Sunday, November 21, 2021

The Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Cartoon Collection on Disney+

Forty years ago, the first Disney cartoon shorts were released on home video, in a series of videotapes straightforwardly titled "The Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Cartoon Collection". It was a series of three videotapes, each containing six cartoons, for a total of eighteen cartoons in all.
In honor of its fortieth anniversary, I thought, just for fun, to see, as of November 2021, which of the eighteen cartoons in the video series can be found on Disney+ and those which aren't on the streaming service.
The first volume contains the following six shorts:
  • Thru the Mirror (Mickey; 1936)
  • The Sleepwalker (Pluto; 1942)
  • Donald's Golf Game (Donald; 1938)
  • The Whalers (Mickey, Donald and Goofy; 1938)
  • Pluto and the Gopher (Pluto; 1950)
  • Dragon Around (Donald; 1954)
  • The second volume contains the following six shorts:
  • Society Dog Show (Mickey and Pluto; 1939)
  • Pluto's Sweater (Pluto; 1949)
  • Donald Applecore (Donald; 1952)
  • The Little Whirlwind (Mickey; 1941)
  • Pluto's Blue Note (Pluto; 1947)
  • Donald's Diary (Donald; 1954)
  • The third volume contains the following six shorts:
  • Boat Builders (Mickey, Donald and Goofy; 1938)
  • Pluto's Quin-Puplets (Pluto; 1937)
  • Chef Donald (Donald; 1941)
  • Moose Hunters (Mickey, Donald and Goofy; 1937)
  • Lend a Paw (Mickey and Pluto; 1941)
  • Working For Peanuts (Donald; 1953)
  • As of late, of the eighteen shorts listed above, the following are available on Disney Plus:

    As you can see, that's ten out of eighteen in all. The ones not on the service are:

  • The Sleepwalker
  • The Whalers
  • Donald Applecore
  • Pluto's Blue Note
  • Donald's Diary
  • Pluto's Quin-Puplets
  • Moose Hunters
  • Working For Peanuts
  • Surprisingly, two of the missing shorts can be found on the Japanese version of Disney Plus:

    My guess is that cartoons involving hunting animals are no longer appropriate for the image-conscious Disney, which is a shame, though not surprising. But anything is possible. Unlike some other shorts, just because they aren't on the service now, that doesn't mean they will never be. They are innocuous enough as to be relatively safe to show. Anything is possible.

    Tuesday, October 19, 2021

    An Honorary Disney Family!

    It is nice to know that Mickey and Minnie Mouse are voiced by people who are close to each other in age, as you can see. In fact, the ages of Bret Iwan and Kaitlyn Robrock are such that, in another life, Bill Farmer (current voice of Goofy and Pluto) and Tress MacNeille (current voice of Daisy Duck) are old enough to be Bret and Kaitlyn's parents.

    That's why I put up this little collage of the actors and their respective characters (whom I have chosen based on this old short Disney did for the Barney's New York department store called "Electric Holiday") as something of an honorary family, because of the age difference between of Bret, Kaitlyn, Bill and Tress. As you can see, Bret and Kaitlyn (born in 1982 and '83, respectively) are the honorary son and daughter, while Bill and Tress (born in 1952 and '51, respectively) are their honorary father and mother.
    And for good measure, here is a second collage/smattering, this one of the family's respective characters they voice:
    Of course, where would that leave Tony Anselmo (voice of Donald Duck)? Maybe he could be the honorary uncle, which would make sense, as Donald is an uncle himself.

    Monday, September 6, 2021

    Villainous Collage: Pete

    This is a collage I made, based on the Disney Villainous puzzle spinoffs. This is for Mickey Mouse's nemesis Pete:

    This is inspired by those puzzles based on those Disney Villainous strategy games, which assemble all the various images on the cards together into a single collage and uses that as basis for a 1,000-piece puzzle. They have only done collages for all the villains in the original "Worst Takes It All" (Captain Hook, Jafar, Maleficent, the Queen of Hearts, Prince John and Ursula), as well as those in the first two expansion packs: "Wicked To the Core" (Dr. Facilier, the Evil Queen from "Snow White" and Hades) and "Evil Comes Prepared" (Ratigan, Scar and Yzma). Pete appears in a later expansion pack, "Perfectly Wretched" (which also features Cruella De Vil and Mother Gothel). Now, just so you know, incidentally, there is a fourth expansion pack, "Dastardly Plots" (which features Gaston, the Horned King and Lady Tremaine).

    Anyway, I don't know if there will ever be another Villainous puzzle (though probably not, given how hard they are to come by; I was told they sold out since the pandemic (got to have something to do if you can't play the game, I guess)), but the above image is a collage I did of the images in the Pete section of the game. I really do like the old cartoons, so I do like this. I hope you do, too.

    Sunday, June 13, 2021

    Guest celebrities on "The Muppet Show", who also did Disney (part five)

    My look at guest celebrities on The Muppet Show who also did things for Disney continues, with this final part of the second season. As always, I will not do every single guest celebrity, only those who have done significant things for Disney.

    Up next, we have Peter Sellers:

    Sellers was proposed to play Bert in Mary Poppins and then Prof. Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but he was ultimately passed over.
    Sellers was one of the many guest celebrities to pay tribute to Mickey Mouse on his 50th birthday in 1978, as per a TV special then:


    Up next is Bob Hope:

    Unfortunately, no images are available, but Hope, like Sellers, did pay homage to Mickey Mouse on his 50th. He also appeared another TV special on the 25th anniversary of The Wonderful World of Disney.

    Up next, we have John Cleese:

    Cleese's Disney roles have been fairly recent, including Dr. Julius Plumford in a live-action version of The Jungle Book (not the 2016 version)...

    ...an ape named Ape in George of the Jungle...

    ...Mercury in Valiant...

    ...and Bulldog in Planes:

    Cleese also narrated several episodes of Mickey Mouse Works...

    ...particularly those in the "MouseTales" segments...

    ...which feature parodies of classic literature, such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Around the World In 80 Days" and "The Nutcracker".

    And finally, we have Cloris Leachman:

    Leachman's Disney credits include Claire in The North Avenue Irregulars...

    ...Aunt Louise in Herbie Goes Bananas...

    ...Nurse Spex in Sky High...

    ...Dr. Doofenshmirtz's mother on Phineas and Ferb...

    ...and Eliza Feyersied, also on Phineas and Ferb:

    Leachman was also one of the many celebrities to pay homage to Donald Duck on his 50th birthday in 1984, as per a TV special then:

    And that concludes the second season of The Muppet Show.

    Sunday, May 23, 2021

    Guest celebrities on "The Muppet Show", who also did Disney (part four)

    My look at guest celebrities on The Muppet Show who also did things for Disney continues, with this second part of the second season. As always, I will not do every single guest celebrity, only those who have done significant things for Disney.
    Up next, we have Dom DeLuise:

    DeLuise's Disney credits were few but significant. He hosted on an episode of The Mouse Factory, about the great outdoors, and he voiced Fagin in Oliver and Company:

    Up next, we have Bernadette Peters:

    Again, her Disney credits are few, but still well-known. She played Cinderella's stepmother in a newer version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which aired on The Wonderful World of Disney in 1997...

    ...and later that year, she would voice Angelique in the direct-to-video film, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas:

    Up next, we have Sir Elton John, who became a Disney Legend:

    His most significant Disney credit was doing the music for The Lion King:

    In the closing credits of the film, he sings a spirited rendition of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", which sometimes plays on the radio to this day. Also, he appears in the TV special, Totally Minnie:

    Up next after that, we have another Disney Legend, Julie Andrews:

    Andrews is probably one of the most significant guest stars to have a Disney connection, playing the title character in one of Disney's most icnonic movies ever made, Mary Poppins:

    Beyond that, Andrews also played Queen Clarisse Renalid in the Princess Diaries series...

    ...as well as narrated Enchanted:

    And those are just some of the more well-known roles of Andrews'. That's all for now. Next time, I will wrap up the second season of The Muppet Show. Stay tuned.

    Sunday, May 9, 2021

    Guest celebrities on "The Muppet Show", who also did Disney (part three)


    My look at guest celebrities on The Muppet Show who also did some things for Disney continues. As always, I do not intend to do every single guest celebrity, only those whose Disney roles are in any way significant. The show's first season having concluded, I will now move on to the second season...

    Season Two
    The first episode of the second season has Don Knotts:

    Knotts certainly has been in many Disney productions, mostly in the 1970s, including as Theodore Ogelive in The Apple Dumpling Gang and its sequel The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again...

    ...Wheely Applegate in Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo...

    ...Denver Kid in Hot Lead and Cold Feet...

    ...and, at the very end of his life, the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in Chicken Little:

    After that, there is Edgar Bergen:

    Bergen and his dummies, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, have appeared in Fun and Fancy Free...

    ...as well as on the very first Disney television production, One Hour In Wonderland...

    ...and, very late in Bergen's life, they were on hand to pay homage to Mickey Mouse on his 50th birthday in 1978:

    In addition, Charlie McCarthy was featured in animated form in two cartoon shorts with caricatures of movie stars. One was the Silly Symphony cartoon, Mother Goose Goes Hollywood...

    ...and the Donald Duck cartoon, The Autograph Hound:

    Next up is Steve Martin:

    Martin has had a long connection with Disney. One of his earliest jobs was working at the Main Street Magic Shop and learning comedy from Wally Boag of the Golden Horseshoe Revue. He also as one of the guest hosts in Fantasia 2000, introducing "Pines of Rome":

    As part of Disneyland's 50th anniversary, Martin also hosted a film shown at the park to commemorate the occasion, sharing the spotlight with Donald Duck:

    Up next after that is Madeline Kahn:

    Although she has done very few things for Disney, she has done at least one significant thing, just before her untimely passing in 1999: providing the voice of Gypsy the gypsy moth of the Circus Bugs in A Bug's Life:

    That's all for now. I will get to more later. Stay tuned.