Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection

Background: The "Masterpiece Collection" replaced the "Classics" brand in 1994, and lasted until 1999. It released some films that never made it to the Classics line (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Oliver and Company, The Aristocats and The Black Cauldron, among others), reissued many of the Disney movies that were previously released as Black Diamond Classic videos, and covered video releases of the 1994-1998 animated Disney features (except for Aladdin, The Fox and the Hound, Fantasia, Pinocchio, The Great Mouse Detective and Beauty and the Beast). They were known as the "Classics Collection" brand in Australia, which ran from 1999 to 2001 and released similar films (Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas and The Rescuers, among others) including one that was never released in the Masterpiece Collection, The Great Mouse Detective, although releases were planned for The Fox and the Hound and Beauty and the Beast, but they were scrapped. Unlike the Masterpiece Collection, the "Classics Collection" brand also had a DVD line as well, which included The Fox and the Hound, even though it wasn't part of the VHS line.

(October 28, 1994-July 13, 1999)

Nicknames: "The Emblem", "The Tinkerbell Logo"

Logo: We start on a black background, with "WALT DiSNEY" beginning to sketch itself on screen in pinkish-gold, with the text arced a bit. As we zoom out, "MASTERPIECE" and "COLLECTION" zoom out, with "MASTERPIECE" going left and "COLLECTION" going right. They then settle under the "WALT DiSNEY" text, spaced a bit against each other. Now Tinkerbell (from Disney’s Peter Pan) comes out from behind the word "MASTERPIECE", hovers in front for a bit as she waves her magic wand, and then a bright flash appears, and when it clears, the finished logo appears: the text is now in a purple arc (slightly shaped like the Sesame Street sign), with "WALT DiSNEY" on top and "MASTERPIECE COLLECTION" on the bottom, with a small gray oval with the silver Disney Castle logo between "MASTERPIECE" and "COLLECTION". Tinkerbell flies off to the left of the screen, leaving a trail of pixie dust to dissolve a little slowly. The logo "shines".

Variant: Some countries have the "MASTERPIECE COLLECTION" text of the logo written in their native language. In Australia, it is replaced with "CLASSICS COLLECTION" (only exists as a print logo.)These were found: "COLECCIÓN MAESTRA" (MAESTRA in spaced-out letters) on Spanish tapes, with a hot pink arc, and "COLLECTION CHEFS-D'ŒUVRE" (CHEFS-D'ŒUVRE in narrow letters) on French Canadian tapes, with a deep purple arc.

FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo, which seems to be a mix of computer animation and traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: A more powerful, slightly faster-paced reorchestration of the 1988 Walt Disney Classics jingle with synths mixed in, accompanied by synthesized whooshes as the words fly into place.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Sometimes an announcer (who, in this case, is Beau Weaver) will say, “And now, our feature presentation”. This can be spotted on The Aristocats and Oliver & Company. The voiceover for the former is heard after the finished logo is formed, while the latter has the voiceover starting just after Tinkerbell appears.
A few 1995-1996 printings of the early releases like So Dear to My Heart and others used a cut-short version of the 1988 Walt Disney Classics music (post-1992 bass-heavy variant) playing underneath, and the logo shines twice at the end. The "sizzling" sound remains intact. This can also be found on most 1996-1999 releases on CAV/CLV Laserdisc (such as Peter Pan, Hercules and Lady and the Tramp), and on the 1998 DVD release of Mary Poppins (the only DVD to use any form of the Masterpiece Collection logo). It was also seen on the French-Canadian VHS releases of Cinderella and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
The main theme is also heard under the 1996-2000 Walt Disney Company intro seen on many VHS releases of the period before the previews, as an announcer says "You can always count on something new and exciting from Disney." On 1999-2000 releases, it is replaced with the 1988 Walt Disney Classics theme (1992 version).

Availability: Seen on VHS releases of Disney feature films in clamshell packaging with the text “A Walt Disney MASTERPIECE” or "Walt Disney's MASTERPIECE" on the front and the "MASTERPIECE COLLECTION" print logo on the top of the spine (sometimes the print logo is on the front as well), starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and Robin Hood, among others. The last video released under the series was The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. You can find releases with this logo easily at thrift stores or online. Strangely, the original VHS releases of The Lion King and Mulan have the logo on their spines, but not on the tapes (though it does appear on the LaserDisc release of The Lion King). Some early prints of the 1999 VHS release of Pinocchio feature this logo (presumably because the film was originally intended to be included in the line), while later prints don't. It is also absent on the 1998 release of The Little Mermaid (which used special wraparound segments during the previews) and the 1999 release of 101 Dalmatians. It also unusually shows up on the original 1997 VHS release of Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, which is strange since it is a direct-to-video movie, and the print logo is nowhere to be found on the box. It also unusually appeared on the 1997 VHS of Old Yeller, which was part of the Film Classics Collection, as well as the 1995 Spanish-language Classics release of Aladdin. It also surprisingly appears on the 1996 Toy Story LaserDisc (with Classics music.) Despite the logo appearing on the case, don't expect to see this on Australian releases as they just use the 1995 "Disney Videos" logo (the last three videos in the line used the 2001 Walt Disney Home Entertainment logo).

Editor's Note: This logo is very memorable amongst Disney fans and VHS collectors of Disney movies.

Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection

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