Toon Tuesday: Will “The 7D” ‘s radically redesigned Dwarfs make Disneyana fans Happy or Grumpy?

Jim Hill

12 years ago

It's something that The Walt Disney Company is rather good
at. Taking characters that audiences already know and love and reinventing
them. Giving them a bold new look. Just
in the past 15 years or so, we've seen Julie Taymor take Mufasa & Simba
from "The Lion King" …

… and then reimagine these animated characters in ways
that they could be played onstage in an acclaimed Broadway musical.

Photo by Joan Marcus. Copyright
Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

Likewise we've seen the Mad Hatter go from a light &
silly character in Disney's animated
version of "Alice In Wonderland" …

… to a genuinely tragic figure in Disney's 2010
live-action blockbuster, "Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland."

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in "Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland."
Copyright Disney Enterprises,
Inc. All rights reserved

And don't even get me started on what Warren Spector and his
crew at Junction Point Studios did to the poor Donald Duck …

… and Goofy characters who live in the Cartoon Wasteland in
that Disney Epic Mickey
video game.

To their credit, Disneyana fans have basically been pretty
flexible when it comes to seeing much-beloved characters from their childhood radically
reinvented. They don't seem to have a problem with a character being
reintroduced with a bold new look just so long as the finished product that
this reimagined character is now appearing in is well-written and
generally entertaining.

But that said, I wonder how many Disney traditionalists are (at
first, anyway) going to squawk once they see how the Seven Dwarfs …

… have been reimagined for Disney Junior's new animated series,
"The 7D" ?

Now while it is true that — in this new animated series
(Which is due to debut on Disney Junior sometime in 2014) — that Bashful, Sleepy,
Sneezy, Happy …

(L to R) Bashful, Sleepy, Dopey and Happy. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

… Grumpy, Doc and Dopey don't look quite as they did in
that feature-length version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that
Walt Disney Productions released back in 1937.

But in much the same way that it's not wise to judge a book
by its cover, it's also not smart to prejudge a new animated series by a single
piece of concept art. A far wiser way to get a handle on what this new Disney
Junior show might possibly be like would be to review this program's production
team.

And as it turns out, "The 7D" has an absolutely
stellar behind-the-scenes crew. Tom
Ruegger, the Emmy Award-winner behind "Animaniacs" is serving as
executive producer on this new Disney Junior series. Alfred Gimeno of "Tiny Toon Adventures" fame has been hired to be this show's director while
Disney Television Animation recruited industry vet Sherri Stoner to come be
this new animated series' story editor.
Meanwhile Mouse House executives lured Noah Z. Jones from his "Fish Hooks" duties so that
he could come up with a comedic yet contemporary take on Disney's classic Seven
Dwarfs characters.

As for the basic premise of "The 7D," this new
animated series (which is designed for viewers 2-7 and their families) is kind
of a prequel to Disney's 1937 full-length animated features. In that — long
before Doc and the other dwarfs gave Snow White shelter and then tried to
protect her from the Evil Queen — The 7D live in the whimsical world of
Jollywood. Where Queen Delightful is constantly turning to the Seven Dwarfs for
help whenever she has trouble keeping her kingdom in order.

Of course, one of the main reasons that Jollywood is always
in such a jumble is that this TV series' main villains — Grim and Hildy Gloom
— are constantly looking for brand-new ways to break into the Seven Dwarfs'
mine. Which is where Grim & Hildy believe there are magical jewels hidden
away which will give these two laughably evil villains the ability to take
over that kingdom.

Anyway … That's the over-arching storyline for this new
Disney Junior series. Which — much like "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and
"Jake and the Never Land Pirates" — hopes to recruit Mom and Dad to come
watch this TV show with their child and then experience the magic, music and
heartfelt stories & characters that only The Walt Disney Company can
deliver (not to mention incorporating specific learning and development themes that
are deliberately designed to appeal to kids age 2-7).

But based on what you've seen and/or read so far, does the
very idea of Disney Junior debuting a "7D" animated TV series in 2014
make you Happy or Grumpy?

Your thoughts?