Sport Goofy in Soccermania

[juicymcduck]

Yesterday, I decided to re-watch the 1987 short movie Sport Goofy in Soccermania -- despite the fact that I never was into sport, let alone football/soccer. Now, I wouldn't call this short a classic by any means, but I found that I rather like it. Sure, the backgrounds are a little austere, but I like the character designs better than in Ducktales '87, and I think the animation is better too. Plus there's a cameo by Gyro (and perhaps Grandma Duck voiced by June Foray, even though it's debated), which only adds to the attraction. Makes me wonder what Ducktales could have looked like if it had been more similar to Soccermania, only with better backgrounds.

What do you people think about this short? :-)

[Scrooge MacDuck]

I think its title is constantly mangled, for one thing. Sport Goofy in Soccermania means nothing. It cleary should be called “Soccermania, starring Sport Goofy” — it's not Sport Goofy in Soccermania any more than Mickey Mouse's debut is Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy. Blargh. 

Beyond that, I quite like it!

[juicymcduck]

Aug 9, 2020 10:06:36 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

I think its title is constantly mangled, for one thing. Sport Goofy in Soccermania means nothing. It cleary should be called “Soccermania, starring Sport Goofy” — it's not Sport Goofy in Soccermania any more than Mickey Mouse's debut is Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy. Blargh. 

Beyond that, I quite like it!

Truth to be told, I originally saw in French when I was a kid, and it was titled "Goofy, fou de football". Why is that odd? Because in French, Goofy is typically known asDingo... except in my native Belgium, apparently. But I digress. Yes, you're totally right about the title. I just went with what gives the most Google hits.

I've seen people everywhere calling Soccermania a dry run for Ducktales, but it's pretty obvious I can't be the case, since both projects were developped at the same time, and Soccermania is much more Barksian in its design choices. The only thing the two projects have in common is the quasi-absence of Donald.

[That Duckfan]

Soccermania is pretty darn good, IMO. It's got some fine comedy and good stakes, Beagle Boys that look the part, and a Scrooge who's absolutely true to form. Was this Goofy's first outing since the '60s? If so, he's well on his way to the Goof Troop/Goofy Movie character that I'm most familiar with. I'm respect the old DuckTales for nostalgia reasons, but I prefer Soccermania quite a bit more (and I'm not even a sports fan). It feels... less dumbed down? Less cute?

The '80s were a good time for retooling classic characters. Between this and Mickey's Christmas Carol, it cemented a generation of pretty good stuff that lasted until 2004's Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers, or thereabouts. I'm less of a fan of latter-day portrayals like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or the Paul Rudish shorts. (I'm avoiding the new DuckTales because I don't want its portrayal to rub off on my own fancanon.) But it has to be said, that's in large part also because of nostalgia.

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Love it, for nostalgic reasons. I had it in VHS as a kid, which means that I saw it about 5 millions times. It solidified my love for Goofy.
Now that I think about it, in terms of humour it is closer to DT17 than the original DT itself, of which I have never been fond of as a kid.

The one thing that I found weird in it was Scrooge's team composed of semi-anthropomorphic characters, more animal than human. They did not even speak! A clever move to spare on casting of voice actors and writing of characters, I realise now.

In Italian the cartoon was titled Pippo nel pallone, literally 'Goofy in the ball'. It is a pun, because the expressions 'andare nel pallone' ('going in the ball') or 'avere la testa nel pallone' ('having the head in the ball') are figurative for 'being totally confused'.

[juicymcduck]

I suspect this short was done specifically to target European and Latin American audiences, right? Because association football isn't very popular in the US (must be the only place in the world where it doesn't send the crowds wild!)

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Aug 10, 2020 16:11:53 GMT juicymcduck said:

I suspect this short was done specifically to target European and Latin American audiences, right? Because association football isn't very popular in the US (must be the only place in the world where it doesn't send the crowds wild!)

Possibly. Or maybe it's just that all sports popular in North America (basket, American football, hockey, tennis, fishing, body building, athletics) were already addressed in Goofy's shots from the 40's and 50's, so they went for another sport.

Is there a Goofy short on baseball? I do not remember one...

[That Duckfan]

Aug 10, 2020 18:31:39 GMT Monkey_Feyerabend said:

Aug 10, 2020 16:11:53 GMT juicymcduck said:

I suspect this short was done specifically to target European and Latin American audiences, right? Because association football isn't very popular in the US (must be the only place in the world where it doesn't send the crowds wild!)

Possibly. Or maybe it's just that all sports popular in North America (basket, American football, hockey, tennis, fishing, body building, athletics) were already addressed in Goofy's shots from the 40's and 50's, so they went for another sport.

Is there a Goofy short on baseball? I do not remember one...

Check my review thread! Baseball was the first theatrically-released short in the How To series.

Per Wikipedia:

The Art of Skiing (1941)
The Art of Self Defense (1941)
How to Play Baseball (1942)
The Olympic Champ (1942)
How to Swim (1942)
How to Fish (1942)
How to Be a Sailor (1944)
How to Play Golf (1944)
How to Play Football (1944)
Hockey Homicide (1945)
Double Dribble (1946)
Foul Hunting (1947)
They're Off (1948)
Tennis Racquet (1949)
Goofy Gymnastics (1949)
How to Ride a Horse (1950, originally part of The Reluctant Dragon, 1941)

Also per Wikipedia:

"After that, he appeared in Sport Goofy in Soccermania which was originally intended to be released theatrically in 1984 but was aired as a 1987 TV special instead."

Can anyone confirm?

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Aug 10, 2020 18:46:17 GMT That Duckfan said:

Aug 10, 2020 18:31:39 GMT Monkey_Feyerabend said:

Also per Wikipedia:

"After that, he appeared in Sport Goofy in Soccermania which was originally intended to be released theatrically in 1984 but was aired as a 1987 TV special instead."

Can anyone confirm?

The most detailed page about the cartoon that I could find is this one, from a very well researched Italian web site on Disney animation.
It says that Soccermania was produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios before the creation of the detached department called Walt Disney Television Animation, which will be the one responsible for the production of DuckTales and all other low budget tv series that followed. This does not tell us if Soccermania was intended for the big screen or not. It may have been just a first 'low budget' experiment before the creation of the independent Television department. 
The only connection between Soccermania and the following tv stuff is the fact that Tad Stones, one of its three writers, later became a key figure at Walt Disney Television Animation. The other two writers of Soccermania were Joe Ranft, future Pixar guy who co-wrote Toy Story and co-directed Cars before dying (in a car accident!) and Michael Giaimo, future art director of Pocahontas and Frozen.  

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

I was wondering if it was on Disney+. And of course it is not there.
Why am I even paying this for...

[Scroogerello]

I like Soccermania as well. The cartoon’s humor and animation are great (by relatively low-budget tv standards, of course), and it’s probably the closest animated adaptation of comics-Duckburg as we’ve ever gotten; it’s crazy how virtually every other faithful adaptation of Duck comics ended up being shelved or cancelled for whatever reason (think “Duck Daze”, “Epic Donald” and Barks’ Scrooge short from the ‘50s).
I wish Gladstone Gander’s scenes weren’t cut from the final film though—I would have loved to have seen how they adapted him from the comics, as they did such good jobs with Scrooge and the Beagles.

As for the “1984 theatrical release”, this article pullingarabbitoutofahat.com/commercials-television-shorts-and-sequels/sport-goofy-in-soccermania/ confirms that it was indeed intended for a release in 1984, to coincide with the 1984 Olympics. However, it was released much later, as the original film was heavily edited and partially rewritten as it was considered too zany/bizarre for release—which explains the deleted scenes.

[juicymcduck]

Aug 17, 2020 12:55:26 GMT Scroogerello said:

I like Soccermania as well. The cartoon’s humor and animation are great (by relatively low-budget tv standards, of course), and it’s probably the closest animated adaptation of comics-Duckburg as we’ve ever gotten; it’s crazy how virtually every other faithful adaptation of Duck comics ended up being shelved or cancelled for whatever reason (think “Duck Daze”, “Epic Donald” and Barks’ Scrooge short from the ‘50s).
I wish Gladstone Gander’s scenes weren’t cut from the final film though—I would have loved to have seen how they adapted him from the comics, as they did such good jobs with Scrooge and the Beagles.

As for the “1984 theatrical release”, this article pullingarabbitoutofahat.com/commercials-television-shorts-and-sequels/sport-goofy-in-soccermania/ confirms that it was indeed intended for a release in 1984, to coincide with the 1984 Olympics. However, it was released much later, as the original film was heavily edited and partially rewritten as it was considered too zany/bizarre for release—which explains the deleted scenes.

How very interesting! I never knew there were deleted scenes.
Re. the animation, I'd saiy that it looks more... Warner Brosy than your usual Disney cartoons. I can't exactly tell you what gives me that impression, but it's definitely here, and I think it works very well.

[Mesterius]

Aug 9, 2020 10:06:36 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

I think its title is constantly mangled, for one thing. Sport Goofy in Soccermania means nothing. It cleary should be called “Soccermania, starring Sport Goofy” — it's not Sport Goofy in Soccermania any more than Mickey Mouse's debut is Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy. Blargh. 

This is a pretty common way of titling films, though. For example, the full title of Wallace and Gromit's feature film is "Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit". The meaning is obviously, 'Wallace and Gromit (those well-known stars) starring in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'. I see nothing wrong with it.

[Orora]

Aug 17, 2020 12:55:26 GMT Scroogerello said:

I like Soccermania as well. The cartoon’s humor and animation are great (by relatively low-budget tv standards, of course), and it’s probably the closest animated adaptation of comics-Duckburg as we’ve ever gotten; it’s crazy how virtually every other faithful adaptation of Duck comics ended up being shelved or cancelled for whatever reason (think “Duck Daze”, “Epic Donald” and Barks’ Scrooge short from the ‘50s).
I wish Gladstone Gander’s scenes weren’t cut from the final film though—I would have loved to have seen how they adapted him from the comics, as they did such good jobs with Scrooge and the Beagles.

As for the “1984 theatrical release”, this article pullingarabbitoutofahat.com/commercials-television-shorts-and-sequels/sport-goofy-in-soccermania/ confirms that it was indeed intended for a release in 1984, to coincide with the 1984 Olympics. However, it was released much later, as the original film was heavily edited and partially rewritten as it was considered too zany/bizarre for release—which explains the deleted scenes.

So I am looking into this "Duck Daze"... so, it was the original concept for "Quack Pack" where it would have been more faithful to the old Donald franchise?

[Scroogerello]

Sept 15, 2020 16:10:14 GMT Orora said:

Aug 17, 2020 12:55:26 GMT Scroogerello said:

I like Soccermania as well. The cartoon’s humor and animation are great (by relatively low-budget tv standards, of course), and it’s probably the closest animated adaptation of comics-Duckburg as we’ve ever gotten; it’s crazy how virtually every other faithful adaptation of Duck comics ended up being shelved or cancelled for whatever reason (think “Duck Daze”, “Epic Donald” and Barks’ Scrooge short from the ‘50s).
I wish Gladstone Gander’s scenes weren’t cut from the final film though—I would have loved to have seen how they adapted him from the comics, as they did such good jobs with Scrooge and the Beagles.

As for the “1984 theatrical release”, this article pullingarabbitoutofahat.com/commercials-television-shorts-and-sequels/sport-goofy-in-soccermania/ confirms that it was indeed intended for a release in 1984, to coincide with the 1984 Olympics. However, it was released much later, as the original film was heavily edited and partially rewritten as it was considered too zany/bizarre for release—which explains the deleted scenes.

So I am looking into this "Duck Daze"... so, it was the original concept for "Quack Pack" where it would have been more faithful to the old Donald franchise?

Indeed it was. Here’s what Jymn Magon said about it during a Q&A about 10 years ago:

Not an official spin-off, no. Simply several years after Duck Tales. Donald is back from the Navy... and the boys have grown into teens. 

[...]
However, [Scrooge] WAS actually part of the original premise. He wanted Donald to "grow up," cuz he knew that Donald would inherit the McDuck fortune someday... and would probably lose it all. So the series started off as a "test" to see if Donald could handle the job. On-the-job training, so to speak. I think we had Donald moving from department to department in the McDuck corporation, and he screwed up all the time... but the nephews kept helping Unca Donald out. Yes, that was the ORIGINAL Duck Daze series idea. I recall now. That's what I pitched. Donald was definitely the star... but he took a backseat later in the development.)

Quack Pack’s animation was actually very good for a Tv budget—better than the original DuckTales, I’d say. Too bad it was kinda wasted on such a mediocre show. I wonder if any concept/pitch art for the original (and far more interesting) “Duck Daze” concept has survived.