Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures
Encyclopedia
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (not to be confused with The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse) is a 1987 revival of the classic Mighty Mouse
cartoon character. Produced by Bakshi-Hyde Ventures (a joint venture of animator Ralph Bakshi
and producer John W. Hyde
), it aired on CBS
on Saturday mornings from fall 1987 through the 1988-89 season. It was briefly rerun on Saturday mornings on Fox Kids
in November 1992.
in the form of the orphan
Scrappy Mouse, heroic colleagues such as the Bat-Bat and his sidekick the Bug Wonder, and the League of Super-Rodents, as well as introduced antagonists like Petey Pate, Big Murray, Madam Marsupial and The Cow. The original Mighty Mouse villain Oil Can Harry made a couple of appearances. Pearl Pureheart was not always the damsel in distress, and many episodes did not feature her at all. Mighty Mouse's light-operatic singing was eliminated except for his trademark, "Here I come to save the day!", which was sometimes interrupted.
Unlike other American animated TV shows of the time (and Mighty Mouse's past theatrical shorts) the show's format was loose and episodes did not follow a particular formula. Episodes varied from superhero type stories to parodies of shows like The Honeymooners
("Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy") and the 1960s Batman series ("Night of the Bat-Bat" and "Bat With a Golden Tongue"), movies like Fantastic Voyage
("Mundane Voyage") and Japanese monster films (the opening of "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy"), comic books ("See You in the Funny Papers"), and even lampooned other cartoons ("Don't Touch That Dial!") and specifically Alvin and the Chipmunks
("Mighty's Benefit Plan").
The series resurrected other Terrytoons characters, but acknowledged the passage of time: perennial menace Oil Can Harry returns to chase Pearl Pureheart once more ("Still Oily After All These Years"), 1940s characters Gandy Goose and Sourpuss and 1960s Deputy Dawg are revived (Gandy and Dawg frozen in time in blocks of ice) in "The Ice Goose Cometh", "Gaston Le Crayon" has a cameo ("Still Oily After All These Years"), and Bakshi's own 1960 creations—The Mighty Heroes
—appear, aged, in the episode "Heroes and Zeroes".
, inspired a wave of animated shows that were much zanier than those that had dominated children's animation in the previous two decades. It is credited by some as the impetus for the ‘creator-driven’ animation revolution of the 1990s.
It was a huge springboard for many cartoonists and animators who would later become famous, including John Kricfalusi
(creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show
), Bruce W. Timm (producer of Batman: The Animated Series
), Jim Reardon
(writer for Tiny Toon Adventures
, Wall-E
and director of many Simpsons
episodes), Tom Minton
(writer and producer for many Warner Bros.
television cartoons, including Tiny Toons, Animaniacs
, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
, Baby Looney Tunes
and Duck Dodgers
), Lynne Naylor
(co-founder of Spümcø
, character designer for Batman: The Animated Series and storyboard artist for The Powerpuff Girls
and Cow and Chicken
among other work), Rich Moore
(animation director for The Simpsons and Futurama
), Andrew Stanton
(director of Finding Nemo
and Wall-E
) and others.
Kricfalusi supervised the production for the first season and directed eight of its twenty-six segments. Kent Butterworth supervised the second season, after John Kricfalusi's departure to work on the similarly short-lived 1988 animated series The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil
. The show was licensed as a comic book series published by Marvel Comics
in 1990 and 1991, which ran for 10 issues.
, and she agreed to purchase the series. However, Bakshi did not own the rights and did not know who did. While researching the rights, he learned that CBS had acquired the entire Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten about it. According to Bakshi, "I sold them a show they already owned, so they just gave me the rights for nothin'!"
Kricfalusi's team wrote story outlines for thirteen episodes in a week and pitched them to Price. By the next week, Kricfalusi had hired animators he knew who had been working at other studios. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures went into production the month it was greenlighted; it was scheduled to premiere on September 19, 1987. This haste required the crew to be split into four teams, led by supervising director Kricfalusi, Fitzgerald, Steve Gordon and Bruce Woodside. Each team was given a handful of episodes, and operated almost entirely independently of the others. Although the scripts required approval by CBS executives, Kricfalusi insisted that the artists add visual gags as they drew. Bruce Timm
, Andrew Stanton
, Dave Marshall and Jeff Pidgeon were among the artists who worked on the series.
Despite the time constraints, CBS was pleased with the way Bakshi Productions addressed the network's notes. Kricfalusi did not return for the second season, and took some of the crew to work on a doomed Beany and Cecil revival for ABC.
Kricfalusi said that he restored the "old time -director-unit system" in which three or four directors theoretically supervise all of the creative aspects of each individual cartoon. He said that two of the directors felt "kind of" reluctant to participate as they did not "really approve" of the direction. Kricfalusi intended for the cartoon to be "like a Warner Bros.
cartoon", and that the show does not have his personal humor style. He described the team as "slightly cautious" in presenting ideas to CBS's executives. Artists were allowed to use their own style in the episodes that they worked on, and that one can determine which artist drew which cartoon based on the styles present. Kricfalusi described Ken Boyer's scenes as "cute and dynamic," Istvan's scenes as "extremely crazy-looking," his own scenes as "very specifically acted," Lynne's scenes as "very girly and cartoony at the same time," and Jim Smith's scenes as "manly and well composed."
While an article about the series in Amazing Heroes
#129 made it appear like Bakshi was the director of the show, Kricfalusi clarified that Bakshi was the producer, and that Bakshi's creative involvement was the highest during the first several weeks of the production, then stood out of the way and let the team go about its business.
Additionally, three segments were clip-shows that re-used animation from previous episodes: "Stress for Success", "Anatomy of a Milquetoast" and "Mighty's Tone Poem". Kricfalusi said the process of using the older animation was not a creative process.
During the production of the episode "The Littlest Tramp", editor Tom Klein expressed concern that a sequence showing Mighty Mouse sniffing the remains of a crushed flower resembled cocaine
use. Bakshi did not initially view the footage; he believed that Klein was overreacting, but agreed to let him cut the scene. Kricfalusi expressed disbelief over the cut, insisting that the action was harmless and that the sequence should be restored. Following Kricfalusi's advice, Bakshi told Klein to restore the scene, which had been approved by network executives and the CBS standards and practices department. The episode aired on October 31, 1987, initially without controversy.
On June 6, 1988, Donald Wildmon
, head of the American Family Association
(AFA), alleged that "The Littlest Tramp" depicted cocaine use, instigating a media frenzy. Concerning Bakshi's involvement with Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, the AFA claimed that CBS "intentionally hired a known pornographer to do a cartoon for children, and then allowed him to insert a scene in which the cartoon hero is shown sniffing cocaine." Bakshi responded, "You could pick a still out of Lady and the Tramp
and get the same impression. Fritz the Cat
wasn't pornography. It was social commentary. This all smacks of burning books and the Third Reich. It smacks of McCarthyism
. I'm not going to get into who sniffs what. This is lunacy!"
Bakshi defended the episode, saying, "I despise drugs. I would be out of my mind to show a cartoon character snorting cocaine in a cartoon.", and stating that Wildmon had interpreted the scene out of context. "Mighty Mouse was happy after smelling the flowers because it helped him remember the little girl who sold it to him fondly. But even if you're right, their accusations become part of the air we breathe. That's why I cut the scene. I can't have children wondering if Mighty Mouse is using cocaine." On CBS's order, Klein removed the sequence from the master broadcast footage.
Wildmon claimed that the edits were "a de facto admission that, indeed, Mighty Mouse was snorting cocaine". Bakshi agreed to the removal of the offending 3½ seconds from future airings of the episode because of his concern that the controversy might lead children to believe that what Wildmon was saying was true. Wildmon's group then demanded the removal of Bakshi, but, on July 25, 1988, CBS released a statement in support of him.
Among the extras are the documentary “Breaking the Mold: The Re-Making of Mighty Mouse” and commentary tracks for several episodes. Also included are three original Terrytoons theatrical Mighty Mouse cartoon shorts, as taken from Paramount's vaults, which are the first-ever official release of Terrytoons material on DVD.
. It lasted for ten issues, and took place after the Bakshi television series. Shortly after the events of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Scrappy abandons Mighty and Pearl to spend all his time at the Four Fingers Video Arcade. When the Four Fingers Video Arcade closes down, Scrappy vanishes.
It's revealed that Mighty Mouse's enemy, The Glove, was behind the Four Fingers Video Arcade. Mighty saves Scrappy in the end, but Scrappy is still "zapped" into playing video games. Scrappy is then sent to rehab and is back to normal a few issues later. In the tenth and final issue of the comic, Scrappy substitutes for Pearl Pureheart when she gives up her role in the comic.
Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an animated superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.-History:The character was created by story man Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named Superfly. Studio head Paul Terry changed the character into a cartoon mouse instead...
cartoon character. Produced by Bakshi-Hyde Ventures (a joint venture of animator Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
and producer John W. Hyde
John W. Hyde
John W. Hyde has been working in the entertainment industry for over 40 years. Born March 29, 1941 in Jackson, Michigan he is married to Kate Morris Hyde and lives in both Los Angeles County and Badger, California.-Biography:...
), it aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
on Saturday mornings from fall 1987 through the 1988-89 season. It was briefly rerun on Saturday mornings on Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
in November 1992.
Format
The series was a commercial half-hour format (22 minutes plus commercials), and each episode contained two self-contained 11 minute cartoon segments. It differed from the earlier incarnations of Mighty Mouse in many ways. It gave Mighty Mouse the secret identity of Mike Mouse, a sidekickSidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
in the form of the orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
Scrappy Mouse, heroic colleagues such as the Bat-Bat and his sidekick the Bug Wonder, and the League of Super-Rodents, as well as introduced antagonists like Petey Pate, Big Murray, Madam Marsupial and The Cow. The original Mighty Mouse villain Oil Can Harry made a couple of appearances. Pearl Pureheart was not always the damsel in distress, and many episodes did not feature her at all. Mighty Mouse's light-operatic singing was eliminated except for his trademark, "Here I come to save the day!", which was sometimes interrupted.
Unlike other American animated TV shows of the time (and Mighty Mouse's past theatrical shorts) the show's format was loose and episodes did not follow a particular formula. Episodes varied from superhero type stories to parodies of shows like The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
("Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy") and the 1960s Batman series ("Night of the Bat-Bat" and "Bat With a Golden Tongue"), movies like Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....
("Mundane Voyage") and Japanese monster films (the opening of "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy"), comic books ("See You in the Funny Papers"), and even lampooned other cartoons ("Don't Touch That Dial!") and specifically Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
("Mighty's Benefit Plan").
The series resurrected other Terrytoons characters, but acknowledged the passage of time: perennial menace Oil Can Harry returns to chase Pearl Pureheart once more ("Still Oily After All These Years"), 1940s characters Gandy Goose and Sourpuss and 1960s Deputy Dawg are revived (Gandy and Dawg frozen in time in blocks of ice) in "The Ice Goose Cometh", "Gaston Le Crayon" has a cameo ("Still Oily After All These Years"), and Bakshi's own 1960 creations—The Mighty Heroes
The Mighty Heroes
The Mighty Heroes was an animated television series created by Ralph Bakshi for the Terrytoons company. The original show debuted on CBS, on Oct. 29, 1966, and ran for 1 season for 21 episodes....
—appear, aged, in the episode "Heroes and Zeroes".
Influence
The show was considered revolutionary at the time, and, along with 1988's Who Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
, inspired a wave of animated shows that were much zanier than those that had dominated children's animation in the previous two decades. It is credited by some as the impetus for the ‘creator-driven’ animation revolution of the 1990s.
It was a huge springboard for many cartoonists and animators who would later become famous, including John Kricfalusi
John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi , better known as John K., is a Canadian animator. He is creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, its adults-only spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", The Ripping Friends animated series, and Weekend Pussy Hunt, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based...
(creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...
), Bruce W. Timm (producer of Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series featured an ensemble cast of many voice-actors including Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Arleen Sorkin, and Loren Lester. The series won four Emmy Awards and was nominated...
), Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
(writer for Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
, Wall-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
and director of many Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episodes), Tom Minton
Tom Minton
Tom Minton is an American animation producer, writer, story editor and storyboard artist. He created and wrote the "Toby Danger" episode of Freakazoid!, wrote the lyrics to the song "Brainstem" and served as head model for the Warner Bros character the Brain in Pinky and the Brain...
(writer and producer for many Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
television cartoons, including Tiny Toons, Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, is an animated television series which aired from 1995 to 2001 on Kids' WB and was later re-run on Cartoon Network...
, Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes is a Canadian-American animated television series that shows Looney Tunes characters as toddlers. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation....
and Duck Dodgers
Duck Dodgers
Duck Edgar Dumas Aloysius Eoghain Dodgers is the metafictional star of a series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. He is actually the famous cartoon star Daffy Duck, cast in the role of an intergalactic future hero....
), Lynne Naylor
Lynne Naylor
Lynne Naylor is an artist who has worked prolifically in animation, collaborating with others like Bruce Timm and Timothy Björklund, and designing female characters for Batman: The Animated Series. She also co-founded Spümcø, the company of her former boyfriend John Kricfalusi...
(co-founder of Spümcø
Spümcø
Spümcø, Inc. was an American animation production company based in Los Angeles, California. The studio produced three traditionally animated series, two Flash-animated cartoon series, two music videos, five animated shorts, and a comic book. The company also went on to produce content for a few...
, character designer for Batman: The Animated Series and storyboard artist for The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera for Cartoon Network...
and Cow and Chicken
Cow and Chicken
Cow and Chicken is an American animated series, created by David Feiss. The series shows the surreal adventures of a cow, named Cow, and her chicken brother, named Chicken. They are often antagonized by "The Red Guy", who poses as various characters to scam or hurt them...
among other work), Rich Moore
Rich Moore
Rich Moore is an American animation director and a business partner in Rough Draft Studios, Inc., where he serves as Sr. Vice President of creative affairs. He is one of a handful of artists who in the early 90s redefined prime time television animation with his work on The Simpsons...
(animation director for The Simpsons and Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
), Andrew Stanton
Andrew Stanton
Andrew Stanton is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional voice actor based at Pixar Animation Studios. His film work includes writing and directing Finding Nemo and WALL-E; both films earned him the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.-Life and career:Stanton was...
(director of Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
and Wall-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
) and others.
Kricfalusi supervised the production for the first season and directed eight of its twenty-six segments. Kent Butterworth supervised the second season, after John Kricfalusi's departure to work on the similarly short-lived 1988 animated series The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil
The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil
The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil was a revival of Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil. It was produced in 1988 by DiC. Only eight episodes were produced, five which aired during its original run...
. The show was licensed as a comic book series published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
in 1990 and 1991, which ran for 10 issues.
Origin & Production
In April 1987, Bakshi set up a meeting with Judy Price, the head of CBS's Saturday morning block. Price rejected Bakshi's prepared pitches, but asked what else he had. He told her that he had the rights to Mighty MouseMighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an animated superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.-History:The character was created by story man Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named Superfly. Studio head Paul Terry changed the character into a cartoon mouse instead...
, and she agreed to purchase the series. However, Bakshi did not own the rights and did not know who did. While researching the rights, he learned that CBS had acquired the entire Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten about it. According to Bakshi, "I sold them a show they already owned, so they just gave me the rights for nothin'!"
Kricfalusi's team wrote story outlines for thirteen episodes in a week and pitched them to Price. By the next week, Kricfalusi had hired animators he knew who had been working at other studios. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures went into production the month it was greenlighted; it was scheduled to premiere on September 19, 1987. This haste required the crew to be split into four teams, led by supervising director Kricfalusi, Fitzgerald, Steve Gordon and Bruce Woodside. Each team was given a handful of episodes, and operated almost entirely independently of the others. Although the scripts required approval by CBS executives, Kricfalusi insisted that the artists add visual gags as they drew. Bruce Timm
Bruce Timm
Bruce Walter Timm is an American character designer, animator and producer. He is also a writer and artist working in comics, and is known for his contributions building the modern DC Comics animated franchise, the DC animated universe.-Animation:Timm's early career in animation was varied; he...
, Andrew Stanton
Andrew Stanton
Andrew Stanton is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional voice actor based at Pixar Animation Studios. His film work includes writing and directing Finding Nemo and WALL-E; both films earned him the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.-Life and career:Stanton was...
, Dave Marshall and Jeff Pidgeon were among the artists who worked on the series.
Despite the time constraints, CBS was pleased with the way Bakshi Productions addressed the network's notes. Kricfalusi did not return for the second season, and took some of the crew to work on a doomed Beany and Cecil revival for ABC.
Production style
Kricfalusi described Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures as the origin of "‘Creator-Driven’ revolution" and that he hired artists "dissatisfied with the formula cartoons they were forced to work on at other studios," and as a "witty, satirical and wildly imaginative" series and "quite a revolution when compared to the cartoons being made everywhere else." Kricfalusi said that he supervised the development of the cartoon in all aspects except the final editing.Kricfalusi said that he restored the "old time -director-unit system" in which three or four directors theoretically supervise all of the creative aspects of each individual cartoon. He said that two of the directors felt "kind of" reluctant to participate as they did not "really approve" of the direction. Kricfalusi intended for the cartoon to be "like a Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoon", and that the show does not have his personal humor style. He described the team as "slightly cautious" in presenting ideas to CBS's executives. Artists were allowed to use their own style in the episodes that they worked on, and that one can determine which artist drew which cartoon based on the styles present. Kricfalusi described Ken Boyer's scenes as "cute and dynamic," Istvan's scenes as "extremely crazy-looking," his own scenes as "very specifically acted," Lynne's scenes as "very girly and cartoony at the same time," and Jim Smith's scenes as "manly and well composed."
While an article about the series in Amazing Heroes
Amazing Heroes
Amazing Heroes was a magazine about the comic book medium published by Fantagraphics Books from 1981 to 1992. Unlike its companion title, The Comics Journal, Amazing Heroes was a hobbyist magazine rather than an analytical journal....
#129 made it appear like Bakshi was the director of the show, Kricfalusi clarified that Bakshi was the producer, and that Bakshi's creative involvement was the highest during the first several weeks of the production, then stood out of the way and let the team go about its business.
Usage of older cartoon footage
In order to bring down the budget so that layouts could be completed in house, a step normally done overseas by cheap foreign labor, the show opted to build three entire cartoon segments from vintage Terrytoons cartoon stock footage: "Mighty's Musical Classics", "Animation Concerto", and the bulk of "Scrappy's Playhouse". A dream sequence in "The Ice Goose Cometh" also utilized Terrytoons footage.Additionally, three segments were clip-shows that re-used animation from previous episodes: "Stress for Success", "Anatomy of a Milquetoast" and "Mighty's Tone Poem". Kricfalusi said the process of using the older animation was not a creative process.
Controversy
The show's content sometimes crossed into controversial territory. In “Mighty’s Wedlock Whimsy”, it’s hinted that peripheral male characters Gandy Goose and Sourpuss are showering together, and—in a dream sequence— that Pearl Pureheart has a lovechild with Mighty Mouse’s unhinged nemesis The Cow.During the production of the episode "The Littlest Tramp", editor Tom Klein expressed concern that a sequence showing Mighty Mouse sniffing the remains of a crushed flower resembled cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
use. Bakshi did not initially view the footage; he believed that Klein was overreacting, but agreed to let him cut the scene. Kricfalusi expressed disbelief over the cut, insisting that the action was harmless and that the sequence should be restored. Following Kricfalusi's advice, Bakshi told Klein to restore the scene, which had been approved by network executives and the CBS standards and practices department. The episode aired on October 31, 1987, initially without controversy.
On June 6, 1988, Donald Wildmon
Donald Wildmon
Donald E. Wildmon is an ordained United Methodist minister, author, former radio host, and founder and chairman emeritus of the American Family Association and American Family Radio.-Biography:...
, head of the American Family Association
American Family Association
The American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
(AFA), alleged that "The Littlest Tramp" depicted cocaine use, instigating a media frenzy. Concerning Bakshi's involvement with Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, the AFA claimed that CBS "intentionally hired a known pornographer to do a cartoon for children, and then allowed him to insert a scene in which the cartoon hero is shown sniffing cocaine." Bakshi responded, "You could pick a still out of Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released to theaters on June 22, 1955, by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, it was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen...
and get the same impression. Fritz the Cat
Fritz the Cat (film)
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American animated comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi as his feature film debut. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States...
wasn't pornography. It was social commentary. This all smacks of burning books and the Third Reich. It smacks of McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
. I'm not going to get into who sniffs what. This is lunacy!"
Bakshi defended the episode, saying, "I despise drugs. I would be out of my mind to show a cartoon character snorting cocaine in a cartoon.", and stating that Wildmon had interpreted the scene out of context. "Mighty Mouse was happy after smelling the flowers because it helped him remember the little girl who sold it to him fondly. But even if you're right, their accusations become part of the air we breathe. That's why I cut the scene. I can't have children wondering if Mighty Mouse is using cocaine." On CBS's order, Klein removed the sequence from the master broadcast footage.
Wildmon claimed that the edits were "a de facto admission that, indeed, Mighty Mouse was snorting cocaine". Bakshi agreed to the removal of the offending 3½ seconds from future airings of the episode because of his concern that the controversy might lead children to believe that what Wildmon was saying was true. Wildmon's group then demanded the removal of Bakshi, but, on July 25, 1988, CBS released a statement in support of him.
DVD Release
On January 5, 2010,CBS Home Entertainment released The Complete Series on 3 DVDs, with every installment of the Saturday morning cartoon uncut and presented in the original full screen video format. The collection includes the uncut version of "The Littlest Tramp," in which the controversial scene begins at 9:41 in the episode, but features an error in the version of "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" included on the set, where the penultimate live action shot of layout artist Ed Bell is substituted with an animatic version of the shot. The actual shot as aired appears in the included documentary.Among the extras are the documentary “Breaking the Mold: The Re-Making of Mighty Mouse” and commentary tracks for several episodes. Also included are three original Terrytoons theatrical Mighty Mouse cartoon shorts, as taken from Paramount's vaults, which are the first-ever official release of Terrytoons material on DVD.
Season 1 (1987–1988)
| Episode number |
Name | Production code |
Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Night on Bald Pate" / "Mouse from Another House" | 1A / 1B | September 19, 1987 |
| 2 | "Me-Yowww!" / "Witch Tricks" | 2A / 2B | September 26, 1987 |
| 3 | "Night of the Bat-Bat" / "Scrap-Happy" | 3A / 3B | October 3, 1987 |
| 4 | "Catastrophe Cat" / "Scrappy's Field Day" | 4A / 4B | October 10, 1987 |
| 5 | "The Bagmouse" / "The First Deadly Cheese" | 5A / 5B | October 17, 1987 |
| 6 | "This Island Mouseville" / "Mighty's Musical Classics" | 6A / 6B | October 24, 1987 |
| 7 | "The Littlest Tramp" (Uncut) / "Puffy Goes Berserk" | 7A / 7B | October 31, 1987 |
| 8 | "The League of Super-Rodents" / "Scrappy's Playhouse" | 8A / 8B | November 7, 1987 |
| 9 | "All You Need is Glove" / "It's Scrappy's Birthday" | 9A / 9B | November 14, 1987 |
| 10 | "Aqua-Guppy" / "Animation Concerto" | 10A / 10B | November 21, 1987 |
| 11 | "The Ice Goose Cometh" / "Pirates with Dirty Faces" | 11A / 11B | November 28, 1987 |
| 12 | "Mighty's Benefit Plan" / "See You in the Funny Papers" | 12A / 12B | December 5, 1987 |
| 13 | "Heroes and Zeroes" / "Stress for Success" | 13A / 13B | December 12, 1987 |
Season 2 (1988–1989)
| Episode number |
Name | Production code |
Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | "Day of the Mice" / "Still Oily After All These Years" | 14A / 14B | September 17, 1988 |
| 15 | "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" / "Anatomy of a Milquetoast" | 15A / 15B | September 24, 1988 |
| 16 | "Bat with a Golden Tongue" / "Mundane Voyage" | 16A / 16B | October 1, 1988 |
| 17 | "Snow White & the Motor City Dwarfs" / "Don't Touch that Dial" | 17A / 17B | October 8, 1988 |
| 18 | "Mouse and Supermouse" / "The Bride of Mighty Mouse" | 18A / 18B | October 15, 1988 |
| 19 | "A Star is Milked" / "Mighty's Tone Poem" | 19A / 19B | October 22, 1988 |
Cast
- Patrick PinneyPatrick PinneyPatrick Pinney is an American voice actor. He attended college at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where he had many friends including assistant director Michele Panelli Venetis and San Francisco Bay area costumer Alison Barnwell Morris , with whom he costarred in "The...
– Mighty Mouse (Mike Mouse) / Petey Pate - Maggie RoswellMaggie RoswellMaggie Roswell is an American film and television actress and voice artist from Los Angeles, California. She is well known for her voice work on the Fox network's animated television series The Simpsons, in which she has played recurring characters such as Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Miss...
– Pearl Pureheart / Additional Voices - Dana HillDana HillDana Hill was an American actress and voice actor with a raspy voice and childlike appearance, which allowed her to play adolescent roles into her 30s...
– Scrappy Mouse - Charles Adler – Bat-Bat (Bruce Vein)/ Additional Voices
- Joe AlaskeyJoe AlaskeyJoseph "Joe" Alaskey is an American actor, comedian, and voice artist, credited as one of the successors of Mel Blanc in impersonating the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other characters from Warner Bros. cartoons. He was born in Watervliet, New York.-Other work:Alaskey has also done voices...
– Sourpuss / Additional Voices - Michael PatakiMichael PatakiMichael Pataki was an American character actor.-Early life:Pataki born in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Southern California with a double major in Political Science and Drama...
– The Cow / Additional Voices - Beau WeaverBeau WeaverBeau Weaver is an American voice actor and narrator in television and film, heard widely in trailers for feature films, network television promos, documentaries, national radio and television commercials and animated cartoons. He became a disc jockey at age 15 and is sometimes known as Beauregard...
– Fractured Narrator / Additional Voices
Additional Voices
- Rodger BumpassRodger BumpassRodger Albert Bumpass is an American character actor and voice actor, who is noted for his long-running-roles as Squidward Tentacles on the hit series SpongeBob SquarePants, and The Chief from Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?. He also voiced Professor Membrane on Invader Zim...
- Candy CandidoCandy CandidoCandy Candido was an American radio performer, bass player, vocalist and animation voice actor, best remembered for his famous line, "I'm feeling mighty low."...
- Joe Colligan
- Jeannie EliasJeannie EliasJeannie Elias is a Canadian American film and voice actress.-Anime Roles:* Blood+ - Young Haji, Nahabi, Additional Voices* Ergo Proxy - Kitty* Naruto - Kaori-Non-anime Roles:...
- Bill FarmerBill FarmerWilliam "Bill" Farmer is an American voice actor and comedian, best known for being the current voice of the Disney characters Goofy, Pluto and Horace Horsecollar.-Early life:...
- Ellen GerstellEllen Gerstell-Voice roles:*Jem *Monchhichis *Dragon's Lair - Princess Daphne *My Little Pony: The Movie *Little Clowns of Happytown *My Little Pony TV series...
- Tami Holbrook
- Mona MarshallMona MarshallMona M. Ianotti is an American voice actress. She is often cast in the role of young boys. Her roles have included parts in not only Japanese anime, but also in American cartoons as well. Mona Marshall has recently lent her voice to the talking bear Koby the Study Buddy...
- Janet May
- Terry McGovernTerry McGovern (actor)Terence "Terry" McGovern is an American film actor, television broadcaster, radio personality, voice-over specialist, and acting instructor.-Personal life:...
- Lisa Raggio
- Clive RevillClive RevillClive Selsby Revill is a New Zealand-born British character actor best known for his performances in musical theatre and on the London stage.-Early life and stage career:...
- Neil RossNeil RossTheodoric Neilson "Neil" Ross is an English voice actor and announcer, born in London, England and now resident and working in Los Angeles, in the United States. He has provided voices for in many American cartoons, particularly those based on Hasbro products and Marvel Comics, and numerous...
- Pamela Rowan
- Jim WardJim Ward (voice actor)James Kevin "Jim" Ward is a voice actor who has contributed to a large number of video games and movies. He co-hosts The Stephanie Miller Show, a nationally-syndicated liberal radio talk show which features a number of his impersonations of political figures and other celebrities and newsmakers...
- Wendell Washer
- Alan OppenheimerAlan OppenheimerAlan Oppenheimer is an American character actor and voice actor. He has performed numerous roles on live-action television since the 1960s, and has had an active career doing voice work in cartoons since the 1970s.-Early life:...
(uncredited) - Ed BellEd BellEd Bell is a former guard and tackle in the National Football League.-Career:Bell's first professional experience was with the Miami Seahawks of the All-America Football Conference. Following his time there, he played with the Green Bay Packers for three seasons.He played at the collegiate level at...
– Animator (live action) in "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy"
Comic book spinoff
From 1990 to 1991, a Mighty Mouse comic book series was published by Marvel ComicsMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. It lasted for ten issues, and took place after the Bakshi television series. Shortly after the events of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Scrappy abandons Mighty and Pearl to spend all his time at the Four Fingers Video Arcade. When the Four Fingers Video Arcade closes down, Scrappy vanishes.
It's revealed that Mighty Mouse's enemy, The Glove, was behind the Four Fingers Video Arcade. Mighty saves Scrappy in the end, but Scrappy is still "zapped" into playing video games. Scrappy is then sent to rehab and is back to normal a few issues later. In the tenth and final issue of the comic, Scrappy substitutes for Pearl Pureheart when she gives up her role in the comic.
External links
- Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures Episode Guide at the Big Cartoon DataBaseBig Cartoon DataBaseThe Big Cartoon DataBase is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows and cartoon shorts....
- Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures at TV.com