A bit more secondhand words on Dick's reaction .... Mo (his wife) said that they had heard about this fan effort from several people, and were surprised that I hadn't contacted them (I did actually, but I don't think they received it ... or hadn't yet) ... and were also surprised that no one from corporate Disney had attacked yet.
Developments should ensue ...
As for the November release, I assumed that that was the same as the September release. Anyone have any info on it? Dave is also the only one to suggest the November release will be 2 discs.
This Amazon listing for "Arbian Knight" seems to refer to the November release.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HLDFO0/sr=1-2/qid=1156708952/ref=sr_1_2/103-9589579-9308640?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
There is no info apart from it being apparently the Arabian Knight cut (73 min), and released by "Genius Products, Inc" in NTSC. It seems odd that some random company rather than the Weinsteins would release it. No mention of 2 discs and the price is identical to the Weinstein effort.
Could be an overseas release, perhaps Japan.
I am very convinced there will be nothing special about these releases from what little info I've gleaned, and the lack of rumblings at Disney itself (that we've heard). Seems to be a Weinstein only rerelease, and a quickie.
That said, it's lovely they're doing this as even a widescreen viewing of Arabian Knight shows parts of this film to more people.
And the DVD art shows more respect for the animation scholars who enjoy this film, even if the actual cut doesn't. I expect that this will be a more reverential treatment of a shoddy edit.
I'm amused that our internet revisionism has infiltrated Amazon.com to the point where they list the original cast rather than the Miramax cast, and the opening lines of the workprint and everything.