Tim: Welcome to a special bonus review for House of Mouse Week. DisneyOtoko had approached me about doing an episode review and I thought, why not. After all, Rockin' at The House of Mouse is his theme song for his blog. Now DisneyOtoko suggested the episode. First off, DisneyOtoko thanks for joining me.
Episode Title
Ask Von Drake
Tim: As for the title, nothing to fancy here but it works well for this episode as it plays into Von Drake being a know it all.
The Plot
Tim: Okay, the basic plot is that Mickey is tired of Von Drake being a know it all and bets him a penny (I would've made it a dollar but that's me) that he doesn't know it all and puts him through different test such as naming all the dwarfs, spelling Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and then finally and this plays in nicely, Mickey asks where everyone sits after they lose the file that has the club's seating chart. Which leads into the song, which I've talked about already but DisneyOtoko will give his opinion on it later in the review. Though I must say that I do think Mickey kinda cheated the professor as he said that Von Drake forgot to name one person namely himself. To me, this almost seemed like Mickey wanted the professor to lose and would do anything to stump him. Now at the same time, Von Drake wasn't any better as he came off as not only a know-it-all but he also seemed to have a bit of an ego about him and Professor, I'm sorry but while I do like your shorts, they aren't as funny as you think they are.
Jack: One of the things that I like about this episode is that it's an episode where the classic Disney characters aren't that likeable. They're not the pure, sweet and innocent image which is by itself a misconception anyway regarding those characters. Just because they're not likeable doesn't mean it's so severe that you hate these characters in fact you don't dislike these characters at all despite their behavior in the episode. It's all part of making these characters relatable. The theme of this episode is simply the overblown ego. Not just with Von Drake, but with Mickey and it shows that even the best of people or people with the best intentions have an ego and that life will remind you that your ego is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and even the simplest of matters will prove it.
Characters
Mickey voiced by Wayne Allwine
Tim: Now while I do agree with Mickey that the good Professor can be a bit annoying at times, I don't think his actions were any better in this episode. In a way, it reminded of the saying of "stooping to their level". Now I'm not saying that Mickey didn't have a right to do this but him trying to prove Von Drake wrong was almost as annoying as the professor always being right.
Jack: You are absolutely right Moviefan in that Mickey's actions weren't any better than Von Drake's. It shows that the ego thing goes both ways. One of the things that Walt wanted was for Mickey to be a relatable character and what better way for Mickey to seem more human than to give him an ego and an episode where that ego oversteps its bounds. It's not about the penny or the bet it's the whole principle that when push comes to shove Mickey thinks he can outsmart anybody because he's the best. This all started because Minnie's palm pilot wasn't working and she went to Von Drake and not Mickey and he felt threatened by that. The idea that he wasn't the solution to the problem made him uneasy. You don't dislike Mickey for it though because being as famous and popular as he is he has to have that ego. Even the best people even you and me have an ego and there are days where that ego grows too big and oversteps its bounds and this episode was that day for Mickey and Von Drake. And for those of you that might say that Mickey's reckoning didn't come well it did in another episode in the form of a demon hellspawn known as BABY SHELBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Von Drake voiced by Corey Burton
Tim: Now whereas Mickey was only slightly annoying, Von Drake was a bit irritating. Though that may have been intentional to help prove Mickey's point that he doesn't know everything but I still say that Mickey cheated there but I digress. Even though, I did have my qualms with the characters being annoying, I still think that this was a decent episode. Not the best, but not bad. I now turn it over to DisneyOtoko for his take on the shorts and the song.
Music
Von Drake's Roll Call "Song"
Jack: Von Drake gets a song near the end of the episode as his final test to prove to Mickey and the whole Disney universe that he's the smartest there is. Now notice in the heading I put the word song in quotations. That's because this isn't really a song mainly because the melody is entirely forgettable that I can't even hum it even if you put a gun to my head and Von Drake simply talks through the song. It's more of a roll call with a rhythm. Nothing really identifiable at all.
Jack: If you want to see an awesome Von Drake Song here's where he sings the song "Green with Envy Blues"!
Next up is the Von Drake shorts.
Von Drake Shorts
Episode Title
Ask Von Drake
Tim: As for the title, nothing to fancy here but it works well for this episode as it plays into Von Drake being a know it all.
The Plot
Tim: Okay, the basic plot is that Mickey is tired of Von Drake being a know it all and bets him a penny (I would've made it a dollar but that's me) that he doesn't know it all and puts him through different test such as naming all the dwarfs, spelling Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and then finally and this plays in nicely, Mickey asks where everyone sits after they lose the file that has the club's seating chart. Which leads into the song, which I've talked about already but DisneyOtoko will give his opinion on it later in the review. Though I must say that I do think Mickey kinda cheated the professor as he said that Von Drake forgot to name one person namely himself. To me, this almost seemed like Mickey wanted the professor to lose and would do anything to stump him. Now at the same time, Von Drake wasn't any better as he came off as not only a know-it-all but he also seemed to have a bit of an ego about him and Professor, I'm sorry but while I do like your shorts, they aren't as funny as you think they are.
Jack: One of the things that I like about this episode is that it's an episode where the classic Disney characters aren't that likeable. They're not the pure, sweet and innocent image which is by itself a misconception anyway regarding those characters. Just because they're not likeable doesn't mean it's so severe that you hate these characters in fact you don't dislike these characters at all despite their behavior in the episode. It's all part of making these characters relatable. The theme of this episode is simply the overblown ego. Not just with Von Drake, but with Mickey and it shows that even the best of people or people with the best intentions have an ego and that life will remind you that your ego is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and even the simplest of matters will prove it.
Characters
Mickey voiced by Wayne Allwine
Tim: Now while I do agree with Mickey that the good Professor can be a bit annoying at times, I don't think his actions were any better in this episode. In a way, it reminded of the saying of "stooping to their level". Now I'm not saying that Mickey didn't have a right to do this but him trying to prove Von Drake wrong was almost as annoying as the professor always being right.
Jack: You are absolutely right Moviefan in that Mickey's actions weren't any better than Von Drake's. It shows that the ego thing goes both ways. One of the things that Walt wanted was for Mickey to be a relatable character and what better way for Mickey to seem more human than to give him an ego and an episode where that ego oversteps its bounds. It's not about the penny or the bet it's the whole principle that when push comes to shove Mickey thinks he can outsmart anybody because he's the best. This all started because Minnie's palm pilot wasn't working and she went to Von Drake and not Mickey and he felt threatened by that. The idea that he wasn't the solution to the problem made him uneasy. You don't dislike Mickey for it though because being as famous and popular as he is he has to have that ego. Even the best people even you and me have an ego and there are days where that ego grows too big and oversteps its bounds and this episode was that day for Mickey and Von Drake. And for those of you that might say that Mickey's reckoning didn't come well it did in another episode in the form of a demon hellspawn known as BABY SHELBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Von Drake voiced by Corey Burton
Tim: Now whereas Mickey was only slightly annoying, Von Drake was a bit irritating. Though that may have been intentional to help prove Mickey's point that he doesn't know everything but I still say that Mickey cheated there but I digress. Even though, I did have my qualms with the characters being annoying, I still think that this was a decent episode. Not the best, but not bad. I now turn it over to DisneyOtoko for his take on the shorts and the song.
Music
Next up is the Von Drake shorts.
Von Drake Shorts
Jack: The two Ludwig Von Drake shorts during the episode follow a simple formula of Von Drake simply discussing a subject and him creating an invention or conducting experiments to showcase the topic. These cartoons can get one maybe two laughs, but they're not that funny or charming they're just sort of blah. They simply fall flat.
I think the main reason why the shorts fall flat is simply the fact that Von Drake was never really meant to be a cartoon star. He was more of a host. He often hosted various anthology shorts mostly having to do with music which leads me to another point. I never thought about it before, but since when did Von Drake become a scientist? Just because someone's a doctor or a professor doesn't mean they're a scientist. Von Drake was a professor of art and music not science. Which is why he wasn't in a laboratory or in a lab coat during the Sing Along episodes. Making him the Doc Brown of the Disney universe is fine, but that sort of goes away from the original appeal and usage of the character. I'm just sayin'.
I think the main reason why the shorts fall flat is simply the fact that Von Drake was never really meant to be a cartoon star. He was more of a host. He often hosted various anthology shorts mostly having to do with music which leads me to another point. I never thought about it before, but since when did Von Drake become a scientist? Just because someone's a doctor or a professor doesn't mean they're a scientist. Von Drake was a professor of art and music not science. Which is why he wasn't in a laboratory or in a lab coat during the Sing Along episodes. Making him the Doc Brown of the Disney universe is fine, but that sort of goes away from the original appeal and usage of the character. I'm just sayin'.
Our Final Thoughts
Tim: While not a bad episode, this is not among my favorites. At best I find it okay. The story is told well but I do agree that the shorts fall flat and while they didn't drag the episode down entirely. I feel that better shorts could've been used. I do enjoy the song mostly for the cameos but unlike say Max's New Car or House of Crime, this is not an episode that I think I would go back to watching anytime soon.
Jack: I couldn't agree more. This is an okay episode, but it isn't really worth repeat viewings despite the interesting statements on the ego and the characters it effects. Thank you very much for having me take part in this great event celebrating a marvelous show!
I think my favorite episode is the episode where the club's AC breaks and they have to keep Hades in the audience and Pete does whatever it takes to get him out. That was hilarious!
Jack: I couldn't agree more. This is an okay episode, but it isn't really worth repeat viewings despite the interesting statements on the ego and the characters it effects. Thank you very much for having me take part in this great event celebrating a marvelous show!
I think my favorite episode is the episode where the club's AC breaks and they have to keep Hades in the audience and Pete does whatever it takes to get him out. That was hilarious!
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