“…There are no cats in America!…”
Mike and Casey manage to escape dog heaven and set out for the Great Valley. Their traveling companions? Ask an Atheist‘s Rebecca Friedman and Joe Preti of the View from the Gutters comic book podcast. This month we’re talking about America animator, Don Bluth.
From his apprenticeship at the Walt Disney company, to striking out on his own with critical darling in the Secret of NIMH, to conquering the box office alongside Steven Spielberg with An American Tail and the Land Before Time.
We dig into Bluth’s trademark darker tone, his craftsmanship and attention to detail, his move into the world of video games, and how for a brief period of time…he managed to beat Disney at their own game.
Music:
“End Credits” from the Land Before Time by James Horner
Previously titled: “There Will Be No Second Disney”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Great episode, as usual. For me, it was quite informative, because I haven’t seen most of Bluth’s output. In fact, the only one I have seen is Anastasia, on television, and for the life of me I thought it was Disney feature (I missed about the first 10 minutes and didn’t bother watching the closing credits). After listening to your show, a lot of the dark aspects of that one make a lot more sense to me now.
Of course, now I really want to see a bunch of these, especially Thumbelina and A Troll in Central Park – ha! Kidding! Actually, the one I really, really want to see now is Secret of NIMH, because I remember when it was first released, I was in my early teens and “too mature” for Disneyesque animated features so I skipped it…
Thanks for the kind words, as always!
Also, the guy who sings the theme in the end credits of the Secret of NIMH is the same actor who voiced the Penguin in Batman the Animated Series. And he played Virgil in Battle for the Planet of the Apes, but I think only I care about that.
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I love many things about Radio Vs. the Martians, one of which is that I can count on semi-regular references to two of my favorite films, The Transformers: The Movie and The Secret Of NIMH. Fun to hear a podcast focused on Bluth.
I don’t think this was mentioned:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/04/live-actioncg-rats-of-nimh-movie-in-the-works
I might not be an Expert. But I believe there was a Good reason that….Thing was not mentioned.
No, alas, we didn’t see the news about live action NIMH movie.
But, whenever I see something like that, I immediately have the thought: “…But WHY?!?”
And then the next thought is “Because money.”
[sigh]
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