| The Book of Pooh | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Adventure Children Puppetry |
| Created by | Mitchell Kriegman |
| Based on | Winnie-the-Pooh (book) by A. A. Milne |
| Directed by | Mitchell Kriegman Dean Gordon Jon Ludwig Bruce Logan Tom Guaddarrama |
| Voices of | Jim Cummings John Fiedler Ken Sansom Peter Cullen Andre Stojka Kath Soucie Nikita Hopkins Stephanie D'Abruzzo |
| Narrated by | Roger L. Jackson |
| Opening theme | "Everyone Knows He's Winnie the Pooh" by Brian Woodbury and Mitchell Kriegman |
| Ending theme | "Goodbye for Now" by Brian Woodbury and Mitchell Kriegman |
| Composers | Brian Woodbury Julian Harris Sean Altman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 51 |
| Production | |
| Production company | Shadow Projects |
| Distributor | Buena Vista Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Playhouse Disney on Disney Channel |
| Original release | January 22, 2001 – November 29, 2004 |
The Book of Pooh is an American children's television series that aired on the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on A. A. Milne's works; the other two were the live action Welcome to Pooh Corner (to which this series bears resemblance) and the animated The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which ran from 1988 to 1991. It premiered on January 22, 2001 and completed its run on November 29, 2004. It was repeated on Playhouse Disney until September 4, 2005 (May 2007 in the UK). The show is produced by Shadow Projects. Walt Disney Pictures released the first of two films, a direct-to-video spin-off film based on the puppetry television series titled The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart in 2001.
The show became available to stream on Disney+ on its launch, November 12, 2019.
Overview
The series appears to take place some time after the events of Milne's original stories since his son Christopher Robin Milne is clearly a sixth grader and 11 years old. The series departs from many of the established facts of Milne's books; for example, Tigger resides in the Hundred Acre Wood from the start and Kanga and Roo are later introduced as newcomers. Neither Christopher nor his mother speak with an English accent, such is the case in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh where Christopher has an American accent. Kessie, the bluebird from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episodes "Find Her, Keep Her" and "A Bird in the Hand" returns as a main character in this series.
Each show begins entering Christopher Robin's bedroom and hearing his mother say "Christopher, time for school." Christopher Robin answers "OK, Mom!", grabs his backpack and leaves. This is where the book with Pooh and his friends in it opens and the theme song begins. The show can be viewed as non-canonical in other ways. For example, Tigger likes—or at least is shown to eat—honey (compared with most other adaptations where "Tiggers don't like honey!") and can climb up—but more importantly climb down from trees and Christopher Robin's face is never shown. Plus, in this show as well as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit lives in a tree, as opposed to living in a burrow in other adaptations.
Characters
The characters in the show regularly sing and dance in ways that enhance the story being told. Many of the episodes do not have much basis in the original stories by A.A. Milne besides the characters.
The design and animation of the show were done by Chris Renaud, who would later become the co-director of the 2010 film Despicable Me.
The characters who appear regularly and the actors who voice them are:
- Winnie the Pooh and Tigger: Jim Cummings
- Piglet: John Fiedler (speaking voice)/Jeff Bennett (singing voice)
- Rabbit: Ken Sansom
- Eeyore: Peter Cullen
- Owl: Andre Stojka
- Kessie: Stephanie D'Abruzzo
- Kanga: Kath Soucie
- Roo: Nikita Hopkins
- Christopher Robin: Paul Tiesler
- Christopher Robin's Mom: Vicki Kenderes Eibner
- Mr. Narrator: Roger L. Jackson
The versions of Tigger and Pooh seen on this show later made an appearance in a music video by the We Are Family foundation.