Jake and the Never Land Pirates

**Jake and the Never Land Pirates** is an animated television series created by Bobs Gannaway and it is based on the Peter Pan franchise.

It is the first Disney Junior original series following the switch from Playhouse Disney. The series premiered on February 14, 2011 and aired for four seasons until November 6, 2016. The fourth season was retitled to **Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates**.

## Plot

Years after the events of the original Peter Pan film, as Peter prepares to explore the Never Seas, he recruits three lost children from the United States; Captain Jake, Izzy, and Cubby who are pirates in Never Land, to protect the place and hunt down all sorts of treasures. Captain Hook usually sees Jake and his crew doing fun activities and steals it from them, and Jake and his crew have to get it back. After they solve their problems, Jake and his crew count their gold doubloons (which they receive after solving "pirate problems") and put them in their treasure chest known as the "Team Treasure Chest".

The first season of the series followed more "playful" conflicts, such as Captain Jake and the crew getting their basketball back from Captain Hook, or Captain Jake and the crew taking back their stolen skateboard. The second season had less interactive moments and gave a larger scale to the plot and adventure in the show, now having the characters find a lost city of gold and an ancient pirate pyramid. The third season had an updated theme song and contained more action. The 4th and final season only has one 4th wall break at the end of each episode.

Almost every episode contains two eleven-minute animated segments, followed by a live-action song by the Never Land Pirate Band. The singing characters "Sharky" and "Bones" appear in both animated and live action forms, being part of Hook's crew.

## Episodes

See Also: List of Jake and the Never Land Pirates Episodes

 2 | 68
 3 | 63
 4 | 35

## Cast and Characters

### Main

* Jake voiced by:
	+ Colin Ford (Season 1-2)
	+ Cameron Boyce (Season 2-3)
	+ Sean Ryan Fox (Season 3)
	+ Gabe Eggerling (Season 4)
* Izzy voiced by:
	+ Madison Pettis (Season 1-3)
	+ Megan Richie (Season 4)
* Cubby voiced by:
	+ Jonathan Morgan Heit (Season 1-3)
	+ Jadon Sand (Season 3-4)
* David Arquette as Skully
* Corey Burton as Captain Hook
* Jeff Bennett as Mr. Smee
* Loren Hoskins and Jeff Bennett as Sharky and Bones
* Dee Bradley Baker as Tick-Tock the Crocodile

### Recurring

* Russi Taylor as Never Bird
* Loren Hoskins as Sandy the Starfish
* Tori Spelling as Pirate Princess
* Lisa Loeb as Winger
* Adam West as Wise Old Parrot
* Dee Bradley Baker as Monkey
* Sharon Osbourne as Mama Hook
* Jane Kaczmarek as Red Jessica
* Josh Duhamel as Captain Flynn
* Adam Wylie as Peter Pan
* Allisyn Ashley Arm as Stormy
* Tiffani Thiessen as Misty the Wonderful Witch
* Jerry O'Connell as Pip the Pirate Genie
* Rhys Darby as Percy the Penguin
* Teri Hatcher as Beatrice Le Beak
* Jack McBrayer as Pirate Mummy
* Carol Kane as Sea Witch
* Leigh-Allyn Baker as Queen Coralie
* Maia Mitchell as Wendy Darling
* Elliot Reeve as John Darling
* Colby Mulgrew as Michael Darling
* Malcolm McDowell as Lord Fathom
* Steve Valentine as Beardini the Pirate Magician
* Christian Slater as Grim Buccaneer
* Mark Hamill as ShiverJack
* Tony Hale as Doctor Undergear
* Blair Underwood as Captain Wraith
* Chris Kattan as King Zongo
* Héctor Elizondo as Captain Colossus

## Music

The show's musical elements are handled by Loren Hoskins and Kevin Hendrickson, who were emailed by the show's creator Bobs Gannaway, asking if they would be interested in creating songs for the show. According to Hoskins, Gannaway "just wanted good music to listen to while he was writing the pilot". Gannaway searched "pirate music for kids" online and found his way to Captain Bogg and Salty, listening to their songs while working on the script. He introduced the band to Jay Stutler, vice president of music at Disney Television Animation. "We're in charge of creating every note of music for the show. We create the underscore. We sit in the studio and record the background music that comes in and out." The music for the show has been praised for being enjoyable for both the children, and the adult caretakers. Three soundtracks have been released featuring songs from the show.

## Spin-off

See Also: Playing with Skully

On July 27, 2012, Disney announced a spin-off series of shorts of the show centring around Skully. The series is titled Playing With Skully, and is a collection of short cartoons that aired on September 19, 2012. Another short series entitled Jake's Never Land Pirate School premiered on November 26, 2012. The third spin-off, Mama Hook Knows Best! premiered on September 29, 2013, starring Sharon Osbourne as Mama Hook, but instead of a series, it was a book.The fourth spin-off entitled, Jake's Buccaneer Blast premiered on October 26, 2014, as the first Lego Duplo adventure.

## Release

The series airs worldwide on Disney Junior. It premiered on May 6, 2011 in Canada, on May 7, 2011 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, on May 29, 2011 in Australia and New Zealand, on June 1, 2011 in South Africa, on July 4, 2011 in India, on July 11, 2011 in Southeast Asia, and on April 29, 2013 in Zimbabwe, with TVNZ in New Zealand and 7flix in Australia.

## Reception

### Critical Response

The series has received generally mixed reviews. A review in Variety called it "part video game, part interactive cartoon, part advertisement for 'Peter Pan' merchandise". The Los Angeles Times gave a mixed review of the show's portrayal of Captain Hook compared to the classic Peter Pan, stating that the character "has been laundered, reasonably enough, yet sadly as well, now a shell of his former self, too silly to be frightening, not even a decent bully, just a kind of (much) older boy who wants to steal your toys." Common Sense Media rated it "on" for ages 3 and older, praising the educational content, role models, and especially the messages of the show, and expressing only mild concern about the moderate violence. As the flagship of the newly launched Disney Junior channel, the series was rated the most-watched program among boys ages 2–5 during its first few weeks on the air, with 2.9 million viewers, including 1.1 million ages 2–5, and over 600,000 women ages 18–49 (presumed to be mothers and other caregivers). On July 27, the series was awarded #2 of the Best TV Shows 2011 list.

The character Jake has too received positive reviews. The character has been thought of as a "classic Disney character", lovable and entertaining addition. He has quickly become an icon at Disney's Hollywood Studios from the popular Disney Junior Live as well as being added on the park's entrance drawings. The atmosphere character can be seen at the Hollywood And Vine character breakfast and the Animation courtyard, while at Disney California Adventure, Jake can be found on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood Land.

## Merchandise

Upon the initial release of the series onwards, there has been a high demand for toys, games, and other merchandise from the show. At the American International Toy Fair in New York City, Disney announced a line of toys to be released in the summer of 2012.

### Video Games

On May 24, 2012, the Jake's Never Land Pirate School app was released on Apple and Android devices.

A variety of other video games are based on the series including:

1. Big Air Adventure a 5-series crossover of title characters from Doc McStuffins, Henry Hugglemonster, Miles from Tomorrowland, and Sofia the First
2. Bucky's Never Sea Hunt
3. Cave of Mystery
4. Go Bananas
5. Golden Pirate Pumpkin Patch
6. Hook Yer Pirate Name
7. Hook's Merry Winter Treasure Hunt
8. Izzy's Flying Adventure
9. Jake and the Never Land Pirates Sand Pirates
10. Never Land Games
11. Shadow Shenanigans
12. Sharky and Bones Pirate Rock
13. Super Pirate Powers
14. The Great Pirate Pyramid
15. Rainbow Wand Color Quest
16. Jake's Story Quest