History Trivia / MightyMouse

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A CGI movie of Mighty Mouse, produced jointly by Paramount and Nickelodeon (which would have produced a subsequent TV series) has been in limbo for a few years now.

!!''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures''
* AcclaimedFlop: While the show was and still is acclaimed as a satirical classic (and is considered the granddaddy of most modern children's cartoons, particularly the ones on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network that get away with a lot of adult humor and are more creator-driven than producer-driven), it was never a popular show ratings wise and got cancelled after just two seasons, though the show developed a popular CultClassic status that eventually got it a DVD release.
* CreativeDifferences: The reason Creator/JohnKricfalusi didn't return for the second season was because he and Creator/RalphBakshi were at odds over who had more creative influence on the show. Kricfalusi insisted that his direction and push for stronger character animation was what made the show popular, while Bakshi argued that the only reason Kricfalusi was allowed to get away with what he did was because Bakshi was constantly fending off CBS's [=S&P=][[note]](Standards and Practices; the people who often step in and outline what is and isn't appropriate to show on television)[[/note]] for him to let him work undisturbed. In the end, [[BothSidesHaveAPoint both Bakshi and Kricfalusi ended up being right]]: not only was ''Mighty Mouse'' swiftly canceled after six episodes once Kricfalusi left, but Kricfalusi spent the rest of his solo career on the losing end of a lot of battles from network higher-ups (with ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' [classic and ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon''] being the most notorious cases) simply because he never learned how to cooperate with them.
* CreatorBacklash:
** The DVDCommentary for "Mouse From Another House" describes the episode's execution as flawed. It was supposed to be a satire of pathos cartoons and origin stories, but the story was [[PoesLaw misinterpreted as a straight pathos tale instead of a humorous take on one]], and was misdirected as such, robbing it of much of its intended comedy.
** Creator/JohnKricfalusi claims [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/09/wonky-2.html on his blog]] the impact of the show was a mixed blessing and that it had numerous flaws from the get-go (much like his own ''Ren and Stimpy'').
-->''"I also drew much more emotive and exaggerated characters than anyone else at the time did, and many of my artists again misinterpreted this as meaning no-rules. So for every Bruce Timm Ken Boyer, Eddie Fitzgerald, Lynne Naylor and me there were 5 other cartoonists who looked at our stuff and decided anything-goes, as long as it's weird. I had unleashed a monster that I've rued to this day. Mighty Mouse was a mixed blessing to the cartoon business. It freed up cartoonists and brought back creativity, excitement and invention to cartoons. It also brought back story structure and characterization - in the best episodes. It reminded the whole business of what cartoons were for in the first place. It also was full of accidents, mistakes, sloppy execution and rushed work that I had no time (and not enough experience) to get under control."''
* CrossDressingVoices:
** The orphan boy Scrappy was voiced by the late Dana Hill.
** The witch Scrappy encounters in "Witch Tricks" was voiced by Creator/CharlieAdler.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Subverted, then played straight.
** For much of the show's run, CBS left the team alone to do whatever they wanted so long as they were conscious of time and money. Once the infamous "crushed flower" episode[[note]]"The Littlest Tramp" involved a gag in which Mighty Mouse sniffed a flower that had been crushed into a fine powder, making it look like he was snorting cocaine.[[/note]] happened, however, they got much nosier about content.
** "Bat With A Golden Tongue" was presumed to be a make-good for the "crushed flower" scene in that it entailed Mighty Mouse's efforts to break Bat-Bat of his joke-telling addiction. Bat-Bat's final line to the viewers was "Just say no to canned laughter," a spoof on then-First Lady Nancy Reagan's more serious "Just Say No To Drugs" message. UsefulNotes/McDonalds threatened to pull its advertising if the line was not removed and his line was replaced with a stock scream at the last minute.
** Bakshi himself came down on his staff when he noticed that they were frequently leaving out the title character (satirizing how in his original cartoons he'd only show up at the end to save the day), eventually telling them to ease up on joke plots and include him more often.
* HeAlsoDid: After the show's cancellation, Bakshi and the rest of the crew would produce a well-regarded adaptation of Creator/DrSeuss's ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook,'' as well as two shorts for ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow''.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The sudden appearance of a cartoon Creator/MervGriffin was cut out at the last moment from "Night Of The Bat-Bat." It would be used in the unedited edition of the scene in the series finale, "Mighty's Tone Poem."
** In the mid-90's, Creator/JohnKricfalusi attempted to pitch a revival of the series to Creator/{{Paramount}}, but the proposal was rejected.
** "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" was supposed to have a scene where, as Mighty Mouse nervously tries to answer "I do" while getting married, the scene immediately went live-action, showing an African-American animator (Milton Knight) having a nervous breakdown over marrying Mighty Mouse while his coworkers laugh and throw paper balls at him. The actual scene on CBS showed a cartoon version of that scene (which wasn't as detailed as the live-action version) with the audio track intact.
** Bakshi had plans for a spin-off series featuring the version of WesternAnimation/DeputyDawg, seen in the series. The show would've had Deputy as the sheriff of New York city with Muskie and Vincent Van Gopher as his deputies fighting crimes in the big city, similar to ''Series/McCloud''. The show would've also had cartoons featuring The Mighty Heroes as they're presented in Mighty Mouse, as old accountants as the "middle cartoon", effectively making this a ThreeShorts show.

* CreativeDifferences: The reason Creator/JohnKricfalusi didn't return for the second season was because he and Creator/RalphBakshi were at odds over who had more creative influence on the show. Kricfalusi insisted that his direction and push for stronger character animation was what made the show popular, while Bakshi argued that the only reason Kricfalusi was allowed to get away with what he did was because Bakshi was constantly fending off CBS's [=S&P=][[note]](Standards and Practices; the people who often step in and outline what is and isn't appropriate to show on television)[[/note]] for him to let him work undisturbed. In the end, [[BothSidesHaveAPoint both Bakshi and Kricfalusi ended up being right]]: not only was ''Mighty Mouse'' swiftly canceled after six episodes once Kricfalusi left, but Kricfalusi spent the rest of his solo career on the losing end of a lot of battles from network higher-ups (with ''Ren and Stimpy'' [classic and ''Adult Party Cartoon''] being the most notorious cases) simply because he never learned how to cooperate with them.

** The DVD commentary for "Mouse From Another House" describes the episode's execution as flawed. It was supposed to be a satire of pathos cartoons and origin stories, but the story was [[PoesLaw misinterpreted as a straight pathos tale instead of a humorous take on one]], and was misdirected as such, robbing it of much of its intended comedy.

* HeAlsoDid: After the show's cancelation, Bakshi and the rest of the crew would produce a well-regarded adaptation of Creator/DrSeuss's ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook,'' as well as two shorts for ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow''.
* ProtectionFromEditors: Up until the "crushed flower controversy", Creator/{{CBS}} didn't care what Bakshi and co. produced each week so long as they delivered it on time and under budget (which they did). This is not to say Bakshi ''wasn't'' fighting off censors left and right, rather he was simply very good at negotiation and was such a force of personality that nobody challenged him.

** In the mid-90's, John Kricfalusi attempted to pitch a revival of the series to Creator/{{Paramount}}, but the proposal was rejected.

** Bakshi had plans for a spin-off series featuring the version of Deputy Dawg, seen in the series. The show would've had Deputy as the sheriff of New York city with Muskie and Vincent Van Gopher as his deputies fighting crimes in the big city, similar to Series/McCloud.The show would've also had cartoons featuring The Mighty Heroes as they're presented in Mighty Mouse, as old accountants as the "middle cartoon", effectively making this a ThreeShorts show

* AcclaimedFlop: While the show was and still is acclaimed as a satirical classic (and is considered the granddaddy of most modern children's cartoons, particularly the ones on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network that [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get away with a lot of adult humor]] and are more creator-driven than producer-driven), it was never a popular show ratings wise and got cancelled after just two seasons, though the show developed a popular CultClassic status that eventually got it a DVD release.

* BigNameFan: According to Tom Minton, Creator/ChuckJones was a fan of the show for its biting satire (even though Jones in his later years spoke out against how TV animation was a bastardization of the classic theatrical ones he worked on and was used to seeing in his time).
-->"Chuck Jones, who was lurking about Ralph's studio shortly after this was made, consulting on Dr. Seuss's "The Butter Battle" special with the in-house Maurice Noble, said "the best thing about Mighty Mouse is that it was a bite instead of a lick."