What is your favorite scene in Fantasia?
I would have to say that mine is Night on Bald Mountain. A close second is the Fall/Winter Fairy scene in the Nutcracker Suite.
I did a scene breakdown/comparison of the two Fantasias here, that kinda got buried. For your perusal…
Definitely Night on Bald Mountain. Coincidentally, I’ve been listening to that soundtrack this week on my headphones at work. 
Night on Bald Mountain freaked me out deliciously when I was a little kid.
I always liked Beethoven’s Pastoral. I know it’s kinda cutesy and quite dated but I loved the centaur girls and guys and the adorable little Pegases, and merry Bacchus yucking it up with wine, women and song. The storm was cool too.
Agreed, completely.
[hijack]You folks ever seen Allegro non Troppo?[/hijack]
Original: The dancing goldfish, especially the black ones.
2000: The flamingo with the yo-yo. That one just cracks me up.
I think the remake is, overall, better than the original. The three best sequences (Rhapsody in Blue, Carnival of the Animals (the flamingo), and The Pines of Rome (the whales) are in it, as is The Sorceror’s Apprentice, the best piece in the original.
Original: Sorcerer’s Apprentice (sorry to be so conventional)
2000: Rhapsody in Blue (though Firebird was close)
tpayne, I have much love for Allegro non Troppo, especially the homage to the original Fantasia’s Right of Spring performance.
From the original The Dance of the Hours is my fav. (Hippos and aligators)
From the new one The Firebird sequence is the absoulte best. (for me anyway)
I have mixed feelings about Donald Duck’s Pomp and Circumstance/Noah’s ark bit.
I love the music but the film is a bit weak and we hardly get any good Donald Duck stuff.
Night on Bald Mountain is definitely my favourite, too. I have a certain amount of appreciation for the Norman McLaren-like abstract animation for the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor but it’s such an appalling arrangement that it’s a little hard to take.
Allegro non Troppo is fantastic. I think my favourite part is Ravel’s Bolero. Had the pleasure of seeing it in the theatre with my Uncle Sidney. Fantastic.
The Shostakovich in 2000 was absolutely inspired, and as usual, an ear-opener for Dmitri’s brilliant music.
The marriage of animation and music would fool anyone into assuming that the cartoon came first, and then the composer scored the music specifically for it.
The aerial shot in The Rite of Spring showing an entire landscape of erupting volcanos. Every time I see it, I think of how it was only twelve years from Steamboat Willie to this.
Wow, that takes me back. I too had the pleasure of seeing it in the theater, with my then-boyfriend Al. Favorite has got to be the coke-bottle Bolero.
Hippos in tutus, baby! The Dance of the Hours is my favorite.
Ave Maria. It’s the one thing the Catholics have on us Protestants that makes me wistful. . .
Yeah, the scene with the poor abandoned kitty makes me cry. Can’t remember what piece of music it’s set to tho’…
As far as Fantasia goes, my favorite part was the dancing mushrooms and other flora. I was contemplating getting a dancing mushroom tattoo for a while…
Gotta be the dancing hippos. Of course, Mickey as the sorcerer’s apprentice is another of my favorites.
I always loved the Rite of Spring sequence. I guess I’ll pick that as number 1, although I do love the entire movie.
Around 1978, when I was about 10, Fantasia was re-released in theaters, and in Los Angeles, it showed at the Cinerama Dome, which was one of the few great movie palaces still around in the 70s. I sat in the front row. I loved it so much, I stayed to see it again. It was even great the second time through.
Beethoven’s Pathetique sonata.
Those big eyes!
Are you talking about the bit with the fish? That’s my favorite. Pretty trippy.