My next twitter megathread is gonna be to watch every Mickey Mouse cartoon, starting on his 90th birthday on November 18th.
Last night ABC showed this birthday celebration special and so far I am finding it hard to connect with. This is clearly not targeted at me.
Last night ABC showed this birthday celebration special and so far I am finding it hard to connect with. This is clearly not targeted at me.
Even when I was a kid and full of imagination, I was never on board for celebrities talking about cartoon characters like this. I just couldn't get on board.
When I was a kid I brought an autograph book to Disney World and had the people in costumes sign it as their characters but even then I felt weird about it and what I really wanted was to meet Carl Barks and Clarence "Ducky" Nash.
If my well-worn childhood copy of this very heavy book was with me now instead of sitting on a shelf in my parents' house, I would be flipping through this while ignoring the Mickey Mouse tv concert playing in the background 
"Is somebody having a party? Well then, I guess we'd better get started!"
I know he's 90 but this is a dad joke and then he immediately pivots to keeping things on schedule. I am really looking forward to watching the early cartoons where he was completely not like this.
I know he's 90 but this is a dad joke and then he immediately pivots to keeping things on schedule. I am really looking forward to watching the early cartoons where he was completely not like this.
the comedy is josh gad and one of the "special surprises" is that Mickey's girlfriend for the past 90 years shows up
We have left the concert and this special is racing to get through the parts that are more my speed
They snuck in a shot from Orson Welles' teaser trailer for Citizen Kane!
thanks for star wars, mickey
mickey wants thinga-ma-bobs
I mean, I know I am being a total killjoy here but I do not think that mouseperson on the couch is Mickey, not even a little
On @recordstoreday Black Friday I am gonna finally buy a vinyl copy of @WillnerHal's tremendous 1990s Disney tribute LP which brought the world @tomwaits doing "Heigh Ho" and @aaronneville performing the Mickey Mouse Club theme:
I have to admit it never even occurred to me that by linking that Mickey head to his identity, it makes the character capable of doing anything the wearer can do. (my split-second moment of surprise that MM can play percussion at a professional level not just on a hippo's teeth)
I'm getting ahead of myself here-- *this* isn't the megathread, that'll start on the 18th-- but I have to call bullshit on this Mickey/Minnie "greatest love of all time" origin story.
The very 1st MM short features him forcing a kiss on her against her will in an airplane
The very 1st MM short features him forcing a kiss on her against her will in an airplane
I mean, I totally get why they don't wanna bring this up. They have worked past this, we get it. A lot has changed since 1928. But don't LIE about how they first met on national television, it just draws attention to the ugly truth.
It may take me all week to make it through this special
I don't have enough of a sense of who Mickey Mouse is to know if he actually wants to hear all these songs from Aladdin or Pocahontas or is he just such a company mouse and this is a work gig for him
Lurking at the lower right hand corner of my TV are two other members of the ABC/Disney family, Leland Palmer & Killer BOB from Twin Peaks. Also, @DAVID_LYNCH directed The Straight Story for @Disney! If Marvel & Star Wars are gonna get brought up as part of Mickey's birthday...
at one point they say go mickey
and then mickey is dancing with them so this counts as mickey content
Edited excerpt from Fantasia; every now and then this special feels obligated to show something substantial and Mickey-related
if I could've predicted one thing at the beginning of this special it would've been that someone would do this bit
I incorrectly predicted that @Meghan_Trainor would perform "All About That Mouse" with specially composed spoof lyrics for the occasion
Mickey is hugging kids but then at a certain point he has to push past them bc the commercial break is over and he has to get back to that sofa
"Mickey is funny and joyful but his magic is his compassion."
I sometimes feel like we have no idea who Mickey Mouse really IS and people have a tendency to default towards the kinds of things a preacher says at the funeral of a person they did not know.
I sometimes feel like we have no idea who Mickey Mouse really IS and people have a tendency to default towards the kinds of things a preacher says at the funeral of a person they did not know.
we have arrived at the part of the special that knows it has me in the crosshairs and is going to destroy me emotionally
OK yes i surrender, that costumed person IS mickey mouse, 100%
OK yes i surrender, that costumed person IS mickey mouse, 100%
The main takeaway from this concert is that Mickey Mouse is not associated with enough actual songs of his own, despite the fact that he has had 90 years to rack up some hits.
Here, listen to this Jiminy Cricket number:
Here, listen to this Jiminy Cricket number:
"When You Wish Upon A Star" is obvsly the classic Jiminy Cricket song, but I also really like this little number from all his safety PSA cartoons:
Mickey sports montage, because we all associate Mickey Mouse with sports
At 1st I thought "why couldn't @joshgroban sing a Disney song?" Then I realized "Granted" is about how @Disney might eventually lose its battle to hold onto Mickey Mouse's copyright 4ever
"The story's yours, go write it
Tomorrow's undecided
Our days are counted on this planet"
"The story's yours, go write it
Tomorrow's undecided
Our days are counted on this planet"
Take a moment to witness the total silence for the 1977 Mickey Mouse Club. No need to tally the votes for 3rd place here:
I knew some but not all of these ppl were Mouseketeers
Finally, a Mickey Mouse-related song. I guess this really is the only one.
Two original Mouseketeers join Mickey for a seat on the couch. This is the first time it really hits me that he is like 20 years older than them.
OH NO IT'S A DEATH CULT
my DVR says 10 more minutes left
9 and a half minutes left
Now through 11/17, snap a photo showing off your "Mickey Mouse ears" & use #ShareYourEars to help #Disney donate to @MakeAWish! Also, look for “ear walls” created exclusively for #ShareYourEars by Walt Disney Imagineering for fun photo ops! Learn more: di.sn/6014E6Xbk
When I was in high school, I wrote a letter to Bob Iger begging him not to cancel Twin Peaks.
Another speech about Mickey Mouse where it is clear people are mostly just projecting positive values onto him like he's Ronald McDonald or the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Who is Mickey Mouse? In maybe his most famous film he misused magic to avoid doing chores and caused a flood.
Who is Mickey Mouse? In maybe his most famous film he misused magic to avoid doing chores and caused a flood.
They sing the regular Happy Birthday song. How boring!
I am gonna get into the weeds more when I do the full thread but I feel like the MM that was celebrated in this special was the icon and not the character: a blank slate which can be idealized, not the star of 100s of films
I am gonna get into the weeds more when I do the full thread but I feel like the MM that was celebrated in this special was the icon and not the character: a blank slate which can be idealized, not the star of 100s of films
In 1984, when Donald Duck turned 40, Disney had to write a special birthday song for him since "Happy Birthday To You" was still under copyright. It felt like more of a big deal:
Of course, ANY time copyright comes up in the context of Disney, it makes me wonder how long they are going to be able to keep extending the copyright on Mickey Mouse and when, exactly, he will no longer belong to them. Will it happen before civilization crumbles?
I remember going to Disney World during the Donald Duck 40th birthday celebration & I remember watching this parade. His 40th birthday was a bigger deal to me than my own 40th birthday eventually would be. I was really, really into this. I desperately wanted one of those signs
I got a plate, though! It was especially good because one of the drawings is by Carl Barks-- whoever designed this plate knew what they were doing.
Mickey says goodbye and it is not memorable except for the pose he quickly does after saying "thanks for celebrating with me"
What better way to end Mickey's 90th birthday than with a song from 1997's Hercules? How did they pick this? Did they just do a random drawing? Why not one of the Phil Collins songs from Tarzan, or "Casey At The Bat" from Make Mine Music?
The BEST part of this whole special was Pluto doing the Mia Wallace dance moves from Pulp Fiction:
Which were inspired by Disney's 1970 feature film, The Aristocats:
Man, I wish Tarantino had been one of the guests on this birthday special. I have no idea what he would've said about Mickey Mouse but it would've been more interesting than how decent and friendly and inspirational he is.
Anyway, that was the Mickey Mouse 90th birthday ABC TV special. It featured music & dancing and ended by making me think of how the best parts of Disney are more fun than this special was, and inspire fun things like this:
