Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our look at the reboot Mickey Mouse series and we have quite a few to get through, so with that outta the way, let's begin.
The Plot
The plot here is beyond simple, Mickey, Minnie and Daisy come to Donald's boat to go sailing and we learn that Donald doesn't know how to sail and that she only wears his sailor's outfit because Daisy likes a man in uniform. It actually is a great joke on Donald's classic look. There are some jokes here and there such as the crew being chased by a shark but it is more or less a short that just takes up time. It's far from the worst of these shorts and coming from me, that is high praise but I really didn't get a whole lot out of it.
Characters
They weren't annoying and I did enjoy some of the antics with them but there isn't too much else to say.
My Final Thoughts
It was alright. Let's move on to the next short.
The Plot
The foreign language shorts are always perhaps the most interesting and creative of these Mickey Mouse shorts as they allow the creators to do fun and exciting things with these characters without betraying who they are when the shorts are in English. And this one is another great example of that as it is a fun trip through India as Mickey takes an elephant to his one stop and he will do anything to get his customer to his location. I have to bring this up from the Disney Wiki as I find this to be a fun touch.
The elephant that Mickey helped is strongly implied to have been the Hindu god, Ganesh.
That is quite the interesting touch.
Characters
I really enjoyed the way, Mickey was handled in this short and he was quite enjoyable and everything about him was such a delight such as him singing a Bollywood number to clear up traffic.
My Final Thoughts
This was highly enjoyable and I would suggest it to anyone. Moving on to the next short.
The Plot
The tenants in Mickey's apartment are complaining about a monster in the apartment It is just the furnace but it does have a monstrous appearance to it and Mickey has to put a valiant fight to restore it back to normal and he does. And throughout everything in this short, we get to see Mickey's heroism.
Characters
I liked Mickey in this short as it showed him being brave and heroic and willing to put up a fight, no matter what.
My Final Thoughts
This is probably the best short that we are looking at today and I would highly suggest it. Now, we move onto one of the worst.
The Plot
WHY.... WHY... WHY.... WHY... WHY....
Just read the plot description.
Mickey's routine space mission turns complicated after Pluto reveals that he has to go to the bathroom.
I hate bathroom humor and this episode was nothing but one long bathroom joke about Pluto having to go the bathroom. Ugh, it was so juvenile and disgusting. Thankfully, they weren't stupid enough to actually show the action on camera but this is such a dumb premise.
My Final Thoughts
And the idiocy that I expect from these shorts continue. Let's move onto the last short of the day, which was also very dumb.
The Plot
Short, just because you have a tribute to The Jungle Cruise and feature Mickey wearing his hat from Steamboat Willie, I am not going to give you a free pass as you did what I expected of this nasty series. You portrayed three classic Disney characters as idiots. I get the idea of mistaken identity and the idea of having a monkey dressed up like Mickey is funny but no-one ever wanted to see Mickey in the nude. And I can get Goofy mistaking a monkey for Mickey but Donald and Minnie, let's talk about those two. Donald, maybe but Minnie. First, you have a short in your second season where the matriarch of Disney is assaulted by everyone around her and then you have her in this short, not being able to tell the difference between a monkey and the man that she has loved all her life. WHAT THE EVERLOVING HADES is wrong with you, guys?!?!?!?!?!
That is just so disrespectful to one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time. Oh sure, it's played for a joke and considering some of the other jokes that you have done with these characters, this isn't that bad but I feel like you actively hate these characters.
Characters
There's something I need to bring up, that being the idiot ball. And while it may not always seem intentional on the part of the writers, I feel like of these shorts are fueled by characters (usually not Mickey) being idiots. And that reminds me of the term, idiot ball which is defined as such...
It is often used by writers to fuel the episode of the week when they can no longer think of a worthwhile plot driver.
This short is a perfect example of characters holding the idiot ball as that is the only logical way for anything in this short to make sense.
My Final Thoughts
Yeah, that sums it up. This short is awful. It treats three classic Disney characters like idiots and I cannot let go of that as it drove me up the wall. Peace!
1. Regarding the toilet humor of "Space Walkies", it might be due to how the short was co-written by Richard Pursel, who worked on both Ren And Stimpy shows, Cow And Chicken, and seasons 5-8 of SpongeBob. For this series, he also co-wrote the episode "Down The Hatch" , which also had gross out humor.
ReplyDelete2. There are a few more episodes in this series that aired on November 18. In 2015, there was the "Viva Pinata" short (I think that's the name), which does show more of Mickey's heroism, helped by how it's on his birthday in universe. There was no short in 2016 due to head writer Darrick Bachman working on season 5 of Samurai Jack in between this show's third and fourth season. In 2017, there was a short involving Minnie trying to get a musical note back for Mickey's birthday song, and I think it's called "Musical Note". This year sees the release of an extended short in honor of Mickey's 90th birthday.
Thanks for the information and I'm sorry if I'm came off too harsh but the Ren and Stimpy/Spongebob background makes a lot of sense.
DeleteAlso, I didn't realize that there were more episodes that aired on November 18th but if had just checked the air dates and also, this was great information that will help me as continue this series in the future.
1. No problem. Another instance of SpongeBob stylings comes from how Aaron Springer (who wrote for the first 3 seasons, two episodes in season 4, and seasons 5-8) also wrote for the first two seasons of this series (as well as one season 3 episode). William Reiss (who worked on the first three SpongeBob seasons) also worked on the show, and did work on more surreal shows like The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy, Chowder, and Fish Hooks, which most likely influenced this series. I feel that knowing what a show's staff worked on helps you get a general idea on what to expect in their work. The show also has Wander Over Yonder directors Eddie Trigueros and Dave Thomas on board, which also explains the more cartoony nature of some shorts.
Delete2. On a different note, this series was renewed for season 5 sometime last summer, making it the third Disney show after Doc McStuffins and Avengers Assemble to reach that milestone. While Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ran for a whopping 10 years, it was only for 4 seasons, and has less episodes than this show will have.
The Spongebob writers having a hand in this explains so much about the humor. That is amazing that this show will reach 5 seasons.
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