Is the Hundred Acre Woods due for an extreme makeover when the Disney Channel’s new CG series, “My Friends Tigger & Pooh,” debuts in 2007?

Jim Hill

18 years ago

Disneyana fans didn’t really squawk earlier this year when Mickey Mouse got the CG treatment.

If anything, the Disney faithful was quick to embrace “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” Which successfully rebranded this 78-year-old corporate symbol as a preschooler’s new best friend.

But when it comes to “My Friends Tigger & Pooh” …

… certain Disney Channel execs that I’ve spoken with are already pretty nervous. Why For? Because this new Playhouse Disney series takes some rather large liberties with the whimsical world that author A.A. Milne set up back in 1925.

“What sort of liberties?,” you ask. Well, let’s start with Pooh’s new best friend, Darby. Who’s a curious & active 6-year-old girl.

That’s right. You can forget about any gentle games of Pooh Sticks with Christopher Robin in this CG redo. In this new television series, Darby likes to run & jump with her new friend Tigger …

… as well as solve mysteries around the 100 Acre Woods with the help of the “Super Sleuths” (I.E. Winnie the Pooh & Tigger in super hero costumes).

Now a cynic might suggest that the Walt Disney Company is only producing this new Winnie the Pooh series because it’s looking for ways to spur the growth of this highly profitable franchise. And by pairing this silly old bear with a 6-year-old girl this time around … Well, that’s just another way that Disney Consumer Products can expand Winnie’s turf. Make Pooh seem more appealing to little girls .

And make no mistake, folks. There’s already plenty of “My Friends Tigger & Pooh” product moving through Disney’s development pipeline.

Photo by Jeff Lange

Though this new Playhouse Disney series won’t even begin airing ’til the Spring of 2007, DCP is already hard at work on all sorts of “My Friends Tigger & Pooh” product lines. Which should hit store shelves sometime in late 2007 / early 2008.

Photos by Jeff Lange

Clearly some company officials have high hopes for this new Walt Disney Television Animation show. Which is why they agreed to pump tens of million of dollars into the production of this CG series.

But other Disney Channel vets that I’ve spoken with aren’t quite as certain about this series’ success. They worry that — by replacing Christopher Robin with Darby and by changing Pooh & Tigger from gentle, timeless characters to active creatures of today — that Disney may be moving too far away from the already established & highly successful Winnie the Pooh formula. That Pooh purists may rebel once they get to see this new Playhouse Disney program next spring.

But as one unnamed Disney Company official told me last week:

“Look, we’ve already got the old Winnie the Pooh fans. The people who originally fell in love with this character through our movies or the A.A. Milne books. What we’re after now are new Winnie the Pooh fans. The kids. And when it comes to marketing cartoon characters to kids these days, the competition can be fierce.

Let’s face it. Compared to Spongebob Squarepants, Pooh seems very plain. Which is why we’re using every weapon in our arsenal — the computer animation, adding a cute little girl and her dog to the cast — to make this 80-year-old character seem more entertaining & relevant to today’s audiences.

Don’t worry, Jim. We’re not going to pull a Poochie. We’re still going to be faithful to the Winnie the Pooh characters. We’re just trying to freshen things up a bit.”

I’ll say this much. Based on what I got to see of this new Playhouse Disney program at the 2006 Licensing Show, the folks at WDTA have done a pretty nice job of translating these traditionally 2D characters into 3D CG. But will Pooh purists really embrace a show where Christopher Robin has been replaced by a six-year-old girl?

You tell me, folks. Is this just too extreme a makeover of the Hundred Acre Woods?

Your thoughts?