The Little Mermaid

***The Little Mermaid*** is an 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, on September 11, 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 November 26, 1994. 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 King Triton, 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, *The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning*, was released in 2008 containing events that contradict the television series (such as Ariel's youth and first meeting with Flounder), making the TV series and *Ariel's Beginning* independent continuities.

## Characters

### From the 1989 film

* Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson) – is the youngest daughter of the sea king. She loves singing and going on adventures. She also has developed magic in season 2 (episode 9) to save her world.
* Flounder (voiced by Edan Gross in season 1, and by Bradley Pierce in seasons 2–3) – 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 (voiced by Samuel E. Wright) – 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 (voiced by Kenneth Mars) – is Ariel's father and ruler of Atlantica who protects his kingdom with his magic trident.
* Scuttle (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) – 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 (voiced by Kath Soucie): Attina is one of Ariel's six older sisters
* Aquata (voiced by Mona Marshall), is one of Ariel's six older sisters
* Andrina (voiced by Catherine Cavadini), is one of Ariel's six older sisters
* Arista (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman): 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 (voiced by Sherry Lynn) is one of Ariel's six older sisters
* Alana (voiced by Kimmy Robertson) is one of Ariel's six older sisters.
* Ursula (voiced by Pat Carroll) is a powerful cecaelian sea witch who occasionally antagonizes Ariel.
* Flotsam and Jetsam (voiced by Paddi Edwards) – 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 (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – 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 (voiced by Danny Cooksey) – 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 (voiced by Joe Alaskey) – A red-violet lobster gangster following the style of the 1920s gangster stereotype. Da Shrimp (voiced by David Lander) is his sidekick.
* The Evil Manta (voiced by Tim Curry) – 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 (voiced by Cree Summer) – A spoiled, thrill-seeking mermaid whose actions often lead to Ariel, as well as herself, getting in trouble.
* Spot (voiced by Frank Welker) – A killer whale calf whom Ariel adopted and secretly raised in the palace.
* 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 (who is voiced by Whitby Hertford). This character is based on a real person who was a fan of the show and died during its first season.
* Moray (voiced by Dave Coulier) – 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 (occasionally voiced by J.D. Daniels, Anndi McAfee, Bradley Pierce, Malachi Pearson, and Whitby Hertford) – Crab children, consisting of two boys and one girl, who are under the mentorship of Sebastian in a scout-like troop.
* Flo and Ebb (voiced by Kath Soucie and Richard Karron) – Two brown alligator criminals who appear in the episode "Beached".
* The Magical Wishing Starfish (voiced by Tony Jay) – A giant starfish with a beard and crown who only appears in the episode "Wish Upon A Starfish".
* Emperor Sharga (voiced by Jim Cummings) – 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 (voiced by Jim Cummings) – 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 (voiced by Lawrence Montaigne) 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 (voiced by Mark Hamill) – 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 (voiced by Rod McKuen) – A merman who knows about human things, appearing in "Metal Fish".

## Production and development

After the success of the 1989 movie, The Walt Disney Company planned to produce a children's television series for its Disney Channel cable outlet called *The Little Mermaid's Island*. The proposed series would feature puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop interacting with a "live" Ariel. As the video release of *The Little Mermaid* soared in sales during 1990 and early 1991, Disney quietly dropped plans for "The Little Mermaid's Island" in favor of a more ambitious plan: an animated weekly series for the CBS network. The new show would concern the adventures of Ariel and her friends before the events in the movie.

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.