Quite possibly for both Cliff Edwards and Roger having his own show, but we’ll see.
The Shuffled Disneyverse 2.0: Another Alternate Disney Canon Timeline
- Thread starter PGSBHurricane
- Start date
Now that I mentioned it, I said Judy Garland would later voice a future Disney character and this may be the golden opportunity. As far as Frankie Darro goes, I’m not sure but maybe.
Maybe Verna Felton could voice her? I feel like she’ll be a good fit.
Didn’t Judy Garland had a contact with MGM which stipulated that she can only appear in their films?
Probably nothing as of yet since it’s just a one-off appearance as of now. That could change throughout the 1940s though as his popularity increases. And the two would likely co-exist if OTL’s Roger Rabbit film was any indication.
Felton is someone I’ve been considering but isn’t a lock yet. As for Judy Garland I need to look into her contract so I can verify that being correct. I haven’t heard of thar before.
That could be easily changed by simply having Garland not sign the contract ITTL, like how Dumbo was actually published as a book in the original TSD
I looked into the contract some more and it was initially a 7-year contract in 1935 and was renegotiated in 1940 and again in 1946 from what I can tell and was let go in 1950. So timing may be an issue. In the original TSD, Dumbo being initially published as a book is a consequence of the shuffling whereas Judy Garland signing on to voice a Disney character would not be a direct consequence. Speaking of Dumbo,
The book still gets published as first a Roll-a-Book ITTL and then as a Disney Golden Book in 1940-41 and will have a reputation akin to Poky Little Puppy.
I suggest having the contract be terminated by 1942, as for who would voice Rapunzel in TTL’s Tangled, I’ll help think about it.
I want to keep Meet Me in St. Louis in tact ITTL so probably 1946 (when it was renewed again) or 1947 (when the 1940 contract was set to expire) if I do it at all
Nah, she's still too young. Besides, I think I have a cast in my mind now. I will update shortly.
Title #5 is probably going to be very unexpected, so stay tuned for more. Also, Tangled will not be part of the Disney canon ITTL, so the next title will be the fourth in TTL's WDAC.
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I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Enchanted/A Goofy Movie/Pete's Dragon, maybe even Dumbo since it would be unexpetced for it to remain in its OTL slot
By unexpected, I mean a title with a plot IOTL you wouldn't expect in the 1940s, as well as it being a planned feature IOTL.
Maybe Chanticleer or Don Quixote? It'll be interesting seeing those two under whatever title 1941b will be.
Well, at least one of those will be the basis for a feature IOTL. I won't be giving away when.
I’m working on the 1941b title now and it should be ready within a matter of days at most.
The Lion King (1941)
The Lion King (1941)
The initial planning for this film dates back to the production of Cinderella in 1937 when Walt expressed interest in developing another tale from France (emphasizing that France was where the tale Cendrillon was initially published in 1697 and Reynard’s popularity in France caused the French word for "fox" to change from "goupil" to "renard"). Walt immediately assigned this story to Dorothy Blank (who previously worked on Cinderella) and Al Perkins to develop a suitable treatment for the myth. There was one problem, though. How on earth do you make a character so unrepentantly awful into someone sympathetic enough for the audience to root for? Unlike Robin Hood, who at least limits his thievery to a corrupt, oppressive government, Reynard has a rap sheet 1,000 miles long and is willing to commit any crime, even mass murder, to get what he wants.
Walt expressed such concerns during a story meeting for Reynard The Fox on February 12, 1938. He emphasized that the main character was a crook and there was no hope for a Robin Hood angle for Reynard. With the core audience comprising adults and kids alike, having him as a sympathetic protagonist of the story would be very difficult to pull off. [1] Someone suggested making Reynard more heroic by having him be a good guy pretending to be evil or simply be a victim of his past. Disney noted the fox that maybe, just maybe, could be more than just the sly fox stereotype but someone who started on the right path and lost his way, and his personal circumstances would force him to rely on his wits.[2] Someone else suggested another idea: that Disney make Reynard the main antagonist and tell it through the eyes of the royal lion King Nobel. The writers generally agreed that the king was more sympathetic in the original stories than Reynard himself, even though he was very spiteful and avaricious in the initial proposed treatment. Granted, he was originally the villain in the story as Reynard was the protagonist and point of view character. From a different perspective, King Noble the Lion might be more noble than one might predict.
For over a year, most of the focus for the film lay in writing the final script, fleshing out the different characters from the Reynard myths, and animating animals more realistic than in Cinderella but not quite as realistic as what would've been required in the proposed Bambi feature since they are more anthropomorphized. The last story meeting for the film, retitled The Lion King by then, took place on June 27, 1939, as the script neared completion. Animation began on August 29 but did not go into full swing until the following June as animation for The Jungle Book was at its height in 1939, and most of the voice recording took place between January and March 1940. By early 1941, the animation process launched into crunch time as The Jungle Book disappointed at the box office, and Disney needed a box office hit to turn things around. Its tentative release date was August 15, 1941. However, the Disney animators' strike began on May 29 and delayed its release as most of Disney’s animation staff were striking. Hence, production on The Lion King was not complete until September 11, when Disney handed the finished product to RKO Radio Pictures for distribution.
The Lion King begins with Reynard the fox in the countryside planning out a series of deceptions and disguises, which he only got away with in the past due to witty last-minute escapes. Undesratbaly frustrated with all the devious escapades that wreaked havoc across the kingdom, King Noble, the great lion, orders Reynard’s capture and that he brought to the royal court to be tried for his crimes ranging from larceny to arson to murder. During the trial, Reynard disguises himself as a goat and laughs throughout the proceedings. When Noble discovers his disguise, he immediately sentences Reynard to be hanged on the gallows. Before his execution, Reynard confesses, much to the horror of King Noble, that he and his father tried overthrowing the monarch, spinning up a tale that it was payback for the monarchy stealing his father’s wealth and hiding it in a volcano. Reynard leads the King and all of the kingdom’s subjects to the volcano and pushes Noble into it. The King only barely manages to climb out when it explodes, killing many people. Deciding that the fox is now the most wanted fugitive in all the realms, the titular lion king escapes and releases notorious criminal Ysegrim the Wolf, Reynard’s cousin [3], to pursue the fox once and for all.
The Lion King premiered on October 23, 1941, in New York City before its wide release through the rest of the nation only eight days later. With a budget of $1.1 million, it was far more modest than the two movies that came before it. Fortunately, it earned $1.9 million in domestic box office rentals, earning Disney a profit and making it the most successful Disney film in North America since Cinderella. It was also the only Disney film from the 1940s that audiences at the time connected with. Like in The Jungle Book, there were plenty of dark elements, but much of it was played for laughs here. Critics praised The Lion King for its plot, characters, music, and voice acting, with special praise given to Reynard the Fox for his effective villainy and King Noble as a surprisingly sympathetic protagonist. While there weren’t many songs, two musical numbers, Pink Elephants on Parade (played while King Noble gets drunk) and Casey Jr. (played when Reynard stows away on a train) are two of the most remembered. Overall, while The Lion King is not considered the objectively best Disney movie of the 1940s, The Lion King is one of the most fondly remembered today.
Voice Cast:
- Herman Bing as King Noble
- Walter Catlett as Reynard The Fox
- Verna Felton as Queen Noble
- Sterling Holloway as Bruin The Bear
- Edward Brophy as Tibert the Cat
- Billy Bletcher as Ysegrim the Wolf
- Cliff Edwards as Grimbard the Badger
- Margaret Wright as Casey Jr.
[2] See above note.
[3] Combining the roles of Grimbard and Ysegrim in the myths.
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So basically The Lion King ITTL is what would happen if Disney managed to successfully adapt the Reynard The Fox myths but with the perspective flipped to the king. I have to announce now that Robin Hood ITTL will probably not be produced using talking animals as the characters as Robin Hood IOTL was essentially a merger of the original tale plus the attempt at making Reynard and Chanticleer (which both involved talking animals). As for TTL's analogue to the Lion King, I'm not sure of that one just yet, but we'll see when we get there.