Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

Undoubtedly this is one of the more innovative cartoons of the '80s, which is not particularly surprising, given it has the talents of both Ralph Bakshi (of "Fritz The Cat" fame) and John Kricfalusi, who would score another cult-favorite four years later with "Ren & Stimpy."

The show, which lasted only one season, added tongue-in-cheek humor to the proceedings (see the "Quotes" section.) It was this rapid-fire wit that was the precursor to the likes of "The Simpsons", among others. This is the same kind of wit that's missing in most cartoons nowadays, which are more concerned with product placement and commercial accessibility (how else to explain how a generation of youngsters embrace something as hollow as "Pokémon"?)

Sadly, there's a dark spot in the show's history, one that led to it's demise. An episode that aired on April 23(?), 1988, drew the attention of Rev. Donald Wildmon. This particular episode featured a scene that showed Mighty Mouse sniffing what appeared to be cocaine. In actuality, Mighty Mouse was sniffing a dead, dried-up flower that had been given to him by Scrappy, the orphan. (This was an incredible piece of symbolism: the flower represented good in a world of evil.) Even when confronted with this, Wildmon insisted that it was cocaine. This led to protest from media watchdogs, which prompted brass at CBS to move the show to a later timeslot, only to cancel it shortly thereafter. Aside from a brief reappearance on the Fox network in November 1992, the show hasn't been widely seen.

All in all, if there's one relic from the 80's worth bringing back, this is it. And you gotta love that a capella reworking of the theme. :-)

Out of a sense of nostalgia, I decided to rent a DVD of this cartoon series. I remembered when "Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures" premiered back in 1987. Compared to the rest of the cartoons of the day, it was terrific. This Ralph Bakshi production was clever at times and was filled with sarcasm and as a result, adults could even enjoy it. But, I also noticed as I watched the show that by the mid-1990s, LOTS of more clever and more sarcastic cartoons had come along and were simply better. So, while "Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures" looked great when it came out (and it was ahead of its time), compared to later shows like "Animaniacs", "Pinky & the Brain" and "Time Squad", this 1987 show comes up lacking in most every way--particularly when it comes to the quality of the animation--which is awfully poor. Not a bad show but certainly not as good as my memory thought it was--probably because 1987-88 was just before cartoons in the US became rejuvenated with a much, much higher quality standard. Worth seeing but not at all a must-see.

Undoubtedly this is one of the more energetic and creative cartoons of the '80s, which isn't that surprising, given that it had the combined talents of Ralph Bakshi ("Fritz The Cat", "American Pop") and John Kricfalusi, who'd score another hit four years later with "Ren & Stimpy". The show, which lasted only one season on CBS, had a spark that's missing from most cartoons today.

One of the things that distinguished this cartoon is its deadpan sense of humor (see the Quotes section.) It goes without saying that this serves as the precursor to the likes of "The Simpsons", "King of the Hill", and many more sophisticated cartoons of the '90s.

For all the creativity throughout, there's a dark spot in the show's history, one that led to its demise. An episode that aired on April 23(?), 1988, drew the attention of Rev. Donald Wildmon. This particular episode contained a scene that showed Mighty Mouse snorting what looked like cocaine. In actuality, and in a brilliant piece of symbolism, Mighty Mouse was sniffing the dead, dried-up remains of a flower, given to him by the orphan Scrappy as a symbol of the good in the world. Despite this, Wildmon, along with other media watchdogs, instigated a strong campaign against the show. CBS brass then decided to move the show to a later timeslot; shortly thereafter, it was cancelled. Aside from a brief run on the FOX network in November-December of 1992, it hasn't been seen on television since.

Controversy aside, this still remains one of the finer pieces of animation ever seen on network television, and if there's any relic from the '80s worthy of resurrection, this would be it.

I honestly loved it because as a kid, I was always wise beyond my years. So most of the jokes and connotations were over the heads of 90% of their target audience- but they made ME laugh.... When I look at Cartoons on Adult Swim and Cartoon Network now its almost like they can't be funny without taking the adult humor to an extremely vile and offensive level. Either that or they'll throw in a gay undertone and that's not really a paradigm that I want my children to follow or think that it is funny or cute. This incarnation of Mighty Mouse pushed the envelope and made you forget about the golden age image by making it into a parody of the innocent age. IT WAS ORIGINAL. Not some cheesy retread of an old series. I personally didn't like the old school version anyway. I thought it was non-innovative like "Anybody can take the framework of Superman and project it onto a Mouse"

I liked the characters, supporting cast and villains on the new adventures. I also liked how they threw Cosmic Cow in the mix and made him an extremely wacky anti-hero. It was extremely creative.

In my opinion this cartoon should be re-aired on Adult Swim to see if people catch onto it in this era. Kids are into that stuff nowadays. But Saturday morning definitely wasn't an appropriate slot for it back then. That is probably why they pulled the plug on it so quickly.

Welcome to "Matthew Rants" Since the DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS review can't come. My brother liked it, but didn't. Mighty Mouse the world's most loveable cartoon character, ruined! His adventures were wacky. Ultra wacky. As a child I like the old cartoons of the 40's. I saw this new one in 1989. I never understood it. I saw one episode where Mighty Mouse fought a witch and who lived in a pumpkin. It was messed up. The hat talks, pants talks. It was like a messed up LIDSVILLE. And of course, Might Mouse fighting the pumpkin-like beast was spoofing KING KONG. And speaking of old movies, there is one episode where Scrappy and Mighty Mouse go back in time, and see a spoof of prehistory. Where you see some creatures that are a combo between a cat and a dinosaur. A lot of episodes I saw were messed up! The only good episode I saw where Scrappy is getting chased, and he hides in a movie theatre, and sees old Mighty Mouse cartoons. I was glad to see it. I was so happy to see the old ones. But alas, the sweet age is over, and the wacky age is in! At the time I saw this cartoon. I began hating SESAME STREET, because it was too wacky, beginning with Ernie plucking off Bert's nose. Eewwww! What, SESAME STREET turns Hershel Gordon Lewis on us? I found Elmo annoying. Anyway, the drawings in this poor show spawned a whole range of wacky cartoons, like REN & STIMPY (1991-1995), DEXTER'S LABORATORY (1996-2003), FARLY ODDPARENTS (2001-onwards), etc. Bottom line: I liked the old cartoon series. You can say I'm a fuddy duddy.