Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 Year End Review

ImNotBad.com had gotten off to a very slow start when the site first opened in 2008, but this year there were over 100 posts, 7 artist interviews, and 19 merchandise reviews.



The Jessica Rabbit merchandise news had slowed down a lot since there was a huge cut-back in DisneyStore.com pins. Only 36 Jessica pins were released in 2011, 6 of which came from DisneyStore.com (that is a huge difference from the over 100 Jessica pins released in 2007.) The remaining 30 Jessica pins released in 2011 came from the parks or The Disney Soda Fountain Studio Store. There was no Halloween or Christmas series either, which had many people asking why this happened. Disney pins as a whole seemed to be scaled back considerably, with not only Jessica, but many fan-favorite characters going missing throughout the year.

The Jessica Rabbit Premium Format Figure had long been rumored by Sideshow Collectibles - creating other Disney characters like Maleficent and Captain Hook down the line. Finally Jessica was revealed just before the San Diego Comic Con in July, and had everyone drooling. Sadly, the lack of an exciting Exclusive Edition and high limited edition size put people off - although as of now the Exclusive Edition is still sold out and everyone seems to agree it will be the best and most accurate Jessica Rabbit statue ever. With every company on an 80's kick, you would think there would have been a big resurgence in Roger and Jessica merchandise. That surely was not the case. Thundercats, He-Man, Ghostbusters, Smurfs, and soon even Jem, are all getting back in the public eye - so why not Jessica?

Disney Parks did have some offerings besides pins this year. A new Jessica Rabbit art print by Darren Wilson was released during the last quarter of the year, and back in the beginning of the year, I'm not bad... I'm just drawn to chocolate candy was released with an image of Jessica on the box.

It did seem to be a year of celebrities drawing inspiration from Jessica. Angelina Jolie, Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna, and more donned a look very similar to that of Jessica - and a tight red dress was a hit for many women at different events, and Jessica Rabbit became a popular costume for Halloween.

We had some fantastic interviews from different Jessica Rabbit artists found only on this site- including the creator of Jessica Rabbit, Gary K Wolf. Pin designer, Wendy Gell, told us which real life Princess received one of the first ever Jessica Rabbit pins, while doll designer, Lisa Temming, explained exactly why the look of the Mattel Jessica Rabbit doll was changed at the last minute.



The biggest news was discovering that Jessica Rabbit was one of the characters in the Disney On Ice Show - unfortunately that was was back in 1990, and as of now I have not seen any photos of her in the show. Another discovery by this site was that the building which housed the Jessica's store was home of the Dick Tracy Store first. That meant the Jessica Rabbit store could have only been open for about a year and a half. The sequel film to Who Framed Roger Rabbit may have stalled, but this Jessica Rabbit website is still going. Hopefully, there will be many more exciting interviews and developments over the next year. Stay Tooned!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Monday, December 19, 2011

Roger Rabbit Sequel Stalled

According to slashFilm, the Who Framed Roger Rabbit Sequel has been stalled.

In a recent interview with producer Kathleen Kennedy, she claims that she and collaborator Steven Spielberg were not planning to get involved in Robert Zemeckis‘ long-gestating sequel in the near future. “We’ve attempted a script, but it’s not really moving forward right now,” said Kennedy. “That’s not to say it won’t in the future, but there’s no spotlight on it now.”

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Exclusive Jessica Rabbit Creator Interview - Gary Wolf



For Walt Disney, it all started with a mouse. For Gary Wolf, it all started with a blue cow. In grade school, Gary K. Wolf was already thinking outside the box by coloring a cow bright blue. Even though his teacher criticized it as "silly," his parents embraced his creativity when he told them the cow was all alone and therefore colored it blue.

They encouraged him to read - and he did. Comic books were his passion, but as he got older he branched out to noir mysteries and science fiction. Gary Wolf went on to become an author, screenwriter, lecturer and entertainment consultant. He is well know for being the creator of Roger and Jessica Rabbit. The premise to his story, Who Censored Roger Rabbit, came to him while watching Saturday morning cartoons. His story of zany characters living side-by-side with humans was hard to sell, but after many rejections, a small publishing company bought the idea. The film adaptation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, went on to become a multi-million dollar success, earning Gary a Hugo Award for screen writing, and introduced some of the most unique characters to the Disney library. What followed in its wake was a new golden age of traditionally animated Disney films, and influenced the creation of new Disney parks.

I had the honor of interviewing Gary Wolf to bring you some exclusive information found only on this site. Where did he get inspiration to create Jessica Rabbit? Who called him to discuss making his book into a movie? Did Disney ever have Jessica make a live appearance? Find out!




ImNotBad.com:
What was your first published work?

Gary Wolf:
A short story in Worlds of Tomorrow called Love Story.


INB:
What inspired you to write Who Censored Roger Rabbit ?

Gary:
I had written and published a number of short stories and novels. I was always trying to push the envelope. Write things that were completely unique, things which nobody had ever thought of before. One Saturday morning I was watching cartoons on TV. (For research, I told my wife!) I wasn’t that enchanted with the cartoons themselves, but suddenly I really started to notice the commercials. You had the Trix Rabbit, Cap’n Crunch, Snap, Crackle and Pop. Cartoon characters, talking to real kids, and nobody seemed to think that was odd. That gave me my first inspiration. What if you had a world where cartoon characters were real? What kind of world would that be?

Monday, December 5, 2011

Disney On Ice Show With Jessica Rabbit

According to The Disney Wiki, Roger Rabbit made a guest appearances in two of the Disney on Ice shows. During his first appearance at the Walt Disney World on Ice: 10th Anniversary show in 1991, Roger helps Scrooge McDuck find Huey, Dewey and Louie who all disappeared when a time machine wreaks havoc. Feeling bad for Scrooge, Roger brings him to Eddie Valiant's office. Roger and Eddie try to cheer up Scrooge by telling him jokes, but it does not seem to work. Then Jessica Rabbit joins in!