Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

All right, I know this is an unpopular opinion, so get ready to type insults in the comments section... I don't like DreamWorks' 2014 Mr. Peabody and Sherman movie.

Do I hate it? No! Do I think it's worth watching at least ONCE? Sure. Are there things I like about it? Of course. But there's a lot that keeps me from being a fan. I've already talked about how little I like Ty Burrell as Mr. Peabody (every time he talked, all I could hear was Phil Dunphy), but my main problem is that it takes itself very seriously, which I'm not sure something based on a segment from Rocky and Bullwinkle should do. You're taking a cartoon about a genius dog and his pet boy traveling through time and helping historical figures and playing it for drama? I don't think that EVER could have worked. Just so we're clear, I'm not saying that the film should be non-stop jokes and zany antics - the George of the Jungle movie is a goofy comedy that doesn't take itself seriously, but it still has heart. Mr. Peabody and Sherman prioritizes emotion over humor. And I'm honestly not sure what Mr. Peabody's character arc in the movie was even supposed to be... is it that he should be more open with affection or less overprotective of Sherman?

But I know a lot of people love the movie. The critics, in particular, were thrilled by it... which didn't stop the film from underperforming at the box office. But DreamWorks wasn't done with Mr. Peabody yet. Like most of DreamWorks' films in the 2010s, it got a Netflix show.

Serving as both a reboot of the original "Peabody's Improbable History" segments and a spin-off of the movie, the show was developed by David P. Smith and premiered on Netflix on October 9th, 2015. Unlike the movie, this show was 2D, with DHX Media providing the animation. Mr. Peabody was now voiced by Chris Parnell, but Max Charles reprised his role as Sherman. Most of the characters created for the movie that weren't in the original segments (Sherman's girlfriend, her parents, the evil social worker) don't show up. Like the original segments, Mr. Peabody and Sherman traveled through time and met historical figures, but now they also hosted a variety show with other historical figures serving as the guests.

Four seasons and a total of fifty-two episodes were produced. The show managed to snag two Annie Awards and a couple of Emmys as well. It has since been removed from Netflix, so if you want to watch it you either need a streaming service called Kidoodle.TV or go to the Internet Archive. I'll be using the latter. I know the chances of me liking a TV show based on a movie I don't like are pretty slim, but I can name several times I've liked a movie but hated the TV show it spawned (see also Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness), so who knows? We're going to watch the third episode of the show. This is The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show.

The episode starts off with Mr. Peabody and Sherman figure skating. They've invited the father of modern figure skating, Jackson Haines, to judge their routine.

Hey, Sherman, Elton John called. He wants his glasses back.

They do their fancy figure-skating routine, which culminates in Mr. Peabody falling through the ice because Sherman was taking care of his Tamagotchi instead of catching him. Remember the Tamagotchi? I think it's still a thing, but it's not quite as popular nowadays. I guess everyone realized that digital pets aren't as much fun as real pets. Even if digital pets don't poop on your carpet.

I never had a Tamagotchi. I think my older sister had one at some point, but I could
be wrong.

"Sherman, we've been over this. Having a pet is a HUGE responsibility," Mr. Peabody says. Plus, Sherman is already Mr. Peabody's pet... oh, wait, that was the ORIGINAL version of these characters, where the joke was that instead of a boy having a pet dog, it was a dog having a pet boy. The DreamWorks version of Mr. Peabody is Sherman's adopted father. How else would they be able to throw manufactured drama over Mr. Peabody not being a good father in our faces?

Next, it's time for the portion of the show where Mr. Peabody and Sherman actually do the time-traveling. But first, an appearance from Mrs. Hughes, their... secretary or whatever, who emerges from a giant venus flytrap with a portal in it? Yeah, I don't know either.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but could we please go back to the figure skating?

After that, Mr. Peabody tells us via flashback how he and Sherman met the explorer Marco Polo (voiced by Nolan North). You know who Marco Polo is, right? Venetian mechant and explorer, traveled the Silk Road in China, namesake of the popular pool game? THIS version of Marco Polo has a Brooklyn accent for some reason and is wandering around eating food from street vendors. You see, there's a legend that Marco Polo is the guy who brought noodles to Italy from China, so he's the reason we have spaghetti. This, from what I've read, is false - pasta already existed in the Mediterranean before he came around. I suppose I should complain about this show's not being historically accurate, but that seems kind of pointless for a show where a dog can talk and travel through time.

Eugh, those armpit hairs.

Instead of noodles, however, Marco Polo plans on bringing back... bok choy. Y'know, that food that's basically just cabbage. He doesn't even know what a noodle is. So Mr. Peabody and Sherman bring him to the most famous noodle shop in all of China. "Marco Polo don't put nothin' in his face that ain't got a face," Marco Polo claims. Even though about five minutes ago he was talking about how great bok choy is, and bok choy doesn't have a face either.

Will Mr. Peabody and Sherman get Marco Polo to eat noodles? We'll have to find out later, because Mr. Peabody interrupts the flashback to introduce the audience to Charles Darwin. He's brought with him a dodo bird, a quagga, and a woolly mammoth that looks more like Sidney the elephant from Terrytoons (if you don't know who that character is, look it up).

I've heard that scientists are actually trying to bring back the woolly mammoth.
You think they'll ever accomplish that?

Charles Darwin explains that these animals became extinct because they were all dumb as a rock. I'm doubtful. If being incredibly stupid is all it takes for an animal to go extinct, how come humans are still alive? Charles Darwin is also kind of a jerk, because he tosses the dodo into the air just to let it fall on its face (y'know, because he can't just say the dodo can't fly, nobody's gonna believe THE FATHER OF EVOLUTION on that). AND he wheels in an inflatable pool full of hot tar for the woolly mammoth to drown in. Fortunately, Sherman has taken a liking to the mammoth and he advises it not to take a dip. Ha! In your face, Darwin!

Did you know that woolly mammoths used their curved tusks to dig up the ground? Hey,
if I can't be funny, I think I should at least try to be educational.

Sherman begs Mr. Peabody to let him keep the mammoth, but Mr. Peabody says no. For one thing, it's hard to house-train a mammoth and he doesn't want to wake up one morning and find a mountain of crap on the living room rug. But also Mr. Peabody thinks HE'LL be the one walking him and feeding him and getting him chew toys. And those are all things SHERMAN should be doing for HIM. Y'know, since he's a dog.

"I tried, boy! But my... FATHER... doesn't approve of our LOVE!" Sherman tells the mammoth. Mr. Peabody, how could you be so cruel? Separating your son and the enormous prehistoric pachyderm that he's clearly formed a bond with? But Sherman is clever and simply HIDES the mammoth behind the set. And Mr. Peabody doesn't notice the mammoth's trunk peeking out from over the wall. So much for being the world's smartest dog.

I think Mr. Peabody needs new glasses if he can't see the literal elephant in the room.

It isn't until Sherman starts listing pet names that Mr. Peabody notices the mammoth's trunk and reveals the whole thing to the audience. And now, back to the Marco Polo story!

Apparently, Marco Polo's finickyness reminds Mr. Peabody of when Sherman was a baby and wouldn't eat his vegetables. He would simply read him a book about another finicky eater and Sherman would inhale the broccoli. For legal reasons, he can't read the book on this show, so he wrote his own: a parody of Green Eggs and Ham. Long story short, Marco Polo eats the noodles and loves 'em.

"And I will eat them on the go.
And I will eat them in the snow.
And I will eat them 'neath the sky.
And I will eat them in Shanghai.
And I will eat them in Beijing.
They are a most delicious thing!
And I will eat them with a yak.
And I will eat them as a snack.
And I'll eat them with grated cheese.
And with marinara sauce, please.
I'll take them back to Italy!
I like them, Mr. Peabody!"

So they go back to the noodle shop so Marco Polo can get the recipe, but the Chinese stereotype who runs the shop will only give it to them if they compete in three challenges. What are these three challenges? We'll have to find out later, because we cut back to Sherman and Mr. Peabody arguing over the mammoth. Their argument is interrupted by their downstairs neighbor and resident stereotypical sassy black woman, Christine (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), barging in and doing this with her dog:

"The mammoth needs to be in his own environment with the proper climate, the right kind of food, and familiar animals! The Ice Age!" Mr. Peabody says. After all, if they don't return him to the Ice Age, how will Disney be able to continue milking the franchise, even after they shut down the studio that made the films? Why, no, I'm not still bitter about that at all.

Then who should show up but ANOTHER stereotype. This time, it's an Indian swami riding a magic carpet.

Meanwhile, Christine is still French-kissing her dog.

Mr. Peabody tells the swami to help Sherman return the Woolly Mammoth to the Ice Age. Instead, Sherman turns the apartment into a winter wonderland, with saber-toothed tigers and giant beavers and even neandrethals walking around. How did he accomplish this? I don't know. I guess the implication is that the swami has some sort of mystical genie-like powers and can grant wishes.

All it needs is for Elsa to show up and start singing "Let It Go".

After that, we continue with the flashback. Everything turns into one of those martial arts movies where the lip-sync doesn't match up (which Sherman points out). Their first challenge is to walk across a floor comprised of the tops of large swaying noodles, holding a cup of water. And also the noodles are being boiled, but they're being cooked al dente which makes them both hard and soft... I'm just gonna take Mr. Peabody's word for it, I'm not a culinary expert. They manage to get across when Mr. Peabody uses one of the noodles to swing across the room.

The next challenge is for them to, while holding an egg and preventing it from cracking, fight "noodle warriors" wielding fortune cookies and eggroll nunchucks. I can't help but find this offensive. Did I turn on an episode of Chop Socky Chooks by mistake?

And why do the "noodle warriors" have purple skin? Did they eat Willy Wonka's gum
or something?

Sherman defeats the "noodle warriors" by eating their weapons. Challenge number three is for them to take a measuring cup full of flour to the middle of the room - after they've been spun around and the room is filled with flour. To solve THIS challenge, they invent the game "Marco Polo".

"Each challenge was a secret ingredient!" Mr. Peabody says, and thus Marco Polo learns how to make noodles, preventing the world from not knowing what rigatoni is. After the flashback, we see Mr. Peabody use his skating skillz from the beginning of the episode to save Sherman from a saber-toothed tiger cub. Or, rather, its mother.

Diego's girlfriend from the fourth and fifth Ice Age movies is mad she wasn't invited back
for Ice Age 6.

The mammoth saves them, and Mr. Peabody decides to let Sherman keep him after all. I'm guessing the mammoth doesn't show up in any of the following episodes. Which is too bad, because having a woolly mammoth around would make this show a lot cooler.

What's the Verdict?

This is a mixed bag of a show. On the one hand, it manages to avoid most of the problems that the movie has... namely, it doesn't take itself so seriously. The focus is entirely on the jokes. Downside: most of the jokes aren't funny. This is what the show considers a funny joke:

Being disgusting is not the same thing as being funny.

It doesn't help that Sherman is extremely Flanderized here. In the film, and the original segments, he was a normal little kid. He was not loud, obnoxious, and stupid - three words that I think best describe him here. Basically, he's been turned into Chowder (right down to the large appetite!). They even both frequently make over-the-top bizarre expressions for the sake of WACKINESS. I considered making screencaps of each one, but I didn't, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The animation is pretty good, every so often there's a chuckle-worthy moment, and I much prefer Chris Parnell as Mr. Peabody to Ty Burrell (even if he still doesn't sound much like Bill Scott). If you enjoyed the movie, I'd say give the show a watch. If you liked the original segments but didn't care for the movie, I'd avoid it. It's hardly the WORST reboot of a Jay Ward cartoon, though. I think we all know what show THAT honor goes to...

Rating: Two and a half woolly mammoths out of five. You'll wish you could travel back in time and warn yourself not to watch it.

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Dawn of the Croods"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

The Croods isn't exactly one of DreamWorks' more popular movies. It was released during that brief time period in the 2010s where DreamWorks' animated films were more often than not box office bombs - however, unlike most of DreamWorks' releases during that time, this one actually did well at the box office. And this was also the same time period where DreamWorks was teaming up with Netflix to do shows based on their animated movies. Shows like Turbo: F.A.S.T., All Hail King Julien, The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show, even Home got a show for Netflix at one point. You can see where I'm going with this, right?

And so, Dawn of the Croods premiered on Christmas Eve 2015 on Netflix. The show took place before the events of the movie, detailing the adventures of the Crood family in the valley where they lived before they met Ryan Reynolds' character Guy. Fifty-two episodes were produced.

According to the show's producer, Brendan Hay, "I loved how [The Croods] managed to carefully balance a modern, relatable family dynamic between characters with a caveman's point of view. I love The Flintstones, but it was always about transporting the modern world's conveniences into its time period. The Croods took the time to create an experience based on how a cave family would live, which surprisingly hasn't been done that often, at least for comedy. The only condition going in was that Dawn of the Croods had to be a prequel, because the next feature film is going to be a sequel. So my thinking went into what the first family sitcom in history might be like. There's a sentence in The Croods' prologue where Eep explained that they used to have neighbors, which sounded like a fun world, so we decided to build that out. What would be The Croods' version of The Simpsons' Springfield? If we put them into situations that modern families like ours understand and take for granted, how weird, strange, or funny could it be?"

The show differs from the film in a few ways. First of all, it's 2D as opposed to CGI. The crew wanted the show to have a cartoonish look, but it's really hard to do cartoony squash-and-stretch in CGI on a television show's budget. Second, all of the characters have been recast because the celebrities who voiced them in the movie were likely too busy or too expensive to do the show. So, instead of Emma Stone we have Stephanie Lemelin as teenage cavegirl Eep (not the first time - she previously did Eep's voice for a video game), Dan Milano of Robot Chicken fame instead of Nicholas Cage as her father Grug, Cree Summer instead of Catherine Keener as her mother Ugga, AJ LoCascio instead of Clark Duke as her dimwitted younger brother Thunk, Grey DeLisle-Griffin instead of sound designer Randy Thorn as the rambunctious baby of the family Sandy, and Laraine Newman instead of Cloris Leachman as wisecracking grandma Gran.

I've never watched a single episode of this show before, but I did like The Croods (and I thought its 2020 sequel was pretty good too) and find DreamWorks' 2010s Netflix shows to generally be pretty good. So let's take a look at Dawn of the Croods and see if it's a fun show or if it's a blast from the past that should have just stayed in the past. We're reviewing the tenth episode of the second season and the twenty-third episode overall, which consists of the segments "Croodtopia" and "Hands on a Hard Egg". Why an episode of the second season? Because I've noticed that I usually review an episode of a show's FIRST season and I feel like it's becoming a bit repetitive. Let's get started.

"Croodtopia" begins with Eep, like all cartoon teenage girls, whining about how her parents never let her do anything fun. In this case, Grug and Ugga are telling her and Thunk to stop licking rocks - wow, if this is what cavepeople considered to be a fun activity, thank goodness they invented things like bicycles and televisions.

In the movie, Ugga wasn't a redhead, she was a brunette. In hindsight, it's a little
weird that Eep was a redhead when in the movie both of her parents were brunettes...
maybe the colorists thought so too?

The reason why Grug and Ugga don't want their kids licking rocks is because there's a case of something called "the Sneezles" going around. If you get "the Sneezles", your nose leaks out, your stomach does somersaults, and your boogers turn purple. Grug demonstrates all of these symptoms, so I wonder if HE'S been licking rocks too...

"Ugh, there's nothing more disgusting than getting barfed on by Grimace..."

Now that Grug has the Sneezles and Ugga and Gran have been sneezed on by him, there's only one thing for Eep, Thunk and Sandy to do: leave the cave until they've got the Sneezles out of their systems. A few seconds later, they run into their pals Lerk (also Grey DeLisle-Griffin) and Womp (also Dan Milano). All five revel in their newfound freedom - with the parents not around, they can do whatever they want. They can go swimming, watch animals fight like professional wrestlers (complete with a "pro wrestling is fake" joke)...

A scene from the long-awaited WWE/Where the Wild Things Are crossover.

Eventually, the kids come to a disagreement. They're hungry, and Eep and Lerk want to hunt a tasty-looking mosquitoad, one of the many bizarre animals that live in their world... so, is the Croods' valley just a prehistoric version of the Land of Wuz? Is this show a prequel to The Wuzzles? That's my new headcanon.

Since he's part-bug and part-toad, he lives in a constant state of turmoil regarding
whether or not he should eat himself.

"I'm not in the mood for mosquitoad. How about spike-apples?" Thunk suggests. Womp agrees, he's not so much a huntER as a huntEE. "Fine. You do what you want, I'll do what I want, and Sandy... do what Sandy wants," Eep tells them. And what Sandy wants to do is chase after a cross between a chicken and a fish.

Look, it's a literal Chicken of the Sea!

Thunk and Womp head for a tree bearing spikeapples, which are apples with spikes sticking out of them (which sounds dangerous to eat, doesn't it?). Because Thunk is an idiot, he winds up having three of them FALL INTO HIS EYEBALLS. Ouch! That's not funny, that's just painful! Meanwhile, Eep and Lerk's attempt at hunting the mosquitoad (they throw rocks at it) is a total wash too, which Eep blames Thunk for. For some reason. She's so mad that she draws a line in the sand and we do the "This is my side, and that is YOUR side" cliche.

"This side's the best! That side STINKS! You're on the JERSEY side of this cesspool!"

More problems arise. Eep and Lerk are promptly attacked by what looks like a cross between a vulture and a dinosaur, while Thunk and Womp are chased by a moler bear... you can probably guess which animals THAT is a fusion of. Once they're dealt with, Eep and Thunk start arguing again, and then the chicken-fish... or, as the characters call it, a Chickuna... shows up and they get into a tug-of-war over it. Then Sandy appears, grabs the Chickuna in her mouth and runs up a tree with it. Seeing their sister in danger, Eep and Thunk realize that working together is good or whatever and save her through the power of teamwork... and then all three of them fall out of the tree, but it's a cartoon, so of course they survive.

That night, the three Crood kids arrive back at their cave and beg Grug and Ugga to tell them what to do, much to their confusion. Then Sandy sneezes at the camera, covering it with purple glop. Uh oh, she's got the Sneezles!

Our next segment, "Hands on a Hard Egg", begins with Grug, Thunk, and Eep ready to eat. Fortunately, Ugga has something for them to munch on: sticks! Because... I guess she now thinks that they're beavers.

Ugga's homemade "fish sticks" leave a lot to be desired.

Why sticks? Because there's a food shortage going on - the trees aren't growing fruit and prey is scarce. Because there's not enough prey to go around, Eep points out to Grug that he'll probably need some extra help to find it, wink wink, nudge nudge. Grug is all "No, you're too young to help me hunt!" and then goes flying into a pile of rocks, which (since this is a cartoon) does NOT crack his skull open like a coconut but rather sends all the rocks flying, revealing a giant egg. And upon seeing that giant egg, all of the cavepeople in the valley are suddenly craving omelets.

"POACHED!"

"FRIED!"

"SCRAMBLED!"

"SUNNY SIDE UP!"

"OVER EASY!"

Since they all grabbed the egg at the same time, they decide to have a little contest: whoever takes their hand off the egg is disqualified, and whoever's remaining after everyone else has taken their hand - or some other body part - off the egg gets it. I think people actually have contests like this, but it's usually for a new car or something. Not a giant egg. Mostly because giant eggs are very hard to find nowadays (maybe if moas weren't extinct...). And in case you're wondering, no, I have never taken part in any of these contests. I don't even drive, what would I want with a new car?

This isn't as easy as it sounds. First, it gets really hot. Then, when the sun sets, it gets really cold. By morning, the first caveperson has dropped out, and then a Chris Parnell-voiced caveperson decides it's not worth it and walks away while he still has his dignity... off a cliff, where he is promptly mauled by a moler bear.

Meanwhile, back at Casa Del Crood, Thunk and Ugga are trying to get Sandy to eat. But she's not a fan of eating sticks, and Thunk's most recent attempt at feeding her results in her hallucinating that he's a rejected Wuzzle.

"Two kinds of fun, wrapped up and rolled into one..."

Eventually, Eep falls asleep, and when she wakes up, she discovers that she's the only one still holding the egg. Did everyone else leave? Nope - the egg is alive, and it's carnivorous! And now it's going to eat HER! Boy, this episode took a dark turn all of a sudden...

Talk about a rotten egg.

Despite Eep's efforts to gnaw her arm off, she is promptly eaten by the sentient egg. Just kidding - she's just dreaming about the egg being alive. She really needs to stop taking acid if this is what her dreams are like.

When Eep wakes up, Grug advises her to just go home... only for Eep to trick him into taking his hand off the egg. Mind games: they're so easy even a caveman can do them. I'm sure everyone's going to get THAT reference, right? It's not dated at all, is it? Surely everybody reading my blog remembers that ad campaign, don't they?

Now it's down to Eep and her teacher, Squawk (Dee Bradley Baker), who like all teachers (in cartoons, I mean. Most of my teachers were nice) is a master at torture. Can Eep endure his incredibly long spiels about the history of wet dirt? Maybe if she holds the egg over her head and runs around with it, dragging Squawk along for the ride...

Wow, Squawk is much stronger than he looks...

After some WHACKY SHENANIGANS, Eep winds up the winner of the contest and brings the egg home for everyone to eat. They don't cook it, of course - they just crack it open and help themselves to the yolk. Except Sandy. She actually likes eating sticks now, and after hallucinating that Ugga is Groot's sister, she decides to eat HER. The episode ends with her lunging at the camera while Ugga screams. I know Ugga's presence in the movie, with this show being a prequel and all, makes it clear that Sandy did not actually eat her, but that's the indication I'm getting here.

Actually, maybe she DID eat Ugga and the Ugga in the movie is a different caveperson. It would explain the different hair colors...

What's the Verdict?

As far as cartoons based on DreamWorks movies go, this isn't as good as The Penguins of Madagascar or The Adventures of Puss in Boots (note to self: review that show at some point), but it's much better than Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness or that crappy Monsters vs. Aliens show they had on Nickelodeon. I think the main problem is that so much of it is focused on Eep and Thunk, who to be honest aren't super-engaging characters. Eep is your typical rebellious teenage girl, and Thunk is basically just a typical cartoon dumb guy. Regardless, this show is genuinely quite funny, the animation is pretty good, the voice actors are giving it their all, as a whole the show's pros outweigh its cons and I found it enjoyable. If you like the movie, you'll probably like Dawn of the Croods. If you haven't seen the movie, I'd recommend watching it first and THEN checking out the show.

Oh, by the way, another Croods show taking place after the second movie came out in 2021. It's called The Croods: Family Tree. It wasn't on Netflix, it was on Hulu and Peacock. Unlike this show, it was CGI. Once again, they didn't get Nicholas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener etc. back, but for some reason the only actor to reprise their role from THIS show was AJ LoCascio (Ryan Reynolds didn't reprise his role either, Guy was now voiced by Darin Brooks from Days of Our Lives). I remember watching one episode and finding it mediocre. Maybe I'll do a review of it too, maybe I won't, we'll just have to wait and see. It got eight seasons (same number of episodes, though), so clearly SOMEBODY must have liked it...

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Little Mermaid"

As you know, The Little Mermaid is the film that pulled Disney out of its slump and got the Disney Renaissance up and running. The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver and Company helped as well, but The Little Mermaid - THAT was the film that really got theatrical animated movies seen as something worth doing again. If it weren't for The Little Mermaid, we might not have gotten The Lion King. Or Beauty and the Beast. Or Frozen, or Tangled, or maybe even Toy Story.

So let's go back in time to 1992. The Disney Renaissance is going on, Beauty and the Beast was successful, Aladdin is going to be released in November. Disney knows that people love The Little Mermaid, I'm sure Ariel dolls were still flying off the shelves. Surely there's a way to keep the movie's hype going. And Disney was just dipping its toes into making TV shows based on their animated films - The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and TaleSpin were both successful. So why NOT make a cartoon show starring Ariel?

And thus was created The Little Mermaid... the TV show. Premiering on CBS in September 1992, the series was a prequel to the movie, taking place before Ariel met Prince Eric (since, y'know, it wouldn't make sense to call the show The Little MERMAID if the main character had legs). Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, and Kenneth Mars reprised their roles as Ariel, Ursula, Sebastian, and King Triton for the show. Flounder was now voiced by Edan Gross, then Bradley Pierce (who you might recall as the voice of Chip in Beauty and the Beast), and Scuttle was now voiced by Maurice LaMarche as opposed to Buddy Hackett. There were songs, there were bad guys for Ariel to fight, there were presumably also increased sales of Ariel dolls and Flounder plushies. They even had an episode where Ariel met Hans Christian Anderson, who for those unaware wrote the original Little Mermaid story. Neat, huh?

Three seasons, making for a total of thirty-one episodes, were produced of The Little Mermaid. Since its run on CBS, reruns have aired on Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and Disney Junior. A couple episodes were released on VHS and DVD, and now you can find the whole show, except the pilot movie for some reason, on Disney Plus. I've watched the show before - first via reruns (I recall my older sister loved The Little Mermaid at some point, it might have been her favorite Disney movie but don't quote me on that) then at some point in the 2010s I found episodes of the show on YouTube. From what I recall, it's a pretty good show. Since I'm probably going to be looking at all of these Disney shows adapted from their movies at some point on this blog (I already did Aladdin, 101 Dalmatians, and Hercules, you'll recall), I might as well give this show a review too. I'm tempted to do a review of the episode where Sebastian turns into a giant, or the one where Ariel encounters dinosaurs (this show could get pretty out there), but nah, I'll do the seventeenth episode, "Save the Whale", instead. This is The Little Mermaid!

First of all - no, this episode does not focus on Ariel becoming a member of Greenpeace or trying to prevent whales from beaching themselves. A shame, because the more we can do to spread awareness of whale conservation, the better. To learn more about saving the whales, visit this website.

The episode starts off with Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian on the surface of the water... which, as the movie establishes, is a big no-no for Ariel because her father does not want her to get caught by humans, lest she wind up served as an entree at a Red Lobster or mounted to a plaque on somebody's wall singing novelty songs (you're welcome for that mental image). But then a shark fin pops out of the water and comes their way!

Dah-dun, daaaaaaaah-dun, daaaaaaaaaaah-dun...

Oh, wait. It's not a shark fin. It's the fin of an orca. And not just ANY orca - Spot, the orca who Ariel met in the aforementioned pilot movie. One look at his Casper the Friendly Ghost-shaped head and his weird bulbous human-esque nose (which Flounder also has, have you ever noticed?) and Ariel is overjoyed.

Y'know what this reminds me of? Did anyone else have Brother Bear on DVD? I recall there was a game part of the bonus features where you could put together fossils, and then once the fossil was complete, the narrator would tell you about the animal that fossil came from accompanied by clips of a Disney production featuring that animal. One of those animals was an orca, and the clips you'd receive were of Spot from this show. If you also had that DVD and played that game, well, there's your daily dose of nostalgia for the day.

He reminds me of the octopus from that animated Titanic movie.

King Triton shows up, and he says that he hopes they don't have a repeat of the previous time Spot visited. Ariel assures him that this time, Spot will stay outside the palace. "Good. Better make it outside of Atlantica as well," King Triton suggests. Ariel asks why everyone is so afraid of orcas.

Well, Ariel, orcas might look cute - particularly when they have big round heads and bulbous human noses like Spot does - but they are carnivorous. They are sometimes referred to as "wolves of the sea" because they live and hunt together in pods (which is what a group of whales is called) much like a pack of wolves. Among the things an orca can and will eat include fish, walruses, seals, sea lions, penguins (as Happy Feet showed us), sea turtles, sharks, and even other kinds of whales, and the average-sized orca can eat about five hundred pounds of food a day. There. Now you can't say you've never learned anything from one of my reviews.

I don't think orcas eat human beings, but I imagine Ariel's being half-human half-fish makes things
a bit more complicated. Maybe he'd just eat her tailfin?

"I know Spot wouldn't hurt anyone. I'm just not sure Spot knows it," King Triton tells her. Ariel seems pretty sure, though, and starts teaching Spot how to do fancy leaping-out-of-the-water tricks. After this, Spot went on to star in Free Willy.

Boy, that's the chubbiest orca that I've ever seen. He should really lay off the walruses...

While leaping out of the water, Spot is spotted (see what I did there?) by two sailors, one of whom looks very much like Jasper from One Hundred and One Dalmatians. "Just what I've been looking for," the Jasper lookalike says. "Something to make Pettigrew's Penguin Park a real money-maker." Then he lets out an evil chortle, making it pretty clear who the episode's bad guy is going to be.

Dr. Doofenschmirtz, before he went crazy and devoted his life to fighting a platypus.

Ariel wants to introduce all of Atlantica to Spot, but King Triton isn't sure - most of Atlantica's residents are afraid of orcas (since most of Atlantica's residents are sea creatures, and orcas are also sea creatures, would this be considered some sort of underwater racism?). Ariel says that if everyone sees Spot perform tricks, they'll see that they have nothing to fear. "We'll do it out in the Shallows! Away from Atlantica!" she insists. "Oh, it'll be great!" King Triton agrees to let Ariel have her little undersea carnival, with Flounder as a shark-tamer and Sebastian as the ringmaster.

The carnival... well, technically it's more of a circus, but apparently the writers thought circuses and carnivals were the same thing... begins with a kickline of octopuses.

I wonder if they had any difficulty deciding which tentacle to kick.

A squid juggles sea urchins, Flounder attempts to tame a tiger shark (and fails at it), and Spot performs his leaping-out-of-the-water tricks. I'm trying so hard not to make another Free Willy reference... you know what, I'll make a reference to Moby Lick from Street Sharks instead. In hindsight, isn't it kind of funny that Moby was an orca and yet it was another character on that show, the whale shark mutant, who was named "Slammu"? Wouldn't it have made more sense to name the orca "Slammu"?

The Atlanticans like Spot - they really, really like Spot.

Hey, look, it's that fish from Pinocchio.

But then a b-b-b-b-BOAT shows up overhead. Sebastian tries to stop Spot from getting too close, but they both wind up getting caught. Ariel and Flounder swim off after the boat.

Is it just me, or does the water look really polluted?

The boat, of course, belongs to the Jasper lookalike, Pettigrew, and the other sailor, Tom... who is revealed to be Pettigrew's son. Pettigrew has a son? So somebody actually married this guy? Boy, and I thought Bluto having a wife was hard to wrap my head around...

They bring Spot (and Sebastian) to Pettigrew's Penguin Park, which is kind of like SeaWorld, except it's EEEEEEEEEE-VIL! They've also captured the penguins from Mary Poppins. Good to know they survived when the rain washed away that chalk drawing...

"I told you guys we should've stayed in the chalk drawing. But NOOOOOOOOOO... 'Let's take
a vacation,' you said. 'We could go to Denmark, I hear it's nice this time of year,' you said..."

"Look on the bright side, David. It could be worse."

"Yeah, we could be forced to appear in a direct-to-video sequel with a walrus who's just Pumbaa
from The Lion King in all but name and species."

"...how do you even know who Pumbaa is? This is 1992. The Lion King hasn't been released yet."

"I'm telling you, Tom, once we get this big fella trained, he'll make my penguin park a WHALE of a show!" Pettigrew declares. Tom thinks that Spot is too young to train, but Pettigrew claims that the younger a whale you capture and try to turn into the next Shamu is, the sooner they forget about the ocean and the sooner you get rich, rich, rich. It should be clear by now what Pettigrew's motivation is...

...aaaaaaaaaand now I wish they'd gotten Eric Idle to do this guy's voice. And given him a musical number.

He doesn't have that whip because he's a fan of Devo.

"Dad, don't you care about anything but making money?" Tom asks. "Of course I do! I care about PENGUINS!" Pettigrew insists. And speaking of penguins, they comfort Spot over the whole "stuck in an evil version of SeaWorld" thing. Isn't it kind of funny how in this show, the crabs and fish can talk, but the whales and penguins can't? Of course, in the movie there was a shark who didn't talk... I wonder why some sea animals are capable of speech but others don't seem to be.

Ariel and Flounder make it to Pettigrew's Penguin Park (I'm tempted to start calling it "PPP") by nightfall. Now they just have to figure out how to get by that big wooden fence... the obvious answer is "just swim under it", but for some reason they don't think of that. Maybe it's because they're too distracted by the fireworks...

Wow, Ariel, that's quite a sunburn you've got there. Even mermaids have to use sunscreen,
ya know.

Fortunately, the gate opens up so a boat full of people can enter the park, allowing Ariel and Flounder to swim inside.

Which is good, because apparently swimming under the gate isn't an option after all...

Pettigrew puts on his show, forcing the penguins to do tricks for a cheering crowd. Ariel finds a glum-looking Spot. Where's Sebastian? Pettigrew decided to make him part of the show as well - as Crabby, the ever-so-creatively-named Tap-Dancing Crustacean. Don't worry, Sebastian, this ISN'T the most humiliating moment of your life. You still have two lousy direct-to-video sequels to appear in.

Sebastian's Michigan J. Frog impression is always a crowd pleaser.

Then it's Spot - or, as Pettigrew calls him, "Gargantua" - to perform. Sebastian is horrified to discover that Ariel and Flounder are there, presumably because he believes that if Pettigrew sees them he'll force THEM to be in the show as well. Or maybe he'll sell Ariel off to a circus sideshow or something.

Fortunately, seeing Tom turn the wheel that opens and closes the door to Spot's corral gives Ariel an idea. They'll wait until they open the gate to let the boats out, then Ariel will somehow get the door to Spot's corral open, then Spot - with Sebastian sitting on his back - will make a swim for it, with Ariel and Flounder right behind him. It all goes off without a hitch, but wouldn't you know it, Pettigrew sees this going on and he's all "THE WHALE, IT IS GETTING AWAY!"

"AND HE'S GOT MAH DENTURES!"

And on top of that, Spot can't bear to just leave those poor penguins behind. Fortunately, Tom decides to let the penguins go.

"So long, Pettigrew! We're going back to our chalk drawing!"

But Pettigrew decides to actually do something instead of just standing there looking agitated in his purple suit and closes the gate. Gee, I wonder if Spot will use one of his leaping-out-of-the-water tricks to just jump over the gate... yep, that's exactly what he does. I don't know if an orca can actually jump that high, but it's a cartoon, just go with it.

Is this supposed to be an E.T. reference? Probably not, since nobody's on a bike...

"That was one WHALE of a LEAP!" Sebastian exclaims. The episode did that joke already, Sebastian. And then guess who shows up? King Triton, making a hilarious facial expression.

"I am not amused."

Fortunately, all it takes for him to calm down is for Ariel to say that she had to save Spot to save him the trouble of doing it. Then they find a pod of orcas, meaning that it's time for Spot to go back to his own kind. The penguins go with him... I sure hope none of those other orcas are hungry. And that's about it.

What's the Verdict?

Like with the other Disney cartoons based on their animated movies, I personally think The Little Mermaid holds up quite well. The animation, while obviously a downgrade from the movie, is still pretty good. Everyone is in-character. The voice actors all do a good job. And the Mary Poppins penguins showing up is a nice touch. If I do have one complaint, it's that the villain is kind of a bore, and Tom's arc isn't given much focus. Does Pettigrew even get any sort of comeuppance? Aside from, y'know, his penguins all leaving. Surely he can find MORE penguins, or another orca for that matter. But those are nitpicks. As a whole, I enjoyed this episode.

If you're a fan of the movie, give the series a watch. If you haven't seen the movie, watch it first and then check the series out. And remember - places that force aquatic animals to perform are the scum of the earth. Way to make kids feel bad about visiting the aquarium, Disney.