"The Brave Little Squire" is the 7th episode of The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse.
Mickey dreams of being a knight, but when he is chosen to be Sir Mortimer's squire, he discovers his new boss's heroic reputation is a fairy tale.
Tropes:
- Bad Boss: Sir Mortimer towards his squire Mickey. He always has him go serve as a distraction towards the monsters he's supposed to battle, promising to swoop in and save the day, but always chickens out and doesn't dare come out of hiding...that is until Mickey's used his wits to overpower/drive away the monster to steal the credit.
- Broken Pedestal: Mickey becomes Sir Mortimer's squire so he can become a knight himself, but he learns Mortimer is pretty much a phony.
- Call-Back:
- Besides wearing the same outfit as in Brave Little Tailor, Mickey also defeats all the monsters and villains by using wit and strategy rather than direct combat, much like how he defeated the giant in the aforementioned short.
- Just like in Mickey's Rival, Mortimer is portrayed as a Dirty Coward who flees from the first sign of danger, even that which will harm his sweetheart Minnie, while Mickey nuts up and uses his wits to defeat the bad guys and rescue his girl.
- The Cameo:
- The rhino guards, Friar Tuck, Sir Hiss, Skippy and the Widow Rabbit, vultures which resemble Trigger, and Lady Kluck from Robin Hood (1973) appear.
- Maleficent's goons from Sleeping Beauty wreck havoc on the village.
- As seen in the storybook, Mickey fights Mad Madame Mim from The Sword in the Stone.
- Donald was clearly Sir Mortimer's previous Squire as his iconic hat can be seen on top of the Roast bird in a wheelchair.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After going through the whole short having Mortimer steal credit for his feats in defeating the monsters plaguing the village, and going up against the mightiest threat of them all, a dragon, Mickey is finally acknowledged by the town for the hero is he is, knighted by Queen Minnie and goes down in history as "the greatest knight who ever lived".
- Exact Words: Sir Mortimer promises Mickey he'll come in and defeat the monsters while he distracts him "on my honor as a knight." But of course, Sir Mortimer has no "honor as a knight" whatsoever, cowering at the first sight of danger no matter who is impacted by it, so Sir Mortimer never actually comes around to back him up.
- Idea Bulb: When Mickey realizes that a catapult is essentially a giant spoon, he gets this, in the form of an old-fashioned lantern with a candle inside.
- Instant Roast: The Vultures burnt by the dragon's fire become roast birds. Same as Donald in the beginning.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After being exposed as a fraud, Mortimer is locked in stocks and hit with tomatoes by the townsfolk.
- Miles Gloriosus: Sir Mortimer is allegedly "the bravest knight in the land" and won't stop bragging for two seconds about his supposed encounters with fiends....but when actual danger comes along...better pray that his squire Mickey is around.
- Mythology Gag: Mickey and Minnie's costumes are based on those from Brave Little Tailor.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Who would have thought we would ever see Mickey actually idolize Mortimer as his hero?
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Mickey eventually gets fed up with Sir Mortimer, the quote-unquote "bravest knight in all the land" always leaving him to do all the monster ass kicking and only coming out of hiding when it's safe to take the credit and declares that if being a knight means being like him, then he doesn't want to be a knight.
- Special Guest: None other than Miranda Richardson stars as the narrator.
