Time For The New Mickey Mouse Club, Kids Incorporated, And More!

In 1989, a brand new version of The Mickey Mouse Club debuted on a very different version of The Disney Channel. It's time to turn back the clock to see the familiar faces you could find during this era on The Disney Channel.

Teen Win, Lose or Draw was a kid-friendly version of the board game-turned game show hosted by Marc Price (the next-door neighbor to the Keaton Family on "Family Ties." Teen Win, Lose or Draw featured guest stars like Danny Pintauro (from "Who's the Boss?") and Sara Gilbert and Lecy Goranson from "Roseanne." Lecy Goranson was replaced by actress Sarah Chalke midway through the game.*

*Not really, but that would have been funny.

Jeff Cohen (Chunk from "The Goonies") teamed up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the kid-fantasy, "Ask Max." I never saw this, so I don't know if there was a performance of the Truffle Shuffle.

The original "New" Mickey Mouse Club is all here, even though their promotional photo was flipped for some reason and the names on their jackets are backwards.


When Rodan calls in sick, Big Bird battles Godzilla in "Big Bird in Japan."

Seeing Pippi Longstocking here reminds me of a very funny scene from a Warner Brothers "Pinky and the Brain" cartoon from Steven Spielberg's "Animaniacs." Pinky and the Brain are laboratory mice trying to take over the world. In each episode, Brain asks Pinky, "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" Pinky always has a comedic (bizarre) response, including:

"I think so Brain, but this time you put the trousers on the chimp."

"I think so Brain, but if they called them "Sad Meals", kids wouldn't buy them."

And there was, "I think so, Brain. But me and Pippi Longstocking?!? What would the children look like?! Oh, it doesn't matter, they'd still be loved."

Too funny!


If you want to know more about some of the first new "new" members of the Mickey Mouse Club, check out the Vital Stats on Damon Pampolina, Roque Herring, Lindsey Alley and Josh Ackerman.
Nice to see some love here for Milli Vanilli!


The New Mickey Mouse Club proved to be very popular, and the talented young stars put on a great show.


The kids in The Club had their own cool varsity jackets. You could get one too, as long as you had some money.

Mickey Mouse was eventually phased out of his own club, and the show became "MMC," so these items are probably pretty rare.

The New Mickey Mouse Club clock was a big promotional item plugged during previews for The Disney Channel.

It's on sale in this ad, but it was also a special premium for Disney Channel Subscribers.

If you got your friends to subscribe to The Disney Channel, and they sent in a Referral Certificate with proof of installation, both parties got the clock. If your friend was a slacker, it was a good idea to watch them send that Certificate in the mail to make sure you got that clock.

The Disney Channel had other ways to rally their troops and get more subscribers, like offering the chance of a Walt Disney World vacation and a visit to the taping of The Mickey Mouse Club at The Disney MGM Studios in Florida.

You just had to give the Disney Channel the names of three friends you've told about the Disney Channel. Shockingly, there's no request for a phone number or an address. Couldn't you have just listed Eddie Punchclock, Johnny Lunchpail and Sally Housecoat and Disney Channel wouldn't have been the wiser?

The Disney Channel had lots of Sweepstakes offers, including one that parked a Chevrolet Lumina APV on the set of The Mickey Mouse Club.

Chevrolet ads on TV at this time featured animated characters like Donald Duck and Dumbo in live action commercials (very much like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit").

The Hilton hotel chain also had a tie in to The Mickey Mouse Club.

This promotional partnership was formed at the suggestion of a young Paris Hilton. At least that's the story I'm making up.

The Mickey Mouse Club's older sibling on The Disney Channel was Kid's Incorporated, a musical comedy variety show that debuted in 1984. The kids did all kinds of performances, including a music video of the El DeBarge song "Who's Johnny?" from the robot movie, "Short Circuit."

The Mickey Mouse Club was filmed in Florida, but was a bit more "Hollywood," as it featured guest appearances by celebrities like Tiffany and even Donald Trump.


For Kids Incorporated, the cast member that was on the show the longest was Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson (later known as a singer for Black Eyed Peas).


Many people remember Ryan Lambert as Rudy, the tough cool kid in the 1987 movie "The Monster Squad."


The cast of Sesame Street, New Kids On The Block, Roger Rabbit, and Neil Patrick Harris all appeared on the Disney Channel at one point.

This is enough to make a pop-culture fan's head explode.


New Kids On The Block frequently made appearances on The Disney Channel.

TDC Live! delivered all the important Disney Channel news to kids.

The always cool Neil Patrick Harris is featured here for his new show, "Doogie Howser, M.D." and his Disney Channel special, "Purple People Eater."

"Teen Angel" and "Teen Angel Returns" star Jason Priestley is congratulated here on his new sitcom, "Sister Kate."


Mother Goose Rock 'N' Rhyme was a star-studded Shelley Duvall special featuring Bobby Brown (as a dancing mouse), Cyndi Lauper, Dweezil Zappa, and many more actors and performers.

Anne of Green Gables and its spin-offs had a major presence on The Disney Channel for many years. Amazingly, viewers never saw "Anne of Avonlea and the Journey to the Center of the Earth."


The Mickey Mouse Club and Kids Incorporated welcomed some new faces at this time. Jennifer Love Hewitt (known here as "Love") became the newest member of Kids Incorporated years before she was a ghost whisperer.

Also new to The Disney Channel was Kevin Osgood (The Mickey Mouse Club) and Sean O'Riordan (Kids Incorporated).

The Disney Channel crew had big plans for 1990.

Time to party like it's 1999!


The band New Kids on the Block (also known as NKOTB) was formed in 1984, and featured Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood and Jordan and Jonathan Knight.


NKOTB became a major fixture on The Disney Channel.


The group appeared in all sorts of Disney Channel concerts and specials.


The Mickey Mouse Club changed as the stars grew up.

Five of the original cast members became a popular musical group called The Party.

The Party toured the country, and was heavily promoted during Disney Channel shows.

The Mickey Mouse Club frequently added new cast members, like Marc Worden and Nita Booth. Many of the actors on the show grew up in front of TV viewers.


The Mickey Mouse Club later evolved into MMC, and added a new mix of talent.


Among the "7 New Kids" joining The Club in its later years were Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.


In keeping with tradition, the new MMC group was featured in all sorts of special events and promotions.

Maybe your school was the lucky winner of the 1993 "Bring MMC to Your School!" contest.

To promote their MMC album, the Club went across the country on Tour, also visiting Target stores along the way.

I wonder where the MMC and the winners of the contest ate lunch. It says "anywhere in your town." Maybe there's some folks that have a nice memory of eating Big Macs with Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

The Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory Tour Game From Disney and Warner Brothers

The Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory Tour "board game" was featured in an October 1988 issue of The Disney Channel Magazine. The Wonka movies (the original from 1971 and the 2005 version) were made by Warner Brothers, but the studios seem to cooperate with each other to promote their films in the best way possible. Willy Wonka has appeared on the Disney Channel for many years. Lately, Warner Brothers and Disney have worked together to promote the Harry Potter films on Disney-owned networks. The Harry Potter marathons on ABC Family are a prime location for promoting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando (this Florida theme park also has Marvel Superhero Island, home to characters recently acquired by Disney through the company's purchase of Marvel Comics).

I got a kick out of Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with Willy Wonka (played by Johnny Depp) having a dentist for a father. My childhood dentist looked very much like the original Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder. My dentist was friendly, and at the end of my check-ups, I got to select a toy from a basket shaped like a kangaroo. To me, my dentist was Willy Wonka.

Of course, there is an actual Willy Wonka brand of candy (introduced in 1971) owned by Nestle, selling chocolate and many other candy brands, including those kooky Nerds candies and looney Laffy Taffy.

I was surprised to learn about a dark ride featuring Willy Wonka located at the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, England. This is not based on the movies, but rather the illustrations created by Quentin Blake for Roald Dahl's book, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

The artist for the Disney Channel Magazine's Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory Tour Game is unfortunately not credited. I know it wasn't drawn up by an Oompa-Loompa. Or was it?

Flounder's Lost Twin: Disney and Jim Henson Present Little Mermaid's Island

Flounder from Disney's The Little Mermaid has a twin sister named Sandy. Ariel and her friends rarely talk about her.

They also hardly ever mention their friend, Scales the Dragon. Scales lives in a cave and is a musician.


Sandy and Scales were new characters created for a 1990 Disney Channel series called "Little Mermaid's Island." This series featured a live actress playing Ariel and puppet versions of Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, and their friends. Puppet versions of Disney characters were not new to Disney Channel viewers. "Dumbo's Circus" and "Welcome to Pooh Corner" had been entertaining children for years. "Little Mermaid's Island," however, was a collaboration between Disney and Jim Henson.



"The Little Mermaid" was a big hit for Disney in 1989, so naturally, spin-off projects were considered. "Little Mermaid's Island" was not picked up by the Disney Channel. The stories developed for the series, however, were adapted for a collection of storybooks.



"The Little Mermaid's Treasure Chest" (really? Who approved that title?) brought Ariel's adventures with Sandy and Scales to young readers.


Ariel and Sebastian did end up getting their own television series, but it was a hand-drawn animated series. "The Little Mermaid" was launched as a CBS Saturday Morning series in 1992. This was a prequel to the animated film. It had nothing to do with "Little Mermaid's Island."


Sebastian the Crab was also featured in another 1992 CBS series, "Disney's Raw Toonage." Sebastian short cartoons were also seen in "Marsupilami," the 1993 Disney CBS Saturday Morning series.

A live action Ariel teamed with puppet versions of Sebastian, Flounder and the gang did show up in "The Voyage of the Little Mermaid" attraction at the Disney MGM Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida in 1992. The puppets used for this show had no connection to "Little Mermaid's Island."

This picture is from a big 1992 Walt Disney World advertising section from USA Today (USA Today always had such great pictures).

Flounder, Ariel and Sebastian from "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" can be seen here. The show is still running after all these years, though the park is now called "Disney's Hollywood Studios."

"Dinosaurs," which was a Disney/Jim Henson collaboration from 1991, were featured at The Disney MGM Studios. The versions of the characters seen here did not have moving mouths or eyes (that would have been impressive!).

"Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D" debuted at the Disney MGM Studios in 1991. The show is still entertaining visitors in Florida. Muppetvision 3D can also be seen at Disney's California Adventure theme park at the Disneyland Resort (it opened there in 2001).

The Muppet versions of Sandy and Scales from "Little Mermaid's Island" look a bit different from the illustrations in the "Little Mermaid's Treasure Chest" books. Be sure to check out the Muppet Wiki Little Mermaid's Island page to see pictures of the puppets and learn more about the show.

It would be nice if this lost Little Mermaid project could be included as an extra on a DVD as a "Bonus Treasure."

Disney's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

In 1988, Grolier launched a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas set of ornaments featuring Disney characters.
These were made of "brass filigree." I never knew what this was as a kid, but thanks to the Internet, I now know. Go Google it.

This collection was featured in an advertisement in The Disney Channel Magazine. It was the October 9-November 20, 1988 issue (it has Harry Anderson from the TV show "Night Court" on the cover).
I do not own this set, but I thought is was really amazing, so I saved the magazine.

I love the art design on these, which seems like a vintage Christmas card.

Here are Geppetto and Pinocchio. I guess I may never know which Disney mouse was used for "not even a mouse." Maybe Minnie, or the Cinderella mice, or Timothy from Dumbo?

Snow White stays busy hanging up the Dwarf stockings. I bet they stink from all that time in the diamond mines.

Goofy dreams of candy! At the Disney Parks, Goofy has his own candy line and shops.

Daisy gets ready for a long winter's nap. I'd assume that Donald Duck is represented here wearing a cap, but you know what they say about assuming things...

Thumper looks up at Santa's sleigh. It would be fun to see Bambi as Rudolph. I know the old Pez Rudolph is just the Bambi Pez with a red nose.

All Morty and Ferdie want for Christmas is to finally appear in an animated cartoon.

Tinkerbell is the one that made the reindeer fly!

Lady and the Tramp love each other, but they are also excited about getting their own personal trees (dogs love trees).

This set looks fantastic. I don't know much about it, but it is very unique, and stunning. I'd love to know what artist(s) created these pieces.