A Goofy Magazine

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A Goofy Magazine

Iñaki Villanueva Kegel Universidad Anáhuac México Norte 210


Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3 The Goofy story ................................................................................................................................... 4 Creation of Goofy and first appearances ........................................................................................ 4 Trio years with Mickey and Donald ................................................................................................. 5 Breakoff into solo series .................................................................................................................. 6 The Everyman years ........................................................................................................................ 7 Later appearances ........................................................................................................................... 8 Goofy specifics and Trivia.................................................................................................................. 10 Feature Films ................................................................................................................................. 10 Goofy in Video Games ................................................................................................................... 13 Confusion concerning Goofy and Pluto......................................................................................... 14 Illustration Index ............................................................................................................................... 15 Keyword Index................................................................................................................................... 15 Referencias ........................................................................................................................................ 15


Introduction

Goofy is an animated cartoon character from the Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse universe. He is an anthropomorphic dog and is one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. His original concept name was "Dippy Dawg" in cartoon shorts created during the 1930s; then his name was given as "George Geef" or "G.G. Imagen 1 Geef" in cartoon shorts during the 1950s, implying that "Goofy" was a nickname. Contemporary sources, including the Goof Troop television show and A Goofy Movie, now give the character's full name to be Goofy Goof. The Goof Troop pilot also refers to 'G. G. Goof' on a diploma, likely a reference to the 1950s name. On the other hand, the comics sometimes refer to him as Goofus D. Dawg. Along with being not intelligent, Goofy's main flaw is, predictably, clumsiness. His birthday is May 25, 1932.


The Goofy story Creation of Goofy and first appearances

Of Disney studio animators, Art Babbitt is most regarded for the creation of the Goofy character, while original concept drawings were by Frank Webb. In a 1930s lecture, Babbitt described the character as "a composite of an everlasting optimist, a gullible Good Samaritan, a halfwit and a shiftless, good-natured hick". Goofy first appeared in Mickey's Revue, first released on May 25, 1932. Directed by Wilfred Jackson this short movie features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar and Imagen 2 Clarabelle Cow1 performing another song and dance show. Mickey and his gang's animated shorts by this point routinely featured song and dance numbers. It begins as a typical Mickey cartoon of the time, but what would set this short apart from all that had come before was the appearance of a new character, whose behavior served as a running gag. Dippy Dawg, as he was named by Disney artists, was a member of the audience. He constantly irritated his fellow spectators by noisily crunching peanuts and laughing loudly, till two of those fellow spectators knocked him out with their mallets (and then did the same exact laugh as he did). This early version of Goofy had other differences with the later 1

More information regarding Disney characters can be obtained at http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/characters_ai.html


and more developed ones besides the name. He was an old man with a white beard, a puffy tail and no trousers, shorts, or undergarments. But the short introduced Goofy's distinct laughter. This laughter was provided by Pinto Colvig. A considerably younger Dippy Dawg then appeared in The Whoopee Party, first released on September 17, 1932, as a party guest and a friend of Mickey and his gang. Dippy Dawg made a total of four appearances in 1932 and two more in 1933, but most of them were mere cameos. But by his seventh appearance, in Orphan's Benefit first released on August 11, 1934, he gained the new name "Goofy" and became a regular member of the gang along with new additions Donald Duck and Clara Cluck. Trio years with Mickey and Donald

Mickey's Service Station directed by Ben Sharpsteen, first released on March 16, 1935, was the first of the classic "Mickey, Donald, and Goofy" comedy shorts. Those films had the trio trying to cooperate in performing a certain assignment given to them. Early on they became separated from each other. Then the short's focus started alternating between each of them facing the problems at hand, each in their own way and distinct style of comedy. The end of the short would reunite the three to share the fruits of their efforts, failure more often than success. Clock Cleaners, first released on October 15, 1937, and

Imagen 3


Lonesome Ghosts, first released on December 24, 1937, are usually considered the highlights of this series and animated classics. Progressively during the series Mickey's part diminished in favor of Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. The reason for this was simple. Between the easily frustrated Donald and Pluto and the always-living-in-a-world-of-his-own Goofy, Mickey—who became progressively gentler and more laid-back—seemed to act as the straight-man of the trio. The Studio's artists found that it had become easier coming up with new gags for Goofy or Donald than Mickey, to a point that Mickey's role had become unnecessary. Polar Trappers, first released on June 17, 1938, was the first film to feature Goofy and Donald as a duo. The short features the duo as partners and owners of "Donald and Goofy Trapping Co." They have settled in the Arctic for an unspecified period of time, to capture live walruses to bring back to civilization. Their food supplies consist of canned beans. The focus shifts between Goofy trying to set traps for walruses and Donald trying to catch penguins to use as food — both with the same lack of success. Mickey would return in The Whalers, first released in August 19, 1938, but this and also Tugboat Mickey, released on April 26, 1940 would be the last two shorts to feature all three characters as a team. Breakoff into solo series

Goofy next starred at his first solo cartoon Goofy and Wilbur directed by Dick Huemer, first released in March 17, 1939. The short featured Goofy fishing with

Imagen 4


the help of Wilbur, his pet grasshopper. In 1939, Colvig had a fallout with Disney and left the studio, leaving Goofy without a voice. According to Leonard Maltin this is what caused the How to... cartoons of the 1940s in which Goofy had little dialogue, and a narrator (often John McLeish) was used (they would also reuse Colvig's voice in recording or hire a voice actor to imitate it). In the cartoons Goofy would demonstrate, clumsily but always determined and never frustrated, how to do everything from snow ski, to sleeping, to football, to riding a horse. The Goofy How to... cartoons worked so well they that they became a staple format, and are still used in current Goofy shorts, the most recent being How to Hook Up Your Home Theatre (2007). Later, starting with How to Play Baseball (1942), Goofy starred in a series of cartoons where every single character in the cartoon was a different version of Goofy. This took Goofy out of the role of just being a clumsy cartoon dog and into an Everyman figure. Colvig returned to Disney in 1944 and resumed the voice of Goofy. Many of the Goofy cartoons were directed by Jack Kinney. The Everyman years

The 1950s saw Goofy transformed into a family man going through the trials of

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everyday life, such as dieting, giving up smoking, and the problems of raising children. Walt Disney himself came up with this idea, hoping it would put personality back into the character which he felt was lost when Goofy was merely a crowd of extras. Interestingly, Goofy is never referred to as "Goofy" during this period. While every cartoon continued with the opening, "Walt Disney presents Goofy" before each cartoon's title, he was usually called "George Geef" in the cartoons' dialogue. When the stories featured Goofy as multiple characters, then he had numerous other names as well. In addition, the 50's Goofy shorts gave Goofy a makeover. He was more intelligent, had smaller eyes with eyebrows, often his whole body was flesh-colored instead of just his face (while the rest was black), and sometimes had a normal voice. He even lacked his droopy ears, the external pair of teeth and white gloves in some shorts. Later appearances

After the 1965 educational film Goofy's Freeway Troubles, Goofy was all but retired except for cameos, and a brief appearance in Disney/Amblin's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as in Sport Goofy in Soccermania which was originally intended to be released theatrically in 1984, but was aired as a 1987 TV special instead. With Colvig dead, Goofy was then voiced with different voice actors until Bill Farmer became the official voice. In the 1990s Goofy got his own TV series called Goof Troop. In the show Goofy lives with his son Max and his cat Waffles, and they live next door to Pete and his family. Goof Troop eventually led to Goofy starring in his own movies:


A Goofy Movie (in 1995) and An Extremely Goofy Movie (in 2000). You can learn more about these feature films in page X One aspect of Goofy's life that is never clarified in the theatrical films is the status of his wife, Max's mother. While Goofy is clearly depicted as a single custodial parent in both films, and at the end of An Extremely Goofy Movie he begins a romance with the character Sylvia Marpole, it is never made clear whether he is divorced or widowed. Goofy reverted back to his traditional personality on Mickey Mouse Works and appeared as head waiter on House of Mouse (2001 to 2004). Goofy's son Max Goof also appeared in House of Mouse as the nightclub's valet, so that Goofy juggled not only his conventional antics but also the fatherrole displayed in Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie. In both Mickey Mouse Works and House of Mouse Goofy also seemed to have a crush on Clarabelle Cow, as he asks her on a date in the House of Mouse episode "Super Goof" and is being stalked by the bovine in the Mickey Mouse Works cartoon "How To Be a Spy." Clarabelle has been noted as Horace Horsecollar's fiance in early decades, but according to comics from the 1960s and 1970s and more recent cartoons like "House of Mouse," "Mouseworks," and Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Goofy and Clarabelle seem to have affections for one another; perhaps as an attempt for Disney to give Goofy a girlfriend to match his two male costars. Later in An Extremely Goofy Movie, he gains a girlfriend named Sylvia Marpole. Goofy also appears in the children's television series, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, with his trademark attire and personality.


Goofy appeared in The Lion King 1½. Recently, Goofy starred in a new theatrical cartoon short called How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, which premiered at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. The short received a positive review from animation historian Jerry Beck and then had wide release on December 21, 2007 in front of National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Goofy specifics and Trivia Feature Films

A Goofy Movie is an animated film, produced by DisneyToon Studios and released in theaters during Spring of 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures. The film features characters from The Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop. The film's plot revolves around the father-son relationship between Goofy and Max as they struggle to find common ground despite Max's persistence in having his own life and winning the girl of his dreams. Director Kevin Lima said that "Instead of just keeping Goofy one-dimensional as he's been in the past, we wanted to give an emotional side that would add to the emotional arc of the story. We wanted the audience to see his feelings instead of just his antics." The main characters of this film, specifically Goofy, Max Goof, Pete and PJ, are based Imagen 6


on their incarnations in the Goof Troop television show, albeit slightly older. In the television series, Max and PJ were middle school students, but in this film they are portrayed as older teenagers. However, other characters that had been established in Goof Troop do not appear in this film, such as Pete's wife Peg, his daughter Pistol, and pets Waffles and Chainsaw. Goofy and Pete retain their classic looks from the 1940s cartoons as opposed to the looks that they had in the 1950s cartoons and Goof Troop. Although based upon a Disney TV series, production on A Goofy Movie was handled by Walt Disney Feature Animation instead of Walt Disney Television Animation. Pre-production was done at the main WDFA studio in California starting as early as mid-1993. The animation work was done at WDFA's then-new satellite shop (formerly the Brizzi studio) in Paris, France supervised by Paul and GaĂŤtan Brizzi, as well as at the Walt Disney Animation studio in Sydney, Australia (later DisneyToon Studios), with their sequences directed by Steve Moore. Additional clean-up animation was done by Phoenix Animation Studios in Canada, and digital ink and paint by the Pixibox studio in France. A sequel to this film was released in 2000, titled An Extremely Goofy Movie. The sequel takes place some time after this film, involving Max's freshman year in college. Characters that returned for the sequel were Goofy, Max, PJ, Pete, and Bobby, but most notable is that Roxanne, Max's love interest, is absent from the sequel and not referenced at all. However, Roxanne did appear in the television series, House of Mouse


(specifically the episode "Max's Embarrassing Date"), where she was voiced by Grey DeLisle instead of Kellie Martin. A Goofy Movie garnered mixed opinions from critics, and received a 54% rating from Rotten Tomatoes2. Variety's Todd McCarthy criticized the film's score, calling the six featured songs "unmemorable". He also felt that the personality of Goofy's character, while agreeable enough in support, proved a bit over the top for a headliner, and that "by any reasonable reckoning, he's distinctly overbearing and selfish, and responds with a bland dismissal to any opinion offered up by his son." However, McCarthy praised the film's technical aspects, citing them as "crisp and clean". Louis Black of The Austin Chronicle summed up his review by saying the film was "bland, a barely television-length cartoon stretched out to fill a feature, and not much fun." The film was nominated for "Best Animated Feature" in the production categories and "Best Production Design", "Best Storyboarding", "Best Music", and "Best Animation" in the individual categories at the 23rd Annie Awards. According to Box Office Mojo, A Goofy Movie grossed $35,348,597 at the United States box office, and was the 51st highest-grossing domestic film in 1995.

2

Rotten Tomatoes specializes on gathering reviews for recently released films. Visit them at www.rottentomatoes.com


Goofy in Video Games

Goofy’s most famous appearence in video games is in the game series “Kingdom Hearts3”. Goofy is captain of the royal guard at Disney Castle in the Kingdom Hearts video game series. Averse to using actual weapons, Goofy fights with a shield. This job doesn't involve much, since the castle is usually a peaceful place, until King Mickey disappears. Following a letter the King left, he and Donald (the court magician) meet Sora and embark on a quest with him to find the King and Sora's missing friends. In the game series, Goofy still suffers from being the butt of comic relief, but also is the constant voice of optimism and, surprisingly, selectively perceptive, often noticing things others miss and keeping his cool when Sora and Donald lose it. When Sora, Imagen 7 Donald, and Goofy enter the realm known as Timeless River, Goofy states that the world looks familiar; a reference to his cartoons done in the early to mid 1930s. At many times in the Kingdom Hearts series, Goofy is shown to still be his clumsy self, however, in Kingdom Hearts II, he is very keen to details and has very accurate assumptions of certain things. For example, he was the first to figure out why Organization XIII was after the Beast, and he was the first to see through Fa Mulan's disguise and discovery that Mulan was actually a woman dressed as a male soldier. There were even several instances 3

Illustrated is the box art for the second game in the series


where Goofy seemed to have more common sense then Sora and Donald, even saying they should "look before we leap" when Sora and Donald saw Mushu's shadow resembling a dragon, that Sora was mistaken for a Heartless. Around the middle of Kingdom Hearts II, in possibly one of the series' most mature scenes, Goofy pushes King Mickey out of the way of an oncoming boulder and is hit directly on the head instead, at which point he falls to the ground and lands against a wall, supposedly dead. However, Goofy later catches up to the heroes completely unscathed, and explains that he gets "bonked" on the head all the time, perhaps a reference to many of his cartoons Confusion concerning Goofy and Pluto

Disney has needed to deal with a certain amount of confusion concerning the fact that the anthropomorphic Goofy, and doglike Pluto often appear on screen together, yet are the same species. On their web site, it's stated that "Goofy was originally created as Dippy Dawg" and "was created as a human character, as opposed to Pluto, who was a pet, so [Goofy] walked upright and had a speaking voice". This problem was humorously illustrated Imagen 8 in the movie Stand By Me in which one of the boys ponders, "Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, and Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?" There is


also an episode of the Disney Channel series Even Stevens called "Scrub Day" where in Louis' rallying-the-troops speech he wonders why Goofy got to walk and talk and Pluto has to eat from a dog bowl. Illustration Index Imagen 1 .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Imagen 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Imagen 3 .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Imagen 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Imagen 5 .............................................................................................................................................. 7 Imagen 6 ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Imagen 7 ............................................................................................................................................ 13 Imagen 8 ............................................................................................................................................ 14

Keyword Index A Goofy Movie, 10 Art Babbitt, 3 Bill Farmer, 8 Donald and Goofy Trapping Co, 6 George Geef, 8 Goofy, 3

Goofy and Wilbur, 6 Kingdom Hearts, 13 Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, 5 Mickey's Revue, 4 Orphan's Benefit, 5 Pluto, 14

Referencias Wikipedia [homepage on the web]; USA [Accesed on February 19, 2010]; Goofy; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goofy#1960s Disney Archives [homepage on the web]; USA [Accesed on February 19, 2010]; Goofy; http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/characterstandard/goofy/goofy.html Wikipedia [homepage on the web]; USA [Accesed on February 19, 2010]; A Goofy Movie; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Goofy_Movie


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