Past News on Michelle | Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the Music of Disney's Mulan

Many people are e-mailing me about the version of "Reflection" that Michelle skates to. It is not the version that is on the soundtrack, or in the movie. Someone that knows Lea Salonga, the singer of "Reflection", told me that Disney decided to cut it from the film (don't know why.) In fact, Lea didn't even have a copy of it until Disney sent her one about a month ago. However, when she promotes the film and has to sing the song live, she sings the long version. Her friend did not think it would be available as a single.

The whole point of the special was to promote the movie, Mulan. If you would like, you can check out my review of the movie (which turned out to be my favorite summer movie!)

Here are the final ratings for the Friday airing of "Reflections on Ice." The ratings were a 4.2 and a 9 share. So, approximately 6.7 million views watched the show. It was ranked 82 out of 116 shows, and was tied with Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

On the CBC airing of "Reflections on Ice", they showed something that the ABC airing did not. Here's what Valerie said about it (Thanks Valerie!)

They had a short interview with Michelle Kwan at the beginning. Michelle was wearing a scarlet red shirt, with her hair a little wavy...she was beautiful! Michelle said that she had been told the story of Mulan by her dad was she was little, and that when he was little, he was told the same one. Michelle said that "sometimes, I feel that my dad thinks I'm Mulan", then she went on to say that when she is skating, she does feel like Mulan.

Check out Valerie's transcript of the piece.

Did you like Michelle's Mulan special? Let ABC know about it! E-mail them with your positive comments!

Great news for anyone that missed "Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the music from Disney's Mulan!" It is being repeated this Friday, June 26, at 9pm on ABC! If you missed it the first time, forgot to tape it, or just want to watch it again, don't miss it!!

On another note, the final ratings for the special shown last Tuesday was a 4.8 rating, 9 share. So, approximately 7 million people watched the special. It was ranked 72 out of 114 shows. The movie special opposite it was ranked 13...that is just one of the reasons it didn't do as well as we might hope. But, the network is giving us another chance to watch it!! :-)

Unfortunately, the ratings for "Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the music from Disney's Mulan" was not high. In all fairness, however, it was opposite a special on the 100 best movies of the last 100 years which many people watched (and debated about the list later!) Also, it is the summer, and not as many people watch television at this time. However, the ratings that were announced are just preliminary...the final ones don't come out until Tuesday...and I will definitely know the ratings by Wednesday.

I hope you all caught Michelle's Mulan special! I really liked it. Now I can't wait to see the movie! I have received many e-mails from people outside the country who can not see the special. If you have any comments about the special, let me know, and I'll post them on my page. You can see the ones so far on my Fans Comments on Michelle's Mulan Special.

In the sports section of Tuesday's USA Today Paper, there is an article about Michelle titled, "Kwan studies, skates, debuts in TV special." The article says that, "for Kwan, the hardest part was trying not to laugh while filming a love scene with Candeloro." Also in the article: "Because she is younger than 18, Disney insisted that a tutor work with Kwan between takes. She took advantage of the offer by studying for the SATs. "And no, I won't tell you what my score is, unless it's perfect," said Kwan."

Check out these 4 pics from the special!! The first is one of her (in her "Reflection" costume) and Philippe. The second is her in another costume (I believe when she is portraying a soldier, but I could be wrong.) The third is of her in a white costume, holding fans (And I think, thanks to Jenny pointing it out, Michelle's sister, Karen, is in the background.) Also, here is the caption for that photo, "Michelle Kwan portrays the Chinese heroine Mulan as she is ready to be presented to the matchmaker who will pair her with an appropriate husband" The final picture is of her, Philippe, and Pat Morita.

Check them out:

Thumbnail version of 4 pictures from Michelle's Mulan special (19 KB)
Full size (458 KB) of the 4 pictures from Michelle's Mulan special (warning, long wait)

I saw a condensed version of the commercial for Michelle's Mulan special. I really only caught 2 seconds of it, but what I did see was her costume. It is gorgeous! The pictures on my page don't do it justice!

Here's Meghan's description of the whole commercial...

"The Voice over:

"Today's top figure skating champions led by Michelle Kwan and Philippe Candeloro bring the Music of Disney's Mulan to life! Get a peek at the new animated film along with dazzling performances. Tuesday June 16th on ABC."

It opened with a hazy shot of a group of skaters dressed in their army garb (?) doing backflips then skating in unison. Philippe and Michelle were the most easily discernible in the troop, but on slow motion inspection, a goateed Michael Weiss appeared (at least I'm pretty sure it was him) wearing a costume which leaves one-half of his chest exposed. (So we have a clean-shaven, fully clothed Philippe and a half-naked, goateed Michael Weiss)

The fast clips of skating bits are interspersed with their animated counterparts, so as animated Mulan hacks off her hair with a sword we soon see Michelle starting to hack at her hair with a sword. Then we see animated guy with a top-knot reaching for animated Mulan to rescue her from a horse then Philippe with a top-knot is reaching for Michelle. Then, Philippe is looking tenderly at Michelle with the cuts that follow including Philippe carrying her while slowly spinning, the 2 doing a lift and Philippe holding Michelle's arm as she does a spiral. Other cuts are Philippe doing a triple axel and Michelle doing a split-jump.

The skater's costumes look pretty true to their animated counterparts."

Here is the TV Guide Listing for Michelle's Mulan special:

1998 Olympic silver medalist Michelle Kwan skates to music from "Mulan," an upcoming animated Disney film. Other performers include 1998 Olympians Michael Weiss and Philippe Candeloro, the bronze medalist in Nagano; and five-time U.S. dance champions Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow. "Reflections" and "True to Your Heart" are among the featured songs. Other guests include Donny Osmond, Ming-Na Wen, B.D. Wong and Pat Morita, all of whom provide the voices for characters in the film. Also: clips from the movie.

There was an article about Michelle as Mulan in the June 4th edition of the USA Today Paper. It was on the second page of the Life section. There was also a picture of her in the short program at the Olympics. Philippe Candeloro will play her love interest, and Michael Weiss plays the villan. Read the whole article in Kwan glides into 'Mulan' role on ice. Also, in the review of the movie Mulan in the latest issue of Newsweek magazine, they write a little about the special.

Also, I put all the Mulan reviews into a separate page...COI Reviews of Michelle's Mulan Program

Michelle will debut a new exhibition program on the Champions on Ice Tour (May 19th at Madison Square Garden), skating to music from the upcoming Disney's animated feature, "Mulan." She will also star in her own ABC primetime special "Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the Music of Disney's Mulan." Michelle will be skating to the song, "Reflection," which will be heard for the first time anywhere that evening and performed in the remaining 37 cities on the tour. The ABC broadcast marks her first starring role in a network special for Disney and is scheduled to air Tuesday, June 16th, 8:00-9:00 PM.