The Little Mermaid (TV series)

Premise

The Little Mermaid is a prequel to the movie of the same name. The story is set between the 2008 prequel film The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning and Disney's 1989 animated feature film, and follows Ariel's adventures as a mermaid still living under the sea with her father King Triton, Sebastian the crab and Flounder the fish. Various episodes highlight her relationships with her friends, father and sisters, and usually involve Ariel foiling the attempts of various enemies that intend ill harm to her, her family and friends, or her kingdom. Ariel's Beginning contains events that contradict the television series (such as Ariel's youth and first meeting with Flounder), making the TV series and the prequel independent continuities.

Characters

Main article: List of The Little Mermaid characters

Production and development

After the success of Disney's 1989 animated feature film, The Walt Disney Company planned to produce a children's television series for its Disney Channel cable outlet called The Little Mermaid's Island. The proposed series would feature puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop interacting with a "live" Ariel. But after Jim Henson's untimely death along with production difficulties and as the video release of The Little Mermaid soared in sales during 1990 and early 1991, Disney quietly dropped plans for "The Little Mermaid's Island" in favor of a more ambitious plan: an animated weekly series for CBS. The new show would be about the adventures of Ariel and her friends before the events in the film.

Jamie Mitchell, an artist and graphic designer who worked on Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, was named the producer and director of the new series. Patsy Cameron and Tedd Anasti were the story editors and wrote almost all of the episodes for the show's second and third seasons. Their previous joint work included Hanna-Barbera's The Smurfs, the animated Beetlejuice and Disney's DuckTales. Some of the artists and technicians on the feature film also contributed to the TV series. Mark Dindal, chief of special animated effects for the film, was a consultant for special effects on the TV show. Robby Merkin, who worked with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman on arranging the songs for the film, worked as the arranger and music producer for the first season of the TV show.

Disney Animation Japan and Wang Film Productions in Taiwan both contributed animation to the series.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1992)

Floro Dery, Holly Forsyth & John Dorman Notes: This is the pilot episode. The title is a reference to "A Whale of a Tale" from the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.Music: "Just a Little Love", performed by Jodi Benson and "You've Got to Be You", performed by Samuel E. Wright. & George Goode Victor Cook, Holly Forsyth & George Goode John Flagg & Phil Weinstein Albert Ring & Robert Souza & Lonnie Lloyd & Ritsuko Notani George Goode & Ritsuko Notani Todd Kurosawa & Ritsuko Notani Frank Nissen & Jamie Diaz & Lonnie Lloyd

Season 2 (1993)

Hank Tucker & John Flagg & George Goode & Rick Leon & Shawna Cha & Barbara Dourmaskin-Case Frank Nissen & Hank Tucker Debra Pugh & Mike Sosnowski Debra Pugh & Carin-Anne Anderson & Terence Harrison Floro Dery & Carin-Anne Anderson

Season 3 (1994)

& Jamie Mitchell & Rick Leon & Karen Peterson Denise Koyama & David Smith

Release

Broadcast

The show's broadcast debut in September 1992 was in the form of a half-hour prime-time special, The Little Mermaid: A Whale of a Tale. Its Saturday morning debut came the very next day. The show's time slot was 8:30 a.m., following another new animated series, Fievel's American Tails, based on the animated film An American Tail. The Little Mermaid series drew a fair bit of media attention, including more than one spot on Entertainment Tonight, because it was the first series based directly on a Disney animated feature and was a rare (at the time) television cartoon concerning a strong female character. The show kept its time slot the following year with its second season.

For the series' third season, the show was moved to the 8 a.m. time period and was the lead-in for a new Disney animated series, Aladdin. The third season was the final season to be produced; CBS elected not to buy another batch of episodes. On October 2, 1995, Disney Channel began rerunning the show seven days a week.

Disney Channel reran the series from October 2, 1995, to September 29, 2002, and again from September 5, 2006, to July 4, 2010. It was also shown on Toon Disney until January 25, 2008. The series then aired on Disney Junior from the channel's launch in 2012 until 2014. However, in Russia, Disney Channel continued to air the series until the channel closed in 2022.

Home media

VHS releases

Seven titles containing 14 episodes of the series were released on VHS in the United States and Canada. Almost simultaneously, three double-feature LaserDiscs containing 12 episodes were also released.

Ariel's Undersea Adventures

Princess Collection - Ariel's Songs & Stories

International releases

11 titles containing 22 episodes of the series were released on VHS in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa. These titles were also released on VHS, LaserDisc and Video CD in Mexico, South America, and Asia.

Ariel's Undersea Adventures

Princess Collection

DVD releases

The series has not yet been officially released on DVD. However, four episodes were released as part of the following Disney Princess DVD titles, all of which were also available on VHS.

Digital releases

As of August 24, 2018, all 31 episodes of the series are available for purchase on the iTunes Store, and on Amazon Prime Video, in two volumes in High Definition (HD).

The series has been available with the exception of the pilot episode ("Whale of a Tale") through The Walt Disney Company's streaming platform Disney+, since the service's launch on November 12, 2019.

Songs

• "Just a Little Love" (Ariel)
• "You Got to Be You" (Sebastian)
• "To the Edge of the Edge of the Sea" (Ariel)
• "To the Edge of the Edge of the Sea" (Reprise) (Ariel)
• "The Lobster Mobster's Mob" (The Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp)
• "The Lobster Mobster's Mob "(Reprise) (Da Shrimp)
• "Beddie-Bye Blues" (The Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp)
• "Sing a New Song" (Ariel and Simon)
• "In Harmony" (Ariel)
• "In Harmony" (Reprise) (Ariel)
• "Dis is de Life" (Sebastian)
• "You Know I Know" (Sebastian)
• "You Know I Know" (Reprise) (Sebastian)
• "Never Give Up" (Ariel and Sebastian)
• "Everybody Cha-Cha-Cha" (Sebastian)
• "You Wouldn't Want to Mess with Me" (Ursula)
• "You Wouldn't Want to Mess with Me" (Reprise) (Ursula)
• "The Sound of Laughter" (Sebastian)
• "The Sound of Laughter" (Repeat) (Sebastian)
• "Daring to Dance" (Ariel)
• "Daring to Dance" (Reprise) (Ariel)
• "Hail Apollo, Defender of the Sea" (Atlantica's Army)
• "I Just Like the Sky" (Scuttle)
• "Just Give Me a Chance" (Scuttle)
• "Just Give Me a Chance" (Reprise) (Scuttle)
• "I Go to the Beach" (Sebastian)
• "Just Like Me" (The Evil Manta)
• "Let's Play Princess (With Ariel)" (opening for Princess Collection - Ariel's Songs & Stories)

Music album release: Main article: The Little Mermaid: Splash Hits

Reception

Critical response

Caroline Siede of The A.V. Club praised the development of Ariel across the show, calling the character relatable and compelling, and said, "The Little Mermaid TV show finally gave Ariel the kind of adventure stories she deserves." Katerina Dailey of Screen Rant included The Little Mermaid in their "10 Best Disney TV Shows That Started As Movies" list, stating, "The film is a great watch even 30 years later. The same can be said, too, for the 1992 to 1994 animated series."

KJ Dell Antonia of Common Sense Media gave the series a grade of two out of five stars, writing, "Spin-off sinks for everyone except besotted fans."

Following the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel in the 2023 live-action remake of the 1989 The Little Mermaid film, several journalists highlighted the character of Gabriella, a deaf mermaid of color appearing in the show. Sarah Kepins of MovieWeb asserted, "Gabriella was loved and accepted. There was no negative backlash over her addition to the animated show, and her inclusion meant something very important to many people."

Accolades

Spin-off

The series received a spin-off entitled Sebastian the Crab, which aired as a segment of the TV series Marsupilami. The segments star Sebastian, and are set outside of the sea, taking place after the wedding between Ariel and Eric in the film.

References

References

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