While many people mistakenly believe Steamboat Willie was the first, the very first Disney cartoon series was actually the Alice Comedies, which began in 1923 with the short film Alice's Wonderland. These were high-fidelity "hybrid" shorts that featured a live-action girl interacting with an animated world. Following this, Walt Disney created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927, but his first standalone, fully animated short was technically Plane Crazy (1928), featuring a very early version of Mickey Mouse. However, Steamboat Willie (1928) is historically the most "High-Fidelity" significant because it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound, which fundamentally changed the animation industry. In 2026, historians and high-fidelity enthusiasts often revisit these early works to study the "High-Fidelity" evolution of the 12 principles of animation. While Steamboat Willie remains the cultural flagship, the Alice Comedies represent the true high-fidelity origin of the Walt Disney Studio's century-long legacy of storytelling and technical innovation.