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Fantasia: Hugh Douglas & Tim Matheson

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Fantasia is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I love learning about the history of it and its various re-releases.

People have already covered the current editions that feature Corey Burton dubbing over Deems Taylor’s lines, but right now I’m interested in something different.

When Fantasia was re-released in 1982 with a new score recording by Irwin Kostal, they also replaced Taylor’s voice with narration by Hugh Douglas. And then in 1985, they reissued the film again with actor Tim Matheson. I’ve done some digging online, but I can’t find any clips from either narration.

Does anyone have any leads? This is my first post to this site, and hopefully I can be pointed in the right direction.

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From one Fantasia diehard to another, welcome to the site.👍

So, for this, you’ll need a 35mm magnetic stereo print of the '82/'85 releases and a facility capable of capturing the sound from those prints to access any of those recordings; the interstitial commentaries from those dubs have, unfortunately, never been released to the public in any other form.

I do know someone who has a print of one of those digital stereo reissues and, color fading aside, claims it’s in pristine physical condition. They’ve offered to loan it to me before for preservation, so once I cross off a few other to-dos from my list, I may have that arranged for another project I still have brewing. I’ll keep you and anybody else interested posted.

“You missed! How could you miss-- he was THREE FEET in front of you!”
– Mushu

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Are there any VHS or Laserdisc releases of this version available?

Project creator and film enthusiast.

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No, it’s only available through the remaining 35mm release prints.

“You missed! How could you miss-- he was THREE FEET in front of you!”
– Mushu

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Septet, welcome to the site! Great to see all Fantasia devoted fans gathering. I’m suprised there is no other way to find the other dubs than capturing from 35mm prints. I’m not a fan of the Kostal recording, but this version is worth to preserve so we can see the different Fantasia versions through the years. Tony, great work! I didn’t know you are planning an additional project - are you doing all this work, all alone?

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working”
-The wind in the willows

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I found a YouTube channel that recreates titles of Disney films like Fantasia, and they had some videos on the Fantasia re-releases. Neither of them had narration by Douglas or Matheson, but they did provide a glimpse at what the re-releases may have resembled.