The Little Mermaid TV Series (1992)

Creator(s): Walt Disney Television
Air Dates: September 11th, 1992 - November 26th, 1994
Seasons: 3
Episodes: 31
(source)

The Little Mermaid TV Series was a show based off of Disney's The Little Mermaid. It takes place about a year or two before the movie happened. The episodes typically feature Ariel and her under sea friends going on adventures and finding treasures. It was the first television spin-off of one of Disney's movies.

The theme song is just a medley of three of the main songs from the movie, "Part of Your World", "Under the Sea", and "Kiss the Girl".

It was one of my favorite shows of the nineties. I do wish it had continued to air, but Disney seems to love pulling the plug on its cartoons after a few seasons. I love that Ariel was just as adventurous as she was in the movie. I enjoyed seeing her go adventures and hearing all the new songs that some of the episodes had. 

Ariel was, and still is, my favorite Disney Princess. Despite what her critics say, I think she's strong female character. She's adventurous, ambitious, she knows what she wants and she will go after it. Remember, she wanted to explore the "human world" long before she met Prince Eric. Eric was just another reason for her to want to go there. I like that she has flaws. She's always disobeying her father and getting into trouble. 

Anyway, she's always accompanied by her fish friend, Flounder, and also Sebastian, who tries his best to keep her out of trouble (of course, she hardly ever listens, and does it anyway). She also has another friend in the show that never appears in the movie. He's younger mermaid, named Urchin. He has no family and got involved with Lobster Mobster, a lobster gangster. But, with the help of Ariel, he gets away from them and hangs out around the palace more.

Villains

The Evil Manta

Speaking of villains, there were a few of them. Many were just one-episode villains, but there were a few recurring ones, like Lobster Mobster and his sidekick, Da Shrimp (who is a shrimp). Ursula also made a few appearances, but she wasn't in the show often, probably so Ariel wouldn't lose too much trust in her for the movie.

But, one original villain that stands out the most is The Evil Manta, who is voiced by Tim Curry. He was one of the more prominent threats as his goal was to take over Atlantica. But is plans are always thwarted by Ariel or one of her friends.

Memorable Episodes

I'll just mention a couple of notable and interesting episodes. 

Ariel seeing the helpless Hans Christian Andersen and his cat.

There is an episode in the show called "Metal Fish" that features Hans Christian Andersen. Andersen is the man who wrote the original story of The Little Mermaid. The story is different from the Disney version, but it's still interesting to see him be featured. 

Anyway, in the episode, he explores the sea in a metal submarine shaped like a fish. His submarine gets stuck and Ariel and company have to help him before he runs out of air. With no luck, she eventually convinces her father, King Triton (who despises humans), to help him. He does so by using his trident blast the contraption back up to the surface. 

Andersen reading the story to children at the end.

At the end of the episode, Andersen is seen writing the story, and there is a voice over telling children to check out the original story at their local library. 

In the original story, the mermaid wishes to have a human soul (because mermaids don't have them). After saving a Prince from drowning, she meets a sea witch, who makes her human in exchange for her tongue (not voice, her tongue). Also, whenever the mermaid takes a step, it feels like she walking on sharp needles or broken glass. She reunites with the princes, but he doesn't know she's the one who saved him. He thinks its the girl who found him on the beach, and he proposes to marry her. The mermaid's sisters offer her a way out by using a dagger to kill him (they sacrificed their beautiful hair for it), but she refuses, and ends up turning to sea foam. She does get a soul in the end. It has more of a bittersweet ending compared to the happy ending that the Disney movie got. 

I do like that Disney tried to give an homage to him with this episode. Give credit where credit is due and all that.

Ariel showing Flounder the charm bracelet.

Another episode that stood out to me personally as a kid, was "Charmed". This episode involves Ariel finding a charm bracelet stuck to some coral near the entrance of a dark abyss. She pulls it off, leaving a piece behind, and swims out. She puts it on and enjoys her new treasure. 

Then she realizes how much trouble she'll be in if she comes home with it. (Earlier in the episode, she brought home a magnifying glass, and her father sees her with it. He gets on to her and destroys it.) She has trouble getting it off, so decides to not come home. Later she discovers a piece of it was broken off, which was the key to unlocking the bracelet. She heads back down to the abyss to pull it out of the coral, but it's stuck tight. 

The creepy monster thing.

As she's trying to yank it off, a giant whirlpool starts up and pulls her down to the bottom. When she gets to the bottom, she sees the source of the whirlpool is some sort of dirt-dwelling creature with very sharp, claw-like teeth. It devours any poor fish that got caught in the whirlpool, and luckily finishes feeding before Ariel can become lunch, and it buries back in the ground. 

She learns from a bottom dweller that feeding time is quite frequent, making it impossible for her to swim back up in time. She becomes trapped down there. She later gets saved by her father, thanks to Flounder alerting him, and they get out of there. 

The creature itself always creeped me out as a kid (it still does), and yet it was my favorite episode. I also like that both Ariel and her father learn something. Ariel learns that no matter how much trouble she's in, she can always come home. King Triton also realizes he shouldn't make her so afraid of him, and that he's just trying to look out for her. 

Conclusion

The Little Mermaid was an enjoyable show, despite it's short run. And with "The Little Mermaid III: Ariel's Beginning" being released a few years ago, they kind of contradict each other. One scene that differs between the two is how Ariel met Flounder. I enjoy both the show and the movie though, but many kids today who saw this movie probably don't even know the show exists, and that makes me sad. 

It was a great show. Sadly, Disney hasn't released any kind of box set. There's been VHS tapes and DVDs with a few episodes on them, like you see with typical kids shows. But, Disney needs to make a box set. There aren't that many episodes, so it should be easy to put onto one or two discs. They should also put it on Netflix. I really would like to rewatch it again, but the only way to do that is through torrents, and I don't think I can do that. 

Oh well, here's to Best Disney Princess!

Also, below I have a map of pools in Jacksonville. So if there are any Jacksonvillians who want to be like Ariel and swim to your hearts content, here ya go.