Pluto (Disney)
71933
226158852
2008-07-17T02:22:05Z
75.84.140.97
/* Characteristics */
{{DisneyChar
| name =Pluto
| image =[[Image:Plutodog.gif]]
| publisher-company =[[Walt Disney Company]]
| first appearance =''[[The Chain Gang]]'', 1930
| created by =[[Walt Disney]] and Norm Ferguson
| voiced by =[[Pinto Colvig]], [[Lee Millar, Sr.]], [[Jimmy MacDonald]], [[Bill Farmer]]
}}
'''Pluto''' (also known as '''Pluto the Pup''') is an [[animated cartoon]] character made famous in a series of [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] short [[animation|cartoons]]. He has most frequently appeared as [[Mickey Mouse]]'s pet [[dog]]. He also had an independent starring role in a number of Disney shorts in the 1940s and 1950s. Pluto is unusual for a Disney character in that he is not [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphized]] beyond showing an unusually broad range of [[facial expressions]] or use of his front paws at key points; he is actually represented as a normal dog (unlike [[Goofy]] who is an anthropomorphic dog).
==Appearances==
Two unnamed bloodhounds which are seen in the 1930 ''Mickey Mouse'' cartoon ''[[The Chain Gang]]'' resemble what would in later cartoons appear as Pluto the Pup, Mickey's pet-dog. ''[[Picnic]]'', another ''Mickey Mouse'' cartoon from the same year features a pet-dog of Minnie named ''Rover''. The same canine appears as Mickey's pet-dog in the 1931 cartoon ''Moose Hunt'' and is named as Pluto for the first time. From then onwards, Pluto has joined the Mickey gang as a permanent character.
His first comics appearance was in the ''Mickey Mouse'' daily strips in 1931 two months after the release of the ''Moose Hunt'' cartoon. ''[[Pluto Saves the Ship]]'', a comic book published in 1942, is one of the first Disney comics prepared for publication outside newspaper strips. However, not counting a few cereal give-away mini-comics in 1947 and 1951, he did not have his own comics title until 1952.
Pluto has also appeared in the television series ''[[Mickey Mouse Works]]'', ''[[Disney's House of Mouse]]'' and ''[[Mickey Mouse Clubhouse]]''. He also had a cameo appearance in ''[[Quack Pack]]''. Curiously enough, however, Pluto was the only standard Disney character not included when the whole gang was reunited for the 1983 featurette ''[[Mickey's Christmas Carol]]'', although he did return in ''[[The Prince and the Pauper]]'' in 1990 and ''[[Runaway Brain]]'' five years later, and was also spotted in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit]]'' in 1988. In 1996, he makes a cameo appearance in the ''[[Quack Pack]]'' episode "[[Quack Pack - The Really Mighty Ducks|The Really Mighty Ducks]]".
===Theatrical cartoons===
#''Bone Trouble'' (1940, first Pluto cartoon)
#''Pantry Pirate'' (1940, with [[Mammy Two Shoes]])
#''Pluto's Playmate'' (1941, first appearance of [[Salty the Seal]])
#''[[Pluto Junior]]'' (1942)
#''The Army Mascot'' (1942)
#''[[The Sleepwalker (cartoon short)|The Sleepwalker]]'' (1942)
#''T-Bone For Two'' (1942)
#''Pluto At The Zoo'' (1942)
#''[[Private Pluto]]'' (1943)
#''[[Springtime For Pluto]]'' (1944, [[musical]])
#''[[First Aiders]]'' (1944, with Minnie and Figaro)
#''Dog Watch'' (1945)
#''Canine Casanova'' (1945)
#''The Legend of Coyote Rock'' (1945)
#''Canine Patrol'' (1945)
#''[[Pluto's Kid Brother]]'' (1946)
#''In Dutch'' (1946)
#''The Purloined Pup'' (1946, first appearance of Ronnie)
#''[[A Feather In His Collar]]'' (1946, commercial short)
#''Pluto's Housewarming'' (1947)
#''Rescue Dog'' (1947, second appearance of Salty the Seal, later third appearance in only Mickey Mouse cartoon, also later appearance in [[Mickey Mouse Works]], movies and [[Disney's Magical Things]])
#''Mail Dog'' (1947)
#''[[Pluto's Blue Note]]'' (1947)
#''Bone Bandit'' (1948)
#''Pluto's Purchase'' (1948, with Mickey Mouse)
#''Cat Nap Pluto'' (1948)
#''[[Pluto's Fredgling]]'' (1948)
#''Pueblo Pluto'' (1949, second apperance of Ronnie with Mickey Mouse, later third appearance of Ronnie in 2007)
#''Pluto's Surprise Package'' (1949)
#''[[Pluto's Sweater]]'' (1949, with Minnie and Figaro)
#''Bubble Bee'' (1949)
#''Sheep Dog'' (1949)
#''[[Pluto's Heart Throb]]'' (1950)
#''[[Pluto & The Gopher]]'' (1950, with Minnie Mouse)
#''[[Wonder Dog]]'' (1950)
#''Primitive Pluto'' (1950)
#''Puss Cafè'' (1950, first appearance of [[Marvin the Cat]], later in [[Plutopia]] and [[Cold Turky]], also later in movies and [[Disney's Magical Things]])
#''Pests of The West'' (1950)
#''Food For Feudin''' (1950)
#''Camp Dog'' (1950)
#''Cold Storage'' (1951)
#''Cold Turkey'' (1951)
#''[[Hot Dogs!]]'' (2008, with Mickey Mouse, last Pluto cartoon)
===In other media===
In the ''[[Kingdom Hearts (series)|Kingdom Hearts]]'' video game series, Pluto is still Mickey's pet and acts as somewhat of a messenger, assisting in his master's plans. For most of ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', Pluto stays by [[Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)|Kairi's]] side (even when she has been kidnapped), as he has apparently taken a liking to her. Pluto also appears in [[Toontown Online]], in the Brrrgh.
An interesting point raised most memorably in [[Stephen King]]'s novella "[[The Body (Short Story)|The Body]]", and the feature film ''[[Stand By Me (film)|Stand By Me]]'', is that Pluto, a [[dog]], cannot [[speech communication|talk]] or behave as a [[human]], but [[Goofy]], another [[dog]], can. This point was parodied in a ''[[Drawn Together]]'' episode ("[[Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree]]") when Pluto holds Goofy hostage at gunpoint and demands to be allowed to be the one to wear the pantaloons.
==Disney Parks==
In the various Disney theme park resorts around the world, Pluto is performed on two legs, and much more similar to that of the other main Disney characters, when in costume
==Characteristics==
[[Image:Pluto-glass.jpg|thumb|McDonald's 2002 Disney World "100 Years of Magic" glassware includes trivia pertaining to Pluto's spoken words.]]
In Pluto's own cartoons, his friends included [[Fifi the Peke]], [[Dinah the Dachshund]], and Ronnie the St. Bernard Puppy. His enemies included [[Pete (Disney character)|Black Pete]], [[Donald Duck]], [[Butch the Bulldog]], [[Figaro (Disney)|Figaro the Kitten]], [[Chip 'n Dale]], [[Buzz the Bee]], Ol' Benttail the Coyote, and other characters. In Disney's 1942 animated short ''[[Pluto Junior]]'', Pluto has a son who is simply referred to as "Pluto Junior." In the 1946 animated short ''[[Pluto's Kid Brother]]'', Pluto has a younger brother named K.B.
Although Pluto does not normally speak, like his anthropomorphized companions, he communicates in a series of dog barks, facial expressions and body movement. The only words Pluto ever spoke, were "Kiss me." <ref>[[:Image:Pluto-glass.jpg|McDonald's 2002 Disney World "100 Years of Magic" glassware]]</ref>
==Concept and creation==
Pluto was named after the dwarf planet [[Pluto]] which was discovered in 1930, the same year that the character was introduced, and thus is indirectly named after the [[Pluto (mythology)|Roman god of the underworld]].
Pluto, designed and supervised by Disney animator, Norm Ferguson, is considered one of the first Disney characters to break out of the "rubber hose and circle" formula style the studio had relied on; the dog's design gave him the appearance of actually being round instead of flat. In addition, Pluto is one of the first cartoon characters that is actually shown to have thought processes through the use of [[character animation]]. The dog's thought processes are showcased in a landmark scene from 1934's ''[[Playful Pluto]]'', in which Pluto becomes stuck to a piece of [[fly paper]], and attempts to figure out a way to get himself unstuck. Original concept drawings were by Frank Webb.
==Naming==
The pup first appeared in Walt Disney's short
{{cite web
| title = The Chain Gang
| url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020752/ }} , released in the USA on 18 August 1930. However, it had no name. The next appearance was on 23 October 1930, in {{cite web
| title = The Picnic
| url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021250/ }}
. Here the dog is named, but it is Rover, not Pluto. It was in
{{cite web
| title = The Moose Hunt
| url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022160/ }}
, released on 8 May 1931, that the dog is called Pluto the Pup, the studio's original name. A September 1931 model sheet for the character with that name is illustrated in Barrier's ''Hollywood Cartoons''.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Barrier
| first = Michael
| authorlink = Michael_Barrier_%28historian%29
| title = Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| date = 1999
| pages = 96
| isbn = 0-19-503759-6 }} </ref>
Obviously, several months had passed between the naming of what was believed to have been the ninth planet, [[Pluto]], on 24 March 1930, and the attachment of that name to the dog character. [[Venetia Phair|Venetia Burney]] (later Venetia Phair), who as an eleven-year-old schoolgirl had suggested the name Pluto for the planet, remarked in 2006: “The name had nothing to do with the Disney cartoon. Mickey Mouse's dog was named after the planet, not the other way around.”<ref>{{Citation
| title=The little girl who named Pluto
| newspaper=The Sun (England)
| year=2006
| date=26 August 2006 }} </ref>
Although it has been claimed that the Disney studio named the dog after the planet (rather than after the mythical god of the underworld), this needs further verification. Disney animator Ben Sharpsteen has said that, "We thought the name [Rover] was too common, so we had to look for something else. [...] We changed it to Pluto the Pup, [...] but I don't honestly remember why."<ref>{{cite book
| last = Brasch
| first = Walter
| authorlink = Walter M. Brasch
| title = Cartoon Monickers: An Insight Into The Animation Industry
| publisher = Bowling Green University Popular Press
| date = 1983
| pages = 69
| isbn = 0-87972-244-4 }} </ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2006}}
==External links==
*{{Inducks character|PL|Pluto}}
* [http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/characterstandard/pluto/pluto.html Disney Archives - Pluto]
{{Disney Characters}}
[[Category:Animated film series]]
[[Category:Disney characters]]
[[Category:Fictional dogs]]
[[Category:Kingdom Hearts characters]]
[[Category:Mickey Mouse universe characters]]
[[Category:Disney comics characters]]
[[Category:1930 introductions]]
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