Animator's Perspective VI: Three Musketeers Greenlit
Chapter 7: The Three Mouseketeers
Post from the Riding with the Mouse Net-log by animator Terrell Little.
Sometimes the cat comes back. This was certainly the case for Steve Hulett’s Three Musketeers idea. We were deep into The Black Cauldron, him touching up dialog, me rushing to fill in the gaps between set pieces, when Ron Clements called us both to his office.
Walking through the halls past the inevitable gauntlet of “principal’s office” jokes, we met with Ron, wondering what we’d done wrong. Instead, he gave us some good news: we were getting a second opportunity to pitch the Three Musketeers idea.
We were flabbergasted. This never happened. Once an idea got killed, it stayed dead. Either a project got the full greenlight, like Cauldron, or it got put on life support and lived on in a vegetative zombie state, like Catfish Bend, or it was killed outright and buried in a shallow grave. Why were we given the impossible second turn at bat?
A week later we were pitching it again, this time with me taking point. For a man of many words on paper, Steve struggled to get them out in person some days. The whole time I pitched the idea, Jim Henson and Ron Miller kept staring at each other and snickering. What in the hell was so funny? It was throwing me off my game, but I kept going forward.
Finally, our hour was up. Ron, still sending knowing glances over at Jim, thanked us, and we left, utterly confused.
Three days later we got the greenlight. Disney’s The Three Musketeers would be produced as a new animated series for The Disney Channel. To this day, I have no idea why it suddenly came to be, but I didn’t stop to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Jim and Ron wanted to name it The Three Mouseketeers, but, alas, the lawyers shot that name down. It turns out that DC Comics owned the rights to that name due to an old comic book from the ‘40s, even as Disney owned the rights to the term “Mouseketeers” in association with the Mickey Mouse Club. God save us from lawyers. Disney’s The Three Musketeers it would have to be.
Soon Mickey-as-Aramis, Donald-as-Athos, and Goofy-as-Porthos, pestered by the energetic young wannabe-Musketeer José Carioca-as-D’Artagnan, were lighting up the small screen. Our budget was limited and thus, inevitably, so was our animation, but the series proved popular enough to be replayed on CBS Saturday Mornings, where it became a minor hit and even sold some merch.
Steve’s writing even got nominated for a Daytime Emmy for the season two episode “For Richelieu or for Poorer[1]”. Tim Burton, Steve’s eternal tormentor, congratulated him…sort of. “Steve, congrats,” said Burton, throwing an arm over his shoulder, “You’re a real modern-day Dumas.”
Steve had no idea how to respond, other than, “um, thanks, Tim.”
[1] The Musketeers, deeply in debt, get the chance to work for the villainous Cardinal Richelieu (Pete) for a lot of gold, but they ultimately decide that honor is more valuable than money.
Post from the Riding with the Mouse Net-log by animator Terrell Little.
Sometimes the cat comes back. This was certainly the case for Steve Hulett’s Three Musketeers idea. We were deep into The Black Cauldron, him touching up dialog, me rushing to fill in the gaps between set pieces, when Ron Clements called us both to his office.
Walking through the halls past the inevitable gauntlet of “principal’s office” jokes, we met with Ron, wondering what we’d done wrong. Instead, he gave us some good news: we were getting a second opportunity to pitch the Three Musketeers idea.
We were flabbergasted. This never happened. Once an idea got killed, it stayed dead. Either a project got the full greenlight, like Cauldron, or it got put on life support and lived on in a vegetative zombie state, like Catfish Bend, or it was killed outright and buried in a shallow grave. Why were we given the impossible second turn at bat?
A week later we were pitching it again, this time with me taking point. For a man of many words on paper, Steve struggled to get them out in person some days. The whole time I pitched the idea, Jim Henson and Ron Miller kept staring at each other and snickering. What in the hell was so funny? It was throwing me off my game, but I kept going forward.
Finally, our hour was up. Ron, still sending knowing glances over at Jim, thanked us, and we left, utterly confused.
Three days later we got the greenlight. Disney’s The Three Musketeers would be produced as a new animated series for The Disney Channel. To this day, I have no idea why it suddenly came to be, but I didn’t stop to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Jim and Ron wanted to name it The Three Mouseketeers, but, alas, the lawyers shot that name down. It turns out that DC Comics owned the rights to that name due to an old comic book from the ‘40s, even as Disney owned the rights to the term “Mouseketeers” in association with the Mickey Mouse Club. God save us from lawyers. Disney’s The Three Musketeers it would have to be.
Soon Mickey-as-Aramis, Donald-as-Athos, and Goofy-as-Porthos, pestered by the energetic young wannabe-Musketeer José Carioca-as-D’Artagnan, were lighting up the small screen. Our budget was limited and thus, inevitably, so was our animation, but the series proved popular enough to be replayed on CBS Saturday Mornings, where it became a minor hit and even sold some merch.
Steve’s writing even got nominated for a Daytime Emmy for the season two episode “For Richelieu or for Poorer[1]”. Tim Burton, Steve’s eternal tormentor, congratulated him…sort of. “Steve, congrats,” said Burton, throwing an arm over his shoulder, “You’re a real modern-day Dumas.”
Steve had no idea how to respond, other than, “um, thanks, Tim.”
[1] The Musketeers, deeply in debt, get the chance to work for the villainous Cardinal Richelieu (Pete) for a lot of gold, but they ultimately decide that honor is more valuable than money.
