to this:

After that movie comes out, the next should be Stargate: The Tok'ra (parts 1 and 2 turned in to one movie)

 

 

To keep with the continuity the next movie should be Out of Mind-Into The Fire. I am unsure what the title should be, but I'm sure Brad Wright can come up with a good title for these movies based on episodes with different names.

Next up would be Jolinar's Memories-the Devil You Know

The Next would be Nemesis-Small Victories

Logically the next Movie would combine Exodus-Enemies-Threshold

The next movie should be the combination of Summit-Last Stand.

After this they should release Stargate: Redemption (parts 1 and 2 without the gap in the middle)

The next movie would be combining the 2 part episode Prometheus-Unnatural Selection

Next up would be another 3 episode arc turned in to a movie: Full Circle-Fallen-Homecoming

The next movie is another one that the name is already given to us by the name of the episodes Stargate: Evolution (parts 1 and 2 combined)

Hey, lucky MGM, they don't have to rename another one, thats 2 in a row. The next one is Stargate: Heroes (parts 1 and 2 combined.

Wow, whats this 3 in a row they don't have to rename? That's right next up would be Stargate: Lost City (combining Inauguration w/out flashbacks w/ Lost City pars 1 and 2)

Wait, are you really telling me that most of the movies at this point won't need to be retitled? Indeed.

Next up at bat is Stargate: New Order (parts 1 and 2)

Next up is a 3 part episode turned into a movie Stargate: Reckoning (combining Reckoning parts 1 and 2 with Threads) which would be approx. 147 minutes.

Next at bat is Stargate: Moebius (combining parts 1 and 2)

Next up should be called Stargate: Origin (combining Avalon parts 1 and 2 with Origin)

Next up is Stargate: the Fourth Horseman (parts 1 and 2)

The next movie up after this would be another 3 part episode turned movie Crusade-Camelot-Flesh and Blood

And now, the last SG1 cast movie would be Stargate: The Quest (parts 1 and 2)

Now for the Stargate Atlantis movies that combine episodes.

They already have Rising released as its own movie, but it could stand some re-editing.

The first one they would then have to do is combining The Storm-The Eye

Next would be Stargate: The Siege (combining parts 1, 2, and 3)

After that they would release the movie combining The Lost Boys-The Hive

The next movie would be Allies-No Man's Land-Misbegotten

This would be followed by Stargate: The Return (parts 1 and 2)

 

Following this would be a combination of 3 episodes First Strike-Adrift-Lifeline

Next up is the 2 part episode turned movie This Mortal Coil-Be All My Sins Remember'd

Next up is a 4 episode arc turned movie The Kindred Parts 1 & 2-The Last Man-Search and Rescue

The last Atlantis based movie (until a new one is made of course) would be combining First Contact-The Lost Tribe

Now on to Stargate Universe episode arcs turned in to movies

The first of which would be Stargate: Air (parts 1, 2, and 3)

Next up would be the 2 episode arc Darkness-Light

The next Universe movie would be a 4 episode arc Subversion-Incursion parts 1 and 2-Intervention

And the last Universe movie (until a post series movie is made) would be combining Resurgance-Deliverance

My hope is that if MGM were to do this, they would use the money they make off of this to help fund the movies we were promised three years ago -- Stargate: Extinction (post Atlantis) and Stargate: Revolution (3rd SG-1 post series movie), as well as a post SGU movie; also,  a movie using the best cast members from all three shows!

Please feel free to leave your comments below about if you think this would be worth it or not!!!