I’m a forty-year-old man who grew up watching the classic shorts and has never seen even a minute of Clubhouse. Whatever thoughts I have on Mickey are based on my own decades-long acquaintance with the character and are in no way the result of what you view as Iger’s manipulation of his legacy. I respect your views on the matter, and they may well apply to others, but they don’t describe my situation.
Truth be told, this is a one-off album. That wasn’t the entire identity of Mickey & Friends in the 80s. Not sure if you’re familiar with Worlds of Wonder’s Talking Mickey Mouse & Goofy (similar to Teddy Ruxpin & Grubby by the same company) released in 1986. But all 13 of the read-along storybooks & cassettes released for them were great with a lovely art direction, storytelling/humor, & audio production. (Not to mention great audio-animatronics programming. Legit theme park quality) Walt Disney/Disneyland Records did all those from my understanding and may have been written by Jymn Magon who was heavily involved with much of the Disney Afternoon series we love from the 80s-90s. ;It’s more a matter of costume than design, but I absolutely love Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle in their ’80s getup. I can’t get over the fact that they’re dressed pretty much like Madonna in her Like a Virgin days!
There’s actually a whole range of “Totally Minnie” (and related) merchandise, not to mention a lot of stuff featuring the characters wearing this later-’80s garb:
This is the part I don’t follow. The modern-era Mickey hasn’t been erased from history. He’s on D+ in Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, and , The Three Musketeers. To me, that seems like the version that’s in the parks, too (except for MMRR).
Even before "Totally Minnie", there was the Mickey Mouse Disco album. You can hear it on Youtube in all its garish awfulness. That new cartoon where Mickey and friends reclaim the roller ring through the "magic of disco" is a much better homage to the disco era.There’s actually a whole range of “Totally Minnie” (and related) merchandise, not to mention a lot of stuff featuring the characters wearing this later-’80s garb:
But yes, you’re right that these forays into contemporary fashion were a relatively minor part of the characters’ identity, which remained rooted in their classic designs.
I wasn’t aware of the Worlds of Wonder Talking Mickey cassettes and books. Thanks for bringing them to my attention; I’ll have to check them out.
I am continually amazed, though, how well the Clubhouse formula hits for pre-schoolers. Funhouse and Roadster Racers, at least in my closely observed sample population of 2, simply don't hold their interest. I am convinced the main impetus for the creation of the latter was "Sell more toys! Who cares about plot and engaging the viewers?".
It’s because they were directly going for the Blue’s Clues/Dora the Explorer formula (the creators behind it have stated this.). Sad to say though that Playhouse is not much different than Clubhouse. As a concept, I’d say Roadster Racers was more interesting.. but granted, it was poorly executed from a writing standpoint, I still say it should’ve been a show aimed at all ages with lighthearted, playful humor rather than strictly the preschool crowd. As Walt once said “You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up anyway”.
Only 3 projects out of the many more projects that had him.. and he’s not mentioned ‘once’ in the new documentary that’s supposed to showcase his entire story/history..… kind of a ‘Big’ problem IMO. And to not have the ‘entire’ TV series that featured this Mickey.. pretty wack & unreasonable, no? Mickey Saves Christmas sadly is the same soulless preschool material but in stop motion… they hired the same writers as Funhouse. It’s sadly the worst Mickey Christmas special out of all of them. Hardly any structure or plot, no humor, the characters are all out of character/lacking personality. (Pete was all nice & a friend to everyone even.. what the heck? Anyone who truly knows these characters would know that is ‘not’ who Pete is supposed to be. Donald doesn’t get mad or flustered either) Very sad indeed. Not even close to Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Once Upon A Christmas, or even Twice Upon. (Which I love all 3 and watch every year) Those were all aimed at all ages like they should be w genuine heart & emotion.) I wanted so badly to like Mickey Saves Christmas as I’m a huge fan of the stop-motion Rankin-Bass specials but it’s not even close to those when it comes to the writing.
That Disco Duck rip-off song isn't bad in my memory (what was it called, Macho Duck?). The rest of the album is dreadful.
I wish they had continued the formula of Clubhouse for Playhouse. It doesn't focus on problem-solving like Clubhouse did. It just sends the characters off on a little adventure where they do... stuff. It doesn't engage my kids attention at all (and we've heard similar reports from other parents of preschoolers). Wifey and I had high hopes that Funhouse would enter the regular viewing rotation, because there's only so many times in a day one can tolerate hearing the Hot Dog Dance.
Why are you so focused on this one documentary that probably has far less viewership than the all the properties you claim are "being ignored?"
