The Caribbean Sail adds Steamboat Willie as a playable character

This is the first interesting use of the now-public-domain character that I've seen so far*. The actual first ones I saw were relatively lazy "cartoons turned twisted" horror efforts, as seems to be the norm these days.

*I honestly didn't expect to ever be saying that, having been around to see how they got yet another copyright extension 20 years ago. It's also kind of freaky how that feels like it's passed in the blink of an eye!

Incidentally, I hope that this momentous event will draw further attention to the fact that the 1933 Mickey short, The Mad Doctor, was already in the public domain due to them burying it after an outcry at it being too scary (it spoofed the horror films of the era quite well) and thus having forgotten to renew the copyright when they had the chance. It's my favourite of the ancient Mickey shorts (and it still holds up great because it's fantastical and isn't representing a world that no longer exists), and I'm a big fan of mad-scientists as a villain archetype, so I'd love to see something good done with this one, too.

Quoting: pleasereadthemanualThey do, but it doesn't impact usage of the public domain character as much as popular opinion might have led you to believe. Center for the Study of the Public Domain has a great write-up on Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse, the copyrights and the trademarks and what you can do with him: https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/

Fair warning that this is only interesting to a vanishingly small audience.

I am part of that vanishingly-small audience, so thanks for this! Will get stuck into reading it soon.

Quoting: F.UltraAs a fun side note Mickey was never big over here and instead Donald was the big Disney character (and we have a Donald special on Christmas Eve every year).

I was always fond of the expanded Disney Duck universe, myself. But, I'll mark myself out as an 80s/90s kid here by noting that Darkwing Duck was and still is my absolute favourite of those.


Last edited by Pengling on 6 January 2024 at 4:00 am UTC

I'm honestly surprised that Disney didn't make another backroom deal to extend the copyright yet again.

Quoting: PenglingThis is the first interesting use of the now-public-domain character that I've seen so far*. The actual first ones I saw were relatively lazy "cartoons turned twisted" horror efforts, as seems to be the norm these days.

Here's another one: https://mousetrappedcomic.blog/

Quote"Mousetrapped" is a webcomic that uses the public domain cartoon, "Steamboat Willie," as basis and inspiration. No claims to any active copyrights or trademarks owned by the Walt Disney Company are made.

The comic is drawn by Randy Milholland, who also draws the comic Something*Positive and the Sunday strips for Popeye.

Randy actually directly addresses the cheap "classic character but horror" trope in a comment on his second strip, saying he's not going to do that here.

There's not much yet, but it's kinda neat.

Quoting: PenglingIncidentally, I hope that this momentous event will draw further attention to the fact that the 1933 Mickey short, The Mad Doctor, was already in the public domain due to them burying it after an outcry at it being too scary (it spoofed the horror films of the era quite well) and thus having forgotten to renew the copyright when they had the chance.

Thanks for bringing this up! I didn't know anything about this. Very cool trivia, and I wonder how this 1933 depiction of Mickey Mouse impacts what you can do with him. He's wearing gloves in the short. Pluto is in this short too.

I gave it a watch, and I have to say...that was bizarre, haha. I laughed at points, but it's definitely suitable for Halloween.

Quoting: Mountain ManI'm honestly surprised that Disney didn't make another backroom deal to extend the copyright yet again.

So am I!

Quoting: pleasereadthemanualHere's another one: https://mousetrappedcomic.blog/

Quote"Mousetrapped" is a webcomic that uses the public domain cartoon, "Steamboat Willie," as basis and inspiration. No claims to any active copyrights or trademarks owned by the Walt Disney Company are made.

The comic is drawn by Randy Milholland, who also draws the comic Something*Positive and the Sunday strips for Popeye.

Randy actually directly addresses the cheap "classic character but horror" trope in a comment on his second strip, saying he's not going to do that here.

There's not much yet, but it's kinda neat.

Ooh, thanks!

Quoting: pleasereadthemanualThanks for bringing this up! I didn't know anything about this. Very cool trivia, and I wonder how this 1933 depiction of Mickey Mouse impacts what you can do with him. He's wearing gloves in the short. Pluto is in this short too.

I gave it a watch, and I have to say...that was bizarre, haha. I laughed at points, but it's definitely suitable for Halloween.

This one is an interesting case in its own right, as Disney does, as far as I know, hold the rights to the depictions of it and its characters that appear in a couple of video games - namely, 1994's Mickey Mania which features a stage based on the short, and is how a lot of gamers of my age were introduced to it, and 2012's Epic Mickey 2 which includes the Mad Doctor himself performing musical numbers that frame the story.

I wonder if that was done to try to regain at least some rights to The Mad Doctor in some form, or at least to muddy the waters?

Quoting: Pengling

Quoting: F.UltraAs a fun side note Mickey was never big over here and instead Donald was the big Disney character (and we have a Donald special on Christmas Eve every year).

I was always fond of the expanded Disney Duck universe, myself. But, I'll mark myself out as an 80s/90s kid here by noting that Darkwing Duck was and still is my absolute favourite of those.

In Turkey Donald Duck/'Duck Tales'/Darkwing Duck were likewise the most popular Disney cartoons.

... & through the 80s, 'Mickey Movie' was a code phrase for porn at VHS rental stores.

I love The Caribbean Sail! Also, this is a hilarious move 😁