GOOF TROOP
(Disney Channel, Syndication, ABC, April 2-December 5, 1992)
Walt Disney Television Animation
MAIN CAST:
Jim Cummings – Peter Pete, Sr., police chief, Mayor Baba, various
Rob Paulsen – Peter “P.J.” Pete, Jr., Biff Fuddled, Harold Hatchback, Leech, various
Frank Welker – Waffles, Chainsaw, Giblet the clown, Bubbles, various
Disney’s Goofy first debuted in 1932’s Mickey’s Revue.
Developed by Art Babbitt,
Frank Webb and Jack Kinney,
Goofy was typically a good-natured but dim-witted klutz who would be the
subject of various pratfalls and moments of slapstick. Initially appearing as
an older dog dubbed Dippy Dawg by Webb behind the scenes, he had the beginning
designs of the character as he’s most well-known, but minus any bottom
clothing. Pinto Colvig
supplied what would become Goofy’s signature laugh. His next appearance in The Whoopee Party
rendered him younger. After four more essentially cameo appearances in
other shorts, Goofy would spend the years between 1935 and 1940 appearing as
part of a trio with Mickey Mouse
(who was briefly replaced by his dog Pluto)
and Donald Duck.
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| Opening title card to Goofy shorts. |
Goofy and Wilbur in
1939 gave Goofy his first solo starring shot, voiced that time by George Johnson.
More came in the 1940s with what became known as The Goofy How To…
series of shots, in which Goofy would demonstrate to the audience how to
perform a specific task, like sleeping, playing football, or riding a horse. A
falling out between Disney and Colvig left Goofy without a voice, which led to
the How To… shorts being mostly dialogue-free
through a narrator and utilizing recordings of Colvig’s voice or imitators. By
the time Colvig returned to the role in 1944, Goofy began appearing in a series
of shorts where every character was a different version of Goofy, expanding his
role beyond the clumsiness.
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| Goofy as "George Geef." |
In the 1950s, Walt Disney felt
Goofy lost some of his personality with the multiple roles. Looking to restore
it, Disney proposed a series of shorts depicting Goofy as a family man dealing
with everyday life. Goofy was given a makeover: he was more intelligent, had
smaller eyes, and his whole body now matched his face’s coloring with only his
head being black. His floppy ears, external teeth and white gloves also came and
went in various shorts. While still named Goofy in the opening titles, the
narrator usually referred to him as “George Geef” or other names when Goofy
portrayed multiple characters.
After 1965, Goofy’s use was greatly
diminished outside of a series of cameos, but his original personality began to resurface. Following Colvig’s death, he was
voiced by several actors until Bill Farmer landed the role permanently in 1986.
In 1992, Goofy was chosen as the subject of Disney’s next animated television
effort. Developed by Peter Montgomery, Goof
Troop took inspiration from the 1950s shorts and cast Goofy in the role of
a widowed father trying to raise his son, Max (Dana Hill). They moved from a
trailer in the city to a big house in the suburbs of Spoonerville (named for
layout artist J.
Michael Spooner) with their cat Waffles (Frank Welker). Goofy once again
got a makeover in the form of slacks, a sweater over a shirt and a bowtie.
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| Pete getting ready to run a con on Goofy. |
Goofy’s neighbor was another
long-time Disney character: Pete (Jim Cummings). Pete was created in 1925 by
Disney and Ub Iwerks and was
usually featured as the antagonist of the shorts in which he appeared. In this
incarnation, Pete was a former high school classmate of Goofy’s and not only
found Goofy an annoyance, but Goofy caused Pete to lose their big football
game. Pete was a used car salesman and proprietor of Honest Pete’s Used Cars.
Aside from making deals that greatly profited him on his lot, Pete sought
nothing more than to get Goofy out of the neighborhood.
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| The Pete family on vacation: P.J., Pete, Pistol and Peg. |
Pete was also a family man. His
second wife Peg (a play on one of Pete’s names, “Peg-Leg Pete,” and voiced by
April Winchell) was a real estate agent who never let Pete get away with any of
his antics--especially where Goofy was concerned. Pete’s son P.J. (Rob Paulsen)
became Max’s best friend and was an extremely laid-back person. Their daughter
Pistol (a play on another Pete name, “Pistol Pete,” and played by Nancy
Cartwright) was hyperactive in comparison and talked with a lisp. Pete loved to
spoil her with anything she wanted, and often got P.J. blamed for something she
did. They had a dog named Chainsaw (Welker) who also had an antagonistic
relationship with Waffles.
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| Peg gets a ticket. |
The series was portrayed largely as
a slice of life sitcom, with both families going about their everyday affairs
in comedic manners. Much of the comedy came, naturally, from Goofy’s antics as
well as Pete’s schemes. Pete would act like a big blowhard with everyone except
his wife, who was the only one that could turn him into a mewling and agreeable
kitten by shouting him down. Max, who usually played the straight man to Goofy
and tried to play things cool, sometimes couldn’t escape his heritage and had
his own Goof moments; connecting Max to a father he otherwise was frequently
embarrassed about. Despite Pete’s intense hatred of Goofy, and Goofy
unknowingly being the bane of his existence, there were moments when the two
were almost friendly and did things together. Of course, something would
inevitably go wrong to shatter that peace, but they had their moments.
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| Storyboards for the show. |
Goof Troop originally previewed on The Disney Channel in
April 20, 1992 through that July before airing as an hour-long preview movie
called “Forever Goof” on September 5th. The episode was later broken
up into the episodes “Everything’s Coming Up Goofy” and “Good Neighbor Goof.”
It moved to its permanent home in syndication on The
Disney Afternoon 2-hour programming block on September 7th. 65 episodes
were syndicated while an additional 13 ran on ABC
Saturday mornings. A separate Christmas special ran in the fall of 1992 apart
from the regular syndicated run. The series was written by Carter Crocker, Mirith J. Colao, Jim Carlson, Steve Cuden, Steve Edelman, Rich Fogel, Karl Geurs, Gary Greenfield, Libby Hinson, Alan Katz, Bob Kushell, Stephen Levi, Julia Lewald, Susan Maddocks, Jymn Magon, Mark McCorkle, Terrence McDonnell, Mark McKain, Dennis Melonas, Cathryn Perdue, Michael Ryan, Jeff Saylor, Bruce Reid Schaefer, Mirith Schilder, Bob Schooley, Jeffrey Scott, Mark Seidenberg, George Shea, Steve Smith, Dean Stefan, Jan Strnad, Bryan Sullivan, Stephen Sustarsic, Laurie Sutton, Carl Swenson, Bruce Talkington, Mallory Tarcher, Chuck Tately, Kent Wadsworth and Marion Wells, with a theme
composed by Phil Perry. In order to
produce such a large order of episodes, numerous animation facilities were
utilized including Wang
Film Productions Company, Sunwoo Entertainment,
Moving
Images International, Kennedy Cartoons, Jade
Animation and Walt Disney Animation’s Japan, France
and Australia
facilities, among others.
In 1992, Goofy and Max would go on
to replace DuckTales characters as part of Mickey’s Magical TV World
live stage show at Walt
Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. In 1995, Walt
Disney Pictures theatrically released A
Goofy Movie directed by Kevin
Lima. The film took place several years after the series, where Max (now
voiced by Jason Marsden) and P.J. were in high school with new best friend,
Bobby Zimeruski (Pauly Shore).
Although spun-off from the series, Goofy and Pete were restored to their
original physical appearances in the classic Disney shorts. Peg, Pistol and the
pets were also left out, and the setting was changed from Spoonerville to New
York City. In 2000, a direct-to-video sequel, An Extremely
Goofy Movie, was released following Max and P.J. as they began college,
with Goofy joining them to finish earning his degree. Walt Disney Home Video
released Mickey’s Once Upon a
Christmas in 1999 on VHS (and DVD the following year), which contained
the segment “A Very Goofy Christmas” featuring Goofy, Pete and Max (Shaun Fleming). In 2004, Disneytoon Studios
released the sequel Mickey’s Twice Upon a
Christmas that featured Goofy and Max (again voiced by Marsden) in “Christmas
Maximus,” where an adult Max brings a girl home to meet Goofy.
In 1992, Burger King offered four toys based on
the show in its Kids’
Meals. They were pull-back toys of the male cast being dragged away by
their bowling balls. In 1994, they were again featured in a Disney Afternoon promotion for beach toys. In 1993, Pizza Hut had a promotion where they
offered Goof Troop gear with their personal pan pizzas. Figurines
of the characters were released through Kellogg’s
cereals and from Bullyland in
Germany. In 1994, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies offered Goof Troop magic tricks on the boxes. Justoys
released a line of bendy Bendems featuring Goofy, Max, P.J. and Pistol both
separately and as a box set. In 2011, Disney Vinylmation, a line of character
figures available from Disney
Parks made to resemble Mickey Mouse despite the character depicted,
produced a series of Disney
Afternoon figures. Goofy and Max
were released for the Goof
Troop set.
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| The Goof Troop video game. |
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| The wide-release of Goof Troop vol. 1 3-disc set. |
EPISODE GUIDE (preview dates not available):
“Everything’s Coming Up Goofy / Good Neighbor Goof” (9/5/92) – Goof
and Max move to Spoonerville next to Goofy’s old classmate Pete and fireworks
fly between the dads.
“Axed by Addition” (9/7/92) – Fearing a grounding over a bad report
card, P.J. decides to live it up on his last day of freedom.
“Unreal Estate” (9/8/92) – Having used the handyman money on a new
fish finder, Pete hires Goofy to paint one of Peg’s real estate listings.
“You Camp Take It With You” (9/9/92) – Peg feels Pete and Goofy
should spend time with the boys over summer vacation and they decide to take
the boys camping.
“Midnight Movie Madness” (9/10/92) – Max and P.J. are terrified by a
scary movie, and Pete decides to have some fun and take advantage of that fear.
“Counterfeit Goof” (9/11/92) – Pete hires Goofy and Max to wallpaper
his house, and Goofy ends up with some counterfeit money he uses to buy more
supplies.
“O, R-V, I N-V U” (9/14/92) – To get on Pete’s good side, Max helps
him design his dream RV and ends up becoming better friends with Pete at the
expense of P.J.
“Meanwhile, Back at the Ramp” (9/15/92) – Max’s embarrassment that
Goofy had never won an award prompts Goofy to volunteer to ride Pete’s colossal
promotional half-pipe at his lot.
“Close Encounters of the Weird Mime” (9/16/92) – Max and P.J.’s
science project leads everyone to believe Spoonerville is being invaded.
“Slightly Dinghy” (9/17/92) – Max decides to use a fishing trip to
look for buried treasure.
“Cabana Fever” (9/18/92) – Pete decides to take a vacation away from
Goofy, but Goofy ends up vacationing on the same island.
“Where There’s Smoke, There’s Goof” (9/21/92) – Goofy becomes a
fireman.
“Date With Destiny” (9/22/92) – Peg enlists Pete to find Goofy’s
ideal match, but being unable to do so sets Goofy on an unsuspecting
maintenance woman.
“Hot Air” (9/23/92) – Pistol gains a desire for flight while Goofy
and Max mess up Pete’s new commercial.
“Take Me Out of the Ball Game” (9/24/92) – Pete and Goofy force
their boys to play little league baseball.
“Wrecks, Lies & Videotape” (9/25/92) – Pete steals Max’s tape of
Goofy for “America’s Most Painful Home Videos” to win the show’s prize.
“Max-imum Protection” (9/28/92) – Max is afraid of burglars, and
when Goofy refuses to get a security system Max decides to stay at Pete’s house
with his new high-tech system.
“Goofin’ Hood and His Melancholy Men” (9/29/92) – Max’s dislike of
violin lessons has Goofy telling him about their musician ancestor Goofy
Knobknees, aka Goofin’ Hood.
“Leader of the Pack” (9/30/92) – Max enlists the help of his cousin
Debbie to retake the Behemoth Burger Stand from the Pharoah Gang.
“Inspector Goofy” (10/1/92) – Pete convinces Goofy to become an
inspector in order to get a competitor shut down, but it backfires when Pete’s
lot is found full of violations.
“Shake, Rattle & Goof” (10/2/92) – A shyster record executive
finds he can make a profit over the boys’ band.
“Terminal Pete” (10/5/92) – A doctor’s joke leaves Pete believing
he’s going to die.
“Fool’s Gold” (10/6/92) – When Chainsaw brings home gold in her fur
Pete enlists Goofy’s help in finding it.
“Cat’s Entertainment” (10/7/92) – Pete tricks Goofy into giving up
Waffles in order to use him in a get rich quick scheme.
“Waste Makes Haste” (10/8/92) – Pete and Goofy start a recycling
tournament to see who can earn the most money.
“The Ungoofables” (10/9/92) – Max’s irresponsibility causes Goofy to
tell him the lesson their relative Elliot Goof learned by being a responsible
secret agent.
“All the Goof That’s Fit to Print” (10/12/92) – Pete starts a
newspaper to advertise his lot, but his picture ends up being crossed with one
of an alien made by Max.
“To Heir is Human” (10/13/92) – Pete makes P.J. work the lot so he
can take a vacation.
“Hallow-Weenies” (10/14/92) – Pete acquires a haunted mansion.
“Tub Be or Not Tub Be” (10/15/92) – Pete uses an unknowing P.J. to
spy on Goofy’s tub racer in order to get an advantage over him.
“Major Goof” (10/16/92) – Pete wants to outdo his competitor with a
patriotic campaign, but first must get rid of his uncle-in-law Major Bob
Sparrowhawk.
“A Goof of the People” (10/19/92) – Goofy and Pete both run for
mayor when pollution becomes a major problem in town.
“Goof Under My Roof” (10/20/92) – Pete discovers a survey that
declares he actually owns half of Goofy’s property.
“Goodbye, Mr. Goofy” (10/23/92) – Goofy loses his mortgage money and
Peg lets them stay at their house until they can recover it.
“Lethal Goofin’” (10/26/92) – Max and P.J. become the new school
safety patrolmen and the school bullies are looking to take them down.
“Frankengoof” (10/27/92) – Goofy inherits Frankengoof Castle, and
Pete uses his resemblance to the Frankengoof monster to scare Goofy.
“E Equals MC Goof” (10/28/92) – Goofy mixes up his resume with Max’s
science report and is mistaken for a rocket scientist.
“Pete’s Day at the Races” (10/29/92) – Pete wins a race horse in a
game of poker.
“In Goof We Trust” (10/30/92) – Pete decides to use Goofy’s
reputation as the most honest man in town to sell more cars.
“And Baby Makes Three” (11/2/92) – Fearing a new arrival to the
family, P.J. and Pistol enlist Max’s help to make Pete hate the idea of having
a new baby.
“The Incredible Bulk” (11/3/92) – Pete registers Goofy to wrestle
champion Bulk Brogan.
“Mrs. Spoonerville” (11/4/92) – Pete changes his ways in order to
win a house-cleaning competition.
“For Pete’s Sake” (11/5/92) – Pete tricks Goofy into thinking he
wrecked his hedge clipper, and Goofy’s half-read apology note leaves Pete
thinking someone’s after him.
“Big City Blues” (11/6/92) – Pete and Goofy follow Max and P.J.
downtown.
“Rally Round the Goof” (11/9/92) – Pete decides Goofy will be the
good luck charm he needs to win the Spoonerville 500.
“Window Pains” (11/10/92) – Peg’s new window washing job causes
friction with Pete over who makes more money.
“Nightmare on Goof Street” (11/11/92) – Pete steals Goofy’s prize of
a home remodeling only to learn they were con artists who stole parts of his
house instead.
“Where There’s a Will, There’s a Goof” (11/12/92) – Pete and Goofy
pose as brothers to gain an inheritance.
“Winter Blunderland” (11/13/92) – Goofy plays Bigfoot for Pete’s
promotion which attracts the attention of the real Bigfoot.
“Gymnauseum” (11/16/92) – Pete gets in shape so he can outclass the
man he fears will steal his wife away.
“Come Fly With Me” (11/17/92) – Max mucks with Pete’s computer,
which zaps him when Pete goes to use it and changes Pete into a fly.
“As Goof Would Have It” (11/18/92) – Pete cons a diet food company
by using a picture of Goofy as his “after” picture.
“Calling All Goofs” (11/19/92) – Pete makes it so Goofy is unable to
attend his family reunion, so Peg brings the family reunion to Goofy.
“Buddy Building” (11/20/92) – As Pete and a rival look for a
celebrity to promote their businesses, Max is afraid he’s losing his friend to
the new physically fit kid in town.
“Dr. Horatio’s Magic Orchestra” (11/23/92) – Pete won a magical
musical band that played a tune he detests, and no matter how hard he tries he
can’t get rid of it.
“Goofs of a Feather” (11/24/92) – Feeling guilt over killing a duck,
Pete takes in the rest of the ducks.
“Goof Fellas” (11/25/92) – Goofy and Pete end up in witness
protection, but it’s hard to hide Goofy’s antics.
“The Good, the Bad & the Goofy” (11/26/92) – Pete thinks Goofy
is a jinx as he’s plagued by perpetual bad luck.
“Educating Goofy” (11/27/92) – When Max doesn’t take his education
seriously, Goofy goes back to finish school.
“Peg o’ the Jungle” (11/30/92) – Peg tries to rekindle Pete’s
romantic feelings.
“Partners in Grime” (12/1/92) – Pete is determined to make a profit
on the food truck he was conned into buying.
“A Pizza the Action” (12/2/92) – Pete tries to pawn a failing pizza
franchise onto Goofy, who’s determined to revive it.
“To Catch a Goof” (12/3/92) – A burglar is loose in town, Pete goes
on a diet, and Goofy takes up ninja training.
“Gunfight at the Okie Dokie Corral” (12/4/92) – Max’s refusal to
wear his new glasses prompts Goofy to tell him about their ancestory Mopalong
Goofy.
“Queasy Rider” (9/12/92) – Max fixes up Goofy’s old motorcycle and
encounters a mean biker gang.
“Maximum Insecurity” (9/19/92) – Teaching Leech a lesson about
stealing gets Max and P.J. framed for it themselves.
“Puppy Love” (9/26/92) – P.J. falls for the new girl at school and
stumbles through trying to ask her to the dance.
“Great Egg-Spectations” (10/3/92) – Max finds an egg that hatches into
a baby dinosaur.
“Three Ring Bind” (10/10/92) – Pistol rescues a bad circus’ animals
and brings them home.
“Pistolgeist” (10/17/92) –
“Bringin’ on the Rain” (10/24/92) – Wanting to grow a garden to win a
competition during a draught, Pete steals Goofy’s water.
“Talent to the Max” (10/31/92) – Max is about to give up on his magic
act when a magician’s hat greatly improves his act.
“Tee for Two” (11/7/92) – Pete is anxious to tear down a miniature
golf course and Peg is ready to fight him to stave it.
“Goofin’ Up the Social Ladder” (11/14/92) – Peg wants to change her
family’s ways and live a high-class lifestyle.
“Sherlock Goof” (11/21/92) – Max trying to catch a mouse for a pet
encourages Goofy to tell him about Sherlock Goof, an
exterminator-turned-detective who partnered with a mouse.
“From Air to Eternity” (11/28/92) – P.J. is afraid to confess to Pete
that he’s afraid of heights.
“Clan of the Cave Goof” (12/5/92) – To encourage Max to go to the
dentist, Goofy tells him about their ancestor Caveman Goof.
Special:
“Have Yourself a Goofy Little Christmas” (11/5/92) – Sick of Goofy
blowing up his house every year, Pete takes his family away to Asperin,
Colorado for the holidays.
Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2020.
