Category — Mickey Mouse

I was a big fan of the Disney Channel House of Mouse show and the Mickey Mouse Works and was very happy to see the mouse that started it all getting some play again. However, the idea of rendering Mickey and his friends in computer generated animation did not settle well with me. Still, when the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse debuted I was won over. Not so much for the quality of the cg animation, but for the stories and lessons in each episode.

The latest DVD for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is called "Mickey’s Treat". It packages three already broadcast episodes. In "Mickey’s Treat" Mickey and his pals journey to the Trick-or-Treat Tower for Pete’s big Halloween Party. Many surprises await and The Sensational Six need a couple of tricks to reach the tower in time for the festivities. The additional episodes "Goofy the Great" and "Doctor Daisy, MD" capture the magical spirit of Halloween while showcasing how cooperation and teamwork go a long way in getting out of any sticky situation.

While those episodes may show up on your DVR on a regular basis you won’t find the extras that appear on this DVD so easily. First there is a bonus Halloween episode with the cast of another Playhouse Disney favorite, Little Einsteins. There is also DVD-ROM Halloween Party Planning Activities: "Spooky Clubhouse Cookbook" and "Creepy Clubhouse Character Stencils".

If you don’t own a DVR this DVD is an excellent way to have three of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s more charming episodes available for on-demand viewing. The extra features make this a good buy to build up excitement for some Halloween Trick or Treating too.

There are a few clips available online so you can preview the disc before ordering.
Trailer, Woods, Extended Clip:

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Mickey’s Treat is available now!

Full detail details and credits are below the cut.

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In the latest run of Disney mashups the trend is to match modern music with classic Disney shorts. The best so far is this one that matches the Mickey Mouse short "Through The Mirror" with a techno trance version of Pink Floyd’s "Time."

(via Broke Hoedown)

The What Japan Thinks blog found a recent television poll on the show Trivia no Izumi, Fount of Trivia, that asked which character Japan’s residents found to be the cutest. The answer was Mickey Mouse and Winnie The Pooh. Those American and British creations beat out Hello Kitty, Rilakkuma (a San-X character), and DoCoMoDaKe (the mobile phone mascot). (Link)

Ryan Gosling, a Mouseketeer from the 90s era re-incarnation of the Mickey Mouse Club (you know, the one with Britney and Justin), is staring in a suspense thriller ‘Fracture’. Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel film critic, interviewed Gosling and asked him of his days spent in Orlando.

"We learned a certain work ethic that served us all well," Gosling says. "It could not have been greater for a kid, doing a TV show there. I was 12-14, and working at Disney World. Every time I had a little time off, I would ride Space Mountain. Must’ve held the record for most-times-riding it. Yeah, I was working. But I just rode rides and had a good time. I could be a kid, working there."

Gosling actually has an Oscar nomination under his belt, which is better than most of his Mickey Mouse Club classmates can say.

Disney has rode the backs of this current crop of teen and tween-age stars for a number of years. I think the time might be right for another re-incarnation of Mickey’s #1 crew. How about you?

Maybe this is old, but I couldn’t find any mention of it in the archives, so allow me a moment. I stumbled upon a neat little thing over at the official Disney site.  For only $2.49 you can arrange a phone call from a princess, Mickey, Tigger or Pooh to your child. 

In the past when I’ve mentioned stuff like this a few readers have been upset and suggested we were putting ads in our posts.  My argument? It’s hard to be a Disney fansite without promoting Disney, isn’t it?  So, please, don’t consider this an ad, because we get nothing out of it.  Consider it a heads up on yet another cool bit of magic available from Disney.

This video has been making the rounds today (CartoonBrew, BoingBoing) It’s a video that shows some animation for a proposed video game featuring Mickey Mouse. Here’s the summary:

Based on a Neo-comic style, Mickey exists in a world of transluscent imagery, shape shifting creatures and detailed patterns. With the help of a power-packed Neo-Suit full of gadgets, Mickey encounters extraordinary creatures from many new worlds, with stories and adventures that extend way beyond our galaxy.

Design and Storyboard was by Matt Cruickshank and animation by Barry Baker.

I think it’s a great concept, a really cute video, but it’s not Mickey Mouse.  The facial expressions are not there.  Nor is there any mischievousness going on. I think you can do a lot to Mickey and still have his essence. It’s just not there in this video.   

Here’s a website with proof that Mickey Mouse was created by Aliens. Look at these crop circles that are clearly in the famous shape of Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney must have been channeling alien dreams when he created the famous mouse. I think I’ll sue the Walt Disney Company to give Mickey back to the aliens.

This is as crazy an idea as the story Fox News keeps running that a Tampa bay man claims to own the original drawing of Mickey Mouse. Is it that slow of a news week or does Fox News enjoy taking pot shots at the Mouse House? This story is so easily
debunked if the reporter just looks at an early version of Mickey
Mouse. There were no gloves or pie-eyes… and um… phones with cords
like that didn’t exist yet in 1928. I posted this three days ago on The
Disney Blog.

Drives me nuts.

Sorry Ken, I’m calling bullshit on this one. Anyone who spends three seconds comparing this guy’s sketch to the very earliest cartoons of Mickey Mouse knows what this guy has is a fake. It might be an authentic Disney Studios product, but it’s not an early sketch of the mouse. See this still from ‘Plane Crazy’ the first Mickey Mouse film that went into production.

I’m wondering if reporters ever fact check anymore? First Mickey didn’t have the famous ‘pie-eyes’ until the early 1930s. I think he gained his white gloves before that, but he didn’t have them early on. That’s for sure. Disney should quietly let this guy know he has no leg to stand on and if he persists counter-sue him for defamation.

-John, Editor

Hey, that’s what I love about blogs.  Bull like this can be exposed very easily.  I wasn’t backing his claim, I was just reporting what he was claiming and that it has been in the news.

-Ken

Fox 13 TV in Tampa Bay brings us this interesting story of a man who found a great deal on vintage Mickey Mouse art who is now trying to get millions of dollars from The Walt Disney Company.

Clearwater resident Steven Stein thinks he has Disney’s original drawing of the famous character.

"Nobody else would have done anything this big of this character in the 1920’s except Walt Disney," Stein claimed.

Stein says he paid a New York City thrift store $3 for the drawing in 1984, and he says he’s spent many years and many dollars authenticating the artwork.

"I’ve had the ink test-dated. I’ve had the paper test-dated. The ink tests to the mid 1920’s," he said.

He got it for peanuts, considering.  But there’s more.

Now Stein is taking Disney to court.

"I’m suing them for $50-million, the copyright on Mickey Mouse, and the right to tell the Walt Disney story," said Stein.

Stein believes somebody must have a copy of an old newsreel showing his drawing over the shoulder of a very young Walt Disney.

Perhaps his lawsuit will flush that film out, and prove he possesses one very valuable mouse.

Somehow I doubt that merely owning this drawing, even if it was the first depiction of Mickey Mouse ever, would mean owning the copyright.  There are many, many ways a corporate lawyer can argue against this.