Disney’s legacy characters have a special place in the hearts of everyone whether it’s the Silent Generation kids, Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, or Gen Zers. 5n2m48

One of the most iconic Disney cartoon characters that is still blooming in its full is the Mickey Mouse family. Popular as the “Sensational Six,” the main characters of Disney’s Micky Mouse cartoon have been the biggest stars in the Disney animated universe since 1930.

Though all characters of the Sensational Six, i.e., Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto are non-human animals, Pluto alone is not dressed as a human, and is not anthropomorphic. Despite this, he has been a fan favorite of many, and even got his own series in 1937. He stands out as a trailblazer in character animation, using movement and expression to convey personality rather than dialogue.

Pluto first appeared as a nameless bloodhound tracking the escaped convict Mickey in the film The Chain Gang, which was released on Aug. 6, 1930. However, he was given the name “Pluto” in The Moose Hunt, which came out in the subsequent year on May 3, 1931. In 93 years of his existence, he has entertained millions through appearances in several films, short films, and comics. Here’s the total number of his short film appearances in his Disney career.

Pluto’s Disney short film appearances 581v12

After his debut, Pluto first appeared in 37 Mickey Mouse and 2 Silly Symphony shorts before his first own short film Pluto’s Quin-puplets released in 1937. He then continued to appear in 20 more Mickey Mouse shorts and 42 more of his titular shorts. Additionally, Pluto has also been a part of Donald Duck shorts, Goofy Shorts, and several commercial shorts as well.

Altogether, Pluto has appeared in 57 Mickey Mouse shorts, 43 Pluto shorts, 5 Donald Duck Shorts, 2 Goofy Shorts, 2 Silly Symphony shorts, 3 commercial and propaganda shorts, and 1 independent short, making the total number 113. Most of his short film appearances happened till the year 1953, and he returned to theatrical animation in 1990 with the featurette The Prince and the Pauper and continued to appear in several direct-to-video films and made extensive appearances in comics.

Several of these short films were nominated for an Academy Award, including The Pointer (1939), Squatter’s Rights (1946), Pluto’s Blue Note (1947), and Mickey and the Seal (1948). In 1942, Pluto’s Lend a Paw, released a year before in 1941, finally won the Academy Award. He has left behind an unparalleled legacy, which will continue to inspire and entertain the generations.

Anime summer looks to be pushing into anime fall as yet another new anime is set to grace our screens in the coming months. This one comes by the name of Pluto and is based on the character Astro Boy – one of the most famous manga characters to come out of Japan in the 1950s. Here he appears to be reborn though he mysteriously isn’t the titular character. So who, or what is Pluto and when can we expect to see it?

Plot of Pluto 30155p

The anime is based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. Based on Astro Boy, which in Japan is called Mighty Atom (鉄腕アトム, literally translated means Iron-armed Atom), Pluto is set in a world where robots and humans live together, though as technology advances it becomes harder to tell them apart. If Astro Boy were to meet Blade Runner and then turn into a manga, that is a very close approximation of what we have here on the surface.

The series is being produced as a Netflix original, with the site’s bio for the anime reading,

“When the world’s seven most advanced robots and their human allies are murdered one by one, inspector Gesicht soon discovers that he’s also in danger.”

The story does not seem to center so much on the boy-wonder robot but rather on the Europol robot detective Gesicht as he attempts to solve a string of robot and human murders around the globe that somehow appear to be connected. This mystery deepens further when evidence suggests that these murders were not committed by a human, but by a robot, which would be the first time such an event has occurred in eight years. The targets of these murders seem to be the seven great robots of the world, and the humans all working to fight for International Robot Laws that would grant robots equal rights.

Netflix released a trailer in July which would gave viewers an insight into the action and mystery that they would be thrust into.

The anime has been produced by Genco and Tezuka Productions, with animation services by Studio M2. It will stream exclusively on Netflix, which is working very hard to bump up its anime offerings, and will consist of eight 60-minute episodes.

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The main Japanese voice cast are as follows:

• Gesicht: Shinshu Fuji
• Atom: Yoko Hikasa
• Uran: Minori Suzuki
• Mont blanc: Hiroki Yasumoto
• North No.2: Koichi Yamadera
• Brando: Hidenobu Kiuchi
• Hercules: Rikiya Koyama
• Epsilon: Mamoru Miyano
• Pluto: Toshihiko Seki

Yesterday, Netflix released the names of an additional six cast in a tweet from their Netflix Anime along with some stills of the series.

There is currently no word on whether there will be an English dubbed version of the series. It may be that information on this will come out closer to the release date, if indeed they do have a dubbed version available.

When can I watch Pluto? 1c4o60

Pluto is set to air on Netflix on October 26, and given its many horror elements (it currently has a 15 rating) and air of mystery it may certainly be a good one to binge over the Halloween season.

It isn’t a mere coincidence that these canines have very different characteristics. It’s all part of Disney’s plan.

Disney fans have grown accustomed to Mickey Mouse and the gang raising some puzzling questions. I know I’ve always wondered why Mickey wears pants, while Donald Duck sports a shirt. What’s with Mickey’s gloves? And, why does Donald talk the way he does? While these are all valid questions, one of the most hotly debated queries focuses on the franchise’s most beloved canines — Pluto and Goofy.

For decades, we have been trying to solve the burning question: How can Pluto and Goofy be of the same species when their appearance and behaviors are completely different? It turns out that there may be an answer.

Way back in 1930, the dog who would later become Pluto made his first cinematic appearance in The Chain Gang, a short film featuring Mickey in prison — yes, it appears that America’s favorite mouse has a criminal past. When Mickey makes an attempt to escape, he is hotly pursued by a dog that very closely resembles his future pet. According to Animated Talk Studio, this was the first time that a Disney dog was shown acting like an everyday canine, walking on all fours and barking. And audiences loved it. As a result, this very same dog would later appear as “Rover” in The Picnic and, finally, morph into Mickey’s faithful friend “Pluto” in The Moose Hunt. An iconic animated character was born.

Okay, so that explains how Pluto’s canine characteristics first appeared, but this leaves me with another question. Why has Pluto never evolved, adopting Goofy’s ability to walk and talk and wear clothing? Heck, Goofy can even play baseball. So, why is Pluto limited to mere fetch?

I know there has to be a logical reason, right? What if Goofy isn’t an ordinary dog in the first place? After all, anything is possible in the wonderful world of Mickey Mouse. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Bill Farmer (Goofy’s voice actor since 1987) explains,

“Pluto is a dog, but Goofy seems to be in the canine family in the same way that a wolf is not a dog, but they also are in the canine family. I think Canis Goofus is the technical Latin term for what Goofy is. He’s just Goofy.”

Perhaps, as a “special” type of canine, we can more readily accept Goofy’s apparent otherness. There is, however, another possibility. Disney Go contends that Goofy was created to be one of Mickey’s human-like friends. Pluto, on the other hand, is Mickey’s pet. Let’s face it. If Pluto could tell Mickey to get his own darn slippers, it just wouldn’t be the same.

If only the other questions were this easy to solve.