Mickey Mouse and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator, assisted by Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was intended as a parody of Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill, Jr.", first released on May 12 of the same year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. "Willie" featured changes to Mickey's appearance (in particular, simplifying his eyes to large dots) that established his look for later cartoons and in numerous Walt Disney films. The cartoon was
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie features the first appearance of Bumblebee Man, who is a caricature of "El Chapulín Colorado" ("The Red Grasshopper"), a character created and portrayed by Mexican television comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños. The opening "Star Trek" film is a parody of how old the crew of the cast looked in the later movies. The 1928 "Itchy & Scratchy" short "Steamboat Itchy" is a spoof of the 1928 Disney short "Steamboat Willie", featuring Mickey Mouse. Lisa's line about Michael Jackson and Dustin Hoffman appearing pseudonymously in "The Itchy & Scratchy Movie" is a reference to the fact that both had made guest appearances