Disney Drama, Part 1: VHS Tapes from the 1990s

Did you ever push pause on a childhood VHS tape trying to find hidden, scandalous Easter eggs? Do any of your Disney classic VHS covers give you a double take?

If you remember searching a fictional African sky for SEX, you might be a Xennial who watched Disney Renaissance VHS tapes in their heyday. 

Listen in as Dani delves into the biggest Disney drama from VHS tape releases in the 1990s. There might even be one you haven't heard of before. 

And be sure to tune in for part two where we'll explore the most shocking scandals from Disney parks during our childhoods. Don't forget to leave a review wherever you listen to help other nostalgia-seekers find our show!

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Transcript

Intro to Disney VHS Drama

Speaker 1 0:01

Did you ever scour a plastic Disney VHS case searching for golden genitalia?

Speaker 2 0:13

Do you remember turning the volume up as loud as you could to see if you could hear what Aladdin was really saying?

Speaker 1 0:19

If you remember hitting pause on your VCR to try and see a hidden word in the clouds. If you remember hitting pause on your VCR to try and see a hidden word in the clouds, you might be a Xenial and you might also remember some Disney VHS drama from the 80s and 90s.

Speaker 2 0:33

Hi, I'm Dani and I'm Katie and welcome to Generation In Between, a Xenial podcast where we revisit, remember and relearn all sorts of things from our 80s childhoods and 90s teenhoods. Okay, we changed that and you messed it up and you didn't read it All kinds of things from being 80s kids and 90s teens. I'm just kidding. I think I said teenhood, is that a word? Teenhood?

Speaker 1 0:55

I don't know we made it one. It is now. I said last week I made a change and we're going to do it, and then we didn't do it, but that's okay. That's okay. I was trying to just make it less wordy, because we would always say 90s teen, slash young adult. We would literally say the slash. We would say the slash, true. So anyway, we are a mess. We have been trying to hit record and it is live streaming somewhere that we don't know what's going on. We don't know what's happening. Help, we don't know what's happening. So, anyway, today, if you haven't figured out, we are going to be talking about some Disney VHS drama. Most of this actually happened in the nineties Only one was the late eighties and that's kind of it.

Speaker 1 1:40

Katie's, this is a two-parter, though, with Disney drama it is. So I took on the VHS drama and Katie did research on Disney park drama. Yeah, yes, so this is a two-parter, guys. So we're going to talk about VHS stuff and then we're going to talk about park stuff.

Speaker 2 1:59

Yep In part two.

Speaker 1 2:00

Okay, too. Okay. So, katie, before we start and digging into some of the more more famously or infamously known uh drama things that happen with disney vhs tapes. Do you remember any off the top of your head?

Speaker 2 2:18

I remember the ones well because you and I had a conversation about this when we were thrifting yeah, yeah, yeah so a few of them came to the forefront. So, I remember the phallic symbol on the front of some little mermaid cases. Yeah, potentially. I never saw one until we were thrifting. Yeah.

Speaker 1 2:34

We have one.

Speaker 2 2:35

As a kid looking for one and could never find it. My OG VHS tape had it.

Speaker 1 2:41

Wow Okay.

Speaker 2 2:42

Yes, and then I remember and we'll get to this Aladdin on Jasmine's balcony mumbling something that we'll get to.

The Little Mermaid Cover Controversy

Speaker 1 2:52

And yeah, I think it was Lion King, where there was like a word in the sky that was maybe inappropriate Wow, okay Well those are the big three that I've got, okay, and then there was another extra one that I came across that I did not know about. Okay, so basically what we're going to do, I did some myth busting, oh, okay. Yeah, I wanted to see if it was for real or not. So I actually have answers to all of them. If they, if they were real, hidden sexual innuendos yes, and for all of you who may not know what the hell we're talking about, I'm going to explain all the things when we get there. Okay, yeah, so I will tell you if it was actual, real or not, and then what Disney did about it all.

Speaker 2 3:38

Okay, so Do I need my script anymore?

Speaker 1 3:40

No, okay Cool, you can just sit back, relax and get ready to go on a trip down the Disney lane.

Speaker 1 3:47

All right, so you brought up the first one. Yeah, we did find an OG case it wasn't in the best condition of the Little Mermaid Mm-mm. And we have it. We'll put pictures in socials. So Little Mermaid came out on VHS in 1989. And for all of you young folks out there, when a movie was released on home video, it was a big deal, because then you could watch it as many times as you wanted. For y'all who've grown up with streaming, you have no idea what that's like and you would have to wait.

Speaker 2 4:17

Oh, you had to wait, it took a while. You go see Wicked and then, I don't know, two or three weeks later you can stream it. It, and then, I don't know, two or three weeks later you can stream it. It would be like a year, a year and a half and, specifically with Disney, remember they would put stuff back in the vault. Yes, this was pre-Disney Plus, where you can get like everything, so they might have something available for a year. Yeah, snow White, for example, and then they didn't sell it, and then they put it back in the vault, yeah.

Speaker 1 4:45

So it was like a big deal to get your hands on these movies when they were out and the disney vhs tapes were very exciting because they were the first ones to put them in those fun cases. So like the artwork was cool, it was like those big plastic cases, not all v like. I remember most of our vhs like tapes were in like paper ones. Do you remember that?

Speaker 2 5:05

I don't remember the paper ones. Yeah, that's what I mean. Oh, oh, yeah, sorry, I meant that Just like a thin cardboard that was the same size as the video. Essentially, you just slid it in and out, yeah.

Speaker 1 5:16

So, anyway, there's actually a few sexual rumor innuendos with Little Mermaid, okay. Okay, the first one is what we talked about phallic imagery on the case in the artwork. So the original artwork on the VHS cover supposedly had a hidden golden penis Not so hidden but, yes, in the center of King Triton's castle. Yes, okay, we did find one at a thrift store. I do have it. The vhs tape on the inside is ruined, but I'm gonna keep that case because it's hilarious. Um so okay, I actually found an entire article written by the artist who did the cover art. His name is bill morrison and, no, it was not intentional art or place there. But, guys, seriously, if you look at it, I meant to bring it today and I forgot. It is definitely a penis.

Speaker 2 6:15

There is no way. There's just one. It's like, if I remember it's like, and it's right in the middle, it's like columns sort of on the front of his castle, and none of the other columns look like that one. There's one that really stands out, yeah.

Speaker 1 6:31

I mean like, listen, there's a lot of penises in my house, because I am in a house with three. Listen, because I have a husband and two sons, I am very familiar with what pen fetuses look like. Is my point? And well, just saying, how many diapers did you change your first baby's year? Oh my God, 80 bajillion. And then add into the fact that your husband's deployed half that time.

Speaker 2 6:57

I changed so many Okay.

Speaker 1 6:59

I know what they look like is my point, so I wish there was a more fun reason that I know why.

Speaker 2 7:05

I was going to say, yeah, you could be, there'd be. So could be so many other reasons that you would know.

Speaker 1 7:10

I know, but there's not. Anyway, it definitely looks like one, but here's his story, okay.

Speaker 2 7:17

Bill.

Speaker 1 7:18

Bill Morrison.

Speaker 2 7:18

Bill.

Speaker 1 7:19

Morrison, okay, the, the, the cover artist and it it goes. He went into like very big details of how he got the job et cetera. I'm going to try and summarize it for you. So the rumor back in the day was that it was a disgruntled Disney employee who like, did it, like I'm going to put a penis in the castle. He was not a disgruntled Disney employee, he actually was an illustrator, slash artist for a company, a company named Willardson associates. So they created, like photo realistic work for companies like commercial companies, like Nestle was another one they did stuff for. So Disney kind of contracted them out. Okay, so they were or commissioned, I guess is what it's called when it's art. So they were commissioned, I guess is what it's called when it's art. So they were commissioned. That company was commissioned by Disney to make the movie poster for the re-release of Cinderella, which happened before Little Mermaid came out. Remember they were. We talked about that in our Disney episode. They were re-releasing classics in the theater.

Speaker 1 8:18

Okay so, movie posters are like a big deal especially in the eighties, like they were a big deal, and so they commissioned them to make the poster, and they loved it so much. They hired they hired the company to do them for more movies. Okay, so that's kind of how he got in the mix of things. They did the movie posters for Oliver and company, they did it for the rescuers down under and they did it for a little mermaid Okay so, but with little mermaid, it for a little mermaid.

Speaker 1 8:44

Okay so, but with little mermaid it was a little different, because bill was also asked to make vhs cover art, which was different from the movie poster. Okay, okay, because if you look up the little mermaid movie poster, it's different than the vhs case. I don't know why I don't, but whatever. Um, so the cover, though is was based on the movie theater that another artist at another company did. I don't know why they, like, didn't just use the original artist that made the movie poster. I don't know, probably, cause I have a feeling it's probably about money. They could probably just hire somebody else to do it for cheap, I don't know so.

The Priest's "Knee" in Little Mermaid

Speaker 1 9:24

So Bill Morrison is at this company and they're like here, copy this poster. Well, not copy it, but emulate it as best you can for a VHS case, okay. So the big part of the story is, supposedly that makes the difference in. He said he was rushed when he was making the art, okay. So he said he had to pull an all-nighter and to like transfer this art because it's everything was hand-drawn back then. Right, yeah, so he was trying to hurry up and all he did was just kind of copy the castle from the og poster. So the question mark is did he copy the penis castle from the poster? Oh, right, because he just basically he wasn't like tracing it, but he was kind of copying it image for image if that makes sense.

Speaker 1 10:18

So he said I have a whole quote of his explaining. Ok, Because you'd think you'd notice, even if it's 2 am and you get to the penile point of a golden castle.

Speaker 2 10:27

Well, especially if you're hand drawing. That's what I mean. It's different nowadays if you're like literally in Canva, just dragging and dropping stuff over, or that's probably not what Disney uses, but you know what I mean. Yeah, but like back then you would have had to draw the penis, right.

Speaker 1 10:46

Well, the penis right? Well, yeah, I guess. So here's what he said. He said nobody noticed that one tower in the coral castle closely resembled male genitalia. That's what he said. Nobody noticed. He didn't notice. All the people his stuff goes through Didn't notice. He said nobody noticed that, okay, okay, he said not until a man in Arizona brought a copy of the tape home from the video department of Albertson Supermarket. This is great.

Speaker 1 11:08

The wife noticed the phallic image. No, he noticed the phallic image and he pointed it out to his wife. Okay, I have no idea what this man's name is. She was not amused and stormed off to the store to demand they take the video off the shelves. How dare you have a golden penis? Apparently, the store manager refused, but they did compromise and Bill says I know this because Dave Calvin and I those were his co-workers watched an ABC News report in the studio on the evening that the story of moral depravity broke, in which a pan shot showed a shelf full of videotapes clad in brown paper lunch bags with little mermaids scrawled on each one in magic marker.

Speaker 2 11:57

So they censored the covers. That was Albert, but they still wanted to be able to run. Yeah, that was Albertson's quick fix. The brown paper bags with magic marker. I would have loved to see that.

Speaker 1 12:10

No, just how.

Speaker 2 12:10

Disney would have envisioned the aesthetic to be I know, oh my gosh. So that is that he said. That's how he found out.

Speaker 1 12:17

Yeah, that's how he found out, oh my God. Now Disney did recall the cover pretty quickly and they corrected the imagery and they replaced it, even though it wasn't intentional, supposedly.

Speaker 2 12:34

Yeah, I don't know, I know. I have a really hard time believing any of that I know.

Speaker 1 12:41

I don't know, but according to everybody there, they said no, it was unintentional. Now I don't know. We've all been up late working on projects of whatever, so sometimes things do slip through that you don't notice, yeah, but yeah, I think, yes, that.

Speaker 2 13:01

But that's when, like my colleagues or coworkers, have stepped in and been like is this the word you meant? Are you missing a paragraph here? Are you like? Because most work goes through?

Speaker 1 13:14

especially corporate work.

Speaker 2 13:15

It's different if you've got your own blog or podcast, yeah, and mistakes and mistakes slip through, but in like a corporate structure and you're a third party that then goes to disney who then approves the art. Right, I think it's very odd. I know that it got by that many people I know weird anyway.

Speaker 1 13:33

So documented answer is no, it was not intentional. Okay, and if you any cases you get after a certain year, do not have the golden penile tower, but that's a really fancy way to say that golden penile tower if. But if you look in you know thrift stores, you can probably find one.

Speaker 2 13:59

I mean, we found it like that's what we went looking for. I know there was what there's seven or eight maybe um disney, yeah, renaissance Renaissance VHS tapes in there, yeah. And immediately we're like, oh my God, is Little Mermaid in there.

Speaker 1 14:10

My point is they're not hard to find. The OG cases are not hard to find. Well, they would.

Speaker 2 14:13

I'm sure they. If they were for rental, oh well, but that was the other thing. Couldn't you rent before? Was had the people I'm guessing. They printed a bunch even if they weren't for sale yet. Maybe that's what it was. It was too late, like they were already like out in the world to be sold.

Speaker 1 14:33

I didn't, I mean I didn't dig into the depths of all this because I was like it doesn't matter, okay.

Lion King's SFX Cloud Message

Speaker 1 14:39

So there was another. Do you know the other hidden sexual thing in little mermaid? No, okay, and I remember this one because I remember when I heard the rumor and me and my teenage I didn't hear it until I was like a teenager and going through and finding it and laughing our faces off. So there, okay, in the scene where Prince Eric is hypnotized and he's marrying Ursula in her human form you know what I'm talking about. Yes, okay, there's a brief moment. There's a short priest who's standing on a box to marry them. Yes, okay, there's a brief moment during the ceremony, right when he says dearly beloved and you can see a little something pop up in his robes. What, yeah, okay, the moment if you're watching it, you can, can see it, but it's like a split second, okay, but only when it's like in slow motion, that you're like, oh, my god, the priest has a big old erection, seriously, okay, now I've seen it and I know it's there. So it's there, but I'm gonna give you disney's explanation for this, okay, and it does kind of make sense.

Speaker 2 15:50

I'm sure I'm just guessing. Yes, and you can correct me. It just has something to do with animation technology and something not transferring over right.

Speaker 1 15:59

Well, disney said that the supposed erection is actually the officiant's knee. But why? Well, it makes more sense because he's like bouncing up and down, he's like he moves around a lot. And so when he says like dearly beloved, he like is bouncing, not bouncing, but he's like moving around, okay, which it does kind of make sense. Okay, once I knew that, I was like oh yeah, that could be his knee.

Speaker 2 16:28

Okay, so it wasn't an animation mistake. No, it was deliberate, but it was his knee supposed to be his knee, because he was short.

Speaker 1 16:33

remember, I said he's standing on a on a thing, um, but the scene was so controversial that a lawsuit was filed against disney and we'll talk more about it when we get to the lion king stuff, because it's related, um, but the lawsuit was was dropped and the controversial scene actually was edited, so the officiant's supposed knee has been smoothed over but you've seen it, so it's not edited everywhere well, you can still find clips of it online, I see yeah, okay, but like if you go on disney plus the official one there is gonna be.

Speaker 2 17:06

Yeah, smoothed over, got it, so look on youtube instead. Yeah, you can find it and you can.

Speaker 1 17:11

You can like, google it, like and see the snapshot, like, if you pause the vhs, yeah, and you're like oh so you didn't know that one, I did not know that one.

Speaker 2 17:20

Well, now you're gonna go look it up. I do have to.

Speaker 1 17:23

So disney said no, that's not. I mean it does make sense, but again, why did nobody notice that? Yeah, like, hey, that might look like an erection.

Speaker 2 17:33

You think, on a big screen, especially Because even the Disney executives in theory they would go to the premieres and stuff.

Speaker 1 17:41

But I mean, but also if you're not looking for it. Yeah, it happens so fast, I agree.

Speaker 2 17:46

Who just? Who figured it out? Does their story like the albertson story for the cover? Someone pointed it out at some point.

Speaker 1 17:52

Yeah, I couldn't, it probably just took it's, you know, like urban legends, do they?

Speaker 2 17:56

just kind of spread and rumors, kind of who knows?

Speaker 1 17:59

sometimes, you know, like we know, the albertson's thing was the moment.

Speaker 2 18:02

Yeah, but other times not so much but maybe other people noticed it too. It just, it just didn't get any airwaves until a Karen got mad I say young people, the Karens back then would have been making phone calls and stuff. No emailing, no social media. I like to get people fired up. They would be having to call Disney, disney, call their representatives, call whoever to complain about the indecency, which is, I guess, probably what the lawsuit was about.

Speaker 1 18:34

Yeah, we'll get there okay, yeah, we'll get there because it's coming up, because lion king is next. Oh, okay, okay. So lion king came out on vhs in 95, which I was like, oh, that's later than I remember. Yeah, yeah, okay, but it was that's the year it was released on on video. Now I don't remember what year it came out in the theaters, but yeah, um, okay.

Speaker 1 18:56

So the drama associated with this vhs is about halfway, maybe three-fourths through the film. Simba, pumbaa and timon are lying on their backs looking up at the stars. That's when he's like I think it's after the Hakuna Matata fun time Simba stands up and he walks over to the edge of a cliff and he kind of flops to the ground and dust comes up. Yes, you remember this. So they kind of come up and then they kind of disappear into the clouds that are like rolling by. Well, the angles in the dust particles look like they spell out the word sex. It looks like it says s-e-x.

Speaker 1 19:42

I also remember this one going through, because I was a teenager in 95 and pausing, and I definitely could see that. So you could capture that pretty easily, like, if you pause it right or slow mode it, it was pretty evident, yeah. Now the real story about this is that it actually was intentional, but it wasn't spelling s e x. It was s f x. The special effects department threw that in as like their own little inside joke, easter egg. Ah, so it was. It was intentional, but if you look at it again you can clearly see it's an F, not an E.

Speaker 2 20:28

Okay, yeah, interesting. And yeah, because the dust particles are kind of moving too Right right, right so it's not just, it's not like bright neon lights. That's spelling a word. It's kind of vague anyway.

Speaker 1 20:40

Yeah, okay, in fact there was one of the film's animators is like on record. His name is Tom Sito said yeah, we actually did spell out a word. But guys, it's just SFX, because special effects rock. Yeah, cause we wanted our own little joke in there. But here we go with the lawsuit. Okay, oh God, all right. So a family member of a young child who the kid noticed the cloud lettering, um, they contacted a conservative christian organization called the american life league. Have you ever heard?

Speaker 2 21:19

of them? I have not heard of them.

Speaker 1 21:20

I thought maybe you were gonna say like common sense media, or I don't think they were around yet okay, um, and they actually had been publicly boycotting Disney films since the previous April, claiming that they had deliberate hidden messages. Okay, the Little Mermaid stuff, that's where that comes in. They made this cloud imagery. They use the cloud imagery in their marketing campaigns. Wow, it was like the highlight of their marketing campaigns that September against Disney, because they were telling all the parents to boycott Disney. Like, doesn't this sound familiar? Yeah, conservative Christian organizations raising nonsense. So this lady named Janet Gilmer actually filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney Company and Buena Vista Home Video. Remember that's who did.

Speaker 1 22:13

Yeah, I can see the logo in Washington County Circuit Court, claiming they had hidden sexual messaging inappropriate for young children in both the Lion King which is the scene, the Little Mermaid, the cover art and the erection scene. Okay, but I don't know what happened. She took him to court, but she actually dropped the case a couple months later. Yeah, I wonder if they just paid her off.

Speaker 2 22:41

I don't know.

Speaker 1 22:41

I couldn't find any documentation on what happened with that.

Speaker 2 22:44

Janet doesn't seem like the type to back down unless there's a good incentive for her. I just so. What are your?

Speaker 1 22:50

thoughts on that, on all of them.

Speaker 2 22:54

So my first thought when you were saying like, oh you know, for all these reasons they filed this lawsuit is that's a great way to get more people to watch the film, right, like, even even if you're like oh my gosh, it does seem inappropriate, you would still probably want to look for yourself. Yeah, so I don't think it would hurt disney now if it was very overt stuff, like more obvious, that they couldn't explain away.

Speaker 1 23:17

I could see it hurting disney and people being like, oh my gosh, you know, but obviously it didn't right well, and I think too it's funny because I wonder too, like Disney's on documented saying like no, that doesn't say sex, it says SFX. No, you know the Disney? Right, we were and we took that out anyway, like she didn't really have anything to go on. Yeah, I agree, because if they're like actually no, and here's the proof, correct, what do you going to do? And it's not cheap to take people to court. No, like it's expensive.

Speaker 2 23:53

Yeah, so maybe that's why she dropped it.

Speaker 1 23:54

Maybe she just Maybe she was like okay, tail between my legs, Let me turn around.

Speaker 2 23:59

Yeah, like I thought I had a case, but now that you're actually showing, well, so they say but they had receipts to back their tail up.

Speaker 1 24:08

So they did. Okay, anyway, so, anyways. So that one was. So, yes, that Disney drama actually did. It's halfway true, it does spell a word, but not the word. You think, okay, okay, fair, all right. So you mentioned the Aladdin one. Yes, okay, okay. So now we're. Now we're to aladdin. Aladdin came out in 93. So this aladdin came out before um lion king, so I'm sure they were part of their like so the order was for vhs.

Speaker 2 24:36

I think around this time was little mermaid beauty and the beast aladdin lion king. I don't know. We'd have to look back, to look back on our renaissance.

Speaker 1 24:44

I feel like yes we'd have to look back and see, okay, because, yeah, it doesn't matter came out in 89 vhs.

Speaker 2 24:51

You said so. That would make sense, because beauty and the beast was probably 91, 92 vhs.

Speaker 1 24:57

Yeah, and then okay anyway, yeah, anyway, I just.

Speaker 2 25:00

I brought up lion king first because it was related to the oh yeah, I just, you know my brain, I know it's just putting all of them all in, put it in order so I know that kind of messed with you, sorry it will take the next 10 minutes for me to recover, so please go on and talk, well, yes, this was.

Aladdin's Balcony Whisper Rumors

Speaker 1 25:16

This one was before lion king. I just brought up the other one because of the court cases. So the incident in the hidden sexual innuendo in Aladdin supposedly Aladdin when he is dressed up as Prince Ali, he goes up to Jasmine's balcony on the magic carpet and this is where they're talking about how he's not self-absorbed and blah, blah, blah. But when he steps on the balcony, jasmine's tiger, raja, growls at him or whatever, and is in his face, face, and as he growls, aladdin tries to shoo him away and then supposedly whispers good teenagers, take off your clothes.

Speaker 2 26:00

Which is just kind of a dumb sentence like of all the things, like to slip in there. Why would you say?

Speaker 1 26:06

that. Well, the fucking Aladdin told me I better go do it. I don't know, that's so stupid Anyway. So that's the urban legend rumor. I also remember this. This one's a little murky because you can't really like, once somebody tells you that and you listen to it, you're like, oh, it kind of does sound like that, but it also kind of doesn't. And you listen to it, you're like, oh, it kind of does sound like that, but it also kind of doesn't have you ever listened to this?

Speaker 2 26:32

I've listened back to that one. Yeah, okay, yeah, like you said, it's like okay, it could be right but is it?

Speaker 1 26:39

yeah. So the story for this one is is kind of interesting. I don't think it's really exactly cut and dry, but here we go. So one disney representative claimed the script called for Aladdin to say come on, good kitty, take off and go, okay, which makes sense, okay, but the closed captioning had him uttering good kitty, take off, however, okay. Neither one of these phrases really match what you hear, like it doesn't, yeah, it doesn't really go, um. Once you listen to it like super close, you can hear aladdin saying come on, good kitty. But just as he says the word kitty, there's like a second voice that's kind of whispering take off your. And you can't really understand what the next word is. So I actually found an old Snopes article. Yes, remember Snopes, I love Snopes. That actually had the sound bites where you could listen to several tracks that somebody had like pieced apart. Okay, it's really interesting. But hearing the final edited version that's in the movie like I think it definitely, you can definitely hear good kitty, okay, um, instead of good teenagers totally different words.

Speaker 1 27:55

Yeah, but then it's just kind of garbled nonsense. Okay, like if I tried to when I listened to it, be like don't hear anything that you think you're going to hear, and it's really hard, it's like it's really hard, it's like. It's like you can't really understand it, so go find the snopes article okay, look for the soundbite in our notes, um, but it did kind of sound like it could say either one of the or any of the options.

Speaker 2 28:22

Yeah it really did. Also, I think, whatever they said, the original line was supposed to be come on on, good kitty, take right off. That's a weird phrase, right? That's awkward. Yeah, even for the 90s, like would anyone. I mean, I know that was forever ago, now Antiquated, I know I don't know anyone that spoke like that I know, so I don't know.

Speaker 1 28:41

It's kind of weird. There was actually a whole article written on this rumor in 1995, a writer named Lisa Bannon wrote an article in the Associated Press. Okay, she actually talked to a few moms and this is so funny. One mother was quoted saying I felt as if I had entrusted my kids to pedophiles. It's like a toddler introduction to porn. But what I know I was like. First of all, what have you watched porn?

Speaker 2 29:19

Pretty sure. Second, like your toddler probably isn't hearing any of this, right, you can't understand what he's saying. Exactly Like you have to really be intentionally listening to hear what it says and plant the idea in your toddler's head for them to hear it Exactly. Otherwise they're not going to.

Speaker 1 29:36

Right, like a three-year-old's not going to be running around saying good teenagers, take off your clothes, because you can't understand it. Yeah, no, disney actually responded to the article and they said if somebody is seeing something, that's their perception. There's nothing there. They officially said. Aladdin's line is scat, good tiger, take off and go.

Speaker 2 29:57

Scat good tiger. Take off and go.

Speaker 1 30:01

So everybody out there, go listen to the soundbites. We're not putting them on here because we do not need Disney to come for us. No, no, we don't. But go look up the soundbites and tell us what you think. Okay, okay, cause I, I think this one I don't think it was intentional, because it's a stupid sentence Like why would they put in good teenagers, take off your clothes. It makes no sense. Why wouldn't they put else, something better in?

Speaker 2 30:25

Yeah, I don't know what.

Speaker 1 30:27

I was trying to think of something better, I don't know, yeah I mean I could think of a lot of dumb phrases I would sneak into yeah like why would you put that? Of all things, it's disney. They can be way more creative yeah exactly, exactly. So anyways, that one is debunked, okay, supposedly supposedly so so far we've hit, we've debunked all the ones.

Speaker 2 30:51

Yes, yeah, yep, but here's I'm still not convinced on the cover I get. I know I get that the official story is it wasn't on purpose. I'm not convinced on that. One right, right, but the other ones same I'm with you on that.

Speaker 1 31:02

I still, I still think there's a possibility that is definitely purposeful.

The Rescuers Topless Image Recall

Speaker 2 31:06

Penile drawing golden penile tower. Golden penile on purposeful golden penile. Purposeful golden penile tower.

Speaker 1 31:14

We need a shirt that says that I believe in the purposeful golden penile tower.

Speaker 1 31:24

I believe. All right, anyway, this is the one I came across. I did not ever know about, and it's interesting. You said something about the Disney Vault, because this one has to do with the Disney Vault. Okay, all right. So the original Rescuers, not the Rescuers Down Under. The original movie the Rescuers came out in 1977, the movie Okay Okay in 1977, the movie Okay Okay. It was re-released on VHS in 92, then went back into the vault in 93. Okay, okay, stay with me here. Yes, and then it was re-released again in 99. So remember how they did that. They were like, oh, coming out of the vault for a limited time only, and they meant it.

Speaker 2 32:09

They did Like that's like seven years that went by for that one, yeah, so anyway.

Speaker 1 32:15

So when it was re-released in 1999, this is what we're talking about, not the other times About 38 minutes into the film you have the little rodent heroes Bianca and Bernard, which is adorable, so cute. They're flying through the city in a little sardine box and as they're flying through the city and the skyline, passing through buildings, there is a real life photographic image of a topless woman that can be seen at the window of a building in the background, in two different frames Dang.

Speaker 2 32:53

Yeah, right in a row, or like once, and then you see it again.

Speaker 1 32:56

Well, first it's in the bottom left corner, then it's at the top center portion. Okay, but it's the same picture. Oh my God, this was actually true. This was actually somebody intentionally put that in there from the OG movie.

Speaker 2 33:13

So it is in the OG or it's not? Yeah, it is. Well, they fixed it, but till 99.

Speaker 1 33:18

Correct Because it happens, very quickly Got it. So when it was originally created back in the 70s, somebody was like oh, I'm going to put this topless lady and this was, you know, sell on animation. But it was a real picture, so they must have done like an overlay or whatever. Um, so Disney said the images were not placed in the film by any of their animators, but were instead put in during post-production process. I don't know what that means.

Speaker 1 33:46

I don't know any of the techniques with animation or whatever, but you know their animators do their thing, and then it goes through and pass it along, yeah so they said that's where it happened. Okay, supposedly. Um, the company decided to recall 3.4 million copies just three days after the re-release in 99 I.

Speaker 2 34:08

I'm not sending mine back.

Speaker 1 34:09

Right, If I have that one thank you. And they said they recalled them to keep our promise to families that we can trust and rely on the Disney brand to provide the finest in family entertainment.

Speaker 2 34:21

I wonder what Janet thought about this. I know, after she gave up, she was like see, I told you they're jerks.

Speaker 1 34:27

So it was kind of interesting what I read about this, because it said that their announcement of the recall was considered kind of a bit curious by some at the time. Um, because unlike previous rumors about um, hidden items and animated films, knowledge of the hidden images in this movie was not widespread until dis Disney made a public statement about it, like there weren't a lot of rumors going around. They were ahead of the game.

Speaker 2 34:55

But then you alert everyone to it by being ahead of the game.

Speaker 1 34:59

And and, like I said, it happens very fast the frames in question you do not notice in a normal viewing of the film because they're flying right, so it's fast, right? Um, so if you're in a movie theater, the film because they're flying right, so it's fast, right, so if you're in a movie theater, you would have missed it. But you have to know that they're there and then you have to freeze frame exactly at the right spot, right? So I mean, maybe they were just being proactive to manage it, right, but some people thought maybe they were trying to boost their sales of a slow selling video which was not selling well.

Speaker 2 35:36

I mean, yeah, this is the one I hadn't heard of Right.

Speaker 1 35:40

I don't, I, but I looked it up, saw the freeze frame.

Speaker 2 35:43

No, yeah, but I'm definitely a lady with boobs, I think I think those other. So the Rescuers originally obviously came out before the other, the Renaissance stuff and then that stuff. In comparison I'm not saying people don't like the Rescuers, don't come for me, but those other films are so much more popular.

Speaker 1 36:00

Well, it was an older movie.

Speaker 2 36:02

Yeah, and Rescuers was older and it was before all of that, so I could see how, when it came out, maybe it didn't get the same reaction from people.

Speaker 1 36:11

Honestly, I really am on the other side of it. I think they were just trying to be like oh shit, let's put this fire out before it spreads.

Speaker 2 36:18

Yeah.

Speaker 1 36:18

Like, once they realized it was there. However, however, it came to be, however that happened Because, I mean, it's Disney they got to save their ass, especially because in the past few years, they had been raked through the coals with like, oh, you have all this hidden imagery, and they're like, no, we don't. And then, actually, this one was real. They're like, oh yeah, this is actually in there. So they it took them a few months to reconvene it, or whatever they do and then they re-released it Interesting, so you can't get it anymore.

Speaker 2 36:49

I'd be like no boobs, I don't want it. Now that I know they're there for a split second, this one's trash, take it back.

Speaker 1 36:57

But I hadn't heard of that one. That was a new one for me. I've never heard that one. Yeah, but of course You'll have to tell us if you knew about this one, or you remember it, or if you owned one of the recalled ones ever. Yeah, you know, when they do recalls like you have to send it in the people, just not and they're like I wouldn't right.

Speaker 2 37:16

Well one, I wouldn't be bothered by it if you really can't see it, unless you're trying you really can't. But second I'd be like that's kind of cool. I know and I have this copy of this thing that they're not going to make anymore. Right, I'm gonna keep it right.

Speaker 1 37:28

That's what I would do right, yeah, so that's that's it. That's all I got, that's all my all my.

Speaker 2 37:32

Those are awesome. Those are really good.

Speaker 1 37:34

So dhs drama, we'll leave it up to you guys to decide if you think this was um intentional hidden messaging or just creative mistakes. I love it, or obviously hidden messaging that said something that was not sexual.

Speaker 2 37:50

I think this was really good research, by the way, so good job Yay, because I do think the two, the Aladdin and the Lion King, are debunked for sure.

Speaker 1 38:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2 38:02

It's the Little Mermaid and maybe the knee thing, I don't know. I don't even know about that one. I could see it. But I could also see an animator just trying to be funny, I know.

Speaker 1 38:13

Or maybe it's both. Maybe he's like oh, this is the knee, but it could also look like yeah, yeah, maybe. That's interesting Sneaky sneak yeah.

Final Thoughts and Next Episode Teaser

Speaker 2 38:24

Well, anyway, well, thank you for that. Yeah, and don't forget to tune in for part two, guys. Disney Park drama. I'm about to talk about park drama. Which I tried to keep in the 80s and 90s. A few things spill over a little, just because the lore continues. Somebody asked me.

Speaker 1 38:39

I told them we were doing this and they asked me if you were including something, and I can't wait to see if you included it.

Speaker 2 38:46

I hope I did. I know I feel really sad if I didn't, because I hope I did, I know.

Speaker 1 38:48

I feel really sad. If not, I'm going to have to tell you and you're going to be like how did I miss that? But I bet I have a feeling you have it Okay, All right.

Speaker 2 38:54

So tune in and see, yes, tune in, yeah, awesome, and make sure you are reviewing us wherever you're listening. Please leave us a free review. That is the best way for on the episode. Oh, you can. Yeah, so you can just write in there leave a little comment and then that helps other Disney fans or Disney haters. Hey, either way, find these episodes and also come on over to Patreon. Become a bonus. Come on over. What did I say? Come on the podcast, bring your friends on the podcast.

Speaker 1 39:25

No, we don't have hidden sexual messaging. It's just direct, it's just straight up.

Speaker 2 39:29

Yeah, I mean, don't have hidden sexual messaging, it's just direct, it's just straight up. Yeah, I mean it was funny because at the beginning of the episode you kept saying phallic, which it was, and in my head I was thinking I wonder why she's just not saying penis, and then and then, and then you were like then you like broke through and you're like so there is a big golden penis, because in all the research that's what it said it just said phallic.

Speaker 1 39:48

Yeah, it did not lot of, so a lot of the stuff I write was like phallic.

Speaker 2 39:52

Yeah, no, I mean, I get it. I just wonder I was thinking in my head is she going to say that the whole time? And then, you didn't. Then you said golden penile tower or something. I was like, okay, we're good, we're good, we're going to, and it'll be fine For the thing.

Speaker 1 40:07

The thing Okay, all right, everyone All right guys.

Speaker 2 40:10

Well, thanks for listening. See you on the next episode. Bye, Bye.