Pluto's Judgement Day [sic] is a Mickey Mouse short released in 1935. In spite of it being billed as a Mickey Mouse cartoon, though, Mickey himself barely appears in the short.
Summary
When Mickey catches Pluto chasing a cat, he angrily scolds him for chasing cats and will have good answer on his judgement day, then makes him lie down in front of the fireplace as punishment. Pluto then falls asleep by the fire and dreams that he is put on trial in The Underworld by a judge and jury of vindictive cats. ("Pluto's Trial")
He is found guilty of several crimes against cats, which involve the cats being scared or dying, which is surprisingly dark for a Disney cartoon. As he is about to be burned to death, he awakens with a newfound appreciation for the cat after Mickey tells them to "kiss and make up".
Characters
- Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt Disney)
- Pluto (voiced by Pinto Colvig)
- Kitten (voiced by Clarence Nash)
- Cat Prosecutor (voiced by Billy Bletcher)
- Cat Judge (voiced by Clarence Nash)
- Cat Jury (voiced by Clarence Nash)
Releases
Television
- The Mickey Mouse Club, February 4, 1958
- The Mouse Factory, Episode #2.8: "Cats"
- Disney's Halloween Treat
- A Disney Halloween
- Mickey's Mouse Tracks, Episode #42
- Donald's Quack Attack, Episode #23
- The Ink and Paint Club, Episode #1.27: "Meow! The Disney Cats"
Home video
VHS
- Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Scary Tales (1949 reissue print)
- Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Halloween Haunts
Laserdisc
- Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Scary Tales
- Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Donald's Scary Tales / Halloween Haunts
DVD
- Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color
Gallery
Trivia
- An infamous and disturbing scene that was removed from most TV airings, but kept in home video versions, showed a trio of female kittens singing about Pluto drowning their Uncle Tom and bringing in his grave (at which all nine of his lost souls emerge and dance) as evidence.
- The three black kittens resemble blackface girls, and Uncle Tom is an obvious reference to the titular character from the famous anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Billy Bletcher, the first voice of Pete, voiced the cat prosecutor (a demonic-looking cat dressed in red robes), while Clarence Nash, the first voice of Donald Duck, voiced the cat judge and the kitten Pluto was harassing at the start of the short. Bletcher would later go on to voice a devilish version of Spike in the 1949 Tom and Jerry cartoon Heavenly Puss.
- The Tom and Jerry cartoon Heavenly Puss bears some resemblance to Pluto's Judgement Day in the end, except a cat is threatened by a demonic dog.
- The short was spoofed in The Simpsons episode "How Munched is That Birdie in the Window?" as the Itchy and Scratchy short "Dogday Hellody of 1933".
- This marks the first appearance of a newly-redesigned Mickey Mouse, who now has a pear-shaped body to appear more flexible.
- One of the picket signs the demon cats hold up reads: "Sic semper tyrannus", which is usually translated from Latin as: "Thus always to tyrants" (not "Death to tyrants" as often claimed). Ironically, these words are often believed to be what Brutus said before stabbing Caesar and also what John Wilkes Booth (whose intention was to emulate Brutus) said before shooting Lincoln in the back of the head.
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