Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse!
Genre: Children’s television series Educational Running Time: 22 minutes, 50 for specials Country: United States India (Animation production) Release Date: May 5, 2006 - November 6, 2016 Network(s): Disney Channel TV Tokyo (Japan) Created by: Bobs Gannaway Distributed by: Disney-ABC Domestic Television Starring: Wayne Allwine (Seasons 1-3) Bret Iwan (Season 4) Tony Anselmo Russi Taylor Tress MacNeille Bill Farmer Will Ryan April Winchell Jim Cummings Dee Bradley Baker Frank Welker Rob Paulsen Corey Burton Seasons: 4 Episodes: 126 Next show: The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is an American CGI animated preschool show created by Bobs Gannaway. It lasted from 2006 to 2016.

Plot

Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto star in the series, taking place at the Clubhouse where most of the events in the series occur. The group also has a small, Mickey-head-shaped, flying super computer named Toodles that acts as an extension of the Mousekedoer and helps the gang with the given problems and carries tools that they might need. Pete, Clarabelle Cow, Ludwig Von Drake, Chip and Dale, Willie the Giant, Butch, Figaro, Humphrey the Bear, Salty the Seal, and Mortimer Mouse have made guest appearances. The series focuses on interacting with the viewer to stimulate problem solving. According to Disney, each episode has the characters help children "solve a specific age-appropriate problem utilizing basic skills, such as identifying shapes and counting through ten." This is similar to shows such as Sesame Street, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Dora the Explorer, and Zoobilee Zoo. The series uses "Disney Junior's common 'whole child' curriculum of cognitive, social and creative learning opportunities."

Good Qualities

1. The theme song, performed by They Might Be Giants, is super catchy.
2. Very educational, as it teaches young children about shapes, colors, numbers, social skills, etc.
3. It doesn't try to cash in on the latest trends and treats the audience with a very high level of respect.
4. Some moments are faithful to the original cartoons, such as Mortimer appearing in one episode and the Clubhouse turning black and white in another episode.
5. Fantastic voice acting, to the point where it seems like they are all having fun with their respective characters. Highlights include Wayne Allwine, Tony Anselmo, Russi Taylor, Bill Farmer, Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen and many others.
   • The show properly utilizes the talents of Wayne Allwine, as Allwine had recorded enough dialogue for season three before his 2009 death. The same goes with Russi Taylor who had recorded enough dialogue for the entire series before her 2019 death.
6. Hilarious moments, mainly from Mickey Mouse and his friends.
7. A great way to introduce kids to Disney.
8. Some parental bonuses, such as:
   • Mortimer (who first appeared in a 1936 short called "Mickey's Rival") appears in two episodes ("Minnie's Birthday" and "Super Adventure!"). The first occurrence is simply a cameo where Mickey spots him playing a banjo under a tree, and in the second, he serves as the overarching and later main antagonist of "Super Adventure", being portrayed as a greedy and calculating kleptomaniac named Mega Mort who shrinks locations to add to his massive collection of items.
   • The clubhouse turns black and white in "Mickey's Color Adventure", a homage to olden black-and-white cartoons that Mickey originally starred in.
   • In "Donald's Hiccups", the Clubhousers/Sensational Six sing the Mickey Mouse March at the end, referencing the 1955 Mickey Mouse Club series that the show is more-or-less loosely based off of.
   • The show occasionally utilizes elements from pop culture in the form of several parodies. Examples include homages to Balto, James Bond, Matter of Britain, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alice in Wonderland, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Superman. More info can be seen below.
   • In "Road Rally", when Pete finds that the road is blocked by a massive pile of rubber ducks, he exclaims, "That's the third largest pile of rubber duckies I've ever seen!", referencing the video game Monkey Island.
   • "The Wizard of Dizz" is an hour-long homage to The Wizard of Oz.
   • "Mickey's Monster Musical" has plenty of nods to, of all things, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, being a musical about Mickey and Minnie's car breaking down next to a haunted castle with a mad scientist. The song "All You Need is Light" is a mix of "Science Fiction/Double Feature" and "There's a Light" and even the opening song is a reference to "Dammit Jannet" only with Mickey asking Minnie to go on a picnic with him instead of proposing.
   • "Minnie-rella" is a great remake of the iconic Cinderella, but with Mickey Mouse characters.
9. Subverts preschool show cliches by having a three-dimensional villain in the form of Pete. In fact, he's not even a villain, he's more of an anti-hero, since he makes friends with the Sensational Six from time to time.
10. There are several good jokes in the series that are worth a chuckle, such as Pete's Halloween party invitation card that Mickey gets in "Mickey's Treat", which starts off cheerful, but gradually becomes more depressing in-tone as Pete laments that no one comes to his party and he's so lonely.
11. Daisy Duck was massively redeemed in the show after being previously flanderized in Mickey Mouse Works, Disney's House of Mouse, and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas and got her classic and original personality back from this point onwards. The same goes with the rest of the cast.
12. A Goofy Fairy Tale was an amazing series finale.
13. After it ended, the show paved the way for better follow-ups in Mickey and the Roadster Racers/Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures and Mickey Mouse Funhouse, which are slight improvements over Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Bad Qualities

1. It isn't perfectly faithful to the original Mickey Mouse, as it throws out its original premise in favor of a new one.
   • Unlike House of Mouse (which had a different premise but retained the Mickey Mouse film series' comedy, writing, animation, acting, and cameos), this series only has a few of those.
2. The show's plots are too similar to other franchise made in other channels before Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, most notably Dora The Explorer and Little Einsteins, since it featured characters looking at the camera and teaching the viewers.
3. Many characters from the Mickey Mouse franchise are absent, aside from the main characters and some fan favorites like Pete and Clarabelle.
4. Overly simple plots. The way they are structured can get repetitive to some viewers after a while.
5. Most of the songs are just the characters rhythmically talking, which can't even be considered songs at all, except for the theme song and the Hot Dog song.
6. Disney Channel went downhill shortly after the show premiered on Playhouse Disney in 2006, as it would drop all Mickey Mouse-related cartoons in favor of more teencoms and reruns of Phineas and Ferb until 2019.
7. "Goofy Baby" uses the "innocent character gets turned into a baby" cliché which happened to Goofy, and he eventually messed himself, which is very problematic.
   • There's a scene in said episode where Goofy Baby gets his diaper changed. While this is a natural part of life, it's something that shouldn't be in the show due to the targeted audience being very young children.
8. This show may have misled some people into thinking that Mickey Mouse is only for younger children, which is totally not true, especially considering he was created almost an entire century ago as of now, and has always been gaining popularity since his inception.

Reception

The show received mixed reviews. However, Common Sense Media gave the show 4 out of 5, stating "Fun and learning abound in this mouse's house." IMDb gave it a 5.8/10.

Trivia

• This is the longest running Disney show, running for 10 years straight, even beating out Wizards of Waverly Place, Kim Possible, and Phineas and Ferb.
• The series was mocked in the Mickey Mouse episode "Eau de Minnie", in the scene where Minnie starts trying to find a dress to wear to give a good impression to Mickey, she finds the pink and white-spotted dress she uses in this series, only for her to say, "Too young", which is an obvious jab at the fact that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is targeted towards toddlers and preschoolers.
• The show premiered 40 years after the death of Walt Disney.

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