Disney+ just brought back one of its long lost Disney animated shows to the streaming service after decades of being missing, and there are many others that still need to make their own comebacks. The Disney+ streaming service originally launched with the promise of offering many of the classics within the supergiant’s vault that had not been previously available elsewhere. This was especially promising for many of its older TV shows as a lot of them did not get a proper home video release after ending their run on the air.
That’s beginning to change as Disney+ is teasing that even more of their classic 1990s and 2000s vault will be coming to the streaming service soon after the launch of the much requested The Weekenders. That’s going to be perfect for these missing TV shows in particular that fans have been waiting to see return for over 20 years at this point. Read on for these lost Disney TV classics that have yet to make their way to streaming with Disney+.
Originally created by Russell Marcus and ending its run with the Disney Channel in 2006, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers probably isn’t the first show you immediately think of from this era but it’s one of the most fun. The 39 episode series follows a high society dog named Brandy and a wild rabbit named Mr. Whiskers as the two of them are suddenly stranded in the Amazon rainforest. Their wacky adventures saw them adjust to their new lives little by little, and by the end of it all fully accept their situation. This is the kind of show that would be perfect to catch on streaming, and while there are a few episodes streaming with YouTube, it’s far from a full series comeback.
Originally created by Dave Polsky and ending its run with the Disney Channel in 2006 as well, The Buzz on Maggie is another fun show that’s gone under the radar for the past two decades. It’s a show that can’t even be done in the same way as it was the first fully Adobe Flash produced show for the channel, and even had to be cropped into a different format originally as it was released in the pre-HD days. The series follows a teenage fly named Maggie as she dreams of becoming a rock star, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get there. Maggie herself has made a return to Disney through crossovers and the like in the years since, but a full streaming release of the classic show has yet to happen.
Originally created by Doug Langdale before wrapping up its Disney Channel run in 2005, Dave the Barbarian is such a fun show that’s been criminally buried after only a single season. The titular Dave is meant to protect his kingdom together with his sisters, but he’s a little dumb. It often breaks the fourth wall with the use of a narrator, and felt like it was before its time as it used its fantasy setting for its wacky adventures. It was filled with a ton of parody and jokes about its fantasy genre tropes, but didn’t really seem to grab fan attention. A proper streaming release after all this time would go far in fixing that as fans see those jokes fitting in much better in the modern day.
Recess creators Joe Ansolabehere and Paul Germain made their attempt at a second major hit with Lloyd in Space, but it didn’t quite get as much attention when it ended in 2004. It did get four seasons in total, but had to wrap up with the Toon Disney off-shoot channel for its final half (and that’s probably why it didn’t stick in fan memory). Lloyd Nebulon is a young alien who attends a school with all kinds of other species from across space, and deals with wacky school adventures in this fun sci-fi setting. It mines a lot out of the fact that he’s a loser who dreams of a better school life, and that’s a timeless element that would hit even better with a proper streaming release.
Scott M. Gimple’s Fillmore! originally wrapped up its run in 2004, and actually is available to stream with Disney+ in Canada and other international territories. This makes its lack of a proper U.S. streaming release all the more egregious, and it’s the kind of show that has gone viral in recent years as fans continue to discover standout clips (like “That chicken was dry. Real dry”). It marked the end of an era for Disney animated shows on ABC, and Fillmore solving crimes throughout his school as part of the Safety Patrol is still a timeless premise that holds up decades later. It’s a show that deserves much more love, and needs that wider streaming release.
Wrapping up back in 2003, House of Mouse has one of the wildest trajectories that is likely keeping it from the Disney+ library. It’s a full crossover of all of Disney’s animated characters as they hang out in the titular lounge and watch a catalog of cartoons. It’s an extension of the previous Mickey Mouse Works anthology, which was an offering of various new and classic Mickey Mouse cartoons. House of Mouse took it further by offering a fun package around it all as Mickey ran a nightclub and dealt with all sorts of issues.
This one might be a licensing nightmare at this point, but it truly deserves new life with Disney+ even if its curated offerings don’t really fit with the streaming model where you can just watch whatever you want, whenever you want to.
Ending its broadcast run in 2001, the fact that Buzz Lightyear of Star Comnand is still not streaming with Disney+ after 25 long years is just criminal. Starring Patrick Warburton (Joe in Family Guy), the series revealed a Buzz Lightyear who had just started his career with Star Command. It was a prequel about the “real” Buzz long before Pixar’s Lightyear failed to properly do the same, and has 60 plus episodes of those fun space faring adventures. It’s got a great supporting cast and lots of intense action, and would ultimately find its audience with a proper Disney+ release. It’s a real surprise that it’s still not on there yet, to be completely honest.
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