Tag Archives: Pluto

July 3, 1942 – The Pluto Short Film The Sleepwalker is Released to Theaters

On July 3, 1942, the Pluto short film The Sleepwalker was released to theaters. It was directed by Clyde Geronimi.

Pluto is sleeping in his doghouse, with a large bone sitting in his food bowl. From a hole in the fence nearby, a female dachshund observes the bone, drooling. She wanders in and tries to take it from the sleeping Pluto, and as he wakes, he growls and chases after the hungry female. He returns home after chasing her away, and she begins to cry. Once again, Pluto falls asleep, but begins to sleepwalk, taking the bone over to the dachshund. She is surprised to see him, but happy to receive the bone. Later, when Pluto wakes up (with no recollection of giving away his bone), he finds it missing, and angrily goes to retrieve it, breaking her food bowl in the process.

Pluto has several angry confrontations with the dachshund, unaware that he is the one giving her the bone

As he walks away, he falls asleep and sleepwalks back to her, dropping off the bone again. She happily begins to dig a hole for the bone, but when Pluto wakes up again, she quickly digs it back out and hands it back. In a fit of rage, Pluto destroys her doghouse, and in the destruction, finds that the hungry dachshund has a litter. The puppies play with Pluto, and he realizes with guilt what he has done, particularly when it starts to rain. He offers them his doghouse and his collection of bones, which they accept happily. The dachshund gives Pluto a large kiss for his kindness, and he curls up under some newspapers to keep dry, happy about his good deed.

June 23, 1944 – The Pluto Short Film Springtime for Pluto is Released to Theaters

“Spring! Spring! Sweet, scented spring! Loveliest time of year!”

On June 23, 1944, the Pluto short film Springtime for Pluto was released to theaters. This was the first short directed by Charles Nichols, who would go on to have a long history of directing at the Disney Studios, including many of the Pluto shorts. Pluto’s allergy to goldenrod is seen here, which was used as a major plot point in the 1948 short film Bone Bandit (see April 30^th entry for more details). The story for this short was written by Nick George and Eric Gurney.

The Spirit of Spring, appearing in the guise of a faun, skips through the winter surroundings, changing them into spring as he plays his panflute. He tries to wake Pluto, who follows the spirit in a dreamlike state, before realizing that spring is indeed there, and decides to explore the area. He watches as all signs of spring appear, including bluebirds and lambs, and hears the caterpillar sing a song about spring. The caterpillar then uses Pluto’s tail as a perch for his cocoon, and when she emerges as a beautiful butterfly, Pluto blushes at how beautiful she is. Unfortunately, as he tries to imitate her dancing, he disturbs a bee hive, and the entire swarm of bees chase after him, only stopping after Pluto dives into a patch of poison ivy to escape them.

Just as things couldn’t get worse for Pluto, it begins to rain heavily

When Pluto realizes what he’s jumped into, he starts writhing around as he starts to itch, sneezing when he ends up in a patch of goldenrod. It then begins to rain, and as Pluto tries to find shelter, he continues to sneeze so violently that he is thrown back several paces. It then begins to hail just as Pluto makes his way back to his doghouse. Pluto and his house have been ravaged by the time the storm ends, and as the Spirit skips by, Pluto stalks out of the broken shack, chasing after the fleeing Spirit.

April 30, 1948 – The Pluto Short Film Bone Bandit is Released to Theaters

On April 30, 1948, the Pluto short film Bone Bandit was released to theaters. It was directed by Charles Nichols, with story by Art Scott and Sterling Sturdevant. The animation for this short was done by George Nicholas, Jerry Hathcock, George Kreisl, and Sandy Strother.

Pluto has just woken up from a nap when he spies his empty bowl. He recalls the places he’s buried bones, and decides to go dig one up. Unfortunately, his bone is buried right next to a patch of goldenrod, to which he is allergic. After he sneezes, he hears a strange noise coming from below, and a gopher pokes his head up from the ground. The gopher collects the goldenrod and disappears before Pluto can catch him. The gopher then sticks his hand above ground, searching for more goldenrod, when he latches on to Pluto’s tail and drags the dog into a hole.

Pluto reaches in to find the gopher, not realizing that all the bones he’s buried have been used for the gopher’s home

When Pluto pulls his tail and the gopher out from the hole, the gopher tries to make amends and quickly scamper away, but Pluto reaches into the hole to catch him. When he finds a bone instead, he happily pulls it up, but the gopher, who used Pluto’s bones to prop up his house, bites his paw. Pluto, however, successfully props up the bone, and the gopher tries to use a carrot in the bone’s place. Pluto sets out to chew on the bone, but more goldenrod nearby causes him to sneeze. The gopher laughs at Pluto’s predicament, but Pluto’s sneeze shoots the bone away from the goldenrod, and Pluto chomps on the bone happily. The gopher, still peeved about his bone being taken away, decides to get back at Pluto by making him sneeze from the goldenrod and taking the bone when he’s sneezing.

After the gopher tries to get away, Pluto runs after him, but the gopher arms himself with more goldenrod. Once the goldenrod is gone, however, the chase is on all over the garden, with Pluto sneezing up a storm through the goldenrod. Pluto lands in the hole leading to the gopher’s home; the carrot the gopher used to prop up a part of his house gives under Pluto’s weight, and the whole house sinks in. Pluto is able to retrieve his bone, and the gopher, unfortunately, has developed an allergy to goldenrod.

April 12, 1946 – The Pluto Short Film Pluto’s Kid Brother is Released to Theaters

On April 12, 1946, the Pluto short film Pluto’s Kid Brother was released to theaters. This short is one of the few that contains Pluto’s nemesis, Butch the Bulldog. It was directed by Charles Nichols, with story by Harry Reeves and Jesse Marsh.

Pluto is snoozing in his doghouse, when he hears his kid brother, K.B., whimpering. K.B. has gotten into the hen house, and the rooster chases him away, and as K.B. runs past Pluto, the rooster crashes into the alarmed dog. Pluto then scares away the rooster, and K.B. finds himself in trouble with his brother, who ties him up again. K.B., unafraid and adventurous, frees himself from the rope and goes outside the fenced in yard to explore. As he sniffs a trashcan, he comes across an alley cat, who doesn’t take too kindly to the pup. The cat then crashes into Pluto, and the two duke it out, with the cat using his claws and static electricity to attack Pluto. The cat then walks away, but cries out in fear when he comes across Pluto’s nemesis, Butch the Bulldog.

Pluto runs to defend K.B. from the persuasion of Butch

Impressed by Butch’s demeanor, K.B. decides to follow and emulate the bulldog. Butch stops by a butchershop, ready to steal some meat, when he realizes he’s been followed by the pup. Seeing as K.B. is just the right size to steal the meat from the deliveries slot, Butch takes the pup under his wing. K.B. readily agrees to the task, and starts removing some sausages. However, once K.B. has delivered the sausages, Butch snarls at the pup, taking away every link. Pluto, meanwhile, has been looking for K.B., and when he spots the pup with Butch, he goes on the defensive. Pluto and Butch begin to fight, and Pluto is thrown against the burglar alarm, which goes off. The dogcatcher chases the three dogs, and K.B. is caught on the front bumper until Pluto saves him. The dogcatcher then scoops up Butch and takes him to the pound. Pluto then lectures K.B. again, and the two head back to their doghouses, although both are tempted to eat the sausages that Butch stole.

March 16, 1945 – The Pluto Short Film Dog Watch is Released to Theaters

“Pluto! You will stay aboard and stand watch. Keep a sharp look out and let no one aboard. Understand?”

On March 16, 1945, the Pluto short film Dog Watch was released to theaters. It was directed by Charles Nichols, with story by Eric Gurney.

On a big naval shipyard, Pluto runs to the deck of his ship when the command for all hands ashore is called. His commanding officer tells Pluto to stand watch over the ship and not let anyone aboard, which Pluto agrees with a salute. He begins his patrol of the boat, and spots two mysterious figures in a lifeboat. He sneaks up on the two, but when he pulls the tarp away, it is revealed to be his collection of bones. He takes one and curls up in a coil of rope, chewing away happily.

Pluto tries to intimidate the rat, but the rat doesn’t show the slightest bit of fear

A rat climbs one of the ropes of the docked ship and makes his way inside. He gets Pluto’s attention accidentally, and continues to explore the ship. When Pluto growls at the rat, the rat is not afraid, and pulls Pluto’s bottom lip over his nose. The rat then tries to prove that he is tougher than Pluto, and ignores any of the dog’s tactics in trying to stop him. Pluto crawls all over the ship to find the rat, finding him in the officer’s mess hall, where a block of limburger cheese is sitting out. Pluto barks madly, but his resolve falters when the rat offers Pluto one of the cookies he is eating. Although Pluto tries to take the cookie, the rat tricks him, only giving him about a quarter of it.

As the rat prepares more food, Pluto’s barking has turned into calls for food. The rat bites into a pepper, and realizes that although he doesn’t like how spicy it is, it would be perfect in getting Pluto to shut up. Just as the rat is having a good laugh about his trick, the footsteps of the commander are heard, and the rat quickly finishes making his sandwich and departs, with Pluto getting the blame for the mess in the officer’s mess hall. Pluto is then locked in the brig, and spies the rat climbing down the rope with his messy sandwich. However, the rat slips on some mustard, and Pluto takes the opportunity to trip the rat, sending him flying into the ocean. Although still in the brig, Pluto is happy that he finally tricked the creature.