Fantasia Trivia

1. Seasons change and flowers dance in which section of "Fantasia" or "Fantasia 2000"?

From Quiz "Fantasia": Name that Segment

Answer: The Nutcracker

"The Nutcracker" is a Tchaikovsky ballet about a transformed prince and the girl who breaks his enchantment. The Disney animation team nixed that idea when creating animation about dancing flowers, fish, fairies creating dew, and the passing of summer to autumn to winter. Pieces used include "Arabian Dance", "Dance of the Reed Flutes", and "Waltz of the Flowers". This segment comes from "Fantasia".

From Quiz Walt Disney's 'Fantasia' (1940)

Answer: Deems Taylor

After the members of the orchestra enter in a room filled with blue light, Deems Taylor introduces himself at the beginning of 'Fantasia'. He tells the viewer that there are three kinds of music on Fantasia: the kind that tells a definite story, the kind that has no plot but paints definite pictures, and "music that exists simply for its own sake". Taylor (1885-1966) was an American composer but also a critic and a promoter of classical music, known to some as the "dean of American music". He served many years as intermission commentator for the New York Philharmonic. He was a natural choice to serve as the narrator and commentator for 'Fantasia', and he also played a large role in the selection of musical pieces for the project. All of Deems Taylor's voicework in the original two-hour release (and in later DVD and Blu-Ray releases) was overdubbed by Corey Burton because of degradation of the original recording. In the 115-minute theatrical rereleases that most audiences had become familiar with before the 21st century, much of Taylor's commentaries were deleted.

From Quiz Fantasia 2000

Answer: Butterflies

Sixty-eight pastel drawings were used to make the segment. Ludwig van Beethoven's piece "Symphony No. 5" played over the visual of butterflies and bats fighting against each other.

From Quiz "Fantasia" Fun

Answer: Stone slab

The first piece to be shown in "Fantasia" was Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor", which had most images take place in a sky setting. It was towards the end of the animation when a large stone slab appeared but then got smaller on account of each beat of music. The piece ended with a bright orange sky as the background while the music played out.

From Quiz Disney's "Fantasia"

Answer: Mozart

Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)" would have made a great segment! The ones that were used were Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor", Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony", and Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite".

From Quiz 'Fantasia' and 'Fantasia 2000'

Answer: 1940

For the record, '2000' was released as an IMAX movie in November 1999. I personally consider the original the grandfather of the modern music video, an artistic expression of music (outside ballet) by someone other than the composer.

From Quiz "Fantasia": Name that Segment

Answer: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

This is the only segment included in both films. Unlike with most "Fantasia" shorts, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" directly represents the composer's (in this case, Dukas) story intentions. The apprentice uses his master's hat to animate a broom to do his manual labor but cannot control the magic enough to make the broom stop, and a massive flood ensues. This short introduced Mickey Mouse's new design, and the image of Mickey in his robes and magic hat became a symbol for the Disney company for years.

From Quiz Walt Disney's 'Fantasia' (1940)

Answer: mostly abstract animation

During this first sequence, featuring Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D Minor', the viewer is treated first to impressions of the musicians, then the instruments, then colors and lines (with some clouds, landscapes, and other forms) that move with the music. The Master of Ceremonies, Deems Taylor, invites the viewer to enjoy what he calls music for its own sake, or absolute music, and a series of images that might pass through a listener's mind as he sits in a concert hall listening to the music, at first conscious of the orchestra but then letting his mind float freely. The music itself is an arrangement of Bach's 'Toccata', originally an organ piece, for a full orchestra, written and conducted by Leopold Stowkowski (1882-1977), a figure who would have been well-known to audiences in 1940 for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his free-hand conducting style (no baton), as seen in 'Fantasia'. He conducts all of the music, which is played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, in the film.

From Quiz Fantasia 2000

Answer: Violin

Steve Martin boasted that he could play the violin like Itzhak Perlman, right before he broke the violin bow. Itzhak introduced the second "Fantasia 2000" piece because he played violin just as the artist did.

From Quiz "Fantasia 2000" Facts and Fun

Answer: Humpback

Various celebrities introduced the musical numbers, with Steve Martin discussing Respighi's "Pines of Rome". The musical piece discussed the effects of a supernova. Apparently, the humpback whale in this cartoon was able to do a lot thanks to that juggernaut.

From Quiz Ultimate "Fantasia" Quiz

Answer: amaze ya.

This was Disney's highly publicized slogan for the 1946 re-release.

From Quiz 'Fantasia' and 'Fantasia 2000'

Answer: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Paul Dukas' tale of a magician's assistant (Mickey Mouse) attempting his own brand of magic with disastrous results. The re-release in 2000 was introduced by magicians Penn and Teller.

From Quiz "Fantasia": Name that Segment

Answer: Piano Concerto No. 2

The Andersen story "The Steadfast Tin Solider", in which a one-legged toy soldier defends a ballerina doll from a jack-in-the-box, features a happier ending than the original because Shostakovich's concerto ends on an upbeat note. Walt Disney himself wanted to put this fairy tale to animation, but the project never materialized. Once made, it ended up in "Fantasia 2000".

From Quiz Fantasia 2000

Answer: Whales

"Pines of Rome" was the second in a trilogy of tone poems by Ottorino Respighi. Disney took the music and drew a movie about a pod of whales. When a young whale was separated from its mother, it tried desperately to return to the pod. When the mother retrieved her baby, she and the rest of the pod ascended into the sky.

From Quiz Disney's "Fantasia"

Answer: Boris Karloff

Bela Lugosi was the model for Chernabog in the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence. Officially he was based on Karloff, but rumours abound that animators secretly modelled the character after Walt himself. He is even called Yen Sid which is Disney backwards.

From Quiz 'Fantasia' and 'Fantasia 2000'

Answer: Carnival of the Animals

Written by Camille Saint-Saens it became a marvelous piece involving a yo-yo and a bunch of flamingoes. Liner notes for the movie state that Saint-Saens detested the music and would only allow it to be performed after he died.

From Quiz "Fantasia": Name that Segment

Answer: Night on Bald Mountain

This segment from "Fantasia" is usually considered as one with the next, Schubert's "Ave Maria", as the demonic dances of "Night" are defeated by the soft notes of "Maria". This version of "Night on Bald Mountain" was not completely composed by Modest Mussorgsky but rather arranged by Rimsky-Korsakov. The original wasn't published until the 1960s. Some of versions of Mussorgsky's opera "The Fair at Sorochyntsi" feature "Night" as a dance.

From Quiz Walt Disney's 'Fantasia' (1940)

Answer: Mickey Mouse

It may be hard to imagine, but the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' sequence (the animation and the concept, not the music) was created as a comeback vehicle for the center of the classic Disney universe, Mickey Mouse, who had already begun to decline in popularity by the end of the 1930s. It was planned to be a short in the 'Silly Symphonies' series, but instead Walt Disney decided to make it part of a larger film (lucky for us). As MC Deems Taylor points out, this piece tells a clearly defined story, one that Disney altered little in the animated telling. An apprentice is tired of the drudgework he is assigned, and uses the sorcerer's hat and spellbook to make his broom fetch the water. But the broom won't stop, and so Mickey chops it to pieces. But the pieces come to life and continue to fetch water until Mickey finds himself underwater. The spell is broken when the sorcerer returns and restores order. The music is Paul Dukas' symphonic poem "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1897), based on a 1797 poem by Goethe. To emphasize Mickey Mouse's comeback, the animators have the little fellow shake the hand of the conductor Leopold Stokowski in silhouette after the sequence is over.

From Quiz Fantasia 2000

Answer: New York City

This was the first time a George Gershwin piece starred in a "Fantasia" movie. Quincy Jones opened the movie segment that was drawn in the style of caricaturist, Al Hirschfield. The movie segment followed a day in the life of four people whose lives intersected without any of them knowing it.

From Quiz "Fantasia" Fun

Answer: A broom

Paul Dukas wrote a poem called "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and it became the third animated piece in "Fantasia". It opened up with the sorcerer practicing magic and then he stopped as he was getting tired. Once the sorcerer went to bed, the apprentice decided to try to perform his own magic. He did this by bringing a broom to life.

From Quiz 'Fantasia' and 'Fantasia 2000'

Answer: Beethoven

Beethoven's Sixth ('Pastorale') Symphony is made into an homage to Greek mythology in the first film, while flying geometric figures mark his Fifth Symphony, opening the second film. While 'Paul Dukas' is also technically correct, it is for the same music and animation ('The Sorcerer's Apprentice').

From Quiz "Fantasia": Name that Segment

Answer: The Firebird

The twenty-minute "Firebird Suite" was adapted from Stravinsky's own ballet about a prince who calls upon a bird to save his village from demons. In "Fantasia 2000", a nature spirit's home is destroyed by a volcano she accidentally awakens, and she must replenish the land afterwards. The full ballet runs about fifty minutes; the pieces used in the film are "Round Dance of the Princesses", "Infernal Dance of King Kashchei", "Berceuse", and "Finale". The parody film "Allegro non troppo" from 1976 also features a sequence set to "The Firebird"; it tells the story of what would happen were Adam and Eve to refuse to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree (the serpent eats it instead and becomes corrupt).

From Quiz Walt Disney's 'Fantasia' (1940)

Answer: the natural history of the Earth (including dinosaurs)

In 'Fantasia', Deems Taylor describes the sequence as a "coldly accurate reproduction of what Science thinks first went on during the few billion years of this planet's existence. Science, not art, wrote the scenario of this picture." And indeed, Walt Disney consulted with astronomer Edwin Hubble (for whom the telescope is named), biologist Julian Huxley, along with paleontologists at both the American Museum of Natural History and Caltech. The 'Rite of Spring' sequence was used in American science classes for many years, and it inspired Stephen Jay Gould to become a paleontologist. Taylor invites the listener to imagine himself as observers in outer space "looking down on this lonely, tormented little planet", with its volcanoes and steam clouds. We watch the lifeless Earth develop cellular life forms and eventually plants and animals. A significant portion of the segment deals with the dinosaurs, depicted as they were in the mid-20th century as slow, lumbering creatures with dragging tails. The manner of their extinction is considered inaccurate by 21st century standards, and it is rather lingering besides, and somewhat moving. The original plan was to include the rise of mammals and eventually humans and the discovery of fire. According to the art director of the segment, John Hubley, "fundamentalists... threatened to make trouble for 'Fantasia' if Walt connected evolution with human beings." He went on to say, however, that his boss "had a fundamentalist background... so he was a little bit torn between that and wanting to go with science. I think he really understood the rightness of the science, but he was a showman, you know, kind of mystical on that." The orchestral work itself was a tad controversial at the time, having caused riots at its Parisian debut some decades before, and Deems Taylor was influential in getting Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring', or 'Le Sacre du printemps', included in 'Fantasia'.

From Quiz "Fantasia" Fun

Answer: He swatted him with something.

The apprentice hoped that bringing the broom to life meant the broom would perform his chores for him so he could get out of the work himself. However, things went awry once the place flooded while the apprentice had a dream. The sorcerer put a stop to it and swatted Mickey with a broom as punishment.

From Quiz Ultimate "Fantasia" Quiz

Answer: Hop Low

Hop Low was the center of attention during the Chinese Dance. People who reviewed the movie referred to him as the Dopey of "Fantasia".

From Quiz Disney's "Fantasia"

Answer: Claire De Lune

The "Claire De Lune" sequence by Debussy was eventually changed to "Blue Bayou" and included in the film "Make Mine Music".

From Quiz "Fantasia": Name that Segment

Answer: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

No story is told in this "Fantasia" segment set to Bach's music; instead, we start with colored lights on a silhouetted orchestra before transitioning to abstract images. It ends with Stowkowski conducting the sunrise and water fountains. Bach's piece was originally written for organ but was transcribed for a full orchestra for "Fantasia" and is now sometimes performed as an orchestral arrangement.

From Quiz Walt Disney's 'Fantasia' (1940)

Answer: the soundtrack

Deems Taylor announces an intermission of 15 minutes, and he and the orchestra move offscreen, and the curtain closes. A title card of the movie appears, the only place where it appears in the original release and in subsequent DVD and Blu-Ray releases. (Presumably this is where the projector would be shut off). The curtain reopens, and the orchestra returns and plays a little jazzy jam session until Deems Taylor reappears. Taylor then introduces the audience to "somebody who is very important to 'Fantasia'", someone who is "not only an indispensable member of the [Disney] organization, but a screen personality whose possibilities nobody around the place ever noticed". This "someone" is the optical soundtrack, animated in an interesting sequence that is a somewhat accurate but mostly fanciful depiction of how a soundtrack may look on a piece of film. This sequence is often omitted in some versions of the film, but it is a good example of Disney work of that era that sought to both entertain and educate the audience with creative animation.

From Quiz Fantasia 2000

Answer: Flamingo

"The Carnival of the Animals, Finale" by Camille Saint-Saëns played over an adorably funny scene about a flamingo playing with a yo-yo. The flamingo irritated his fellow flamingoes so badly that they snatched the yo-yo away from him. Believing they have rid themselves of the problem, they were at peace for only a few minutes before the flamingo showed up with even more yo-yos.

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Last Updated Nov 16 2024 5:45 AM

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