Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Treasure Planet arrived from Walt Disney Feature Animation in 2002, a big-swing attempt to fuse traditional hand-drawn animation with digital, science-fiction spectacle at a moment when the studio was searching for its next identity. Reworking Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island into a story of interstellar pirates and derelict ships, it stood apart from Disney's usual output and underperformed at release, which has since made surviving promotional and film material from the production genuinely scarce and sought after.
This cell carries the name Long John Silver, the film's cyborg sea cook turned reluctant father figure, one of the studio's more ambitious character designs and a favorite among collectors for that reason alone. The credited presence of Captain Nathaniel Flint ties the frame to the film's central legend, the vanished pirate whose hidden treasure and mythic shadow drive Silver's ambitions and the entire voyage. A 35mm cell like this preserves a physical fragment of that story's telling, a tangible piece of animation history from a production now regarded with more affection than it received on release.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Treasure Planet (2002).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the bottom edge, accompanied by what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block strip between the perforations on the lower edge, consistent with a dual-format optical release print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote any text or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base shows a light blue-cyan tint typical of modern safety stock; dye image appears neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks seen in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with an animated feature matching the film on record.
Era check
The cyan-base safety stock, combined optical Dolby Digital and variable-area soundtrack configuration, and dye-transfer colour image are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062833
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
