Disney-comics digest #493.

[DAVID.A.GERSTEIN]

      Dear Folks,

      MATTIAS:  You asked for folks' introduc(k)tions.  Looking at 
the file you have, I'm not included, but I did already send you one 
for myself some months ago.  I seem to recall that it began with a 
Goofy joke, the first line of which got accidentally removed when it 
was included in our introduc(k)tions list.  I notified you of that, 
and at that point my contribution vanished from the list and hasn't 
returned since.  I hope everything's okay with it.

      DWIGHT:  The American name of the Tom Poes special was "The 
Dragon That Wasn't -- Or Was He?"  I assumed from the description (in 
the Disney Channel magazine) that this was a typical kids' TV special 
that Disney had bought rights to show -- I mean, a typical special 
from the United States.  I'll have to see it some day.  I'm incensed 
that we Americans gave Tom a sex change and such a dumb name.  ("Tom 
Tabby" would be better, methinks.)  What did they call the Bear?

      FREDRIK:  Isn't the Hillbilly's name "Hard-Haid Moe"?  I thought we 
were using that monicker when discussing the character last month.  I 
can't check old digests now, but maybe someone can help.  We were 
talking about hogs a lot in regard to the character due to that 
Hog-Calling story involving him.  What's the inside story?

      Jorgen mentioned a 30-page MM gag story.  I've read PLENTY of 
Italian gag stories that are about 30 pages long.  For example, one 
in which DD tries to cure US's hiccups lasted that long!  One bizarre 
method of trying to cure them after another, including paying Indians 
at a local reservation to act savage to scare Scrooge.  Ouch.  And 
there are others, like DD as a race car driver, DD dreaming of being 
rich, many more (I don't have codes just now).
      Please don't drive me crazy, Jorgen!  ;-)  Who IS the real 
identity of the alien in this Mickey story?  My mind comes to Eega 
Beeva and Scarpa's Atomino character, but neither of them are really 
aliens -- they just look like them.
      The "something with Goofy and Peg Leg Pete" that you saw, made
by Disney TV would be "Goof Troop."  This series is a sequel to the 
1950s film cartoons that showed Goofy as a father with a young son, 
only now the son is older.  They showed his growth by turning his 
brown hair black, lengthening his ears, and (although this makes him 
rather ugly, I think) giving him teeth like his dad.  But the voice 
and personality are the same.
      Pegleg Pete is Goofy's next-door neighbor in this series -- they 
show him as being married with a much smarter wife and two kids, 
one of whom is friends with Goofy's son.  Pete is the same crook 
as always, though they don't show him out to rob banks -- he's 
basically a swindler and con artist here.
      There are some funny moments in these, although (IMHO) many of 
them are not all that good.  But in general, I just can't take the 
notion of the characters as Toontown role-players.  With Goofy it's 
less important (since he's got relatives and ancestors who are 
constantly shown to be like him), but it's still a bit confusing.  
Muddying the waters further is how "Goof Troop" purposely drew Goofy 
with smaller eyes and jowls, as he was drawn in the '50s cartoons 
this series attempts to follow up.
      Romano Scarpa gives Pete a girlfriend in the female feline 
felon Trudy.  She's a great match for him.  But I don't imagine that 
the makers of "Goof Troop," in giving Pete a wife (whose name is 
'Peg' -- a clear Pete in-joke), knew anything of Scarpa's work.  The 
designer of the Goof Troop universe named the town where it takes 
place after himself!

      That's all for today, folks (and all I'll say about "Goof 
Troop," unless all of you plead with me).  Doesn't ANYONE know 
about the fate of "Race to the South Seas" and "Darkest Africa"?

      David Gerstein
      <9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>