A few weeks ago I mentioned that I couldn’t come up with any anniversaries this year. Then I realized it was Garfield’s 40th. And then I realized it was Superman’s 80th. And hey guess who else has a birthday this year? Yes there’s yet another one later this year for a certain little mouse. Makes you wonder how much attention I pay to things when three icons I love have birthday’s this year and I didn’t realize it.
To be fair there is time for Mickey since he debuted November 18th, 1928. So consider this the start of a special celebration for my favorite little mouse. In that spirit, I decided to finally do an idea I have wanted to do for a long time, but never quite came together. If there is one thing Disney used to do with their anthology TV shows was have wonderful openings that got your attention and got you excited. This was back when they had special shows rather than just owning everything.
Now I am not including any of the specific shows, just the anthology shows which would feature other shows, cartoons, and old movies (and the occasional brand new stuff). There are others who are more qualified to give a specific history of these, this is just for good fun. And they aren’t all great, like that awful World of Color opening (it’s in color we get it! Is that all we get for an hour? Color)? Or NBC's "Wonderful World" opening which felt rushed and half assed.
Good Morning Mickey
Ok, picture it. The year was around 1986. It’s early in the morning, you’re trying to get ready for school, so you put the Disney Channel on. And what do you see?
Yeah for what was just a collection of old cartoons this opening was so bright and upbeat in the morning that it kind of helped me to have a great day.
Vault Disney
Speaking of Disney Channel, here was Vault Disney which aired some very old stuff. It was interesting to see those archaic TV specials, but I found the content was usually lacking.
One Saturday Morning
I talked before about how much I loved the opening used for Disney’s One Saturday Morning. I also loved the shows within it including Pepper Ann, Recess, and several others.
Disney Afternoon
Of course we also had The Disney Afternoon which, thanks to my sister, I did see some of. Ducktails ruled!
Disneyland
I don’t think it goes back much further than this. You gotta love how they since they didn’t have to many cartoons to mention they brag about the park instead.
Magical World of Disney
NBC got the rights in the late 80’s and gave us The Magical World of Disney. This was used for specials and original movies, and was pretty good opening (funny how Roger Rabbit is so prominent) until NBC sent the series back to Disney Channel.
What did the opening look like after NBC send the show back to the Disney Channel? Funny you should ask....
The Wonderful World of Disney
Now of course the show that aired while I was a kid, and beyond, was the “Wonderful World of Disney”. It had several openings, and networks, over the years. Here are the one’s I remember starting with this
And a little later but still before my time...
An NBC version which I loved, for the brief time they had the show. They'd modify the opening to be used later for Disney Special’s before losing the rights back to ABC. I always love how you can tell when the show first aired by the clips of the most recent movies at the time being spliced in.
And then back to ABC in the 90's. This was my favorite for several reasons. I love the visuals, a little more creative than just flashing cartoons at us. The music is superb, blending “When you wish upon a star” with the more recent stuff. And at this is the one Wonderful World of Disney I watched regularly, every Sunday night for awhile. This is the one that gives me chills.
Here is something a little more current, in 2003
Here is the latest version which is just horrible. Not only is it flat and boring, but do we need to be reminded Disney owns Star Wars every chance they get????
Disney Sunday Movie
During the 80’s when Wonderful World wasn’t on, ABC gave us Disney Sunday Movie instead using this opening :
Walt Disney Presents
So, we mentioned NBC and ABC, did CBS ever own a Disney show? Well of course they did! With the most boring title, but that was ok I guess Walt Disney was all we needed to know.
Mickey Mouseworks
Finally, I began with a show presenting classic cartoons so here is a rare opening to a show which gave us brand new cartoons. This was a chance to reenergize Mickey a little, and it didn’t really take with most of these cartoons being spliced into episodes of the much more successful House of Mouse. Until the latest incarnation of cartoons which are so horrid I refuse to dignify them.
That was fun, if I missed your favorite comment and let me know. And we’ll be getting back to Mickey again this year!
Gee, I hope there isn’t any other anniversaries this year I forgot about
Damn it.
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