Sunday, May 8, 2022

Disney+ Shorts Icon Ideas (Part 2)

This is the second in a series of images of ideas for icons of classic Disney shorts if they were to ever be shown on Disney Plus. To look at the first article on the subject, go here.

Sadly, though, I have a feeling we're not going to have any more older content on Disney Plus any time soon, if ever, if this article is any indication (even though many people seem to be clamoring for such older content):

But in any case, if in the distant future they do release more cartoons, as promised, here's another batch of how the icons should look on the streaming service:

Anyway, that's the second in a series of icons that Disney Plus could display on its streaming service for classic shorts. Once again, I used MS Paint to do it, so apologies for bad quality. The chances are slim, sadly, that we will see more cartoons on Disney Plus, but anything is possible.

Saturday, April 9, 2022

MouseCon 2021 cosplay gallery

In November 2021, I went to my first MouseCon in about two years. It's great to have everything open again, although everyone did have to wear masks while indoors. I went this year as Mr. Smee from Peter Pan. As always, there were booths, galleries, other cosplayers, and guest celebrities. This year, they included Irene Bedard (the voice of Pocahontas), John Morris (the voice of Andy in the Toy Story movies, who has also shown up at the 2017 MouseCon), and Terry McGovern (the original voice of Launchpad McQuack in the original DuckTales).

Here are just a few of the cosplayers that I saw that day:















And here are some of the guest celebrities, including Terry McGovern...

...John Morris...

...and Irene Bedard:

Sorry they're not the best shots I could get, but I tried to do it without having to pay a lot of money for it, so it had to be done at an angle and/or a distance.

As always, when/if a new MouseCon happens this year (as I'm sure it will), I will be going, but I have no idea yet who I will be cosplaying as. In any case, I will also be going to D23 this September as well.

Saturday, February 5, 2022

Disney+ Shorts Icon Ideas (Part 1)

This is the first in a series of images of ideas for icons of classic Disney shorts if they were to ever be shown on Disney Plus. To be sure, they put out several of them, including several at the service's launch and adding on more and more as time went on. However, here again, it would be nice if we could get more, lots more. I think one reason why they haven't released more cartoons is possibly because some of them have questionable content on them that would never fly today, such as racial or ethic stereotypes, smoking, or just crude behavior. Obviously, those would not be acceptable for inclusion, so half the black-and-white Mickey shorts would not be shown (as I had stated some time ago).

The icons would be accompanied by another batch (which I will display in the comments below, because I can't do multiple images in the main post). This batch would finish up the rest of the shorts featured in the "Have a Laugh" series which ran from 2009 to 2012 on the Disney Channel. They were released on the Japanese Disney Plus streaming service, but not the U.S. one. I'm guessing it's because a lot of them involve guns and gunplay, such as those involving hunting animals (see below), may be because people, at least in the U.S. have been sensitive to the plight of animals, or they involve, in any way, shape or form, guns and gunplay:

But anyway, alongside those released only on the Japanese service, are the first batch of new ideas I posted. I want to see a lot more non-sports Goofy cartoons (only one such short, "A Knight For a Day", is available), several pre-1941 Pluto cartoons (I think only "Lend a Paw" and "Canine Caddy" are the only two such shorts available) and LOTS more black-and-white Mickey shorts. As of late, the only two such shorts available are "Steamboat Willie" (for obvious reasons) and "Ye Olden Days" from 1933:

Anyway, that's the first in a series of icons that Disney Plus could display on its streaming service for classic shorts. I apologize if the quality looks bad. I used MS Paint to do it. That's pretty much the best I could do. There will be plenty more where that came from, however.

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.