Mickey Mouse Works was produced to recreate the golden age of Disney's animated shorts featuring Disney's most popular characters. 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, 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", 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 rebellious musical instruments.
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
Mickey Mouse The main protagonist of the series, he goes on various misadventures due to his mischief, but has a good heart.
Minnie Mouse is Mickey's love interest, like Mickey, Minnie is often angered by Mickey's mischief, Donald's temper, and Goofy's stupidity, though she is mature for her age.
Donald Duck is one of Mickey's friends, he is well known for his temper, which often lashes out by immaturity and arrogance.
Daisy Duck is Donald's girlfriend, though they both have fiery tempers, Daisy is more intelligent than her boyfriend.
Goofy is one of Mickey's friends, he isn't the smartest character on the show, plus stupidity usually makes his friends very angered, despite his naivety, he is brave, however, commonly cowardly.
Pluto Mickey's loyal dog who is often aggressive towards some animals.
Ludwig Von Drake a genius duck who is shown to be very inventive, but has an absent-minded nature.
Pete Mickey's rival, He is very rude and obnoxious, but becomes more simple and dumb from season to season to season.
Mortimer Mouse Mickey's obnoxious rival who is seemingly charismatic, but in an obnoxious and crude manner, he often flirts with Minnie Mouse and/or Daisy, his most famous catchphrase is "I CHACHA!".
When the show was replaced by Disney's House of Mouse in January 2001, most of the MouseWork 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's Big Movie Show on weekdays, they were shown with the Mickey Mouse Works closing credits. 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
Goofy's Extreme Sports: Paracycling with Mighty Joe Young
Pluto Gets the Paper: Spaceship with My Favorite Martian
Donald's Dynamite: Opera Box with Doug's 1st Movie
Some shorts are available in Europe on DVD 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 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. On November 11, 2008, the eighth wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released. One of the sets released in this wave, , 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.
