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Denver, 3:56 PM
Sun Nov 29
8 posts in the last 24 hours

AU

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  • posts about #disney more →

    Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline

    The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases

    Prince of Persia Trailer Impressions — Please, Ben Kingsley, Don't Mess This Up

    Spector Tells Us How Disney Epic Mickey Will Challenge Gamers

    Looks Like A New Game Mode For Birth By Sleep

    Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Review: Crisis Hearts

    To Be Perfectly Clear, Epic Mickey Is Wii "Exclusive"

    Epic Mickey Revealed, Warren Spector Speaks

    Disney Producer Lets Slip that Tron Legacy Game in Works?

    McFarlane Does The Prince of Persia

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of doubtful doubtful
    11/05/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    So they traded an actual human being for a fictional character?

    I wish people in my fantasy football league would go for that. I'll take Miles Austin for the rights to my stick figure avatar, Nedly. #epicmickey
     Reply
    doubtful was starred doubtful was unstarred
    Image of OtakuMan24 OtakuMan24
    11/05/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    I actually was talking about this with my Dad last night. Apparently he knew the story behind this.

    Starting in the early 1920's, a young Walt Disney is just starting out as an animator and making cartoons for a company he worked for. His first creation was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

    As time went on, his Oswald cartoons were a success and made big money for the company (which one, I don't know, I need to brush up on my Disney history). Walt felt that since his creation was doing so well that he deserved a nice pay raise for his work.

    The company's response was to fire him and keep the character all to themselves.

    Walt certainly showed them when he eventually made his own animation company and created Mickey Mouse, seeing as how he could no longer legally use Oswald.

    Flash forward to 2006 when the announcers for Disney owned ABC's Monday Night Football begin to slowly fade into the background as Disney puts newer announcers in. However, the announcers were still under contract to ABC and couldn't compete.

    NBC, wanting to get some good announcing talent for their Sunday Night Football, wanted to pick up Al Michaels and other Monday Night Football announcers. So NBC called ABC up and wanted to find a way to haggle Al Michaels' and friends' contracts in exchange for something they had.

    Well as it turned out, through a weird twist of fate, the General Electric owned NBC Universal had the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney looks at it and goes "This is our chance to get a piece of the Disney history back", and gives the announcers to NBC in exchange for the rights to Oswald back.

    So now, with the rights secured, Disney can re-release the old Oswald cartoons, and also use the character for future Disney works.

    Epic Mickey just seems to be one of the first new uses of Oswald, and frankly, this is like animation buff geekery in overdrive here.

    Now if Al Michaels actually narrated a part of the game, THAT would be funny.

    ~Otaku-Man #epicmickey
     Reply
    spiderweb1986 promoted this comment OtakuMan24 was starred OtakuMan24 was unstarred
    Image of fozfan33 fozfan33
    11/04/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    This had nothing to do with the game. It had much more to do with the fact that it was one of the first characters that Walt Disney had success with and they wanted its ownership back under the name of Disney. As a company Disney is pretty prideful in their catalogues and keep nearly everything to preserve the "history" of the company. This is just one more thing they wanted to secure. #epicmickey
     Reply
    fozfan33 was starred fozfan33 was unstarred
    Image of buddhathing buddhathing
    11/05/09

    @fozfan33: I don't disbelieve you, but do you have a source for the factual claim in your first sentence? The Times article doesn't really source it's statement that Mr. Iger solved a right problems with the game by making a deal with NBC Universal in 2006," which seems to imply that the Epic Mickey, as a part of the overall Mickey re-think, was the impetus for the deal. But it's plausible, as is your reasoning. Wikipedia mentions that Universal had started marketing Oswald merchandise in 2004 to some success, and it would also be plausible that that was the impetus for reclaiming the rights. But I haven't read any quote where the actual reasoning was explained. I'm not criticizing you, although I think the Kotaku piece is pulling too much from the Times article, and the Times article implies too much without sourcing. But I'm genuinely curious, because I think this whole thing is fascinating. So if you've been following the issue and can point me to some good background info, please do. #epicmickey
     Reply
    buddhathing was starred buddhathing was unstarred
    Image of fozfan33 fozfan33
    11/05/09

    @(zombie) buddhathing:

    [corporate.disney.go.com] #epicmickey
     Reply
    fozfan33 was starred fozfan33 was unstarred
    Image of buddhathing buddhathing
    11/05/09

    @fozfan33: Thanks, fozfan! #epicmickey
     Reply
    buddhathing was starred buddhathing was unstarred
    Image of fozfan33 fozfan33
    11/05/09

    @(zombie) buddhathing: no problem #epicmickey
     Reply
    fozfan33 was starred fozfan33 was unstarred
    Image of Platypus Man Platypus Man
    11/04/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    Can anyone tell me why NBC Universal had the rights to Oswald in the first place? I mean, even if Disney didn't use him in 80 years, why would they have lost the rights to him? #epicmickey
     Reply
    Platypus Man was starred Platypus Man was unstarred
    Image of fozfan33 fozfan33
    11/04/09

    @Platypus Man: because disney created him before his name was a brand... someone had to own the rights. #epicmickey
     Reply
    fozfan33 was starred fozfan33 was unstarred
    Image of Platypus Man Platypus Man
    11/05/09

    @fozfan33: I guess that makes sense... #epicmickey
     Reply
    Platypus Man was starred Platypus Man was unstarred
    Image of fozfan33 fozfan33
    11/05/09

    @Platypus Man: this has some of the details if you really want them...

    [corporate.disney.go.com] #epicmickey
     Reply
    fozfan33 was starred fozfan33 was unstarred
    Image of FarmboyinJapan FarmboyinJapan
    11/04/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    Man....NBC made out like bandits on that deal.

    They got a veteran sportscaster who is a household name in America....so a super obscure Disney character from the 20s can appear in a Wii game.

    And I whole heartedly agree with the NYT when they say that "Mickey has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character for recent generations of young people." At least in the states....over here..there is no easier way to get people to buy your cheap plastic crap then to slap Mickey onto it. #epicmickey
     Reply
    FarmboyinJapan was starred FarmboyinJapan was unstarred
    Image of Archaotic Archaotic
    11/04/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    Wonder what Michaels himself thinks of the fact that he got traded out for a character nobody but the hardest of the hardcore Disney fans even remembers? #epicmickey
     Reply
    Archaotic was starred Archaotic was unstarred
    Image of GohanGVO GohanGVO
    11/04/09

    @Archaotic: From 2006:

    [sports.espn.go.com]

    "Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice," Michaels said, referring to what the Kansas City Chiefs gave the New York Jets as compensation for releasing coach Herm Edwards from his contract. "I'm going to be a trivia answer someday." #epicmickey
     Reply
    GohanGVO was starred GohanGVO was unstarred
    Image of Minister of Fun Minister of Fun
    11/04/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    ""Holy cow, the opportunity to mess with one of the most recognizable icons on Planet Earth," said Warren Spector"

    Of course, if Disney hadn't lobbied so hard to destroy our copyright law, we all would have that oppertunity. #epicmickey
     Reply
    Minister of Fun was starred Minister of Fun was unstarred
    Image of WittyUserName WittyUserName
    11/04/09

    @Minister of Fun: Amen. #epicmickey
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment WittyUserName was starred WittyUserName was unstarred
    Image of Swamphunter Swamphunter
    11/04/09

    In reply to Al Michaels Instrumental In Epic Mickey Storyline
    So that's why he stopped calling Monday Night Football... #epicmickey
     Reply
    hodayathink: Better luck next year promoted this comment Swamphunter was starred Swamphunter was unstarred
    Image of hodayathink wants WWFRD back! hodayathink wants WWFRD back!
    11/04/09

    @Swamphunter: Yeah, they wanted to team him back up with Madden, who was doing NBC Sunday nights, so Disney/ESPN and Universal/NBC made this deal. #epicmickey
     Reply
    hodayathink wants WWFRD back! was starred hodayathink wants WWFRD back! was unstarred
    Image of ( shake cows, win a )  Milkshake! ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake!
    11/03/09

    In reply to The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases
    Prince of the Carribean : Sand Man's Chest
     Reply
    Edited by ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! at 11/03/09 9:45 AM ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! was starred ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! was unstarred
    Image of CleverName CleverName
    11/03/09

    In reply to The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases
    I thought this was Prince of Persia, not Price of Thieves...WTFs up with the British accent? People over at Aint It Cool all seem to just swoon over Donnie Darko's faux-Brit accent, but...the character is not fucking English. I don't get it...guess it worked for "Pirates" so... #princeofpersia
     Reply
    CleverName was starred CleverName was unstarred
    Image of DrakeDatsun DrakeDatsun
    11/03/09

    @jon: They shouldn't be speaking english in the first place, don't forget that... #princeofpersia
     Reply
    ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! promoted this comment DrakeDatsun was starred DrakeDatsun was unstarred
    Image of Asbestos_Underwear Asbestos_Underwear
    11/03/09

    In reply to The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases
    Still think Naveen Andrews (Sayid form Lost) would have been the better Prince by far. Gyllenhaal is just too white and uses too much of a British accent to appear Persian. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    Asbestos_Underwear was starred Asbestos_Underwear was unstarred
    Image of sazzrah sazzrah
    11/02/09

    In reply to The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases
    Isn't it funny how no one complained the Prince looked thoroughly white had a British accent in The Sands of Time game? Seems giving someone a goatee and a British accent makes them acceptably Persian in 'game world'.

    To be honest, I think it's done because a British accent sounds foreign to Americans and if they went too full on with genuine Iranian accents they'd just sound vaguely, comical like an Omid Djalili stand-up routine, and then people would complain they can't understand the dialogue.

    Not saying I agree with that by the way; I'm just saying that's why I think they use British accents to denote "foreign" in America. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    Komrade Kayce promoted this comment sazzrah was starred sazzrah was unstarred
    Image of TheMightyEthan TheMightyEthan
    11/02/09

    @sazzrah: Funny you should mention that. The first thing I said when the trailer started was "I wish they'd gotten a middle-eastern actor."

    The British accents strike me as weird too, but movies like 300 and Troy used British accents too. It's probably just a fad with movies set in "ancient times" using British accents, and in 20 years we'll all look back at it and think about how weird it is. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! promoted this comment TheMightyEthan was starred TheMightyEthan was unstarred
    Image of Komrade Kayce Komrade Kayce
    11/02/09

    @sazzrah, TheMightyEthan:

    While this is quite obviously a fantasy world, there have been puppet governments of the British Empire in the middle east for hundreds of years. It might not explain why British accents get used all the time (ie 300), but in some cases, especially amongst the 'Elite' (esp. in India), royalty would try to behave and speak as English as possible. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    Komrade Kayce was starred Komrade Kayce was unstarred
    Image of bean bean
    11/02/09

    @sazzrah: That is exactly it.

    Also, Americans (and the actors in American cinema) speak english, so scripts in whatever the native tongue of the movie's location happens to be are out of the question. How many people would go to see this if it was in Farsi with english subtitles?

    ...well I would, but they will make much more money with cheesy faux-Brit accents. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    bean was starred bean was unstarred
    Image of quetzilla quetzilla
    11/03/09

    @bean: I would totally go too. Apocalypto did it in Mayan with subtitles!

    And yes, when many people from the middle east learn English they learn it from.. English people. England's only a few thousand miles closer. Of course it's a little different now with Americans in Iraq, but a lot of Iraqis who speak english speak with more of a british accent. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! promoted this comment quetzilla was starred quetzilla was unstarred
    Image of ( shake cows, win a )  Milkshake! ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake!
    11/03/09

    @TheMightyEthan: Considering the 'American accent' wouldn't have existed back then, at least using a British accent is a teeeeny bit more historically accurate xD #princeofpersia
     Reply
    ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! was starred ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! was unstarred
    Image of ( shake cows, win a )  Milkshake! ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake!
    11/03/09

    @quetzilla: The less like Aflopalypto this movie is, the better. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! was starred ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! was unstarred
    Image of beanbrew beanbrew
    11/02/09

    In reply to The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases
    "Secret Guardian Temple?"

    I really hope that changes, or that I heard it wrong. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    ( shake cows, win a ) Milkshake! promoted this comment beanbrew was starred beanbrew was unstarred
    Image of Steven Hott Steven Hott
    11/02/09

    In reply to The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases
    Wow, I just imagined Lord of the Rings if Sam was a hot chick and Frodo was a gay cowboy. #princeofpersia
     Reply
    -Skyline-:Offering FREE Grunt Birthday Parties! promoted this comment Steven Hott was starred Steven Hott was unstarred
    Image of Falsoman Falsoman
    11/02/09

    In reply to The Prince Of Persia Movie Trailer Covers All The Bases
    This is actually looking decent enough to go see at the cinema. I'll dwarf my hopes and look forward to a resident-evil-with-british-accent-quality-game-movie, and anything better than that will be a pleasant surprise! #princeofpersia
     Reply
    Falsoman was starred Falsoman was unstarred
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