Goof Troop

Good old Goofy is back, this time as a cardigan-and-bow tie-wearing dad; Max is his preteen pup of a son. From the snappy theme song to Max’s MTV mentality, Goof Troop takes pains to be wholesomely hip. In the first episode, Max is afraid that he’s ”doomed to be a dweeb.” Then he stumbles upon an old motorcycle in Goofy’s garage. Seeing a chance to create a macho biker image for himself, Max hits the road — only to run into trouble with the town’s tough motorcycle gang. Lucky for Max, Goofy comes to his rescue — after a few missteps, mistakes, and mishaps, of course. Kids will be amused by Goofy’s time-tested klutzy antics, and they’ll identify with Max’s myopic youthful perspective (”The world is divided into two groups: the cool and everyone else”). Still, they’d probably prefer to see more of Goofy’s gaffes and less of Max’s machinations. Grown-ups will like some of the subtler jokes — such as the biker who’s meant to be a dog version of Marlon Brando in The Wild One. Goof Troop may not be groundbreaking TV, but it’s likely to enlist more than a few fans. B-