50 Fun Facts About The Great Mouse Detective

In which year was The Great Mouse Detective released?

It arrived a year after The Black Cauldron flopped, and its modest success helped keep Disney animation alive.

What is the name of the mouse detective hero of the film?

Author Eve Titus named him after Basil Rathbone, the actor best remembered for playing Sherlock Holmes.

Who voices the villainous Professor Ratigan?

Price said that if anybody but Disney had asked him to audition, he would have been offended.

The Great Mouse Detective is based on which children's book series?

Eve Titus wrote five Basil books between 1958 and 1982, illustrated by Paul Galdone.

The mouse detective's first name honours which actor?

Rathbone's own voice, from a 1966 recording, is used for Sherlock Holmes in the film, 19 years after his death.

Which Sherlock Holmes story was sampled for Holmes's voice in the film?

The 1966 Caedmon Records reading by Basil Rathbone provided the dialogue; no Nigel Bruce recording was available for Watson.

Who voices Basil in The Great Mouse Detective?

The Royal Shakespeare Company actor won the part within six minutes of his audition.

What is the name of Basil's Watson-like companion?

Dawson, a retired army surgeon just back from Afghanistan, narrates the film.

What is the name of the young mouse whose father is kidnapped?

Basil famously keeps mangling her surname; her father Hiram is a toymaker.

What kind of creature is Ratigan's henchman Fidget?

Fidget has a crippled wing and a peg leg, so he cannot fly.

Why does Ratigan kidnap Mr. Flaversham?

The robot queen is meant to name Ratigan Supreme Ruler of all Mousedom.

What is the name of Ratigan's pet cat?

She ends her film chased by Toby into a pack of Royal Guard dogs.

Which animal is Toby, whom Basil borrows to trail Fidget's scent?

Toby is Sherlock Holmes's dog, living upstairs at 221B Baker Street.

What is the name of the tavern where Basil and Dawson go in disguise?

Chemical tests on Fidget's checklist trace it to the tavern near the junction of the sewer and the Thames.

Where does the film's climax take place?

The gears of the clock were rendered by computer, the first extensive use of CGI in a Disney film.

What do Basil, Dawson and Flaversham build to chase Ratigan's dirigible?

A Union Jack serves as the makeshift craft's sail.

The clock strikes what hour as Ratigan falls from Big Ben?

The vibrations of the chimes send him plunging; he tries to drag Basil down with him.

In which year is The Great Mouse Detective set?

The story opens with Olivia's birthday in Victorian London.

How many directors are credited on The Great Mouse Detective?

John Musker, Dave Michener, Ron Clements and Burny Mattinson all share the credit.

Which directing duo, later famous for The Little Mermaid, worked on the film?

Clements first pitched the adaptation in 1982; Musker was one of the original directors.

Which Disney CEO ordered the film's original title changed?

He felt the name Basil was too English after Young Sherlock Holmes underperformed in 1985.

Which 1985 film's poor box office prompted the film's retitling?

The rename annoyed animators so much that one wrote a satirical memo renaming Disney classics.

Which animator wrote the satirical memo giving Disney films generic titles?

Titles like Seven Little Men Help a Girl later became a category on Jeopardy!

Eisner cut the film's planned $24m budget to roughly what figure?

He also moved the release up from Christmas 1987 to July 1986, leaving one year to finish.

Which 1950 comedy led the filmmakers to their choice of voice for Ratigan?

They had been studying Ronald Colman's performance in it as a model for Basil when Price caught their eye.

Who voices Olivia's father, Mr. Flaversham?

Young, the voice of Scrooge McDuck, was chosen for his authentic Scottish brogue.

How was Candy Candido's voice altered to create Fidget?

His natural deep voice survives in one line: a character shouting at an eight-legged bum.

Basil's design was ultimately inspired by which actor?

Animators had first modelled him on Bing Crosby before switching to Howard.

Ratigan's imposing stature was based on which Disney executive?

Miller was a 6'6" former Los Angeles Rams football player; Ratigan had originally been thin and weaselly.

Which animator supervised Ratigan?

Critic Charles Solomon singled out Keane's work on Ratigan when naming the film among the decade's best.

Which anime film inspired the clockwork climax in the clock tower?

Layout artist Mike Peraza was a fan of Hayao Miyazaki's 1979 Lupin III feature debut.

Why did the research team inside the clock tower finish its work so quickly?

They had been granted unprecedented access to the clockworks for video reference.

What technical milestone did the Big Ben sequence mark for Disney?

Each gear was built as computer wire-frame graphics, printed out and traced onto cels.

Dr. Dawson's character was modelled as a tribute to which veteran animator?

Larson, the last active member of the Nine Old Men, consulted on the film before retiring.

Who composed the score for The Great Mouse Detective?

It was his first animated feature score, apart from The Pink Panther's animated titles.

Who wrote and performed the tavern song 'Let Me Be Good to You'?

Eisner had floated Michael Jackson and then Madonna for a contemporary number before Manchester was hired.

Which song does Ratigan perform in the film?

Price also sings Goodbye So Soon; Mancini co-wrote both.

Which label released the soundtrack when it finally appeared in 1992?

It is one of the few Disney cartoon soundtracks never issued under a Walt Disney imprint.

Under what title was the film re-released to theaters in 1992?

The 2010 Mystery in the Mist DVD finally restored the original 1986 title card.

Which Mickey Mouse short accompanied the film's original release?

The 1937 short sees Mickey, Donald and Goofy tidying a clock tower, a fitting pairing.

Which 1986 animated film outgrossed The Great Mouse Detective at the box office?

Don Bluth's mouse musical edged Disney's mouse detective that year.

Which Disney flop immediately preceded The Great Mouse Detective?

Animators unhappy with Cauldron's direction got Basil approved as an alternative project.

In the original books, what species is Professor Ratigan?

The film made him a rat who hates being reminded of it; his book first name is Padraic.

Which Sherlock Holmes villain is Ratigan based on?

Ratigan's lieutenant Captain Doran is modelled on Moriarty's henchman Colonel Sebastian Moran.

What is the name of the mouse community in the cellar of 221B Baker Street in the books?

Sherlock Holmes himself is the tenant upstairs.

Which cancelled project would have had Basil investigate a famous Disney kidnapping?

Planned for Mickey's 75th anniversary, it was dropped over script problems.

Where does Sherlock Holmes first use the alias Basil, according to the film's page?

It gave Eve Titus a neat in-story justification for her detective's name.

Who voices Sherlock Holmes's companion Watson in the film?

No suitable Nigel Bruce recording existed, so Main stood in for the Watson voice.

What does Ratigan do to Fidget to lighten his escaping dirigible?

The loyal bat gets no gratitude from his boss once the chase is on.

What is the name of the mouse monarch Ratigan tries to depose?

Andreas Deja supervised her animation; Eve Brenner voiced her.