#The Mad Doctor

[enlightenedrobot]

Other Characters you can legally use for your Mickey Mouse project

Mickey Mouse is in the public domain, as is Minnie Mouse and Peg-leg Pete. There's some caveats to that, and I talk about that more in this other post, but for now, let's talk about other characters who you can also use to fill out the cast.

These characters should all be in the public domain, though some characters still have treademarks. I'll get into how to use them safely as we go. Anyways, let's start.

Other Disney Characters

Disney obvciously doesn't advertise this, but there's actually quite a few Disney originals who've actually been in the public domain for a while.

The Mad Doctor never had it's copyright renewed, and so it's very technically the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to enter the public domain. Keep in mind, the version of Pluto featured in the short isn't in the domain just yet, but the Doctor himself is free to use.

What's funny is that Disney would later use a version of Doctor for Epic Mickey. Obviously don't use that version of the character.

Aside from the Mad Doctor, we also have Oswald and Ortensia

Yeah, as it turns out, Oswald's been in the public domain for quite a while, but he's still trademarked by Disney. Easy recommendation... use the original "fat" design of the character and have him go by Lucky.

But before Oswald, we have the Alice Comedies

Everything about the Alice Comedies is Public Domain for a long time, and the Disney corporation very rarely acknowlege these characters existence. Which is a shame because These shorts were some of the first shorts Walt ever produced, and they have the unique gimmick of featuring a live action girl in an animated world.

Everybody already knows about Oswald, but nobody talks about Oswald and Mickey's older brother from these shorts, Julius the Cat

Like... yeah no, it didn't all start with a mouse. Or a rabbit. It started with a cat.

Foxy and Milton Mouse

Both Foxy (top) and Milton (bottom, pictured with his girlfriend Rita Mouse) were characters created by Warner Brothers and Van Beuren respectively to cash in on Mickey's success, and both characters are also in the public domain.

In fact, all Van Beuren cartoons are apparently in the public domain, and I encourage you to find their cartoons and use them as you please.

Fleischer Characters

Betty Boop is probably in the Public Domain, but there's a few caveats with this. From what I can tell, the name Betty Boop is trademarked, but the character herself isn't. Most of the old Betty Cartoons are free to use, but newer incarnations, including the versions used in 1985's The Romance of Betty Boop and 1989's The Betty Boop Movie Mystery are still very much under copyright.

To avoid any legal trouble, I have two big recommendations. Although everybody remembers Betty as having Black hair, in one of the few early instances of Betty being shown in color, she's actually depicted as Redhead.

This is Betty Boop in 1934's Poor Cinderella, and her hair color is pretty clearly red.

The other option is to just make her black.

Though there's been some debate as to whether Betty Boop was intentionally modeled after Esther Lee Jones or not, there's still no denying the influence of Jazz on the character. Betty Boop is a Jazz singer and is often depicted dancing to Cab Calloway. Hell, the Betty Boop musical features Jasmine Amy Rogers as the titular character.

Betty Boop aside, there's an entire world of defunct Betty Boop characters who are definately public domain, including Bimbo and Koko the Clown.

Next year, Popeye's also gonna enter the Domain. So keep an eye out for him too.

Anyways, these are my picks, but obviously this list isn't meant to be comprehensive. There's a ton of old cartoon characters out there who can be freely reinterpreted into newer works. Feel free to add your own favorite public domain cartoon to the list.

#Mickey Mouse #Public Domain #Betty Boop #Koko the Clown #Foxy #Milton Mouse #The Mad Doctor #Oswald the Lucky Rabbit #Alice Comedies #Disney #Walt Disney #Max Fleischer #Warner Brothers. #Cartoons #Animation #Editorial

[ultrakillblast]

THE MAD DOCTOR (1933)

#1933 #30s #horror #animation #mickey mouse #disney #the mad doctor #black and white #gifs

[weirdlookindog]

Basil Rathbone and Ellen Drew in The Mad Doctor (1940)

#the mad doctor #basil rathbone #ellen drew #1940 #1940s movies #tim whelan #film noir

[skullsemi]

It's too bad Dr. Frankenollie from Runaway Brain only appeared (and was killed off) in that one short, I think he'd be a really fun reoccurring antagonist for Mickey

I KNOW RIGHT HE WAS GREAT

He's like, a fusion of them:

I would actually love to see more of him, he looks sanely insane, a true underrated character

Plus he's too fun to sketch.

#inbox #runaway brain #dr frankenollie #peg leg pete #the mad doctor #professors ecks doublex and triplex #mickey mouse #mickey mouse short #disney #my art

[teka-chat]

This is for me, but I thought it might be useful to others so here it is : basically an over-20-page-long catalogue of some major Disney toons that are in the Public Domain, their associated copyright-free media, and lists of associated Disney trademarks, when applicable. List of characters under the cut !

Toons included :

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Pete

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Fanny Cottontail

Ortensia the Cat

Clarabelle Cow

Horace Horsecollar

Julius the Cat

and as a bonus :

Mad Doctor

Alice ( from the Alice Comedies )

If you noticed i went missing on January 1st, this is why ! I've been hard at work day and night on this beast of a 27-page document ( with an additional 7 sub-documents for the trademark information, if you care about that ).

This is mostly just to have everything in one place. You decide what you do with it ! ( I know what I'm doing with it hehe. )

#mickey mouse #minnie mouse #pete the cat #peg leg pete #oswald the lucky rabbit #fanny cottontail #ortensia the cat #clarabelle cow #horace horsecollar #julius the cat #the mad doctor #alice comedies #steamboat willie #disney #public domain #public domain mickey #sorry about spamming tags i'm never doing that again #but this could help people planning to use these characters so i'm going to try not to worry about it #if you have any questions or suggestions about the doc feel free to send an ask ! #i'm not a law junkie and i can't advise you on the law #but i can certainly explain my process or link you useful stuff #teka talks #lucky atelier talk #i'm not sure what tags i should use to file this #i hope it's useful to someone

[tymime]

Public Domain cartoon characters from the Golden Age of Animation (and beyond)

Revised and expanded version of this post: https://tymime.tumblr.com/post/648495121557585920/instead-of-whining-about-mickey-mouse-not-falling

While Mickey entering the public domain is exciting and all, I do think a lot of people are overlooking the many other animated characters that are available to use in their creative works. This list isn't entirely exhaustive, but it does highlight some of the most interesting and/or appealing characters, as well as ones that have the potential to be so.

Koko the Clown

One of the oldest cartoon stars from the Fleischer studio, almost all of Koko's silent-era cartoons are PD, and have been for quite some time. A handful of his appearances alongside Betty Boop are also PD.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald's PD status has been greatly overshadowed by his fellow Disney star Mickey, but I believe that he deserves more recognition. All of the shorts produced by the Disney studio are PD as of this year, and let's face it, those are the only ones most people care about. Pegleg Pete's bear design is also PD. Keep in mind that the blue shorts that Oswald wears in Epic Mickey and elsewhere are likely copyrighted, so I recommend steering clear of that. I'm also not entirely sure you can use the name "Ortensia" for his cat girlfriend, since that name first appeared in Epic Mickey also. She was called "Kitty" back in the day, among other things.

All of Van Beuren Studio's cartoons

The Van Beuren Studio was active during the rubberhose era, and their cartoons, especially the earlier ones, are like a cruder, possibly even more bizarre cousin to Fleischer and Disney. They went bust in the late 1930s, and no one renewed the copyright later on, so the entirety of their output is PD.

Their most notable characters include Tom and Jerry, a pair of average Joes who always get into strange adventures. They shouldn't be confused with MGM's Tom and Jerry, and in fact they were called Dick and Larry when their shorts were rereleased for the home-movie market in the 1940s.

Also notable is Waffles and Don, who are basically just animal versions of Tom and Jerry. You might consider these two as a better alternative, just to avoid confusion.

There's also Cubby Bear, a pretty blatant Mickey Mouse clone, but unique enough that I don't think anybody’s going to confuse the two nowadays. In the previous post, I mentioned a rumor that Disney threatened legal action over the character, but I can't find the source for that now. I may have been thinking of Milton Mouse, who was so extremely similar to Mickey that they actually did sue the studo for copyright infringement. So maybe don't try selling any Milton merchandise...

Finally, there's Molly Moo-Cow, who appeared in several Rainbow Parade cartoons in the mid-to-late 1930s. Molly is arguably not the most interesting character, but I have a fondness for her since we grew up with one of her shorts on a VHS tape.

Toby the Pup

Another very obscure character, about half of his cartoons are lost media. The little that does survive is hard to find online, but I think his design has appeal.

Dr. XXX

Disney's The Mad Doctor was never renewed for reasons unknown, though some speculate that the studio thought that the cartoon was too scary and decided to let it go. Fortunately for us, that means that this iconic character is now in the people's hands.

Goopy Geer

Goopy appeared in the three Merrie Melodies cartoons alongside his unnamed girlfriend. Despite his name and appearance being similar to Disney's Goofy, he actually made his debut about a month before (Goofy was named Dippy Dawg at the time anyway, so it was undoubtedly a coincidence).

Claude Hopper

Claude appeared in a single Looney Tunes cartoon in 1943 called Hop and Go, alongside a pair of Scottish rabbits who antagonize him. The cartoon ends with a very unfortunate depiction of Tokyo being blown up (World War II was still going on at the time), so it's no surprise that Warner Bros. decided not to renew this one. Despite that, he has a very appealing design (imo), so I think he has potential. (Also, he's voiced by Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy!)

Private Snafu and Mr. Hook

Snafu and Hook were created for the US government, so according to the law are automatically public domain. The shorts were made to be shown to members of the US army and navy respectively, in order to teach them valuable lessons for fighting in WWII, but are nevertheless hilarious cartoons- animated by the Looney Tunes team with scripts by Ted Geisel- aka Dr. Seuss!

The Dover Boys

Yes, Tom, Dick and Larry, Dora Standpipe and the villainous Dan Backslide are all public domain. A bunch of YouTube Poops were created after this fact was discovered by the internet a few years ago. How Warner Bros. could ever let this one get away I'll never know. Their loss is our gain, I suppose.

Also of note are the ComiColor cartoons from the Iwerks studio, Rainbow Parade from Van Beuren, and most of the Color Classics by Fleischer. These don't have any especially memorable characters in them, but I thought I ought to mention them.

Caveats and other concerns

Krazy Kat

All of the strips up to 1928 are definitely fair game. According to the Public Domain Superheroes wiki however, the entirety of the strip's run is PD. I'm not sure if it that's true, but the Fantagraphics collections don't credit any newspaper syndicate, so it seems likely. (Apparently the copyright status of newspaper comics are a whole can of worms on its own...) At any rate, the strip's cast was pretty well set in stone by 1928, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. A large number of animated shorts starring Krazy are also PD, but those were pretty much in name only.

Felix the Cat

Felix was pretty much the first cartoon superstar, and almost all of his Golden Age appearances are PD now. Keep in mind that this does not include elements from the 1950s cartoon like his magic bag, or from The Twisted Tales of Felix, as amazing as that series is. The character's name and appeance are still trademarked by NBC Universal however, so you might be able to use him in a minor role, but not much else.

Flip the Frog

I'm uncertain about this one. According to most sources Flip is PD, but according to the Thunderbean Blu-ray collection he's copyrighted by the Film Preservation Archives, whatever that means. Additionally, Flip himself is supposedly trademarked by Leslie Iwerks, Ub Iwerks’ granddaughter, though no one seems to be able to confirm that. I don't know how the trademark hasn't lapsed yet, considering that Flip hasn't appeared on any official merchandise or anything in decades.

Bosko and Honey

I believe there's nothing stopping anyone from using Bosko's classic design (later appearances at MGM and in Tiny Toons are still copyrighted), but the character himself is a bit problematic, considering that it's all but stated outright that he's a blackface caricature. Use with caution.

Foxy and Roxy

Like Goopy Geer, Foxy appeared in a three Merrie Melodies cartoons. Roxy's name originates from an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures however, so keep that in mind. Though I'm not sure what else you would call her (or if Warner Bros. would even care). Supposedly her original name was "Fluffy", but I can't find a source for this. Like Bosko and Honey, later appearances in Tiny Toons are still copyrighted.

Noveltoons

Noveltoons was a series produced by Famous Studios, the successor to the Fleischer studio. The characters include Baby Huey, Herman the mouse, Blackie the sheep, Little Audrey, and of course, Casper the Friendly Ghost. Only a small handful of the shorts are PD though, and Casper is trademarked, so one's options are limited.

Ginger Nutt (and rest of the Animaland cast)

This one I'm not entirely sure about either, but Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus has long been a staple of grey-market tapes and DVDs, so I'm just going to assume all of the Animaland cartoons are also PD. Considering that the series wasn't very sucessful, and is very obscure nowadays, it seems pretty likely. If anyone has any insight on this, let me know.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Now here's an interesting case. An all-time classic Christmas special, and yet large parts of it are PD because they accidentally put the wrong date on the copyright notice. Instead of the Roman numerals MCMLXIV (1964), it reads MCLXIV (1164), and according to the law at the time, that meant that the film immediately went into public domain. Of course, Rudolph himself is still copyrighted, and will be until 2035 when the original book falls into the public domain. Even then he's likely to still be trademarked. Not to mention the songs featured in the '64 film will be copyrighted for a long time afterward. Still, this means that anyone is free to use all the other characters, including Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, King Moonracer, Clarice, and all the Misfit Toys. It's a wonder no one seems to have taken advantage of this. And of course Santa and his reindeer have been PD for ages, especially Santa since he comes from folklore- and you can't copyright folklore.

Calvin and the Colonel

This cartoon is based on and stars a lot of the same voice cast as the old-time radio show Amos and Andy, which, while not overtly racist, featured white actors pretending to be black. The cartoon obviously has animals instead, but still, tread carefully. Someone is bound to point out the characters' history.

Hoppity Hooper

Another one I'm not sure about. The Public Domain Superheroes wiki has characters from this show among its articles, but I wasn't able to confirm if it really was PD. It was created by Jay Ward, the same studio who made Rocky & Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle, but was also a huge flop for some reason, so that may be the reason why they let the copyright expire. Again, I'm not sure, but no one seems to care that the entire series is on YouTube, so who knows?

...Well, there you have it. Lots of obscure and forgotten toons waiting to be rediscovered and reused! If anyone has any more info or corrections, leave me a comment. I'd love some clarification on some of these.

#public domain #mickey mouse #steamboat willie #oswald the lucky rabbit #koko the clown #van beuren #fleischer #disney #the mad doctor #looney tunes #merrie melodies #private snafu #the dover boys #krazy kat #felix the cat #rudolph the red nosed reindeer #rankin-bass #jay ward #toon #cartoon #animation #racism #tw racism

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

#the mad doctor #30's #30s #mickey mouse #pluto #Mickey's pet #horror genre #my gif #gif #my edit #gifs #cut

[adventurelandia]

The Mad Doctor (1933)

#my gif #the mad doctor #bat #bats #halloween #spooky #gif #gifs #vintage #film #movie #1933 #1930s

[the-watcher-in-the-sky]

#mickey mouse #classic horror #disney #horror #scary #creepy #macabre #eerie #spooky #terrifying #the mad doctor #horror blog #black and white #black and white blog #horror movie #horror movies #horror film #horror films #movie #film #old cartoons #cartoons #classic cartoons

[memelordotherblog]

What each villain do after being drop in Wasteland.

Eil: start a bank after realizing he going be stuck here for while. He not taking losing all his money from the comics well, so he gained a bit of reputation already for being a grump old man.

Sylvester: When he sees the castle, he immediately get ideas of grandeur, though he start small by gaining the trust of the local while also scamming them out anything that could help him.

Miklos: Once learning about Micky heroic deeds, he immediately start pretending to be Mickey to earn free stuff from the locals.

Portis: Somehow found a way in the mad doctor lab??? He cleaned up and already started his usual experiments. The reformed mad doctor just see him as quirky lab parther..

Scuttle: Keep working for different Petes everyday because he has no idea which one he's supposed to work for. My man is super confused.

Trudy: Make a hideout for all the comic villains to chill and relax in as they try to cope with the situtuion. She also eventually saves Scuttle from his Pete loop.

Professor Triplex: Oddly the one taking this the best, built a lab in the hideout with Ecks and Doublex and go by there day as usual.

Vutler: The opposite, taking this the worst, he's already building weapons to take over wasteland. He pissed that all his work has seemly been for nothing.

Blot (comics) : Enjoying that it seem like the local Already fear him, he use this to began is usually bs of blackmail the city. But this time it the whole kingdom.

Feel free to toss in your ideas. I can't for the life of me think of anything for Rhymes.

#peg leg pete #sylvester shyster #the phantom blot #professor tripelx #professor doublex #professor ecks #trudy van tubb #scuttle #portis #plottgait #miklos the gray mouse #eil squnich #the mad doctor #rhyming man #wasteland #my only hope for the remake is to have one reference to comic #just one #epic mickey ideas

[violetlunette]

Since my Yuusona from this series is so popular, I decided to share an image of the moonstruck lad so you can see what he looks like.

lol, jk. Keep scrowling to see the real image.

This Yuu is Twisted from Mickey's worst nightmare, the Mad Doctor (or Dr. XXX).

The hairstyle was both annoying and fun and the rest of the image was a struggle but here we are. His colors of mainly gray scale to show he's twisted from a black and white cartoon. It's also a way to subtly show he's not like the rest of the cast as a) he's from another world and b) is twisted from a cartoon not a movie.

The coat is larger than him as he got a spare from Crewel. (I used it to hide the failure of the other arm.)

Don't be fooled by the big smile and eyes, he'll cut you up to satisfy his curiosity. The best way to describe him is that he's obsessive (especially when it comes to Silver) but also likes having fun. But you can figure out his persona if you check the series.

#mine #twst #twisted wonderland #yuusona #ramshackle prefect #twst oc #ramshackle #twst yuu #The mad doctor #Dr. XXX #twst fanart #disney twst #twst wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst art

[pussinbootsandbountyhunter]

I Will Protect At All Costs - Collaboration

Thank you all for joining my collaboration which is my first time doing this for everyone to joined as I can’t stop listening to this song “At All Costs” from Disney Wish and I thought it would be a good opportunity to make all the Disney characters enjoy the moment of this beautiful wishes that was so inspiring

Again, thank you guys so much for this! I think I should do that next year just to make it easier and much better! But it’s the best - first time - start I’ve ever done with you guys. Stay tuned… hehe

#Disney #disney once upon a studio #once upon a studio #disney the little mermaid #disney peter pan #disney chip and dale #disney princess and the frog #disney tangled #disney epic mickey #epic mickey #walt disney #the mad doctor #gremlin prescott #gremlin gus #disney frozen #queen anna #princess rapunzel #disney encanto #encanto #agustin madrigal #agustín madrigal #dolores madrigal #mirabel madrigal #disney wish #princess asha #asha #king magnifico #at all costs #collaboration #art collab

[redtailarts101]

My art teacher is letting me make my semester final digitally so

Epic Mickey - 6 Methods of Creating Depth

The Six Methods:

Shading | Overlapping Shapes | Linear Perspective | Atmospheric Perspective | Diminishing Sizes | Details greater in the front, and lesser in the back.

#epic mickey #art #digital art #art class #mickey mouse #mickey #the mad doctor #the blot #beetleworx #fanart #I put in a lot of extra effort into the stylization for this drawing

[that-one-cake]

HC POST PART TWOOOOOOO

This time we're covering this Hickory Dickory deadass clocktower :3

He/It

This goof was nicknamed "Clockwise" by the Gremlins because he wears glasses and they thought it would be funny haha

Menace

Has accidentally smacked Gus out of the air before

Has seen his Comic Version in a dream before

Big boi

CLAWS

short compared to the other clocktowers

Will crush anything that brings up that annoying song

Mickey almost never commits canon route

This idiot knows he's in some sort of loop

Almost immediately tried to kill Mad Doctor the moment he saw him

Screams a lot

Actually very smart

Punched Glockenspiel in a dream once

Wonders what the hell pastrami is

Oswald forgets he exists every two seconds

Spaces out way too much

Time puns

Retractable teeth

6tv 6vyIt can switch between the Yellow and Purple faces by spinning his clock

Like if he was yellow, then he would spin counterclockwise to turn purple

SO MANY TIME PUNS

Is probably the only being that Prescott tolerates

Has been swarmed by Bunny Children before

Looks like a cinnamon roll; could and will kill you

Probably has ADHD

Lazy eye has fallen off like seven times

FERAL BEAST

When he sleeps the time displays normally on the clock

How any of this makes senses is up to you guys

Voice claim, Funtime Freddy but lower pitched

NEXT IS GLOCKENSPIELLLLL

#chaos #epic mickey clocktower #gremlin prescott #gremlin gus #oswald the lucky rabbit #the mad doctor #FUNTIME FREDDY WYD HERE THIS IS AN EPIC MICKEY POST

[rainbowangelcastiel]

Why does this fit so well with Epic Mickey? @murdercide626

#epic mickey #mickey mouse #oswald the lucky rabbit #the mad doctor

[wait----------what]

OK so for the time being I'll be doin epic mickey 2 since my wii has declared that it likes one area of haunted Manor so much that its trapped me there, glitchin out anytime I try to progress

Anyways let's get into this shit

- ooooooh yen sides back

Oh wow that openings just as pretty as the first game

-OSWALD!! OH MY GODS YOU CAN TALK!! and you sound like Fred Jones?

- . . . annnnnnd their singing- why are they singing?? Meh I can get behind this i geuss

- Os, buddy, pls don't follow the guy thay has tries to kill you MULTIPLE TIMES

- idk why but gus sounds exactly like i was picturing, same with orentisa, idk much about her but I hope she stick around for a bit

- ooooooh their really layin it on thick about the paint/thinner thing this time aren't they? hope it actually changes something this time

- the only gripe I have so far is the change to the health display, I loved the lil 2d sprit changin expression n the paper sound effect that went with it its a shame its just the same model for mickey as what you play

- aooooh I love that art style for the cut scenes!! I'm glad they kept it along for this one it was such a cool part of the og

- ok so I heard about what happens with oswald if you dont have a second player goin in n I didnt think it'd be that bad but im not so sure like if that fire work thing was anythin to go by its gonna be a pain in the arse to deal with if I can't convince someone to play with me

- aaaaaaawwwww oswald n ortensia are so cute! they're so sweet on each other its given me tooth rot<3

- pffft os's face when the mad doctor gets him to sing with him he's like 50% done with his bull shit already lmao

Welp- thats all from me so hopefully I'll be able to finish the old one before the remaster comes out but im not too hopeful meh if that dosent work I can atleast get that cosplay ready to go for my next con

#oswald the lucky rabbit #ortensia the cat #gremlin gus #epic mickey power of 2 #epic mickey 2 #a plays #a's gamin shit #mickey mouse #the mad doctor #wasteland #game comentary