The Little Mermaid (TV series)
The Little Mermaid is a 1992-1994 American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation based on the 1989 Disney film of the same name. It features the adventures of Ariel as a mermaid prior to the events of the film. This series is the first Disney television series to be spun off from a major animated film. Some of the voice actors of the film reprise their roles in the series, among them Jodi Benson as Ariel, Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, Kenneth Mars as King Triton and Pat Carroll as Ursula. Other voice actors include Edan Gross and Bradley Pierce as Flounder, and Jeff Bennett as Prince Eric.
The Little Mermaid premiered in the fall of 1992 with the animated prime time special called "A Whale of a Tale", then moved to Saturday mornings. This series originally appeared on CBS, with an original run from 1992 to 1994. Disney Channel reran the series from October 2, 1995 to September 29, 2002 and again from September 5, 2006, to July 4, 2010. Some of the episodes contain musical segments, featuring original songs written for the series. The opening theme to the show is an instrumental combination of the songs "Part of Your World", "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl". The overture for the 2007 stage musical of The Little Mermaid is similar to this.
Premise
The Little Mermaid television series is a prequel to the movie of the same name. The story is set before the events in the 1989 film, and follows Ariel's adventures as a mermaid still living under the sea with her father, 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 or her kingdom. A prequel film, , was released in 2008 containing events that contradict the television series, making the TV series and Ariel's Beginning independent continuities.Characters
From the 1989 film
- Ariel – is the youngest daughter of the sea king. She loves singing and going on adventures. She also has developed magic in season 2 to save her world.
- Flounder – Ariel's best friend, a bright yellow and blue colored tropical reef fish who follows along on her adventures, and can be easily scared.
- Sebastian – A small red Jamaican-accented crab who acts as the king's adviser, court musician, a teacher, a scout leader and a baby-sitter-like figure for Ariel.
- King Triton – is Ariel's father and ruler of Atlantica who protects his kingdom with his magic trident.
- Scuttle – is a clumsy seagull who is friends with Ariel. He first appears in the episode "Scuttle". At first Ariel is afraid of him, but they become friends after he helps them rescue Sebastian.
- Attina : Attina is one of Ariel's six older sisters
- Aquata, is one of Ariel's six older sisters
- Andrina, is one of Ariel's six older sisters
- Arista : Arista is one of Ariel's sisters. She has blond cream coloured hair tied in a half ponytail hair style and has a red tail and red seashells.
- Adella is one of Ariel's six older sisters
- Alana is one of Ariel's six older sisters.
- Glut, a shark who tries to eat Ariel.
- Ursula is a powerful cecaelian sea witch who occasionally antagonizes Ariel.
- Flotsam and Jetsam – They are Ursula's green moray eel informers who spy others and show Ursula what they are seeing with their magic yellow eye, they have one eye white and the other yellow.
- Prince Eric – Ariel's future husband. His first appearance is in the episode "Thingamajigger" and appears occasionally throughout the seasons with his dog, Max, as a puppy. Ariel first sees him saving a dolphin from a net, which technically makes this scene the first time she has ever seen Prince Eric, but does not know who he is. Eric also sees Ariel swimming on the surface for a couple of seconds but no one believed him.
Original characters
- Urchin – He is a young orphan merboy and Ariel's friend. He shares her love for adventure and is unofficially her adopted brother, and at one point starts to develop romantic feelings for Ariel.
- The Lobster Mobster – A red-violet lobster gangster following the style of the 1920s gangster stereotype. Da Shrimp is his sidekick.
- The Evil Manta – An evil human/manta ray hybrid who repeatedly tries to take over Atlantica. He has a son named Little Evil who Ariel befriends in the episode "A Little Evil".
- Pearl – A spoiled, thrill-seeking mermaid whose actions often lead to Ariel, as well as herself, getting in trouble.
- Spot – A killer whale calf whom Ariel adopted and secretly raised in the palace.
- Simon - A lonely, but friendly lavender-colored sea dragon whom Ariel, Sebastian, and Flounder befriend.
- Gabriella – A deaf-mute Latino mermaid who dreams of being able to sing. Gabriella's sign language is translated by her blue octopus friend Ollie. This character is based on a real person who was a fan of the show and died during its first season.
- Moray – A dark green moray eel salesman and con-artist who occasionally sells items to Ariel that alternately help her or get her into trouble.
- The Crabscouts – Crab children, consisting of two boys and one girl, who are under the mentorship of Sebastian in a scout-like troop.
- Flo and Ebb – Two brown alligator criminals who appear in the episode "Beached".
- The Magical Wishing Starfish – A giant starfish with a beard and crown who only appears in the episode "Wish Upon A Starfish".
- Emperor Sharga – Ruler of the Sharkanians, the aggressive shark-people who live in Sharkania similar to the merfolk who live in Atlantica. Sharga wishes to take over Atlantica someday.
- The Ancient Seaclops – An ancient one-eyed sea monster whose primary objective is to sleep every 1,000 years and wants to see it through more than anything else. He gets very angry when he is woken up abruptly by any loud noise and appeared in the episode "Calliope Dreams".
- Dudley is an elderly sea turtle who serves as an assistant to King Triton other than Sebastian. He walks on the ocean floor unlike other sea turtles.
- Hans Christian Andersen – A fictionalised version of the author Hans Christian Andersen, who appears in the episode "Metal Fish" where he rides a fish-shaped submarine and sees Ariel, which inspires him to write the story "The Little Mermaid".
- Archimedes – A merman who knows about human things, appearing in "Metal Fish".
Production and development
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 movie, 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 movie, worked as the arranger and music producer for the first season of the TV show.
Conscious of the worldwide acclaim for the movie's superior artistry, Walt Disney Television Animation auditioned the best overseas animation studios. In the world of TV animation, farming most of the artwork out to Asian studios is an economic reality due to lower production costs and wages abroad. Studios in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Japan and the Philippines contributed to the series.
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1 (1992)
Season 2 (1993)
Season 3 (1994)
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 movie 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 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. The show was broadcast on Disney Channel until 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.In 2011 the series ran until 2018 on Disney Junior Africa.
Home release
VHS releases
Seven VHS cassettes containing 14 episodes of the series were released in the United States.Ariel's Undersea Adventures:
| VHS Name | Episode Titles | Release Date | Stock Number |
| Ariel's Undersea Adventures: Double Bubble | "Double Bubble" and "Message in a Bottle" | February 23, 1993 | 1666 |
| Ariel's Undersea Adventures: In Harmony | "The Evil Manta" and "Charmed" | June 24, 1994 | 2038 |
| Ariel's Undersea Adventures: Stormy the Wild Seahorse | "Stormy the Wild Seahorse" and "The Great Sebastian" | June 24, 1994 | 1665 |
| Ariel's Undersea Adventures: Whale of a Tale | "Whale of a Tale" and "Urchin" | June 24, 1994 | 1664 |
| Ariel's Undersea Adventures: Ariel's Gift | "Red" and "Trident True" | July 15, 1994 | 2039 |
Princess Collection:
| VHS Name | Episode Titles | Release Date | Stock Number |
| Princess Collection - Ariel's Songs & Stories: Giggles | "Giggles" and "Against the Tide" | June 6, 1995 | 4709 |
| Princess Collection - Ariel's Songs & Stories: Wish Upon a Starfish | "Wish Upon a Starfish" and "Metal Fish" | June 6, 1995 | 4708 |
United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand releases
11 VHS cassettes containing 22 episodes of the series were released in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.Ariel's Undersea Adventures:
| VHS Name | Episode Titles | Release Date |
| The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventures : Whale of a Tale | "Whale of a Tale" and "Urchin" | November 26, 1993 |
| The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventures : Stormy the Wild Seahorse | "Stormy the Wild Seahorse" and "The Great Sebastian" | November 26, 1993 |
| The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventures : Double Bubble | "Double Bubble" and "Message in a Bottle" | November 26, 1993 |
| The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventures : In Harmony | "The Evil Manta" and "Charmed" | April 1, 1994 |
| The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventures : Ariel's Gift | "Red" and "Trident True" | April 1, 1994 |
| The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventures : Ariel the Ballerina | "Wish Upon a Starfish" and "Metal Fish" | April 1, 1994 |
| The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventures : Saltwater Sisters | "Beached" and "Thingmaijigger" | April 1, 1994 |
Princess Collection:
| VHS Name | Episode Titles | Release Date |
| Princess Collection : The Little Mermaid - Giggles | "Giggles" and "Against the Tide" | October 11, 1996 |
| Princess Collection : The Little Mermaid - Wish Upon a Starfish | "Wish Upon a Starfish" and "Metal Fish" | October 11, 1996 |
| Princess Collection : The Little Mermaid - Heroes | "Heroes" and "El-ectric City" | March 28, 1997 |
| Princess Collection : The Little Mermaid - Tail of Two Crabs | "A Little Evil" and "Tail of Two Crabs" | March 28, 1997 |
DVD releases
The series has not yet been officially released on DVD. However, four episodes were released as part of the Disney Princess DVD releases.| DVD Name | Episode Title | Release Date |
| Disney Princess Party: Volume 1 | "Message in a Bottle" | September 7, 2004 |
| Disney Princess Stories: Volume 1 | "Wish Upon a Starfish" | September 7, 2004 |
| Disney Princess Stories: Volume 2 | "Ariel's Treasures" | February 15, 2005 |
| Disney Princess Stories: Volume 3 | "Giggles" | September 6, 2005 |
Digital release (streaming services)
As of August 24, 2018, all 31 episodes of the series are available for purchase on the iTunes Store and Amazon Prime Video in two volumes in High Definition.Since the service's launch on November 12, 2019, the series has been available with the exception of the pilot episode through The Walt Disney Company's streaming platform Disney+.
Music
Songs- Just a Little Love -
- You Got to Be You -
- To the Edge of the Edge of the Sea -
- To the Edge of the Edge of the Sea -
- The Lobster Mobster's Mob -
- The Lobster Mobster's Mob -
- Beddie-Bye Blues -
- Sing a New Song -
- In Harmony -
- In Harmony -
- Dis is de Life -
- You Know I Know -
- You Know I Know -
- Never Give Up -
- Everybody Cha-Cha-Cha -
- You Wouldn't Want to Mess with Me -
- You Wouldn't Want to Mess with Me -
- The Sound of Laughter -
- The Sound of Laughter -
- Daring to Dance -
- Daring to Dance -
- Hail Apollo, Defender of the Sea -
- I Just Like The Sky -
- Just Give Me A Chance -
- Just Give Me A Chance -
- I Go to the Beach -
- Just Like Me -
- Let's Play Princess