Working With Other Divisions
When films such as Hercules make the leap to the small screen, the producers usually get little else but the blessing of the artists and filmmakers from the original film. "They don't worry about a series when they're doing movies," noted Stones. "They're worried about the movie and that's it." In fact, the proliferation of animated features into series has inspired some good nature ribbing at the studio. As Stones remembered, "When [directors] Ron Clements and John Musker were developing Hercules, they said, `Hey Tad, we're doing a pilot for a series.'"

The feature-to-series trend has also opened up a controversy, however, as many animation purists now believe that Disney is "cheapening" its own product. "To me, I don't think it's a taste thing," admitted Stones. "I don't see how a spin-off of any kind takes away from the original. When Disney did `Dance of the Hours' [in Fantasia] people complained because they couldn't listen to that piece of music without seeing dancing hippos. Maybe they did ruin that music, but then so did Alan Sherman, when he did `Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda.'"

Mouse Works. © The Walt Disney Company. All Rights Reserved.

"I think the good thing is that it extends the life of the characters," said Gannaway. "It keeps the characters out there for the audience to enjoy." Gannaway and his partner, Tony Craig, have recently been entrusted with Disney's first big screen star, Mickey Mouse. The `Big Cheese' will come to television this fall in his first animated series, Mouse Works, proving that no one under the Disney umbrella is safe from the lure of television.

The show has been produced under the guidance of Walt's nephew, vice chairman of the board, Roy E. Disney, who has been keeping a careful eye on the classic characters, now also known as company icons. "He's looking at all the scripts and all the storyboards," noted Gannaway. "Roy is watch-dogging the show and this relaxes a lot of other executives."

It's actually very fitting that Disney's biggest hero of the big screen would make his way to the small screen in such a top-notch manner. After all, it was Walt himself, who in the 1950s, pioneered the idea of quality family television with such shows as Disneyland, Zorro and The Mickey Mouse Club.

Like those classic shows, the features-to-series evolve on their own, becoming creative and entertaining variations on an original theme, not just cogs in a corporate machine. "Everyone always says, `Oh, you guys also have to worry about the merchandising and the dolls and everything.' You don't. All you're concerned with is, `Am I putting a good story on the screen?,'" noted Stones, adding, "You're really just focused on your project, you're not thinking, `Is this going to be a good Disneyland ride?'"

Mike Lyons is a Long Island-based freelance writer, who has written over 100 articles on film and animation. His work has appeared in Cinefantastique, Animato! and The Disney Magazine.