Thanks Ron Miller

I have noticed several DVDs showing up at the store recently that take me back about 20 to 30 years, with titles such as "Escape To Witch Mountain," "The Cat From Outer Space," "The Watcher In The Woods" and many others. I was wondering if there might be a string-cheese theory to bind all these cheddary titles together, and I think Ron Miller is the key.

I checked out the Internet Movie Database and found that Ron was the Producer or Executive Producer of all these old Disney movies, and more. He married Walt Disney's daughter too--good thinking!

I am thankful most of all for "TRON" and "The Black Hole," from which the record album versions were produced (superior in their own way?) and listened to endlessly by my brother and I. Without Ron, these movies probably would have never been made.

One misstep he made was not identifying Tim Burton soon enough. Tim was an animator who worked on "The Fox and the Hound" and "The Black Cauldron" in the early 80's, but the Disney corporation didn't take a shine to him until later. It would have been interesting to see Tim's versions of "Condorman" or "The Devil and Max Devlin."

By the way, Tim's directorial efforts for 2005--"Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" and "Corpse Bride"--seem very surreal/creative. I wonder how many childhoods they'll shape, and in what way?