Trivia / Runaway Brain

• Banned in China: A variation: Runaway Brain was released in German theaters, accompanying, as with elsewhere in Europe, A Goofy Movie (the German title, incidentally, is Micky Monster-Maus), but it was not included in the German release of the Disney Treasures set, Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Vol. 2, presumably because of its scary content. All other international releases of the set did include the cartoon, however.
• Bury Your Art: Due to the short's darker tone and the negative reactions from audiences at the time, Disney has tried to brush it under the rug and is not keen on acknowledging it much, explaining its rare and limited availability over the years. That said, the company has since become more open to acknowledging it recently, partly thanks to the short getting Vindicated by History over time.
• Executive Meddling: While it may be strange to think the Disney Corporation themselves allowed such a change of imagery and tone of their mascot, they did force some scenes to be cut, explaining the short being possibly too quick-paced and the short presence of the doctor. The director said it was mostly for Jeffrey Katzenberg, who championed for his idea, leaving the studio and thus leaving him with no defender when the other higher-ups imposed changes.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The short's only availability on home video was on the Disney Treasures set, Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Vol. 2, which has been long out of print (plus a VHS tape that never got released in North America). It is also available on the "Disney Movies Anywhere" version of the "Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection". It is also not on Disney+ at this time.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.":
  • Dr. Frankenollie also appeared in the Disney Website's CyberNettiquette Comix. When you consider how Disney tried to bury Dr. Frankenollie's original appearance, his Internet appearances would have been the first time the character appeared to younger fans. This trope ended up inverted, though: the Cyber Nettiquette Comix are gone from the current website, while Runaway Brain itself is now online.
  • Julius appeared as a Superboss in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], making his appearance the first time in almost twenty years that Disney acknowledged the existence of Runaway Brain. This was also his first appearance to younger fans and anyone else who was unaware of the short.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to the short's director, Chris Bailey, the original idea he pitched to Disney executives was a short called "Tourist Trap", which would have involved Mickey and Donald Duck going on vacation, whereupon Donald would seize the opportunity to try to "off Mickey". Although the idea was approved by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Thomas Schumacher and Peter Schneider, the storyboard screening went over very badly, likely due to the short's mean-spirited nature and how Donald trying to murder Mickey would be out-of-character even for him. With no way to soften the short up without losing the premise's original hook, Bailey scrapped the idea and pitched the concept for this short instead.
  • The short was also supposed to be shown before 101 Dalmatians (1996), but Disney asked theaters to cut the short and replace it with trailers for upcoming Disney movies. The decision came so late that some theaters ended up showing both the short and the trailers.
  • Instead of Dr. Frankenollie, the mad scientist in the short was supposed to be Professor Ecks from the Floyd Gottfredson comic story Blaggard Castle, to whom Dr. Frankenollie does bear some resemblance.
  • Mickey was originally intended to be playing a first-person shooter game based on Bambi.
  • The scene where Mickey says "Talk about your ironclad contracts." was originally going to have him say "I think I'm in trouble."
  • Perverted Drooling was present when Julius interacted with Minnie, but the executives eventually axed it (at most the monstruous Mickey pants copiously).
  • The short originally ended with Mickey and Minnie luring Julius across the sea with an "effigy" of Minnie made from pillows, but it was changed to just a wallet photo.

---