I really do respect Disney having the balls to keep Ichabod and Brom morally grey characters. Either are not villains, but both have extreme vices that add an extra layer to them. Ichabod is a shameless gold digger and glutton but is also charismatic when needs be, Brom is a bully and a trickster, yet he also appears to really care for his fellow villagers and Katrina. It definitely makes the conflict more interesting.
I just realized that you can basically sum up Ichabod Crane thusly (to paraphrase Dan Backslide), "Dear rich Katrina Van Tassel, HOW I LOVE HER...father's money."
I feel like the Disney version of the Horseman is the real deal, just judging by all the crazy stuff he does during the chase. Granted okay, that could just be explained away as "it's a cartoon" or "it's just Ichabod imagining things as scarier than they really are", but I just find the idea of him being an actual ghost way more fun. It definitely seems like Disney's later uses of the character were meant to be the real deal. But hey, that's just my interpretation. I think you brought up some good points with your interpretation too
Beside, Ichabod is Such A... Well, Not The Typical Happy Protagonist in The Disneyverse. Giving That His Whole Reason to Marry The Lady is Because of The Vast Amount of Money Her Father and Steal Food From Children.
@@robbiewalker2831 Well his Alice movie is a strange mix between Narnia and the Lewis Carroll books (ok movie, bad script and awesome soundtrack, cast, costumes and art direction)
I would KILL for him to be a secret boss. DDD established that Disney Villains CAN be Secret Bosses through Julian, so I hope they deliver in kind on this in the future by throwing in villains whose series have either already been represented (Madame Mim, Cruella, Gaston, etc) or may not qualify for full worlds for one reason or another (Horned King, etc)
I once heard that Disney changed the story that Toad didn't steal the car, because back then it wasn't allowed in movies to make a likeable criminal character
TBF making Toad no longer a criminal who steals a car makes more sense for the ending seeing how in the original Toad committed a crime and just hung out in public and lived his life as normal when he should be incarcerated
As much as I also want the Horseman to be a real in-universe entity, there's this part of me that can't help but think the Brom Bones explanation is more plausible. If the horseman is real, it makes the forest sequence kind of disconnected and convenient for Brom. The first two thirds of the story focus on Ichabod and Brom fighting over Catrina, just for Ichabod to suddenly be swiped by a supernatural entity, coincidentally giving Brom his opening for Catrina. But if it was Brom all along, it would perfectly tie into their fight for Catrina. Brom was repeatedly bested when it came to wooing Catrina, but he ultimately found out about Ichabod's fear of bad omens and the supernatural. So he sings the song of the Headless Horseman as the setup to get Ichabod nice and on edge, and then goes into the forest to deliver the payoff in the woods, the final phase of his plan to scare off Ichabod once and for all. It also would explain why Ichabod's body was missing entirely, when the Horseman only needs the head. Ichabod didn't die, but likely just booked it out of the region immedieately. The only thing that sways my mind back to the Horseman being real is that final image of him in the story book, holding what looks like less of a pumpkin, and more like an actual skull. That's why I love this interpretation of the story so much, it can be interpreted either way depending on how you look at it.
Weasel 1: I tell ya boy I ain't ever seen a funeral like this one before. Weasel 2: aye no mourners. No friends to bid him farewell. Weasel 1: oh well. Let's take a rest before we finish up mate. He ain't goin' nowhere! Weasels: *HAHAHA!!!*
Another small little thing: You mentioned that Brom Bones ended up being some of the inspiration for Gaston. The same can be said for Monsieur D'Arque from Beauty and the Beast. He was inspired by the man in the Sleepy Hollow song who says "And some don't even wear their SKIN!"
And the songs "Ichabod" & 'Belle (Little Town)" are pretty much akin to the same thing, with the townsfolk singing about the eccentricities of the main characters.
Okay, I'm glad you mentioned how the Sleepy Hollow segment doesn't really have a good guy, but it does have a bad guy. Also, that Halloween thing sounds amazing and I would so love to see footage of it if any exists
@@speedracer2008 Might? Johanthan Crane aka The Scarecrow IS a canonical descendant of the Ichabod Crane bloodline, because there was a real war colonel named Ichabod Crane whom the literary schoolmaster took his name from, although the character's lanky frame & chosen profession were lifted from schoolteacher Jeremy/Jesse Merwin.
Ichabod still shows up today in the parks but it's relatively new. He comes out during Halloween at the beginning of the Boo to You parade. He trembles and looks about as the horseman rides behind him. He's not a meetable character though
It's a shame you forgot to mention on how Disney's portrayal of the Headless Horseman inspired the Tim Burton horror adaptation of Sleepy Hallow with his axe or sword wielding Headless Horseman cutting off heads wherever he can find them, and later revealed to be summoned by Katrina's stepmother since she owns his head that was instead cut off by the horseman's own sword from a few revolutionaries. There was even has a homage to the Disney cartoon at one point with some pranksters in a fake Headless Horseman scare Ichabod when he investigates the murders.
A couple other homages: The frog croaking "Headless Horseman!" Ichabod during the final chase getting hit by a tree branch and landing on the horseman's horse (in addition to his POV going backwards). The Horseman's overall design ( minus Christopher Walken's head) is very reminiscent of the Disney version's look.
Seriously, the Horseman and the weasels are some of the most breakout villain characters in the Disney franchise. Disney can't help but use the weasels over and over again. I do think it would be a fun twist to have a weasel character be good, which they could have done with Duke Wesealton but didn't. And again I am surprised that the Weasels and the Beagle Boys haven't teamed up together. I am vouching for the idea of the Horseman being real, because again it would make Brom more of a grey character if he wasn't actually him. Actually now that I think about have Disney have Brom and Horseman in the same room which would disprove in their verse they are the same thing.
That headless horseman ride sounds awesome and while this movie used to terrify me as a child, the horseman chase is now one of my favorite scenes in all of Disney.
Even as a kid, I still kinda felt bad for Katrina after I read the book; her best choices for suitors end up being between a gold-digger and a possible murderer... Great video though! =)
I agree. The Wolf from Make Mine Music is pretty threatening, but he can’t compare to the Headless Horseman. All the other package film villains are just comedic and humorous.
The headless horseman makes a appearance in California Adventure. He’s a statue. I’m surprised it wasn’t mentioned or how today in Disney world during Halloween time he would ride down Main Street with people dressed in colonial times as well. Even so as his appearance in the Oogie Boogie bash world of colors show.
I love the Horseman's maniacal laugh. It used to be a stock sound effect on some programme or other I can't remember; I wish I could get it as a ringtone or something.
*Sees clips of the one animated version Wind in the Willows I watched all the time on VHS as a kid* You're pandering to me with those. ...and it's totally working.
I still remember watching the movie as a kid, and the confusion and “wtf?!” feeling in my head in the ending of Sleepy Hollow story. Why? According to my innocent childhood logic, Ichabod was supposed to escape the headless horseman unscathed, marry to Katrina afterwards, and live happily ever after! …Nope! We were left with a dark yet unknown fate of Ichabod, and it was the “town bully” Brom that got to live happily ever after with Katrina, making my childhood self assume that the bad guys won, which shouldn’t happen because that’s not how the stories I’ve heard and seen are supposed to end! I can still hear my younger self’s mind processing in confusion with the sound of the old online bootup sound to this day. 😂
Except Ichabod, who prided himself as an enlightened, educated Connecticut Yankee, was also a a selfish gold-digging moocher. So, when you really look at it, Brom Bones, even if he would later inspire Gaston, was the lesser of two evils here. As for the Headless Horseman? The Disney version likes to imply that Brom's story resulted in the poor schoolmaster's ill-fated encounter with the actual ghost & not just his brawny rival in a elaborate disguise. In fact, even if the original story seemed to suggest that it was all an elaborate prank orchestrated by Brom Bones to play off of Ichabod's fear of the supernatural as well as the local's belief in the Headless Horseman as a real otherworldly entity, the fact that the real people AND prevailing specter who inspired the characters are buried in different places in the REAL Sleepy Hollow (both men named Abraham who inspired the literary Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt -- Abraham Martling & Abraham Van Holstein -- are interred near the real Van Tassels -- this includes the ladies Van Tassel who inspired the literary Katrina Van Tassel, namely an aunt named Cateria [since Caterina is Old Dutch for Katrina] by name & her vivacious niece Eleanor in terms of the character's coquettish personality -- whereas Heinrich Range, better known now as The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, has his corpse laid to rest in an unmarked mass burial plot underneath the large knoll overlooking the Old Dutch Churchyard), with an exception being made for the two men who inspired the literary Ichabod Crane (the skinny schoolmaster was loosely based on war colonel Ichabod Bennett Crane [who's buried on Staten Island] by name, although his lanky frame & chosen profession were lifted from shy schoolteacher Jeremy/Jesse Merwin, whose surviving family wanted him buried closer to where they were currently residing rather than in Sleepy Hollow), would lend credence to the idea that, if the story were true & not merely a work of historical fiction by Washington Irving, braggadocios Brom -- who knew full well about the stories surrounding the midnight ride of the cranium-challenged Hessian on phantom horseback -- essentially led a dejected Ichabod to his demise at the hands of the galloping ghoul & obviously benefited greatly from the resulting outcome, but it was Ichabod's whole selfish karma -- existing in the form of coming face to neck with the Headless Horseman & suddenly vanishing without a trace soon thereafter -- which really took him to an early grave.
@@TherealRNOwwfpoohAs an adult it makes sense… but I was a child, a small naive little child who was too young to understand all that! Besides, good luck explaining that to a kindergartner!
He's basically my ideal horse: one so unmotivated that it just ambles along peacefully, and has no interest whatsoever in trampling, biting, or kicking me.
It's not Disney related. But apparently in New York, Sleepy Hollow High School are not only called the Horsemen, but every home football game they're lead on to the field by the Headless Horseman. I think that's pretty neat.
In the book, Ichabod is Katrina’s music teacher. He always asks for “private singing lessons” in order to get more intimate with her. Think about that the next time you watch the chase scene.
I always loved the weasels, in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mickey’s Christmas Carol and the Prince & the Pauper. Their designs are so simple in how michievious and cunning they appear.
Disney did the Headless Horseman definite justice. The choice to leave it ambiguous is definitely a sensible move and as for me, I personally see it as the Headless Horseman actually being the real deal, not the other guy in disguise... I'm sorry but after seeing all the slapstick he went through I can't see him as able to pull off the murderous horseman. I'm kinda sad they didn't get to make a full movie from it but in hindsight it's probably best they kept it short and sweet because as people love pointing out it IS the closest adaptation to the source material.
I wonder if they ever made a weasel character who's the exact opposite of that stereotype, or at the very least, one who's a victim of it. If not, I'd give anything to see that.
My school this year is doing a musical adaptation of Tre Legend Of Sleepy Hollow largely inspired by the Disney version. I got the role of Ichabod but really wanted to play Brom lmao
I'm surprised Once Upon A Time didn't use The Headless Horseman but instead used Dr Frankenstein and Mr Hyde neither of which have been adapted by Disney unless you count Frankeweenie as an adaptation of Frankenstein
Okay, I am Going to Name SOME of The Mickey Mouse Comics Villains (Warning I Only Found on TV Tropes) The Collector: Debut 1980-Torch Race: A Man Whose Face Covered in his Shadow who Collects Odd Objects Like Holes and the Olympic Flame. He Usually Hired Pete to Do These Schemes. The Mimic: Debut 1988-Mimic Menace: A "Man with 999 Voices" who can Change His Voice To Commit Crimes and Put Fake Dummies to Mock Them. The "Man with 999 Voices" is Based on Mel Blanc who is Known as Man of a Thousand Voices. Big Ben: Debut 1954- The Kids Gang: A Oafish Gangster Who Uses his Child-like Appearance to Convince Kids to Join His Gang. He is Probably Based of The Coachman. His Other Things is Toys that are Designed to Destroy. Dr. Vulter: Debut 1935- The Pirate Submarine: Here One Question No One Dare Ask: Can Mickey Mouse Fight a Terrorist, That Dr. Vulter in a Nutshell. A Terrorist Who Uses A Submarine to Commit Acts of Terrorism. He Has his Own Island.
@Will N you must have read my mind. Hook definitely has a sinister nature to him but also you feel bad on how Peter and the crocodile both physically and mentally torture him
@Will N Early Scrooge enemies, including possibly Scrooge himself. The Cheshire Cat is considered a villain in some official material. Si and Am are the most marketed enemies from Lady & the Tramp
@Will N yes Hook is a villain a sympathetic one but a villain nonetheless and he did cross the moral line when he forced the kids to either join or die .
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was my dad's favorite ride at WDW before it got replaced. In fact, after acquiring a Mr. Toad shirt he had me take a joke-y picture of him wearing it and giving a thumbs down in front of the Winnie The Pooh ride.
Okay, I have so many feelings about this one, but I will try to keep is short: 1. this entire series gives me life, thank you for doing everything that you do. 2. I wore out multiple VHS copies of this film as a kid and it was banned in my household for over a decade.
My Package film ranking is 1. The Three Caballeros 2. Fun and Fancy Free 3. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 4. Saludos Amigos 5. Melody Time 6. Make Mine Music
In general weasles are often portrayed as evil untrustworthy schemers, not just here but also the Toon Patrol from Rodger Rabbit ,Woozles from Winnie the Pooh and Weaslton from Zootopia, and non Disney examples Weasle McGreed from the 80s Bearenstin Bears cartoon and The Weasle from the US Acres segments on Garfield and Friends. In fact the only GOOD Weasle is Cartoon Network's I Am Weasel
I always really loved the idea of Brom being the HH. Not cuz it’s likely or anything, but I love the idea of this seemingly goofy bully who everyone in town loves snapping in the worst way imaginable when he’s finally outsmarted by someone who just doesn’t care who he is. I mean, sure Brom doesn’t seem like the murderous type, but we see that the town that normally adores him is scared to court Katrina because of him. And as Ichabod keeps messing with her he gets noticeably angrier and angrier. We see his mild attempts to push Crane aside escalate into trying to punch the man with enough force to bash a tree in, trying to drop him down a trap door, and even straight up threatening to seemingly chop his head off during the song (he pricks off a piece of Crane’s hair, takes his machete out, proceeds to cut in two while making a point to make sure Crane’s watching. The message here’s clear: “I’ve got a damn good aim with this thing so you better watch it.”). The whole short seems to be building up to Brom making some big ludicrous attempt to get rid of Ichabod while his town hero facade slips. It also makes the ending so cathartic as this manipulative schoolteacher who’s used to getting what he wants realizes he’s messed with the wrong person. That has the same energy as most Disney villain deaths. Which is fitting since Ichabod is one of the few unsympathetic Disney protagonists.
My idea for the Horseman is that he is real, but him yeeting the pumpkin at Ichabod did just scare him away- the toss was more of a final act of spite that didn’t really hurt all that much rather than a killing blow
Upsets me that Toad never made the transition into comics outside of a few outliers. he and his friends would've fit perfectly into the whole shot story format, after all they had some stuff from the book left out of the film they could have used, and even without it their personalities could've lent well for stories, especially Toad with his constant obsessions, in fact, I have proof he would, because that's the exact same gimmick that Donald's cousin Fethry has.
I agree, it feels like there was a lot of wasted potential in him for a recurring character in Duckburg or something. I can see him as some eccentric millionaire who constantly gets under Scrooge's skin.
Or Maybe Had Mr. Toad as The Wacky, Yet Only Sane Millionaire in Duckburg Due to The Rest of Them Being Ether Doing Crazy Adventurers or Insane Rivals Bent on Killing Each Other.
think it would've been a cool reference to the movies being packaged if instead of the train it was the horseman throwing his pumpkin to spirit them away/mix them together & the attractive naked picture looks like a disney version of fujiko. i don't think the movie version of the horseman is brom(he is more of a bully than a jump to murder man like gaston along with the horseman actively aiming for ichabod's head & stopping when getting to the bridge.) but still think the movie is great with staying true to the source material that being ambiguous/leaning towards an area doesn't harm it at all.
I can't remember which I saw first, Wind in the Willows or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but I always knew there was some connection with the Weasel Gang one way or another. I'd tend to think that maybe after working for Judge Doom, they were hired to be in Wind in the Willows, as cartoons were basically actors in that movie.
I remember the last time I rode Mr. Toad's ride at Disney World. When we were in the train tunnel the ride shut down. So my sister and I were sitting in a dark tunnel for about 10 minutes and all we could hear was the moaning of the devils. The car ahead of us was a young family and they were stopped in the middle of the devils, and we could hear the kids screaming in terror until a ride attendant came and dragged that car out. It was one of my favorite rides, but has since been changed to Winnie the Pooh. It's obvious that they kept the same track and basically just painted over everything and slowed the speed down. I miss the original Mr. Toad ride.
I never grew up with Ichabod and Mr. Toad. I remember seeing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on it's own at one point, but my memory is a bit fuzzy. Conversely, I've only seen bits and clips of The Wind in the Willows, though I DID read the original book as part of my children's literature class in college. From what I can tell, the Disney version is different from the book in that it softens Mr. Toad a bit; he's less rude, less of a liar, and in the book, he knowingly trades away everything just to drive more cars, and even does outright steal a car rather than being framed for stealing a car. So when the weasels (and stoats and ferrets) take over Toad Hall, it's not Mr. Toad's anymore, and he's technically an escaped convict at that point. He really does not deserve to get his home back, and despite saying he'll change his ways at the end of the book, Mr. Toad previously said that to Mr. Badger but took it back when he was no longer speaking with Mr. Badger in private, so there's really no guarantee he'll actually keep to his word. The Disney version certainly does a better job at making Mr. Toad more sympathetic, while still keeping his out-of-touch upper-class twit tendencies and mania he had in the book. That said, the weasels are pretty much just as nasty in the books as they are in the Disney movie, and it's pretty cool to see Disney get a lot of mileage out of those weasels over the year; they were basically the Beagle Boys before they were fully solidified as a "thing" in the Disney canon. As for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, what I always retroactively appreciated about it is that, for a Disney production, it doesn't soften the edges on Ichabod Crane, in that he's still a morally questionable individual, moving in on Katrina van Tassel when Brom Bones already is in a relationship with her, and at least partially motivated by marrying her to gain her wealthy father's inheritance. Brom Bones may be a bully, but it's hard to say if Ichabod is really all that morally superior. Another interesting detail I like about the story is that that it's ambiguous as to whether or not the Headless Horseman is even real or not, since there are a number of clues that suggest it's actually Brom trying to scare Ichabod off (the Headless Horseman rides Brom's horse, for example). The original story is basically set up like a gossipy wife's tale, suggesting a number of things about Ichabod that may or may not be true, and the fact that the story basically ends with the superstitious people of Sleepy Hollow believing Ichabod was spirited away by the Headless Horsemen, when more rational people will claim he just moved out of town and married a wealthy widow in a distant county. It's all just gossip at the end of the day, and what gets spread around is the more fantastical story as opposed to the more mundane one. Regardless of whether it's a disguise or not, the Headless Horseman is memorably creepy while at the same time over the top, especially in terms of Ichabod and his horse's reactions to the Headless Horseman. It's scary while at the same time wacky, it really does feel like the perfect kind of feature you'd play for Halloween.
It would be intersting if Disney made more villain protagontis as Ichobod could qulaify as well as also Kuzco in the first half of his movie and at least in the first film Stitch and Jumba . But imagine a senerio similar to All Dogs Go To Heaven where they do a breif Evil vs Evil
Winky is shown to be thirsty for blood! He’s truly a REAL vicious villain! Im insanely disappointed that he make no appearances in mixed Disney media featuring villains. I enjoyed seeing the potential deleted scenes from the Toad portion. Wheres the source for those and comic panels?
As much as I want the Horseman to be a real in-universe entity, there's this part of me that can't help but think the Brom Bones explanation is more plausible. If the horseman is real, it makes the forest sequence kind of disconnected and convenient for Brom. The first two thirds of the story focus on Ichabod and Brom fighting over Catrina, just for Ichabod to suddenly be swiped by a supernatural entity, coincidentally giving Brom his opening for Catrina. But if it was Brom all along, it would perfectly tie into their fight for Catrina. Brom was repeatedly bested when it came to wooing Catrina, but he ultimately found out about Ichabod's fear of bad omens and the supernatural. So he sings the song of the Headless Horseman as the setup to get Ichabod nice and on edge, and then goes into the forest to deliver the payoff in the woods, the final phase of his plan to scare off Ichabod once and for all. It also would explain why Ichabod's body was missing entirely, when the Horseman only needs the head. Ichabod didn't die, but likely just booked it out of the region immediately. The only thing that sways my mind back to the Horseman being real is that final image of him in the story book, holding what looks like less of a pumpkin, and more like an actual skull. That's why I love this interpretation of the story so much, it can be interpreted either way depending on how you look at it.
Another brilliant Disney Villains Retrospective video - and as much as I look forward to the next video about Lady Termaine and her daughters, I appreciate that you have done the less well-known villains in your series :)
Disney's version of Sleepy Hollow in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad was one two versions I saw as a kid. The other was the Wishbone episode "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with Wishbone playing Ichabod who alot more lovable than the Disney version of Ichabod.
that event sounds so cool, i would love to see them add aspects of that event to mnsshp in the future but i highly doubt that :( i just think it would be cool to have meet and greets with ichabod, brom bones, and katrina, since the headless horseman is in the parade. i remember a few years ago they had an event at fort wilderness in the stable where they would show the movie with popcorn and after it was over the headless horseman would come out and meet guests [he didn't do autographs since he was on a horse but you could take pictures, it was really cool to see him so up close since hes usually just in a parade!]
The Weasels also had an appearance in Goof Troop, with the recurring villain Wally. One of his episodes is "The Good, the Bad and the Goofy" which has some fantastic cartoony animation. (Certain episodes of Goof Troop have amazing animation, but they're often overlooked because most of the series had a somewhat cheaper look. But that episode is a great example for anyone who likes seeing some lively expressive stuff!)
Correction: Ollie Wallace wasn't the voice of Mister Winky. A gentleman named Alec Harford was his true voice, as per Keith Scott's invaluable "Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age" two-volume book set. If you don't own a copy yet - I recommend you look into doing so.
You know there's something that doesn't make sense with Winkie's overall plan for taking over Toad Hall, how was he planning on keeping ownership of it with the deed without anyone questioning how he came into ownership of the house? I mean Mcbadger saw the party going on, wouldn't someone else have seen or heard something going in and around the mansion to the point they'd investigate?
Very good point. I didn't think to go into it back when I made this video, but I think that was always in the back of my head. Maybe they assumed no one would bother to look? In the book, the weasels just take over with no deed, which works very well for them for a while. I think the storymen might have needed to give this detail an extra go-around.
You know, whenever I think of the end of Mr Toad's Wild Ride, I think of that one Metallica song from the South Park movie. Kind of fits going with a sudden sharp turn into the inferno.
Fun fact, two of the actors who voiced the weasels at different points, Bill Farmer and Nick Jamieson, voiced Sam and Max in Hit the Road, respectively
You say that it was impossible to change Mole into Baloo and the deed into Mowgli, and yet the latter was actually done while the roles of the villains and heroes is reversed considering that Rat was made into King Louie, Mole was made into one of the monkeys, one of the weasels was made into Baloo and Winky was made into Bagera. I am quite impressed with the animation reusage.
'I think the various denons encounter in the ride count as minor but memorable villains, since demons are evil by nature." Someone hasn't watched The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, The Owl House, Helluva Boss, Dead End: Paranormal Park and Hazbin Hotel.
I'm now in love with the weasel at the end. MUAH! Thank you, I've had a wonderful evening! XDDDDD He got bonked hard, what was he seeing?! A hot lady weasel?
The reason the walkthroughs at Hong Kong Disneyland are so much more intense is because Halloween is considered an adult holiday over there, or so I've heard.
I'm sure this has been pointed out somewhere else in the comments, but I thought people might not know that the headless horseman shares at least some inspiration from the Dullahan, a Gaelic psychopomp like figure that took the form of a headless rider on a black horse, though instead of a pumpkin or more regionally appropriate turnip jack o'lantern he actually held his own severed head, and also had a whip made from a spine. Sometimes even an entire cart made from bits and pieces of human remains. Generally, the Dullahan stops near where someone is likely to die and may in fact be responsible for hastening the death. I've read that the Dullahan is sometimes thought to be a singular figure, like the nuckelavee, but also that there are more than one headless horseman, and their origins vary a bit from being a fae spirit like the Bean Sidhe (Banshee) and in others is the ghost of a mortal person who died in an unfortunate way. I've also read that they're supposedly greatly afraid of gold and that a gold button thrown in their path could ward them away from their victim. Unfortunately, there's a great deal of romanticization of the Dullahan and other headless horsemen, which means that a lot of writers have all put their own particular spin on the Dullahan, and it can be hard to discern what's actually based in traditional folklore and what's merely just the invention of an author.
I saw a rerelease of this film at a drive-in as a kid. This was sometime in the late 60s. The Headless Horseman sequence was the scariest thing I had ever seen up to that time.
I really do respect Disney having the balls to keep Ichabod and Brom morally grey characters. Either are not villains, but both have extreme vices that add an extra layer to them. Ichabod is a shameless gold digger and glutton but is also charismatic when needs be, Brom is a bully and a trickster, yet he also appears to really care for his fellow villagers and Katrina. It definitely makes the conflict more interesting.
Katrina is the true villain
@@SleepyHollowFan777 Yeah, because she likes to play with other people's emotions.
Yeah, I get major Gaston vibes from Brom Bones in the short, as both a bully and the local village/town hero.
I just realized that you can basically sum up Ichabod Crane thusly (to paraphrase Dan Backslide), "Dear rich Katrina Van Tassel, HOW I LOVE HER...father's money."
Ah yes, a man of culture.
@@walkerphillips2818 He must've seen the Media Hunter review.
I feel like the Disney version of the Horseman is the real deal, just judging by all the crazy stuff he does during the chase. Granted okay, that could just be explained away as "it's a cartoon" or "it's just Ichabod imagining things as scarier than they really are", but I just find the idea of him being an actual ghost way more fun. It definitely seems like Disney's later uses of the character were meant to be the real deal. But hey, that's just my interpretation. I think you brought up some good points with your interpretation too
Beside, Ichabod is Such A... Well, Not The Typical Happy Protagonist in The Disneyverse. Giving That His Whole Reason to Marry The Lady is Because of The Vast Amount of Money Her Father and Steal Food From Children.
Tim Burton confirmed that he based on the Disney version for make his 'Sleepy Hollow' movie
No doubt. I think the Disney version, for that reason, may have even been an inspiration for Tim Burton's 'Sleepy Hollow' decades later. =)
@@TheHalloweenSpirit Wow, and people say his adaptation of Alice in Wonderland was soulless.
@@robbiewalker2831 Well his Alice movie is a strange mix between Narnia and the Lewis Carroll books (ok movie, bad script and awesome soundtrack, cast, costumes and art direction)
It still is hilarious to me that the Disney version is the most faithful to the sleepy hollow book.
Right down to Ichabod having green eyes. 😱😭💝
Wait what
@@LeBasfondMusic, really?!
@@glasscardproductions4736 yes! 🤩it's amazing how much work and care went into this
@@LeBasfondMusic, it's early Disney. They stayed truer to the originals than most of their later films
* cough cough * ғʀᴏᴢᴇɴ * cough cough *
It's a crime that the headless horseman hasn't been made into a kingdom hearts boss yet
Could of been a Lone wolf Boss.
Maybe in KH4 he's numbered title worthy
I would KILL for him to be a secret boss. DDD established that Disney Villains CAN be Secret Bosses through Julian, so I hope they deliver in kind on this in the future by throwing in villains whose series have either already been represented (Madame Mim, Cruella, Gaston, etc) or may not qualify for full worlds for one reason or another (Horned King, etc)
@@slothoverlord4388it was established way before then with the Ice Titan in KH1 and Monstro in Birth by Sleep
I was thinking this exact thing a few days ago when I rewatched this movie.
It’s weird but I wish “winky” appeared in more Disney media, I could see him tricking Donald duck to do something stupid in a Donald comic short
he certainly has a winning smile and an eyecatching look
Sounds legit
Winky could be just a jerk. not a villain.
After his defeat at the hands of the toad and his friends he went on with his life and became the pringles icon.
@@jaggerguth4391 That's not what this video said.
I once heard that Disney changed the story that Toad didn't steal the car, because back then it wasn't allowed in movies to make a likeable criminal character
I was about to make that comment as well
@Katie Lewis ?
That makes a lot of sense. The Hayes Code was pretty nuts.
TBF making Toad no longer a criminal who steals a car makes more sense for the ending seeing how in the original Toad committed a crime and just hung out in public and lived his life as normal when he should be incarcerated
@@mrcritical6751 to be fair he was also a toad.
IE not a human, I guess they decided that tracking down a toad wasn’t worth the trouble.
they should totally make a cartoon in which the weasels and the beagle boys appeared as rivals gangs to each other
I agree. Maybe the weasels could be a crime family like the Beagle boys.
Well There The Poodles From One Comic Which are Basically Female Beagles.
They need worthy Opponets, lets make it a Crossover whit the Dalton Brothers.
@@Sunaki1000 That would be wonderful
Please apply to a job for Disney and pitch this.
I personally prefer the Headless Horseman to be a cursed decapitated undead man who rides on a zombie horse.
That would be so cool.
Like in Tim Burton' Sleepy Hollow (the chase scene from the Disney version was why he directed the movie)
As much as I also want the Horseman to be a real in-universe entity, there's this part of me that can't help but think the Brom Bones explanation is more plausible.
If the horseman is real, it makes the forest sequence kind of disconnected and convenient for Brom. The first two thirds of the story focus on Ichabod and Brom fighting over Catrina, just for Ichabod to suddenly be swiped by a supernatural entity, coincidentally giving Brom his opening for Catrina.
But if it was Brom all along, it would perfectly tie into their fight for Catrina. Brom was repeatedly bested when it came to wooing Catrina, but he ultimately found out about Ichabod's fear of bad omens and the supernatural.
So he sings the song of the Headless Horseman as the setup to get Ichabod nice and on edge, and then goes into the forest to deliver the payoff in the woods, the final phase of his plan to scare off Ichabod once and for all.
It also would explain why Ichabod's body was missing entirely, when the Horseman only needs the head. Ichabod didn't die, but likely just booked it out of the region immedieately.
The only thing that sways my mind back to the Horseman being real is that final image of him in the story book, holding what looks like less of a pumpkin, and more like an actual skull.
That's why I love this interpretation of the story so much, it can be interpreted either way depending on how you look at it.
Weasel 1: I tell ya boy I ain't ever seen a funeral like this one before.
Weasel 2: aye no mourners. No friends to bid him farewell.
Weasel 1: oh well. Let's take a rest before we finish up mate. He ain't goin' nowhere!
Weasels: *HAHAHA!!!*
Ghost Pete: “Why… it’s YOURS Ebenezer. The richest man in the cemetery! HAHAHAHAHHA!!”
Another small little thing:
You mentioned that Brom Bones ended up being some of the inspiration for Gaston.
The same can be said for Monsieur D'Arque from Beauty and the Beast. He was inspired by the man in the Sleepy Hollow song who says "And some don't even wear their SKIN!"
That guy always reminded me of Ego from Ratatouille
@@RogueT-Rex8468 I was thinking the same thing, mostly because of similar physique and cadence.
And the songs "Ichabod" & 'Belle (Little Town)" are pretty much akin to the same thing, with the townsfolk singing about the eccentricities of the main characters.
“I’m here to collect your father […] We’ll take good care of him.”
The part with Toad and his friends being cornered, and almost killed would have been great. Sad it was scrapped.
But Hey, A Crazy Chase Scene is a Great Compromise.
Okay, I'm glad you mentioned how the Sleepy Hollow segment doesn't really have a good guy, but it does have a bad guy.
Also, that Halloween thing sounds amazing and I would so love to see footage of it if any exists
Headless Horseman laugh is so scary and iconic, they could blast it over the Magic Kingdom loudspeaker and half the guests would run out screaming.
I personally think the headless horseman is a separate person, a real evil spirit, rather than a disguised brom bones.
Ditto!
Same here!
@@sarahsims6164 it would be funny if it was Brom Bones in disguise, then The REAL headless Horseman shows up.
@@nicholassims9837 that’s basically what happens in the Tim Burton movie version
@@Murilo_Bolzani I was think of Jimmy Neutron
Secret of survival is still a bop as far as non-disney villain songs
I wish we could find it on Spotify. That and the other songs from the Disney version.
Fun Fact: The character of Ichabod Crane would serve as inspiration for the Batman villain Scarecrow.
Yep. That might explain the origin of Scarecrow’s last name.
@@speedracer2008 Might? Johanthan Crane aka The Scarecrow IS a canonical descendant of the Ichabod Crane bloodline, because there was a real war colonel named Ichabod Crane whom the literary schoolmaster took his name from, although the character's lanky frame & chosen profession were lifted from schoolteacher Jeremy/Jesse Merwin.
Ichabod still shows up today in the parks but it's relatively new. He comes out during Halloween at the beginning of the Boo to You parade. He trembles and looks about as the horseman rides behind him. He's not a meetable character though
That's very good to know! Thank you!
The headless horseman’s laugh is iconic.
The weasels by Disney are for sure a working blueprint for the weasels from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, they look so similar.
Also possibly some villains in the Crash Bandicoot series; especially Ripper Roo reminds me of the crazy weasel from Roger Rabbit.
Definitely a true shame that the Sleepy Hollow Dark ride was never built! I would’ve rode that ride over and over. It sounds very fun and spooky!
It's a shame you forgot to mention on how Disney's portrayal of the Headless Horseman inspired the Tim Burton horror adaptation of Sleepy Hallow with his axe or sword wielding Headless Horseman cutting off heads wherever he can find them, and later revealed to be summoned by Katrina's stepmother since she owns his head that was instead cut off by the horseman's own sword from a few revolutionaries. There was even has a homage to the Disney cartoon at one point with some pranksters in a fake Headless Horseman scare Ichabod when he investigates the murders.
A couple other homages:
The frog croaking "Headless Horseman!"
Ichabod during the final chase getting hit by a tree branch and landing on the horseman's horse (in addition to his POV going backwards).
The Horseman's overall design ( minus Christopher Walken's head) is very reminiscent of the Disney version's look.
@@tristanpetty7173 I forgot the frogs, but I don't remember the others. Thanks for the input.
@@TylerRakstis No problem! 🙂
Seriously, the Horseman and the weasels are some of the most breakout villain characters in the Disney franchise. Disney can't help but use the weasels over and over again. I do think it would be a fun twist to have a weasel character be good, which they could have done with Duke Wesealton but didn't. And again I am surprised that the Weasels and the Beagle Boys haven't teamed up together. I am vouching for the idea of the Horseman being real, because again it would make Brom more of a grey character if he wasn't actually him. Actually now that I think about have Disney have Brom and Horseman in the same room which would disprove in their verse they are the same thing.
they should totally make a cartoon in which the weasels and the beagle boys appeared as rivals gangs to each other
@@detectivewobbuffet2778 Maybe even bring back Mr. Winkle
The Reason is Because The Beagles and The Weasels are Basically The Same Characters with Minor Changes Here and There.
Weasels are used as villains in Zootopia too
That headless horseman ride sounds awesome and while this movie used to terrify me as a child, the horseman chase is now one of my favorite scenes in all of Disney.
Even as a kid, I still kinda felt bad for Katrina after I read the book; her best choices for suitors end up being between a gold-digger and a possible murderer... Great video though! =)
The Headless Horseman was the scariest Disney villain out of all of the other villains from the Disney package era films.
I agree. The Wolf from Make Mine Music is pretty threatening, but he can’t compare to the Headless Horseman. All the other package film villains are just comedic and humorous.
@@fattuscattus2200 yeah due to having only at most 30 minutes or less they cant do much then very simple tasks
The headless horseman makes a appearance in California Adventure. He’s a statue. I’m surprised it wasn’t mentioned or how today in Disney world during Halloween time he would ride down Main Street with people dressed in colonial times as well. Even so as his appearance in the Oogie Boogie bash world of colors show.
I love the Horseman's maniacal laugh. It used to be a stock sound effect on some programme or other I can't remember; I wish I could get it as a ringtone or something.
Billy Bletcher
*Sees clips of the one animated version Wind in the Willows I watched all the time on VHS as a kid*
You're pandering to me with those.
...and it's totally working.
I can't wait to know what he's going to say about Lady Tremaine.
In case you haven’t seen his video, Colin had quite a lot of great things to say about Lady Tremaine.
I still remember watching the movie as a kid, and the confusion and “wtf?!” feeling in my head in the ending of Sleepy Hollow story. Why? According to my innocent childhood logic, Ichabod was supposed to escape the headless horseman unscathed, marry to Katrina afterwards, and live happily ever after! …Nope! We were left with a dark yet unknown fate of Ichabod, and it was the “town bully” Brom that got to live happily ever after with Katrina, making my childhood self assume that the bad guys won, which shouldn’t happen because that’s not how the stories I’ve heard and seen are supposed to end! I can still hear my younger self’s mind processing in confusion with the sound of the old online bootup sound to this day. 😂
Except Ichabod, who prided himself as an enlightened, educated Connecticut Yankee, was also a a selfish gold-digging moocher. So, when you really look at it, Brom Bones, even if he would later inspire Gaston, was the lesser of two evils here.
As for the Headless Horseman? The Disney version likes to imply that Brom's story resulted in the poor schoolmaster's ill-fated encounter with the actual ghost & not just his brawny rival in a elaborate disguise.
In fact, even if the original story seemed to suggest that it was all an elaborate prank orchestrated by Brom Bones to play off of Ichabod's fear of the supernatural as well as the local's belief in the Headless Horseman as a real otherworldly entity, the fact that the real people AND prevailing specter who inspired the characters are buried in different places in the REAL Sleepy Hollow (both men named Abraham who inspired the literary Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt -- Abraham Martling & Abraham Van Holstein -- are interred near the real Van Tassels -- this includes the ladies Van Tassel who inspired the literary Katrina Van Tassel, namely an aunt named Cateria [since Caterina is Old Dutch for Katrina] by name & her vivacious niece Eleanor in terms of the character's coquettish personality -- whereas Heinrich Range, better known now as The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, has his corpse laid to rest in an unmarked mass burial plot underneath the large knoll overlooking the Old Dutch Churchyard), with an exception being made for the two men who inspired the literary Ichabod Crane (the skinny schoolmaster was loosely based on war colonel Ichabod Bennett Crane [who's buried on Staten Island] by name, although his lanky frame & chosen profession were lifted from shy schoolteacher Jeremy/Jesse Merwin, whose surviving family wanted him buried closer to where they were currently residing rather than in Sleepy Hollow), would lend credence to the idea that, if the story were true & not merely a work of historical fiction by Washington Irving, braggadocios Brom -- who knew full well about the stories surrounding the midnight ride of the cranium-challenged Hessian on phantom horseback -- essentially led a dejected Ichabod to his demise at the hands of the galloping ghoul & obviously benefited greatly from the resulting outcome, but it was Ichabod's whole selfish karma -- existing in the form of coming face to neck with the Headless Horseman & suddenly vanishing without a trace soon thereafter -- which really took him to an early grave.
@@TherealRNOwwfpoohAs an adult it makes sense… but I was a child, a small naive little child who was too young to understand all that!
Besides, good luck explaining that to a kindergartner!
If Bron Bones were the Headless Horseman then he did gotten away with it without any Meddling Kids and a Dumb Dog
Ichabod's horse is one the best Disney horses
He's basically my ideal horse: one so unmotivated that it just ambles along peacefully, and has no interest whatsoever in trampling, biting, or kicking me.
I almost thought Ichabod's horse was Cyril, from the "Toad" portion!
Gunpowder is my spirit animal XD
i love this series and i waited for this by watching every other episode in this retrospective
Now we gotten to the villains of both Washington Irving and Kenneth Grahame.
Sleepy Hollow would make such a cool ride! I still think they should do it
It's not Disney related. But apparently in New York, Sleepy Hollow High School are not only called the Horsemen, but every home football game they're lead on to the field by the Headless Horseman. I think that's pretty neat.
In the book, Ichabod is Katrina’s music teacher. He always asks for “private singing lessons” in order to get more intimate with her.
Think about that the next time you watch the chase scene.
Holy crap, that event you discussed at the end needs to happen every year. That's amazing!
I always loved the weasels, in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mickey’s Christmas Carol and the Prince & the Pauper. Their designs are so simple in how michievious and cunning they appear.
Disney did the Headless Horseman definite justice. The choice to leave it ambiguous is definitely a sensible move and as for me, I personally see it as the Headless Horseman actually being the real deal, not the other guy in disguise... I'm sorry but after seeing all the slapstick he went through I can't see him as able to pull off the murderous horseman.
I'm kinda sad they didn't get to make a full movie from it but in hindsight it's probably best they kept it short and sweet because as people love pointing out it IS the closest adaptation to the source material.
I wonder if they ever made a weasel character who's the exact opposite of that stereotype, or at the very least, one who's a victim of it. If not, I'd give anything to see that.
They did with I Am Weasle
@@nicholassims9837 I was talking about Disney.
@@sarahsims6164 beggars can't be choosers
The weasels also appear as baddies in the mobile game Disney Sorcerer's Arena.
My school this year is doing a musical adaptation of Tre Legend Of Sleepy Hollow largely inspired by the Disney version. I got the role of Ichabod but really wanted to play Brom lmao
I'm surprised Once Upon A Time didn't use The Headless Horseman but instead used Dr Frankenstein and Mr Hyde neither of which have been adapted by Disney unless you count Frankeweenie as an adaptation of Frankenstein
A. A. Milne (Winnie The Pooh) adapted Wind In the Willows into a stageplay called Toad of Toad Hall.
That's wild.
Okay, I am Going to Name SOME of The Mickey Mouse Comics Villains (Warning I Only Found on TV Tropes)
The Collector: Debut 1980-Torch Race: A Man Whose Face Covered in his Shadow who Collects Odd Objects Like Holes and the Olympic Flame. He Usually Hired Pete to Do These Schemes.
The Mimic: Debut 1988-Mimic Menace: A "Man with 999 Voices" who can Change His Voice To Commit Crimes and Put Fake Dummies to Mock Them. The "Man with 999 Voices" is Based on Mel Blanc who is Known as Man of a Thousand Voices.
Big Ben: Debut 1954- The Kids Gang: A Oafish Gangster Who Uses his Child-like Appearance to Convince Kids to Join His Gang. He is Probably Based of The Coachman. His Other Things is Toys that are Designed to Destroy.
Dr. Vulter: Debut 1935- The Pirate Submarine: Here One Question No One Dare Ask: Can Mickey Mouse Fight a Terrorist, That Dr. Vulter in a Nutshell. A Terrorist Who Uses A Submarine to Commit Acts of Terrorism. He Has his Own Island.
We’re heading into the Silver age, now we’re getting into the really juicy villains to cover
im so excited to hear about lady tremaine and maleficent
@Will N I think you covered them all since Lady and the Tramp doesn’t really have a main antagonist but just minor ones throughout
@Will N you must have read my mind. Hook definitely has a sinister nature to him but also you feel bad on how Peter and the crocodile both physically and mentally torture him
@Will N
Early Scrooge enemies, including possibly Scrooge himself.
The Cheshire Cat is considered a villain in some official material.
Si and Am are the most marketed enemies from Lady & the Tramp
@Will N yes Hook is a villain a sympathetic one but a villain nonetheless and he did cross the moral line when he forced the kids to either join or die .
The Headless Horseman will always be my favorite Disney villain tied with Faciler.
His laugh and song MADE my childhood.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was my dad's favorite ride at WDW before it got replaced. In fact, after acquiring a Mr. Toad shirt he had me take a joke-y picture of him wearing it and giving a thumbs down in front of the Winnie The Pooh ride.
Okay, I have so many feelings about this one, but I will try to keep is short:
1. this entire series gives me life, thank you for doing everything that you do.
2. I wore out multiple VHS copies of this film as a kid and it was banned in my household for over a decade.
My Package film ranking is
1. The Three Caballeros
2. Fun and Fancy Free
3. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
4. Saludos Amigos
5. Melody Time
6. Make Mine Music
1: The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod
2: The Three Caballeros
3: Fun and Fancy Free
4: Make Mine Music
5: Saludos Amigos
6: Melody Time
@@maurycyoseka1057 your top three are the same movies as mine.
In general weasles are often portrayed as evil untrustworthy schemers, not just here but also the Toon Patrol from Rodger Rabbit ,Woozles from Winnie the Pooh and Weaslton from Zootopia, and non Disney examples Weasle McGreed from the 80s Bearenstin Bears cartoon and The Weasle from the US Acres segments on Garfield and Friends.
In fact the only GOOD Weasle is Cartoon Network's I Am Weasel
And of course for an obscure piece of Darkwing Duck trivia, the villain from Gosalyn's favorite video game, Whiffle Boy, is the Weasel Kid.
What about Buck from the Ice Age Films? He's a good weasel too.
@@michaeljauch1142 how yeah I forgot about him
Yeah, Remember in Bearestein Bears Where There a Weasel Who Plot to Takeover Bear Country? Yeah...
7:53 Thank You. The Toon Patrol deserve more love!
Happy Anniversary, Ichabod and Mr. Toad.🐸🚘🎃🐴🌝🌌🎼🎵🎶
23:16 I really love this shot of hand-like clouds closing in around the moon
I always really loved the idea of Brom being the HH. Not cuz it’s likely or anything, but I love the idea of this seemingly goofy bully who everyone in town loves snapping in the worst way imaginable when he’s finally outsmarted by someone who just doesn’t care who he is. I mean, sure Brom doesn’t seem like the murderous type, but we see that the town that normally adores him is scared to court Katrina because of him. And as Ichabod keeps messing with her he gets noticeably angrier and angrier. We see his mild attempts to push Crane aside escalate into trying to punch the man with enough force to bash a tree in, trying to drop him down a trap door, and even straight up threatening to seemingly chop his head off during the song (he pricks off a piece of Crane’s hair, takes his machete out, proceeds to cut in two while making a point to make sure Crane’s watching. The message here’s clear: “I’ve got a damn good aim with this thing so you better watch it.”). The whole short seems to be building up to Brom making some big ludicrous attempt to get rid of Ichabod while his town hero facade slips.
It also makes the ending so cathartic as this manipulative schoolteacher who’s used to getting what he wants realizes he’s messed with the wrong person. That has the same energy as most Disney villain deaths. Which is fitting since Ichabod is one of the few unsympathetic Disney protagonists.
giving the weasels a larger role in the story was a wise decisions, I think
My idea for the Horseman is that he is real, but him yeeting the pumpkin at Ichabod did just scare him away- the toss was more of a final act of spite that didn’t really hurt all that much rather than a killing blow
I would've love to see a ride inspired by Legend of Sleepy Hollow; it would've scared me out of my pants but in a good way.
Upsets me that Toad never made the transition into comics outside of a few outliers. he and his friends would've fit perfectly into the whole shot story format, after all they had some stuff from the book left out of the film they could have used, and even without it their personalities could've lent well for stories, especially Toad with his constant obsessions, in fact, I have proof he would, because that's the exact same gimmick that Donald's cousin Fethry has.
I agree, it feels like there was a lot of wasted potential in him for a recurring character in Duckburg or something. I can see him as some eccentric millionaire who constantly gets under Scrooge's skin.
@@ColinLooksBack I hadn't even thought of that, totally.
Or Maybe Had Mr. Toad as The Wacky, Yet Only Sane Millionaire in Duckburg Due to The Rest of Them Being Ether Doing Crazy Adventurers or Insane Rivals Bent on Killing Each Other.
In once upon a studio had Brom Bones and Headless Horseman as separate people
think it would've been a cool reference to the movies being packaged if instead of the train it was the horseman throwing his pumpkin to spirit them away/mix them together & the attractive naked picture looks like a disney version of fujiko.
i don't think the movie version of the horseman is brom(he is more of a bully than a jump to murder man like gaston along with the horseman actively aiming for ichabod's head & stopping when getting to the bridge.) but still think the movie is great with staying true to the source material that being ambiguous/leaning towards an area doesn't harm it at all.
I can't remember which I saw first, Wind in the Willows or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but I always knew there was some connection with the Weasel Gang one way or another. I'd tend to think that maybe after working for Judge Doom, they were hired to be in Wind in the Willows, as cartoons were basically actors in that movie.
I remember the last time I rode Mr. Toad's ride at Disney World. When we were in the train tunnel the ride shut down. So my sister and I were sitting in a dark tunnel for about 10 minutes and all we could hear was the moaning of the devils. The car ahead of us was a young family and they were stopped in the middle of the devils, and we could hear the kids screaming in terror until a ride attendant came and dragged that car out. It was one of my favorite rides, but has since been changed to Winnie the Pooh. It's obvious that they kept the same track and basically just painted over everything and slowed the speed down. I miss the original Mr. Toad ride.
Lady Tremaine has the same voice as Maleficent( Eleanor Audley)
I never grew up with Ichabod and Mr. Toad. I remember seeing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on it's own at one point, but my memory is a bit fuzzy. Conversely, I've only seen bits and clips of The Wind in the Willows, though I DID read the original book as part of my children's literature class in college. From what I can tell, the Disney version is different from the book in that it softens Mr. Toad a bit; he's less rude, less of a liar, and in the book, he knowingly trades away everything just to drive more cars, and even does outright steal a car rather than being framed for stealing a car. So when the weasels (and stoats and ferrets) take over Toad Hall, it's not Mr. Toad's anymore, and he's technically an escaped convict at that point. He really does not deserve to get his home back, and despite saying he'll change his ways at the end of the book, Mr. Toad previously said that to Mr. Badger but took it back when he was no longer speaking with Mr. Badger in private, so there's really no guarantee he'll actually keep to his word. The Disney version certainly does a better job at making Mr. Toad more sympathetic, while still keeping his out-of-touch upper-class twit tendencies and mania he had in the book. That said, the weasels are pretty much just as nasty in the books as they are in the Disney movie, and it's pretty cool to see Disney get a lot of mileage out of those weasels over the year; they were basically the Beagle Boys before they were fully solidified as a "thing" in the Disney canon.
As for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, what I always retroactively appreciated about it is that, for a Disney production, it doesn't soften the edges on Ichabod Crane, in that he's still a morally questionable individual, moving in on Katrina van Tassel when Brom Bones already is in a relationship with her, and at least partially motivated by marrying her to gain her wealthy father's inheritance. Brom Bones may be a bully, but it's hard to say if Ichabod is really all that morally superior. Another interesting detail I like about the story is that that it's ambiguous as to whether or not the Headless Horseman is even real or not, since there are a number of clues that suggest it's actually Brom trying to scare Ichabod off (the Headless Horseman rides Brom's horse, for example). The original story is basically set up like a gossipy wife's tale, suggesting a number of things about Ichabod that may or may not be true, and the fact that the story basically ends with the superstitious people of Sleepy Hollow believing Ichabod was spirited away by the Headless Horsemen, when more rational people will claim he just moved out of town and married a wealthy widow in a distant county. It's all just gossip at the end of the day, and what gets spread around is the more fantastical story as opposed to the more mundane one. Regardless of whether it's a disguise or not, the Headless Horseman is memorably creepy while at the same time over the top, especially in terms of Ichabod and his horse's reactions to the Headless Horseman. It's scary while at the same time wacky, it really does feel like the perfect kind of feature you'd play for Halloween.
It would be intersting if Disney made more villain protagontis as Ichobod could qulaify as well as also Kuzco in the first half of his movie and at least in the first film Stitch and Jumba . But imagine a senerio similar to All Dogs Go To Heaven where they do a breif Evil vs Evil
Winky is shown to be thirsty for blood! He’s truly a REAL vicious villain! Im insanely disappointed that he make no appearances in mixed Disney media featuring villains. I enjoyed seeing the potential deleted scenes from the Toad portion. Wheres the source for those and comic panels?
The storyboards can be found on this blog (along with many other interesting animation pieces):
www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2847
As much as I want the Horseman to be a real in-universe entity, there's this part of me that can't help but think the Brom Bones explanation is more plausible.
If the horseman is real, it makes the forest sequence kind of disconnected and convenient for Brom. The first two thirds of the story focus on Ichabod and Brom fighting over Catrina, just for Ichabod to suddenly be swiped by a supernatural entity, coincidentally giving Brom his opening for Catrina.
But if it was Brom all along, it would perfectly tie into their fight for Catrina. Brom was repeatedly bested when it came to wooing Catrina, but he ultimately found out about Ichabod's fear of bad omens and the supernatural.
So he sings the song of the Headless Horseman as the setup to get Ichabod nice and on edge, and then goes into the forest to deliver the payoff in the woods, the final phase of his plan to scare off Ichabod once and for all.
It also would explain why Ichabod's body was missing entirely, when the Horseman only needs the head. Ichabod didn't die, but likely just booked it out of the region immediately.
The only thing that sways my mind back to the Horseman being real is that final image of him in the story book, holding what looks like less of a pumpkin, and more like an actual skull.
That's why I love this interpretation of the story so much, it can be interpreted either way depending on how you look at it.
If I worked for Disney, I would try to make the full version of The Wind in the Willows. Even with the gang line up shooting scene
Another brilliant Disney Villains Retrospective video - and as much as I look forward to the next video about Lady Termaine and her daughters, I appreciate that you have done the less well-known villains in your series :)
One of my favorite movies! I love that you always give these underappreciated films the time and attention they deserve.
The highlight of my day!
Disney's version of Sleepy Hollow in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad was one two versions I saw as a kid. The other was the Wishbone episode "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with Wishbone playing Ichabod who alot more lovable than the Disney version of Ichabod.
I never caught the lyrics to the weasel song in The Prince and the Pauper before, that’s pretty funny.
I always think The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is the most hilarious film Walt Disney ever made
that event sounds so cool, i would love to see them add aspects of that event to mnsshp in the future but i highly doubt that :( i just think it would be cool to have meet and greets with ichabod, brom bones, and katrina, since the headless horseman is in the parade.
i remember a few years ago they had an event at fort wilderness in the stable where they would show the movie with popcorn and after it was over the headless horseman would come out and meet guests [he didn't do autographs since he was on a horse but you could take pictures, it was really cool to see him so up close since hes usually just in a parade!]
Love this series, always a pleasure to see a new episode pop up! Can't wait for more classic villains!
The Weasels also had an appearance in Goof Troop, with the recurring villain Wally. One of his episodes is "The Good, the Bad and the Goofy" which has some fantastic cartoony animation. (Certain episodes of Goof Troop have amazing animation, but they're often overlooked because most of the series had a somewhat cheaper look. But that episode is a great example for anyone who likes seeing some lively expressive stuff!)
I appreciate you showing footage of the 1995 UK wind in the willows animated movie😁
Probably the definitive version for me.
I wish Disney would do more with Mr. Winkie. He’s my second favorite Disney villain
I’m so excited for Lady Tremaine!!! One of my favorite all time villains!
Note: The Water Rat is more commonly known nowadays as a Vole
Correction: Ollie Wallace wasn't the voice of Mister Winky. A gentleman named Alec Harford was his true voice, as per Keith Scott's invaluable "Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age" two-volume book set. If you don't own a copy yet - I recommend you look into doing so.
You know there's something that doesn't make sense with Winkie's overall plan for taking over Toad Hall, how was he planning on keeping ownership of it with the deed without anyone questioning how he came into ownership of the house? I mean Mcbadger saw the party going on, wouldn't someone else have seen or heard something going in and around the mansion to the point they'd investigate?
Very good point. I didn't think to go into it back when I made this video, but I think that was always in the back of my head. Maybe they assumed no one would bother to look? In the book, the weasels just take over with no deed, which works very well for them for a while. I think the storymen might have needed to give this detail an extra go-around.
You know, whenever I think of the end of Mr Toad's Wild Ride, I think of that one Metallica song from the South Park movie. Kind of fits going with a sudden sharp turn into the inferno.
That last limited time ride sounds fucking amazing. I want to see Disney do something like that again.
Fun fact, two of the actors who voiced the weasels at different points, Bill Farmer and Nick Jamieson, voiced Sam and Max in Hit the Road, respectively
The Headless Horseman was partially inspired by the Dullahan, according to a friend of mine.
You say that it was impossible to change Mole into Baloo and the deed into Mowgli, and yet the latter was actually done while the roles of the villains and heroes is reversed considering that Rat was made into King Louie, Mole was made into one of the monkeys, one of the weasels was made into Baloo and Winky was made into Bagera. I am quite impressed with the animation reusage.
'I think the various denons encounter in the ride count as minor but memorable villains, since demons are evil by nature."
Someone hasn't watched The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, The Owl House, Helluva Boss, Dead End: Paranormal Park and Hazbin Hotel.
I'm now in love with the weasel at the end. MUAH! Thank you, I've had a wonderful evening! XDDDDD He got bonked hard, what was he seeing?! A hot lady weasel?
Man wish these didn't take so long to make. Will be looking forward to what is coming
The reason the walkthroughs at Hong Kong Disneyland are so much more intense is because Halloween is considered an adult holiday over there, or so I've heard.
The Headless Horseman appeared in the "Descendants Wicked Woods" short
I can hear The Yoshi Island Castle music SNES in the background 5:00
17:01, Colin, that big green demon was satan himself.
The Research you put into these is phenomenal... early await every entry
I'm sure this has been pointed out somewhere else in the comments, but I thought people might not know that the headless horseman shares at least some inspiration from the Dullahan, a Gaelic psychopomp like figure that took the form of a headless rider on a black horse, though instead of a pumpkin or more regionally appropriate turnip jack o'lantern he actually held his own severed head, and also had a whip made from a spine. Sometimes even an entire cart made from bits and pieces of human remains. Generally, the Dullahan stops near where someone is likely to die and may in fact be responsible for hastening the death. I've read that the Dullahan is sometimes thought to be a singular figure, like the nuckelavee, but also that there are more than one headless horseman, and their origins vary a bit from being a fae spirit like the Bean Sidhe (Banshee) and in others is the ghost of a mortal person who died in an unfortunate way. I've also read that they're supposedly greatly afraid of gold and that a gold button thrown in their path could ward them away from their victim. Unfortunately, there's a great deal of romanticization of the Dullahan and other headless horsemen, which means that a lot of writers have all put their own particular spin on the Dullahan, and it can be hard to discern what's actually based in traditional folklore and what's merely just the invention of an author.
I saw a rerelease of this film at a drive-in as a kid. This was sometime in the late 60s. The Headless Horseman sequence was the scariest thing I had ever seen up to that time.
Also, another deep voiced Geoff Castellucci did the vocals as Thurl did.