''Mickey Mouse Works'' (also known as ''Disney's Mickey Mouse Works'' or simply ''Mouse Works'') is an American

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

produced by

Walt Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...

featuring

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

and his friends in a series of animated shorts. It is the first Disney television animated series to be produced in widescreen high definition. ''Mickey Mouse Works'' is similar to a

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

, with

skit Skit may refer to: * * A short segment in a performance, such as: ** Sketch comedy ** Hip hop skit ** Puppet skit ** Promo (professional wrestling) * Skit note, parody of a banknote See also * Skete A skete ( ) is a monastic communi ...

s starring Mickey Mouse,

Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasiona ...

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

, Daisy Duck,

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

and

Ludwig Von Drake Professor Ludwig Von Drake is a cartoon character created in 1961 by The Walt Disney Company. He is the paternal uncle of Donald Duck. He was first introduced as the presenter (and singer of " The Spectrum Song") in the cartoon ''An Adventure in ...

while

Horace Horsecollar Horace Horsecollar is a cartoon character created in 1928 at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Horace is a tall anthropomorphic black horse and is one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. Characterized as a boastful show-off, Horace served as Mickey’s s ...

, Clarabelle Cow, Huey, Dewey and Louie,

Chip 'n Dale Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company. Concept The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short '' Private ...

Scrooge McDuck Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-American anthropomorphic Pekin duck. Like his nephew Donald Duck, he has a yellow-orange bil ...

Pete Pete or Petes or ''variation'', may refer to: People * Pete (given name) * Pete (nickname) * Pete (surname) Fictional characters * Pete (Disney), a cartoon character in the ''Mickey Mouse'' universe * Pete the Pup (a.k.a. 'Petey'), a character ...

Humphrey the Bear Humphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created in 1950 at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He first appeared in the 1950 Goofy cartoon '' Hold That Pose'', in which Goofy tried to take his picture. After that he appeared in four classic Donald ...

, J. Audubon Woodlore,

Dinah the Dachshund The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and many other characters. The universe originated from the '' Mickey Mouse'' ...

, Butch the Bulldog,

Mortimer Mouse The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and many other characters. The universe originated from the ''Mickey Mouse'' an ...

, Jose Carioca, and

Clara Cluck The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

appear as supporting characters. Musical themes for each character were composed by Stephen James Taylor with a live 12-piece band and extensive use of the fretless guitar to which the music of the series was nominated for an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally desi ...

in both 1999 and 2001. The shorts from the series were later used in ''

House of Mouse ''Disney's House of Mouse'' (or simply ''House of Mouse'') is an American Animation, animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation that originally aired for three seasons on ABC and Toon Disney from January 13, 2001, to ...

''. The show returned to

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

in Canada from December 1, 2015 to September 2, 2016 and came back from December 5 to 30, 2016. However, like '' 101 Dalmatians: The Series'', only about half of the shorts aired, and most of the ones that did air were edited down (this was most likely due to scenes that were dubbed inappropriate for preschoolers). In Finland, the show was renamed ''Akun Tehdas'' ("Donald's Factory") due to how immensely popular cartoon icon Donald and his "Duckverse" comics was among Finns. Gags were entirely removed as well due to possible redundancy – though sounds were left in still. In France, the show was called ''Mickey Mania''.

Overview

''Mickey Mouse Works'' was produced to recreate the golden age of Disney's animated shorts featuring Disney's most popular characters and Mickey Mouse's first revival series. By using basic colors and the original sound effects, effort was put forth to capture the look and feel of "classic" Disney. Each half-hour episode consisted of a variety of cartoons, which are skits, varying in length from ninety seconds to twelve minutes. These shorts fell into three general types: 90-second gag cartoons, the 7 and a half-minute character cartoons, and 12-minute "Mouse Tales" based on famous stories. The character-based segments also included "

Silly Symphonies ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...

", carrying on the tradition of that series of theatrical shorts. The gag shorts, which lasted 90 seconds each, were shown with the following umbrella titles: * Mickey to the Rescue: Mickey tries to rescue Minnie from Pete's trap-laden hideout. * Maestro Minnie: Minnie conducts an orchestra of

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

rebellious musical instruments. * Goofy's Extreme Sports: Goofy shows off extreme sports in the words of his off-screen narrator. * Donald's Dynamite: Donald's activity is interrupted by the appearance of a well-placed bomb. * Von Drake's House of Genius: Ludwig Von Drake shows off an invention of his which goes haywire. * Pluto Gets the Paper: Pluto goes through a bit of problems trying to fetch the newspaper for Mickey. With no established schedule or routine, ''Mickey Mouse Works'' was designed to look like one spontaneous flow. Adding to that feeling were the show's opening credits which ended differently each week, the only constant being an elaborate interruption from a spotlight-stealing Donald Duck. While most skits involved individual characters, some have Mickey, Donald and Goofy running a special service group. Most Goofy skits have him doing a "how-to" segment always accompanied by a narrator. Most Donald segments were about him trying to accomplish a certain task which never works out right, frustrating him.

Characters

Main

(voiced by

Wayne Allwine Wayne Anthony Allwine (February 7, 1947 – May 18, 2009) was an American voice actor, sound effects editor and foley artist for The Walt Disney Company. He is best remembered as the 3rd official voice of Mickey Mouse. He is the longest-tenured ...

Quinton Flynn Quinton Flynn is an American voice actor and comedian, who has provided the English voices of video game characters such as Raiden in the ''Metal Gear'' series, Marcus Damon in ''Digimon Data Squad'', Lea and Axel in the '' Kingdom Hearts'' se ...

in "Minnie Takes Care of Pluto") is the main protagonist of the series, he gets himself entangled in many farcical situations due to his guilelessness, but is overall a calm character. He is seen in the intro going to the scene of the ''Mickey Mouse works'' logo saying "oh boy!" before brandishing a coin. *

(voiced by Russi Taylor) is Mickey's love interest, like how Donald gets frustrated, Minnie is often peeved by Mickey's impulsiveness and Daisy's loud-mouth, though she is mature for her age. She is seen during the intro practicing some music for the ''Mickey Mouse Works'' cartoons. *

(voiced by

Tony Anselmo Tony Anselmo (born February 18, 1960) is an American voice actor and animator. He has been the official character voice of Donald Duck since 1985 following the death of the original voice actor, Clarence Nash. He has also provided voices for Do ...

) is one of Mickey's friends, he is well known for his hot-temper, which often lashes out by impatience and self-righteousness. He's seen in the intro in the drawings holding a black bomb, especially for his cold opening accidents at the end. * Daisy Duck (voiced by

Diane Michelle Diane Michelle is an American voice actress, famous for voicing Daisy Duck in several modern Disney projects such as ''The Spirit of Mickey'', ''Mickey Mouse Works'' and ''Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas''. Early life Michelle is a Southern Ca ...

in season 1,

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series ''Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrench ...

in season 2) is Donald's girlfriend, though they both have quick-tempers, Daisy is shown to be aloof and more selfish and dull-witted in this show. She is seen in the intro where she is making sure that everything is clean. *

(voiced by

Bill Farmer Bill Farmer (born November 14, 1952) is an American voice actor, comedian and impressionist. He has performed the voice of the Disney character Goofy since 1987, and has also been the voice of Pluto (Disney), Pluto and Horace Horsecollar since ...

) is one of Mickey's friends, he isn't the smartest character on the show, his idiocy usually irritates his friends. He is seen in the intro pressing a button before going up and drops the remote control and starts to fall as he almost caught balance. *

(voiced by

) is Mickey's loyal dog who is often combative towards some animals. He is even seen in the intro which is a drawing that he is holding a newspaper. *

(voiced by

Corey Burton Corey Gregg Weinberg (born August 3, 1955), known professionally as Corey Burton, is an American voice actor. He is the current voice of Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake, Dale and others for The Walt Disney Company, Shockwave on '' The Transforme ...

) is a scientist duck who is shown to be highly intelligent but insane. He is also seen pressing a button at the beginning of the intro.

Villains

(voiced by Jim Cummings) is Mickey's rival, He is intimidating and aggressive, but extremely gullible. *

(voiced by

Maurice LaMarche Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor, comedian, and impressionist. He has voiced the Brain in '' Animaniacs'' as well as its spin-off '' Pinky and the Brain'', Big Bob in ''Hey Arnold!'' (1996–2004), and a variety of ...

) is Mickey's sleazy rival who is charming, but in a condescending and harmful manner, he often flirts with

and/or Daisy, his most famous catchphrase is "I CHACHA!" (pronounced "ha cha cha"). *

The Phantom Blot The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

(voiced by

John O'Hurley John George O'Hurley Jr. (born October 9, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, singer, author, game show host and television personality. He is known for his portrayal of J. Peterman on the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld'', and was the sixth host of the ...

) is the mysterious shadow in the distance, who wants to steal all the colors for himself and leave the real world stuck in black and white.

Others

Chip 'n' Dale Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company. Concept The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short '' Private ...

(voiced by

and

) *

Louie the Mountain Lion The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

(voiced by

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

) *

(voiced by

) * Salty the Seal (voiced by

) * Figaro (voiced by

) * Butch the Bulldog (voiced by

) * Aracuan Bird (voiced by

) *

(voiced by Jim Cummings)

Supporting

Huey, Dewey, and Louie Huey, Dewey, and Louie are triplet cartoon characters created by storyboard artist ( screenwriter) Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company from an idea proposed by cartoonist Al Taliaferro and are the nephews of Donald Duck and the grand-ne ...

(voiced by Russi Taylor) *

(voiced by

) * Clarabelle Cow (voiced by

April Winchell April Terri Winchell (born January 4, 1960) is an American actress, writer, and radio host. She is prehaps best known as the second and current voice of Clarabelle Cow, having voiced the character since 1996. Early life Winchell was born in 1 ...

) * Chief O'Hara (introduced) (voiced by

) *

(voiced by

Alan Young Alan Young (born Angus Young; November 19, 1919 – May 19, 2016) was a British, Canadian and American actor, comedian, radio host and television host, whom ''TV Guide'' called "the Charlie Chaplin of television". His notable roles includ ...

) *

Max Goof Maximilian "Max" Goof is an animated character who is the son of the Disney character Goofy. He first appeared in the 1951 short "Fathers Are People" as Goofy Jr., and later appeared in the 1992 television series '' Goof Troop'' as Max Goof, a pr ...

(voiced by

Jason Marsden Jason Christopher Marsden (born January 3, 1975) is an American actor, director, producer and YouTuber, who has done numerous voice roles in animated films, as well as various television series and video games. He has been the official voice of ...

) * J. Audubon Woodlore (voiced by

) *

(voiced by Russi Taylor) * José Carioca (voiced by Rob Paulsen) *

Panchito Pistoles Panchito Pistoles is a cartoon character, cartoon anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic rooster created by Fred Moore (animator), Fred Moore. He first appeared in the 1944 Disney film ''The Three Caballeros'' with his friends Donald Duck and José Ca ...

(voiced by

Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on '' Reno 911!'' and for his voice acting roles. His extensive ...

) * Mr. Jollyland (voiced by

Jeff Bennett Jeffrey Glenn Bennett (born October 2, 1962) is an American voice actor who voiced Johnny Bravo in the Johnny Bravo, eponymous television series, Dexter's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory'', Brooklyn in ''Gargoyles (TV series), Gargoyles'' and List o ...

) * Baby Shelby (introduced) (voiced by

) * Mrs. Turtle (introduced) (voiced by

Estelle Harris Estelle Harris (''née'' Nussbaum; April 22, 1928 – April 2, 2022) was an American actress and comedienne, known for her exaggerated shrill, grating voice. She was best known for her role as Estelle Costanza on ''Seinfeld''. Her other roles i ...

)

Production

When the show was replaced by ''

'' in January 2001, most of the ''Mouse Works'' segments were repeated there but the original ''Mickey Mouse Works'' format has never been seen again. However, when the shorts were shown right before and after

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix ...

's Big Movie Show on weekdays, they were shown with the ''Mickey Mouse Works''

closing credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the Cast member, cast and Film crew, crew of a particular Film, motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear clos ...

. ''Minnie Takes Care of Pluto'' was not re-run in ''House of Mouse'' due to its dark content. For unknown reasons, ''Pluto Gets the Paper: Vending Machine'' was not on ''House of Mouse'' either. Four of the gag cartoons were released theatrically with various Disney films during 1998 and 1999 and released to theaters as commercials for the show. The cartoons included: * ''Goofy's Extreme Sports: Skating the Half Pipe'' with ''

I'll Be Home for Christmas "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longe ...

'' * ''Goofy's Extreme Sports: Paracycling'' with '' Mighty Joe Young'' * ''Pluto Gets the Paper: Spaceship'' with ''

My Favorite Martian ''My Favorite Martian'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totalin ...

'' * ''Donald's Dynamite: Opera Box'' with ''

Doug's 1st Movie ''Doug's 1st Movie'' is a 1999 American animated comedy film based on the Disney-produced episodes of the animated television series ''Doug''. The film was directed by Maurice Joyce, and stars the regular television cast of Tom McHugh, Fred New ...

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1999)

Season 2 (1999–2000)

Home media

Some shorts are available in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

under the title ''Mickey's Laugh Factory''. While some shorts have the ''Mickey Mouse Works'' title card background, others have the ''House of Mouse'' version (the ''Mouse Works'' version has various mechanics in the background including a Mickey-shaped one and one with the ''Mouse Works'' text inside it, but the ''House of Mouse'' version has various moving swirls). Cartoons include ''Hickory Dickory Mickey'', ''Mickey Tries to Cook'', ''Organ Donors'', ''Mickey's Airplane Kit'', ''Street Cleaner'', ''Mickey's New Car'', ''Bubble Gum'', ''Mickey's Big Break'' and ''Mickey's Mix-Up''. In ''Disney's Learning Adventures: Mickey's Seeing the World'', there were two cartoons featured: ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' and ''Mickey's Mechanical House'' (both as two stories). On November 11, 2008, the eighth wave of

Walt Disney Treasures Walt Disney Treasures is a series of two-disc DVD collections of Disney cartoons, television episodes and other material. They cover material from the studio's earliest days to its more recent work. There were nine waves, each containing two ...

was released. One of the sets released in this wave, '' The Chronological Donald, Volume Four'', features a handful of Donald-centric shorts from both ''Mickey Mouse Works'' and ''House of Mouse'' as bonuses, including ''Bird Brained Donald'', ''Donald and the Big Nut'', ''Donald's Charmed Date'', '' Donald's Dinner Date'', ''Donald's Failed Fourth'', ''Donald's Rocket Ruckus'', ''Donald's Shell Shots'', ''Donald's Valentine Dollar'', ''Music Store Donald'' and ''Survival of the Woodchucks''.

References

External links

*
Mickey Mouse Works
at the

Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, Feature film, animated feature films, Animated television series, animated television shows, and cartoon Short film, shorts. The BCDB proj ...

{{Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production 1990s American animated television series 2000s American animated television series 1990s American anthology television series 2000s American anthology television series 1999 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings ABC Kids (TV programming block) American Broadcasting Company original programming American children's animated anthology television series American children's animated comedy television series Cartoon controversies Disney Channel original programming Donald Duck television series English-language television shows Mickey Mouse television series Television series by Disney Television Animation Television shows set in the United States Annie Award winners