Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

Undoubtedly this is one of the more energetic and creative cartoons of the '80s, which isn't that surprising, given that it had the combined talents of Ralph Bakshi ("Fritz The Cat", "American Pop") and John Kricfalusi, who'd score another hit four years later with "Ren & Stimpy". The show, which lasted only one season on CBS, had a spark that's missing from most cartoons today.

One of the things that distinguished this cartoon is its deadpan sense of humor (see the Quotes section.) It goes without saying that this serves as the precursor to the likes of "The Simpsons", "King of the Hill", and many more sophisticated cartoons of the '90s.

For all the creativity throughout, there's a dark spot in the show's history, one that led to its demise. An episode that aired on April 23(?), 1988, drew the attention of Rev. Donald Wildmon. This particular episode contained a scene that showed Mighty Mouse snorting what looked like cocaine. In actuality, and in a brilliant piece of symbolism, Mighty Mouse was sniffing the dead, dried-up remains of a flower, given to him by the orphan Scrappy as a symbol of the good in the world. Despite this, Wildmon, along with other media watchdogs, instigated a strong campaign against the show. CBS brass then decided to move the show to a later timeslot; shortly thereafter, it was cancelled. Aside from a brief run on the FOX network in November-December of 1992, it hasn't been seen on television since.

Controversy aside, this still remains one of the finer pieces of animation ever seen on network television, and if there's any relic from the '80s worthy of resurrection, this would be it.

Welcome to "Matthew Rants" Since the DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS review can't come. My brother liked it, but didn't. Mighty Mouse the world's most loveable cartoon character, ruined! His adventures were wacky. Ultra wacky. As a child I like the old cartoons of the 40's. I saw this new one in 1989. I never understood it. I saw one episode where Mighty Mouse fought a witch and who lived in a pumpkin. It was messed up. The hat talks, pants talks. It was like a messed up LIDSVILLE. And of course, Might Mouse fighting the pumpkin-like beast was spoofing KING KONG. And speaking of old movies, there is one episode where Scrappy and Mighty Mouse go back in time, and see a spoof of prehistory. Where you see some creatures that are a combo between a cat and a dinosaur. A lot of episodes I saw were messed up! The only good episode I saw where Scrappy is getting chased, and he hides in a movie theatre, and sees old Mighty Mouse cartoons. I was glad to see it. I was so happy to see the old ones. But alas, the sweet age is over, and the wacky age is in! At the time I saw this cartoon. I began hating SESAME STREET, because it was too wacky, beginning with Ernie plucking off Bert's nose. Eewwww! What, SESAME STREET turns Hershel Gordon Lewis on us? I found Elmo annoying. Anyway, the drawings in this poor show spawned a whole range of wacky cartoons, like REN & STIMPY (1991-1995), DEXTER'S LABORATORY (1996-2003), FARLY ODDPARENTS (2001-onwards), etc. Bottom line: I liked the old cartoon series. You can say I'm a fuddy duddy.

"The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse" was a a cartoon ahead of his time. During the 80's,most cartoons were basically made in order to sell toys, or were inspired in any cultural phenomena of the decade (real action movies, video-games, old TV-shows) and most of them weren't funny or interesting at all. And that's what makes this show great: It was exactly the opposite of those dull shows, that didn't have any personality or fun at all, using a more mature and complex sense of humor that made this remake superior to the original. The New Mighty Mouse not only had a better characterization and stories than most cartoons of the recent days, but it also had the wit and charm the many shows aimed to children would like to have. And yes, it have the strange elements that are common in the works of John Kricfalusi and Ralph Bakshi, and that isn't a problem, but only makes this cartoon better. "The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse" is a highly underrated cartoon, considering how it influenced in modern animation,something that is a shame.

Undoubtedly this is one of the more innovative cartoons of the '80s, which is not particularly surprising, given it has the talents of both Ralph Bakshi (of "Fritz The Cat" fame) and John Kricfalusi, who would score another cult-favorite four years later with "Ren & Stimpy."

The show, which lasted only one season, added tongue-in-cheek humor to the proceedings (see the "Quotes" section.) It was this rapid-fire wit that was the precursor to the likes of "The Simpsons", among others. This is the same kind of wit that's missing in most cartoons nowadays, which are more concerned with product placement and commercial accessibility (how else to explain how a generation of youngsters embrace something as hollow as "Pokémon"?)

Sadly, there's a dark spot in the show's history, one that led to it's demise. An episode that aired on April 23(?), 1988, drew the attention of Rev. Donald Wildmon. This particular episode featured a scene that showed Mighty Mouse sniffing what appeared to be cocaine. In actuality, Mighty Mouse was sniffing a dead, dried-up flower that had been given to him by Scrappy, the orphan. (This was an incredible piece of symbolism: the flower represented good in a world of evil.) Even when confronted with this, Wildmon insisted that it was cocaine. This led to protest from media watchdogs, which prompted brass at CBS to move the show to a later timeslot, only to cancel it shortly thereafter. Aside from a brief reappearance on the Fox network in November 1992, the show hasn't been widely seen.

All in all, if there's one relic from the 80's worth bringing back, this is it. And you gotta love that a capella reworking of the theme. :-)

This is something I happen to know a little bit about. I saw the alleged coke sniffing episode, it is called "The Littlest Tramp". I was fortunate enough to record it off the air. It was actually shown twice before they got in trouble, and then edited in further showings (quite different from "never being seen again"). There is a British video cassette collection of New Mighty Mouse available only in PAL format; I have seen it and the alleged sniffing has been editing out. If you watch the cartoon, wait for him to say these words: "I know someone else like that". You should immediately see the pink powder fly up his nose. If you see Mighty staring at a fire or something else, the scene is missing. I saw John K at an appearance at the Seattle Art Museum. He said that he was the director, Bakshi was the producer. Both of those guys can say that it was a symbolic flower all that they like, that's their perogative. I say that if someone sniffs powder up their nose, it is a drug reference. It also seems to me that the show went on for quite some time after this happened.