Famously, Disney treats its theatrical animation library with care, with multiple re-releases of its classic films over the years. These days, 4K Blu-ray releases of films like “The Little Mermaid” and “The Lion King” are readily available, with plenty of extras.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Disney’s animated TV series, which receive the polar opposite treatment. Relatively few Disney TV shows are available on DVD or Blu-ray; even worse, some (such as 2000s series “Teamo Supremo,” “Dave the Barbarian,” etc.) aren’t even available on Disney+, making them completely unavailable. That is, unless someone recorded them off TV when they first aired. (Technically they aren’t truly lost media, as Disney still has copies of everything—these shows are just sitting on a shelf collecting dust, for unclear reasons.) When it comes to television animation, Disney clearly views it as more disposable than their movies.
This is one area where Disney’s longtime rival Warner Bros. beats them by a country mile. All of the major Warner Bros. TV cartoons, as well as most of the secondary ones, are available on DVD/Blu-ray. “Scooby-Doo?” “Superman: The Animated Series?” “The Powerpuff Girls?” All available. “Harley Quinn?” “Wacky Races?” “Over the Garden Wall?” All are available on Blu-ray. Meanwhile, major Disney TV cartoons are either unavailable or only partly available on DVD and Blu-ray. I can buy a complete Blu-ray collection of “Magilla Gorilla,” but not “Kim Possible,” which says a lot.
Still, I thought I’d take a look at what major Disney TV cartoons are available on DVD and/or Blu-ray.
Criteria
- I already covered “Mickey Mouse & Friends” cartoons (“DuckTales,” “Goof Troop,” etc.) availability on DVD/Blu-ray in a previous post, so those aren’t listed below.
- The DVDs/Blu-rays must be available in North American formats (as that’s where I live).
- To keep this list manageable, I won’t cover Marvel or “Star Wars” animated series.
- It’s my judgment what I consider a “major” Disney animated series, though my criteria include number of episodes made, whether it received a theatrical film, if something about it makes it a significant series, etc. Sorry, fans of “The Buzz on Maggie.”
- I’m just looking at TV series, not direct-to-video movies, miniseries, shorts, etc.
- I’m also skipping Playhouse Disney/Disney Jr. series, again to keep this list manageable.
Major Disney animated TV shows without any DVD/Blu-ray releases
- The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (though some episodes are available on Pooh-related DVDs as extras)
- Bonkers
- Timon & Pumbaa
- 101 Dalmatians: The Series
- Pepper Ann
- Hercules: The Animated Series
- Lilo & Stitch: The Series (except for an episode as an extra on the “Leroy & Stitch” DVD)
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
- American Dragon: Jake Long
- The Emperor’s New School
- The Replacements
- Yin Yang Yo!
- Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil
- Fish Hooks
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil
- Big City Greens
- Amphibia
- The Owl House (the show’s creator made news by suggesting fans pirate the series after Disney’s late 2025 news that they planned on using AI for Disney+; as of this writing, said AI plans fortunately have vanished)
- Hamster & Gretel
- Kiff
Adventures of the Gummi Bears
The first three seasons (totaling 47 episodes) is available on a now-out-of-print DVD set.
TaleSpin
The entire run of “TaleSpin” is available on three DVD sets.
Aladdin: The Series
Several episodes of this series are available on a series of “Disney Princess” DVDs from the mid-2000s.
Gargoyles
The first two seasons were released on three DVD sets, all of which seem to be out of print.
Doug
The entire Nickelodeon run of “Doug” is available on a complete series set. Unfortunately, the Disney run of the series isn’t on DVD or Blu-ray. “Doug’s 1st Movie” was released to DVD, but it’s now out of print.
Recess
Despite being one of Disney’s most popular shows in the late 1990s (and even getting a theatrical film), only a handful of episodes (plus the movie) have seen DVD releases.
The Weekenders
“The Weekenders”’s entire run is available on two DVD sets; Wikipedia says that makes it the first Disney animated TV series to get a full DVD release. However, the DVDs were only sold through the now-defunct Disney Movie Club, and thus are now (yes, again) out of print.
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
The only DVD release for this series is the introductory pilot/made-for-video movie, “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins.” Otherwise, the series is unavailable in any format, as Disney seems to want to pretend this “Toy Story” spin-off doesn’t exist (it’s not on Disney+).
The Proud Family
The entire series, as well as the series-ending movie, is available on a complete series DVD set. To date, the 2020s revival series has yet to see a DVD release.
Kim Possible
The first two seasons, plus a handful of other episodes and the made-for-TV movies, are available on DVD. However, most of these seem to be out of print. Such is the status of one of Disney’s flagship animated TV shows from the aughts.
Teacher’s Pet
The theatrical film of this early 2000s TV show is available on DVD, but not the parent show itself.
Phineas and Ferb
Despite the success of “Phineas and Ferb,” Disney has only released a handful of episodes across scattered DVDs, as well as the made-for-TV movie “Across the 2nd Dimension.”
Gravity Falls
In 2018, Shout Factory released a “Gravity Falls” complete series set on DVD and Blu-ray. (Disney couldn’t be bothered to release such a set themselves, apparently.)
Tangled: The Series
Disney Movie Club released a complete series collection on Blu-ray.
Big Hero 6: The Series
A handful of episodes from the first season are available on DVD.
Conclusion
As of this writing, the only Disney made-for-TV animated series available in their entirety on physical media (and not tied to Disney Jr., Marvel, or “Star Wars”) are the original “DuckTales,” “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers,” “TaleSpin,” “The Weekenders,” “The Proud Family,” “Gravity Falls,” and “Tangled: The Series.” That’s it. No “Kim Possible,” no “Owl House,” no “Phineas and Ferb,” not even “Lilo & Stitch: The Series.”
I knew Disney’s TV animation state on DVD and Blu-ray was abysmal, but I didn’t fully realize how abysmal until I researched this post. Again, entire major shows—”Gargoyles,” “Recess,” etc.—are either completely unavailable on physical media, out of print (and expensive to buy used), or only have a handful of episodes released to DVD.
While almost all of these are available on Disney+, there’s no excuse for a major animation studio to not offer them on DVD/Blu-ray. If Warner Bros. can sell complete series Blu-rays of relatively minor shows like “Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles” and “Duck Dodgers” (even via a niche service, given physical media sales nowadays), surely Disney can do the same.
Image: “Gravity Falls.” (Disney)
