History Quotes / DisneyToonStudios

-->--Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir [[http://animatedviews.com/2012/bob-hilgenberg-and-rob-muir-on-the-rise-and-fall-of-disneys-circle-7-animation/ on working at Disneytoon Studios]]

->"The structure of Disneytoons was less rigid than feature. I was allowed to try my hand at character design as well as keeping an eye on the animation and clean up. Many feature people, after the big layoffs, found a new home at disneytoon for a few years. Yes, there was a lot of snobbery around about these sequels, but the parameters were very tight for filmmakers. The story had to fit in somehow with the main feature and that left the possibility for character arcs very limited. Management was often the biggest stumbling block for directors to have a real voice, but there is a lot of good work in them in animation, backgrounds etc. and they are a cut above most other traditional offerings."

->"Can you tell we loved our time at [=DisneyToon=] Studios and Tink? Again, it’s teeming with the best talent in the business. Look up some of the names in the credits of the ''[[Franchise/DisneyFairies Tinker Bell]]'' films, and you’ll find names that worked on some of Disney’s most revered animated films. ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' – virtually all of these classics and more are represented by talent in the [=DisneyToon=] franchises. And many of these people were with us at Circle 7. So no, there’s no “mixed emotions” at all. Quite the contrary."

->"Can you tell we loved our time at [=DisneyToon=] Studios and Tink? Again, it’s teeming with the best talent in the business. Look up some of the names in the credits of the ''[[Franchise/DisneyFairies Tinker Bell]]'' films, and you’ll find names that worked on some of Disney’s most revered animated films. ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1'', ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' – virtually all of these classics and more are represented by talent in the [=DisneyToon=] franchises. And many of these people were with us at Circle 7. So no, there’s no “mixed emotions” at all. Quite the contrary."

Without Disneytoons, we wouldn’t have Disney/TheLionKing [[Franchise/TheLionKing trilogy]], [[WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie Goofy Movie]] and [[WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie Extremely Goofy Movie]], [[Disney/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves Aladdin & the Prince of Thieves]] [''sic''], [[Disney/ReturnToNeverland Wendy & Peter reuniting]], [[Disney/ReturnToNeverland Pixie Hollow]], [[WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers 3 Musketeers]] and Creator/PatrickStewart as [[Disney/BambiII Bambi’s dad]].\\

->"Can you tell we loved our time at [=DisneyToon=] Studios and Tink? Again, it’s teeming with the best talent in the business. Look up some of the names in the credits of the ''[[Franchise/DisneyFairies Tinker Bell]]'' films, and you’ll find names that worked on some of Disney’s most revered animated films. ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', ''Disney/TheLionKing'', ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' – virtually all of these classics and more are represented by talent in the [=DisneyToon=] franchises. And many of these people were with us at Circle 7. So no, there’s no “mixed emotions” at all. Quite the contrary."

->“We feel sick about Disney doing sequels. If you look at the quality of their sequels...it’s pretty embarrassing.”
-->--Steve Jobs on the Disney direct-to-video films, c. 2003

->"I worked a bit on [[Disney/TheJungleBook2 JUNGLE BOOK 2]], and the Disney producer who came in to supervise put his head in his hands saying, "I got into this line of work because I loved Disney films. And now I gotta work on this shit." He was not happy. There was a lot of "oh my god" and "WTF" as we were mastering it. Not a good film. I also detested [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII HUNCHBACK]] because it was so heavily Disneyized: at what point does a classic story have no relation to the original source material?"
-->--Marc Wielage on working on a couple of the Disney sequels

-->--Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir [[http://animatedviews.com/2012/bob-hilgenberg-and-rob-muir-on-the-rise-and-fall-of-disneys-circle-7-animation/ on working at Disneytoon Studios]]

->"...and then there was that truly evil epoch called [=DisneyToon=] Studios, wherein actually solving script problems with storyboard work was a capital offense, when Disney executives figured that they were the REAL storytellers and directors were nothing but "hired wrists" who were brought on to know how to make animation out of the hash they were handed to work with. The day that I objected to the whole idea of a "cheerleading camp" in ancient Peru (because the writer's wife was SO TOTALLY into cheer camp), at a production meeting with the president of [=DisneyToon=] Studios, was the day I signed my death warrant therein. When I questioned the anachronism of the two, I was loudly accosted by said president, who screamed at me: "You're being unproductive, Robin! This movie doesn't even HAVE TO BE IN ANCIENT PERU! It could be in OUTER SPACE! You're not being a TEAM PLAYER!!!" There wasn't much creative logic going in there, in those days. "Put it in a jewel case and ship it" seemed to be the overriding principle."
-->--Animator Robin Steele, uncredited co-director of ''Disney/KronksNewGroove'', [[CreatorBacklash on working at Disneytoon Studios]]

Yes, it was a {{cash cow franchise}}. But damn if we didn’t sweat blood to make the best cash cows we possibly could."''

->"...and then there was that truly evil epoch called [=DisneyToon=] Studios, wherein actually solving script problems with storyboard work was a capital offense, when Disney executives figured that they were the REAL storytellers and directors were nothing but "hired wrists" who were brought on to know how to make animation out of the hash they were handed to work with. The day that I objected to the whole idea of a "cheerleading camp" in ancient Peru ([[WagTheDirector because the writer's wife was SO TOTALLY into cheer camp]]), at a production meeting with the president of [=DisneyToon=] Studios, was the day I signed my death warrant therein. When I questioned the anachronism of the two, I was loudly accosted by said president, who screamed at me: "You're being unproductive, Robin! This movie doesn't even HAVE TO BE IN ANCIENT PERU! It could be in OUTER SPACE! You're not being a TEAM PLAYER!!!" There wasn't much creative logic going in there, in those days. [[MoneyDearBoy "Put it in a jewel case and ship it"]] seemed to be the overriding principle."
-->--Animator Robin Steele, uncredited co-director of ''Disney/KronksNewGroove'', [[CreatorBacklash on working at Disneytoon Studios]]

->"Even the animation is just generic. I can't say it's bad, but nothing really stands out about it either. I remember the incredible expressions that they gave Ariel in the first one. Even when she couldn't talk, the animation on her face was just so passionate and so well done. Here, she just feels like a robot. Look kind of happy, look kind of sad, look kind of worried, look kind of whimsical. It's like talking the notes instead of singing the notes. This just seems like it's there to do its job, and that's it. I can't totally blame them, I'm sure they were rushed and had to get it out fast, but it's just so weird that nothing, frigging nothing, stands out about it."
-->--The Nostalgia Critic on ''The Little Mermaid II''

->'''Abby:''' ''[during a game of dodgeball]'' I heard about [Chicken Little's movie]. Tough break. Maybe it'll just go straight-to-video.\\
'''Chicken Little:''' That's the least of my problems.
-->''Disney/ChickenLittle'', a Disney film itself, [[TakeThat giving us the reason that DTV Disney movies are worthless]].

Yes, it was a cash cow franchise. But damn if we didn’t sweat blood to make the best cash cows we possibly could."''

"Even the animation is just generic. I can't say it's bad, but nothing really stands out about it either. I remember the incredible expressions that they gave Ariel in the first one. Even when she couldn't talk, the animation on her face was just so passionate and so well done. Here, she just feels like a robot. Look kind of happy, look kind of sad, look kind of worried, look kind of whimsical. It's like talking the notes instead of singing the notes. This just seems like it's there to do its job, and that's it. I can't totally blame them, I'm sure they were rushed and had to get it out fast, but it's just so weird that nothing, frigging nothing, stands out about it."
--The Nostalgia Critic on ''The Little Mermaid II''

"I worked a bit on [[Disney/TheJungleBook2 JUNGLE BOOK 2]], and the Disney producer who came in to supervise put his head in his hands saying, "I got into this line of work because I loved Disney films. And now I gotta work on this shit." He was not happy. There was a lot of "oh my god" and "WTF" as we were mastering it. Not a good film. I also detested [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII HUNCHBACK]] because it was so heavily Disneyized: at what point does a classic story have no relation to the original source material?"

Without Disneytoons, we wouldn’t have Disney/TheLionKing trilogy, [[WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie Goofy Movie]] and [[WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie Extremely Goofy Movie]], [[Disney/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves Aladdin & the Prince of Thieves]], [[Disney/ReturnToNeverland Wendy & Peter reuniting]], [[Disney/ReturnToNeverland Pixie Hollow]], [[WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers 3 Musketeers]] and Creator/PatrickStewart as [[Disney/BambiII Bambi’s dad]].\\

->''"To everybody in the article comments snarking that all Disneytoons ever did was [[{{Sequelitis}} shitty sequels]], [[PrecisionFStrike fuck you]].\\
This is sad. A lot of {{expanded universe}}-building took place under the Disneytoons banner and it’s pretty much my alma mater.\\
Without Disneytoons, we wouldn’t have Disney/TheLionKing [[Disney/TheLionKingIISimbasPride tril]][[Disney/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf ogy]], [[WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie Goofy Movie]] and [[WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie Extremely Goofy Movie]], Disney/{{Aladdin}} [[Disney/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar & the Prince]] [[Disney/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves of Thieves]], [[Disney/ReturnToNeverland Wendy & Peter reuniting]], [[Disney/ReturnToNeverland Pixie Hollow]], [[WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers 3 Musketeers]] and Creator/PatrickStewart [[Disney/BambiII as Bambi’s dad]].\\
[[MoneyDearBoy Yes, it was a]] {{cash cow|Franchise}}. [[DoingItForTheArt But damn if we didn’t sweat blood to make the best cash cows we possibly could.]]"''

->"Can you tell we loved our time at DisneyToon Studios and Tink? Again, it’s teeming with the best talent in the business. Look up some of the names in the credits of the ''[[Franchise/DisneyFairies Tinker Bell]]'' films, and you’ll find names that worked on some of Disney’s most revered animated films. ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', ''Disney/TheLionKing'', ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' – virtually all of these classics and more are represented by talent in the DisneyToon franchises. And many of these people were with us at Circle 7. So no, there’s no “mixed emotions” at all. Quite the contrary."

->"...and then there was that truly evil epoch called [=DisneyToon=] Studios, wherein actually solving script problems with storyboard work was a capital offense, when Disney executives figured that they were the REAL storytellers and directors were nothing but "hired wrists" who were brought on to know how to make animation out of the hash they were handed to work with. The day that I objected to the whole idea of a "cheerleading camp" in ancient Peru ([[WagTheDirector because the writer's wife was SO TOTALLY into cheer camp]]), at a production meeting with the president of DisneyToon Studios, was the day I signed my death warrant therein. When I questioned the anachronism of the two, I was loudly accosted by said president, who screamed at me: "You're being unproductive, Robin! This movie doesn't even HAVE TO BE IN ANCIENT PERU! It could be in OUTER SPACE! You're not being a TEAM PLAYER!!!" There wasn't much creative logic going in there, in those days. [[MoneyDearBoy "Put it in a jewel case and ship it"]] seemed to be the overriding principle."

->"...and then there was that truly evil epoch called [=DisneyToon=] Studios, wherein actually solving script problems with storyboard work was a capital offense, when Disney executives figured that they were the REAL storytellers and directors were nothing but "hired wrists" who were brought on to know how to make animation out of the hash they were handed to work with..."

-->--[[Creator/WaltDisneyAnimationUnits Disney Australia]] alum [[Webcomic/PocketPrincesses Amy]] [[http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Amy_Mebberson Mebberson]] [[https://thingsamylikes.tumblr.com/post/115859293188/wannabeanimator-rotoscoperscom-the-current speaking out in defense]] of Creator/DisneyToonStudios upon hearing [[http://www.rotoscopers.com/2015/04/06/the-current-state-of-disneytoon-studios-most-everybody-is-gone/ the sad news of its current state]].

->"...and then there was that truly evil epoch called DisneyToon Studios, wherein actually solving script problems with storyboard work was a capital offense, when Disney executives figured that they were the REAL storytellers and directors were nothing but "hired wrists" who were brought on to know how to make animation out of the hash they were handed to work with..."

-->--Animator Robin Steele, co-director of ''Disney/KronksNewGroove'', [[CreatorBacklash on working at Disneytoon Studios]]

"...and then there was that truly evil epoch called DisneyToon Studios, wherein actually solving script problems with storyboard work was a capital offense, when Disney executives figured that they were the REAL storytellers and directors were nothing but "hired wrists" who were brought on to know how to make animation out of the hash they were handed to work with..."
-->--Animator Robin Steele, co-director of ''Disney/KronksNewGroove'', on working at Disneytoon Studios

->'''Abby:''' Yeah, I heard about [Chicken Little's movie]. Tough break. Maybe it'll just go straight-to-video.\\

-->''Disney/Chicken Little'', a Disney film itself, giving us the reason that DTV Disney movies are worthless.

-->--[[Creator/WaltDisneyAnimationUnits Disney Australia]] alum [[Webcomic/PocketPrincesses Amy]] [[http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Amy_Mebberson Mebberson]] [[https://thingsamylikes.tumblr.com/post/115859293188/wannabeanimator-rotoscoperscom-the-current speaking out in defense]] of Creator/DisneyToonStudios upon hearing [[http://www.rotoscopers.com/2015/04/06/the-current-state-of-disneytoon-studios-most-everybody-is-gone/ the sad news of its current state]].