Peter Pan: The Animated Series


Peter Pan: The Animated Series is a Japanese animated TV series produced by Nippon Animation and directed by Yoshio Kuroda, which first aired in Japan on Fuji Television between January 15 and December 24, 1989 and is also popular in the United Kingdom.

Outline

An adaptation of the classic Peter Pan play and novel by J.M. Barrie, the series spanned a total of 41 episodes. It was originally scheduled to be broadcast on 8 January 1989, but due to the death of Emperor Shōwa, the premiere was postponed for a week.
It was part of the World Masterpiece Theater, a famed animation staple by Nippon Animation, which produced an animated version of a different fairy tale or work of classic literature each year. The series, while adapting material from the original novel, also adds numerous original story arcs.
In the usual case of the World Masterpiece Theater, the stage is a real world, and the main character is often exposed to terrible circumstances such as being an orphan or being raised by a single-parent family, and it tends to have a gloomy atmosphere. This work is a rare case; the stage is a fictional world, and although it is a story of adventure and battle, it has a bright atmosphere. Compared to other series in the franchise, the story is loosely adapted from the book, adding an entirely original second act focused on the new character of Princess Luna. The series is also notable for the presence of Rascal from Rascal the Raccoon, making it the only series in the World Masterpiece Theater franchise to contain a crossover.
The series was later translated and released by Saban Entertainment in several international territories worldwide in 1990, sometimes under the name Peter Pan: The Animated Series. In Europe, it was broadcast on Telecinco in Spain, SIC in Portugal, RTL Television, Italia 1, Canale 5 and Rete 4 in Italy, TV3 (Sweden) and Fox Kids in Sweden and Norway, REN TV in Russia, TRT in Turkey, Alter Channel in Greece and TVP 2 in Poland. It also aired in numerous other countries, such as TVNZ2 in New Zealand, IETV and Fox Kids in Israel, Rede Globo in Brazil, XHGC in Mexico, kykNET in South Africa, AVM in Trinidad and Tobago, ABS-CBN in the Philippines, Channel 3 in Thailand, Sky One's Fun Factory in the United Kingdom and Spacetoon in Indonesia.

Plot

The series starts with Wendy having a dream about Peter Pan rescuing her and having a swordfight with Captain Hook. Later on, Wendy and her two brothers, John and Michael, fly to Neverland, and Wendy becomes the 'mother' of the Lost boys. Throughout the series, a romance blooms between Peter and Wendy, as they go on fights with pirates.
The last half of the series deviates from the original storyline, in a total of three camps. Two new characters become an important part of the last episodes.

Characters

Peter Pan's side (main quartet)

Peter Pan Wendy DarlingJohn Julian Darling
  • '''Michael Darling'''

Residents of Neverland

Tinker Bell Curly Slightly Tootles Tiger Lily Crocodile WatchRascal the Raccoon
  • Mermaids'''

Captain Hook's side

Captain Hook Smee Bill Cecco Alf Menson Starky
  • '''Robert'''

Sinistra's side

Darkness
  • '''Luna'''

Staff

  • Director: Yoshio Kuroda
  • Scenario: Michiru Shimada, Shun'ichi Yukimuro
  • Character design: Takashi Nakamura
  • Music: Toshiyuki Watanabe
  • Sound director: Etsuji Yamada
  • Animation director: Hirotsugu Kawasaki, Hirokazu Ishiyuki, Tomihiko Ōkubo, Megumi Kagawa, Kazushige Yusa, Hiroyuki Okiura, Moriyasu Taniguchi
  • Art director: Masamichi Takano
  • Producer: Shigeo Endō, Yoshihisa Tachikawa
  • Planning: Shōji Satō, Kenji Shimizu
  • Production management: Mitsuru Takakuwa, Junzō Nakajima
  • Production desk: Shun'ichi Kosao, Yasunori Tsukamoto

Theme songs

  • Opening theme: Peter Pan Again
  • Ending theme: Dream, Open Sesame!
  • Singer: Yukiko Iwai
  • Lyricist: Yasushi Akimoto
  • Composer: Yoshimasa Inoue
  • Arranger: Akira Nishihira
Since 1986, the singer of the theme song of the World Masterpiece Theater series has usually appeared in the main story or musical, but Yukiko Iwai, who sang theme song of this work, did not appear in both the main story and musical.

Development

The preview summary's character designs and pictures of Peter Pan were released in magazines to promote the series. The character designs were slightly different from when the series aired. The story summary also had a plot of Peter Pan and his friends stealing a treasure map from the pirates and going on a journey to find it.

Differences

Differences from the book or other Peter Pan versions:
  • The setting of the time period of the series was changed from the Edwardian era to the late Victorian era.
  • The character of Mary Darling is renamed here as is the middle names of John Darling.
  • Rascal the Raccoon, a creation of Nippon Animation, appears occasionally throughout the series.
  • In most of the other versions of the story, Neverland is located on an island in one of the vast oceans, but in The Adventures of Peter Pan Neverland is located on a floating island hidden somewhere in the sky.
  • In all other versions, Hook lost his hand when Peter Pan cut it off, but in The Adventures of Peter Pan it was bitten off by the crocodile while Hook lost his first fight with Peter Pan. Also in The Adventures of Peter Pan Hook occasionally substitutes it for a crab pincer claw.
  • In all the other versions, Peter has a dagger, always worn close to himself to be ready for a duel all the time. In The Adventures of Peter Pan Peter uses a big shark tooth for his fights.
  • In the book and most of the other versions, the Darling children leave their home and go to Neverland in their pyjamas. Here, they first are wearing pyjamas when Peter visits them at night, but before leaving, they change into their normal day clothes, which they wear while in Neverland.
  • In the book and other versions, there is only one clock in Neverland, the one inside the crocodile's stomach, but in episode 8 of the series, "The Clock", it is shown that Hook also possesses another one on his ship.
  • In the book, Tinker Bell died from drinking a potion, but in The Adventures of Peter Pan, she dies in a mortal machine.
  • In the book, at the end of the story, Hook gets eaten by the crocodile, but here, he remains alive.
  • In the book and other versions, Peter and the others have their home in an underground house and as the name says, they live under the earth. Here, they first have a treehouse and live over the ground and later change it into a moving house on wheels.
  • In the book, the Lost Boys and John Darling share a big bed and Michael, being the youngest of them has his own bed, which is a big basket. In "The Adventures of Peter Pan", everybody has sleeps in their own bed, though Michael is occasionally seen sharing a bed with John.
  • In Barrie's novel, Peter and the boys build an extra house for Wendy, where only she lives and then regularly spends her time at the underground house. In this version, Wendy doesn't have her own house and lives in the same house as Peter and the others.
  • In the book and most of the other versions, the gang of the Lost Boys includes six boys, but here there are only three.
  • At the end of the novel and some other versions, the Lost Boys leave Neverland, get adopted by the Darling family and grow up. In this series, they stay in Neverland and after Peter returns to Wendy's house, finds out she's grown up and has a daughter, while the lost boys are still children.
  • At the end of the last chapter from Barrie's novel, Peter, after several years visits the Darling house again and meets the grown-up Wendy. In this version, when Peter returns to London, the adult Wendy is not at home, but only her daughter, Jane, who explains to Peter that Wendy has grown up.
  • At the end of Barrie's story, when Peter visits Wendy in London, Tinker Bell is already dead, but in The Adventures of Peter Pan when Wendy is an adult, Tinker Bell is still alive and comes together with Peter to the Darling house.
  • Although the original Japanese script makes no reference to the crocodile's gender, the English dub of this series refers to the crocodile as "he". In The Pirate Fairy, the crocodile in the Disney version is referred to as "he", and the crocodile in Burbank Films Australia's version is also described as male, while in Barrie's original, the crocodile is described as female. This is followed by the animated television series Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates and Geraldine McCaughrean's official sequel novel, Peter Pan in Scarlet.