I'll also add that this special is, to date, the only time we've seen a comics-compliant version of Gyro in animation (unless you count Scarpa's little animated intro linked to elsewhere on this forum).
And everyone knows about proto-Roger Rabbit, but is that supposed to be Gladstone in the lower right-hand corner? Probably not, but I'm going to say it is.
I'd say that duck looks a lot more like Donald than Gladstone.
So, what's the verdict? Is this supposed to be Grandma Duck or some random old lady? Mickey's Christmas Carol and This is Your Life, Donald Duck had perfectly on-model Grandmas, so I'm going with the latter.
I have wondered too. Both in attitude and appearance, the old lady duck also resembles Barks's Duchess of Duckshire:
But the Duchess looks thinner than the Random Old Lady, so that's just a pet theory, not a serious contender.
Roger Rabbit's appearance I kinda like because another TV special, Mickey's 60th Birthday, inexplicably showed Roger as an acquaintance of Mickey. If one admits the existence of a flesh-and-blood, not-a-toon Roger Rabbit in Calisota, it's not absurd to think Mickey and he might know each other.
And that duck could be Gladstone, but he could also be a particularly smartly-dressed Donald, no? Note the beak-adjacent eyes.
And that duck could be Gladstone, but he could also be a particularly smartly-dressed Donald, no? Note the beak-adjacent eyes.
Yes, but if they meant it to be a Donald cameo, they'd probably have put him in his traditional garb to make him easily identifiable (he did appear as a picture on the wall when Scrooge visits HD&L earlier in the show). My guess it's neither of them, but an off-model Gladstone can't be completely ruled out (especially if the old lady was an equally atrociously off-model Grandma).
Yes, but if they meant it to be a Donald cameo, they'd probably have put him in his traditional garb to make him easily identifiable (he did appear as a picture on the wall when Scrooge visits HD&L earlier in the show). My guess it's neither of them, but an off-model Gladstone can't be completely ruled out (especially if the old lady was an equally atrociously off-model Grandma).
Gladstone was originally to have played some kind of significant role in SOCCERMANIA, which had some scenes deleted before release, and I don't know what he would have looked like—so there's that possibility.
I'm attaching a screencap from another deleted scene, this one with a Beagle Boy in drag...
Gladstone was originally to have played some kind of significant role in SOCCERMANIA, which had some scenes deleted before release,
…Oh so? Why? And how did you find out?
It's the first I'm hearing of it also, and I'd love to get more information. It seems there's a dearth of behind-the-scenes material vis-à-vis this special and its unrealized sequel, Swabbies. Also, there must be some way to get a definite answer about whether that's supposed to be Grandma or not! I've been wondering about that for over a decade! (Would the moderators be willing to spin off all the Soccermania posts into a separate thread? My suggestion would be to start with Scrooge MacDuck's post on Sept 24, 2016, excluding Robb's Jan 7th post in between which is still relevant to "Donald and the Navy". )
Gladstone was originally to have played some kind of significant role in SOCCERMANIA, which had some scenes deleted before release,
…Oh so? Why? And how did you find out?
That sounds interesting indeed. The only information I could find about it is that Will Ryan supposedly voiced Gladstone in the special ( www.cartoonresearch.com/comments.html ). Ryan was somewhat of a Barks fan, it seems; in a recent appearance at the Disney Afternoon panel at L.A. Comic Con, Ryan talks about Carl Barks' work, and how he used to correspond with Barks himself ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZsQo-hSvE ).
Last Edit: Jan 9, 2018 22:12:55 GMT by Scroogerello
Ryan was somewhat of a Barks fan, it seems; in a recent appearance at the Disney Afternoon panel at L.A. Comic Con, Ryan talks about Carl Barks' work, and how he used to correspond with Barks himself ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZsQo-hSvE ).
Wow, Russi Taylor says in that panel discussion that she voiced each nephew slightly differently on DuckTales '87, and I never noticed. And of course, props to Ryan for reminding the audience that Barks was the reason the show existed in the first place. And, "on the first Duck Tales episode (playing a Peg-Leg Pete type), Will had executives change all scripted mentions of "the Junior Woodchuck Manual" to "the Junior Woodchuck Guide Book"". Truly a Barks fan.
Roger Rabbit's appearance I kinda like because another TV special, Mickey's 60th Birthday, inexplicably showed Roger as an acquaintance of Mickey. If one admits the existence of a flesh-and-blood, not-a-toon Roger Rabbit in Calisota, it's not absurd to think Mickey and he might know each other.
But Roger's whole reason for being is that he's a toon. I don't think he's ever been played differently, not in the comics, the follow-up shorts or any ancillary material. One can't really have Mickey and Roger cohabiting without accepting that Mickey is as much a toon as Roger is. Also, Roger clearly lives in Toontown, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, and not in Calisota. This is why Roger doesn't mix well with the comics versions of the Duck and Mouse characters, it's almost akin to an MEAS incompatibility.
Roger Rabbit's appearance I kinda like because another TV special, Mickey's 60th Birthday, inexplicably showed Roger as an acquaintance of Mickey. If one admits the existence of a flesh-and-blood, not-a-toon Roger Rabbit in Calisota, it's not absurd to think Mickey and he might know each other.
But Roger's whole reason for being is that he's a toon. I don't think he's ever been played differently, not in the comics, the follow-up shorts or any ancillary material. One can't really have Mickey and Roger cohabiting without accepting that Mickey is as much a toon as Roger is. Also, Roger clearly lives in Toontown, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, and not in Calisota. This is why Roger doesn't mix well with the comics versions of the Duck and Mouse characters, it's almost akin to an MEAS incompatibility.
Well, as I said, this is just theorizing. But 60th Birthday doesn't unambiguously peg him down as a toon; again, it was probably not the intention, but it's not absurd to see it in that way.
Also of interest is a French Donald and Fethry "comic" (it's complicated) which referred to Roger Rabbit-style toons as existing within the wider Duckverse; Donald and Fethry are flesh-and-blood ducks and are seen interacting with ink-and-paint toons, and even going paranoid at the idea that Daisy and a slew of others may be Judge Doom-style toons-in-disguise.
Finally, I may point out that, for all that this strains the fourth wall, if one accepts the "Donald and Co. are humans seen through a filter of sorts, not literal anthropomorphic animals" theory to the letter, it doesn't actually break any continuity to have a Toontown separate from the "humans", with toons who are genuinely animal-like, existing by the side of that world's California (and there is a California in the Duckverse, no matter how you cut it, separate from Calisota; consider Barks's Old California if nothing else).
Wait, you completely misunderstood my post! My bad, I admit it could be understood as you have, now that I re-read it. I was not saying that Barks was against US entering WWII. I was just guessing that as a writer he could not like the constraints on story developments given by the imposed military setting of the cartoons. Less freedom to create stories, one more reason to quit (beside the well know one concerning the air conditioning). But I repeat, just a guess.
I really doubt that Carl decided to quit The Walt Disney Studio, just because his work would have been less fun and less rewarding because of less creativity due to more narrow story scopes of war propaganda films. He was terribly uncomfortable, and couldn't breathe properly. That's good enough reason for anyone to quit, and change domestic locations.
He was terribly uncomfortable, and couldn't breathe properly.
I did not know the extend of his physical discomfort with the Studios Environment. If he told you that he even had breath problems, well then all other speculations on 'intellectual' reason for him to leave are not much relevant.