6.6 /10 1 Votes
7.1/10 TV Program creator A. A. Milne | 6.3/10 IMDb Narrated by Roger L. Jackson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genre AdventureChildrenPuppetry Created by A. A. Milne (Characters) Based on The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heartby A. A. Milne Directed by Mitchell KriegmanDean Gordon Voices of Jim CummingsJohn FiedlerKen SansomPeter CullenAndre StojkaKath SoucieNikita HopkinsStephanie D'Abruzzo Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Book of Pooh is an American television series that aired on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on A. A. Milne's works; the other two were the live-action Welcome to Pooh Corner (to which this series bears resemblance) and the animated The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which ran from 1988–1991. It premiered on January 22, 2001, and completed its run on July 8, 2003. The show is produced by Shadow Projects and Playhouse Disney. Walt Disney Pictures released the first of two films, a direct-to-video spin-off film based on the animated television series, The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart, 2001.
Contents
Overview
The series appears to take place some time after the events of Milne's original stories since his son Christopher Robin Milne is clearly a sixth grader and 11 years old. The series departs from many of the established facts of Milne's books; for example, Tigger resides in the Hundred Acre Wood from the start, and Kanga and Roo are later introduced as newcomers. Neither Christopher nor his mother speak with an English accent, such is the case in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh where Christopher has an American accent. Kessie, the bluebird from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode, Find Her, Keep Her returns as a main character in this series.
Each show begins entering Christopher Robin's bedroom and hearing his mother say, "Christopher, time for school." Christopher Robin answers, "OK, Mom!", grabs a book and leaves. This is where the book with Pooh and his friends in it opens and the theme song begins. The show can be viewed as non-canonical in other ways. For example, Tigger likes - or at least is shown to eat - honey (compared with most other adaptations where "Tiggers don't like honey!") and can climb up - but more importantly climb down from trees. Plus, in this show as well as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit lives in a tree, as opposed to living in a burrow in other adaptations.
Film
The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart is a direct-to-video animated spin-off based on the television series The Book of Pooh. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was distributed by Buena Vista Television, produced by Shadow Projects and Walt Disney Television Animation and released on both VHS and DVD.
It contains six episodes, each of which focuses on one character. It is wrapped together by a loose plot in which the characters wait in Christopher Robin's room for his arrival. As is typical with the series, each episode features an original musical number. It is a compilation film of footage from the TV series.
Style of puppetry
The style of puppetry is based on Japanese bunraku puppetry, and this — along with the cut-out style backgrounds gives the show the look of a pop-up book — hence "The Book of Pooh". It was the first use of the Shadowmation process developed by creator Mitchell Kriegman which was later used in the PBS series, It's a Big Big World.
Characters
The characters in the show regularly sing and dance in ways that enhance the story being told. Many of the episodes do not have much basis in the original stories by A.A. Milne besides the characters.
The design and animation of the show was done by Chris Renaud, who would later become the co-director of the 2010 film, Despicable Me.
The characters who appear regularly and the actors who voice them are:
The versions of Tigger and Pooh seen on this show later made an appearance in a music video by the We Are Family foundation.
Main themes
Awards and nominations
The series received four Emmy Awards and tied with Sesame Street for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series 2002.