THE
NEW ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH
(Disney Channel, CBS, January 17, 1988-Octboer 26,
1991)
Walt Disney Television Animation
MAIN CAST:
Jim Cummings – Winnie the Pooh, Tigger (some episodes, season
3-4, Boo, Year & singing: Thanksgiving & Valentine), various
Paul Winchell – Tigger (season
1-2, 3 episodes of season 3)
John Fiedler – Piglet, various
Steve Schatzberg – Piglet
(singing: Boo & Thanksgiving)
Ken Sansom – Rabbit, Stan the Woozle,
Piglet Look-Like, various
Peter Cullen – Eeyore, various
Michael Gough – Gopher
Patricia Parris (as Patty Paris)
– Kanga,
Christopher Robin’s mother
Kath Soucie – Kanga (Year)
Nicholas Melody – Roo
Nikita Hopkins – Roo (Year)
Andre Stojka - Owl (Thanksgiving & Valentine)
Timothy Hoskins, Edan Gross (Christmas), Brady
Bluhm (Thanksgiving & Valentine) & William Green (Year) – Christopher Robin
Frankie J. Galasso – Christopher
Robin (singing: Valentine)
The Hundred Acre Wood is
the place that young Christopher Robin would frequent to visit his closest friends.
Although, they weren’t your typical friends, being that many of them were
stuffed. And animals. Chief amongst them was the slow-witted and friendly
Winnie the Pooh; a bear whose primary love was all things honey. With him came
Piglet, a small neat-freak pig who found a reason to be afraid of anything
(particularly Heffalumps, creatures that resembled elephants); Tigger, an
energetic tiger that loved to bounce and go on adventures; Kanga, a kangaroo
always in the company of her little joey, Roo; Eeyore, a constantly depressed,
hard-luck donkey that always lost his pinned-on tail; Rabbit, a real rabbit
obsessed with order and keeping crows out of his garden; and Owl, a real owl
whose species made him the de-facto wisest of the group (even if he really
wasn’t).
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The original toys, sans Roo who had long since been lost. |
This group of friends came from the imagination of author A.A. Milne, who was inspired by his son, Christopher
Robin, and his toys, as well as the animals
that lived in the forest around his country home in Ashdown Forest, Sussex,
England. Christopher Robin had become enamored with a bear at the London Zoo named Winnipeg; a transplant from Canada that was rescued by Lieutenant Harry
Coleburn and donated to the zoo after WWI.
Coleburn named the bear after his adopted home of Winnipeg. The young Milne
spent a lot of time with Winnie, going so far as to hang out inside the cage.
Eventually, his favorite stuffed bear, Edward, was renamed “Winnie the Pooh”
after the bear and a swan they once encountered.
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The original books. |
Pooh made his literary debut in the poem “Teddy Bear”, published in the February 13, 1924 edition of Punch. However, he would go unnamed
until a story commissioned by the London newspaper The
Evening News was published on December 24, 1925. In 1926, Milne and Pooh made
the leap to book form in Winnie
the Pooh. Published by Methuen
& Co., Ltd. with illustrations
by E.H.
Shepard, Winnie the Pooh adapted
previously published stories with new content and introduced most of his
supporting cast--also based on the rest of Milne’s son’s stuffed animals--as
well as the characterization of Christopher Robin. Tigger wouldn’t be
introduced until the 1928 sequel, The
House at Pooh Corner.
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Winnie the Pooh board game produced by Slesinger. |
Based on the popularity of the original stories and the books, Stephen Slesinger purchased the North American rights to produce merchandise
and media based on the characters in 1930. Slesinger managed to turn Pooh and
his friends into a $50 million-a-year industry, overseeing the production of
toys, records, animation and films under his banner, Telecomics Presents.
Slesinger gave Pooh his distinctive red t-shirt in a drawing he did for the
cover of the 1932
RCA Victor picture record. It was also the first
time the characters appeared in color.
Amongst Pooh’s fans were Diane and Sharon
Mae Disney, the daughters of Walt Disney. Disney actively pursued the rights to the characters and
eventually acquired certain ones from Slesinger and Milne’s widows Shirley and Daphne in 1961. Disney planned to adapt the characters
into a full-length animated musical feature, but upon realizing that worldwide
audiences may not be as familiar with the source material as the British, he decided
to split the feature up into a series of theatrical shorts in order to better
introduce the characters.
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Promotional artwork for The Honey Tree. |
The first, Winnie the Pooh
and the Honey Tree, adapted the first three chapters of Winnie the Pooh. It
starred Sterling
Holloway as Pooh, Junius Matthews as Rabbit, Hal Smith as Owl, Ralph Wright as Eeyore, Barbara Luddy as Kanga, Clint Howard as Roo, and Bruce Reitherman as Christopher Robin. Although promotional art featured
Piglet and Tigger (resembling the Shepard design), neither appeared in the
short. Rather, Disney contemplated replacing Piglet entirely and introduced a
new character: Gopher (Howard
Morris). Gopher, based on the beaver from Lady and the Tramp, constantly dug holes and
tunnels around the Wood and often spoke with a whistle. Honey
Tree was released on February 4, 1966 and was shown alongside The Ugly Dachshund. The short proved popular, and
began the path that would lead to Pooh and his friends becoming a billion-dollar
industry for Disney. It would be the only one of the shorts produced during
Disney’s lifetime as he died that December.
The second short, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery
Day debuted on December 20, 1968 alongside The
Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. The short introduced Piglet (John Fiedler) and Tigger (Paul
Winchell), as well as replaced Reitherman with Jon Walmsley as Christopher Robin. A third short, Winnie the Pooh
and Tigger Too, was released in 1974 before Pooh and friends received
their first full-length movie, The Many
Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The film, released on March 11, 1977, combined the three shorts
with new material to bridge them and a new sequence to fill the running time
based on the final chapter of Pooh Corner. An 8-minute
educational film, Winnie the Pooh
Discovers the Seasons, was also made in 1981 with one last short, Winnie the Pooh
and a Day for Eeyore, released in 1983.
1983 saw the launch of The Disney Channel, and amongst the channel’s initial line-up was the series Welcome
to Pooh Corner. The show featured actors in animatronic suits, created
in part by Ken
Forsse who would go on to create Teddy Ruxpin, acting against blue screen sets as a narrator read from a book
in the opening and closing scenes. The show ran for three years, ending in 1986
after 120 episodes. Pooh’s absence from The Disney Channel was short-lived
as Walt
Disney Television Animation returned him to
animation with his second series: The New Adventures of Winnie the
Pooh.
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The gang of the Hundred Acre Wood. |
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh debuted on January 17, 1988 and ran for 13 episodes on the network
until it shifted over to ABC for the remainder of its 4-season run. Winchell, Fiedler and
Smith all returned to voice their respective characters, with Pooh being taken
over by Jim Cummings, Rabbit by Ken Sansom, Eeyore by Peter Cullen, Kanga by
Patricia Parris, Roo by Nicholas Melody, Gopher by Michael Gough and
Christopher Robin by Timothy Hoskins. The series used a similar animation style
as the original Disney productions and followed the continuing adventures of
Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood (and sometimes around it, as the
town nearby is featured). Writers for the show included Larry Bernard, Mark
Cassutt, Marley Clark, Terrie
Collins, Carter Crocker, Jimmy
Danelli, Lynn Feinerman, Rich
Fogel,
Evelyn Gabai, Karl Geurs, Libby
Hinson, Doug Hutchinson, Ken
Kessel, Eric Lewald, Julia
Lewald, Jymn Magon, Richard
Merwin, Michelle Rifkin, Cliff
Roberts, Dev Ross, Bruce
Reid Schaefer, Paula Sigman, David
Silverman, Stephen Sustarsic, Bruce
Talkington, Len Uhley and Mark
Zaslove. The animation was handled by TMS Entertainment, Hanho Heung-Up Company,
Walt Disney Animation U.K., Walt
Disney Television Animation Australia, and Wang
Film Productions Company. Steve Nelson and Thom
Sharp composed the music, with Nelson
performing the theme song. Two different versions were used over two slightly different
openings.
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Heff Heffalump and Stan Woozle. |
New characters not seen in the earlier shorts included Stan Woozle
(Sansom) and Heff Heffalump (Chuck
McCann), two recurring villains who always
sought to steal from the main characters; Kessie (Laura Mooney), a little bluebird Rabbit rescued and adopted as his daughter;
and Christopher Robin’s mother (Parris), whose face was never shown. Frank Welker would provide the voices for a variety of animal characters
in several episodes, including bees and rats. During the second season, New
Adventures was paired up with Disney’s
Adventures of the Gummi Bears when it moved from NBC to form the Gummi Bears-Winnie
the Pooh Hour. By the third season, Winchell decided to leave the show. He was
replaced by Cummings, who had filled in for him periodically during the first
two seasons.
The show ended its run on October 26, 1991 but was quickly
followed in December by the special, Winnie the Pooh and Christmas
Too. Winchell returned to voice Tigger and Edan Gross assumed the role
of Christopher Robin. The special was introduced with a skit featuring Disney
head Michael Eisner and the Disneyland walk-around Pooh characters, and was accompanied by
the Donald Duck shorts The Hockey Champ an Bearly Asleep. The
special was later edited into part of the 2002 direct-to-video feature A Very Merry Pooh Year with Christopher
Robin’s lines re-dubbed by William Green and Rabbit’s fur recolored into the
traditional yellow, as opposed to the greenish hue it had on the show.
Additional specials included 1996’s Boo to
You Too! Winnie the Pooh, 1998’s A
Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving, and 1999’s Winnie
the Pooh: A Valentine for You.
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Gopher getting ready to blow stuff up. |
New Adventures continued
to air on ABC until 1993, where it went to The Disney Channel and remained
there until 2006. It did return to ABC in 1995 where it would stay until 2002.
The show was also seen on Playhouse Disney, Toon Disney and Disney Junior. It was also seen on international versions of The
Disney Afternoon programming block. During
its run, New Adventures won the Emmy Award for
Outstanding Animation Program in both 1989 and 1990 (where it tied with Beetlejuice).
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Pooh and Eeyore protecting the old west. |
Beginning in 1989, Walt Disney Home Video began releasing collections on VHS and Laserdisc containing two to four episodes each. 10
VHS volumes and 15
Laserdisc volumes were released in the
United States and the United Kingdom, however the international versions often
featured fewer or different episodes and VHS names. Beginning in 1994, the
collections were released under various titles: Winnie
the Pooh: Learning, Winnie
the Pooh: Playtime and Winnie
the Pooh: Friendship. Holiday-themed collections, featuring both the specials and
related episodes, were released between 1994 and 2000.
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Piglet gives Gopher a new jackhammer. |
Various episodes were released on six compilation DVDs, four of them under the Growing
Up with Winnie the Pooh banner, between 2002 and 2010. “Magic Earmuffs” and “The Wishing
Bear” were included on the 10th anniversary re-release of Seasons of Giving. In addition to five of the
North American releases, eight DVDs were released in the United Kingdom under The
Magical World of Winnie the Pooh banner featuring four episodes each. In
2019, it became one of the launch titles for the streaming service Disney+.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Pooh
Oughta Be in Pictures” (1/17/88) – After seeing a scary movie, the gang tries
to convince Piglet that the monsters in it aren’t real.
“Friend,
in Deed / Donkey for a Day” (1/24/88) – Pooh and his friends try to get honey
from a beehive in order to pay back Rabbit for all the honey Pooh’s taken from
him. / Piglet convinces the other to spend the day cheering up Eeyore.
“There’s
No Camp Like Home / Balloonatics” (1/31/88) – Campfire scary stories leads
Piglet to come face-to-face with is greatest fear: Heffalumps. / The gang
panics when the balloon he borrowed from Christopher Robin gets deflated by
Rabbit.
“Find
Her, Keep Her” (2/7/88) – Rabbit tries to raise the little bird he rescued.
“The
Piglet Who Would Be King” (2/14/88) – When Pooh gives Piglet a gift, Piglet
heads out to find the Land of Milk and Honey to get some honey in
reciprocation.
“Cleanliness
is Next to Impossible” (2/21/88) – Helping Christopher Robin clean his room
leads the gang to encounter the evil Crud and Smudge/.
“The Great Honey Pot Robbery” (2/28/88) – A
Heffalump and a Woozle have stolen all the honey in the Hundred-Acre Wood.
“Stripes
/ Monkey See, Monkey Do Better” (3/6/88) – Rabbit forces Tigger to take a bath,
resulting in his stripes being washed off. / The gang becomes upset when
Christopher Robin’s new toy declares himself the best toy ever.
“Babysitter
Blues” (3/13/88) – Christopher Robin and the gang get into mischief while being
watched by a babysitter.
“How
Much is That Rabbit in the Window?” (3/20/88) – Rabbit runs away and ends up
picked up by a junk dealer who tries to sell him.
“Nothing
But the Tooth / Gone With the Wind” (3/27/88) – When pack rats steal Pooh’s
sweet tooth, he believes he can no longer enjoy honey. / Piglet becomes afraid
of going outside since he’s light enough to be blown about by the wind.
“Paw
and Order” (4/3/88) – The gang puts on a play that takes place in the Wild
West.
“Honey
for a Bunny / Trap as Trap Can” (4/10/88) – A bookend Rabbit throws away finds
its way into everyone’s possession. / Pooh and Piglet help a young heffalump
learn how to trap.
“The
Masked Offender / Things That Go Piglet in the Night” (11/12/88) – Tigger
becomes a superhero to help people, but ends up causing problems. / The gang
believes they’re being haunted by a ghost.
“Luck
Amok / Magic Earmuffs” (12/3/88) – Rabbit believes he has bad luck when Tigger
breaks his mirror. / Christopher Robin gives Piglet “magic” earmuffs to help
him gain confidence in ice skating.
“The
Wishing Bear” (12/10/88) – When a wishing star blinks out after Pooh makes a
wish, he tries to ensure the others’ wishes all come true.
“King
of the Beasties / The Rats Who Came to Dinner” (1/7/89) – Tigger believes his
great uncle is a lion and declares himself “King of the Beasties.” / A flood
brings on an onslaught of pack rats.
“My
Hero / Owl Feathers” (1/14/89) – Tigger becomes Piglet’s servant after he saves
his life. / A trail of feathers leads the gang to believe Owl has gone bald.
“A
Very, Very Large Animal / Fish Out of Water” (1/21/89) – Piglet moves away when
he feels he’s too small. / Gopher becomes Rabbit’s roommate and drives him
crazy.
“Lights
Out / Tigger’s Shoes” (2/4/89) – Rabbit borrows Gopher’s flashlight without
asking and he looks for it in a panic. / To keep Tigger busy, Rabbit gives him
weighted shoes and challenges him to jump the highest rock.
“The
‘New’ Eeyore / Tigger, Private Ear” (2/25/89) – Eeyore dresses like Tigger to
be more popular. / Tigger causes crimes so that he can solve them like a
detective.
“Party
Poohper / The Old Switcheroo” (3/4/89) – Pooh is enlisted to keep Rabbit’s
parents busy while he plans a surprise party. / Too avoid a bath, Roo has
Piglet take his place.
Season 2:
“Me
and My Shadow / To Catch a Hiccup” (9/9/89) – Piglet brings home a new shadow
friend. / The gang helps Piglet try to cure his hiccups.
“Rabbit
Marks the Spot / Good-bye, Mr. Pooh” (9/16/89) – Rabbit creates a treasure map
to keep the gang out of his garden as they play pirate. / Tigger spreads a
rumor that Pooh is leaving and the gang throws him a going away party.
“Bubble
Trouble / Ground Piglet Day” (9/23/89) – Pooh ends up trapped in a bubble. /
Rabbit makes Piglet a groundhog for Groundhog Day.
“All’s
Well that Ends Wishing Well” (9/30/89) – Tigger is disappointed with his first
birthday, and Pooh tries to cheer him up by getting him the moon from the
wishing well.
“Un-Valentine’s
Day” (10/7/89) – Rabbit makes Valentine’s Day illegal.
“No
Rabbit’s a Fortress / The Monster Frankenpooh” (10/14/89) – Rabbit builds a
fortress to protect his garden. / On a dark and stormy night, Tigger spins a
yarn about mad scientist Piglet and his monster.
“Where
Oh Where Has My Piglet Gone? / Up, Up and Awry” (10/21/89) – Pooh believes he
misplaced Piglet and searches for him. / The gang arrests Pooh for breaking the
law of gravity when he tries to fly.
“Eeyore’s
Tail Tale / Three Little Piglets” (10/28/89) – Eeyore abandons his tail but
soon wants it back. / Pooh relates the story of the three little pigs.
“Prize
Piglet / Fast Friends” (11/18/89) – The gang holds a race for a trophy. /
Piglet gets stuck in the tree house while Gopher tries to help Pooh become more
punctual.
“Pooh
Moon / Caws and Effect” (12/2/89) – Tigger tells the gang a story about the
“Grabme-Gotcha.” / The crows trick Rabbit into leaving dim-witted Pooh to watch
over his garden while he and the others hunt for them.
Season 3:
“Oh,
Bottle / Owl in the Family” (8/18/90) – The pack rats steal the treasure map in
a bottle Christopher Robin created for their game. / Pooh and Piglet organize a
family reunion for Owl.
“Sham
Pooh / Rock-a-Bye Pooh Bear” (8/25/90) – Pooh losing his appetite causes
everyone to believe everyone else is an imposter. / Piglet has a nightmare
about losing his friends in a storm.
“What’s
the Score, Pooh? / Tigger’s Houseguest” (9/1/90) – Gopher will only rejoin
their game if the others help him work. / Tigger befriends a termite that has
been destroying things in the Wood.
“Rabbit
Takes a Holiday / Eeyi Eeyi Eeyore” (9/8/90) – All his chores done, Rabbit
takes a vacation and leaves the others to watch over his place. / Trying to
make Eeyore feel good about a seed he planted leads Rabbit to believe he’s the
better gardener and give Eeyore his property.
“Pooh
Skies” (10/6/90) – A fallen eggshell leaves the gang to believe the sky is
falling.
“April
Pooh / To Bee or Not to Bee” (10/13/90) – Christopher Robin sets the gang to
search for the April Fool. /
“A
Knight to Remember” (10/20/90) – On a stormy night, Piglet imagines he’s a
brave knight.
“Tigger
is the Mother of Invention / The Bug Stops Here” (10/27/90) – Tigger’s
inventions cause troubles for his friends. / The gang checks out Christopher
Robin’s science project and end up losing the bug that is part of it.
“Easy
Come, Easy Gopher / Invasion of the Pooh Snatcher” (11/3/90) – Rabbit becomes
annoyed when his house ends up part of Gopher’s ultimate tunnel. / Piglet asks
Pooh to help defend his house against Jagulars, which leads Tigger to believe
Pooh has been snatched by one.
“Tigger
Got Your Tongue? / A Bird in the Hand” (11/10/90) – The gang tries to help find
who stole Tigger’s voice. / An adult Kessie returns for a visit, but Rabbit has
a hard time seeing her as anything but a baby.
Season 4:
“Sorry,
Wrong Slusher” (9/7/91) – Strange things follow the gang and Christopher Robin
watching a slusher film.
“Grown,
But Not Forgotten” (9/14/91) – The gang becomes worried that Christopher Robin
will grow up and forget all about them.
“A
Pooh Day Afternoon” (9/21/91) – The gang looks after a dog.
“The
Good, the Bad and the Tigger” (9/28/91) – Losing control of Christopher Robin’s
toy train has Tigger and Pooh put on trial as train robbers.
“Home
Is Where the Home Is” (10/5/91) – The gang takes turns putting up Christopher
Robin after he runs away from home because he accidentally broke a statue.
“Shovel,
Shovel, Toil and Trouble / The Wise Have It” (10/12/91) – A large shovel puts
Gopher on an uncontrollable home improvement kick. / The number of candles on
Pooh’s birthday cake makes the gang believe he’s old and, therefore, wise.
“Cloud,
Cloud Go Away / To Dream the Impossible Scheme” (10/19/91) – Tigger befriends a
very sad cloud. / A visit from his Grandpappy inspires Gopher to finish his
Grandpappy’s dream of an above-ground underground city.
“Piglet’s
Poohetry / Owl’s Well That Ends Well” (10/26/91) – Tigger disrupts Piglet’s
poetry. / Rabbit finds Owl’s singing horrible, but is torn when it keeps the
crows out of his garden.
Specials:
“Winnie
the Pooh and Christmas Too” (12/14/91) – Christopher Robin sends off a letter
to Santa with the gang’s desires, but soon they become greedy and keep asking
for more.
“Boo
To You! Winnie the Pooh” (10/25/96) – Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore search for Piglet
after he runs off in fright, but their own fears begin to get the best of them.
“A
Wnnie the Pooh Thanksgiving” (11/22/98) – The gang learns about the true
meaning of Thanksgiving.
“A
Valentine For You” (2/13/99) – When Owl explains to the gang that Christopher
Robin is smitten by a girl, the gang decides to find another smitten to cure
him.
“A
Very Merry Pooh Year” (11/12/02) – It’s time for the holidays and the usual
chaos abounds in the Wood, along with Pooh forgetting where he hid Piglet’s
present.
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