KnockBack, Episode 47: The Films of Don Bluth

Just finished watching the land before time. Still makes me cry Ffs lol

Ryan Hughes

Well, I'm glad we (well, Dagan) could change your outlook a little bit! Now go have fun. =)

Colin Moriarty

This is one of the best Knockback episodes yet. Dagan's deep dive into Bluth's best work really changed the way I looked at these movies. They no longer just represent the "Not Disney" VHS tapes that my sister and I wore out as kids, but a more compelling answer to what Pre-Renaissance was not willing to offer.

AndyofCT

Very interesting story. You should Tweet Dagan and let him know this story! He loves hearing stuff like this. =)

Colin Moriarty

Really nice comment. What you're saying definitely rings true with me. Land Before Time and An American Tale, in particular, are really rough on the story front (when it comes to emotion and gravity). Very un-Disney, in some respect (though we did get that a little bit with films like Bambi).

Colin Moriarty

Great episode. As someone who was around at Fox Animation briefly during the production of Titan AE, I can tell you that it was a troubled production from the get go. It was originally going to be done entirely in CG by another studio. But Fox didn’t think the tech was there yet. As Dagan mentioned in the episode, animated films are meticulously written and story boarded before final animation. In the case of Titan AE, there was a rewrite that trashed months of animation work during production.

Patrick A Crone

Love these animation deep dives with Dagan. Saw a copy of “All Dogs Go to Heaven” and had to scoop it up recently. I vividly recall that Don Bluth films always filled me with existential angst as a child. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but his films always seemed to have a crisis of finitude at the center, and whether couched in unassuming visuals or not, they simply took me to a place no other media did at the time. They aren’t “good”memories or “bad” per se, but I do think of them in connection with the loss of innocence we all endure as we transition into young adult hood. Bluth had a way of presenting the human experience very dialectically, even if the mouth pieces were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. Thank you guys, always a pleasure.

Ryan B.

Even knowing that I'm wrong, I don't think I'll ever unsee it.

Colin Moriarty

Really great episode, guys. I laughed pretty hard when Colin admitted to picturing Dom Delouise as Don Bluth since I do the same thing, even now.

Coconut Wizard

I honestly didn't know he did so much until I started reading about him, myself. Pretty extraordinary, really!

Colin Moriarty

I didn't realize until watching this that Don Bluth was involved in all of my most treasured childhood movies. Iron Giant, Land Before Time, Anastasia, and the big surprise for me (even tho this may had been mentioned in an earlier KnockBack) The Rescuers. The Rescuers was my favorite really young childhood fave movie(4-5 Y/O) and the iron giant later (maybe 6-10 Y/O). I stopped listening because I'm going to watch The Secret of Nimh. By the way I'm 20 years old just in case you're curios.

Simon Payne

I don't see why we wouldn't, but I defer to Dagan!

Colin Moriarty

I'm quite fond of the Truth or Date, But Truth segment in its totality. LOL.

Colin Moriarty

Fair enough! Thank you for your feedback. (I'm not editing the podcast myself anymore, so I haven't listened to it since we recorded it. I will be mindful during our next wave!)

Colin Moriarty

You're very welcome. Thank you for your support!

Colin Moriarty

I also like these kinds of episodes. Thank you for taking the time to listen!

Colin Moriarty

That's high praise! Thank you for listening.

Colin Moriarty

This episode is awesome. I'm a big fan of animation, though I could never do it myself. Do you think you guys will ever go over a different animator like this? I think you could go into Brad Bird's history, or maybe John Lasseter. They're both really storied figures and I'd love to hear more of their background from Dagan's perspective. Basically keep the animation stuff coming, because it's awesome.

Steven

💞👍🏻

BettyAnn Moriarty

Talking about the truth or truth segment, I certainly first thought of Breaking Bad, but also you guys talked about villains sometimes just having more appeal or intrigue I definitely think of Batman in that case Also I had no idea Don Bluth was mormon

Tyson Williams

Love Dagan episodes. One criticism of this episode is that it took forever to start.

BM

Thanks for this colin! 😉 NIMH

matthew walker

This episode was my favorite Knockback yet. When I was really young I saw Secret of Nimh and it scared me so bad that my brain erased it from my memory until you guys started talking about it. Thankfully my YouTube channel is all about things that are scary so I'm going to make a video about it. Thanks guys!

Jimmy Champane

Loved The Land Before Time and An American Tail! Never knew they had the same creative force behind them. Been many moons so it was fun to hear about those movies along with a cool detailed history of it all. Will have to keep an eye out for Secret of Nimh as I don’t recall ever seeing it. Had no idea what to expect from this one but it was great! The LOTR addendum would be fine with me! Just watched all 3 extended additions over New Years. As always keep up the great work! I hope KnockBack grows like crazy!

Nick DeBoer

This is a long one, so settle in!

Colin Moriarty

We're gonna do a separate show for Bluth's games. =D

Colin Moriarty

Better late than never, I suppose.

Colin Moriarty

I'm not entirely sure I've even seen it.

Colin Moriarty

I love the "The Land Before Time" movies. Looking forward to listening to this. Haven't had the time yet... Might save it for the weekend since I actually get a weekend off of work finally.

Andrew

As I entered my 20s, I realized that the animated movies that really stuck with me were the strange ones that took chances. Rock-a-doodle and Secret of NIMH being two of them. Love Don Bluth (Space Ace and Dragon's Lair are my jam) so this should be fun.

I’m almost 30 and I just realized that Fievel Goes West was a sequel.

Brandon Hardman

I enjoyed Titan A.E. when I was younger. Though I'm not sure how well it holds up. I think it's on Amazon prime if anyone wants to check it out.

Levi Williams

Let us know what you think!

Colin Moriarty

It's Ali. But don't worry. Everyone mispells it. =D I think we will do that. She was somewhat insistent when I saw her last month!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! He's the best. I'm so happy that the audience agrees!

Colin Moriarty

So stoked for this episode. All Dogs go to Heaven still makes me sob like a baby 😭 can’t wait to hear Dagan’s take on Don’s work especially

DB Cooper

Neat ep..... I had no idea so many movies I watched as a kid came from this one guy. In fact, I hadn't heard (or maybe remembered?) the name Don Bluth before this. It's almost embarassing... except that shortly after "childhood" - so by the time I was 12 or so - I had completely lost interest in animation until I was 18-19 or so and discovered Anime... specifically Street Fighter 2 and Akira and so forth from there. Anyways, long tangent-y rant aside, I think I would appreciate that "addendum" ep on Lord of the Rings with Ally? Ali? Alli? However it's spelled... sounds good to me 'cause while I enjoyed the movies I couldn't bring myself to read the books.

I could listen to Dagan wax poetic about animation all day! His passion is infectious and I always walk away from these podcasts feeling inspired. Great listen as always gentleman!

Phillip Guglielmo

Awesome! I hope you have fun listening to it.

Colin Moriarty

Glad you enjoyed! Thank you for listening.

Colin Moriarty

I don't know a whole lot about animation, but just hearing the passion and detail from Dagan on the topic makes it so interesting. Can't wait to listen!

Andrew Martin

I loved American Tail and Land Before Time growing up and I thought they were Disney movies. I’m glad you guys dove into these movies especially since they don’t get enough love. Dagan really shines through in these topics

strawhatninja

Me too! Our rule as far as timing is concerned is simple: These shows should be as long as they need to be!

Colin Moriarty

I completely agree, and I told him as such! I take over episodes, too. It's all about what makes sense. He needs to believe in himself more!

Colin Moriarty

Gladly. =)

Colin Moriarty

Agreed!

Colin Moriarty

=)

Colin Moriarty

Turns out it was all a lie.

Colin Moriarty

Honestly speaking, I'm actually glad that this one is 2.5 hrs. It really gives time for Dagan to really dive into these Knockback topics.

Edward Walton

Also, Fievel Goes West was awesome too.

Barrett Boswell

Thanks Colin and Dagan. I definitely grew up watching all the Don Bluth movies on VHS and was always more enamored with those movies than the Disney ones, despite their darker tone in many of them. I was obsessed with Land Before Time. Wanted to give a shout out though to some of the orchestral scores in the movies. I remember watching An American Tail just to listen to the orchestral score.

Barrett Boswell

Going to have to go watch the Secret of Nimh and then listen to that part of podcast that I skipped. I would also like to add that Dagan shouldn't apologize for dominating the podcast when it's a topic so on-point for him.

David Graham

Dagan spitting knowledge on animation is my drug. Inject that shit into my arm

Andrew

Dagan is the best.

Inedible Trout

Fuck yeah!!!!

Daniel Alcala

*sings* There are no cats in Americaaaaa, and the streets are paved with ch-eese!

Jason Stafford