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Bio/ Background (intro)Directors: Ron Clements and John Musker Intro (below)Topic 1 IntroductionTo my surprise, a number of people have never seen or heard of the movie “Treasure Planet.” In this classic retelling of “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson, the narrative was turned into an intergalactic adventure complete with cyborgs, space travel, and, of course, treasure. Disney’s “Treasure Planet” was one of two experimental movies in the year 2002. “Treasure Planet,” however, is notorious for its box office failure. The other experimental film, from a different in-house studio was “Lilo and Stitch,” which got way more attention and was well received by audiences. Now, this podcast is not a compare and contrast of the two experimental films of 2002, but I can’t help but take into consideration the alleged reasons why “Lilo and Stitch” swam but “Treasure Planet” sank. Both movies included obvious CGI, a wide variety of alien species, action-packed space travel, and family problems. I say this because a noticeable amount of articles claim the reason “Treasure Planet” bombed at the box office was because of the “high tech” CGI scenes. Amazingly after being scorned six feet into the grave of Disney’s backyard, 20 years later it gets dug up like a prized fossil.Treasure Planet is based on the legendary novel “Treasure Island,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson. Instead of taking place in the Caribbean, it is set in outer space. The story begins with Jim Hawkins receiving a treasure map from a wounded alien by the name of Billy Bones in his mother’s inn. Rebellious Hawkins and passionate Dr. Delbert Doppler join a crew to find this elusive treasure hidden by the notorious pirate, Captain Nathaniel Flint. The crew of this ship seems to be of questionable authenticity as Hawkins meets the cook, Mr. Silver. Silver’s cyborg body with a robot arm reminds Hawkins of Billy Bones' warning about a cyborg. Eventually, the crew reveal themselves as pirates and launch a mutiny with Silver as their leader. The film carries multiple layers of character arcs journeys as the characters set out for Treasure Planet. This retelling of “Treasure Island” was, of course, given a sprinkle of “Disney magic” complete with striking animation, and memorable characters with flamboyant personalities. Topic 2 Who Made the Film?The striking film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. These guys directed “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” and “Hercules.” According to the reflections on the Walt Disney Family Museum Website, Ron Clements was born and raised in Indiana. He was inspired to learn animation at the age of 9 after seeing “Pinocchio.” He worked his way from the scraping bottom of Disney to the director’s chair. John Musker was also an animator, storyboard artist, writer, director, and producer for 40 years for Disney Animation Studios. He studied under icons like Elmer Plummer and Bill Moore at CalArts in the 1970s. “He also studied alongside classmates who would become distinguished directors such as Brad Bird, Chris Buck, Tim Burton, John Lasseter, and Henry Selick.” His partnered credits with Clements are as follows, “The Great Mouse Detective” (1986), “The Little Mermaid” (1989), “Aladdin” (1992), “Hercules” (1997), “Treasure Planet” (2002), “The Princess and the Frog” (2009), and lastly, “Moana” (2016).Gladstein writes in “The Bizarre Story of How Treasure Planet Got Made” that the two directors pitched “Treasure Planet” the same time as “The Little Mermaid” in Disney’s Renaissance Era (1989-1999). The studio was extremely reluctant to green light “Treasure Planet” until the dynamic duo, Clements and Musker, shoveled out genius big time money makers like “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.” Gladstein notes that the studio was so impressed with the consistency of success from these dudes that they finally said yes to “Treasure Planet.” As an observer, I’m reading that basically “The Little Mermaid” and other MAJORLY lucrative films were just incredible proofs of concept to convince the big guys of letting “Treasure Planet” fly.According to Jocelyn Buhlman on The Official Disney Fan Club Website, this was Clements and Musker's first sci-fi film, despite their love for science fiction. Buhlman quotes Clements explaining, “John and I are both sci-fi fans. The idea of making our pirate and taking his eye patch and turning it into a cyborg eye and taking his peg leg and making it mechanical—not only was it a science fiction thing, but it was an animation thing.” Buhlman also mentions how the two directors utilized the 3D technology used in “Tarzan” to create a camera effect on the action scenes and moving parts, “Beyond the wonders of Deep Canvas, Clements and Musker achieved the dynamic directorial style they desired by creating a whole new ...