Paul Rudish LOVES Minnie Mouse

This article is a matter of personal opinion with me, but I'm going to assume that Minnie Mouse must be Paul Rudish's favorite character (of the Fab Six, anyway) for her to be used in well over half of the shorts featured on the 2013 Mickey Mouse series, as well as that new Runaway Railway dark ride being added to Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2019.

Of the 78 (as of writing) shorts produced for this series (not counting specials), Minnie appears in 49, counting brief appearances or cameos, and some of them actually star her and not Mickey (who sometimes does not appear at all). For reference, here's a list of all the shorts where she appears (those that bear her name instead of Mickey's on the title are marked with an asterisk (*)):

• No Service
• Yodelberg
• Croissants de Triomphe
• New York Weenie
• Bad Ear Day
• O Sole Minnie
• Third Wheel
• The Adorable Couple
• Cable Car Chaos
• Fire Escape
• Eau de Minnie*
• Captain Donald
• The Boiler Room
• Mickey Monkey
• Clogged*
• Goofy's First Love
• Doggone Biscuits*
• Al Rojo Vivo
• Bottle Shocked
• A Flower For Minnie
• Wish Upon a Coin
• Movie Time
• Shifting Gears
• Black and White
• ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
• Wonders of the Deep
• Road Hogs
• No
• Dancevidaniya
• Couple Sweaters
• Sock Burglar*
• Ku'u Lei Melody
• Entombed
• No Reservations*
• Touchdown and Out
• Locked In Love
• Bee Inspired
• Shipped Out
• Three-Legged Race
• Nature's Wonderland
• The Birthday Song
• The Perfect Dream
• Carnaval
• Year of the Dog
• The Fancy Gentleman
• New Shoes
• Springtime
• Dumb Luck
• Roll 'em

By contrast, Goofy appears in 39 shorts, Donald in 32, Daisy in 14, and Pluto in a mere 13 (all counting cameos, by the way).

NOTE: The numbers may not be entirely accurate, however.

So I'm going to assume that Minnie is Paul Rudish's favorite of Mickey's inner circle. There is no other explanation. That is why even though I'm not personally fond of the series, I do watch it, but I prefer shorts where she does not appear, like those with Donald, Goofy and/or Pluto, or those with just Mickey by himself.

Don't get me wrong, I am all in favor of gender equality, and it's nice that Minnie is no longer just the distressed damsel she is in some of the cartoons of old, but there has to be a balance here, and I feel that there should be some more appearances by Donald, Goofy and, perish the thought, Pluto. I always feel that everything should be balanced.

I also kind of think it's time to figure out who can replace Russi Taylor as Minnie's voice, because she's not going to be around forever.

Winnie the Pooh Rides the School Bus

A quick one today...

With another school year starting and in honor of the release of the new Christopher Robin movie, here's something interesting: an educational video in which Winnie the Pooh and his friends (as how they looked on the old-school Disney Channel's Welcome To Pooh Corner) ride a school bus. It seems as though the school bus can be one of the most dangerous places around, as they are constantly referring the need to always be safe, often in song. Also, the bus driver looks like a reject from Sesame Street. Who would have thought that there was so much to riding the school bus safely? At least they're not talking about the dangers of strangers in this one. In any case, here's the video. Enjoy.