History Trivia / TheGreatMouseDetective

* MagnumOpusDissonance: The film was produced concurrently with ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', which was Disney's most expensive film ever made at the time, and which Disney marketed at the time as being their most revolutionary film since ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''. By contrast, ''Great Mouse Detective'' was treated as a much smaller affair ,and was relegated to the sidelines for most of its production. Despite this, ''The Black Cauldron'' would become infamous for nearly killing Disney's animation department due to its poor critical reception and [[BoxOfficeBomb disastrous box office performance]], while ''The Great Mouse Detective'' would go on to remain a financial and critical success, saving Disney animation and laying the groundwork for their eventual Renaissance a few years later.

* DuelingMovies: With ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', another animated movie about mice coming out the same year (though it didn't come out until a few months afterward). While GMD still made a profit, ''An American Tail'' was the highest-grossing animated feature ever made. Despite all this, GMD remained financially and critically successful in receiving more critical acclaim than An American Tail did, which unfortunately received mixed reviews. Both of these things would factor into Disney deciding to re-beef their animation department.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: The film was produced concurrently with ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', but unlike ''The Black Cauldron'', which was Disney's most expensive film at the time and which Disney marketed at the time as being their most revolutionary film since ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', this film was treated as a much smaller affair and was relegated to the sidelines for most of its production. Despite this, ''The Black Cauldron'' would become infamous for nearly killing Disney's animation department due to its poor critical reception and disastrous box office performance, while ''The Great Mouse Detective'', by stark contrast and despite being dethroned by ''An American Tail'', would go on to remain a financial and critical success, saving Disney animation and laying the groundwork for their eventual Renaissance a few years later.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: The film was produced concurrently with ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', but unlike ''The Black Cauldron'', which was Disney's most expensive film at the time and which Disney marketed at the time as being their most revolutionary film since ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', this film was treated as a much smaller affair and was relegated to the sidelines for most of its production. Despite this, ''The Black Cauldron'' would become infamous for nearly killing Disney's animation department due to its poor critical reception and disastrous box office performance, while ''The Great Mouse Detective'', by stark contrast, would go on to become a commercial and critical success, saving Disney animation and laying the groundwork for their eventual Renaissance a few years later.

* ActorAllusion:
** When Bill the Lizard tries to assure Ratigan that he's a "big mouse" to convince him to spare Bartholomew, his voice suddenly switches to a high-pitched falsetto, referring to the particular [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse big mouse]] his voice actor Wayne Allwine was best known for providing.
** Oddly enough, there is one mixed with Fridge Brilliance in regards to Ratigan's death-trap Rube-Goldberg device: One of Vincent Price's other roles was fond of doing such traps as Film/TheAbominableDrPhibes. They even have a phonograph projecting the character's voice as well.
** This isn't the first time a character played by Vincent Price has been called [[Series/Batman1966 "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind."]]
** Basil's name was a tribute to Basil Rathbone, the actor who brought Sherlock Holmes to life.

* CrossDressingVoices: Creator/FrankWelker voices Felicia.

* CareerResurrection: Thanks to the massive failure of ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', Walt Disney Animation Studios had been in a very dire situation and was on the brink of closure, with this film effectively being their last chance. Fortunately for them, this film's moderate success and critical acclaim succeeded in proving to Disney executives that animation was still a viable medium to invest in, which saved the animation department and would later pave the way to ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' and the Disney Renaissance.

* DuelingMovies: With ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', another animated movie about mice coming out the same year (though it didn't come out until a few months afterward). While GMD made a profit, ''An American Tail'' was the highest-grossing animated feature ever made, making this film number two by outperforming this film. Despite all this, GMD remained financially and critically successful in receiving more critical acclaim than An American Tail did, which unfortunately received mixed reviews. Both of these things would factor into Disney deciding to re-beef their animation department.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: "Basil, Private Detective" in France.

* BeamMeUpScotty: Basil uses the line "Elementary, my dear Dawson." which was never in a Conan Doyle ''Sherlock Holmes'' book or story.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: Two of Ratigan's thugs are played by Wayne Allwine and Tony Anselmo, who were the respective voices of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
* SwanSong: This was Creator/CandyCandido's final film appearance before he died of natural causes in 1999.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: The film was produced concurrently with ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', but unlike "The Black Cauldron," which was Disney's most expensive film at the time and which Disney marketed at the time as being their most revolutionary film since ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', this film was treated as a much smaller affair and was relegated to the sidelines for most of its production. Despite this, ''The Black Cauldron'' would become infamous for nearly killing Disney's animation department entirely due to its poor critical reception and disastrous box office performance, while ''The Great Mouse Detective'', by stark contrast, would go on to become a commercial and critical success, saving Disney animation and laying the groundwork for their eventual Renaissance a few years later.

** Back in the early 2000s, there were originally plans for a StealthSequel to the film titled, ''The Search for WesternAmimation/MickeyMouse'', which would've had Basil team up with [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Minnie, Donald, and Goofy]] and go on a globe-trotting quest to search for the titular mouse after he was "mouse-napped", all while encountering a wide array of [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover Disney characters]] along the way. Unfortunately, the film would get canceled after the animators decided that incorporating the insanely large number of Disney characters into a feasible 90-minute script was deemed too difficult.

** Jeffrey Katzenberg demanded the title of this film be changed from ''Basil of Baker Street'' to simply ''The Great Mouse Detective'', a move that inspired an infamous fake memo that stated Disney was changing all the titles of its films to more generic ones, such as "[[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Seven Little Men Help a Girl]]", "[[WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}} The Wonderful Elephant Who Could Really Fly]]", "[[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} The Girl with the See-Through Shoes]]", and "[[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 A Boy, a Bear, and a Big Black Cat]]". The memo later became a category on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''. Two of the four directors have since said they've always hated the new title. However, those directors may have had some solace in the title being changed to "[[MarketBasedTitle Basil the Great Mouse Detective]]" in some international versions, including Australia.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: The film was produced concurrently with ''Western Animation/TheBlackCauldron'', but unlike "The Black Cauldron," which was Disney's most expensive film at the time and which Disney marketed at the time as being their most revolutionary film since ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', this film was treated as a much smaller affair and was relegated to the sidelines for most of its production. Despite this, ''The Black Cauldron'' would become infamous for nearly killing Disney's animation department entirely due to its poor critical reception and disastrous box office performance, while ''The Great Mouse Detective'', by stark contrast, would go on to become a commercial and critical success, saving Disney animation and laying the groundwork for their eventual Renaissance a few years later.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: The film was produced concurrently with "Western Animation/The Black Cauldron," but unlike "The Black Cauldron," which was Disney's most expensive film at the time and which Disney marketed at the time as being their most revolutionary film since ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', this film was treated as a much smaller affair and was relegated to the sidelines for most of its production. Despite this, ''The Black Cauldron'' would become infamous for nearly killing Disney's animation department entirely due to its poor critical reception and disastrous box office performance, while ''The Great Mouse Detective'', by stark contrast, would go on to become a commercial and critical success, saving Disney animation and laying the groundwork for their eventual Renaissance a few years later.

* CreatorsFavorite: After the film's release, Candy Candido viewed Fidget as his personal favorite role.

* CareerResurrection: This film effectively saved Walt Disney Animation Studios, as the department had been in a very dire situation and was on the brink of closure thanks to the massive failure of their previous film ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron''. This film's moderate success and critical acclaim proved to Disney executives that animation was still viable and successful, which paved the way to ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' and the Disney Renaissance.