Disney-comics digest #191.

[James Williams]

>The guy who played Ebenezer Scrooge in MICKEY'S XMAS CAROL was
>no more the real $crooge McDuck as was the guy on DUCKTALES. It was 
>the Disney Corporation's usual misuse of that Dell/Barks character. 

Two comments:

First, why is this called Mickey's ..., he had a minor role.  It
should have been Disney's ...

Second, I don't think Disney is mis-using their characters.  Disney's
characters don't have any personalities.  Their personalities vary
based on Disney's need.  Disney has always seen them more as actors
playing roles than anything else.  In their mind, Bark's US is just
one role played by US.

>I won't even watch old DD cartoons any more because of that awful
>voice they gave Don

I've always been amazed that a studio which did such pioneering work
in animation, never understood the role sound plays in animation.  They
really limited Donald and Chip-and-Dale because of their voices.

>I won't even watch old DD cartoons any more partly because of the
>violence.

I've always wondered where the attitute that "Disney=Wholesome" came
from.  Their early work was extremely violent and often tasteless.
Their characters were mischevious.  This unwholesomeness was prevelent
in both their newspaper strips and animation.

>Of course we could say: who cares, it's just a different character. 
>But the danger is, that people can't distinguish them, and think the
>comic books $crooge is the same as the TV $crooge.  Even comic editors
>started to think that way, with disasterous effects on the comics...

Agreed.  It was obvious that Len Wein and Marv Wolfman went to Disney
for the money, not because they loved the characters.  The result were
a bunch of rotten comics.

Unfortunatley, the opposite isn't always true.  Egmont is run by people
who love the characters.  Egmont only hires creators with the same 
attitude.  But, they still produce tons of garbage.  

Happy Holidays
James Williams