What’s Missing from Disney+? April 25, 2020

Not much gaming news going on with the new choice of developers delaying their games, so I thought I would give the Disney+ service, something that I’m sure is getting a huge boom in new users, a closer look. There are a few glaring omissions from the Disney+ Lineup, in what series, shorts, and documentaries are not currently being offered, even though there doesn’t appear to be contract issues with them. I’m not going to list incomplete show lineups here, as that is kind of pointless since Disney will eventually offer all seasons for the shows they’re currently streaming, but there are tons of great shows, documentaries, movies and shorts that for some reason or another are not currently offered. We’re also not going to list content we know has exclusivity agreements with other services at this time.

Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything – Starring the late Cameron Boyce, this is a show I’ve been meaning to talk about on this site for a while. Boyce plays Kid Fury, a former Pro Cyberathlete who must return to regular High School after a disappointing performance at a major event. Once back in school, he makes friends with three very unique students, and end up forming a new professional gaming clan. The show only lasted two seasons and ended on a cliffhanger that (due to the death of Mr Boyce) sadly will never be resolved, but this show’s charm eventually won no nonsense gamer over. I have no idea why this series is not currently on Disney+. Maybe some day I’ll write a review about this show, it really deserves to be talked about.

TRON: The Next Day – This short film (yes Disney+ does offer shorts) was included as a special feature on the Tron Legacy Blu-Ray Disc and served three purposes. First, it was a coda to the film and showed what the consequences of the film’s events meant for the characters we remembered. Second, it was a proper ending to the storyline of the Flynn Lives ARG campaign. As someone who participated in that campaign (and still has the ENCOM employee badge to prove it) it was nice to see that wrapped up. Third, it set the stage for TRON 3. The short film itself was heavily praised by critics and fans alike after it was released and I have no idea why there isn’t a legitimate place to watch it. Heck it’s not even included as a special feature in the various streaming versions of the film.

Marvel One Shots – (Update: They’re added!) Starting with Thor, Marvel commissioned several short films to be included with the Blu-Ray Disc release of several Marvel movies with the intention to bridge the gap between the films and provide insight into some of the secondary characters of the MCU or provide a coda to the film it was attached in. I know at one point Disney considered doing a stand-alone disc release of all the shorts together (kind of like how they’ll bundle some animated shorts together) but as far as I know that didn’t happen. Some of the shorts were funny, like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer, some were exciting like Agent Carter (not to be confused with the ABC show of the same name that came later), but they all were a nice extra piece to one of the greatest achievements in film history. I have no idea why I can’t find them on Disney+.

Marvel’s Super Hero NYC Tour – Next up is a documentary that originally aired on the now-defunct Discovery HD Theater Channel. This documentary was a fantastic look at the real-world locations that inspired Marvel’s universe mixed with a history of Marvel itself. Since most of the locations seen in Marvel’s comics are real, I’ve always wanted to visit the same real locations Marvel’s superheroes have traveled to compare them to their real location. It featured interviews with plenty of greats including Joe Simon, Stan “The Man” Lee, and John Romita (with son). While I’m certain that Disney had nothing to do with making it (they didn’t produce it and it was made before the MCU started and Disney bought Marvel) I’m assuming Discovery Channel has no further claim on this documentary due to the fact they haven’t aired it in 15 years. I mean it’s a great documentary that mostly holds up today, surely if someone had the rights to it they would air it regularly? There are a few Marvel documentaries already on Disney+ including their 75th Anniversary documentary produced by ABC, no reason this documentary couldn’t exist alongside it.

First off, I want to give props to Disney+ for offering more 4K (UHD) HDR compatible films than any other streaming or cable service currently in existence. The fact that most of their Marvel movies, some of the greatest films ever made, are watchable in 4K HDR is an immediate positive. Some of the films they’re offering in 4K HDR (as of the time this is being posted) are surprising, and a few are missing 4K support that is badly needed. Some of these are badly needed due to the fact their HD transfers were horrible, like for Disney’s The Black Hole. Tron Legacy’s Blu-Ray transfer looked better than what’s in Disney+. Can someone please tell me why Hocus Pocus can currently be watched in 4K HDR, but neither Tron nor Tron Legacy, films that actually were produced on 70mm film, can’t? What about Avatar? Disney has four sequels in development and a whole world devoted to it at Animal Kingdom? While they’re at it, where’s a 4K version for The Rocketeer?

Then there’s some stuff that’s missing but at least I could tell you why they’re missing. Marvel films Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp are exclusively locked on Netflix for the time being along with a bunch of animated shorts including Paperman and Frozen Fever.

Oh and finally, where’s Cloak and Dagger? That first season was without a doubt the best series Marvel Television ever produced, don’t tell me it’s going to be trapped on Hulu forever.