Why haven't they re-released the BW Mickey shorts yet with their original titles?

Simple: they (Disney) just don't care. The only black-and-white "Mickey" cartoon they even care about today is Steamboat Willie - which wasn't really the first true Mickey short and already has its original titles to begin with!

If it's anything we got Ye Olden Days on the Robin Hood Blu-ray... with it's original United Artists titles. 😉

If it's anything we got Ye Olden Days on the Robin Hood Blu-ray... with it's original United Artists titles. ;)

I don't have that just yet, but....at least there's that.

But that was [only] five years ago - where's the rest of Mickey's non-Steamboat Willie black-and-white output? Why exactly is there only one B&W cartoon on the upcoming Blu-ray compilation when Mickey's heyday was during that period? Surely the sales of the Walt Disney Treasures, the complaints about them being limited editions, and the popularity of the shorts in other venues, like YouTube, would have made the company consider how much of a market there is for the characters that made them famous in the first place.

I really hope someone at Disney is reading this, because their cartoon shorts are way overdue for a Blu-ray release. Regardless of whether this compilation is one-and-done or not, there is tons of potential for more discs and box sets of this stuff. Complete "Silly Symphonies", 85th anniversary Donald compilation, multi-disc volumes of the four main "Sensational Six" members, another Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Film Collection, or even a massive set of every single one of their short subjects....seriously, figure out how much any of that would sell!

Which is why Celebrating Mickey has to sell.

Which is why Celebrating Mickey has to sell.

I hope so - even with its loud-and-clear emphasis on the duller and less interesting color era. Look at how well Porky Pig 101 did, and then couple that to how iconic and marketable the "Sensational Six" is. Classic cartoons are still popular and profitable (not as much as they used to be like in the mid-2000's, where there were numerous DVD releases coming out from many studios for many generations, but you get the idea) - why not give this a chance (even if it's de-grained, less colorful than before, and plagued with useless fake title sequences)?

Why is Disney so stingy when it comes to the cartoon shorts, yet they re-release the same movies over and over again?

It might be a result of their sales strategy; most of the people I have ever come in contact with recognize Disney for their landmarks and theatrical features. The shorts other than 'Steamboat Willie' are a much, lesser territory. Regardless, it's a fair take on such a strategy when you are a marketer.

"Celebrating Mickey" will certainly make an attraction for further sets; that is, if it sells.

It might be a result of their sales strategy; most of the people I have ever come in contact with recognize Disney for their landmarks and theatrical features. The shorts other than 'Steamboat Willie' are a much, lesser territory. Regardless, it's a fair take on such a strategy when you are a marketer.

"Celebrating Mickey" will certainly make an attraction for further sets; that is, if it sells.

That could be....but if that's so, why are the "Sensational Six" so mainstream? Many people aren't aware that they started out in the same mold as, say, the "Looney Tunes" characters, and would rather view them as theme park mascots, preschool characters (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, everyone?), or the stars of a series of fast-paced television shorts that (at worst) try too hard to ape The Ren & Stimpy Show.

You are quite right - none of the shorts are as recognizable (and thus, readily available) as any of Disney's theatrical movies (or better yet, most of the more popular and/or accessible "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies"). It makes sense that the home video division of the company behind either franchise would lean more heavily on the more bankable and "recognizable" aspect(s) of their output, but why keep re-releasing those aspects over and over again when there is a bigger and more "interesting" (so to speak) back catalog to dig through?

To date, we haven't seen a more comprehensive home video line for these shorts before or since the Walt Disney Treasures DVDs, which have been long out-of-print for many years and, sadly, can go for some insane prices online. When looking at the prices for a later volume of the series (The Chronological Donald: Volume Four to name one example) on eBay, isn't it any wonder why people are resorting to video streaming websites - mostly YouTube - to get their fix of these cartoons?

These jerks don't know how much money they'd make if they even TRIED thinking out of the box!

These jerks don't know how much money they'd make if they even TRIED thinking out of the box!

The whole irony of this situation is that although the people selling them find them *cough*rare*cough* enough to sell for a triple-digit amount of money, putting a Treasures set for sale for (to name one example) $200 is a sure-fire way to make it sit there for a pretty long amount of time. After all, who else wants to waste a hefty amount of money for stuff they either remember watching back when it was on television back then or, in some cases, haven't even seen just yet and are really interested in checking out?

Doubly ironically, if there's ever a low starting point for an auction of a rarer than usual set, it's not rare for the bid to gradually climb up to the same asinine prices everyone dislikes. To give you a clue about this, look it up on eBay!

Triple ironically, if this sort of Treasures volume pops up for a lower price that everyone can afford, you'd better jump at it immediately or - boom! - it's gone. I remember coming across a $50 eBay listing for More Silly Symphonies: Volume Two months after I missed out on getting it for Christmas, and just as things were about to look up....someone had completely snatched it up. Now does anyone understand how frustrating the aftermarket for these things are?

These jerks don't know how much money they'd make if they even TRIED thinking out of the box!

The whole irony of this situation is that although the people selling them find them *cough*rare*cough* enough to sell for a triple-digit amount of money, putting a Treasures set for sale for (to name one example) $200 is a sure-fire way to make it sit there for a pretty long amount of time. After all, who else wants to waste a hefty amount of money for stuff they either remember watching back when it was on television back then or, in some cases, haven't even seen just yet and are really interested in checking out?

Doubly ironically, if there's ever a low starting point for an auction of a rarer than usual set, it's not rare for the bid to gradually climb up to the same asinine prices everyone dislikes. To give you a clue about this, look it up on eBay!

Triple ironically, if this sort of Treasures volume pops up for a lower price that everyone can afford, you'd better jump at it immediately or - boom! - it's gone. I remember coming across a $50 eBay listing for More Silly Symphonies: Volume Two months after I missed out on getting it for Christmas, and just as things were about to look up....someone had completely snatched it up. Now does anyone understand how frustrating the aftermarket for these things are?

Plus the Region 2 releases don't have a limited amount, so they're WAY cheaper, yet they skipped out on a lot of sets, like Mickey Mouse in BW.

English Region 2 Treasure Releases:
Complete Goofy (going for a mere £3!)
Mickey Mouse in Living Colour 1
Mickey Mouse in Living Colour 2
Donald Duck 1
Silly Symphonies 1

Plus the Region 2 releases don't have a limited amount, so they're WAY cheaper, yet they skipped out on a lot of sets, like Mickey Mouse in BW.

English Region 2 Treasure Releases:
Complete Goofy (going for a mere £3!)
Mickey Mouse in Living Colour 1
Mickey Mouse in Living Colour 2
Donald Duck 1
Silly Symphonies 1

Strange, but predictable - all five titles you listed are all primarily made up of color shorts (and all but one - or two - of these aren't incredibly easy to get for a good price outside Region 2!). The Region 2 releases also are time-compressed (due to the frame rate of the material being upped from nearly 24 frames-per-second to the 25 frames of PAL-encoded video) and don't work on most players (unless they're hacked to play discs of all regions), so I usually look for the Region 1 versions instead (most of the ones I was able to obtain went for some pretty fine prices).

In Region 1, only a handful of the animated Treasures are as easy to obtain as the British/Italian/etc. versions (there are others, but these four are by far the easiest ones to find):
-The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
-Mickey Mouse in Black and White: Volume Two
-Mickey Mouse in Living Color: Volume Two
-The Complete Pluto

(Reading my list and thinking about the list of sets released in Region 2 made me come down to a rather accurate conclusion: Mickey in Color V2 is probably the easiest Treasures volume to find, isn't it?)

Plus the Region 2 releases don't have a limited amount, so they're WAY cheaper, yet they skipped out on a lot of sets, like Mickey Mouse in BW.

English Region 2 Treasure Releases:
Complete Goofy (going for a mere £3!)
Mickey Mouse in Living Colour 1
Mickey Mouse in Living Colour 2
Donald Duck 1
Silly Symphonies 1

Strange, but predictable - all five titles you listed are all primarily made up of color shorts (and all but one - or two - of these aren't incredibly easy to get for a good price outside Region 2!). The Region 2 releases also are time-compressed (due to the frame rate of the material being upped from nearly 24 frames-per-second to the 25 frames of PAL-encoded video) and don't work on most players (unless they're hacked to play discs of all regions), so I usually look for the Region 1 versions instead (most of the ones I was able to obtain went for some pretty fine prices).

In Region 1, only a handful of the animated Treasures are as easy to obtain as the British/Italian/etc. versions (there are others, but these four are by far the easiest ones to find):
-The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
-Mickey Mouse in Black and White: Volume Two
-Mickey Mouse in Living Color: Volume Two
-The Complete Pluto

(Reading my list and thinking about the list of sets released in Region 2 made me come down to a rather accurate conclusion: Mickey in Color V2 is probably the easiest Treasures volume to find, isn't it?)

Probably!

The Italian releases have more variety, but because they're imports, they're more expensive.

On Amazon.co.uk there's:
Mickey Mouse in Black and White 1
Mickey Mouse in Living Colour 2
Donald Duck 1
Donald Duck 2
Donald Duck 3
Complete Goofy
Pluto Volume 1
Oswald

We're getting a bit off-topic here. Consider directing the Treasures talk to a separate thread. Thanks.

---

Thanks to Didier Ghez's Disney Books Blog I learned there's another Mickey at 90 book being published in the UK (link below). Called Mickey Mouse Museum, Didier refers to it as an exhibition catalogue, but unfortunately it's a book that aims to be like an exhibition (I would have loved it if there was a real exhibition of Mickey Mouse animation art in the UK)!

Since this book is published by Templar, it will be a children's book, but that doesn't mean it won't have interesting artwork within it.

http://www.foyles.co.uk/...se-museum,-9781787413597 

Better than nothing.

https://wdwnt.com/2018/0...digital-on-october-23rd/ 

I don't mind the set much. I'll probably get it on digital.

That said, I'm just a little worried about the HD transfers of the shorts, especially Steamboat Willie. When I saw Mickey's Trailer on TCM some time ago, it didn't feel right from looking at it; I thought the colors were too vibrant and the lines a little wobbly (DVNR, much?).

As for Steamboat Willie, here's an excerpt from Dave Bossert's Oswald book.

Many years ago, when we were doing pristine restorations of the Disney animated feature films, we also did a restoration of the Mickey Mouse short Steamboat Willie. During that restoration, the goal was to try and make it pristine as well—removing all the dirt, dust, scratches, light flicker, picture weave, and every other anomaly. When the final restoration was viewed, it didn't look or "feel" right; it was sterile and didn't feel of the time period. So to correct that, we backed in some light flicker and film weave, which made it feel more of the 1920s—more authentic.

Plus, here's a screencap from the HD version .

Doesn't look off to me; I wonder how the restoration of 'Steamboat Willie' would look on 35mm film? A negative based off this restoration alone was printed by Disney and archived, which leads me to this question.

I forget if this was ever discussed, but; the earliest surviving negative of that title, dated 1934 is the only known surviving element that I can think of that has the original Cinephone variable density strip intact.

Other elements of the title as I can recall in Disney's materials have the audio track rerecorded through R.C.A. Victor equipment onto a variable area strip. Does the latest restoration attempt to make use of original Cinephone elements that exist?

I don't mind the set much. I'll probably get it on digital.

That said, I'm just a little worried about the HD transfers of the shorts, especially Steamboat Willie. When I saw Mickey's Trailer on TCM some time ago, it didn't feel right from looking at it; I thought the colors were too vibrant and the lines a little wobbly (DVNR, much?).

As for Steamboat Willie, here's an excerpt from Dave Bossert's Oswald book.

Many years ago, when we were doing pristine restorations of the Disney animated feature films, we also did a restoration of the Mickey Mouse short Steamboat Willie. During that restoration, the goal was to try and make it pristine as well—removing all the dirt, dust, scratches, light flicker, picture weave, and every other anomaly. When the final restoration was viewed, it didn't look or "feel" right; it was sterile and didn't feel of the time period. So to correct that, we backed in some light flicker and film weave, which made it feel more of the 1920s—more authentic.

Plus, here's a screencap from the HD version .

I highly doubt Disney used DVNR on these restorations.... (For the record, most of their 4K scans don't look as bad as, say, Mickey's Christmas Carol  or those Netflix short collections I've heard about on another forum)

With that Mickey Mouse set having only 13 cartoons, I wonder if it's being aimed at collectors or children/families/casual fans more.