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Have you ever wondered what happened to other Balto characters in Balto 1 that was not mentioned in the other Balto movies? Characters such as Kaltag, Nikki, Star, Dixie, Steele, and many more. These characters were introduced in Balto 1 and yet they disappeared in Balto 2 and 3. If you have an explanation on what happened to them or where they went, kindly post them in this forum topic. If you have another character which I failed to mention above, please still post their stories. Thank you.

I think the animators just got tired of drawing characters for a sequel, because it's a straight-to-DVD movie.

I don't think it has anything whatsoever with being "tired of" drawing the existing characters. I simply think they wanted to introduce new characters, and not make it seem too much like they were regurgitating old material. Happens all the time.

If I can say something,

Computer animation I think would change the drawers/animators minds since you can basically do a "copy and paste" technique.

Perhaps. However, some of the greatest animation has come from the ink and pen (and paint) technique practiced in the industry (and still occasionally so, as evidenced by the work in Bambi 2). While the Balto movies were mixed media (apparently), I always say that the best work is done by the traditional methods. Would doing CGI save money or work? Not sure. From what I have seen of interviews with production people in movies that were entirely CGI, the workload tended to be quite intense.

I agree with JerseyCaptain about wanting to introduce new characters. I do know some of the characters from the first film were challenging to draw (for instance; Steele), but I feel they would have simplified the design if need be. I also feel they could have found voice actors for whichever characters they could not get the original voice actors to return for (I am sure they could get Jim Cummings to return, I do not know about the others, though).

CGI has also been revolutionary in the animation industry. With advancements in software, I'm sure it will become a breeze. But youre right some of the best videos have been drawn by hand like ADGTH and Balto.

I have always wondered that but the Universal Film Studios never gave a care to answer! So therefore we don't have real answer....
But it is fun to pretend what happened to them...

It wasn't a matter of answers. I'm sure this site never requested that information. They just wanted to bring in new characters, that's all.

People seem to have this odd fascination with thinking Steele was "exiled" from Nome, as if dogs have that kind of power and as if his owner wouldn't have anything to say about it.

As for anyone else, what would stop them from continuing to live there? Just because we didn't see them in the second movie (duh, only the first act was in Nome and only only saw people, so Balto and Jenna for all we knew would've been the only ones remaining after events in Balto 1, and we all knew that wasn't true.) doesn't mean they don't still live there. And in the third movie we saw a buttload of cameo appearances, from Morris, Doc, Kaltag, and a couple others I believe.

I still don't agree that Aniu is the white wolf in the first movie. I also don't agree that Balto's mother is the embodiment of the white wolf spirit either.

1) Even though it has been confirmed on several instances? It's almost like not believing Darth Vader is Luke's father. (I say almost because that was said on-screen; in this case, it was revealed by the director in interviews, but a director's word is as good as gold)

2) I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'm taking a shot in the dark and guessing that you're saying you don't think that Balto's mother is really a spirit, and that perhaps he was just seeing things. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) In that case...I beg to differ.

Not to go off on a tangent or start an argument, but several people support the Kodi/Dusty pairing, even though Weinstein said that there was no implied relationship between those two characters. If the "director's word is gold," chances are nobody would support them.

I for one do believe the white wolf is Aniu--not because Weinstein said it was meant to be her, but because that was the conclusion I made from the wolves' appearances and the role each wolf played in her respective movie. As they both had a similar role, I can conclude that they are one and the same.

I also support what has also been said earlier in this topic--the director simply wanted to keep things interesting by adding new characters instead of rehashing the old ones from seven (or nine, depending on the movie in question) years ago. As much as I liked the characters from the first movie, they would get boring pretty quickly if we saw nothing but them for three movies. At least we got the cameos from Balto 1 and WQ in WOC, though. It was nice to see some older characters again

I have to agree with Origamist on this one. That Aniu is both the spirit and Baltos mother (Balto 2 at the end Balto says "goodbye mother"). Also the use of new characters I see is a good move as it allows more things to occur in the movie that may not necessarily occur with the main characters. Without new characters I'd see it basically as dull.

That was in response to Cat's point about disagreeing that Aniu and the White Wolf were the same. We know the wolf in WQ is Aniu for the reason you said (circular logic much?); I was referring to the wolf from Balto 1.

What everyone seems to be missing, regarding the mysterious white wolf and then Aniu comes down to each characters' original design and purpose. Cat IS right, in part. Here, in the absence of any material which contradicts this information, are some FACTS:

• Neither Amblimation nor Universal stated, back in 1995 when they wrote and produced the first Balto movie, for the white wolf to be either intended or interpreted either as a spirit OR as Balto's wolf mother. Not considering the Balto 2: Wolf Quest sequel, a viewer can easily interpret the character as a spirit, surely. But that is not clearly indicated to be the case in the course of the movie. The wolf appears out of a blizzard with high winds and driving snow...practically (if not factually) a "white out". It's very easy for an animal with white fur to walk a short distance in those horrendous conditions and be lost to view pretty quickly. The wolf MAY be a spirit that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and then disappeared the same way. OR the wolf MAY be an actual wolf that happened upon Balto and had a brief encounter with him that did Balto some good. Nothing more is stated about it than that.
  
  
• The white wolf in Balto 2: Wolf Quest, we learn, is not only a spirit, but Balto's mother as well. And that her name is Aniu. We learn she serves as a guide to both her son and to her granddaughter, and can change form...and in fact is probably every other animal character which appears to both Balto and Aniu (certainly it appears that she is also the raven).
  
  
• Phil Weinstein, director of the Balto sequels, made it clear that -- from the perspective of the writers and production team of Balto 2: Wolf Quest, the white wolf from Balto and Aniu are one and the same character. However, Weinstein was apparently not involved, in any way, with the production or writing of the first movie, and so does not have the capacity to answer for the writing and production team of the first movie (which was a combined effort by two companies, whereas the sequels were produced solely by Universal Cartoon Studios...even if they farmed a lot of the work out to cheap production houses in the Orient).
  
  
• The eye color and design between the white wolf and Aniu are quite different. As is the physical structure of both animals. Now, there are differences in eye color in the Balto character (though nothing quite so dramatic as the differences in color and design between the white wolf and Aniu). And it could easily be said that the fur on the white wolf was being blown crazy and poofed out by the effects of the blizzard in the first movie. Certainly we see some of the effects of that in the action of the animal's (or spirit's) fur. But some physical dissimiliarities remain in spite of that.

What conclusions are easily drawn? Firstly, that if you do not take the first sequel into account, the white wolf is NOT Balto's mother, as there is no evidence whatsoever that the production teams from Unviersal and Amblimation intended that. Not in the least. Secondly, only from the perspective of the director of the first sequel (and his writing and design team), the white wolf and their newly-introduced character Aniu are one and the same. Thirdly, unless Steven Spielberg is interviewed, and that interview is posted here (and I think that is pretty much an impossibility, because I don't believe ANYONE here has that kind of clout and influence), and he clearly indicates that he has no problem with the white wolf being interpreted as Aniu (or that he and his team intended it that way), the matter will always be open to conjecture. No matter who among the membership of this site says otherwise.

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