Disney legancy and Hullaboloo

The original depiction of the Nautilus by
Alphonse de Neuville and Edouard Riou

So… This isn’t according to plan. It appears my old provider was taken Tupperwaresteampunk.nl hostage and demands ransom. Now I have to wait 38 days or so until the domain has been freed and the moving to the new provider can begin in earnest. So, not only does mijndomein.nl webmaker suck. So does it’s information they give you regarding moving away. Wonderfull.

Now then, something more positive. Hullaboloo!

  

Disney has had a pronounced impact on Steampunk decades before Steampunk even became a thing. 1954's Walt Disney picture 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has, and will be, honourably mentioned in all books on Steampunk and it's history because of it's aesthetics.

When people recall the Nautilus from Jules Verne's original book, they always picture the Disney version of this vessel, even if they haven´t seen the movie. That tells us something about this movies influence.

Walt Disney himself was a sciencenut. He had an almost Gene Roddenberry-like optimism about the future of technology and how it would effect people. So all the Disney themeparks have some ‘tomorrows-future- today’ kind of attractions, like Star Tours in Disney World or Spacemountain in Eurodisney (Paris).
That, combined with the All-American themes that can be found around these park it’s ain’t surprising some attraction, maybe without the designers realizing it, got a Steampunkish vibe to them. Or maybe they simply tried to recreate the style of 20,000 leagues under the sea.Whatever the case, Disney is important for the Steampunk culture in a sense because it was so ahead of it time.

It became kind of a tradition. In 2004 they made anothter Jule Verne adoptation of

‘Around the World in 80 Days’. But this isn't the only title that has an indirect link to Steampunk. The even delved it what we now call Dieselpunk, like withThe Rockeeter (1991) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). Even the series Tailspin were kind of Dieselpunkish and included skypirates.
Rescue Rangers also had a DIY-character named Gadget (for some reason she was named Misty in the Dutch version) that had build an airship from a plastic bottle and a balloon. 

These days Disney seem to have even embraced the Steampunkish side of they’re work. There is a ´Phineas and Ferb´ episode dedicated to a Jules Vernian-past called ‘Steampunx’. This includes the song ‘A brave New World’ by none other than Professor Elemental himself… Have I ever mentioned Steampunk is considered part of the mainstream in the US? 

So, can we expect a full blown Steampunk production from Disney? … I dunno. Looked for their upcoming releases but couldn’t find any.

Therefore we ‘ll have to do with Hullabaloo.

This crowdfunded animated shortfilm is now on Indiegogo. It will be produced by James Lopez, know from Disney’s The Lion King and The Emperor’s New Groove.
So will it be good? Probably.
Will it be great? … Let’s hope so. And here is my reason why. Right know Steampunk lacks a an iconic character, like Superman is to superheroes or Indiana Jones is the adventure films. Could Hullabaloo’s Veronica Darling be this character? It better be. With 25 days left it has already exceed it’s 80,000 dollar goal with nearly 100,000. So yeah. With that much support they better make it work… No pressure James.

You want to support this project?  Like it on facebook and visit their indigogo-page. Better yet, support it!