Posted on 12/13/2005 2:30:52 PM PST by Ultra Sonic 007
A unexpected new character is coming to the Hundred Acre Wood.
Disney is working on a new Winnie the Pooh TV series, to come out in 2007, that will replace Christopher Robin with a 6-year-old girl.
Its new animated series, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, will have the same gentle spirit as the much-loved A.A. Milne classic, Disney says.
But Disney hopes to attract an older audience by introducing a six-year-old tomboy as friend to Tigger, Pooh the bear and tiny Piglet. The Disneyfied characters also will have a new look.
Though the stories will still emphasize trust, friendship and happiness, there will be more physical activity to appeal to more active children in the older preschool age range, Disney says.
"We got raised eyebrows even in-house at first, but the feeling was these timeless characters really needed a breath of fresh air that only the introduction of someone new could provide," Nancy Kanter of the Disney Channel told USA Today.
Disney knows it will face criticism from fans of Milne's stories about the imaginary world of his son Christopher Robin. Lovers of the original stories say they are timeless and don't need an update.
Seeing the animated series will help bring young children to the written word, Disney counters.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
By the way, who did the recording? I have a great recording of the Jungle Books in MP3 Format from Worldtainment. You get a whole book on one disk. All in one voice, but their readers are marvellous.
http://www.worldtainment.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=worldtainment&Product_Code=yr09&Category_Code=4
Am I the only one who wonders why a girl in the role of the lead character has to be portraited as an ersatz male? [a.k.a. "tomboy"] Or do "they" consider a girl character portrayed as a girl....and no, not necessarily in a dress...to be hopelessly square?
A cross between him and Kim Possible.
This doesn't actually look that bad. It's certainly not as disturbing as the "Loonatics" makeover Warners did on Bugs and the gang.
You have to remember the time of the original stories, which was the 1920's. Children did not dress as they do now.
I'll have to hunt for it and get back to you!
"Am I the only one who wonders why a girl in the role of the lead character has to be portraited as an ersatz male? [a.k.a. "tomboy"]"
It's regarded as "empowering" within Progressive circles. Why, I have no idea.
What's the point if she isn't also black and lesbian?????? Am I the only one here offended by the lack of inclusion??
"What's the point if she isn't also black and lesbian?"
They're saving that to "breathe some fresh air" into the timeless Snow White.
What they need to do is leave the Pooh stories alone and create all new stories with all new characters and call it something else. Begin with a brand new idea from the beginning. Don't use classic stories like Pooh as a launch pad into something else. I am surprised at their lack of creativity on this one. Give it a year or two and it will probably die out completely anyway.
Girls have to be empowered and boys have to be neutered. Those are the Rules.
"In the original pre-Disney illustrations, Christopher Robin looked quite like a girl."
That was the style among those Victorian/Edwardian artists. Actually, POOH was written later (in the 1920s, I believe), but styles don't change overnight.
"Am I the only one who wonders why a girl in the role of the lead character has to be portraited as an ersatz male?"
The PC police has a fear & loathing of femininity. Even the more attractive-looking characters have to have a hard edge, nowadays.
When I was a kid, the feminine cartoon characters were soft (as well as pretty). The new ones -- blecch!
:-)
"...you took your gun with you, just in case, as you always did..."
- _Winnie_the_Pooh_, Narrator to Christopher Robin
"Christopher Robin, you must shoot the balloon with your gun. Have you got your gun?"
"Of course I have"
- _Winnie_the_Pooh_
Not the only references to him being armed. (Awright, it was a pop-gun, but the kid's what, six?)
;)
If they're timeless, why would they need a breath of fresh air? What's wrong with Christopher Robin? Good grief, plus the girl looks like Jimmy Neutron, LOL.
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