Hey Jim, the two paragraphs, starting with "The basic idea here was to reinvent 'The Aristocats'" seem to have gotten mangled a bit.

On your main point, I agree.  I like the Sherman Brothers and their music, but I think Disney needs to get a little more creative with the special features.  (That said, it's hardly sporting to have them talk about one film they did without inviting them to talk about the other films when their turns come up.)

I liked what Toon Disney did with 101 Dalmations as a series... but this already looks old and dated. I'm glad Disney management axed this.

On a sadder note, now we know what the '00s will be known for when this decade becomes the new retro in 30 years...

llsoap... there's always KimPossible

Well, Marie STILL sells well...  Although most little girls have no idea where she's from...

Not much of a "special edition" with only 1 disc anyway!

I've never been a fan of Aristocats. IMO it's a bargain-basement rip of Lady and the Tramp. No really appealing characters either. I'm glad Dis nixed the TV idea (wish they'd nixed the Dalmation one too. That was awful).

I hear that the Aristocats still sells well in France...along with Jerry Lewis. 'Nuff said.

GofForever said:

Not much of a "special edition" with only 1 disc anyway!

Exactly my thoughts...I was going to get it just to have another special edition (I know, they've sucked me in!) but I don't think I will now.

I pitty the poor parent that purchases "The Aristocrats" instead of the new "Aristocats." Judging by previous articles about how parents disliked 2 disc sets because they got confused by them I'm sure there are some parents stupid enough to confuse the two polar opposite movies.

There was plans for a "Meet the Robinsons 2"?!??!

What was the story supposed to be? My kids and I love "Meet the Robinsons" and I think it didn't get the love it deserved.

Maybe we all love it because all 3 of my kids are adopted? But I still think it has a lot of heart!

I am just glad they didn't decide to make an animated sequel to the AristoCRATS.  How much more awkward would have that been?  Also, they actually mention the AristoCATS in the documentary and the confusion that tends to occasionally happen with the comedian telling the joke.

"Aristocats" is little more than warmed-over "101 Dalmatians" by way of "The Jungle Book," produced by a shop afraid to take chances following Walt's demise.

IMO it would have been the perfect framework for a cable TV show, since so little character development occurred in the original film. Still, I can't imagine anyone in France liking it, since most of the characters were either faux Southern or --- Hungarian?

I vastly prefer "The Aristocast" to "Lady and the Tramp" or "101 Dalmations".  The villain is much more interesting and it's nice to see a mature love story for a change.  All the other love stories (animal or otherwise) are between young lovers.  O'Malley and Duchess are older, comfortable in their own skins, yet recognize that there's still more to life than what they have.  (Particularly O'Malley.)  And *any* film with such a solid performance by Phil Harris has more going for it than most.

"Lady and the Tramp" is just too schmaltzy for my tastes and "101 Dalmations" a bit too serene.  (Great villain, though.)  Don't know where the "Jungle Book" reference comes from (except for Harris, and that's a criticism more approriate for "Robin Hood".)

Anyway, I think it would be unwise to spend a great deal of time and effort putting together bonus material about something Disney *isn't* doing.  There'd always be those who would like the idea or kids who would want something that isn't going to ever come out.

As for the Sherman Brothers, keep 'em coming!  They did the work, they deserve to talk every time!  Of course, *more* people would be appreciated, but I'm not going to ask them to ignore the Brothers just because they've been seen "too much".

I don't remember being all that impressed with the Aristocats.  That said, I'd still watch it again for another look.

I am not getting tired of the Sherman Brothers at all.  Richard Sherman remembers a LOT of stuff from that era, music related or otherwise.  I remember litsening to the Mary Poppins commentary and Sherman, along with Karen Dotrice, were actually more interesting to listen to than Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews.

I guess I wouldn't really care to hear about about how the Disney channel was going to make another crappy cartoon series and then didn't.

I'm not really planning on upgrading from my Gold Collection DVD, but I like the Sherman Brothers- they're always very interesting to listen to/watch- Disney fans can learn a lot from them.  

I used to watch "101 Dalmatians: The Series" and I liked it- the designs for "The Aristocats: The Series" are interesting- I would have watched the show if it came to be.

I think that the Sherman Brothers' bonus features should stay, but it'd be cool to look at "The Aristocats (orinsert film name here) That Never Was".

I would tend to agree that it's actually fairly easy to find fault with "The Aristocats".  While it does feature some nice animation and enjoyable moments, the story just feels like a watered down "Lady and the Tramp" crossed with "101 Dalmatians" with a light sprinkling of "Jungle Book" all frosted in cat.  You never get the feeling that O'Malley really represents another view of life and humans the way Tramp did.  And Duchess is just so constantly sweet and understanding that you don't get the tension between the characters that made "Lady and the Tramp" work.  And unlike in "101 Dalmatians", I never really believed that these cats were in danger or anything more than minorly inconvenienced.  Their journey back to Paris seems like a pleasant stroll compared with the dalmatians trek back to London.  All that and an ending that's largely recycled from the film's big musical number.

From the concept art, I kind of wonder if the Disney higher-ups were also concerned that going from a film with relatively realistic talking cats to a TV show where they stand up on their hind legs and generally act more like humans would be too much of a leap.

Jedited> All I know about MTR2 is that it was going to be subtitled "First Date" or something. But I think MTR would be best served with a Shonen Jump spinoff manga since it's already inspirational, friendship-driven and full of crazy characters. Artist-wise, I think Hiroyuki Takei ("Shaman King") would be a good match.

I guess I'm not complaining 'bout the Sherman brothers - I want their commentary for as long as I can get it.  Think of how many interviews are missing in the larger documentaries for the platinum editions simply because the artist is no longer with us.  Think of how more complete the Disneyland Secrets treasure movie would have been if we'd had input from (or about) Ward Kimball, or Marc and Alice Davis, or *especially* Mary Blair, who went almost completely unmentioned on disc one, and only a side mention on disc 2.

There will be a time when the Sherman Brothers aren't here anymore and one can hope we've had the chance to capture on film everything they might want to say about Walt, their music, and their contributions before it's too late.

My real complaint is why *just* the Sherman Brothers?  Why no animators talking about the films of this time (Sword and the Stone also got the cheap treatment of just a Sherman Brothers bit and nothing more).  How about a discussion on the background artists whose style so pervades 101, Aristocats, Robin Hood, Rescuers, and so many others in this time?

Sacre Bleu! Had this abomination of an "Aristocats" Flash animated TV series seen the light of day, I most certainly would have taken up knitting and parked myself by the nearest French guillotine while calling for Michael Eisner's head...

The list of reasons why Disney SHOULDN'T do sequels only gets higher and higher.

The reason why this abandoned series would not be mentioned is because Lasseter is trying to get people focused on more original material, rather than recycling the same pre-existing material. I mean really, the Aristocats series would've just been another in the Disney Channel's one-size-fits-all programming.

You can only use the same tea bag so many times before the taste is gone.

I'm glad this never came to pass, but I love the designs. They remind me of Chuck Jone's "Gay Purr-ee." My favorite is Delancey, though the "Justin Timberlake-Usher" description made me gag.

Ilsoap, I liked '101 Dalmations' the series too, but what I liked most about it was instead of reinventing the movie, they combined elements from both the movie and the original book (IE: Cadpig was in the book, but not the movie) to create something new. And it didn't pander to trends.

I am totally flabbergasted that you would prefer material from the proposed "Aristocats" TV cartoon series over Richard Sherman.

Disney DVD marketers would be salivating that Disneyphiles might prefer a piece of a rejected ripoff gathering dust in the vault -  rather than paying out dollars to record a new interview with a man whose "only claim to fame with The Aristocats" was that he cowrote a number of the songs that appeared in the movie.

Richard Sherman is almost 80 years old -  He is not going to last forever! He should be given as much opportunity as possible to pour out as much as he can about his work with Disney before it is too late.

How ironic that it was not long ago that this column was lamenting the neverending inferior animation sequels & TV ripoffs, and how they were damaging the Disney animation brand.

Scrap all plans for a commentary and new interviews for the up and coming "101 Dalmatians" DVD reissue - replace them with episodes of "101 Dalmatians: The Animated Series" guys. The money we'll save on new interviews will go towards the Executives' Christmas Party!

I wish Disney had done this animated series. The love the look of the characters. I remember the 101 Dalmatians cartoon (which also axed the parents, Pongo and Perdita) as well as the re-imagined Jungle Book series Jungle Cubs. Both of those toons were really great...perhaps Disney might revisit this idea...

Linklewtt, Pongo and Perdita were in the series. They just didn't have as big a role.