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When Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet The Rite of Springhis purpose was in his own words to express primitive lifeAnd so Walt Disney and his fellow artists have taken him at his wordInstead of
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Fantasia

I repeat, when Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet, "The Rite of Spring" his purpose was, in...

Deems Taylor:When Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet, "The Rite of Spring"...Deems Taylor:I repeat, when Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet, "The Rite of Spring" his purpose was, in his own words, "to express primitive life." And so Walt Disney and his fellow artists have taken him at his word. Instead of presenting the ballet in its original form as a simple series of tribal dances, they have visualized it as a pageant as the story of the growth of life on Earth. And that story, as you're going to see it, isn't the product of anybody's imagination. It's a coldly accurate reproduction of what science thinks went on during the first few billion years of this planet's existence. Science, not art, wrote the scenario of this picture. According to science, the first living things here were single-celled organisms, tiny little white or green blobs of nothing in particular that lived under the water. And then, as the ages passed, the oceans began to swarm with all kinds of marine creatures. Finally, after about a billion years, certain fish, more ambitious than the rest, crawled up on land and became the first amphibians. And then several hundred million years ago, nature went off on another task and produced the dinosaurs. Now, the name "dinosaur" comes from two Greek words meaning "terrible lizard", and they were certainly that. They came in all shapes and sizes, from little crawling horrors about the size of a chicken to hundred-ton nightmares. They were not very bright. Even the biggest of them had only the brain of a pigeon. They lived in the air and the water as well as on land. As a rule, they were vegetarians, rather amiable and easy to get along with. However, there were bullies and gangsters among them. The worst of the lot, a brute named Tyrannosaurus Rex was probably the meanest killer that ever roamed the earth. The dinosaurs were lords of creation for about 200 million years. And then... well, we don't exactly know what happened. Some scientists think that great droughts and earthquakes turned the whole world into a gigantic dustbowl. In any case, The dinosaurs were wiped out. That is where our story ends. Where it begins is at a time infinitely far back when there was no life at all on earth, nothing but clouds of steam, boiling seas and exploding volcanoes. So now imagine yourselves out in space billions and billions of years ago looking down on this lonely, tormented little planet spinning through an empty sea of nothingness

Full Transcript

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.092
when Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet The Rite of Spring
00:00:05.996 --> 00:00:08.034
his purpose was in his own words to express primitive life
00:00:08.424 --> 00:00:12.427
And so Walt Disney and his fellow artists have taken him at his word
00:00:12.512 --> 00:00:15.347
Instead of presenting the ballet in its original form
00:00:15.431 --> 00:00:20.227
as a simple series of tribal dances they have visualized it as a pageant
00:00:20.311 --> 00:00:24.273
as the story of the growth of life on Earth
00:00:24.357 --> 00:00:26.692
And that story as you're going to see it
00:00:26.776 --> 00:00:29.194
isn't the product of anybody's imagination
00:00:29.279 --> 00:00:33.365
It's a coldly accurate reproduction ofwhat science thinks went on
00:00:33.449 --> 00:00:36.743
during the first few billion years of this planet's existence
00:00:36.828 --> 00:00:40.664
Science not art wrote the scenario of this picture
00:00:40.748 --> 00:00:43.709
According to science the first living things here
00:00:43.793 --> 00:00:46.169
were single celled organisms
00:00:46.254 --> 00:00:50.465
tiny little white or green blobs of nothing in particular
00:00:50.055 --> 00:00:52.884
that lived under the water
00:00:52.969 --> 00:00:55.554
And then as the ages passed the oceans began to swarm
00:00:55.638 --> 00:00:57.848
with all kinds of marine creatures
00:00:57.932 --> 00:01:00.976
Finally after about a billion years
00:01:01.002 --> 00:01:03.812
certain fish more ambitious than the rest
00:01:03.896 --> 00:01:07.858
crawled up on land and became the first amphibians
00:01:07.999 --> 00:01:11.003
And then several hundred million years ago
00:01:11.154 --> 00:01:15.282
nature went off on another tack and produced the dinosaurs
00:01:15.366 --> 00:01:18.327
Now the name dinosaur comes from two Greek words
00:01:18.411 --> 00:01:20.999
meaning terrible lizard
00:01:20.538 --> 00:01:22.664
And they certainly were all of that
00:01:22.749 --> 00:01:24.958
They came in all shapes and sizes
00:01:25.006 --> 00:01:28.067
from little crawling horrors about the size of a chicken
00:01:28.755 --> 00:01:31.923
to hundred ton nightmares
00:01:32.956 --> 00:01:34.999
They were not very bright
00:01:34.001 --> 00:01:36.097
Even the biggest of them had only the brain of a pigeon
00:01:37.007 --> 00:01:40.515
They lived in the air and water as well as on land
00:01:40.999 --> 00:01:42.768
As a rule they were vegetarians
00:01:42.852 --> 00:01:45.052
rather amiable and easy to get along with
00:01:45.605 --> 00:01:49.191
However there were bullies and gangsters among them
00:01:49.001 --> 00:01:52.694
The worst of the lot a brute named tyrannosaurus rex
00:01:52.779 --> 00:01:56.999
was probably the meanest killer that ever roamed the Earth
00:01:57.045 --> 00:02:01.001
The dinosaurs were lords of creation for about 200 million years
00:02:01.871 --> 00:02:05.001
And then Well we don't exactly know what happened
00:02:05.625 --> 00:02:09.999
Some scientists think that great droughts and earthquakes
00:02:09.999 --> 00:02:13.002
turned the whole world into a gigantic dustbowl
00:02:13.001 --> 00:02:16.999
In any case the dinosaurs were wiped out
00:02:17.997 --> 00:02:19.012
That is where our story ends
00:02:19.008 --> 00:02:22.999
Where it begins is at a time infinitely far back
00:02:22.809 --> 00:02:24.893
when there was no life at all on Earth
00:02:24.977 --> 00:02:26.001
Nothing but clouds of steam
00:02:26.999 --> 00:02:30.399
boiling seas and exploding volcanoes
00:02:30.483 --> 00:02:34.999
So now imagine yourselves out in space
00:02:34.529 --> 00:02:37.001
billions and billions of years ago
00:02:37.001 --> 00:02:40.999
looking down on this lonely tormented little planet
00:02:40.999 --> 00:02:43.001
spinning through an empty sea of nothingness
Available in 7 languages
Duration
165 seconds
Views
809
Timestamp in Movie
00:40:00
Uploaded
Mar 16, 2026
Production
Walt Disney Productions

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Movie Summary

A collection of animated interpretations of great works of Western classical music, ranging from the abstract to depictions of mythology and fantasy, and settings including the prehistoric, supernatural and sacred.