History Trivia / TheGreatMouseDetective

** Ratigan's original design was [[LeanAndMean very thin and frail-looking]]. They changed it after Creator/VincentPrice was cast [[InkSuitActor to reflect Price's larger build]]. Glen Keane also says that he based it partially on then-head of the studio, Ron Miller, who was a very tall and muscular ex-football player.

** Ratigan's original design was [[LeanAndMean very thin and frail-looking]]. They changed it after Creator/VincentPrice was cast [[InkSuitActor to reflect Price's larger build]]. Glen Keane also says that he based it partially on then-head of the studio, Ron Miller, an ex-football player.

* 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 was still financially and critically successful in receiving more critical acclaim than An American Tail did. It should be noted that this film was successful in receiving more better reviews 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.

!!ImageSource for:
* ClockworksArea
* CueCard
* DetectiveAnimal
* DetectivesFollowFootprints
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking
* HatsOffToTheDead
* RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts
* [[VillainousBreakdown/AnimatedFilms Villainous Breakdown.Animated Films]]
* YellowEyesOfSneakiness

** Largely averted, as Jeffrey Katzenberg had little to no faith this movie would be any good. Most of his attention was spent on meddling with ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', which ''would'' become a failure. Katzenberg did, however, demand 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.

*** Ironically, years later, this would become the norm for Disney, when "Rapunzel" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and "The Snow Queen" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. As with ''The Fox and the Hound'' and ''The Black Cauldron'', this was in response of an underperforming prior film sparking the studio in finding more mass-appealing titles, as the relative box office failure of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' had Disney scampering away from movie titles that sounded like they were aimed at young girls. ''Frog'' also finished the job ''The Black Cauldron'' nearly accomplished 25 years prior, as the beginning of the end for 2D theatrical movies from Disney.

* IAmNotShazam: The lead dancer at the bar is listed in the credits as "Miss Kitty Mouse," but, Fanon aside, this doesn't actually appear to be her name. Rather, it's a description of her. She isn't "Miss Kitty Mouse," but "the Miss Kitty mouse."

** Music/{{Madonna}} was considered to voice Miss Kitty and perform the song "Let Me Be Good To You".
** This isn't as far-fetched as it may seem when one listens to Madonna's jazzy showtunes on the ''Film/DickTracy'' soundtrack.

* ImageSource:
** ClockworksArea
** DetectivesFollowFootprints
** GoodSmokingEvilSmoking
** HatsOffToTheDead
** RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts
** [[VillainousBreakdown/AnimatedFilms Villainous Breakdown/Animated Films]]
** YellowEyesOfSneakiness

*** Ironically, years later, this would become the norm for Disney, when "Rapunzel" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and "The Snow Queen" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. As with ''The Fox and the Hound and ''The Black Cauldron'', this was in response of an underperforming prior film sparking the studio in finding more mass-appealing titles, as the relative box office failure of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' had Disney scampering away from movie titles that sounded like they were aimed at young girls. ''Frog'' also finished the job ''The Black Cauldron'' nearly accomplished 25 years prior, as the beginning of the end for 2D theatrical movies from Disney.

* 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 was still financially and critically successful in receiving more critical acclaim than An American Tail did. It should be noted that this film was successful in receiving more better reviews 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.

* 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 its money a profit, ‘And American Tail'' was the highest-grossing animated feature ever made, making this film number two by outperforming this film. Despite all this, GMD was still financially and critically successful in receiving more critical acclaim than An American Tail did. It should be noted that this film was successful in receiving more better reviews 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.

* DirectedByCastMember: Besides directing the Latin American Spanish dub, Francisco Colmenero voiced Bartholomew as well as some minor roles.

*** Ironically, years later, this would become the norm for Disney, when "Rapunzel" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and "The Snow Queen" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. As with ''The Fox and the Hound and ‘Then Black Cauldron'', this was in response of an underperforming prior film sparking the studio in finding more mass-appealing titles, as the relative box office failure of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' had Disney scampering away from movie titles that sounded like they were aimed at young girls. ''Frog'' also finished the job ''The Black Cauldron'' nearly accomplished 25 years prior, as the beginning of the end for 2D theatrical movies from Disney.

* ActingForTwo:
** This film has three examples:
*** Barrie Ingham voices both Basil and the unlucky Bartholomew. Interestingly, that makes two out of the three characters in the movie who call Ratigan a rat (the other being Olivia), and one out of two that live to tell the tale.
*** Val Bettin voices both Dr. David Q. Dawson and one of Ratigan's thugs.
*** Surprisingly, Candy Candido voices both Fidget and the bar patron.
* 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 was best known for providing.

** The English version of this film has three examples:

** As for the Latin American Spanish dub:
*** Raúl de la Fuente dubs both Basil and his human counterpart Sherlock Holmes.
*** Esteban Siller voiced Dawson and his human counterpart John H. Watson.
*** Olivia and the Lady Mouse were both voiced by Diana Santos.
*** Bartholomew, one of Ratigan's thugs, the bar guy, and one of the mouse citizens are all voiced by Francisco Colmenero.
** And the Catalan dub:
*** Mercé Segarra voiced the Bar Maid and the Lady Mouse at the end of the film.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/VincentPrice called Ratigan was his favorite film role, and was especially thrilled to have two songs written specifically for him.

* 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 the film made its money back, ''American Tail'' was a smash hit and, at the time, the highest-grossing animated feature ever made. Both of these things would factor into Disney deciding to re-beef their animation department.

*** Ironically, years later, this would become the norm for Disney, when "Rapunzel" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and "The Snow Queen" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. As with ''Cauldron'' and ''Detective'', this was in response of an underperforming prior film sparking the studio in finding more mass-appealing titles, as the relative box office failure of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' had Disney scampering away from movie titles that sounded like they were aimed at young girls. ''Frog'' also finished the job ''The Black Cauldron'' nearly accomplished 25 years prior, as the beginning of the end for 2D theatrical movies from Disney.

*** Diana Santos voiced Olivia, as well as the Lady Mouse.

*** Ironically, years later, this would become the norm for Disney, when "Rapunzel" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and "The Snow Queen" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. As with ''Cauldron'' and ''Detective'', this was in response of an underperforming prior film sparking the studio in finding more mass-appealing titles, as the relative box office failure of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' had Disney scampering away from movie titles that sounded like they were aimed at young girls. ''Frog'' also finished the job ''The Black Cauldron'' nearly accomplished 25 years prior, driving the final nail in the coffin for 2D theatrical movies from Disney.

*** Ironically, years later, this would become the norm for Disney, when "Rapunzel" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and "The Snow Queen" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. As with ''Cauldron'' and ''Detective'', this was in response of an underperforming prior film sparking the studio in finding more mass-appealing titles; the relative box office failure of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' not only had Disney scampering away from movie titles that sounded like they were aimed at young girls, but it also finished the job ''Cauldron'' nearly accomplished 25 years prior in driving the final coffin nail in traditional 2D animation for Disney.

*** Ironically, years later, this would become the norm for Disney, when "Rapunzel" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and "The Snow Queen" would become ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.

** Largely averted, as Jeffrey Katzenberg had little to no faith this movie would be any good. Most of his attention was spent on meddling with ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', which ''would'' become a failure. Katzenberg did, however, demand 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 "Basil the Great Mouse Detective" in some international versions, including Australia.

*** Diana Santos voiced Olivia, as well as the lady mouse at the end.