Pluto (Disney)

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Pluto (also known as Pluto the Pup) is a fictional character made famous in a series of Disney short cartoons. Pluto has most frequently appeared as Mickey Mouse's pet dog, although he has also been Donald Duck's pet, and occasionally as the pet of Goofy (who, notably, is himself a 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 anthropomorphized beyond showing an unusually broad range of facial expressions; he is actually represented with the characteristics of his species.

Pluto first appeared in the 1930 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Chain Gang as a bloodhound on the trail of escaped prisoner Mickey Mouse. The bloodhound character was adapted into Minnie Mouse's dog Rover. He later changed his name to Pluto and his owner to Mickey Mouse, making him Mickey's best pal.

Pluto 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 ot a way to get himself unstuck.

In Pluto's own cartoons, his friends included Fifi the Peke, Dinah the Dachshund, and Ronnie the St. Bernard Puppy. His enemies included Black Pete, Donald Duck, Butch the Bulldog, Figaro the Kitten, Chip 'n Dale, Buzz the Bee, and other characters.

Pluto was named after the planet Pluto which was discovered in 1930, the same year that the character was introduced, and thus is indirectly named after the Roman god of the underworld.

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.

Pluto has also appeared in the television series Mickey Mouse Works and Disney's House of Mouse. 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.

1 Theatrical cartoons
2 Voices of Pluto
3 In other media
4 Why can't Pluto talk?
5 External links

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Theatrical cartoons

Pluto's Quin-puplets (1937)
Bone Trouble (1940)
Pantry Pirate (1940)
Pluto's Playmate (1941)
A Gentleman's Gentleman (1941)
Canine Caddy (1941)
Lend a Paw (1941)
Pluto, Junior (1942)
The Army Mascot (1942)
The Sleepwalker (1942)
T-Bone For Two (1942)
Pluto At the Zoo (1942)
Pluto and the Armadillo (1943)
Private Pluto (1943)
Springtime for Pluto (1944)
First Aiders (1944)
Dog Watch (1945)
Canine Casanova (1945)
The Legend of Coyote Rock (1945)
Canine Patrol (1945)
Pluto's Kid Brother (1946)
In Dutch (1946)
Squatter's Rights (1946)
The Purloined Pup (1946)
Pluto's Housewarming (1947)
Rescue Dog (1947)
Mail Dog (1947)
Pluto's Blue Note (1947)
Bone Bandit (1948)
Pluto's Purchase (1948)
Cat Nap Pluto (1948)
Pluto's Fledgling (1948)
Pueblo Pluto (1949)
Pluto's Surprise Package (1949)
Pluto's Sweater (1949)
Bubble Bee (1949)
Sheep Dog (1949)
Pluto's Heart Throb (1950)
Pluto and the Gopher (1950)
Wonder Dog (1950)
Primitive Pluto (1950)
Puss Café (1950)
Pests of the West (1950)
Food For Feudin' (1950)
Camp Dog (1950)
Cold Storage (1951)
Plutopia (1951)
Cold Turkey (1951)

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Voices of Pluto

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In other media

In the 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's side, as he has apparently taken a liking to her.

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Why can't Pluto talk?

An interesting point raised most memorably in Stephen King's novella The Body, and the feature film Stand By Me, is that Pluto, a dog, cannot talk or behave as a human, but Goofy, another dog, can. This point was mentioned in a Drawn Together episode.