List of Walt Disney Classics video releases

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

Walt Disney Home Video - The Classics (1984-1988)
The original logo from the series was nicknamed the Cheesy Black Diamond and contained the cheesy orange color variation of the Walt Disney Home Video logo.

December 1984
Disney was generally reluctant to release any of their animated classics on video (the only exceptions being Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland), as it might put them at risk of losing reissue revenue. Therefore, the reason why Robin Hood was picked first to be released in the series was 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 as a factor.

October 1986
Every single pre-May 1986 title in the series was re-issued in this month of 1986 to coincide with the video release of “Sleeping Beauty”. However, the only Oct. 1986 re-issue titles that had additional changes to their print masters were titles originally released before July 1985.

Walt Disney Classics (1988-1994, 1996)
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 September 1992 titles, including the demo VHS and regular laserdisc versions of “The Rescuers”.

In 1989, starting with “Bambi”, an official variation of the new logo was created, only with the background being plain normal blue. Then in 1992, starting with “101 Dalmatians”, a third variation of the logo was created, with the color slightly tinted to blue and clean audio.

Starting with “The Rescuers”, a fourth variation of the logo was created, with enhanced bass heavy audio.

February 1996
Strangely enough, the earliest copies of the 1996 VHS release of “Pocahontas” that were printed between late November-mid December 1995 started with the fourth 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.