(c) Disney

As for the final title in this release package, Vintage Mickey presents nine of the Mouse’s early, black and white shorts, including his screen debut in the history-making Steamboat Willie (1928). Of the other cartoons included, notable ones include Plane Crazy (1928; the first Mickey made, but third released after sound was added), The Karnival Kid (1929; the first time Mickey actually talks), Mickey’s Revue (1932; the first appearance of Goofy) and the Oscar-nominated Mickey’s Orphans (1931) and Building a Building (1933; a personal favorite - I’m a sucker for Minnie’s “Lunch Box�? song).

Obviously, all of these shorts have been previously made available on the two volumes of Walt Disney Treasure sets, Mickey Mouse in Black and White (all but two on Volume 1; The Castaway (1931) and Mickey’s Steam-Roller (1934) are on Volume 2), so anyone who already owns those has no need for this disc, especially since there are no extras at all on it. But for anyone who finds the Treasures too expensive and/or hard to find, but would still like to own some of the Mouse’s early works (especially Willie), this disc would be ideal.

• School may be out, but its in session for Sky High, a super-hero academy headed by Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston (July 9^th).
• Before Chicken Little hits the skies, Disney presents Vanguard Animation’s Valiant, another computer-animated comedy about a feathered misfit of a hero, a plucky pigeon who saves the R.A.F. during World War II (August 19^th).
• Go back to the beach for some more Hawaiian fun with Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, making its debut on Disney DVD August 30^th.

• Wes Craven presents Dracula III: Legacy starring Roy Scheider and Rutger Hauer as the Prince of Darkness (July 12^th).
• Its Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion time: Michelle Trachtenberg is the Ice Princess (co-starring Joan Cusack, Kim Cattrall and Hayden Panettiere) and David Boreanaz is Death in The Crow: Wicked Prayer (co-starring Edward Furlong, Tara Reid and Dennis Hopper); and more Baby Einstein fun with Baby Einstein: Baby Wordsworth (July 19^th).
• From the vaults: the sea-faring comedy The Beatniks (starring Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers and Phil Silvers), the historical adventure Johnny Tremain (Hal Stalmaster, Luana Patton and Sebastian Cabot), the nostalgic Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus (Kevin Corcoran) and the fish-out-of-water comedy The World’s Greatest Athlete (Tim Conway, John Amos and Jan-Michael Vincent); also: before she was Desperate, Teri Hatcher co-starred with Louis Gossett Jr. in the made-for-TV thriller Momentum; and Holly Hunter and Ron Silver play tennis foes Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs in ABC’s When Billie Met Bobby (August 2^nd).
• From the “It’s About Time�? Department: get ready for a totally Muppet-tational happening with the DVD debut of The Muppet Show: The Complete First Season; and from the “Look How Fall They Have Fallen�? Department: the dreadful depressing The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (August 9^th).
• It’s all about the twos on August 16^th: more single-disc short collections with two volumes of Walt Disney’s Timeless Tales (including Three Little Pigs, The Grasshopper and the Ants and The Tortoise and the Hare on Volume 1 and The Ugly Duckling, Ferdinand the Bull and The Country Cousin on Volume 2); two Disney Channel series appear on That’s So Raven: Disguise the Limit and Phil of the Future: Gadgets & Gizmos; two more Studio Ghibli favorites: My Neighbors the Yamadas and Pom Poko (the latter in a two-disc special edition); two Miramax Special Editions with the Academy Award-winning My Left Foot (starring Oscar-winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker) and The Glass Shield (starring non-Oscar-winners Ice Cube and Lori Petty); and the DVD debut of the recent comic book noir Sin City, which had two directors, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller.
• More TV sets with the third season of Boy Meets World, the second season of Once and Again and the complete series of Life As We Know It; the Baby Einsteins grow up (a little bit) in the feature-length Little Einsteins: Our Huge Adventure, soon to be a Playhouse Disney series; and Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet get all gooey-eyed with each other in the recent romantic comedy A Lot Like Love (August 23^rd).