List of Walt Disney Classics video releases

This list covers all the Walt Disney Classics (or "Black Diamond") titles released from 1984 to 1994 and strangely, 1996.

Season One (1984-1988)
The original logo from the series was nicknamed the Cheesy Black Diamond.

December 1984
Disney was initially reluctant to release any of their animated classics that had only seen theatrical release on video, as it might put them at risk of losing reissue revenue. Robin Hood was picked as the first Classics release because the film itself was considered weaker in terms of story and animation compared to the other titles. Its disappointing performance in its 1982 reissue was also cited.

October 1986
Pre-March 1986 titles in the series were re-issued in this month of 1986 to coincide with the video release of “Sleeping Beauty”.

Season Two (1988-1991)
When Disney updated the logo from this series in 1988, starting with “Cinderella”, the logo was basically Sorcerer Mickey at the beginning and then the Shiny Black Diamond with the yellow text saying “Walt Disney” on the top and “CLASSICS” on the bottom. The prototype shiny black-blue background variation appeared on the 1988 release of “Cinderella”, and later, select October 1992 titles, as well as the September 1992 demo VHS and retail laserdisc versions of “The Rescuers”.

In 1989, starting with “Bambi”, an official variation of the new Shiny Black Diamond logo was created, only with the background being plain normal blue.

January 1990
September 1989 permanent availability titles in this batch were re-issued in this month of 1990 with new tape labels, to coincide with the video release of "New York Stories". The front tape labels on these issues were slightly altered.

September 1990
This month of 1990 was when "The Little Mermaid" was released on Laserdisc.

September 1991
The re-issue of "The Jungle Book" in this batch was to coincide with the launch of the Walt Disney Studio Film Collection, while the re-issues of the pre-1989 permanent availability titles in this batch were to coincide with the video release of "The Rescuers Down Under". On pre-1989 permanent availability titles re-issued in this batch, the diamond logo on the front tape label says "Disney's CLASSICS" if it is a horizontal ink-label.

November 1991
This month of 1991 was the final time that Disney released their titles on Betamax.

Season Three (1992-1994)
In 1992, starting with “101 Dalmatians”, a third variation of the 1988/1989 Shiny Black Diamond logo was created, with the color slightly tinted to blue and clean audio.

Starting with the retail VHS release of “The Rescuers”, a fourth variation of the logo was created, with enhanced bass heavy audio due to deterioration of the master recording.

October 1992
This batch of titles was the first one in the series with Proof of Purchase tab labels printed above the back covers and originally planned for moratorium on April 30, 1993.

Not part of any special video collection, but advertised in video inserts with the Classics logo
Along with "The Sword in the Stone", the post-November 1985 re-issues of "Dumbo", the post-May 1986 re-issues of "Alice in Wonderland" and the post-July 1991 re-issues of "Robin Hood", these standard-wave titles were permanent availability releases.

September 1989
These titles were advertised in an insert booklet for the "Bambi" video release.

October 1989
Another title advertised in an insert booklet for the "Bambi" video release.

July 1991
These titles were re-issued with slightly updated print masters, to coincide with the Classics video re-issue of "Robin Hood".

July 1992
These titles were re-issued in this month of 1992 with new tape labels, to coincide with the Classics video release of "The Great Mouse Detective". The horizontal ink-label variations on these issues had slight alterations of the title headers, distinct from the variations on the case covers.

September 1992
The re-issue of "So Dear to My Heart" in this batch has updated case cover artwork and previews for three titles that were released on video in the Classics series.

February 1996
Strangely enough, the earliest copies of the 1996 VHS release of “Pocahontas” that were printed before mid December 1995 started with the second variation of the 1988/1989 Walt Disney Classics logo. On copies printed after mid December 1995, this logo was later replaced with the correct logo, which is the 1994 Masterpiece Collection logo.