Since Mickey Mouse was first created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, he's been an iconic character. He's been through a lot over the decades, Mickey is almost 100 years old. Friday sees the release of Steamboat Silly on Disney+, an animated short that’s part of the Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse series that also pays tribute to his many years on the screen.
This, unfortunately, is expected to be the last in the series of shorts that have been running for an impressive 12 years. The series included all of Mickey Mouse’s classic cartoon friends, but it also introduced a few new ones. Although we apparently were almost never introduced to Mickey’s pet fish, Gubbles, because one executive didn’t like fish.
I recently had the chance to speak with Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse producer Paul Rudish about the series, including Bob Iger's impact on the new Mickey cartoons and his experience riding Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. and I asked him if, considering how drastic a change the series was from classic Mickey Mouse if there had ever been cartoon ideas that got rejected. He told me that while there was never a case of a short being rejected for “going too far” there were cartoons rejected for other reasons. Like one executive who apparently just didn’t like fish. He explained…
Said executive didn't like that show. It’s about Mickey and his little fish. And he just was like, ‘I don't like ‘I don't like fish, fish aren't a real pet. I mean, you feed them and they die and you flush them down the toilet. Who cares about fish? I can't relate to a fish.’ And as he's sitting under a poster of Finding Nemo. He just didn't like fish. It wasn't because it was a bad cartoon or anything. Just he has no love for fish. So like ‘Ah, okay.’
The cartoon in question is called Gasp! And is the one that introduced the character of Gubbles, Mickey’s pet fish. It’s a silly episode where Gubbles' bowl gets broken and Mickey has to frantically run around and try to save him. The reason we know this is while the cartoon was originally rejected, it did actually get made. You can check it out below.
Rudish explained that production of the shorts then got delayed, and so they went back to the rejected idea, as it would certainly be faster to get moving on an idea they already had than to start something entirely new. They were eventually able to wear down the executive and get him to agree. Rudish continued…
And then as production goes on, we're kind of getting in a bind, because we've had some setbacks. And so we've made up some time. And, so we're like, ‘Hey, Gary, can we pull the fish one out? And we got to make a cartoon.’ And you know, we had our Head of Production go, 'Gary, it's time to love something right now, because we need to put something into production.' And he’s ‘All right, all right. fine.’
Gubbles became a popular enough character that the fish is featured in two other shorts in the series. It doesn’t sound like Paul Rudish and crew got the same pushback on the other shorts, so perhaps they convinced the executive that cartoons about fish were good. This is not to say the executive ever changed his mind about Gasp! He apparently still dislikes it, though the opinion of it within his household is divided. Rusdish said…
And then, like a year later, he comes by, and myself and Clay Morrow, the director of that episode are hanging out. Gary passes, and was like, 'Hey, guys, I just want to let you know, that fish cartoon, still don't love it. I just want you know, it's my daughter's favorite. She's watched it like 40 times in a row. She can't get enough of that.’ And then so my storyboard director, he goes, ‘Great. Did you buy her a fish?’
There are likely a host of other shorts that got rejected and never made for similar reasons, and Paul Rudish says he and his crew are certainly not out of ideas for future Mickey Mouse cartoons, so while Steamboat Silly is currently set to be the last, perhaps if the shorts, which are worth the Disney+ price are on their own, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which just opened this year at Disneyland, prove popular enough, we’ll see more.
