The Rescuers (Disney film)/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Anyone who watched sitcoms in the 60s will instantly recognize Bob Newhart (Bernard) and his stutter as well as Eva Gabor (Bianca, who even mispronounces "rollercoaster" the way Lisa Douglas might). Jim Jordan, the voice of Orville, is Fibber McGee from Fibber McGee and Molly. For Down Under, you have George C. Scott as McLeach and John Candy as Wilbur.
    • And fans of The Red Green Show might recognize Wayne Robson (Mike, the ex-con) as Frank.
    • Jake's actor, Tristan Rogers, did quite a bit of other work before and after Down Under including Robert Scorpio for General Hospital and being a former spokesman for Outback Steakhouse.
    • Avid Disney fans will likely notice that Krebbs the Koala has the same voice as the Sultan in Aladdin.
    • Hogan's Heroes fans will say Wilbur was right to fear the doctor trying to "operate" on him. He (the doctor) was voiced by Colonel Crittendon.
  • The first video release of Down Under has no commercials in either the beginning or the end of the tape.
  • Every home release for Rescuers from 1999 onward omits the first Buena Vista logo and replaces it for Disney's (by this time outdated) white castle Vanity Plate.
  • The Rescuers usually comes with a mouse-related short, usually a Mickey Mouse short, for both theatrical and home releases.
  • In the planning phase of The Rescuers, Orville the albatross was originally a pigeon.
  • In one frame of the movie (theatrically and on the 1992 VHS), when Bernard and Bianca are riding Orville, going down from the building they were on, one building next to them has an image of a naked woman in one of the windows. Disney found this out when the movie was released again on VHS in 1999, and recalled it. The re-issue (and subsequent releases) zooms in on the image of Bernard and Bianca, so the image wasn't visible. The prank was pulled by Don Bluth, and how he did not get fired for this is a miracle.
  • On the 1992 VHS, the "Feature Presentation" screen at the time was a navy blue color instead of light blue. This is then followed by the distorted version of the Walt Disney Classics logo.
  • What Could Have Been: The first movie was gonna be a very different movie than what was released. It was gonna be a vehicle for Louis Prima (of The Jungle Book), playing Louie the Bear, and, according to the video in the link, to be about a Bear using a pair of mice to help him escape from the zoo to save his friends in the North Pole. This version was scrapped shortly before Prima lapsed into a coma and it was Retooled into the movie we know today.[1]
    • Also, before it was completely retooled, the movie's antagonist and villain was originally going to be Cruella DeVille.

  1. Prima never regained consciousness from his coma, and died the year after the finished film was released.