I found this very interesting to watch. It's normal to expect that the modern CGI studios would have libraries of templates on hand to recycle common movements and scenes, I guess I never thought that they would have similar templates back in the hand drawn days. But of course they did. 
 

That was cool. I was expecting to be about backgrounds, but when it was about movement, and used with different characters, I wonder how they archive the sketches, whether it indicates the same animator did the same work

Yes. Very interesting (and enlightening). 

I was expecting this to be scooby-doo type backgrounds. Thinking about it, I guess there had to be some other way than completely drawing everything from scratch, but I just never considered it before.

Like music, this is the difference between being artistic and a production business. When its a business you have deadlines to meet, so you reuse what you can. Kinda like writing software and code reuse - it cuts back on development time. Gets your product out the door on time and on budget (hopefully).

That is interesting. I have admiration for good animators however they get to the finished product. When I left art college in 1980 I had a job interview with animators Halas & Batchelor, who set me the task of getting Asterix The Gaul from one stance to another in 10 frames. I just couldn't do it, it was beyond me.

jamesg1213
That is interesting. I have admiration for good animators however they get to the finished product. When I left art college in 1980 I had a job interview with animators Halas & Batchelor, who set me the task of getting Asterix The Gaul from one stance to another in 10 frames. I just couldn't do it, it was beyond me.

Quitter! 
 
(You know you could have done it in just two frames, but it's the eight in the middle that make it magic!  )

craigb

jamesg1213
That is interesting. I have admiration for good animators however they get to the finished product. When I left art college in 1980 I had a job interview with animators Halas & Batchelor, who set me the task of getting Asterix The Gaul from one stance to another in 10 frames. I just couldn't do it, it was beyond me.

Quitter! 
 
(You know you could have done it in just two frames, but it's the eight in the middle that make it magic!  )

I probably was a quitter when I was 20. I'd nail it now. If I had my glasses on.

Fascinating.  I assume this came from inside Disney animation itself - what kind of obsessive soul would otherwise have spotted this reuse?

dmbaer
Fascinating.  I assume this came from inside Disney animation itself - what kind of obsessive soul would otherwise have spotted this reuse?

It's probably the case that the reuse is common knowledge in the animation world. I should think that Disney cartoons have been studied inside and out over the years by people with a passion for animation, and of course similarity between scenes will be picked up on by enthusiasts.