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2021 Update & Clarifications - All Disney Halloween TV Specials & More

posted 3 years ago by halloweenguy (9)
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There seems to be a lot of misinformation and confusion throughout these outdated threads so I wanted to clarify some things.

There were two versions to "A Disney Halloween". In many ways they were simply two different programs with some content similar using the same name. There were also three versions of "Disney's Halloween Treat," the other two versions used a different name and had similar but different content. And there were also two versions of Disney's Halloween Hall O' Fame. And there have been two different versions of Disney's Greatest Villains. I explain why below.

I have made it my duty the past year to correct and update both the IMDB and Wikipedia listings for these programs as well as providing hard evidence to support the facts and correct the misinformation, so that we can finally find the definitive and lost 1981 Disney Halloween version. So for all the specifics, i.e. broadcast date and channel, newspaper and program listings, please see those sources.

To clarify and simply:

In 1977 Disney's Greatest Villains premiered in an hour block and was hosted by Hans Conried as The Magic Mirror.. That same year, Disney's Halloween Hall O' Fame also premiered. Now, the reason there are two versions to Hall O' Fame is because one was syndicated and truncated for time due to its later airings and the other, the full version which included Lonesome Ghosts and a longer speech by the security guard at the end, was made for the original network broadcast.

In 1981, the first version of "A Disney Halloween" debuted. It featured 5 animated segments - one from Snow White, one from Sleeping Beauty, one from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and both shorts - Trick or Treat and Lonesome Ghosts. It was hosted by Hans Conried as The Magic Mirror. There is no evidence in existence to suggest Hans redubbed his voice, however a newspaper review suggested he introduced Trick or Treat and the only known footage at that time came from his black and white introduction of this short from "All About Magic" (1957).

In 1982, right before Hans Conried passed away, "Disney's Halloween Treat" debuted. It has one version by its same name. But that same year this program was given an alternate title: Disney's Scary Tales of Halloween. Unfortunately I can only find a copy of the syndicated version but the network version contained the Headless Horseman segment like Treat did. What is unknown is whether the network version was exactly the same as Treat with a different title card because the syndicated version was only slightly modified with the Headless Horseman segment removed, for time. Interesting to note: Often but not always, the syndicated versions of Hall O'Fame and Scary Tales of Halloween ran simultaneously because this version of Scary Tales had the Lonesome Ghosts cartoon while this version of Hall O' Fame retained the Headless Horseman segment. All of these specials in 1982 were narrated by a talking pumpkin puppet (voiced by Hal Douglas) (who returned for the 1983 educational Halloween safety short, Disney's Haunted Halloween). Interestingly, the narrator repeated an actual factual error Walt Disney himself made during one of his animated programs featuring Night on Bald Mountain and claimed this happened on Halloween night (that was false, Night on Bald Mountain had nothing to do with Halloween and if you google the song and meaning you'll find out why).

Confused yet? Get ready because here is where things really get confusing!

In 1983, the year The Disney Channel premiered, The Disney Channel reused the name "A Disney Halloween" and mixed the majority of "Disney's Halloween Treat" with "Disney's Greatest Villains," notably missing was the Headless Horseman segment likely due to it being too scary for kids. This version of A Disney Halloween, this time running for 90 minutes, was exclusive to The Disney Channel. It was also narrated by both Hal Douglas and Hans Conried at different times throughout the program (Hal - beginning and end; Hans the middle), however, the talking pumpkin footage had been removed and Hal's voice-over appeared over the segments. Only Hans' footage and voice from 1977's Greatest Villains had been retained.

1983 was a very busy year for Disney Halloween content. Not only did we see the education short previously mentioned and reusing the talking pumpkin, what fans speculate originated from Hall O'Fame, but now we see a home release on VHS and Laserdisc of a title called Disney's Scary Tales. This release was NOT a release of the TV program by the same name but a compilation of Halloween and spooky shorts. To add to the confusion, the Japanese laserdisc offered a lot more shorts.

But 1983 isn't done yet. Hear me out - all of these Halloween specials and programs were made for one purpose - to promote the latest project by the company. In 1977 they introduced Madam Mim as The Rescuers were due out. In 1982 we saw the first-ever home release of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. But in 1983,

[–] halloweenguy (9) 3 years ago

although some sources say it wasn't released until 1984, Walt Disney in the United Kingdom released to VHS and Betamax an updated version of 1977's Greatest Villains, this time updating the program with sequences from live-action movies and recreating most of the program, also replacing the narrator with Shere Khan and Kaa from The Jungle Book. Also important to note, several of the live-action segments were promoting the then-recent films like The Black Hole, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dragonslayer.

1986 saw the release of the syndicated version of Disney's Scary Tales, so far from what I have found.

1987 saw a whole different style of Halloween special. Disney had their own music videos, in a sense competing with MTV, but featuring hit songs from the ages over their animation. So naturally a Halloween special was born. This time, in DTV's Monster Hits, Jeffrey Jones who played the principal from Ferris Bueller's Day Off served as the Slave in the Magic Mirror. The special rehashed a lot of footage from the Trick or Treat short and Disney rehired June Foray to redub new lines over her footage for her host segments. Very important to note, June Foray had returned as Witch Hazel in a short segment in the 1960 program, "Mad Hermit of Chimney Butte," which featured footage of her living in a spooky town - snippets from that footage from that show made up the introduction to the Dreamtime musical number. Unfortunately due to Jeffrey Jones' negative connotation as well as the negative stigma attached to Micheal Jackson's name in recent years, it is not expected this special will ever see the light of day by Disney.

The 1990s did not bring any less confusing times. Although many of these programs would air throughout syndicated, network, and cable television like The Disney Channel, no new Halloween specials would be made during this decade. What were made were two more Halloween compilations... and shoddy at that... and a generic "Halloween Treat" intro by

[–] halloweenguy (9) 3 years ago

Micheal Eisner. While I cannot specifically pinpoint when his introduction was made, I have an educated guess it debuted in 1990 especially given the fact he does not specify it as a "Disney Sunday Movie" and his office was rearranged. For the longest time it was confusing because it is often found before "A Disney Halloween" (1983) in later reairings on The Disney Channel yet he used "A Disney Halloween Treat," (not at all the official title for that program) but after recent evidence found this same intro was used to introduce The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, we now learn we he said, "A Disney Halloween Treat," he meant it as a lower cased descriptive noun and not a title, "a Disney halloween treat," which allows the intro to be reused before any Disney Halloween program. Anyway, back to the new compilations. These had spooky segments from other cartoons and new voice dubbing interspersed between the shorts to tell a new story. They were Donald's Scary Tales and Halloween Haunts. Thankfully the laserdisc included both of them. On the bright side, any customers who bought these at the least had awesome artwork. Unfortunately, for Halloween Haunts, both black and white shorts from 1929 (Skeleton Dance/ The Haunted House) were dropped entirely and replaced with Lonesome Ghosts and Trick or Treat.

[–] halloweenguy (9) 3 years ago

Thankfully the 1990s with its reairings and digitalization meant these reruns were now digitalized and remastered.

But the early 2000s would see the final Halloween specials using traditional animation because in 2002 Disney Channel purged all of its vintage content and went through a major teenie-bop makeover. Still in 2002, we were lucky to get Mickey's House of Villains, which featured Lonesome Ghosts, Trick or Treat, and Donald and the Gorilla along with newer Halloween content. It is sold throughout the world and fans on Disney+ are desperately hoping it makes it way there soon.

But UK customers had another shot at it in 2006. This time, however, not a mirror or Mickey Mouse would host. Instead, our hosts were the Wicked Witch from Snow White and The Black Cauldron from The Black Cauldron. Now before you get your panties all in a twist, these host segments were in crappy CG and for the Wicked Witch we were only exposed to her shadow. But this program is notable because it used traditional cartoon segments with newer animated films and made them work fine. Not to mention it is the ONLY Disney special to recognize the first Disney canon villain - Pete.

We have our hats off to the original Halloween special that started it all - and it even wasn't a Halloween special but served as the outline for all Halloween specials to come. In 1956, Hans Conried would take over as the host of the Disney anthology show and host a special about villains, called Our Unsung Villains. Only four villains were featured - The Big Bad Wolf, Captain Hook (who is also voiced by Hans Conried), the Evil Queen from Snow White, and Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox.

Also note DTV's Monster Hits was created to promote The Great Mouse Detective but at the same time is one of the few Disney specials to even acknowledge The Black Cauldron by featuring snippets from that film.

Now for my special treat to those of you who read this... Browse for my user name at Archive.org for hidden surprises!