Release Date

First television showing : May 1, 1999

Running Time 90 seconds

Synopsis

Mickey arrives at Pete's hideout to find Minnie tied to railroad tracks with a train approaching!

Characters

Mickey Mouse (Voice : Wayne Allwine)

Minnie Mouse (Voice : Russi Taylor)

Pete (Voice : Will Ryan)

Television

Mickey Mouse Works : Season 1 : Episode 1

Mickey Mouse Works : Season 2 : Episode 9a

House of Mouse : "Everybody Loves Mickey"

Comments

From Patrick Malone : Kinda boring, really. Mickey tries to untie Minnie from the tracks, where she has been tied by Pete, and ends up getting tied himself. The action largely depends on a number of "quick-change" gags in the middle of this short-short which, for me, didn't really work (although one did answer the question of whether Mickey and Minnie were ever really married.) The "quick-change" motif reared it's head again later in "Donald's Failed Fourth". I'm hoping the artists aren't going to rely on these type of gags too much, or at least make them better, because so far, they haven't been too funny.

From Tom : Groan! A cliche parody of that "girl on the train tracks routine, hero to the rescue" ideas from films of older days. Ever since they started making jokes about them in the thirtees they have got worse. It was really boring too, and not that funny.

From Lefty Lovitz : This one just scream cliche! Title, short, and everything else! Plus there was WAY too much dialogue (which seems to be a problem with a lot of MW shorts it would seem) I can't think of a single necessary line. Even the "tied the knot" scene could have done without any. The least necessary line was the last one Minnie said. She never needed to say that before and should not have needed to say it now. Nice animation, but suffers from dialogue and cliche overkill. A pity really, since it would have otherwise been a cute short.

From Mouses Archives : Hmph! I'm not sure; I like Mickey and Minnie very much ... but the main suject of that cartoon is not really great. It's a very too fast cartoon. I think (again) that MouseWorks is favourable only for Donald Duck and Goofy, not for Mickey (sigh!). So the animation are great but I think the Disney's studio can make better with Mickey and Minnie.

From Jon Cooke : I wasn't very impressed with this one. Some people have been complaining of unnecessary dialogue on "MouseWorks", and it's really noticeable here. Hardly any original gags in this one (how many times have we seen the big neon sign over the villain's hideout before?). I did, however, get a chuckle out of Pete's line about regretting the fact he installed two sets of train tracks.

From Juan F. Lara : The pacing was a mess. The short first rushed to get to Minnie tied up on the tracks. Then it bogged down for all those forced gags about the mice struggling with the ropes. Then it rushed again when the train was coming at them. This pacing and the direction ( lots of disorienting camera angles like the too-closeup of Minnie that starts the short ) just left me confused. But I did like the moments when the train was coming at them, and the near-miss at the end.

From David Gonterman : Whoa, Minnie's in a constrictor knot with a woodshipman's hitch! That's what I thought when I first saw this one. I also join Mickey in thanking the animators for Including the Tail! It's a requirement that needs to be enforced. Damage to Minnie: Stranglement, some bondage, having her cover to her secret marriage to Mickey blown (How any of you don't buy the report that these two aren't? Hands, please) and nearly run over by the train on it's return trip. At least Mickey suffered with her.

From Lee Suggs : Mickey saves Minnie from a charging train driven by Pete. A nice set-up, and it good to see Minnie saving Mickey too. There is a cute "tying the knot" gag. Basically a good start to the "Mickey to the Rescue" series, but not a great cartoon.

From Bryan Hensley : Ten years ago on May 1st, 1999, Disney's Mickey MouseWorks officially got started... with this very short! And nearly 2 years later, it became the then-new-and-improved Disney's House of Mouse! Also on that same day in '99, The New Woody Woodpecker Show and SpongeBob Squarepants made their small-screen debuts in the USA! All those shows were terrific to me, and they still are! It's good to see that Mickey and Minnie's tails have been put back on them after so many years without them! Mice are supposed to have tails! Along with another shortie, and 3 normal-length ones, Mickey MouseWorks was off to a roaring start. I remember there being a short special report from ABC in between 2 of the shorts, but thank goodness it was over with before the commercial break ended, or everybody's viewing experience of the debut of this show would've been ruined forever! It was a great alternative to the classic shorts, since they were slowly disappearing on Disney Channel! Anyway, this short features Mickey and Minnie tying a knot, and I don't mean marriage! It's amazing that a very short amount of either the Mickey MouseWorks or the House of Mouse shorts are on VHS or DVD! Before Toon Disney died off in February 2009, remnants of Mickey MouseWorks were shown from time to time before or after their "Big Movie Show" was on! Insult these shorts all you want, (But please no bad language!) but these shorts were big hits in my time! For your information, train track scenes were always big at the movies, even during the Golden Age of Hollywood or Animation!

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