Don’t get too carried away by this video (RE-UPDATED)

It came to my attention some sites were featuring this video as a legit trailer for a Blu-ray release of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in 2013:

Let’s see: this is a rather well-done trailer, with the requisite green rating screen from MPAA, appropiate lettering in the text bullets and a very nice edition.

BUT…

There’s not Touchstone or Disney logo at the beginning, there aren’t any credits or disclaimers at the end of the trailer, and it was uploaded to a regular YouTube account, instead of being promoted on Disney or Touchstone’s YouTube channels.

ALSO…

It mentions the Blu-ray will include remastered versions of the three theatrical animated shorts, which doesn’t make sense if they aren’t  remastering the whole original movie, the big enchilada, the hot tamale as well. In fact, actual footage from the movie looks like straight from the DVD releases, in all its grainy low-res glory. Obviously, theatrical shorts are the best looking of all the bunch since they’re fully animated (except for the 1 minute or so ending on each one) and they were released after WFRR proved to be a huge success.

SO…

Keep your hopes low, buddies. As I can see, this is a well-done fan trailer, but nothing else. Don’t believe everything you see on Internet, and do a little more research before getting carried away, as a couple of websites I’ve caught red-handed.

If you have a little more info about this particular video, or if you think this is an actual proof we will be getting an official Blu-ray release of WFRR, you can leave a comment and we will discuss about this.

UPDATE! 

I got some feedback from Matt (who manages Open Vault Disney) and he clarifies about the source of the vid and some of its features:

Juan Carlos Estrada, the trailer was included on the recent Blu-ray releases of 'Phenomenon' and 'Step-Up'. Also, there is no mention of restored trailers but rather the three theatrically released shorts. The reason it's from a personal account is due to it being ripped from the actual blu-ray. Disney is also notorious for using old transfers for new releases (case and point, 'Alice in Wonderland 60th Anniversary Edition', which used the Masterpiece Edition transfer for it's trailer,as well as countless other Disney releases over the last decade). I assure you that Open Vault Disney does check on it's news stories, and that as a former Newspaper writer I'm well aware of the process. Once Disney does do a press release, which we expect will come sometime in the second quarter, we'll be sure to include it.~Matt

As I don’t own those Blu-ray releases, and I’m still skeptical about the theatrical shorts being restored instead of the main movie, I can’t confirm or deny his statement. Also, how could Disney release a trailer about an upcoming release without giving it a proper press coverage? I’m still open to a friendly discussion about this matter.

UPDATE 2!

As more and more sites pick this video for their articles, it seems the news about the Blu-ray release of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” are legit! You gotta understand I was quite doubtful of those claims since, as a hardcore Roger Rabbit fan, I’ve been deceived a lot of times with empty promises and fake news. This time news are apparently real, so let’s wait for the newest release of Roger’s movie! =3

I absolutely love when…

Online media and blogs get crazy about a Roger Rabbit early pencil test we posted BACK IN 2009. We went there first, Screen Crush, GeekTyrant and io9 ;)

Coolest Roger Rabbit plushie ever

Usually at eBay you can find the most common Roger Rabbit collectibles, and once in a while there appears some of the rarest items related to the zany rabbit.

But I’ve never seen nothing as cute and awesome as this:

According to the description of this plushie, his height is about 15 inches and it’s fully poseable (arms, legs, ears and hands). It’s an item from Tokyo Disneyland and it looks like new, and if you ask me is the most faithful rendition of Roger Rabbit in a plushie I’ve ever seen =)

You can bid on this one clicking on the next link:

Disney Tokyo Disneyland Toontown Roger Rabbit Poseable Plush

(US bidders only; sadly the seller doesn’t ship internationally)

Some Not-So-Much seen Roger Rabbit art

Jarrod from ImNotBad.com sent us some weeks ago those neat pictures, depicting rare RR artwork that was probably used in promotional material for Disneyland’s and WDW events. At least the first one was actually used for Roger’s first Christmas celebration at Disneyland, and the second one appears on a brochure about WDW’s 20th anniversary (this illustration was placed over a picture of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth). All pieces were sold back in 2003 on Disney Auctions. So here they are:

My personal favorites are #2 and #3, but all of them are quite cool =)

Roger Rabbit’s (brief) comeback to Disneyland

Recently at Disneyland was celebrated the 20th. Anniversary of Fantasmic, in an event exclusive to annual passholders. As you might know, Fantasmic is a very innovative water, music and fireworks show which is conducted by Mickey Mouse. It’s one of Disney Parks’ favorite shows and it has evolved thru all those years. It features several well-known characters from the Disney universe and at some point Roger Rabbit was featured among the cast, but as his popularity waned away he was pulled out from the cast.

So, it was truly a surprise to the attendants of this particular event when in the Grand Finale a Roger Rabbit costumed character appeared among his Disney buddies again!!

Here are some pictures taken by Flickr user jaysquivel, who gave us permission to use them:

There’s also a neat video featuring stills from the event and the Grand Finale, from YouTube user TheCrushinDarkness:

Although it was for some brief moments, it’s great to see Roger again at Disneyland =D

Darkwing Duck does the Roger Rabbit too!

I don’t quite understand why took me too long to spot THIS:

If you look into the picture, among the load of alternate versions of Darkwing Duck (in what seems to be a parody of “Crisis on Infinite Earths”) you can spot a Roger Rabbit-looking Darkwing Duck wielding nothing less than the singing sword! Then, you can catch some other references to various movies, cartoons or comics which are enough to keep you busy for a while.

I found this interesting vignette on Captain Comics’ forum, specifically on this discussion. Even you can find another extract from the same comic issue, in which you can spot several more parodies of well-known characters. Worth the read!

Roger Rabbit goes to Springfield

If you head over to Tebeos de los Simpsons you'll find a parody of The Simpsons from Cracked Magazine where Roger has a cameo. It's a amusing story with lots of in-jokes and fun art.

This is, probably and undeniably, the most complete WFRR collection EVER!

Some years ago I’ve found some old videos about a certain Montreal collector who seems to own almost every single piece of merchandising related to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, which includes some rare foreign items, lots of magazines and related articles in them, and of course some exclusive collectibles and household items which I didn’t know that existed.

The last thing I knew was that he was trying to sell his entire collection (not parts of it: the whole enchilada or nothing), and it seems he’s going serious about it again. Just look at all those items in the video above --of course, if you can: it is a very quick sneak peek of this guy’s awesome collection and if you blink you can miss some interesting stuff.

Maybe we can’t be able to buy all that Roger-Rabbitness, but watching it doesn’t hurt either ;)

A story from behind the scenes

Andreas Deja, a animator who worked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit posted some drawings of a scene he animated and talks about how the experience was.
Check it out.

New Roger Rabbit review

Bunnyfriend wanted me to post this new review by the Nostalgia Critic.


And don't worry, it is a positive one.

Roger Rabbit on Ice

Jarrod (webmaster of ImNotBad.com) was kind enough to let me share with you those amazing scans from the book of “Disney on Ice”, an ice-skating show that toured America around 1990 in which Roger Rabbit and the characters from “Duck Tales”, “Rescue Rangers” and other Disney cartoons were featured.

You’ll find that some of the official art from the movie was recycled, but there are also some neat drawings and pictures that give you a slight glimpse of the costumed characters and sets from the wandering show.

Click in each thumbnail to open the full-sized images:

Sure being a kid in the late 80’s / early 90’s was totally radical! =D

Vinylmation Roger Rabbit figure gonna knock your socks off!

Disney revealed in their Vinylmation Official Facebook page a glimpse of an upcoming Roger Rabbit figure. Yes, you’re reading right fellas: Roger Rabbit is back –at least, in the form of a cute Vinylmation figure!!

Here it is, in all his mouse-shaped glory:

Obviously his ears look quite small (ain’t gonna fit those huge ears in that mousey ears), his facial expression is somewhat awkward and somehow he ended with 4 toes in each foot when he only had three… But hey! He looks adorable and I want one RITE NAO.

What do you think of this one? Maybe this could be the beginning of better things to come! We Roger Rabbit fans deserve some attention too! ;)

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Don't you wanna see this blog dissapear, right?
Do the right thing, DON'T BE A WEASEL!

No, we didn’t forget about our…

Yup, we’ve just had our 3rd. Anniversary last friday!
I’m a little late, but better late than never, huh-huh!!

Every anniversary I write some words thanking for your support in good times and also through bad times, but this time I won’t write an incredibly long, boring and redundant textwall. It’s time to celebrate!!

Thanks for bringing us a smile every single day, Roger Rabbit!

P.S. I still love you <3

New old news

Old news, but it's first time I have heard of this so I figure I might as well post it to fill in those who haven't heard of it.
Earlier last year, in October actress Paula Patton reported on her site that she was going to play a character named "Witch Boom" in Roger Rabbit 2. Possibly a relative of or character similar to Judge Doom judging from the name.
This was before it was reported the sequel was getting stalled so I'm not sure if it's still happening.
Thanks to commenter Philip for letting us know.

It’s official: Roger Rabbit 2 is being “dipped” again

There aren’t any surprises here, after tons of promises about getting a sequel from our favorite movie and being dissapointed again and again.

As ImNotBad.com reports, “Roger Rabbit 2” got stalled since the script from the proposed sequel is taking too long to be settled, and producers Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg aren’t willing to get into Robert Zemeckis’ project by the moment. Put into Kathleen Kennedy’s words:

“We’ve attempted a script, but it’s not really moving forward right now,” said Kennedy. “That’s not to say it won’t in the future, but there’s no spotlight on it now.”

Yup: no Roger Rabbit 2. We saw this coming.

You can read the full note on ImNotBad.com or /Film.

Roger on auction

I don't think we ever posted this video here, at least not according to the blog search function.
Here is a interview from British television with Richard Williams and Charles Fleischer regarding an auction where animation cells from the film were sold.

Roger Rabbit model sheet revisited

Not much to report nowadays since Zemeckis is still quiet as the grave regarding the sequel. But luckily I found something else to blog about.
A while back I uploaded a modelsheet I traced from a low resolution picture. Well, I recently got hold of some more Roger Rabbit comics and one of them has a official, in-depth model sheet.

A very special Roger Rabbit day

In an earlier post I wrote about the lack of updates on Toontown Antics, mainly because there aren’t a lot of news and info about Roger Rabbit out there. I apologized because I want to keep this blog up and running, but without info, images or valuable bits of trivia is almost impossible.

Then, thanks to Roger himself I suddenly remembered why I created this blog a couple of years ago.

Out of nowhere, I found a very clean, mint talking Roger Rabbit doll: so mint it looks like new! (and still talks great)

I was so thrilled about this find, that I remembered how I felt the same way when I got my first Roger Rabbit doll, almost 5 years ago. It was the same emotion, the same happiness, the same “oh-my-gosh-i-can’t-believe-i-got-it” feeling I got in that time… When I actually needed a reason to smile.

Then, I got another find: a new copy of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” since mine is a little worn-out (you know: I watched that movie dozens of times, and I can’t get tired of it).

Finally, at home, my friend Alex surprised me with a “new” Roger Rabbit illustration which I shared with all of you fellas.

And after all those neat finds, I remembered why I created Toontown Antics: because I wanted to share those neat emotions with all Roger Rabbit fans. Because I needed to share all my knowledge and points of view about Roger and his friends (and foes). Because I had hopes this blog would become a common place for fans of the movie and its characters, or fans of traditional animation as well. And of course: because I love Roger Rabbit <3

Today was my very special Roger Rabbit day. And thanks to that, Toontown Antics gets another chance =3

More Roger Rabbit unknown art coming out!

Well, in first place let me apologize for the lack of updates on this blog. I never abandoned Toontown Antics, but I’ve had a hard time gathering new info, images or tidbits of trivia related to our favorite and beloved wacky rabbit. Sooooo…

Let’s say I’ve had a very special day today (guess I’ll gonna talk about it in another blog entry) and my old friend and co-admin Alex topped it with a nice surprise that I want to share with all my fellas:

While wandering around the intertubes, Alex found the personal blog of Pete Emslie, who’s a cartoonist and illustrator that worked for Walt Disney World’s marketing department between 1990 and 1994. As many of you remember, Walt Disney World celebrated its 20th. Anniversary back in 1991 and it was a HUGE celebration which involved Roger Rabbit in a very prominent role, since he was the big star of Disney at the time (even bigger than Mickey Mouse, you know). So he was displayed everywhere and even got a huge inflatable figure roaming around the place (recycled from Disneyland’s 35th. Anniversary). It was natural for Pete to use him for a series of promotional prints regarding the theme park’s anniversary, so he pulled out a very neat illustration which you can see here:

Surprising, isn’t it?

If you want to get the full illustration and also read some of the background story related to it, then you can go to The Cartoon Cave (Pete Emslie’s personal blog) or click on the above image, and get all the details =)

Thanks, Alex!