Thursday, August 21, 2008

Revisiting Monsters, Inc.


The childhood phenomena of imagining monsters lurking in one's bedroom closet or under the bed, is in actuality a reality that exists solely for the world of the monsters. They use all the energy extracted from a child's screams, as their natural resource, to power their communities and subsist in their parallel universe.

Specifically Scream Heat ("We Scare Because We Care"), the corporate entity that harnesses the youngsters' reactions to its hard-working crew of creatures including our heroes James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (marvelously voiced by John Goodman) and his best buddy Mike Wazowski (ditto for Billy Crystal). Sulley is a bear-like, blue and purple hairy and horned monster and Mike is a cyclopean lime green M&M clone. The two couldn't be more different yet both share their passion for their vocation and the only thing getting in their way is their rival colleague Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi, at his oiliest menacing), a reptilian nasty who wants to beat Sulley for the all-time factory record of most points racked up in a single day on the job … at any cost.

One day after work Sulley accidentally lets into their world a tiny 4 year old girl, a big no-no! Legend has it that one touch is toxic and fatal which causes mass havoc wreaked upon the populace as the authorities attempt to corral the tyke while decontaminating the infected workshop's workers (a running gag has the SWAT like DEA agents popping in at a moment's notice whenever a sign of human contact – i.e. a small cotton white sock attached to an unsuspecting monster – makes its ugly presence known!).

Mike is in a panicky sweat that they will lose their jobs and tells Sulley he can't hide Boo (the nickname the big guy dubs the adorable tot) and they must return her to her bedroom. Easier said than done when Randall gets wind of the partners abetting the unsuspecting crime and he too has his plans to use Boo for his own selfish endeavors…at any cost!

The Walt Disney Classics Collection released it's first scene from Monsters, Inc. in September, 2002. This scene consisted of the Opening Title, Sulley, Mike, Boo and Boo's Door Station. Sulley, Mike and Boo were sculpted by Patrick Romandy-Simmons and Boo's Door Station by Doug Hild. Boo was retired in August, 2007.

A second release in November, 2005 consisted of Boo (in Monster Costume) and Randall Boggs. This time around, Boo was sculpted by Bruce Lau. Both releases were released as Open Edition and the image above depicts all the sculptures currently available.

Today, I updated the Image Gallery and Secondary Guide with updated images of Boo's Door Station.

2 comments:

Babette said...

Boo is such a cute little piece. I have my Mike piece displayed with an Alien from Toy Story. The coloration of the two really compliment each other....and they're both aliens, so it's a natural fit!

WE NEED ROZ NEXT!!! She'd be awesome!

DC Pop Fanatic said...

Boo is a favorite of Amanda's. She has both releases of Boo. From Pixar, I personally only have releases from Finding Nemo, nothing from any of the other WDCC Pixar releases.

Totally behind on you on WDCC needing to do Roz. I see some campaigning in a few months. ::wink::