So John Musker and Ron Clements has this passion project. What if Treasure Island… but in space? (Not to be confused with an Italian miniseries starring Ernest Borgnine with the same concept.)

So Michael Eisner was like, “No, that’s dumb. You’re dumb.” And then they went, “OK…. how about this movie about a mermaid.” And together they went and made history by kicking off the Disney Renaissance.

So with that success in their cap, Musker and Clements went, “OK, we delivered you a hit. NOW can we make this space Treasure Island?” And Disney chiefs were like, “No, still terrible. Do something else.”

So Musker and Clements made Aladdin instead.

After that, they were all, “OK, Disney, we delivered you two bonafide hits. Can we please now work on this passion project of ours?” And they were like, “Tell you what. You make Hercules and you can work on this fool project of yours. Roy Disney gave you the green light.”

So they did. And they did. Treasure Planet finally hit theaters.

And in the end… it was a huge flop.

That said, it is a really great looking film that holds up. I watched it this weekend on Disney Plus with my family and it was quite transfixing. The most entranced was my one-year-old niece. You can’t get her to sit through anything that’s not Peppa Pig, but she sat through this. I think it was the amazing visuals that kept her riveted.

Part of the fun is trying to catch all the references to the Robert Louis Stevenson Original. My wife was like, “They don’t get that Silver is a pirate? He’s totally a pirate!” But the only reason he comes across as a pirate is because the OG is the whole reason we think of pirates the way we do.

Anyway, if you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it. Also David Hyde Pierce plays a dog man who falls in love with a cat person who is a gender-swapped version of the Captain from the original book.

Building Entertainment: The Animated Films of the Walt Disney Studio. Treasure Planet

Treasure Planet’s Box Office Failure Only Made its Fandom Grow Stronger