Lost Lights up Emmys, ABC, and the Internet

September 18—Lost, one of two shows from last year credited with lifting the Disney owned ABC television network out of the ratings cellar, wins the Emmy for Best Television Drama.

On September 21, nearly 23.4 million people (in its ads, ABC claims more than 31 million) tuned into the second season debut of Lost to find out what was under the mysterious hatch the survivors of the crash of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 blew open at the end of season one.

Lost's ratings translated into a 10.2 rating and 25 share in the advertiser coveted 18-49 demographic. It was an all-time series high for the sophomore drama, whose previous high rating was 20.7 million viewers for last year's two-hour season finale cliffhanger.

Fans of Lost lost no time moving from their televisions to their keyboards. Beginning at 9:00 p.m. EDT and lasting into the wee hours of Thursday morning, discussion boards at Lost fan sites around the Internet were abuzz with observations of the show's most minute details, and what it all means to Lost's larger ongoing mysteries.

The season premiere, titled Man of Science, Man of Faith, seems to have divided viewers along the same line drawn by producers between Matthew Fox's Dr. Jack Shepard, the man of science, and actor Terry O'Quinn's John Locke, the man of faith. In the days following the premiere, however, slightly more viewers seem to be coming down on the side of Locke, theorizing that the castaways are in some sort of after-life purgatory where they've been given a second chance to redeem themselves before moving on.

The season two opener finally gave viewer's their first long-awaited glimpse of what lay inside the previously impenetrable hatch, which dominated many of last season's storylines.

In the opening moments of the show, an unknown man is awakened in his bunk by the sound of a prompt from a computer that appears to be at least 30 years old. He goes to a keyboard and enters the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42, the same series of digits woven into the fabric of Lost's overarching mystery during season one, which also just happened to be stamped on the outer rim of the hatch.

To the strains of Mama Cass Elliot's 1970 recording of Make Your Own Kind of Music, released by Dunhill/ABC records, the lone figure goes about a seemingly normal morning routine of tidying up, exercising, showering, and preparing a fruit smoothie.

As he goes about his daily routine, viewers notice the décor of his quarters are vaguely dated but not really old. Contradictions abound. There are bunk beds in the bedroom, yet he's the only one present. His audio equipment, like his computer, seems to be from another era. There are no CDs; his music collection is all vinyl records. And yet much of his kitchen equipment is quite contemporary. He is even seen doing laundry in a state-of-the-art, twenty-first century, front-loading washer-dryer pair.

All of this mundane activity comes to an end when the stranger to Lost viewers reaches into a cabinet, grabs a medicine vial labeled "Rx 1," loads it into an injector gun, which he then plunges into his left bicep releasing the vial's contents into his body.

Written across the top of prescription Rx 1's label is "CR 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42," and all of that is in just the opening three minutes of the show.

On September 26, as we go to press, according to Nielsen overnight ratings, Desperate Housewives, ABC's other returning hit show, drew 28.17 million viewers Sunday night. ABC also announced that it would rerun last week's Lost's season premiere at 8:00 p.m. this coming Wednesday before the 9:00 p.m. debut of episode two.

Cinderellabrate

September 15—Cinderella and her prince, along with mouse pals Gus-Gus, Jacques, and her (Cinderella's) fairy godmother, all rolled up to the entrance of the El Capitan theatre in Hollywood. They were there to celebrate the reissue of Walt Disney's Cinderella on DVD with a limited engagement run at the El Capitan.

Not released theatrically since 1987, and following its last home video release on VHS in 1995, Cinderella has become the most requested title among Disney's animated classics for release on DVD.

The debut of this all-time Disney classic was preceded by a panel discussion that included panelists:

• Ilene Woods-Shaughnessy, the voice of Cinderella
• Lucille Bliss, the voice of wicked stepsister Anastasia
• June Foray, the voice of Lucifer the cat
• Dave Bossert, artistic director of Disney Animation's Special Projects Unit
• Stephen Poehlein, director of mastering and restoration at Disney
• John Lowry, whose Lowry Digital Images oversaw Cinderella's digital restoration
• Andreas Deja, veteran Disney animator
• Ollie Johnston, who, along with rest of Disney's legendary Nine Old Men, worked on Cinderella animating wicked stepsisters Drusilla and Anastasia

The real star of the evening was the digitally restored version of this 1950 masterpiece. In addition to remastering the original print, the digital restoration process allowed technicians to remove annoying dust particles that are an ordinary part of traditional cell animation. The result is an image so vivid and real, you would think the film had just been made the day before.

Cinderella's brilliantly vivid Mary Blair-inspired backgrounds left viewers breathless. Nearly 55 years after its initial release, this timeless tale unfolded before an audience composed mostly of young families with small children, who were enthralled by the beauty of storytelling at its best. Laughter, cheers, and, in the end, huge applause filled the El Capitan the night of Cinderella's return.

A bevy of young princesses on their way to join Cinderella at the ball.

Walt Disney's Cinderella Two-Disc Platinum Edition DVD will be available October 4, 2005.

Hong Kong Disneyland Opens…Finally

September 12—After six years of planning and construction, the Walt Disney Company opened its third Asian theme park and fifth Magic Kingdom: Hong Kong Disneyland.

An almost identical copy of Walt Disney's original theme park in Anaheim, California, Hong Kong Disneyland features Main Street USA—a colorful, turn-of-the-20th century boulevard full of shops and restaurants, originally conceived by Disney to evoke small-town America.

Unlike its namesake park, Hong Kong Disneyland only features three themed lands: Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland, all linked through a central hub steps away from the gates of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Hong Kong Disneyland was given several specific Chinese touches. The opening date was picked in consultation with local feng shui experts. No green hats are sold in any of the park's shops, because green hats are unlucky in Chinese culture. The onsite luxury hotels, Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and the Hollywood Hotel, have no fourth floor, since the number four in Cantonese sounds like the word for death.

As predicted by o-meon.com columnist Dixon Ticonderoga (New Big Cheese Same Ole Mouse), many of the Disney Company's worst fears came true during preopening previews. Long lines and complaints about a dearth of attractions plagued park managers prior to the grand opening, which saw Disney limit the park to half its estimated capacity of 30,000 guests.

Disney Studio Posts Larger than Expected Loss

September 14—The Walt Disney Company's CFO, Thomas Staggs, predicted a loss for the studio of $250 million to $300 million for the current quarter. Staggs, speaking before investors at a Merrill Lynch media investment conference in Pasadena, said the studio's performance was, "considerably worse than we anticipated."

Staggs went on to characterize the loss as being driven by such factors as industry-wide slowdowns at the box office and the once-hot DVD market.

"But in fairness," Staggs went on to say, "the difficult results at the studio have more to do with the performance of our titles than the marketplace as a whole."

Staggs listed three films from the studio's Miramax Unit, The Great Raid, The Brothers Grimm, and Underclassmen, that were part of a group of films that had to be rushed into theatres before September 30 as part of the final divorce settlement with Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein. He went on to say that the marketing and distribution of so many films could hurt earnings.

The Great Raid and The Brothers Grimm were costly productions that sat on the shelf at Miramax for years following production. Such a move is not seen in the film industry as a positive sign for a film's potential box-office success.

Staggs also listed Dark Water, from Disney's Touchstone unit, and Sky High and Valiant, both from Walt Disney Pictures, as underachievers. The British-made Valiant, a CG-animated film, was not produced by Disney, which only marketed and distributed the film in the U.S.

Staggs also disclosed that because of financial problems created by the recent bankruptcy of Delta Airlines, Inc., Disney might be forced to write off a $100 million investment in aircraft leases.

"That would obviously have a meaningful impact," Staggs said.

The announcement by Staggs that the Mouse's studio division would post such a large loss caught many on Wall Street off guard. Even taking into account a slow summer at the box office and the costs associated with divorcing the Weinsteins, Wall Street analysts were only expecting Disney's studio division to loose about $10 million.

Staggs went on to say that Disney remained "confident in delivering double-digit growth in earnings for the company overall," based on the strength of its ESPN and ABC networks, as well as its theme parks business.

Legendary Events

Kimball Train Exhibit
September 18—Walt's Barn, the only "free" Disney attraction in Southern Californian, held its regular monthly open house on the grounds of the L.A. Live Steamers club in Griffith Park. This month's open house marked the official opening of the Ward Kimball Train Exhibit.

Also taking place at the barn that day was a fundraiser for the Humane Society's efforts to help pet victims of Hurricane Katrina. Funds were raised through the sale and auction of Carolwood Pacific Historical Society and Disney railroad memorabilia. In addition, Chris Banta and Danny Young of the Chris Banta Trio performed traditional live jazz instrumentals throughout the afternoon.

Banta, a standards engineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, is a second generation Disney cast member and musician. His father, Milt Banta, worked for the studio from 1941 until his death in 1959. The senior Banta played piano in a variety of groups in and around Los Angeles. He was also part of the original Firehouse Five Plus Two band before they were made famous by the original Disneyland television show.

The Ward Kimball Train Exhibit will continue at the barn throughout the fall. Walt's Barn is open to the public on the third Sunday of each month.

[There's a link with more information and directions at the end of this article. —Editor]

The Disney Legends Program
September 20—Disneyland played host to the 2005 Disney Legends ceremony. Like many of the Walt Disney Company's events and traditions, The Disney Legends program has not one, but two histories: a well-written, officially sanctioned history and a somewhat more entertaining unofficial oral history.

Officially, The Disney Legends program was established in 1987 to acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents, and dreams have created the Disney magic.

Unofficially, The Disney Legends program was dreamt up in 1987 by the press and publicity department of The Disney Channel. The Disney Channel had put together a sort of film festival of Disney films starring actor Fred MacMurray, whose Disney credits include The Absent Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, Follow Me Boys, and The Happiest Millionaire, among others. That's why MacMurray is 1987's only Disney Legends recipient.

It wasn't until 1989 that The Disney Legends program returned and began honoring several Disney legends each year.

Honored during this year's ceremony, which took place inside Disneyland's Opera House, were film star, playwright, author, and "wild and crazy guy" Steve Martin and legendary radio and television personality Art Linkletter. Martin worked at Disneyland as a teenager in the Magic Shop. In his free time, he spent hours studying the comedic timing and stylings of Golden Horseshoe performer Wally Boag, himself a Disney Legend. Linkletter, a personal friend of Walt Disney's, was one of three hosts of the live nationwide telecast of the Disneyland grand opening festivities on July 17, 1955. Future California governor and U.S. President Ronald Regan and actor Bob Cummings were the show's other two hosts.

Disney Legends Art Linkletter and Steve Martin.
Unless otherwise noted all images are copyright obe-mediaone.

This year's Disney Legends ceremonies marked the first time since 1998 that the program has not been held in the Disney Legends plaza, in front of the company's headquarters building in Burbank. It was also the first time that an hourly Disney theme park cast member was made a Disney Legend, longtime Disneyland cast member Chuck Abbott. Milt Albright, who in 1954 became the very first "cast member" on the Disneyland payroll, was also made a Disney Legend.

Referenced Sites

Official Lost website

Oceanic Airlines

Walt's Barn and the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society

The Disney Legends Program