@moviefan
by Moviefan
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Abigail Gregory (with The Creature)
May 11, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
Moviefan12: To close out my look at the villains of the attraction adaptions, I return to the very first movie adapted from a Disney attraction. It’s a mid 90’s TV movie that aired as part of ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney. In many ways, it’s humorous that the first attraction adaption wasn’t based on a classic ride but rather made to promote a new then attraction, the Tower of Terror.
Tower of Terror was built to bring in more thrill rides to Disney and it did work in that regard. Anyone that knows this ride knows that the original version was inspired by the classic anthology series, The Twilight Zone. I say original because other versions such as Tokyo’s remove The Twilight Zone from its name and its story.
There are two big reasons I highlight that distinction, this movie does not reference the classic TV show, unlike the ride that wants to emulate being in one and Disney’s version has a main character who is corrupt and could be considered a villain in Harrison Hightower.
I doubt we will see him in the upcoming big-screen adaption. Now, something I will give this movie credit for is that it does use the ghosts from the ride as the main characters.
Looking at this adaption is quite different for a few reasons, it being the first theme park adaption and a tv movie. Oh, and I have never been on this ride. Every single time, I think about going on this ride, I chicken out. When I went to the park last October, I almost went on it with my big sister but the drop just scares me out of it every time. I know the story and the history of the ride but I enjoy it from afar.
This is partially why I have brought in a friend and a frequent collab partner. He last looked at Muppets Haunted Mansion with me last Halloween and now he returns to look at the villain of this movie with me. Please welcome back, The Creature.
Creature: I’ve never been on the Tower of Terror either. While the original Twilight Zone is easily my all-time favorite TV show and I have been aware of this ride ever since it opened up on the West Coast, I just never got around to it (which is probably because I never go to California Adventure). Of course with it being closed over here, I’d have to eventually migrate to Orlando if I want to go on it at all (I did go on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride that replaced it though…which honestly isn’t very good).
Creature: Regardless of that though, I was also aware of this movie’s existence around the time when the Haunted Mansion movie came out. Considering sites like YouTube weren’t around at the time, seeing it was tricky. I originally only caught bits and pieces on TV and it wasn’t until recently I got to watch it in full.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Constance Hatchaway
May 6, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
It is so funny that it wasn’t until last year that these attraction adaptions didn’t feature any of the villains from the attractions they were adapting. Now more casual Park-goers probably do not realize that some of the rides have villains but it’s true. One of the most famous examples is Angelica Houston as The Supreme Leader
There might be a bonus on her but she doesn’t exactly fit the theme of Theme Park Adaptions. The wonderful YouTube Channel, Colin LooksBack is currently doing a Disney Villains Retrospective and last month did a 45-minute video on the villains of the Parks. I highly recommend it as it’s quite good and cover villains I was not aware of such as Barnabas T. Bullion
Colin’s videos are quite good and rather thorough in their research such as the case with this one as he covers multiple theme park villains from around the world including The Supreme Leader, Constance, and as mentioned Barnabas. Now Constance is an interesting case as she’s a replacement for a similar character only known as The Bride. Â
And the thing of it is while the old Haunted Mansion movie may have ignored using The Bride/Constance as a villain. Other materials did not forget about her and gave her the spotlight she deserved. The most notable example to me is the Disney Kingdoms Comic adapted from the Haunted Mansion.
Now, this is not Constance’s first on-screen appearance as she showed up in a stop-motion Disney XD advert but this is the first time Constance has been an actual character outside of the attraction. This adaption puts me in an interesting spot as not only am I looking at a villain from a theme park adaption but I’m also looking at a Muppets villain. And I do love The Muppets but save for Doc Hopper and Tim Curry’s Long John Silver, a lot of the villains are hit or miss. Don’t get me wrong, I love Nicky Holiday but then you get someone like Tex Richman, who’s a good character but it’s hard not to compare him to Doc Hopper.
In some ways, looking at Constance puts me in an interesting bind. Do I look at her as a theme park adaptation villain or a Muppets villain? She’s the only villain from the lineup I’m looking at that is directly based on a character from the Parks and she does share the same goal and ideas as her ride counterpart but it’s played more for laughs here in this adaption because Muppets whereas almost every other iteration presents hers as a real threat.  The best way to sum this up is by saying that Constance is in many ways, Disney’s version of a slasher villain. She loves getting married and then kills the men she marries to keep their money. I believe she has done this at least seven times.
While adaptions such as the Disney Kingdoms comic play this straight with this being a Muppets special, it’s more humorous that every groom Constance has killed is a Muppet.
I think another thing that helps makes this humorous besides being Muppets is the selection of Muppets, Johnny Fiama, Sal, Lew Zealand, and Walter to name a few.
This goes back to the debate on whether or not The Mansion should be funny or scary. This being Muppets leans more on funny than scary. That’s not to say there aren’t scary moments but this is more a loving tribute and affectionate parody than trying to be a straight adaption and in that regard, it works wonderfully.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Prince Joachim
May 4, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
Continuing our look at the villains from the Jungle Cruise adaption, we come to the film’s main villain Prince Joachim and much like Lope de Aguirre, he too is based on a real person.
Now finding information about the real Joachim has proven rather hard and it’s hard to tell if he was a good person or not. He was almost given the throne of Ireland but that never went through. The most notable thing I have been able to find out about him is that his father abdicated his position of power in 1920, Joachim took his life as he couldn’t deal with living the life of a commoner. Since finding information about Joachim’s real-life counterpart has proven tough, I don’t think it’s fair to compare his fictionalized version to the actual person as I do not know enough about the actual person to say whether or not, it’s fair to compare and for that reason, I’ll focus solely on the movie version of Joachim.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Lope de Aguirre
May 2, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
These next two entries for Villains Profile provide a rather interesting angle for two reasons. The first being we are looking at two villains from the same movie and they are both based on real people. The latter part is something I didn’t know until doing research for this movie. This is interesting as villains based on historical figures are nothing new and are something we are still seeing to this day in action films such as The Kingsman using Rasputin as a villain.
To me, this raises a few interesting questions when using real-life historical figures as villains. First is it fair to use real people as the basis for villains in your movie? I don’t think this is a black and white question. Consider how Don Bluth’s Antastia twisted Rasputin into a Disney-like villain when that wasn’t the case.Â
What is true, though, is that Rasputin and the Romanovs had a close relationship. Moviepilot reported that after the Romanovs were executed, Anastasia and her sisters were found wearing necklaces with Rasputin’s picture.
Now, there are going to be some exceptions to this rule such as the Indiana Jones movies using Nazis. Nazis suck and yeah, we want to see heroes take down Nazis.
So, that’s cool but I feel like it needs to make sense for the person being portrayed to have been someone that did something awful. One could argue that it is just a movie and you should separate history from fiction but in some cases that is hard to do. This brings me to the first villain from Jungle Crusie that I’ll be covering, Lope de Aguirre. Perhaps, some background is needed on the person.
According to what I’ve read, he was a Spanish Conqueror, and yeah, that already puts him on track to be villainous. And there is also a belief that he killed his daughter among others.
Aguirre was considered to be a thoroughly disreputable character. It was said that Aguirre had all those members of the expedition who had opposed his plans, including several priests, put to death. He is then thought to have raided several towns in what is now Venezuela before he was finally caught and executed by the Spaniards. It is also believed that he killed his own daughter immediately prior to his capture.
So, I think it’s more than fair to present this person as a villain considering he did a lot of awful things in his life including that. This contrasts with the film version of Aguirre as in the movie, he comes across as a tragic and sympathetic character. He’s still a villain to be sure but at least when he starts his quest, it could be seen as noble.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Ramsley
April 20, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
The Haunted Mansion is one of the most beloved attractions at any Disney Park. There are sites dedicated to archiving the history of the ride, As I mentioned last week, there’s also a documentary about the fans.
People love this ride. For so many fans, this ride holds a special place in so many peoples’ hearts. I like to believe that for a lot of people this ride is their first foray into horror kinda like how Scooby-Doo served as a gateway to horror for so many. The Mansion has its scary moments but also has a lot of levity with comedy. This is something the Imagineers have debated over the years as to whether the Mansion should be scary or silly. My opinion:
It should be both. Also, looking at The Mansion is one of the most adapted attractions. There have been comics, video games, and books.
These adaptions speak to two big things, the first being that Disney knows how profitable the Mansion is and also how beloved it is by its fans. This movie could have been good if it leaned into what makes the Mansion great being scary and silly but it goes too hard on the silly. I will say that I do believe the people who designed the Mansion for the movie were fans of the attraction. However, I still think this movie has quite a few problems and one of the biggest is creating an original villain for the story. The Mansion is unique in that it’s an attraction that has a villain aka The Bride/Constance Hatchaway.
She’s a Disney villain with a body count for one thing and she is truly terrifying. Also using her would have been a great ride to homage to the history of the ride because Mansion fans are interesting in that they don’t just love the ride but they also love the history of the ride and what it could’ve been. Instead, this movie goes with the blase Butler did it, type villain. I’m sorry but I just find that takes to be a bit boring and even more so when this is a character that has nothing to do with the original attraction. It wasn’t until last Halloween in a Muppets special that Constance finally got to fill the villain role.
And yes, I will be covering her later on in this event. Now, there is a new Haunted Mansion movie coming next year starring the likes of Danny DeVito. Owen Wilson and Tiffany Haddish. Â
So maybe Constance will finally get her to do in a film adaptation. Film adaptions of The Haunted Mansion have an interesting history because at one point there were plans for a tv movie for The Wonderful World of Disney like the Tower of Terror movie
In 1997, the project was picked up again, this time by Keystone Productions. It was not, however, a theatrical release, but rather, as a TV movie to be shown on “The Wonderful World of Disney” in the Fall of 1998. However, Keystone’s other theme park TV movie, Tower of Terror, didn’t pull in decent enough ratings, which resulted in both ABC and Keystone dropping the project.
And funnily (even with everything regarding the Black Widow kerfuffle), Scarlett Johanson is working on a big-screen adaption of the Tower of Terror. Disney seems invested in making more theme park adaptions. As because besides, Mansion and Tower of Terror, there are plans for two more entries in the Pirates franchise. Though I’ve heard they might drop Jack Sparrow and replace him with the new character Redd.
A sequel to Jungle Crusie and an adaption of Space Mountain. And you know what I’d rather have these over more remakes. Anyways, that brings us to the actor that plays the villain here in one of the earlier theme park adaptions.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Governor Nix
April 19, 2022 in Uncategorized
Tomorrowland is such an interesting case when looking at theme park adaptions. It’s adapting a ride but rather a whole land from the Disney Parks. This movie is an interesting case of how you adapt a land. The answer that director Brad Bird seemed to have gone with is to focus on the message of the land. I know it might seem crazy to say a land could have a message but think back to Walt’s Opening Day Speech.
Entering the world of tomorrow might be a literal reading of this particular film but considering that is what our main characters do, I think it fits. This brings us to another key theme that is so important to both Tomorrowland (the land) and Tomorrowland (the movie), hope for a better future. This is laid a bit thick in the beginning when our main character Frank Walker arrives at the 1964 Worlds Fair and There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow from the Carousel of Progress is playing.
Let’s take a look at some of the lyrics.
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of every day
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
And tomorrow’s just a dream away
This ties back into what I said about having hope for a better future. Hope is something that fuels us and drives us. Hope can breed inspiration, hope can keep people going. So often growing up, I had to hear the phrase, “Hope is not a plan” and I sincerely disagree with that line of thinking. I’d rather say “Hope is not the only part of a plan but you still need hope”.  To borrow a line from Star Wars.
The same is true of dreams as they are built on hope. So many of our greatest creative minds started with a dream and they had the forethought and yes to see it through to become a reality. Walt Disney wouldn’t be able to build Disneyland if he didn’t have hope things would work out. Yes, the opening day didn’t go smoothly but that’s a snafu, it’s not someone only relying on hope. When you disregard hope and inspiration, you are already giving up on people. This is an interesting trend I’ve noticed in Bird’s work, especially in films such as The Iron Giant and Incredibles The idea of finding hope when things seem bleak.
Hope is an important thing to have and I’m sorry but hope is very personal to me. I wake up every day hoping I’ll be okay and hoping I won’t have a seizure. yes, it’s been years since I’ve had one, and science such as my VNS has helped but hope is a part of my plan.
This is also where the villain of this film, David Nix comes in, he’s an interesting case because while I do believe in hipe and consider him important, he’s not wrong in some of the things he says. So, I’m kinda conflicted about him as a character. In the one sense, I agree with our main character about needing optimism and that is what Tomorrowland (the land) wants to convey but it’s also hard not to be a little headed after everything that has happened these last few years.
And I know I’m putting too much thought and stock into a theme park land especially considering it mostly houses Pixar IPs nowadays but I don’t think I’m wrong.  Let’s go back to this sign.
Entering the world of tomorrow is such a big component of this movie and the land, it’s based on. Like the song said, “Man has a dream” Having those dreams are true is what drives so many people. Continuing with how the land this is based on, the original attractions like Space Mountain are part of that as they show how we have come by reaching for the stars.
Again, I realize that I am perhaps overthinking things but I truly believe that Tomorrowland represents these things.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villians Profile: Reed Thimple
April 18, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
The Disney Parks have provided great entertainment for millions of people over the years. I am not sure the same can be said for the movie adaptions of their attractions. Not all of them are bad but either they ignore villains the attraction already has or the villains are just dumb.  Today’s villain falls into the latter category. Many people seem to forget The Country Bears was the first attraction-based movie released to theaters. The first movie adapted from an attraction though was a TV Movie and I will cover that later in this series.
Country Bear Jamboree is such an interesting choice to be the first movie based on an attraction. Sure, people love the characters and the show as it is a seat filler.
But I don’t think there was truly enough material for a movie. I’m not saying an adaption can’t work. The Marvel line, Disney Kingdoms did a comic adaption of the Enchanted Tiki Room and like Country Bears, that doesn’t have the biggest material to work with. So, they made it an anthology comic.
Something like that could work for the Bears or perhaps why not make it an animated series consisting of 2 eleven-minute shorts and you could do something like the old Josie and the Pussycats cartoon where the Bears are traveling from one gig to the next. I do think that would have been better if what the movie presents was a generic get the band back together with a story. I think that’s an issue for two reasons, the Bears come across as unlikeable and seems like some of them can’t stand one another in this movie. I have to imagine that this could have left a bad taste in the mouths of fans of the original attraction. What’s so interesting is the 2011 Muppets film has the same plot as this movie down to a fan bringing the groups back together but there’s one key difference, the Muppets never stopped loving each other after they broke up.
Kermit never stopped caring about his friends and oh sure, this movie tries to convince the Bears still care about one another but it doesn’t come through as it should. There’s another issue I feel with using the “let’s get the band back together” trope for this movie. Theme Park fans know the Bears and most love the Bears but compared to an attraction like The Haunted Mansion, I don’t think they had the same cultural relevance. Continuing with my Mansion comparison, that ride itself has a large fanbase. There’s a documentary about the Haunted Mansion fans, I don’t think people are as ecstatic about the Bears in that way. I’ll touch on this in the next entry but people nerd out about the Mansion and the Bears are loveable but they aren’t on that level. This itself raises a larger problem, for people unfamiliar with the Bears, breaking them up is an odd choice as it’s not the best way to get to know them. I don’t know if this needed o be an origin story for the Bears but the 2011 Muppets film was able to get away with this because they are a cultural cornerstone. The Country Bear Jamboree is a nice show that’s fun and yeah does have some memorable moments but it’s not on that level.
I know I said an origin story may not be needed but considering how integral music is to this attraction, I think a music biopic parody could work. Show the rise, fall, and eventual coming back together of the Bears. There are ideas of this with a Behind The Music type show talking about the Bears at the beginning of the movie but why not make that movie. Yes, it’d be cliche and they’d probably make the manager the villain but it’s no more cliche than the villain we have in the actual movie. Speaking of, that is what I am here to look at today and the over next few weeks I’ll look at the various villains from movies adapted from the attractions saved for the Pirates franchise as they have enough villains for their own series.  With this rather long introduction out of the way, let’s begin.
Actor
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is anything but a bad actor. Sure, in recent years he’s become some of a meme online and this movie has provided part of that.
Walken can play fun and good roles. Just take a look at this list.  But even if we want to look at iconic villains he’s played, there’s Max Shreck in Batman Returns that has all the Walken-isms people expect but he can still be threatening and scary. This isn’t the worst villain Walken has ever played in my opinion, see Peter Pan Live! It’s just that this isn’t a great character that is memorable but not for being a good villain.
This is a larger issue with these attraction adaptions. When I tweeted out about the villains from theme park movie villains, I said most of them suck. My friend Brittany quote tweeted that saying Terrance Stamp in Haunted Mansion and Jesse Plemons in Jungle Crusie were trying but didn’t have enough material to work with. I think that is also true of Walken in this movie as well. I feel as though the director just told Walen to be goofy and silly. A comedic villain isn’t bad. Look at Yzma.
But Eartha Kitt still made Yzma feel like a threat while being funny. Whereas Walken as Reed Thimple is a joke character that honestly crosses the line into stupidity especially when it’s revealed why he hates The Bears.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: John Silver (Brian Murray)
April 13, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
We’ve now reached the final entry in my look at the various adaptions of Long John Silver from Disney’s adaptions. This final take is perhaps the most interesting version for many reasons. Let’s start with this is a science-fiction take on the story and surprisingly mixing sci-fi with a pirate adventure works rather well. IT also brings a new element to the story. The 1950s movie was just a straight adaption, the Muppets adaption brought a comedic bent to the story whereas this movie seems to focus more on the emotional journey that the characters go through and that is felt with the relationship between Jim and Silver in this movie. Out of the three versions of Silver from Disney adaptions, the one from Treasure Planet is the most sympathetic. Robert Newton’s Silver was nothing more than a bad guy through and through. There were glimmers of him caring for Jim but his villainous side won out in the end. Tim Curry’s Silver was goofy and silly to fit with the tone of the Muppets. Brian Murray’s Silver makes you want to root for him to do the right thing.
Voice Actor
Brian Murray
There is just something about Murray’s Silver that for the most part makes him seem rather warm. I say for the most part as he is still a pirate after all. And as I’ll discuss when looking at his personality, he has a certain gruffness.  This comes through most in Murray’s voice performance of Silver because of the way Silver talks, you want to trust him but are never truly sure if you can.
First Appearance
Much like Curry’s Silver, we do not meet Murray’s Silver until we board the ship and that again helps to set up what kind of person Silver is. It also in a way makes him seem more trustworthy than he is at first glance.
Personality
Silver in this film is rough around the edges. He has a rough exterior hiding a gentle soul beneath that gruffness. He’s not a bad person. He is a good person, even if he may have convinced himself otherwise. This is most evident in how he attempts to downplay how much he has come to care about Jim.
Relationship with Jim Hawkins
There are two moments that I believe sum up Silver’s relationship with Jim in this movie. The first is the montage set during the song, “I’m Still Here”
All the moments in this montage show how these two go from tolerating each other to becoming a family. The biggest moment that alludes to this is when Silver sees a sleeping Jim after having cleaned all the dishes and he places his jacket on the boy as a blanket. Speaking of family, this montage works in another aspect. It contrasts the relationship building between Jim and Silver with the relationship Jim never had with his father.  As we see his father walk out on his family when Jim was still a little kid.
It’s interesting how this character never says anything and until looking up images for this blog, I had no idea that this character had a name. He’s named Leland but I didn’t know that and I don’t think it matters either because the way the movie presents him shows him as someone that doesn’t care about his family. However, when we see Silver looking after Jim, we see someone that does care. This brings me to the other moment that highlights the strength of the relationship between these two.
This speech here further highlights the fatherly nature of Silver. His telling Jim that he has the “making of greatness” truly sounds like something like a father would tell them when they’re proud of them and that is what we are shown with the Jim and Silver relationship.
Most Evil Deed
While Silver from Treasure Planet may be the most sympathetic version of the character, he does seem to pull off the evilest deed of any of the Disney Silvers when he starts a mutiny on the ship.
This is perhaps the one time where Silver becomes truly villainous and you think that there’s no hope of redemption for him. It’s honestly rather sad to see him give in to his more unscrupulous side as he damages the ship and is willing to attack the crew. Admittedly, he doesn’t commit the worst deed in this film as that goes to Mr. Scroop killing Mr. Arrow but for what Silver does, this is pretty bad.
The Last We See of Long John Silver
Interestingly, the last time we see John Silver isn’t as a person but rather as a cloud after Jim has returned to The Benbow Inn.
This is such a nice touch because while it’s not Silver himself, it shows Jim thinking about him and how much Silver has come to mean to him that he perhaps is wishing that Silver could be there joining in the celebration at the Inn. He has truly come to love Silver. Now, while this is the last time we see Silver in this movie, there were plans for a sequel but considering that this movie didn’t do all that well at the box office, the sequel never came to be. Jim and Silver would have reunited.Â
Jim, Kate, and Silver soon reconcile with one another and Silver reveals that he has smuggled a ton of weapons that can help destroy the Centurion.
Now, there was a sequel game that did reunite Jim and Silver. Â
So, there is that.
Is Brian Murray A Good Long John Silver?
Yes, absolutely yes. He’s in my opinion the best take on Silver of the three I’ve looked at in this series. There is so much weight, depth and emotion brought to his portrayal of the character that truly makes you care for him. As I said throughout, he’s a character that you root for to do the right thing.
While I’m done looking at the various adaptions of Long John Silver, I’m not quite done with villains yet because coming at a later date will be something else I’ve wanted to do for a while is Theme Park Adaption Villains. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. This’ll cover six villains and that is because I’m leaving out the Pirates of the Caribbean movies as there are enough villains in that franchise for that to be its own series. That’ll come sometime in the future and you can expect at least one of them to be a crossover.
by Moviefan
April is (A poem about being autistic)
April 7, 2022 in Blogs
A lot of people in the autistic community hate the month of April because of Autism Acceptance/Awareness Month. It just rings hollow to so many of us and having to see that damn puzzle piece everywhere makes it worse. Then you have autism parents, who make their kids’ autism all about them. This poem reflects my frustrations with this month.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Long John Silver (Tim Curry)
April 4, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
As I continue my look at the various takes on Long John Silver, we are looking at what I believe is the first adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story I saw.
Much like The Muppet Christmas Carol before it, this movie is a fun and silly take on Treasure Island.  One of the biggest elements that I believe helps this movie be so memorable for so many is the performance of Tim Curry as Long John Silver. Curry has played many memorable villainous roles and for ’90s kids, his performance as Long John Silver may be in that grouping.
This is not the first nor the last time that I will be looking at Curry for this series as when I did my Christmas Villains series, I took a look at Maestro Forte, one of his lesser villainous roles. Thankfully, we have a great villainous role to look at.
It is always a treasure to look at a character played by Tim Curry.
by Moviefan
A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Long John Silver (Robert Newton)
March 21, 2022 in A Look at Disney, Blogs
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be doing something a bit different with Villains Profile. I’ll be taking a look at three takes on Long John Silver from three different movies. Starting with the 1950 adaption. Now, this movie marks an important moment for Disney as it was the first fully live-action movie from Disney.  Today, however, we are taking a look at where it all began. I will admit that I’ve yet to read the original work but I have ordered a copy off of the wonder Better World Books. For the most part, I will be focusing on the film portrayals f Silver. However, there are two tv takes I might look at later and there are some other adjustments I will have to make with this series.
Firstly, I think it is rather reductive to cover grand desire in all three entries as it remains the same for every version of Silver. Also, considering that in most adaptions, he gets away, demise will have to be excised for this series. Replacing them however will be a category that is rather significant to this character. One of the biggest reasons I find Silver to be such a fascinating character is his relationship with Jim Hawkins. Years ago when I did a Top 6 Disney Dads list with an ex-friend, I included the Treasure Planet version of the character on my list.
This is the aspect I’m most excited about exploring in Robert Louis Stevenson’s original text as yes, Silver is the antagonist of the story and it’s easy to hate what he does. But I think I hate it just a bit more because of how he betrays Jim. There is a true sense of hurt and betrayal of both parts as Silver took Jim under his wing and Jim came to care for the young Hawkins boy very much. This is something I will touch upon when I look at how Newton’s take but it’s not that it’s unbelievable but compared to the other two movies, I’ll be looking at it feels the least developed. It’s not completely fair to compare a 1950 straight adventure movie to a mid-90s Muppet movie and an early 2000s sci-fi bent on the story. But my point does stand in that, I have a hard time buying the relationship between Silver and Jim in this version.
Actor
Robert Newton
I do enjoy Newton in the role as he does bring a roughness to the role which does add quite a bit more of a menace to his version of Silver. And do understand that I like him in the role but I just think the actors that came after him were better. Now it appears as though Newton reprised the role twice, once in a non-Disney sequel named after his character and a tv series.
Considering, this is a Disney blog, I will not be looking at those. However, I may watch the sequel as it’s on Tubi and was even helmed by the same director of this movie, Bryon Haskin. so, that does make me think the two might share some canonicity.  In many ways, Newton’s portrayal of Silver is important as it set the standard for what society would come to think of pirates of in the decades since this movie’s release. This makes a lot of sense as while I was watching this movie for this I felt as though Newton’s Silver would not have felt out of place on Pirates of the Caribbean.
It honestly feels as though, he’d naturally fit there. More so than Captain Jack Sparrow but that’s a story for another day.
