Headscratchers / Classic Disney Shorts

• You might have heard this before: Donald Duck never wears pants, yet he always wears a towel when he gets out of the shower! Why is that?
  • Fridge Brilliance: To keep the floor from getting wet!
  • How about the fact during World War II, the studio had a cartoon series where Donald joins the Army as a trooper. Wouldn't having him in the US Navy or at least as a Marine have been more logical for a duck?
  • Although to be fair, DuckTales (1987) had Donald joining the Navy at the beginning of the series.
  • Donald has frequently been shown as a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal, with either half of his body covered but the other exposed. While he normally wears a shirt but no pants, sometimes it's the other way around. For example, if he's at the beach, he may be shown wearing swim trunks and no shirt. When neither half of his body is covered, however, he reacts as a normal person would to being naked (even covering his crotch). So apparently it is acceptable for him to at least have half of his body clothed, regardless of which half it is, but shameful for him to walk around in the buff.
• In the Silly Symphony, "The Golden Touch", King Midas, as in the legend, cannot touch anything without it turning into gold, not even food. How is it, then, that he is able to touch his own cape without it turning into gold? I can understand himself not turning into gold whenever he touches his own body, but his cape? This doesn't make any sense!
  • And for that matter, how can be touch himself and not turn to gold, yet TOUCH HIS OWN TOOTH AND TURN IT INTO GOLD!
    • I'm guessing that Midas' cape and clothes wouldn't be affected as they were in effect "already part of him" when he received the Golden Touch, anything else that Midas touched was "new material" and would then transform. Touching himself probably would render the GT neutral; it'd be like touching something already gold. On the tooth thing, maybe it only worked with conscious intent, as teeth can be removed. Or maybe Midas was touching a filling. Or Rule of Funny. Or something.
  • There's a reason Walt Disney loathed that short. Until the day he died he said that short was his biggest mistake.
• How can Donald Duck have Gus Goose as a cousin? And the extended Don Rosa McDuck family tree also includes coots, which aren't even in the Anseriformes (duck/goose) family.
  • And according to Houseof Mouse, Abagail and Amelia Gabble (both geese) are also Donald's cousins.
• Not exactly original, but how come Goofy's a dog (supposedly) and gets to live in a house, have a job, talk, etc. while Pluto is a pet that lives like and acts like...well a pet dog; he doesn't talk, have a job, or have any human-like freedoms.
  • Because classic Disney shorts are weird.
  • Alternately: how come humans live in houses and chimpanzees don't, considering humans and chimps are all primates? Maybe Goofy and Pluto are similar but separate species.
    • Or, perhaps, as Mickey's dog, Pluto has taken it upon himself to protect Mickey. By sleeping outside, he can see everything and thus protect Mickey better.
  • It appears that both anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic versions of certain species exist in this world.

• I know the Pete Jr. (or PJ) from Goof Troop originated from the "Bellboy Donald" (1942), Junior just like Max from Goof Troop originated from the red-headed, "Fathers are People" (1951) Goofy Jr., but the Goof Troop/A Goofy Movie versions of the two characters don't look much like the original versions. In fact, they look so different from each other that I think the original and modern day versions of both of the characters as separate entities. Even though the original and modern day versions of Mickey, Minnie, Clarabelle, Horace, Donald, and Goofy look pretty different from each other, I still see both versions of those six characters as one entity.
  • Junior and PJ
    • The original, "Bellboy Donald" Junior (Pete called him that in the cartoon he debuted in), looks a lot like Mickey Mouse, looked somewhat kitty-like, has proportionately bigger ears than that of his dad, is in shape (that is, not overweight), is devious, spunky, and confident, and dressed a lot like Little Lord Fauntleroy.
    • I personally think Junior is irresistibly cute, with his furry little body, peach-colored face, little black nose, and gravely voice◊.
    • The modern day (Goof Troop, A Goofy Movie, and An Extremely Goofy Movie) Pete jr., better known as PJ, is overweight like his dad, has a double chin, has small ears like his dad, is shy, and is a loyal friend to Max.
  • Goofy Jr. and Max
    • The original, "Fathers Are People" Goofy jr. has red hair and a red nose, looks like his mom, Mrs. Goofy, and has a wild disposition.
    • The modern day (Goof Troop, A Goofy Movie, An Extremely Goofy Movie, and House of Mouse) Max has black hair, a black nose, looks more like his dad, Goofy, has longer ears than the original version, and is less earnest and humble but more "normal" than his dad.
    • Turns out Goofy Jr. and Max are the same character. While the character rarely appeared in comics in the old days, comic artist Tony Strobl did redesign "Junior" with black hair and longer ears ("The Goofy Adventure Story" comics adaptation, 1957), bridging the two models.
  • Just a good old-fashioned Retcon. But considering Goofy Jr. was more of a plot device than a character and that Pete Jr. was really similar to Pete, one that probably did Goof Troop a world of good considering the primary source of its conflicts and humor.
• If Plane Crazy was Mickey's first appearance. While Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon with sound and was also Mickey and Minnie's first appearance. Then why is Steamboat Willie more well known then Plane Crazy? I mean, Steamboat Willie was seen on one of Disney's newer logos along with the boat making an appearance in Walt Disney World's version of Fantasmic. Why didn't Steamboat Willie get more well known? Heck, alot of people believe the Steamboat Willie was Mickey,Minnie and Pete's first appearance yet. Pete appeared in the Alice Comedies and Mickey and Minnie first appeared in Plane Crazy. Was it the way Mickey was portrayed in Plane Crazy or was it the prototype of Mickey and Minnie?
  • Steamboat Willie is far more remembered due to the fact that it was the first cartoon with sound, making more people watch the cartoon, putting Mickey Mouse on the map.
    • Actually, Steamboat Willie WASN'T the first sound cartoon. However, the short came out when cartoons were dying out, and it revived people's interest in animation.

• I can't believe no one has ever asked this: OK, in the Disney universe there are lots of ducks, most of them from Donald's family tree: There's Daisy, there's Huey, Dewey and Louie, there's Scrooge, there's also Joe McQuack, Darkwing Duck, Gozalin... Then why in the World is Donald the only duck in Disney universe that quacks?
  • That's indeed weird that most of the ducks don't quack in that universe. However, you can't say NO other one.
    • First, there are the characters who actually quacked at some point, despite it was changed in their later appearances on TV: Huey, Dewey and Louie quacked in their first cartoons, that was just changed in Ducktales for some odd reason. Same for Daisy Duck, if you look at her first cartoon "Mr Duck steps out" she talks in quacking-voice. We have also Gus Goose, who… Well I can't say he quacks per say, but as a goose he honks, which is the same basic idea (doing his specie's normal sound).
    • Then, there's a BUNCH of comic-only characters whose voice remains unknown. We may very well assume that Mrs Quackfaster or Fethry Duck quack, after all.
  • To come back to the "why", out-of-universe it's because Donald's quacking voice was literally part of his personality, a source of gag, while making all the later characters quack to (then using the same gag) would have seemed redundant. Also, remember that it's because they had a good duck-imitator that they could make Donald quack properly. They most certainly couldn't find enough good quacking actors for all the Duck characters, and it wouldn't have been funny if all of them were dubbed by the same guy. In-universe, maybe it's a genetic matter (perhaps the gene that make ducks quack is recessive; then it was enough than ONE duck in history had a mutation that gave him a normal voice, and then all his children had too). Alternatively, Donald's quacking is just a pronunciation flaw; he COULD speak normally but nobody dared to tell him "you should do something about your voice" because of his well-known temper. Evidence of that: in the short "Donald's dilemma", Donald is psychologically shocked and that makes him speak normally.
  • It's a speech impediment, simple as that.
• From what I’ve heard, Huey, Dewey and Louie are Donald’s nephews from their mother’s side, which means their mother is Donald’s sister. Yet they all share the same surname.
  • Apparently "Duck" is a common surname for ducks, just how names like Jones, Smith, and Brown are common surnames for people.
  • Or it could be that they were just given their mother's maiden name.