The Little Mermaid (1992)
First episode title: Whale of a Tale
How familiar with the show am I?: I've seen the film and I knew there was a TV show, but I can't remember if I've ever seen any of it before.
OK, it's one week after TigerSharks and I certainly didn't intend to do two water-themed shows in a row. But of course, this is very different! It's the prequel series to Disney's film of The Little Mermaid, focusing on Ariel's adventures in her father's undersea kingdom, long before (spoilers!) she joins the human world in the movie.
The opening theme is a medley of instrumental versions of songs from the movie. Well, I guessed I'd probably be hearing "Under the Sea" somewhere in here!
The episode opens with some orcas swimming through the sea. OK, that's also the animal we ended TigerSharks on, but I swear it's all a coincidence. One particular baby orca happily leaps up from the water a couple of times. But then a ship full of humans approaches, and a voice calls out "Killer whales!" That's a common but misleading term for orcas - it was originally a mistranslation from a term that meant "whale-killers". No wild orca has ever been known to have killed a human. But these humans are scared anyway, and so they start firing harpoon guns at the whales! The whales all start to flee, and in the confusion the small orca gets separated from the rest, finding itself fleeing through the ocean alone.
Of course, the film has multiple humans in sympathetic roles, but since these humans are only here to serve the Bambi hunter role, we don't see any of them clearly, making them feel more like shadowy, mysterious threats, as they would be to the creatures.
Cut from the desolate place the whale finds itself in, to a beautiful underwater landscape filled with fish. And one of those fish is Flounder, the stripy yellow fish who is friends with Ariel. Speaking of whom, Ariel immediately shows up too. If you didn't already know, Ariel is the titular Little Mermaid. She has red hair, a green fish tail for a lower body, and a bra made of a clam.
But then they hear a noise from a distance away. Flounder thinks the noise is scary, but Ariel thinks it is a "sad" noise and they go to investigate. It doesn't seem as though she knows it's coming from a whale, but perhaps the inner emotions of almost any animal noise can shine through. It's interesting to note that whales can't speak, only making noises like this, despite the fact that Flounder the fish (and, as we'll see, Sebastian the crab) can speak just like Ariel can.
Back to the orca, who is swimming around, exhausted, presumably still looking for its family... when a shark approaches! Some very Jaws-like music plays as the whale hides among some weeds. Luckily, the shark passes by for now, but the whale is still scared. Ariel says she can no longer hear the noise, and argues with Flounder who is still scared of whatever made the noise. They both go in opposite directions to look...
Flounder: I'm not scared! You look there and I'll... I'll look around here. And I'll call you if I... if I, I... if I... eye? EYE!
Which is the moment when he runs right into the eye of the hiding whale. Nice wordplay. Ariel hears his scream and comes rushing, as the whale is spooked into fleeing past her. It hides again, this time in a reef, peeking out from it, and so Ariel and Flounder can see it clearly. Flounder is scared, also calling it a "killer whale" - in fact, the term "orca" doesn't appear in the episode. Ariel encourages the whale to come out and names it "Spot" after the white spot on its tail.
I should have expected that a cartoon based on a musical film would have songs in it. So, Ariel starts singing a song to Spot to calm him down, about how he's lost his family but they can be his new family. Flounder objects repeatedly during the song, which makes him seem kind of mean because you only have to see Spot for a second to see he's just scared, not scary. Although, Ariel does drag Flounder by his fin and force his face into a smile, so she doesn't come off too well either! But then there's a lot of happy playing in the water. Ariel declares Flounder to be Spot's big brother, which he also objects to, and at one point Ariel and Spot jump out from the sea together in front of what's either a setting or rising sun. It would be a little bit Free Willy except this is before that movie!
The song ends and they head towards the palace, which if you've seen the film you'll know looks like a spiralling tower of spires. Now we get our first sight of Sebastian, the crab with the over-the-top Jamaican accent that we know is going to try really hard to get Ariel to stay under the sea. He stops to admire himself in a mirror - well, a reflective shell of some kind. Ariel, Spot, and Flounder sneak past him to Ariel's bedroom. I can't remember if her room is in the movie - its door is a big shell that seems to open and shut automatically. But Sebastian at least hears that something is happening.
Ariel's room has an actual bed in it. It's funny how some human concepts are unknown to merpeople in order to be Ariel's own secret obsession in the movie, but other things like beds look to be exactly the same underwater. Anyway, Spot likes seeing around his new home, but he sniffs some kind of weird flower that sneezes at him, and in his flailing confusion he knocks some things over. The funniest bit is that he knocks a spiral snail-like shell onto Flounder and he starts scuttling around for a second!
So Flounder starts ranting again about how dangerous killer whales are, and in doing so he makes a scary face and frightens Spot, ironically. Spot speeds out of the room, crashing throught the shell-door and flattening Sebastian, who had come to check on what was happening. And just when Sebastian recovers, Ariel comes through in pursuit of Spot and flattens him again! The set-up of the whole door thing means that Sebastian doesn't actually see Spot throughout this whole process, and he ends up safely back in the room before Sebastian knows what's hit him.
Flounder is actually apologetic now, realising how unfair he has been on Spot. He's done a complete 180 and is now proud to start calling himself Spot's big brother! I'm glad that didn't last. But then Sebastian knocks on the door and they have to hide him!
It cuts to outside the room, and I like that Sebastian knocks but then quickly scuttles out of the way of the door, like he's scared of being flattened again! Ariel opens up and he barges in - it is very obvious that Spot is hiding under the covers of Ariel's bed since he's almost the size of the bed, but Sebastian somehow doesn't notice. See this is what I mean about the bed - how can there be fabric sheets on it underwater?
Anyway, apparently Sebastian did have business with Ariel other than investigating suspicious noises, as he says he's there to remind her of the spring celebration in three months, so that she doesn't forget about it. She must be really forgetful. But he inadvertently ends up hopping around on top of the cover and repeatedly using phrases with the word "spot" in them - "every time I spot you", "hit the spot", "solo spot" - getting a reaction out of the hidden whale every time, until eventually the cover comes off and Sebastian realises what he's standing on, which is a hilarious moment.
Sebastian's reaction to Spot is similar to Flounder's at first, of course, but Ariel has more voices on her side this time - big brother Flounder suggests Sebastian could be Spot's uncle! Here we get another bit of that confusion over the fact that we have speaking animals and non-speaking ones - Sebastian says Ariel can't have a killer whale as a "pet", but then immediately refers to Spot as "that boy". He can see that Ariel is only concerned for Spot's survival, though, and she and Flounder convince him not to tell Ariel's father.
Ariel: Thank you, "Uncle" Sebastian!
Sebastian: Don't you uncle me no Sebastians!
Sorry I just really love that line. Then Spot picks up Sebastian on his tail and catapults him across the room. In happiness! Sebastian doesn't enjoy it though. And he says that if Triton (the king, Ariel's father) finds out about this, he'll be "crab cakes", which is something Sebastian probably shouldn't know exists if he's never mingled with humans. Maybe there are some cruel merfolk out there.
After a scene change, the three months have passed and it's the day of the spring celebration! I wonder how much time before the movie this show covers. Ariel looks the same age, anyway. Spot doesn't, though - he's nowhere near small enough to fit in the bed now, so she has him in a huge crevice lower down in the room, not very well covered at all!
The celebration itself is in a big arena filled with merfolk and with a definite "shell" theme to its aesthetic. Triton is up in the royal box, and you might just about catch that his other daughters are up there with him, but there's a big empty seat at his side clearly reserved for Ariel. A seahorse with a Shakespearean ruff (and accent to match) introduces Sebastian, who gets the second and final song of the episode, accompanied by all sorts of other sea creatures on instruments.
His song... musically it's a lot like "Under the Sea", to be honest! He starts off by singing about how he used to wish he could be bigger, leading into a chorus about how each type of creature can't help the way they are. Ariel does turn up, late, during all this, while various other creatures dance around, showing off what makes them unique. Sebastian has a line where he asks Ariel if she's paying attention to the song - obviously, he has composed it to make a point about Spot. It seems pretty unfair! You could easily make a song with a positive meaning of "everyone is who they are and that's that", but Sebastian wants us to read it as a negative when it comes to "killer" whales.
In Ariel's room, Spot has crammed his head into the bed, which I suppose is still his preferred spot (sorry) despite no longer fitting. But, when he hears the distant cheerful music, he breaks free! He makes it onto the stage and starts to steal the show. Obviously most of the audience might not know he's not meant to be part of it, but Ariel facepalms, Triton looks displeased, and Sebastian (once he finally notices he's sharing the stage with Spot!) just shrugs and continues the performance, although he's now desperately trying not to be crushed by Spot's enthusiastic dancing.
I really like that the song is clearly being carefully matched to the animation like in a proper musical rather than just recording a song and having the lines fall where they happen to - for example, once Sebastian starts having to run, there is a clear panicked note in his voice even as he's singing the same chorus as before. That would be standard for a Disney movie but I wouldn't expect it to be guaranteed in a TV cartoon.
On the final note, Spot lets out such a loud and deep note of whale song that it literally brings the house down! In fact, Sebastian makes that exact joke directly to camera as the scene ends. I can't help but be reminded of the ending of Neil Cicierega's Ariel comic. You know the one.
The next scene is in Triton's throne room, where he's angrily yelling at Ariel, Flounder, and Spot - clearly all the beans have been spilled off-screen now that he's seen the orca. Sebastian acts as if he's on Triton's side in the argument, sycophantically agreeing with everything he says as he rants. Triton says "People could have been killed!" which I would have to admit is true, but only because of the stage collapse, not any attempt to kill anyone!
Ariel insists that Spot was just enjoying the music, but Triton says he wasn't blaming Spot, because he's a "wild animal", continuing the confusion about how that distinction works compared to someone like Flounder. Indeed, Triton says that he does blame Ariel, and Flounder... and Sebastian. Triton wants the whale gone, but Ariel says he won't survive out there, so Triton gives them two weeks to train Spot to defend himself, with Sebastian in charge.
What must be later that day, outside in the ocean, Sebastian is arguing that Spot is never going to get the concept of self-defence.
Flounder: He's just gentle. He doesn't know how to be mean! I like him the way he is.
Sebastian: So will the sharks, mon!
Sebastian gets the best lines in this! So anyway, they try to get him to defend himself by having Flounder pretend to be a shark and attack him. Flounder somehow sharpens his fins and teeth to make himself scarier, and he calls himself "Flounder the tiger shark", which I know is just because he's stripy but the coincidences with last week are getting pretty weird now. Flounder's attack ends up being too scary for Spot and he just flees rather than defending himself.
Then it's night and they're heading home, but Sebastian says Spot has to sleep outside from now on, since there's no room for him indoors. And he's in charge now, so he gets his way. So as a compromise... all four of them sleep outside. Ariel is resting up against him and Flounder and Sebastian are cutely using his fins as blankets. Getting mixed messages from you here, Sebastian.
Sebastian wakes up to find Ariel now trying and failing to get Spot to be fierce. Ariel's despair is interrupted by fish fleeing through the water all around them, as a trio of sharks heads straight for them! Like Spot, these sharks seem to be wild and don't have the power of speech. They also have big mouths full of teeth and don't look very friendly. Ariel and her friends start to flee...
At one point they all swim past the skeleton of some huge animal, which could be anything but obviously matches the mood of the situation. It's not even really highlighted by the animation but I appreciate it.
But yes, they keep fleeing, and at one point the sharks almost get Flounder when he's caught up in some seaweed, but Ariel saves him. That scene also has a nice bit of Mickey Mousing - that is, matching movement to the music score, or vice versa - where the music has some blasts of brass timed to coincide with the shark's attempts to bite Ariel's tail. At some point int the confusion, Spot has gotten separated from the other three.
The next scene revolves around an absolutely gigantic shell. I'm not sure what sort of creature it's supposed to be from - it's like one of those spiral sea snail shells, but it's so big that it towers into the distance. Anyway, Ariel (holding Sebastian and accompanied by Flounder) heads into it, only to find that the inside consists of layers upon layers of swiss-cheese-holed barriers, making it hard to manoeuvre. And once they do get in there, the sharks are just able to shatter their way through each layer! So I guess the shell just exists because it makes a convenient set-up for this scene, regardless of whether it's based on anything real.
Spot arrives outside the shell and there's a dramatic zoom into the entrance hole - I can't tell if it's trying to emphasise the damage done by the sharks, or the fact that Spot can't fit. But then Spot looks up and sees an opening shining much further up the shell, and heads for it. Inside, there's a tense moment where Flounder and Sebastian easily get through one particular hole but it's a squeeze for Ariel and she only just avoids being shark food. In the end, though, the three of them get backed into a corner with the sharks almost on them... until Spot bursts in through the hole, smashing through the other side of the shell and taking the sharks with him!
All it took was his friends' lives being in danger for Spot to get some courage! He really goes to town on these three sharks with his signature tail slap, and all three of them get smashed into a cliff, where for some reason they then fall into a little wooden boat that takes them down into the depths of the ocean. What's this, a reference to Charon or something? Ariel's father is a Greek god, after all!
Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian all reunite with Spot and they're all proud of him as you'd expect, Flounder calling him little brother and Sebastian calling him nephew. Just as Ariel says that Spot saving their lives should mean Triton will let him stay now... we hear whale noises. Spot's family are here. Spot immediately swims off to join them and Ariel looks devastated. So do the other two, really, while Ariel reassures them that it's the right thing for him to do.
Then Spot comes back and there's a moment of hope until Ariel realises he's only come back to say goodbye. Well, this is reminding me of that Kipper episode... You know, there are a couple of clips of Spot in the opening sequence, so I almost expected him to be a recurring character in this show. Sadly, it seems not.
Ariel: You're a real whale now... but you're not my whale any more.
Everyone says their goodbyes properly this time, and Sebastian comments that he's enjoyed knowing Spot "most of the time"... and Spot takes this as a cue to give him one last tail whack, straight up into the air and out of the water! Spot swims off with his family, the others pop up out of the water to wave goodbye (Flounder you can wave underwater stop you can't breathe there) and that's where we leave off.
I liked this. It had a lot of character to it, just like the movie, when it could easily have been a more generic adaptation.