Disney Bought My Childhood!

A thought really hit me today and has been with me all day long – Disney pretty much owns my entire childhood now!  What do I mean?  Here’s the line of thinking that brought me to this realization:

1.  The Muppets – I grew up watching and absolutely loving The Muppet Show.  Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear, Gonzo, and Statler and Waldorf were always hilarious to a very much younger me each week.  I watched every single episode of The Muppet Show when it originally ran and I remember loving the majority of them, especially the episode that starred Mark Hamill, C3-PO and R2-D2.  The humor of The Muppet Show at the time really played to me as a kid, but even today as an adult, I can appreciate the adult jokes they managed to slip in there as well.  Since I grew up with Sesame Street, it was a natural to follow up with The Muppet Show.  Well guess who owns The Muppets these days?  Yep, good ole Disney!  Jim Henson stated in an interview months before he passed away that if anything ever happened to him, he wanted The Muppets to go to a company that had the vision, the imagination, and the means to take the Muppets to  next level.  I will say that I personally feel that Disney has sat on The Muppets for way too long without doing anything with them.  Sure there is the Muppetvision 3D movie at Hollywood Studios, but it is very old and certainly could use a make over, or even a new attraction entirely.  Of course Disney did just release a new Muppet movie last year, and they are currently working on a new feature film with the Muppets, so it is my hope that Disney keeps the Muppets in the public eye for a long time to come.  Wakka-wakka!

2.  Spider-Man and Marvel Comics – from the time I could read, Spider-Man became my best friend.  I loved to get lost in his adventures, because he was just like me, awkward, a little nerdy, and never quite fit in.  Even with all his problems, he managed to always finish on top and outsmart all of the villains.  Peter Parker made it cool to be smart, and he always encouraged everyone to never be afraid to stand up for what is right, no matter what it costs you.  Along with Peter Parker, Marvel has The X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and literally thousands of of other heroes and villains that I loved to read about each and every month.  To be totally honest, I still buy comics to this day and I still love them dearly.  Of course I love DC Comics as well, such as Superman and Batman, but it is truly Marvel that holds my heart.  Well guess who owns Marvel Comics these days?  Did you guess Disney?  Well you are right!  And what has Disney done with Marvel Comics?  Have you heard about a little movie called The Avengers?  Disney has worked with Marvel very well since purchasing them and Disney has done exactly what they should have done with Marvel and that is leave them alone and let them do what they do best – create story driven comics that people love to read and watch on the big screen.  The Avengers turned out to be one of the highest grossing box offices smashes of all time, and of course there are many other Marvel movies in the works including Iron Man 3 that comes out this Friday.  Now that Disney owns Marvel, I can count on my comics coming every week and new movies keeping my childhood alive for many more years to come.  I can’t wait until Disney can start putting the Marvel characters into the parks once the licensing with Universal has run its course.

3.  Sports – Did you ever sit down on a Saturday afternoon and watch The Wide World of sports?  Boy, my family would sit and watch The Professional Bowlers Tour together most Saturdays, and when the Olympics came every 4 years, we enjoyed those together as well. Sports were always a huge part of my Dads life.  He enjoyed baseball, basketball, football, and all college sports, and the Wide World of Sports was there to provide it for him and me as I was growing up.  Ever wonder what happened to The Wide World of Sports (The Thrill of Victory, and the Agony of Defeat)?  Well you see a little company from Bristol was created that began covering any and all sports in exciting new ways and using new technology to get people interested in watching sport 24/7.  That company was ESPN, and to this day, they are the undisputed leader in sports coverage.  So, do you have any idea who owns ESPN? Disney, really?  Yep!  As a matter of fact there is a Sports Complex located in Disney World called The Wide World of Sports, and to this day many professional sports teams go there to practice.  Since sports are always family oriented, and of course Disney is family oriented, they go hand in hand and totally compliment each other.  So Disney keeps me in more sports coverage than I could possibly watch in a lifetime, and as long as sports are around, my memories of my Dad and I watching our favorite bowlers going at each other on Saturday afternoon will long continue to exist for me.

4.  Toys – Growing up, toys played a huge role in my life.  First it was action figures and stuffed animals, then it turned to board games, soon followed by video games.  I loved my Six Million Dollar Man action figure that came with his space rocket ship.  I loved my green army men, and my shiny silver pistol that shot those popping caps.  Toys played a central role in tons of my enjoyment as I was growing up.  Then a company called Pixar came, and brought my childhood rushing back to me with a little movie called Toy Story.  Buzz and Woody so reminded me of all the fun I had with all of my action figure pals.  It was a very novel idea to think that when I left and closed the door to my room, just like Andy did in the movie, that my toys all got up and had a life of their own.  Pixar, while using the latest computer technology to bring their films to the screen, understood that technology alone does not make a great movie.  Just like Walt Disney understood, you have to have an amazing story and characters that people love.  Pixar totally gets that and every one of their movies has been a hit for that very reason.  You felt sorry for Flick when he was getting picked on in A Bug’s life (because who among us hasn’t been picked on before); when Nemo gets separated from his friends and family, you fear for him just like his dad Marlin does (because who wouldn’t be frightful of being so young and lost); when Buzz realizes that he is just a toy, your heart breaks with him (because who hasn’t become heartbroken when we realize that we have not become who we wanted to become); and most of all you cry along with Jessie when she remembers that she used to have a little girl who loved her more than anything, but grew up and left her behind (because who hasn’t lost someone we dearly loved at one time or another).  You can call these cartoons if you like, but I won’t.  I call them the term that Walt loved so much, “feature films that touch the heart”.  So for me, long live Pixar and I look forward to every movie they make.  And yes Disney owns Pixar now too.  I’m slightly torn because I love the hand drawn features like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Snow White, Aladdin, Lady and The Tramp, and I could go on forever, but these days, it is the computer generated films that rule the box offices, so I have to say a very sad farewell to my hand drawn friends, but the future of the features is in good hands.  So much like Peter Pan, it’s time I grew up and accepted the new technology.

5.  And Last But Not Least – STAR WARS!! – This past October, the weekend after we returned from a Disney Cruise, my world was absolutely rocked!  My peanut butter (Star Wars) was smashed directly into my chocolate (Disney) when Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney announced that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas for $4.05 BILLION dollars!  I bet you didn’t know this but George Lucas made the Star Wars films just for me.  Of course I shared them with the world, but those original three films spoke to me like no other movie series has ever spoken to me.  Young and brash Luke Skywalker was tired of his poor provincial life (to borrow a line from Belle from Beauty and the Beast) and it was his dream to set off and find his destiny amongst the stars.  Beautiful Princess Leia could no longer stand idly by and let the tyrannical Empire push people around, not on her watch.  The roguish Han Solo just couldn’t let the promise of money and his freedom slip through his fingers, no matter the danger that lied in front of him.  OMG, then there was Darth Vader.  He only needed to tighten his hand into a fist and he could crush you with merely a thought!  It just couldn’t get an more evil than that!  When things were getting too intense and we needed a laugh, good old C3-PO and R2-D2 would come in and remind us that a little levity amongst the drama is always welcome.  These three films, for me, are the quickest things that make me feel like a young kid again, who has yet to be beaten down by the world, a kid who could conquer absolutely anything if I put my mind to it, trained hard enough, and stood up for what I believed in.  These three films had it all for me, and yes even the Ewoks have their place.  Call them teddy bears if you like, but much like the Hobbits of the Shire, no one (especially the Emperor) ever thought so little a creature could ever be anything more than a nuisance.  The Ewoks proved that theory wrong and in the end, helped to topple an entire Empire!  I could go on and on here, but just know that I hold these films near and dear to my heart and I have George Lucas to thank for them.  George, like Walt, was told no every single time he asked for money to make these films.  Again like Walt, George put his last penny into these movies, and in the end he was proven right, the world did want to see these films and they still do.  I must agree with the larger crowd that the newer three movies were not on par with the original trilogy, but I will also tell you that kids that were the same age as we were when we originally saw Episodes 3, 4 and 5 who saw these newer films absolutely love them as we did our trilogy.  They laugh till their sides hurt at every single thing Jar Jar does, believe it or not.  They thrill at Obi-Wan and Anakin’s saber work, and they chill and shake at Darth Maul, just like we did Vader.  George didn’t make the newer three for us you see, he made them for the next generation of children.

Then Disney bought the company outright for $4.05 billion dollars.  They immediately announced that they would be making Episodes 7, 8, and 9 and would release them 2 years apart!  As if that wasn’t enough, they announced that there would be side movies in the Star Wars universe, maybe about Yoda, or Boba Fett!  They have showed commercials for Disney World with Darth Vader riding Space Mountain!  My head exploded!!!  It just exploded over and over!  The company I truly love (Disney) even announced that Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford were going to be in the new movies!!  They announced that J.J Abrams (creator of the hit TV show LOST) is directing the movie!  They announced that they were giving me free money for the rest of my life!!  OK, I told you my head exploded!

Once again, Disney took something I loved as a child and somehow, they managed to make it better.  So yes Disney has purchased my childhood over and over again.  But somehow, they continue to make it better.  

Thanks Walt!  Thanks to everyone who works for a company whose goal it is to make as many peoples dreams come true as they can every day!

And thank you for hanging around for this overly long blog post this evening.  I always appreciate your valuable time, and I hope you have a very blessed day.

I’ll see ya real soon at the premiere of the Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015.  I’ll be the big kid dressed up as Darth Vader with my lightsaber in hand.  You won’t see it because of my mask, but I’ll have the biggest smile on my face you’ve ever seen!