History WesternAnimation / MightyMouse

* BellyDancer: Near the beginning and end of "The Trojan Horse". A bit of an oddity, seeing as the story is a loose adaptation of the Trojan War in Greek mythology, while belly dancers (and the revealing bedlahs they're often depicted wearing, as is the case here) are more associated with the Middle East, [[ArabianNightsDays Arabia]] in particular.

A SuperHero anthropomorphic mouse saves the day, the world and his girlfriend, Pearl Pureheart. Originally one of the Creator/{{Terrytoons}} (yes, from the same fine company as WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle and "[[WesternAnimation/TheThreeBears SOMEBODY TOUCHA MY SPAGHET!!!]]") from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation.

-->'''Mouse Puppet!Cat:''' Yes, the Cheeseville Dam has burst and millions of gallons of water are rushing toward the doomed city!

-->'''Mouse puppet!Cat: We interrupt Mighty Mouse's vacation to bring him this urgent newsflash...the Cheeseville Dam has burst!\\

* DidntThinkThisThrough: In "Cat Alarm," a gang of cats trick Mighty Mouse into issuing an emergency that the dam had burst in order to make the mice in Cheeseville evacuate and into their clutches. They didn't count on Mighty Mouse to rush to the dam only to find it still intact. Cue confrontation with the cays and subsequent beatdown.

* CaptainErsatz: Mighty Mouse, especially in his Super Mouse years, is an obvious parody of {{Superman}}. Amusingly, the reason for his name chance was ''not'' because of legal threats from DC, but because one of Paul Terry's own employees left and made his own comic series named Super Mouse, and Terry wasn't interested in potential legal issues.

* MultipleChoicePast: Many shorts involved some sort of origin story, which varied widely. There was never any perceived need for a single established one until the 1980's TV series, where he was given a derivative version of {{Superman}}'s origin.

In 2017, Creator/DynamiteComics published a five-issue miniseries where Mighty Mouse [[RealWorldEpisode finds his way into the real world]] and befriends a bullied boy named Joey.

The series was remade again in the late 1980's for Creator/{{CBS}}' Saturday morning cartoon block by famed animator Creator/RalphBakshi. His ''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' was a highly innovative, [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs insane]] series that pioneered the anarchic pop-culture obsessed, [[PeripheryDemographic young adult-attracting]] style of television cartoons that flourished in the 1990s. Many of those who worked, created or had major impact on those later shows originally found writing and animation jobs for ''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' including Bakshi's long-time friend and protegé Creator/JohnKricfalusi, [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse Bruce Timm]], [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Jim Reardon]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} Tom Minton]].

Sadly, if remembered at all by casual viewers, it's usually for the controversy surrounding a scene in which Mighty Mouse sniffed some crushed flowers that looked a heck of a lot like cocaine. The creators contend to this day that it was unintentional; [[EveryoneHasStandards even John Kricfalusi]] found that the outrage over the flower-sniffing scene was blown out of proportion -- especially since that episode also had the Kirk Douglas-looking man deep kissing Polly Pineblossom and the two driving off into the sunset, only for their car to explode into a mushroom cloud, which, to John, felt more like scenes that would get them in trouble with the censors.

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!!''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' provides examples of:
* AffectionateParody: Bat-Bat and The League of Super-Rodents are affectionate parodies of DC and Marvel superheroes.
** Mighty Mouse himself was given an origin similar to {{Superman}}'s.
* AnimalGenderBender: Recurring villain The Cow, who is male (but has udders).
* AppropriatedAppellation: The OriginsEpisode "Mouse from Another House" establishes that Mighty Mouse got his name from a remark made about his powers by his adoptive father.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In the fourth issue of the Marvel comic, Mighty answers Pearl Pureheart's call for help and asks whether the trouble is an army of carnivorous cats, a fiendishly vile villain, or the F.C.C.
* AuthorTract: The message of the episode "Don't Touch That Dial" can best be described as "This show's awesome and all other cartoons are bland garbage" and "Television is bad, do something more productive than watching cartoons and game shows".
* BlatantLies: Why, it was how the show actually ''came to be''. However, that story is best left to the [[Quotes/MightyMouse Mighty Mouse quotes page]].
* TheCameo: From the Terrytoons studio, by episode:
** "Night On Bald Pate"--Tom Terrific makes a split second appearance on TV set.
** "The Ice Goose Cometh"--Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Hashimoto San, Deputy Dawg
** "Still Oily After All These Years"--Oil Can Harry, Gaston Le Crayon
** "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy"--Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, James Hound, Deputy Dawg, Muskie, Vincent Van Gopher, Heckle and Jeckle
** "Mighty's Tone Poem"--Oil Can Harry
* ClipShow: Despite lasting 19 episodes, there are several shorts comprised almost entirely clips from old Terrytoons (i.e. "Mighty's Musical Classics", "Scrappy's Playhouse", "Animation Concerto" and "Stress for Success") and earlier episodes of the show. This was due to budget reasons (the key animation was done in-house, which is very expensive for a low-budget series such as this)
* ComedicSpanking: In "The Littlest Tramp", Mighty Mouse attempts to punish Big Murray for tormenting Polly Pineblossom by spanking him, but Polly insists that he stop after a few smacks.
* CreatorCameo: Creator/RalphBakshi's likeness makes cameo appearances in "Night on Bald Pate" and "Snow White and the Motor City Dwarfs".
* {{Crossover}}: With ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' in "Heroes and Zeroes". The Heroes are older now, and have given up superheroing to become accountants, but Mighty Mouse calls them back into action one more time.
* DeathIsCheap: Lampshaded and defied in the fourth issue of the Marvel comic. After Mighty Mousette gets killed, Mighty Mouse begs the Minotaur to bring her back to life, bringing up that dead characters always come back in comics. The Minotaur denies Mighty Mouse's request and tells him that he must accept that Mighty Mousette is gone for good.
* DemotedToExtra: Scrappy appears less frequently in the second season. In fact, "Anatomy of a Milquetoast" (his ''only'' season 2 appearance other than a cameo in "Mighty's Tone Poem") is one giant lampshade of this, with Mighty Mouse being put on trial because he's blamed for being responsible for Scrappy's disappearance.
* DerangedAnimation: Yes, a heaping pile of it.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Big Murray ends up learning that it pays to think your schemes through in "Heroes and Zeroes", where he attempts to hold all the numbers in Mouseville for ransom. The flaw in his plan is that without numbers, no one is able to tell if they have enough money to pay his ransom.
* DistaffCounterpart: Issue 4 of the Marvel comic (part one of a parody of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', of all things) introduces Mighty Mousette. Of course, considering what happened to [[Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} her kryptonian inspiration]] in the original story, this didn't last long...
* DonutMessWithACop: Alluded to in "Mighty's Tone Poem", where Petey Pate remarks to caricatures of Siskel and Ebert that they can find the nearest donut shop by following the trail of cops.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" has Mighty Mouse dream of being married to Pearl Pureheart, with the Cow being reformed and his best friend. While it seems out of whack because of the same dream having Pearl become [[FormerlyFit obese]] and unpleasant, the Cow is also depicted as reformed in the later episode "The Bride of Mighty Mouse", which shows Pearl as still being attractive and amiable.
* DreamWithinADream: The ending of "Anatomy of a Milquetoast" became one due to executive meddling. Originally the episode was going to end on Scrappy turning into a crab, but CBS didn't like the idea of such ending. So they made ''that'' part of a dream, recycling the same animation of him waking up from just few seconds before (note that the episode fades out just before he removes the bed cover, revealing his changed body).
* EvilCounterpart: Mighty gets an evil counterpart named Mangy Mouse in the aforementioned ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' spoof.
* FantasticRacism: Touched upon in "Me-Yowww!", where Mighty Mouse befriends a cat named Durf and ends up ostracized, fired from his day job, and evicted from his own home because of the association.
* FantasticVoyagePlot: The story of "Mundane Voyage", where Mighty Mouse and Pearl Pureheart shrink down and go into the President's body to save his life.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: "The Ice Goose Cometh" is centered around the old Terrytoons star Gandy Goose, who was frozen in ice in 1944 and thaws out in 1987, having to adjust to the fact that no one remembers him anymore while finding his old partner Sourpuss.
* FromBeyondTheFourthWall: The Bakshi episode "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" (billed as a cautionary tale), Mighty Mouse is getting married to Pearl Pureheart. But he's getting cold feet just as he's about to take his vow, just stammering "I...I...I...", then it cuts to a pencil drawing of him on an animator's table. The animator cops out and can't go through with it. It ends with the cartoon characters at the wedding all laughing as everything is up in flames.
* GenreShift: The Bakshi revival shifted the series from a straight FunnyAnimal / Superhero series to a {{Satire}} of those cartoons, among other topics contemporary to the 80's.
* GladIThoughtOfIt: Used in "Pirates with Dirty Faces" when the three young mice give the suggestion that they can get the pirate captain to sleep and thereby start a mutiny by holding a slumber party. The first mate finds it a good idea and says "Glad I thought of it".
* HeelFaceTurn: In Mighty Mouse's dream of being married in "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" and the possible future of "Bride of Mighty Mouse", the Cow isn't just reformed, he's treated like family.
* IgnoredExpert: Mighty Mouse's birth father when Might was given a {{Superman}}-like origin.
* InterspeciesRomance: Big Murray (human man) and Polly Pineblossom (girl mouse) end up married at the end of "The Littlest Tramp".
* KlaatuBaradaNikto: Bat-Bat fractures the phrase in "Bat With A Golden Tongue" by replacing the last word with "Nicotine".
* MarilynManeuver: "The Littlest Tramp" at one point has Polly Pineblossom's skirt blowing up when she's standing on an air vent.
* MythologyGag:
** In ''Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy,'' Mighty Mouse is being goaded into proposing marriage to Pearl, when James Hound (an obscure Terrytoons character from the mid 60s) appears as his conscience:
--->'''Mighty Mouse:''' Hey! How come ''my'' conscience is James Hound? Don't I rate a [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} cute cricket?]]
** In the episode "Witch Tricks," Scrappy sings the ''Mighty Mouse Playhouse'' theme.
** In the Marvel comic's ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' parody "[[IncrediblyLamePun Mices]] on Infinite Earths," Mighty himself is saved by ''Supermouse'', the SilentProtagonist proto-version of him from the original "The Mouse of Tomorrow" Terrytoon!
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Big Murray is a clear caricature of Creator/KirkDouglas.
* NotSoForgottenBirthday: The premise of a character's friends pretending to forget their birthday for the sake of surprising them later is used in the episode "It's Scrappy's Birthday", where Scrappy is so incensed by the people of Mouseville forgetting about his birthday that he runs away. In the end, he returns home and discovers everyone greeting him with open arms and presenting a big cake.
* OffModel: There are many instances when Mighty Mouse is bigger than the size he's supposed to be.
** In "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy," Pearl and Sourpuss are drawn the same height. As are Mighty Mouse and Gandy Goose.
** The animation as a whole is a tale that could easily fill up a book with its numerous [[TroubledProduction production problems]] and the often slapdash outsourcing work of Creator/WangFilmProductions (who at the time, was mostly known for their work on shows like ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs''). Not helped along by the constant ExecutiveMeddling, or the ridiculously low budget the show worked with. Making it hard to discern when the animation is deliberately off, or when it's a genuine instance of this trope in play.
* OriginsEpisode:
** "Mouse from Another House" has Pearl Pureheart explain Mighty Mouse's origins to Scrappy.
** "Scrap-Happy" establishes the first meeting of Mighty Mouse and Scrappy.
* PaperThinDisguise:
** In "Day of the Mice", Petey Pate disguises himself as a mouse by wearing Mickey Mouse ears.
** The Cow disguises himself in "Still Oily After All These Years" by wearing a purple suit and a fake mustache.
* {{Satire}}: The show is a send up of both the original Terrytoons cartoons and 80s cartoons and culture in general.
* ShipperOnDeck: "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" has Gandy Goose and Sourpuss both eager to get Mighty Mouse and Pearl Pureheart together.
* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/MightyMouse Has its own page for it.]]
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Hilariously inverted. In ''Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy,'' a cautionary tale where Mighty Mouse proposes to Pearl, Deputy Dawg is conducting the wedding and starts it with "You have the right to remain silent...anything you say can be used against you..."
* StockFootage: The high-quality animation came at a cost. To keep down costs, some episodes are comprised entirely of old footage of Mighty Mouse cartoons (along with other misc. Terrytoons shorts) with a new soundtrack.
** "Mighty's Musical Classics" is a long music video made entirely of old [=TerryToons=] clips. Same goes with "Animation Concerto".
** The bulk of "Scrappy's Playhouse" has Scrappy watching several old Mighty Mouse cartoons (such as "Krakatoa", "Goons from the Moon", "The First Snow") with some footage from other Terrytoons, such as "Farmer Al Falfa's 20th Anniversary" and "Flebus".
** "The Ice Goose Cometh" uses this when Gandy Goose is undergoing separation anxiety, flashing back to footage of the old Terrytoons cartoons starring him and Sourpuss.
** "Stress for Success" uses footage from four [=TerryToons=] for Mighty's dreams, including "The Owl and the Pussycat" (the first Sourpuss cartoon), "Prehistoric Perils" and "Beauty on the Beach".
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: "The Bride of Mighty Mouse" shows Mighty Mouse and Pearl Pureheart having an infant son who inherits his father's powers.
* TakeThat:
** "Don't Touch That Dial" is a particularly biting satire of Creator/HannaBarbera, {{Anime}} (with a hint of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters''), the UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation and television of the 1980's in general.
** Season 2 episode "Day of The Mice" has Mighty Mouse knocking a ginormous Pee-wee Herman on his back.
-->'''Mighty Mouse:''' I've waited a whole season to do this!
** "Anatomy of a Milquetoast" bites the hand that feeds it: using footage from season 1 with the dialogue altered, most notably from "It's Scrappy's Birthday," the hobo chums of Scrappy's hobo companion appear in their train boxcar. The hobo's new line is "Hey, look...the network boards are here!"
** "The Bride of Mighty Mouse" features a villainous parody of [[Literature/TheFountainhead Howard Roark.]]
** The third issue of the Marvel comic has the Bug Wonder state that they need to stop the Emperor Penguin before the government is run by a power-crazed looney tune. Bat-Bat's butler Belfry remarks "So what else is new?"
** The tenth and final issue of the Marvel Comic has the cover depict Mighty Mouse giving ten reasons why it is imperative the reader buy this issue. Reason number one is "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles No teenagers, no mutants, no ninjas, no turtles]]". Within the issue is a dig at Andrew "Dice" Clay, who appears as a caricature named Andrew "Mice" Clay and is depicted as not very well-received. Pearl Pureheart even boycotts the rest of the issue due to not liking his sense of humor.
** The entire episode "Mighty's Benefit Plan" is this to WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks and Ross Bagdasarian Jr., due to animator Bob Jaques being denied screen credit for his work on ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure''. Jaques came up with the idea for this episode in retaliation, which takes many vicious swipes at the Chipmunks and Bagdasarian, lampooning the movie's ProductPlacement for Honey Nut Cheerios (the Dave Seville expy constantly has a mouth full of cereal, and a box of [[BlandNameProduct "Ohoorids"]] is prominently featured in the background of one scene) as well as Bagdasarian's dead dog Tiger Lilly (the cartoon is narrated by a piece of roadkill named "Mashy The Pup").
* TokenHeroicOrc: Sourpuss (Gandy Goose’s best friend) appears to be the only cat who not only not antagonize mice but actually gets along with Pearl Pureheart.
* TwoShorts: Every episode consisted of two ten-minute stories.
* VerbalTic: THE ENTIRE, WAY! THAT THE COW TALKS! MIGHT AS WELL BE! [[LargeHam CONSIDERED THIS!]] [[EvilLaugh HAHAHAHAA!]] ''MOO!''
* WeddingEpisode: The episode "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" is billed as a cautionary tale of Mighty Mouse marrying Pearl Pureheart. After a dream sequence he'd like to forget, Mighty Mouse is about to make his vows when he gets cold feet. The wedding is averted as the animator himself is unable to go through with it.
* WentToTheGreatXInTheSky: Used in "Aqua-Guppy", where Captain A. Crab attempts to get himself and Pearl Pureheart hit by a train when she keeps rejecting his proposal to marry her (he confused her with an old flame of his also named Pearl) and states that he'll join Pearl in the great coral reef in the sky.
* YoureInsane: In "Night on Bald Pate", Pearl Pureheart responds to Petey Pate boasting about his scheme of stealing every left shoe in Mouseville by calling him mad.

* PantyShot: Sneaking these in was almost as much a staple of the series as beating up cats.
** Seen in 1945's ''The Port Of Missing Mice'' and in the same year's ''Mighty Mouse and the Wolf''. Pearl had a few, like in ''Triple Trouble'' and ''The Perils of Pearl Pureheart,'' though she was usually wearing ankle-length pantaloons.
** The skipper's daughter in ''The Wreck of the Hesperus'' sits down and crosses her legs shortly after making her entry, again showing her Victorian pantaloons.

* VerbalTic: THE ENTIRE, WAY! THAT THE COW TALKS! MIGHT AS WELL BE! [[LargeHam CONSIDERED THIS!]]

** The animation as a whole is a tale that could easily fill up a book with its numerous [[TroubledProduction production problems]] and the often slapdash outsourcing work of Creator/WangFilmProductions (who at the time, was mostly known for their work on shows like ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs''). Not helped along by the constant ExecutiveMeddling, or the ridiculously low budget the show worked with.