Air Date January 13, 2001
Synopsis
Characters
Credits
Shorts Shown
Comments
The show opens with it's own Themesong and guest flying, driving, swinging, bouncing, running and every other mode of transport into the House of Mouse!
The HOUSE OF MOUSE is a cartoon club where Disney Characters from nearly all aspects of animation gather to mix and gossip and enjoy entertainment on a regular basis. As an added treat, whenever possible, the speaking role of a beloved (or vile) character is often spoken by the voice actor who made the character famous (Tony Jay's Jafar, Jerry Orbach's Lumiere, and so forth!).
Apparently characters are not simply limited to cinematic films and TV shows, but can come from theme park attactions like the Haunted Mansion [The Hitchhiking Ghosts] or from comics [Super Goof]?
The Club is co-Owned by Mickey and Donald, but Mickey is the "Headliner" so the club is called the House of "Mouse".
First, a new character is presented named, appropriately "Mike", see... he's a talking microphone, and House Announcer. He introduces Mickey and other things that are presented on stage. Like the "prop" he is, he swings down from the rafters into frame.
Next Mickey, the Master of Ceremonies, comes in and explains things in more details.
Minnie is apparently the maitre d' and responsible for making sure everything goes without a hitch.
Donald, as I said, is Co-Owner, and supposed to be "silent Partner?" of the House of Mouse.
Horace is the Props man, responsible for lighting, acoustics and other mechanical/electronic devices used in the House.
Goofy is apparently the Head Waiter and not a third co-owner of the club as I imagined. It appears that no one would trust him with such responsibility.
Daisy seems to be the House receptionist and reservationist.
Max, Goofy's son, is much taller than he appeared in Goof Troop and last year's Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, but probably about the age he appeared in An Extremely Goofy Movie. Max is the House Doorman/Valet.
Huey, Dewey & Louie, Donald's nephews are the House Boy-Band. They do the intermission entertainment. The boys look very much like they did in QUACK PACK.
Even Pluto has a job in the House. He appears to be the House Gopher... err.... Runner. He carries messages and items from one person to another. He even wears a headset so he can receive his next order.
Others with more minor roles are Clarabelle Cow, Gossip Reporter, but I think her role will be expanded as the show continues. Other waiters, constantly seen scampering about, are the penguins from Mary Poppins. Gus Goose, Donald's glutonous cousin, is the Head Chef of the House of Mouse kitchen (though how the patrons ever get any of Gus' food is a mystery since he seems to have a habit of eating everything before it can leave the kitchen)!
Bad Pete is the House' landlord and has as his goal to sabotage the show so he can evict them. There is a clause in the building's contract that says that he cannot evict them as long as "the show goes on."
From the start the show seems to be one gag or one-liner after another. Each one flowing from some event happening. The premise works beautifully!
Villains, even dead ones come to the House for the entertainment. There is so many sight gags and you have to put the recorder on slow motion to catch most of them... and it's more than just a bunch of eye-candy, there's stuff going on that rings of familiarity. You're bound to see your favorite character somewhere along the way. Mortimer Mouse trying to make the moves on Daisy, Donald greeting the Aracuan Bird who shakes up-and-down in a wacked out way, Jafar arriving via the magical Cave of Wonders and giving Max the "keys" to apparently park it... which, as you know is the golden scarab! Ursula's carriage is a giant wave of water, etc.
Then there are all the one liners that manifest as physical gags. The lights suddenly go out and Mickey thinks it's because they forgot to pay the electicity bill when it is really Dumbo hovering in front of the spotlight. Or when Mickey recites the House Rules, he says "No smoking" (to which Pegasus blows out Hades' flaming head), "No villainous schemes" (where we see Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox obviously planning to club and rope Br'er Rabbit), "And no guests eating other guests" (which sees Timon munching when Pumbaa slaps his back and he spit out a saliva-soaked Jiminy Cricket!
These sort of things continue throughout the show, along with camera sweeps that let you know "who is in the House." There are so many gags and guest there isn't enough room to list them all, but one of the best was when Daisy shouts, "The crowd is getting ugly." And one-by-one the Evil Queen from Snow White turns into a Old Hag, the Prince turns into the Beast and Maleficent turns in to the fire-breathing Dragon! Even earlier, Donald offends the guests when he substitutes for Goofy and serves Snow White a juicy red apple, Ariel a steaming Flounder and Belle gets Lumiere who says, "The service here stinks."
This episode was the Premier and apparent Pilot for the series. It did a great job introducing nearly all the characters and the purpose of the House format.
The main plot during this episode was Pete's attempt to cause Mickey to fail in keeping the show going on. To this end Pete steals all of the cartoon reels. Without the reels the show would stop. Mickey, Goofy and Minnie decide to make a NEW cartoon quickly and leave Donald in charge. Donald lets it go to his head and takes every opportunity to become the show's headliner. Daisy is his greatest cheerleader! Donald forgets how important it is to keep the show on, and resorts to changing the House' name to HOUSE OF DUCK, as well as replacing every trace of "ears" with sailor hats and duckbills! The club's guest find Donald's service wanting! When the crowd shouts for Mickey, Donald tries to emmulate him even doing his own rendition of STEAMBOAT WILLIE! In the end Donald fails and everyone leaves. Suddenly, just in time, Mickey returns with the final cartoon and the guests all return. The final cartoon is shown and the Club is saved... at least for today.
After the cartoon there is a series of gags involving the guests all leaving (i.e., Goofy and Pluto delivery Cruella deVil a "doggie bag" with her meal leftovers, to which Cruella says, "Forget the doggie bag, I'll take the DOGGIE!"... which, of course, frightens Pluto!)
NOTE:
As was noted by another person, there were three Black and White characters
sitting at a table in the Club and inquired as to who they were. I also noticed
them and wondered the same thing. While I couldn't identify them from any
particular film I suspected that they might be "bugs" from one of the early
Silly Symphonies like "Woodland Cafe" or "Bugs in Love." As it turns out,
they are actually "new" characters created in the the "old black & white
style" and based on some designs created by Bob McKnight to be used as a
B&W toon band. For those who like the old B&W cartoons you'll be
interested in an upcoming 'toon created in that style specifically for HOM.
The "MouseWorks" cartoons have put some unpredictability back in Mickey's character. I think this has made him more interesting than he has been in years. I hope we continue to see the animators take the Mouse in this direction.
I think the HOM concept will broaden the "MouseWorks" cartoons' appeal. It will also allow the classic characters to entertain a whole new generation.
Most importantly there is another new Mickey cartoon!
I liked the gag about Donald messing up the orders of Ariel, Belle and Snow White. Seeing that trio get aghast was funny, and the heroines were animatedly fluidly enough to not clash with Donald. Likewise, seeing some of the guests get roped into Pete's chase scene at the end was good for some laughs. But most guest gags were groaners: "Hey, Lumiere, thanks for being MY guest!", "Forget the bag, just give me the doggy!" The makers didn't have much time to spend on each guest. That compelled them to usually make the most obvious and punniest gag for each guest. What I'd like to see are plots that get a handful of the guests significantly involved, allowing the makers to have deeper characterizations of people other than the main cast. Compared to the guests' groaners I thought Pete's bombast and Donald's remodelling were fun to watch. My favorite moment was Donald's attempt to impersonate Mickey when the crowd demanded Mickey. There was pathos in seeing Donald concede so completely to Mickey's popularity through those desparate impersonations. :-) I also liked the tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the crowd's adulation of Mickey. ( "Hey, look! Mickey's back!" ) Still, the main plots were very familiar. Pete's scheme seemed taken from the "101 Dalmatians" TV show: Steal the club now instead of the farm. That recurring plot can get really tiring. Donald's envy of Mickey is also old hat.
MISCELLANEOUS
Being a furry fan I liked Mickey's water feeder gag. I'd love to see more gags that point out the ignored fact that Mickey is a mouse. But I do realize that these gags might not work well for long on a mouse as anthropomorphized as Mickey.
Daisy was changed from the selfish and idiotic version in "Mickey Mouseworks" to a more sensible characterization similar to her "Quack Pack" version. I liked Daisy a lot in this episode. Cool new hairdo as well. :-) Horace Horsecollar's voice and character design is too similar to Goofy's. I often thought he was Goofy even when I knew he was Horace. His voice needs to be changed, and I think him wearing the collar again might be all that he needs to make his design distinct.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Max in the main cast. I thought he had the coolest job of them all. :-) He was able to greet even the villains Jafar and Ursula with a casual smile. Kevin Schon and Cam Clarke reprised their "Timon and Pumbaa" roles as Timon and Simba, and Timon had a lot of speaking time. Tony Craig and Roberts Gannaway produced the best of the "Timon and Pumbaa" episodes. They also coproduced the 101D show with Jim Jinkins. They must've loved being finally allowed to have Cruella hunt dogs. :-)
Disney may be burying "Song of the South", but it's cool that Craig and Gannaway put the Br'er characters in a cameo.
