All right... today's post is going to be a quick one. Reason: Sarah and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary today, so we're going to take the day and do something fun. You don't get to 20 years and happy as ever without setting priorities... ;)

But I've got a couple things for you this afternoon. First, we've got the text of Disney's official Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 press release...

Releasing for the First Time in Over a Decade
To Astound the Eyes and Ears of a New Generation!

Highly-Anticipated Hi-Def Debut of Disney's Acclaimed Masterwork and the Modern Magnum Opus it Inspired

Fantasia & Fantasia 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition
On 4-Disc Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and 2-Disc DVD
November 30, 2010

BURBANK, Calif., September 2010 -- Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 -- the magical, animated musical masterpiece and the contemporary classic inspired by it -- debut in highly anticipated Blu-ray High Definition and DVD 2-Movie Collection Special Editions on November 30. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is opening the Disney vault to be able to present these two films that broke the boundaries of imagination in the highest quality possible.

The Fantasia and Fantasia 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition will be available in a 4-disc Blu-ray Combo Pack ($45.99 SRP) and a 2-Disc DVD ($39.99 SRP) for a very limited time only. The Blu-ray transformation of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 will reveal the magic, music and majesty of both films as never before experienced, with state-of-the-art picture restoration of the original Fantasia and pristine 7.1 Digital Theater System Hi-Def Surround Sound. The Blu-ray combo pack is a tremendous value featuring, in addition to the two films in two different formats, a wealth of bonus features.

Among those Blu-ray special features is the highly requested Academy Award® nominated short Destino. Available for the first time ever on Blu-ray, the seven minute film is the result of a unique collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali begun in 1946, but put on hold due to studio financial concerns. In 2003, Roy E. Disney worked with a team of modern day animators to complete the film as a tribute to Walt's pioneering artistic vision. Accompanying the highly anticipated short is an all-new feature length documentary entitled Dali & Disney: A Date With Destino, which explores the origins of the relationship between Disney and Dali, their collaboration on Destino, and ultimately how the film came to fruition so many years after its inception.

Fantasia, an unprecedented and magnificent feast of music and animated images, was initially released by the Studio in 1940 as a "road show" release. The following year, at the 14th Annual Academy Awards, Fantasia earned two Special Awards. The first was given to Walt Disney and associates for their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures, being the first commercial film released in multi-channel sound using a process called Fantasound, and the second to conductor Leopold Stokowski and his associates "for... unique achievement in the creation of a new form of visualized music... thereby widening the scope of the motion picture as entertainment and as an art form."

Considered avant-garde during its time, Fantasia has gone on to become one of the most popular movies of all time and today is considered a classic. In 1990, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Stokowski, this groundbreaking film, which consists of animation set to eight musical pieces, is narrated by Deems Taylor and includes an appearance by Mickey Mouse (voiced by Disney himself).

Equally impressive is Fantasia 2000, the awe-inspiring extravaganza of sight and sound, executive produced by the late Roy E. Disney. Featuring an array of celebrity hosts including Steve Martin, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn and Teller, Angela Lansbury, Itzhak Perlman and Quincy Jones, the film, like its predecessor, expertly visualizes classical music compositions with various forms of animation and live-action introductions. Fantasia 2000 is primarily performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by James Levine.

Synopsis: The dreams and visions of Walt Disney come to life in Fantasia, which blends music and film magic into an exhilarating movie-going experience. Unforgettable images are brought to life by some of the world's best music, and highlighted by the comedy of Mickey Mouse as a troublemaking sorcerer's apprentice, along with the beauty of winged fairies and cascading snowflakes, the majesty of Noah's ark and even plump hippos performing ballet in tutus.

Motivated by his uncle's foresight, Roy Disney continued the magic with Fantasia 2000 which begins where its predecessor left off. There are seven completely new segments, and viewers watch a bustling Depression-era metropolis in the style of Al Hirschfeld's famous cartoons, a flock of flamingos with slapstick yo-yo talents, an ark full of animals gathered by Donald Duck as Noah's first mate, and musical life breathed into a family of flying humpback whales.

Fantasia DVD Bonus Features:

-New Audio Commentary with Disney historian Brian Sibley

-Disney Family Museum (running time: approx. 5 minutes) - Walt's daughter Diane Disney-Miller takes viewers on a tour of the new Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California featuring a very large exhibit on Fantasia and most importantly, the Schultheis notebook with long lost Fantasia production notes found in more recent years in the walls of a convent.

Fantasia Blu-ray Bonus Features:

Everything on the DVD plus:

-Disney View - This viewing mode maximizes the Blu-ray viewing experience with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. Original artwork created by a Disney artist, in a style that complements the beauty of the film.

-The Shultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure (running time: approx. 14 minutes) - An in depth look at the recently discovered Schultheis Notebook. The detailed log was created by Herman Schultheis, an effects man on Fantasia, and intricately breaks down the film from a technical view. Many of the special effects used in Fantasia were a mystery to modern day animators until this notebook was recovered.

-Interactive Art Gallery and Screensavers - Viewers can explore the artwork of Fantasia as never before, in HD resolution with unique Blu-ray interactivity and programming.

-Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection: With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, animation historian John Canemaker, and Scott McQueen, manager of film restoration. Audio commentary with interviews and story note recreations by Walt Disney, hosted by John Canemaker.

Fantasia 2000 DVD Bonus Features:

-Musicana: Walt's Inspiration for a Sequel (running time: approx. 10 minutes) - This documentary reveals rarely-seen art created for Musicana, a late 1970's project intended as a Fantasia sequel with a focus on exploring other cultures via their greatest musical compositions. Viewers are offered a look at the origins of pieces that were started by Walt, such as "The Emperor and the Nightingale" which was then taken over by a very young John Lasseter. Ultimately, Musicana was stopped to begin production on Mickey's Christmas Carol, but the memories of this piece still live on with the animators who conceived it.

Fantasia 2000 Blu-ray Bonus Features:

Everything on the DVD plus:

-Dali & Disney: A Date With Destino (running time: 82 minutes) - This feature length documentary explores the collaborative relationship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, revealing how and why the Destino short came to fruition under the lead of Roy E. Disney in 2003 so many years after its inception in 1946.

-Destino (running time: approx. 7 minutes) - The legacy of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali lives on in this highly anticipated short film.

-Disney's Virtual Vault -- BD-Live Feature

-Original DVD Bonus Features from Legacy Collection

-Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection (total running time: 84 minutes): With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, and producer Don Ernst. Audio commentary with the directors and art directors for each segment.

About Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Combo Packs (Blu-ray + DVD in a single package): To provide consumers with unprecedented quality, value and portability of their favorite Disney classics, in 2008 WDSHE pioneered the Combo Pack - Blu-ray Disc(s) plus a DVD in a single package. Classic Disney titles released as Combo Packs include Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The Fantasia and Fantasia 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition Blu-ray™ + DVD Combo Pack is priced at $45.99 SRP and the 2-Disc DVD set is priced at $39.99 SRP.

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Speaking of Disney, I thought you might like a look ahead at what the studio has planned for Blu-ray in the coming year. Well, according to trailers on their recent James and the Giant Peach Blu-ray, you can definitely expect an Alice in Wonderland: 60th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray Disc sometime in 2011, as well as the long awaited The Lion King: Diamond Edition on Blu-ray (and DVD) in the Fall of 2011. Obviously, Tron Legacy will arrive on DVD and Blu-ray sometime early next year, along with a Blu-ray of the original Tron - the brand new HD transfer of which has been running on HDNet in recent months. Additional titles are in development, and we'll have more on that as it comes in.

Here, again, is the cover artwork for the Fantasia titles as well as Beauty and the Beast (due 10/5)...



In other news today, there's an interesting comment by Samsung's vice president of home entertainment, John Revie, over at PC World. Essentially, referring to Toshiba's effort to launch 3D HDTVs that don't require glasses, Revie says it's not ready for primetime yet. Specifically, it's only ready for very small and lower resolution monitors, and if you move even in the slightest the image distorts. Revie confirms that Samsung (like Toshiba and other manufacturers) IS working on it, but it's going to be a few years at least.

Finally today, Apple has just announced a whole bunch of new products, including a rental-only Apple TV device, new iPods, iTunes 10 and iOS 4.2 for the iPad and more. More here at engadget.

That's all for now. Stay tuned!

Bill Hunt, Editor
The Digital Bits
billhunt@thedigitalbits.com