Great Mouse Detective Collectibles

These are not items for sale, just a list of all the Great Mouse detective merchandise I can find. It began as a realatively short list, but in later years, Disney has begun to recognize this film more and more, to the deight of collectors everywhere!

View the entire list of collectibles.

Disney Doodles -- The Great Mouse Detective

Disney Doodles were cute snippets produced during the pandemic, each showcasing some Disney character enjoying the parks. Several of them featured characters from my favourite film, The Great Mouse Detective.

You can find the rest of them in my list of Basil Sightings.

Great Mouse Detective Books

I am a great fan of Disney coffee table books. Sadly, there has never been a "Making of..." or "Art of..." book published for Disney's Great Mouse Detective. When your favourite film is one of Disney's Forgotten Few, you have to make do with a mention or photo here and there instead of a complete volume. And I've bought many a book just hoping there would be a page or two concerning my fave. Sometimes I'm rewarded, sometimes disappointed.

Here is a list of Disney books that contain, in my humble opinion, significant Great Mouse Detective content. Enough, at least, to please this fan.

Disney Who's Who (any edition)

Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters (any edition)

My Very First Disney ABC Word Book

Disney Dossiers

Disney Treasury of Children's Classics

Disney's Lost Chords, vol. 2

They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Early Renaissance

The Ultimate Disney Trivia Book, vol. 1

Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classics, vol. 1

The Disney Villain

Mouse in Transition

Disney's Dogs

Mouse Under Glass

Disney's Animation Magic

The Art of Walt Disney

Layout & Background

Drawing 100 Years of Disney Wonder

Disney Recipes

Two Guys Named Joe

Once Upon a Studio

For those who wished they could take the time to examine the Disney short Once Upon a Studio frame by frame, we can't help you with that. But we can post this picture of the final photo for you to study at your leisure.

Too small, I know. But it's the best I could do on this blog. So to help you find my favourites from The Great Mouse Detective, here's a close-up of the right side of the photo. There are Basil, Dawson, and Olivia on Susie's bumper, Ratigan on the fender, and Fidget in front of Mr. Smee.

Next is a larger shot of Basil, Dawson, and Olivia from a different scene, followed by Ratigan about to get his just desserts during the final credits.

Great Mouse Detective Animation Drawings

The sale might be over, but these production drawings of Basil of Baker Street from The Great Mouse Detective need to be preserved forever for those who can't afford to buy them.

Offered for sale by Untitled Animation Gallery in California.

The Making of a Disney Sketchbook Ornament

These are some of the steps that go into the process of creating a Disney Sketchbook Christmas ornament:

First comes the drawing.

The design must look good from every angle.

The image is colored in on the computer.

Here is the completed drawing.

A whiteware prototype is made.

The finished product. See more on Disney Insider.

Disney Super-Heroes -- Basil of Baker Street

There once was an online role-playing site where Disney characters were played as super-heroes and villains. Although Fantasmic Dreams is no more, I thought that the characters I'd created, along with some who never saw the light of day, should be preserved for posterity. The first, of course, was Basil of Baker Street:

Justice, The Cloaked Cavalier

Civilian Identity: Basil Chatsworth Bassington

Age: 26

Species: Mouse

Sex: Male

Nationality: British

Alignment: Lawful Good

Group Affiliation: Although he may form some temporary allegiances, Justice is basically a loner

Appearance: The Cloaked Cavalier is a gentleman adventurer: he wears evening dress consisting of black coat and trousers, white shirtfront, and black tie, topped with a hat and his eponymous flowing black cloak. He hides his identity behind a mask of black silk and wears gloves to prevent telltale fingerprints.

Abilities and Powers: Justice has no true super-power, but is an excellent swordsman with a genius IQ, and an expert at observation and deduction, as well as a master of disguise.

Weaknesses: Justice has natural manic-depressive tendencies, a crushing ego, and a dislike of children. He is sometimes lacking in social skills and can become carried away with scientific curiosity or a mystery to the point of rudeness, though it is not generally intentional.

Accessories: The Cloaked Cavalier wields a light sword, which he can use quite skillfully. He also keeps a magnifying lens handy, along with some burglary tools discreetly secreted upon his person.

Secret Origin: As a boy, Basil had a phenomenal eye for detail, taking note of everything around him and making deductions from all he observed. When he realised this ability might be a useful tool in fighting crime, his life's course was set.

He focused all his considerable energies and great brain toward the defeat of criminals as a private consulting detective. But the same law that served to punish evil-doers too often hampered him in his investigations. Thus was born Justice, The Cloaked Cavalier, a daring adventurer who, though working to uphold the law was not hindered by its petty details. With a mask to preserve his incognito, Basil began a double life; though the more conventional agents of the law did not always trust him, Basil meted out his own brand of, ahem, justice to criminals all over the Empire.

Disney Matchmaking

Who doesn't love to play matchmaker? I plead guilty. Here are some of my favorite Disney couples, entirely non-canonical and out of my own imagination. But I think they are great matches, even if they don't come from the same places or times.

See more couples...

Top 3 Disney Film Scores

Disney certainly has a lot of superb film scores, but there are three that stand out to me. Here's my list of the best of the best, the top 3 Disney music scores of all time.

Please note that this ranking is for the score only, what we used to call the background music. Actual songs from musicals were not considered for this list. And the Big 3 are: More...

Congratulations to the Great Mouse Detective Crew!

Congratulations to the crew who made The Great Mouse Detective possible. Happy 35th anniversary.

Beware: Counterfeit Disney Stamps

As a connoisseur of all things relating to The Great Mouse Detective, it behooves me to point out that all eight of these innocent-looing stamp sets are actually bootleg counterfeits. Don't be fooled! More...

Beware! Bootleg Disney Pins

A new batch of fake Disney pins from The Great Mouse Detective have been making the rounds. Don't be fooled! These are not legitimate Disneyana.

For the complete list, visit Whatsits Galore.

Ratigan Has Taken Over!

Professor Ratigan, that evil genius of the mouse world, has taken over Basil of Baker Street's Facebook page! We can only assume that Basil is in grave danger from this Napoleon of crime. Hurry to Facebook before it's too late! More...

Beware! Counterfeit Production Cel For Sale

Spotted this for sale online, listed as an original production cel from The Great Mouse Detective. Although the image is clearly Basil of Baker Street from the Disney film, this is certainly not a production cel.

Even a casual viewer might notice these errors:

1. That's a stock pose used on merchandise but never seen in the film
2. Basil's pea coat should have a double row of buttons
3. Those shoes are never worn with that outfit
4. The shoes are colored incorrectly
5. Basil holds a shot glass; in the film, the drinks are served in mugs

Add to this the background, which isn't even a Disney background, and shows a human-sized street from the American west instead of a rodent-sized British pub, and you have a slew of good reasons to steer clear. Granted, Basil is very nicely drawn. But it's not worth paying cel prices for. When I pointed out these facts to the seller, he promplty removed the listing and replaced it with this:

An imporvement, yes, but still not what the listing claims. Buyer beware!