# Apparently, Disney Studios has been recycling for decades **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165 "2015-05-16T08:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/21 "2015-05-18T22:49:29Z")
This has been acknowledged for decades, predating the Internet. I remember seeing animation historian Charles Solomon showing the Jungle Book/Robin Hood bit back in the 80s. I was thrilled when I discovered my own - The fight over Mowgli in _Jungle Book_ reuses big chunks of the fight for the deed in the “Wind in the Willows” portion of _Ichabod and Mr. Toad_. It was just a cost-savings measure. I still love the breathless hyperbolic clickbait headline of the HuffPo article. What’s next? “You won’t believe who played the solo on _While My Guitar Gently Weeps_, It’s NOT a Beatle!! Mind Blown!11!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/22 "2015-05-18T23:34:18Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > This has been acknowledged for decades, predating the Internet. I remember seeing animation historian Charles Solomon showing the Jungle Book/Robin Hood bit back in the 80s. I was thrilled when I discovered my own - The fight over Mowgli in _Jungle Book_ reuses big chunks of the fight for the deed in the “Wind in the Willows” portion of _Ichabod and Mr. Toad_. It was just a cost-savings measure. > > I still love the breathless hyperbolic clickbait headline of the HuffPo article. What’s next? “You won’t believe who played the solo on _While My Guitar Gently Weeps_, It’s NOT a Beatle!! Mind Blown!11!!!” 1. I am not an animation historian. 2. This is the first time I had heard of this, and I found it fascinating. 3. I don’t believe this topic has been discussed on this message board before. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/23 "2015-05-19T01:06:36Z")
Former Disney animator Don Bluth lifted the dragon slaying scene from [Sleeping Beauty](https://youtu.be/JmM-XX8atlQ?t=154) for the ending of his animated arcade game [Dragon’s Lair.](https://youtu.be/M1iJCCqD-EI?t=72) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/24 "2015-05-19T01:55:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I used to trust their word, despite my suspicions, by assuming they copied real life footage by eye, rather than drawing over the top of it. But I have to admit it’s clear that it’s actual full-on rotoscoping. When you get old you’ll go to a place that specializes in “rotoscoping”. You’ll wait an hour or two with the other unwashed masses until its your turn. Then another couple hours cold and half naked and half awake while they Area 51 you a dozen ways. Then they will pawn you off on some poor relative who has been watching FOX news the whole time. At which point you go home cold, tired, violated, and very hungry. Once at home, you wait for the bill, cross your fingers for the “no cancer” verbage, and count the days until the next go around. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/25 "2015-05-19T02:20:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Preston Blair, who animated all those sexy gals for MGM cartoons in the 1940s, is supposed to have claimed to never have used rotoscoping in animating those women that Tex Avery’s wolves leered over. For some reason, I’m willing to believe him. It’s obvious he didn’t because no live female looks or moves so exageratedly. More’s the pity. ☹ I’d link to my SDSAB report that discusses Disney’s early use of Xerox equipment, but it has dropped off the face of the Earth. bigger ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/26 "2015-05-19T15:19:01Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > You should watch Avalon, Mamoru Oshii’s live action film. Okay. Why? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/27 "2015-05-19T19:12:13Z")
I found it interesting and mildly disappointing. You watch a movie and you think you’re watching something made just for that show and it turns out to be recycled stuff. I’m sure at least some of these recycled scenes seemed a bit forced in the remake and not quite in character. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/28 "2015-05-19T21:09:46Z")
This mashup has been around for [at least five years](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWKo5veKjVU). Probably longer. Interesting that the Huffington Post is implying that it was just discovered and pointing to a recently uploaded video. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/29 "2015-05-20T01:08:42Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > When you get old you’ll go to a place that specializes in “rotoscoping”. > > You’ll wait an hour or two with the other unwashed masses until its your turn. Then another couple hours cold and half naked and half awake while they Area 51 you a dozen ways. Then they will pawn you off on some poor relative who has been watching FOX news the whole time. At which point you go home cold, tired, violated, and very hungry. Once at home, you wait for the bill, cross your fingers for the “no cancer” verbage, and count the days until the next go around. Um. Okay. Are you feeling all right there, Bill? ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/30 "2015-05-20T02:23:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I used to trust their word, despite my suspicions, by assuming they copied real life footage by eye, rather than drawing over the top of it. But I have to admit it’s clear that it’s actual full-on rotoscoping. I think they may have been making a distinction between rotoscoping from live-action footage, and rotoscoping from existing animated stock. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/31 "2015-05-20T04:07:21Z")
Just a hijack-but that link to Dragon’s Lair brings back so many memories. That was the first video game I ever “won” (and it took a lot of time in the arcade watching better players and memorizing the moves so I wouldn’t waste my quarters. I don’t think my brain would be up to it any more let alone the newer games that these young-uns play nowadays. But for a teenager used to Pong, centipede, and Pac-man that video was amazing. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/32 "2015-05-20T04:10:26Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Um. Okay. Are you feeling all right there, Bill? Oh, I’m fine (okay healthy, I’m still crazy). Just a bad joke there. They did find that cactus that was apparently making me extra cranky these past few years. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/33 "2015-05-20T12:08:38Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > Okay. > Why? Because **marshmallow** expressed an interest in how animation directors set up shots to save money. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/34 "2015-05-20T12:19:29Z")
I have not seen the film since its initial theatrical release, but I recall Disney’s Robin Hood repeating some animation sequences in itself. The crowd of guards in the (?) football/ faire (?) sequence charges through at least twice in \*exactly \*the same way. Memories may be rusty and I still don’t know why they used country-western comic actors for so many parts of a British story. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/35 "2015-05-20T14:25:49Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It’s even the same voice actor, Phil Harris. He was in _Aristocats_ too, although obviously not as a bear. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/36 "2015-05-20T22:41:57Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > They did find that cactus that was apparently making me extra cranky these past few years. Peyote? d&r ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/37 "2015-05-20T23:27:45Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It’s even the same voice actor, Phil Harris. Hell of a crab boat captain. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/38 "2015-05-21T00:59:00Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I have not seen the film since its initial theatrical release, but I recall Disney’s Robin Hood repeating some animation sequences in itself. The crowd of guards in the (?) football/ faire (?) sequence charges through at least twice in \*exactly \*the same way. Memories may be rusty and I still don’t know why they used country-western comic actors for so many parts of a British story. And, in the Jungle Book, both scenes with Kaa falling out of the tree are exactly the same. I noticed that even as a kid. And probably because westerns were popular and they wanted to use at least semi-popular actors. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/39 "2015-05-21T01:54:39Z")
I’ve known about this for years. I’m a trained animator and catch it all the time. _Robin Hood_ is a guilty pleasure of mine. I love it, but damn is it one of the laziest efforts in the Disney catalog. Not only does it reuse long sequences from previous movies and repeats itself, there are extended sequences of nothing but walk cycles. Just the other day I watched a short I’d never seen before called _Goliath II_ about a freakishly tiny elephant trying to keep up with his (regular-sized) herd, including an overprotective mother and a disappointed father. In less than 15 minutes, I spotted reused animation from _Peter Pan_, _Alice in Wonderland_, _The Sword in the Stone_\*, _Jungle Book_\* and _Dumbo_. Double checking myself shows a bit reused from Sleeping Beauty, a Goofy short, and also a rather clever use of a series of “takes” of a frightened Ichabod Crane transfered onto the little elephant. _Goliath II_ was also the first use of the Xerox Inking process, making me wonder if Disney spent any money on it at all. (\*: These two came later, so Goliath II reused and was reused itself.) I understand cost and time savings, and usually I don’t mind. _The Wind in the Willows_/_Jungle Book_ chase scene, though, is awesome. I’d like them to reuse it more often. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165/40 "2015-05-21T13:12:50Z")
I find this quite interesting - it makes a lot of sense to do it this way. It must save tons of hours of work, and chances of anyone in the movie-going public having their enjoyment lessened by it are remote. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-disney-studios-has-been-recycling-for-decades/720165.md?page=1)