Out of respect for Alex Williams and his father, I've now withdrawn the Alex Williams interview from this disc. You never know with these things what's right to include.
It will be replaced by a special fan's commentary about the restoration by Patrick McCart and myself ... which is less interesting but more appropriate for a fan disc!
First few discs have been sent out. I haven't sent them to the team who helped out on this project yet, as I'd like them to get the version with the new commentary when we record that ... and I might even make a few tiny changes yet, that no one but me would notice. =D
I am making a dual layer version of this disc available also, since it came out at about 6 gigs. The single layer version as usual looks great and makes a dual layer version unnecessary.
Two new discs have been added to the set, with more coming ...
1) "Fake widescreen" Raggedy Ann & Andy by Chris Boniface. Someone pointed out that the pan & scan VHS of Raggedy Ann & Andy was actually vertically stretched a bit, and could be stretched out into a widescreen image to look less cramped. It's still a pan & scan transfer of a cinemascope film, but is now 24p and in a widescreen frame, which works pretty well.
2) Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toontown, by Dave West ... has a 1988 documentary and 5 TV spots. Let me watch this one now!
Watched "Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toontown" ... a great disc by Dave West. The TV spots are all interesting - one of them has a shot from the "pig head" sequence, and is probably identical to the theatrical trailer, which I still haven't seen.
There is a Diet Coke ad and a McDonald's Ad which both have original animation in them. The Diet Coke ad is as great as it is embarrassing. There's reused AND new footage in it ... Bob Hoskins walks into the Ink and Paint Club to see Jessica performing (old footage of Jessica and Bob) - old Jessica footage now has her singing about Diet Coke! I'm not sure if it's Amy Irving. Bob sits down and sees Roger hiding in a live-action coat, drinking a live-action Diet Coke. New footage of both Bob Hoskins and Roger, with Charles Fleischer's voice. Roger appears to be animated by Dick Williams' studio, maybe even with roughs by Dick himself, it looks exactly like the film version and is entirely up to standard. He looks directly into the camera while saying he's enjoying his Diet Coke. Dear God.
The McDonalds ad advertises Roger Rabbit cups. Roger and Jessica (new animation) are seen pulling up to the drive-in. Hard to tell if it's up to film standards, but it's certainly close.
The main special: "Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toontown" ... an hour long (45 minutes sans commercials), originally aired on CBS in 1988, with the classic CBS "Special" logo on it. Obviously produced by Disney, it even has Dick Van Dyke in it. Joanna Cassidy hosts, which is nice. They clearly thought, who's got the biggest part in this film that we can get because they don't have anything better to do? There is a scene in a theater where she "interacts" with old footage of Roger from Eddie's theater scene. No new animation was created, but Charles Fleischer recorded new voicework. The animation appears here without tones or shading, as just flat animation. Robert Zemeckis is interviewed most, but Dick appears several times. Footage is similar to "I Drew Roger Rabbit" at times - they were pulling from the same material, or from this special. Interviews with Bob Hoskins, Charles Fleischer, Lou Hirsch, Mel Blanc (advertising his son's voicework for some reason), Chuck Jones (!), Ward Kimball, Mae Questel, Robert Watts (giving me Return of the Ewok flashbacks), a still-pretty Kathleen Turner, and Gene Kelly and Dick Van Dyke for some reason or another ... Friz Freleng was in the credits but I honestly don't remember seeing him.
Hoskins is funny throughout. At one point talking about all the stuntwork and physical punishment, Bob Hoskins says he wanted to kill Zemeckis but couldn't find any arsenic.
It ends with a "Read More About It."
Quality is good, from an old VHS.
EDIT: Oh, some guy named Spielberg is in it too. I didn't mention him because I figured you wouldn't know who he is.
Things that occurred to me about Roger Rabbit while watching this ...
The look of Toon Town, the opening "Smile, darn ya, smile," is slightly reminiscent of Raggedy Ann & Andy, with patchwork quilting everywhere. In both films this is used to slightly induce vomiting.
The design of Daffy Duck, Tweety and Bugs (in the air) is very "1940s" in this film, they're not the more familiar 1950s versions of the characters. Daffy is more of a Bob Clampett type with very strange hair (Williams' love of animating the more nonsensical details).
However, at the end of the film, when the characters gather together, there is much more of a 1950s feel and you can clearly see a Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny with the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote ... (I always thought the inclusion from the back of the Paramount/Harvey comics Jack in the Box was a nice one too) ...
In unrelated news, David also sent me the Criterion Fisher King LD material. Baron Munchausen coming next.
EDIT EDIT:
I've also removed the Roy Naisbitt interview from the disc. Still going to be a lot on there!
Oh, for you Roger Rabbit fans, our rabbitmaster Dave West has been working on a second disc of Roger material ...
1. Siskel & Ebert Review
2. At The Movies Review
3. Entertainment Tonight Clips
4. MTV clips
5. Crook & Chase Clips & Review
6. Evening Magazine Clips ( Local Program from Philladelphia)
7. Who Framed Roger Rabbit CBS TV Version (Originally aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney. With intro by Michael Eisner & Live Action Roger Rabbit. Contains some of the Deleted Pig Mask Footage)