I was introduced to Goof Troop through reruns - specifically, the reruns that aired on Toon Disney. Same goes for most other Disney Afternoon shows like Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and Gargoyles. Y'know what episode I distinctively remember watching? The episode where Max films a video of Goofy to submit to a parody of America's Funniest Home Videos and then Pete disguises himself as Goofy to claim the prize for himself. I remember loving the joke where Pete's wife claims that her secret weapon against Pete is her mouth.
If you watched the Disney Afternoon when it was on, or watched reruns of the shows on Toon Disney like I did, chances are you don't need to be told what the premise of the show was. But for those of you that didn't, I'll fill you in - there were a couple of shorts where Goofy was shown as the father of a redheaded boy named Junior. This show brought back the "Goofy as a father" concept, turning Junior into the much "hipper" eleven-year-old Max, who has since become a recurring character in "Mickey Mouse and Friends" productions. Goofy, voiced by Bill Farmer, and Max, voiced by Dana Hill, lived in the suburban town of Spoonerville. Goofy being... well, Goofy, hijinks ensued, especially when the neighbors got involved. Those neighbors? Mickey's foe Pete, voiced by Jim Cummings, his wife Peg, voiced by April Winchell, and their two children: Max's best buddy PJ, voiced by Rob Paulsen, and rambunctious daughter Pistol, voiced by Nancy Cartwright.
Goof Troop was created by Michael Peraza Jr., the latter of whom talked about the show's development on his blog. Apparently, when he was brought in, they still had no idea what they wanted the show to be other than "Goofy is the main character". Tons of ideas for a hypothetical premise, all of them whipped up by the same creative executive who'd just been hired, were thrown out: one minute Goofy was the head scoutmaster of a group of scouts (which is why the show we got is called "Goof TROOP"), then he was a firefighter, then he was a detective, then he was a "swash-buckling hero fighting the Flying Dutchman". That same creative executive also came up with bizarre supporting casts for these premises that included alien dragon babies and giant gorillas (somebody in Disney's television department apparently thought giant gorillas were hilarious, which explains why there were episodes of both Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers AND Darkwing Duck with giant gorillas in them [and why there was a giant gorilla in Marsupilami]).
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| Concept art by Michael for the "Goofy as a detective" pitch. |
Eventually, the idea became to do a show starring Goofy in Toontown from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which had recently been screened at the studio). He would be the driver of Benny the Cab, who was promptly replaced by a talking SUV named Woody. Michael Peraza Jr. explained to the executive why this wasn't such a good idea - what made Toontown work in the movie was the crossover of the live action world with the zany animated world where everything from the trees to the buildings was alive. And if Goofy is shown in a GOOFY world, is he still really Goofy? Not to mention they likely wouldn't get the rights to use all the same cartoon characters from non-Disney studios the movie did. The executive didn't listen and just told him to whip up some concept art.
Then Michael got a call from Gary Krisel, the president of Walt Disney Television Animation, who wanted to check on the progress of the Goofy show. Upon arriving at Gary's office, Michael explained that he didn't think they had a show to present yet and talked to him about all the different scenarios that had been started. When he got to the "Goofy in Toontown" pitch, he explained why he didn't think it would work and Gary agreed completely before asking Michael what HE would do. Michael had this to say: "Goofy is a recognized star of Disney animation, so why re-invent the wheel? His son is an average kid dealing with many of the usual issues they face: peer pressure, young love, grades, school bullies, and so on. On top of all that, he has the zaniest, wackiest GOOFIEST dad to live down. No matter how insane the situations get though, they will always love each other. They're a family." Gary loved the idea and told him to get started. Robert Taylor was brought in to produce the project, and before long the show was premiering in syndication on September 5th, 1992. Two seasons were produced, making for a total of seventy-eight episodes, plus a Christmas special.
Today, you can find episodes of Goof Troop on Disney Plus (a handful of episodes were also released on DVD). We're going to watch the thirty-third episode of the show, "A Goof of the People". Why this episode in particular? Because I'm writing this review on Earth Day and according to TV Tropes, this one has an environmental message. This is Goof Troop!
NOTE: For some reason, despite Wikipedia claiming that this is the thirty-third episode, Disney Plus lists it as the thirty-NINTH episode. Very strange...
