12 Days of the Big Three, Day 12: Tugboat Mickey

Day 12: Tugboat Mickey (1940)
Starring: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy
Plot: While docked on their tugboat, the gang receives a radio distress call to save a sinking ship.

Yada, Yada, Yada…
This is the third and final installment in the unofficial Mickey, Donald and Goofy Nautical Trilogy.

The name of the sinking ship is the “Steamship Gigantic.”

Mickey is clearly the captain while Donald and Goofy look to be common deckhands.

During Donald’s struggle with one of the ship’s pistons, he’s left wearing what resembles a WWI era gasmask and helmet.

It turns out there was no distress call at all! The radio was merely playing the final episode of The Sinking of the Steamship Gigantic.

Much like Boat Builders and The Whalers, the short ends with their boat in tatters and the trio floating.

Also like Boat Builders, they spend the majority of the short docked and can barely even manage taking the vessel to sea before disaster hits.

A Short About Nothing
This one had a very clever premise with the War of the Worlds-like misunderstanding but it’s a shame that we spent the majority of the short below deck. Otherwise, it was very pedestrian as the third of the last four episodes to take place on a boat and there was, again, very little interaction amongst the three stars. Much like the boats that all inevitably sunk, this series feels like it met its own inevitable, waterlogged end.