Release Date First television showing : May 8, 1999

Synopsis

Portrait photographer Donald has to take a picture of Shelby, an adorable baby turtle who refuses to cooperate.

Characters

Donald Duck (Voice : Tony Anselmo)

Shelby (Voice : Jeff Bennett)

Shelby's Mother (Voice : Estelle Harris)

Daisy Duck (cameo) (Voice : Tress McNeille)

Television

Mickey Mouse Works : Season 1 : Episode 2

House of Mouse : "Mickey vs. Shelby"

Comments

From Patrick Malone : Donald, as a child photographer, has to take a portrait of an uncooperative baby turtle. Another nice, entertaining short with one excellent payoff. As with the others, it starts out slow, but builds well towards the end. In one sense, possibly the artists are taking too much time building up the premise, but in this case it works well enough. One good part which they would have never gotten away with in Walt's day featured a sequence where Donald ends up in drag. I hope that they are not going to rely on this type of gag too much; it was used in "Mickey's New Car" as well as "Turkey Chasers" (which I haven't seen yet.) Stll, in this short, it's used to a terrific payoff when Daisy arrives on the scene.

From Rich Koster : But take another look at Daisy's second reaction to seeing Donald in women's clothing. She says, "I knew it!" when she sees him on top of the lower half of the mannequin. I rethought what I originally jumped to the conclusion about (the alternative lifestyle or at least that she thought he was a cross-dresser) when I added up what she said and the circumstances of her second encounter... What I think the joke is: Daisy thinks Donald's job is as a mannequin -- a dummy for displaying clothing (perhaps men's as well as women's). Plus, if this is the case, it really is a double joke: the animator's suspected adults would jump to the conclusion that Daisy thought he was a cross-dresser (or some such) but what she actually think is that his job at the department store is to stand around motionless, displaying clothing. The fact that she found him the second time atop the bottom half of a mannequin (the human legs part, with his duck legs and feet not appropriate to display a human women's dress) and that she said "I knew it!" make me think that was his job.

From J. D. Weil : It might be interesting to compare this short with a similar sequence in "A Goofy Movie" where Goofy is shown at work as a child photographer. It's a prime example of how the Disney animators treat a character's personality in a given situation.

From Tom : Well, after last-weeks somewhat weak "Donald's Failed Fourth" were treated to some of Donald at his best. The writer must of been someone who actualy studied the classic Donald shorts well enough to know what situations and enviroments suit him best. But why is it a baby turtle? Never mind, this was my personal favourite segment from the second episode.

From Lovitz : I didn't like this one. If they want to make these shorts in the spirit of the classics, this is not the way to do it! This cartoon was like a Warner Bros. cartoon, particularly in the way that Donald keeps losing his feathers. He should never lose his feathers! That's not Disney! And it never happened before Mouseworks so why start now? The only thing I liked on this was when Donald, dressed in bow, dress, and high heels, comes across Daisy. I also hated how it ended, it was a lot different than what I expected. I expected more of a "Donald's Diary", run - away - and - crash - through - the - door - or - wall type ending. Extremely disappointing.

From Juan F. Lara : This short played like a "Roger Rabbit" cartoon, with Donald dealing with an uncontrollable infant and his mean mother. I felt the same way about this short as I did for "Skating the Half Pipe". There wasn't anything special about the execution of the short's premise.: Donald's clash with the baby turtle led to just some more cartoon slapstick and the turtle had a one dimensional personality. But I enjoyed watching the short anyway. The gags in this short were better than those in "Failed Forth" because none of the gags were drawn out for too long. Also a handful of gags I especially laughed at: the Mickey puppet (loved seeing how Donald thought Mickey treats him), the trio of naked Donald gags (any gag based on the fact that he's a bird works for me), and the much discussed Donald-in-drag gags (It was very awkward for Daisy to appear out of nowhere. Did she have a bigger role that got cut? But I couldn't resist her devastated reactions, or the look on Donald's face when he tried to explain. These gags were enough to make me like the short this time.

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