The Little Mermaid (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Little Mermaid | |
|---|---|
 From left to right: Ariel, Sebastian, and Flounder. |
|
| Genre | Animated series |
| Creator(s) | Walt Disney Television |
| Starring | Jodi Benson Edan Gross Samuel E. Wright Maurice LaMarche Kenneth Mars Danny Cooksey Jim Cummings Bradley Pierce Pat Carroll |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 31 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 11, 1992 – November 26, 1994 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Little Mermaid is an animated television series based on the 1989 film of the same name, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It featured the adventures of Ariel and her friends Flounder, Sebastian, Scuttle, and other characters from the movie The Little Mermaid along with characters that are original to the series. This is the first Disney Television series to have spun-off from a major film. The Little Mermaid premiered in the Fall of 1992 with the animated short called "A Whale of a Tale," then moved to Saturday mornings. This series originally appeared on CBS, with an original run from 1992 to 1995. Jodi Benson reprised her role as Ariel for this show, and Kenneth Mars reprised his role as King Triton.
Contents |
[edit] Premise
The first non-Disney Afternoon cartoon series to premiere for some time, The Little Mermaid television series is a prequel to the movie of the same name. The story is set when Ariel is 15, a year before the events in the movie, and follows her adventures as a mermaid still living under the sea. Various episodes highlight her relationship with her friends, father and sisters, and usually involves Ariel foiling the attempts of various enemies that intend ill harm to her or to her kingdom.
While the movie features musical segments, not every episode of this series has them. Some shows are presented "straight" (i.e. no songs). The show also does not always stay consistent to the movie, as Ariel has too much human contact in it. Also, in one episode, Sebastian is present when Ariel begins her collection of human objects in the cave, though in the movie, which takes place later, he was clearly surprised to discover it.
[edit] List of Episodes
[edit] Season 1: 1992
| Screenshot | Title | Original airdate | Production code | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Whale of a Tale" | September 11, 1992 | 4313-007 | 1 | |
| Ariel befriends a baby killer whale that was separated from his family because of human poachers. (Note: the title is also that of a song from Disney's 1954 movie 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.) | ||||
| "The Great Sebastian" | September 12, 1992 | 4313-001 | 2 | |
| Sebastian tells Triton that he is capable of making a deal with the Sharkanians (an underwater mafia group), but in truth, he is petrified of them and Ariel and Flounder must tag along to help him make the process go smoothly. | ||||
| "Stormy" | September 19, 1992 | 4313-002 | 3 | |
| Ariel rides a wild seahorse against her father's wishes and gets lost in the wilderness with the seahorse. | ||||
| "Urchin" | September 26, 1992 | 4313-003 | 4 | |
| Ariel befriends an orphaned merboy. (Note: this is the first appearance of Urchin.) | ||||
| "Double Bubble" | October 03, 1992 | 4313-004 | 5 | |
| Ariel babysits two mischievous mertwins; Lobster Mobster attemps to steal the mother's pearl necklace. | ||||
| "Message in a Bottle" | October 10, 1992 | 4313-005 | 6 | |
| Ariel befriends a lonely sea dragon after she, Sebastian and Flounder discover his message he sent in a bottle. | ||||
| "Charmed" | October 17, 1992 | 4313-008 | 7 | |
| Ariel puts on a human bracelet and then can't take it off. When she tries to use the key to take it off, she gets trapped by a giant whirlpool, into a horrible underwater nightmare, when she runs away from home. | ||||
| "Marriage of Inconvenience" | October 24, 1992 | 4313-009 | 8 | |
| Ariel believes her father King Triton is setting her up for an arranged marriage with a snobbish merprince. | ||||
| "The Evil Manta" | October 31, 1992 | 4313-011 | 9 | |
| Ariel unwittingly frees a dark figure known as the Evil Manta, who tries to take over Atlantica using deception and lies. | ||||
| "Thingamajigger" | November 07, 1992 | 4313-006 | 10 | |
| When a pirate's boot falls into the sea, Ariel, Sebastian and Flounder try to figure out what it is. Some mistake it as a weapon. (Note: In this episode, Prince Eric, along with Max, his sheepdog, makes his first appearance) | ||||
| "Red" | November 14, 1992 | 4313-012 | 11 | |
| A magic spell turns King Triton into a merboy, and Ariel has to play mother to him. | ||||
| "Beached" | November 21, 1992 | 4313-013 | 12 | |
| Before a family trip to a carnival, Ariel and her sister get into a fight and are 'beached' (grounded); two gators attempt to steal the royal treasure. | ||||
| "Trident True" | November 28, 1992 | 4313-014 | 13 | |
| Ariel looks for the perfect Father's Day gift to give King Triton, but it leads her to misfortune, when a giant octopus traps them in a cave, except Urchin. And Urchin attempts to steal the trident so he can save the day. | ||||
| "Eel-Ectric City" | December 05, 1992 | 4313-010 | 14 | |
| A party-crazed mermaid named Pearl takes Ariel and her sister Alana to Eel-Ectric City instead of to her house, while Sebastion and Flounder follow. | ||||
[edit] Season 2: 1993
| Screenshot | Title | Original airdate | Production code | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Resigned to It" | September 18, 1993 | 4313-015 | 15 | |
| Sebastian quits his job as King Triton's royal advisor and tries to make a new life for himself. | ||||
| "Calliope Dreams" | September 25, 1993 | 4313-016 | 16 | |
| King Triton buys Ariel a very large present--a sea calliope, an instrument resembling a piano. However, she would rather play her human harp than listen to the loud chords of the calliope that wake the killer seaclops. | ||||
| "Save the Whale" | October 02, 1993 | 4313-019 | 17 | |
| Spot, the killer whale from the pilot episode, returns. Spot and Sebastian get captured by a crazed circus owner, and Ariel has to save them. | ||||
| "Against the Tide" | October 09, 1993 | 4313-018 | 18 | |
| Ariel rescues a Bad-Luck Creature, putting all of Atlantica in a panic and must make her own luck when Ursula comes after the creature. | ||||
| "Giggles" | October 16, 1993 | 4313-017 | 19 | |
| A sorcerer blowfish's magic spell causes Ariel to create seaquakes whenever she laughs. | ||||
| "Wish upon a Starfish" | October 23, 1993 | 4313-020 | 20 | |
| Ariel befriends a mermaid who can't speak. (Note: this is the first appearance of Gabriella. Also, the title is a play on a song from the animated film Pinocchio). | ||||
| "Tail of Two Crabs" | October 30, 1993 | 4313-021 | 21 | |
| Sebastian feels threatened by an old arch-rival who is better than him at everything, while Ursula works on a plan to turn Triton, Ariel, and others into sea worms. | ||||
| "Metal Fish" | November 06, 1993 | 4313-022 | 22 | |
| A human explorer boards a primitive submarine to explore the undersea realm, and crosses paths with Ariel. | ||||
| "T'ank You for Dat, Ariel" | December 11, 1993 | 4313-023 | 23 | |
| Ariel enters a magic cave to become a sea witch and uses her powers to make Sebastian a great big crab. | ||||
[edit] Season 3: 1994
| Screenshot | Title | Original airdate | Production code | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Scuttle" | September 17, 1994 | 4313-024 | 24 | |
| Ariel meets Scuttle for the first time and must use his help to rescue Sebastian from a gang of pirates. This marks the second appearance of Prince Eric. | ||||
| "King Crab" | September 24, 1994 | 4313-025 | 25 | |
| Sebastian realizes that his parents are coming to visit and must try to create a huge scheme to make it appear that he is the king of Atlantica like he wrote in his letters to them. | ||||
| "Island of Fear" | October 01, 1994 | 4313-026 | 26 | |
| A mad scientist capturess Sebastian, and tries to use him for sinister experiments. | ||||
| "Land of the Dinosaurs" | October 08, 1994 | 4313-027 | 27 | |
| During a trip to the north pole Ariel finds frozen dinosaurs and thaws them with her father's trident. Somehow they are aquatic and cause chaos before King Triton makes a refuge for them on land. | ||||
| "Heroes" | October 15, 1994 | 4313-028 | 28 | |
| Apollo, a great Atlantican hero comes to visit and Ariel wants to go on an adventure with him and learns that he is not all he's cracked up to be. | ||||
| "The Beast Within" | October 22, 1994 | 4313-029 | 29 | |
| Flounder is bitten by a howling hairfish and starts to turn into one. | ||||
| "Ariel's Treasures" | October 29, 1994 | 4313-030 | 30 | |
| Gabriella returns to visit Ariel as she shows her all of her new human things. However, Ursula's spell causes her treasures to go crazy and begin attacking innocent fish and merpeople. | ||||
| "A Little Evil" | November 26, 1994 | 4313-031 | 31 | |
| The Evil Manta returns and introducers his son, who he wants to be just as evil as he is. Unfortunately, when his son befriends Ariel and goes to school with her, he starts to get other "good" ideas in his head. | ||||
[edit] Characters from the film
- Princess Ariel: Ariel is the seventh daughter of the sea king who loves to go on adventures. Although she is interested in the human world, her fascination with it has not fully developed.
- Sebastian: Sebastian is a crab who acts as the king's advisor, court musician, and a baby-sitter-like figure for Ariel.
- Flounder: Flounder, Ariel's best friend, is a fish who follows along on her adventures, even if he is a guppy.
- King Triton: King Triton is Ariel's father who is also ruler of Alantica.
- Scuttle: Scuttle is a seagull who is friends with Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian. He is Ariel's only connection to the human world.
- Aquata, Arista, Andrina, Attina, Adella, and Alana: Ariel's six older sisters.
- Ursula: Ursula is an octopus-mermaid creature and a powerful sea witch. She constantly plots to steal the throne from King Triton that she believes is rightfully hers.
- Prince Eric: Eric is a young human prince.
- Grimsby: Grimsby is Eric's right hand man/servant.
- Carlotta: She is Eric's maid.
- Flotsam and Jetsam: Flotsam and Jetsam are Ursula's pet eels who do her evil bidding for her.
[edit] Original characters
- Urchin: Ariel's new friend is Urchin, a merboy (for lack of a better term). He shares her love for adventure and is supposedly her adopted brother. Note: It used to be suspected that Urchin had a bit of a crush on Ariel, but this statement has been shown as mostly untrue.
- The Lobster Mobster: The Lobster Monster is a 1940s-like gangster.
- The Shrimp: The shrimp is the Lobster Mobster's sidekick.
- The Evil Manta(voiced by Tim Curry): As his name would suggest, he is an evil manta ray. He tries to take over Atlantica. While his magic is not as dramatic as Ursula's, the Manta can turn friends against each other by talking to one of them, and his tail delivers brutal possibly fatal lightning strikes. He has a son who became an artist and friend of Ariel's.
- Pearl: This wealthy and spoiled mermaid is constantly trying to get Ariel in trouble.
- Gabriella: Gabriella is a deaf Hispanic mermaid who dreams of becoming a singer. Because she is deaf, Gabriella has a translator for her, in her octopus friend Olie.
[edit] Voices
- Ariel: Jodi Benson, Marisa Leal (Speaking Voice In the Brazilian Portuguese Version), Kika Tristão(Singing Voice in the Brazilian Portuguese Version), Claire Guyot (In the French Version) and Jana Werner (In the German Version)
- Sebastian: Samuel E. Wright and Joachim Kemmer (In the German Version)
- King Triton: Kenneth Mars
- Flounder: Edan Gross and Bradley Pierce
- Ursula: Pat Carroll
- Urchin: Danny Cooksey
[edit] Trivia
- The character Gabriella is based off a real person. She was a fan of the show who died during its first season.
- Some groups of creatures in the show use the time measure of tides as an alternative for years. One year is equal to 200 tides, and one tide is equal to about 3 days (which is coincidently the limit of time Ariel is given to kiss Prince Eric in the original film.)
- In the episode Metal Fish, Ariel saves a character named Hans Christian Andersen who is based on the real life author of the original The Little Mermaid, and the encounter inspired the character to "write" the story of The Little Mermaid. A voice-over at the end of the episode talks about the real Hans Christian Andersen, while the image on the screen shows Ariel sitting on a rock in the style of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbor.
- In Calliope Dreams, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart makes a cameo as a musician who loses a lot of his valuable possessions to two clumsy sailors and his rocking ship. Coincidentally or not, it may be a humorous reference of Mozart's (possibly alleged) death as a poor man.
- The upcoming sequel to The Little Mermaid, currently known as The Little Mermaid III, is supposed to feature the character of Urchin from the series.
- The opening theme to the show is a combination of the songs "Part of Your World", "Under the Sea", and "Kiss the Girl". The overture for the upcoming stage musical of The Little Mermaid will be similar to this.
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- The Little Mermaid (TV series) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Little Mermaid (TV series) at TV.com
| Characters |
|
Princess Ariel | King Triton | Prince Eric | Flounder | Sebastian | Ursula | Flotsam and Jetsam |
| Films |
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The Little Mermaid | The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea | The Little Mermaid III |
| Other |
|
The Little Mermaid television Series | The Little Mermaid video game | The Little Mermaid stage musical |
Categories: Articles with large trivia sections | The Little Mermaid | Animated television series | Fictional mermen and mermaids | Television series by Disney | 1992 television program debuts | 1990s American television series | Disney Channel shows | Television programs based on films | CBS network shows | Family Channel shows
