Jake and the Never Land Pirates

[Neal]

Remember this post on the TAG Blog back in June?:

I was able to get a look at some of the visual development for the next group of Toon Disney features (waay different than Tinkerbell) and my first reaction was: "That's going to make the Mouse a lot of money!"

Because it is a real commercial property.

(And no, I'm not going to say anything about what it is, since the company hasn't announced much about it yet.)

Is this it? Posted today:

Also slated for production in the next few months is the new series about pirates (mentioned here earlier) that has had a title change, and involves some well-loved Disney characters. (Since I don't spy any details for the project out on the internets, -- and let's stipulate that I may just have overlooked it -- I won't break detailed news about it here. I have problems enough without getting huffy corporate phone calls as it is.)

...now originally he said features, now he's saying series, but either way - what could this be? A pirate show starring some of our favorite Disney characters?

I'm intrigued!

[blackcauldron85]

I read that this morning, too. To me, it could be one of three things:

1. Mickey & friends as pirates

2. POTC characters, animated

3. Captain Hook & his mateys

Of course, these are just my guesses.

[SpringHeelJack]

Or the Jonas Brothers as sexy international pirates / pop stars.

[blackcauldron85]

Or the Jonas Brothers as sexy international pirates / pop stars.

I think I'm all for that...if they'd be all for it, I would be, too. Do you have a secret facination with them? This is the second thread in a day or two that you mentioned them in.

[SpringHeelJack]

I have a fascination with snide mockery.

[DisneyJedi]

This sounds interesting.

When does it premiere?

[UmbrellaFish]

Well-beloved? I assume that means classic Disney characters, but is that Mickey and Co., or Winnie the Pooh and Co., or one of the more popular movies? Shall be interesting to see...

[Barbossa]

I read that this morning, too. To me, it could be one of three things:

1. Mickey & friends as pirates

If they go with this idea, I just hope they don't decide to put Mickey animatronics on POTC in Disneyland (like they did with IASW).

[Elladorine]

Makes me wonder if they returned to their idea of making Pirates of the Caribbean into an animated series. I always felt disappointed that they cancelled it, I kinda liked the character designs.

[Neal]

Turns out the show is for Playhouse Disney - and is kind of the replacement for "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse."

The show's official title (after some changes) will be: Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Details are scarce other than that it is a kid's show, and Hook and Smee make an appearance - no idea if Peter or Tink will.

Anyone else think Neverland is kind of getting over-used? With the 5 Tink films (and possibly more if they still see $$$ rolling in after #'s 4 and 5) - and the original sequel - do we need another media set in the land where you never grow old?

Here are some character sheets for the main characters:

Jake

Cubby

Nibs

Here's some links to learn about Colin Ford, who is playing Jake:

His website

His Twitter

Steve Santillan, who has worked on a number of other Disney TV/DTV projects, worked on development for the show

Here are some more blurbs from the TAG blog:

October 21 -

And the new show they haven't yet officially announced? Designers and story artists are coming aboard, and Story Booking is proceeding at a high rate of speed.

So while DTVA Sonora has lots of square footage that is empty, at least a few productions are rumbling to life. (There's a lot more artists working upstairs at Disney Toons.)

August 5 -

Disney TVA has got more projects in the hopper than they did a few months ago. Over at Disney TVA Sonora (the Glendale studio sitting on the edge of the old Grand Central Airport), TeamPirate is in work and Secret Agent Oso (soon to roll into its second season), has moved (I'm told) from the Frank Wells Building on the main lot to Glendale.

It'll probably be CGI. What do you all think of the project? Too much Neverland or too early to tell?

[Mason_Ireton]

No No why did they change Cubby and Nibs?? *err* I'm so used to seein 'em in their Lost Boys clothin/design. This has me worried bout Hook's personality being reduced to Pete's level.

[jediliz]

I wish they'd stop with the CGI nonsense for a series for Playhouse Disney.

[Margos]

Hmm... do you think there could actually be a connection to the Tinker Bell series? Perhaps creating a background for everything that happens in Peter Pan, eventually converging into a single sort of "mythology....."
Probably not, but it is something to think about....

[Neal]

Well - it could possibly just be the character design - but Nibs and Cubby look younger than their original "Peter Pan" designs in the initial drawings for this show. Will this be set before Peter Pan?

I know you never grow older in Neverland, but you could maybe mature in looks a touch.

I hope they don't mess up continuity by having a younger Nibs and Cubby but Jake comes from 2010 America rather than old-era England.

I think since we saw young Wendy in the first Tinker Bell, they were trying to make a connection - not let the Tink series be viewed as a separate mythology/world/canon.

Perhaps the Tink series will background the fairies more and introduce how Tink meets Peter - hopefully they explain why she goes from being rather sweet in the Tink series to a b!tch in Peter Pan.

And maybe this series will background the lost boys more and Hook.

[Margos]

Yes, that's what I was thinking.... it would be interesting, as the Tink series has already established the fact that there are pirates in Never Land, and also gives us, oh maybe 9 years until we have to be all caught up to "Peter Pan."

[UmbrellaFish]

Interesting with this Peter Pan craze Disney is trying to instigate. Three years ago I never would have guessed that this would be the franchise they would try to milk, but it's certainly intriguing.

[2099net]

Interesting with this Peter Pan craze Disney is trying to instigate. Three years ago I never would have guessed that this would be the franchise they would try to milk, but it's certainly intriguing.

Well, years ago, Disney didn't have copyright to J M Barrie's creations. Now they do - thanks to them being in public domain in most of the world. The cynic inside me thinks Tinker Bell and this new Never Land pirates show is just taking advantage of that fact.

Even when released in the UK, it appears Disney won't have to pay some money for the rights - The play Peter Pan/Peter and Wendy has a form of perpetual copyright on the play, but not the preceding novel. Therefore the characters introduced in the novel are public domain too since 2008. (And by strange co-incidence, wasn't fall 2007 the original release date of the first Tinker Bell movie? Which could be easily delayed until early 2008 for the European release.)

[Duckburger]

I hoped this would have been a Disney Channel or maybe even Disney XD cartoon, but oh well... my Pirates of the Caribbean cartoon was most likely never going to happen anyway.

I wonder why all the Playhouse series are made in CGI, do children like it better, or is it cheaper to produce? Come to think of it - it's probably the same reason 2D animated movies have become more scarce since the '90s.

With 'Little Einsteins' and 'Bunnytown' ending, and 'My Friends Tigger & Pooh' also being cancelled, it was quite obvious that Disney would want a few new shows to fill up the block.

[milojthatch]

Interesting with this Peter Pan craze Disney is trying to instigate. Three years ago I never would have guessed that this would be the franchise they would try to milk, but it's certainly intriguing.

Well, years ago, Disney didn't have copyright to J M Barrie's creations. Now they do - thanks to them being in public domain in most of the world. The cynic inside me thinks Tinker Bell and this new Never Land pirates show is just taking advantage of that fact.

Even when released in the UK, it appears Disney won't have to pay some money for the rights - The play Peter Pan/Peter and Wendy has a form of perpetual copyright on the play, but not the preceding novel. Therefore the characters introduced in the novel are public domain too since 2008. (And by strange co-incidence, wasn't fall 2007 the original release date of the first Tinker Bell movie? Which could be easily delayed until early 2008 for the European release.)

I think you may be right.

[Neal]

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