A whole new perspective on Disney's centenary short
Once Upon a Studio: Version 2.0
is a hypothetical extended version of Disney's centenary short, in which Cinderella and Rapunzel are shown to have an increased role in helping to restore the morale of the other Disney characters after Goofy falls off the ladder in his botched first attempt at the group photo, and also helping Goofy during the successful second attempt. It would also feature a small scene set shortly afterward hosted by Cinderella, Prince Charming, Mickey and Fairy Godmother.
This version even features several more previously absent voice actors returning as their respective characters, along with an even fuller orchestral score. This results in an even more epic rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star", with Cinderella now starting the song and Rapunzel accompanying on her guitar, and some of the solo parts being switched around. The climax of said rendition would also briefly involve the main chorus melodies of a number of other Disney songs.
The group photo of the century revisited:
(See the main page for the original OUAS for all tropes applying outside of the rewritten scenes; all of which would be retained)- Actually Pretty Funny: The short moment with Prince Charming losing his shoe and having to chase after Max to regain it, with Cinderella once again encouraging him, but not before greeting Mickey at the bottom of the stairs.
- Ascended Extra: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Moana and their respective Princes all fall into this category, as they're shown to have an increased role in restoring everyone else's spirits after Goofy's failed first attempt at taking the group picture.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: Several voice acting legends whose characters weren't granted solo or group lines during the musical number are granted the opportunity to do so this time round:
- Jennifer Hale in this version gets the opportunity to sing the opening lines of "When You Wish Upon a Star" solo as Cinderella, before handing over to Belle and the Beast, which is very fitting since her singing voice is almost as beautiful as that of Ilene Woods (if not equally so), as shown in Sofia The First: Once Upon a Princess.
- Hale and Chris Daniel Barnes also get to sing a lovely duet during the song, including, near the end, the first line of "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes".
- Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi's singing voices as Rapunzel and Eugene also make a triumphant return in this version, as they are able to first join Ariel, Eric, Aladdin and Jasmine in starting up the final verse of "When You Wish Upon a Star", and later sing a brilliant duet of "I See The Light".
- Temuera Morrison also gets to do his own singing as Chief Tui, Moana's father.
- Lea Salonga also gets to reprise her role as Jasmine's singing voice (instead of Mulan's), which was her first major role in any Disney production.
- Big Damn Heroes: Cinderella and Rapunzel take the cake in this case, alongside Prince Charming, Eugene, Moana, Maui and Tui, as they decide to take charge in fixing Goofy's mistake and lifting the collective spirit of all the other characters back up.
- Big Finale Crowd Song: The climax of the short is an even more epic and grandiose rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star", performed by all 547 characters.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Three significant examples of this:
- The first is Cinderella inviting the audience to join in with the final verse of "When You Wish Upon a Star".
- The second is Cinderella and the Prince gently singing the opening line of "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" to the audience during the song's climax.
- The final and most notable is the epilogue scene set the following afternoon, showing Mickey, Cinderella, the Prince and a number of other characters giving us a heartfelt address, assuring us that Disney will always be there for us, and happily bidding us farewell.
- Creative Credits: While perhaps not quite as creative yet as the credits for the existing short, the concept art for the credits of this version shows various Disney characters all grouped together, even including on the final slide an old official drawing of Mickey Mouse dating back to the 1980s, all encased inside film frames. This preliminary versions would doubtless evolve into more elaborate credit boards if Version 2.0 ever became a reality.
- Creators Matthew Muir and Lauren Sharpe are also credited under the "Story" section.
- Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. This version of OUAS keeps the fun and heart of the original fully intact, but the scenes between Cinderella and Rapunzel as everyone is about to give up on the photo are certainly a little sad, particularly as Raps remarks that a major fault of some kind was pretty much unavoidable.
- This version also takes the time to show how much pressure everyone is truly under to deliver, thus driving home the inevitability of Goofy's unfortunate accident. While the camera itself was broken, Cinderella, Raps and their respective Princes know that everyone's morale is the one thing that truly needs fixing.
- Determinator: Cinderella, Rapunzel, and their respective Princes are determined to find some way to fix Goofy's mistake and make this group photo a reality.
- This also applies to a lesser extent to Tarzan, whose intention is to simply postpone the group photo for a day or two and plan further ahead, to avoid another failure.
- "Eureka!" Moment: While watching the botched first attempt at the group photo from inside, Cinderella and Rapunzel discreetly admit that regardless of whether or not Goofy was chosen to take the photo, a mishap of some kind was pretty much inevitable, as while everyone was bright and chirpy prior to Goofy's accident, there was no doubt an air of unimaginable pressure regarding such a truly epic milestone. Cinderella, however, remains optimistic that they'll find *some* way to turn it around. She, Rapunzel and Moana, along with their respective Princes and a few other characters then head downstairs as quickly as possible in an effort to help make the group photo a reality. On the way downstairs, she quickly gives Rapunzel an idea to lift everyone's spirits; playing the one tune that defines Disney more than any other.
- Fake Shemp: While several characters are still this such as Pooh and of course, Genie, Jiminy Cricket gets a line in "When You Wish Upon a Star" provided by Joe Ochman (his current voice actor) whereas the original short used an archive vocal of Cliff Edwards.
- Cricket's line is also earlier on in the song at the beginning of the bridge (specifically the line "Fate is kind"). With this rendition mainly sung in the key of A-sharp major instead of E major (before modulating to F major for the repeat of the final verse), Disney would naturally want to play it safe instead of trying to manipulate the pitch of Edwards' archival recording.
- Fix Fic: This could be one of the grandest and most elaborate examples for any major Disney project.
- Flyaway Shot: This version of the short benefits from more than one; first there's the epic zoomout from Mickey, which fades into an epic panning shot of the entire chorus of all of Disney's animated characters singing the final verse. This then fades into a closer shot of Mickey and gang, Cinderella, Belle, Moana and their respective Princes for Cinderella and Prince Charming's duet. After Rapunzel and Eugene, and Aladdin and Jasmine's duets, we get a second zoom-out, showing everyone happily singing the final line one more time, as the photo is magically created.
- Friend to All Living Things: Pocahontas taking some of the animals in her arms once again remains, and during Cinderella and the Prince's first duet, both Raya and the Beast are seen stroking Sisu tenderly.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Once again repeated with Rapunzel.
- Ghost Reunion Ending: The spirit of Mufasa is now present in this fanfic's version of the final group photo.
- Group Picture Ending: Once again the culmination of this fanfic, now featuring Chief Tui, Yo-Yo Flamingo and the Spring Sprite from Fantasia 2000, and even Mufasa in ghost form. Virtually everyone is once again all smiles for the final photo, even the likes of Frollo and Hades.
- Hidden Depths: Eric starting up the final verse with Ariel alongside Aladdin, Jasmine, Rapunzel and Eugene with the line "Like a bolt out of the blue..." shows him to be a pretty good singer.
- Tarzan and Jane taking over with their duet of the line "...Fate steps in and sees you through!" reveals them to be a pair competent singers in their own right.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: This version of the short, if it were ever realized, could well be the true epitome of this trope for Disney, amping up the featured characters from an already-impressive 543 characters to 547; 3 new hand-drawn characters (Mufasa, Yo-Yo-Flamingo and the Spring Sprite) and only one new CGI addition (Chief Tui).
- Hypothetical Casting: This version of OUAS would see even more of the characters' regular voice actors returning to provide their voices; some notable examples including Chris Daniel Barnes as Prince Charming and Prince Eric, Tony Goldwyn and Minnie Driver as Jane, Kate Higgins as Aurora, Linda Larkin as Jasmine, Zachary Levi as Eugene and even Temuera Morrison as Tui.
- Musical Number Annoyance: Hades is again annoyed at the new rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" initiated by Cinderella and Rapunzel. Made even funnier this time round as Aurora apologizes, unable to contain her laughter at his visible dismay.
- The potential Offscreen Teleportation of the original OUAS is mostly gone, as many of the characters who weren't present during the botched first attempt are shown to have simply been watching it from a distance, while others are shown to have still been inside.
- Plucky Girl: Cinderella and Rapunzel both this fit trope perfectly, as Cinderella is determined to turn the situation around following Goofy's failed first attempt. Both Fairy Godmother and Rapunzel take the initiative, as the former conjures a guitar for Rapunzel, while Raps herself begins playing a new rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star".
- And just before Cinders starts singing, she happily whispers to everyone else gathered; "here we go", as they all listen intently.
- Popularity Power: While the popularity of Belle and the Beast, Ariel, Snow White, Baloo and Mowgli, along with Jiminy Cricket's status for being the first to sing "When You Wish Upon a Star" easily win them solo lines, the popularity of Disney's other official couples such as Cinderella and Charming, Tarzan and Jane, Aladdin and Jasmine, and especially Rapunzel and Eugene seems to easily win them their own solos and duets, particularly as Cinderella was Walt's personal favourite character and is often portrayed as the Princesses' 'leader'.
- Reprise Medley: The end of this short's rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" also involves Cinderella and Prince Charming singing the opening line to "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes", Rapunzel and Eugene singing the start of the chorus to "I See The Light", and Aladdin and Jasmine doing the same for "A Whole New World", to truly cap it off.
- Rousing Speech: While Rapunzel and Eugene go to check on Goofy to make sure he hasn't been injured too severely, Cinderella and the Prince give a heartwarming speech to start to restore everyone else's spirits.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Many of the characters once again start moping back inside after Goofy falls off the ladder, breaking the camera in the process. Downplayed to an extent with a number of characters, as Tarzan decides to simply postpone the photo for a day or two, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the botched first attempt.
- Grumpy and Eeyore, however, are still their moody old selves.
- There is also a possibility that Tarzan's efforts would do little to reduce the risk of another botched attempt, as everyone would be under arguably even more pressure to get it right, not wanting to let their founder down once again.
- Script Fic: This fanfic is written as an actual screenplay; even going as far as listing the entire cast, along with the soundtrack listing, a full breakdown of the orchestral instrumentation, and even a full credits page. Orchestrations are also described in the screenplay itself, integrated quite comfortably with the dialogue and stage directions.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Although the absence of Cinderella's solo line in the original version of OUAS implies that Disney has rowed back to an extent on the idea of her being the de facto 'leader' of the Princesses, Cinderella seems to slip back into said role quite comfortably in this version, as she and several other Princesses eagerly take charge of rebuilding the spirits of their other cohorts, and she even proposes the idea of singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" to Rapunzel. Sure enough, Fairy Godmother uses her wand to create a guitar for Rapunzel, and so begins the epic finale.
- True Companions: Version 2.0. takes this trope even further than the original, showing virtually every single Disney character to be an extended family, having been friends forever, with few if any divisions:
- One small but notable example is Mickey's interaction with Cinderella, as he shoots her a very casual "hiya", rather than a more graceful and formal "hello".
- Cinderella's short but uplifting speech to lift everyone's spirits, reminding them that there is always hope even in these difficult moments. She shows not a trace of disdain for any of the villains, not even her own stepmother, or even Frollo, for that matter.
- Just moments before, Rapunzel and Eugene are sure to check up on Goofy to make sure he's still in one piece. Thankfully, Eugene finds that he's only sustained a few minor bruises.
- And just like Raya abbreviating Mickey's name to 'Mick' earlier on, Cinderella quite happily does the same for Rapunzel as she offers up the guitar Fairy Godmother has created, calling her "Raps", similar to Cassandra in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.
- Mickey and Cinderella inviting all the characters (as well as the audience) to sing the final verse together one last time also cements the status of the Disney characters as an extended family, along with them all proudly singing the verse as a unified chorus.
- All the characters in the epilogue scene being so casual and laid-back in each others' presence is also a testament to the closeness of the extended Disney family.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: There is a short scene set the following afternoon where Mickey, Cinderella, Prince Charming and a few other characters give us a nice monologue about the Walt Disney Company's bright future ahead, accompanied by a more tranquil rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star".
- As the characters wave farewell, we fade into the final end caption from the existing version of OUAS, reading "To all who have imagined, laughed and dreamed with us; Thank You".
