Disney's Fantasia/2000 DVD. © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

DVDs are the panacea for videophiles. Since their introduction in 1997, they have offered consumers dazzling displays of digital imaging and sound, arguably the closest a consumer may ever get to re-creating a cinematic experience in the home. Despite all their advantages over VHS, such as portability and random-access searching, their greatest feature is their ability to create interactivity with the viewer. Bonus or supplemental footage provides the means to achieve this.

In today's growing age of commercial voyeurism as evidenced by Survivor, Temptation Island, Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire and Big Brother, consumers want...no, no...they demand behind-the-scenes information. No aspect of a movie should remain hidden from the public. The private life of celebrities is public news -- go right ahead and ask Entertainment Tonight. Aren't we all a little touched by the breakup of Tom and Nicole? Now the once slow-selling DVD format of 1997 caters to both techno-savvy aficionados and lavish information-bereft consumers. Moreover, DVDs are currently a greater cash crop to the entertainment industry than most pundits foresaw.

A Medium for Animation
What does any of this have to do with animation? Well, of all media genres, animation epitomizes the need for behind-the-scenes footage. One could debate how live-action, multimillion-dollar, special effects laden films like Titanic or The Perfect Storm could offer the consumer better bonus content, but upon further examination, one should realize that the majority of today's special effects are computer animated.

Of all the companies in entertaindom, Disney is the paramount of supplemental DVD material. As director John Lasseter reminds in the Toy Story supplemental disc, Walt Disney always gave his employees three instructions: tell a great story, tell it with great characters and push the technology to new limits. Disney DVDs continue this tradition. As Animation World has reported in "Catch the DVD of Chicken Run" (Kubin, 5.10) and various Headline News items, movies like Chicken Run and Iron Giant have good supplemental footage, but neither film's history has such intrigue that it requires a full-fledged supplemental DVD. Two Disney DVD three-disc boxed sets elucidate this best: Toy Story: The Ultimate Toy Box and Fantasia Anthology. These films are technological and cinematic behemoths. If ever a scenario existed where behind-the-scenes, supplemental material is advantageous, it is for these films.

Specifically, these movies contain many firsts. For example, Toy Story was the first full-length computer animated motion picture; Fantasia was the first full-length symphonic, animated motion picture. Nevertheless, there is more to these movies than moving pictures. The DVD versions of these films allow viewers to delve into the stories behind the movies.

The Toy Story DVD Collector's Edition is a three CD set, which fills in the entire history of the Toy Story phenomena. © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

Enter the Toy Box
In Toy Story: The Ultimate Toy Box, the supplemental DVD begins with John Lasseter casually inviting viewers to explore the world of Toy Story with him. Every aspect of the film and its sequel is explained through interviews with Disney and Pixar personnel. Everything is included from the original Toy Story pitch in 1991 to Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me" demo.

There are seven main categories to explore for both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 respectively: History, Design, Story, Computer Animation, Music and Sound, Deleted Animation, and Publicity. Disney DVDs excel because they have a surfeit of information. In the Design category, for example, Buzz Lightyear's evolution is mapped through 99 different designs starting with Tinny (from Tin Toy) then Lunar Larry and later Tempus from Morph. A similar evolution exists for Woody as he transforms from a large villainous cowboy doll to a leader and buddy.

Since Toy Story was such a technological milestone, it is not surprising that the technical documentation in the supplemental disc is astounding. The entire CGI process is analyzed though every phase from storyboards to shading and lighting. A Pixar animator narrates each stage, which often concludes with numerous images through which to meander. The technical highlight comes through the angle control on DVD remotes that allows viewers to toggle between storyboards, raw CGI and the cinematic version in certain scenes.