Walt Disney Treasures

Walt Disney Treasures promotional title card

Re-packaged titles, without the tin cases

The Walt Disney Treasures is a two-disc DVD set of classic Disney works. They cover work from the studio's earliest days to their more recent work. So far, there have been nine waves (versions) of the DVDs, each containing two, three or four different sets (adding up to a total of thirty different titles).

The first wave was released to Region 1 DVD on December 4, 2001, as a part of Walt Disney's 100th birthday. They were sold in limited quantities. The numbered units are largely commercially unavailable outside of second-hand sales. Only a small handful of these titles have been sold outside of Region 1.

Each title has been packaged in a numbered tin case. The first two waves featured the numbering as stamped into each case, while subsequent waves were packaged with a certificate of authenticity marking their number. The first three waves were additionally bound in a cardboard band featuring reproductions of signatures by Leonard Maltin and Roy Disney. In 2003, a Costco exclusive boxed set, The Ultimate Disney Treasure Chest, packaged the first two waves of the series, without the tin canisters (as pictured).

The DVD sets were the idea of film critic–historian Leonard Maltin, who appears in each set to introduce the DVDs, and to provide historical context to some of the more-dated, and sometimes politically-incorrect, works.

Release history

• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave One — December 4, 2001
  • Mickey Mouse in Living Color
  • Silly Symphonies
  • Disneyland, USA
  • Davy Crockett
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Two — December 3, 2002
  • Mickey Mouse in Black and White
  • The Complete Goofy
  • Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studios
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Three — May 18, 2004
  • Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two
  • The Chronological Donald, Volume One
  • On the Front Lines
  • Tomorrow Land
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Four — December 7, 2004
  • Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two
  • The Complete Pluto, Volume One
  • The Mickey Mouse Club
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Five — December 6, 2005
  • The Chronological Donald, Volume Two
  • Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s
  • The Adventures of Spin & Marty (The Mickey Mouse Club)
  • Elfego Baca and The Swamp Fox: Legendary Heroes
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Six — December 19, 2006
  • More Silly Symphonies
  • The Complete Pluto, Volume Two
  • The Hardy Boys: The Applegate Mystery
  • Your Host, Walt Disney
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Seven — December 11, 2007
  • The Chronological Donald, Volume Three
  • The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
  • Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Eight — November 11, 2008
  • The Chronological Donald, Volume Four
  • Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow
  • Mickey Mouse Club Presents: Annette
• Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Nine — November 3, 2009
  • Zorro: The Complete First Season
  • Zorro: The Complete Second Season

Comic album line

In 2006, Gemstone Publishing published the first of two Walt Disney Treasures comic albums: "Disney Comics: 75 Years of Innovation", reprinting approximately 160 pages of vintage international comics in chronological order. Much like the DVD releases, the comic album featured some politically incorrect stories in unedited form, accompanied by an article to put them in historical context. The comic album also featured a cover designed to look much like the DVD series' cases.

In 2008, Gemstone published the second Treasures comic album: Uncle Scrooge: A Little Something Special, featuring various Scrooge classics from over the years.

Two more Treasures comic albums were announced for 2009, with the titles: Mickey Mouse: In Death Valley and Donald Duck: 75 Unlucky Years. However, due to the cessation of Gemstone's Disney comics license, these albums never came out in the Treasures series. In 2011, Fantagraphics books, acquiring the right to publish Disney's comic strips, published in that series "Mickey Mouse - Race to Death Valley" and "Donald Duck - Lost in the Andes".

External links

• The Official Walt Disney Treasures Website