Elena of Avalor

[RyGuy]

^last night? on Disney Channel or Disney Jr? I thought they were going to air some movie special first like they did with Lion Guard.

According to Craig Gerber on his twitter, there is quite mix up in airing release being out of order to chronological order. The special which is a Sofia/Elena special is suppose to come out in Fall. That special is suppose to take place before the Elena episode that just came out and the new Sofia episode that came out other day (she now has a pink amulet.) The special is about Sofia freeing Elena from the amulet and I think defeating the evil sorceress who took over Avalor. I thought the special would come out July 22 but apparently that's when the first series' episode debut.

It's available on the Disney Channel app in the US a bit early.

I think Disney marketing is scrambling a bit with this one. I was supposed to air on Disney Jr. and it was supposed to be a spin off of Sofia the first. Now they are positioning it as (paraphrased) "No, early reports were incorrect when they called it a spin off" and "Elena will appeal more to the Disney Channel rather than Disney Jr. crowd."

My suspicion is that they've had to re-strategize a bit given some of the backlash in social media that are crying foul that Disney is treating Hispanics like second class citizens because their princess only gets a show when all the other POC princesses got a movie. At the Disney Store last night I even overheard a Latina teenager tell her mother it was lame that Disney couldn't give her a movie.

I see the point, but the whole thing is a bit unfortunate because the show is really well done. I think my kids have watched the episode 6 or 7 times already, they sing along with the songs, and are embracing the characters as they would if it were a movie (indeed we were at DS last night because one daughter HAD to have a Skylar plush and the other one had to have Elena's shoes - lol)

Evidently there is a rumor that Elena will have a coronation ceremony at the Magic Kingdom. TBH, I'd be very surprised if she didn't. That's pretty low hanging fruit to give her legitimacy, I.e., she is a REAL princess even without the movie. I also saw a quote in an article the other day where a Disney spokesperson said they gave her a show because television is becoming more relevant than movies to children anyway. Hmmm. Interesting spin, I guess.

I wouldn't be surprised if Disney starts the PR machine soon that Coco (out next year) is set in Mexico and that Gigantic is set in Spain . . .

[RyGuy]

Also for those that don't have Disney Channel access the episode is on YouTube (legitimately, I think) but chopped up into multiple parts. Here's a link to the first part:

https://youtu.be/zDQ8ZK_0Pww

[Thumper_93]

When i saw the sneak peeks of "Elena of Avalor" i thought that she was a character like the characters that appears in Barbie's movie but now that i've seen the episode i must say that she's gorgeous. I love her design and i think that she could add more diversity in the Disney princess franchise.

[Kyle]

That's not a legit upload, a huge give away is the timeline along the bottom in the first few seconds, meaning it was screen captured from someone who used their cable account to watch it.

Anyway, the animation bugs me. The rendering itself is good for tv, but the movement is too broad and fast, no one has any weight to them. And the rigs are weird in some aspects, like the elbows.

[unprincess]

thanks for the explanation guys! I wonder if the first episode is on Xfinity On Demand... they sometimes put new Disney Channel show eps up early...

[#1JasmineFan]

For once, I'm grateful to have vision issues. They give me the benefit of enjoying Elena and other animated shows without judging them based on animation quality. I love the story, music and characters.

[#1JasmineFan]

For once, I'm grateful to have vision issues. They give me the benefit of enjoying Elena and other animated shows without judging them based on animation quality. I love the story, music and characters.

[Sotiris]

The show's going to have at least five seasons.

The series, which already has a five-season “content plan,” will run in 163 countries and be translated into 34 languages.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/busin ... ngdom.html

[Kyle]

Just because they have a content plan doesn't mean it make it that far. They're just prepared should should that happen.

[Sotiris]

The first season of the show consists of 24 episodes and two TV specials.

Q: Could you tell us around how many episodes season 1 of Elena of Avalor will have?

Craig Gerber: 24, plus a 44-minute special next year (& the 1-hour Sofia crossover/backstory special this Fall)

Source: https://twitter.com/_CraigGerber/status ... 9551376384

[unprincess]

"Elena will appeal more to the Disney Channel rather than Disney Jr. crowd."

so Ive seen the first 3 eps aired and while its cute, yeah you can definitely tell it was intended for the Dis Jr crowd. The plots so far have been rather simplistic.
It also represents a weird mismatch of Hispanic/Latino cultures. This Fridays episode dealt with a rock monster living in a volcano mountain, so the village near it where the kids came from seemed meant to represent indigenous Peruvians. So maybe each village will represent a different Latin culture? Well alright, its gonna be interesting to see how thats gonna work...Id love to see them visit an island that represents Latino-carribeans(Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dom Republic.)

[Sotiris]

Elena is making her debut at Disney World on August 11th in a special ceremony (but not a coronation ceremony) that takes place on the Cinderella Castle Forecourt Stage. Here's the video announcement. Update: You can watch the whole ceremony, here.

[unprincess]

anyone get the feeling that Disney might be quietly abandoning the Princes Franchise? I actually wouldn't mind as I think its done some harm to the Princess characters and their films. OTOH if its done away with it would be bad for some of the less popular princesses, we'd probably never see them again.

[Sotiris]

anyone get the feeling that Disney might be quietly abandoning the Princes Franchise?

The franchise is far too lucrative for Disney to ever abandon it but they might stop making additions to the line-up and try forming individual franchises out of future princesses instead. That seems to be the case so far with Anna, Elsa, Elena, and Moana.

[JeanGreyForever]

anyone get the feeling that Disney might be quietly abandoning the Princes Franchise? I actually wouldn't mind as I think its done some harm to the Princess characters and their films. OTOH if its done away with it would be bad for some of the less popular princesses, we'd probably never see them again.

I wish that would happen so we could see the classic princesses return to their roots (for some of them I mean that literally like Cinderella with her natural hair color.

[unprincess]

anyone get the feeling that Disney might be quietly abandoning the Princes Franchise?

That seems to be the case so far with Anna, Elsa, Elena, and Moana.

I guess once these start selling less merch, they will eventually place them in the general princess franchise. I doubt we'll see Elsa/Anna anytime soon though since they have a Broadway show and sequel coming in the future.

I wish that would happen so we could see the classic princesses return to their roots (for some of them I mean that literally like Cinderella with her natural hair color.

lol, yes. and they can stop "restoring" their classic films to look like the merchandise colors.

[JeanGreyForever]

That seems to be the case so far with Anna, Elsa, Elena, and Moana.

I guess once these start selling less merch, they will eventually place them in the general princess franchise. I doubt we'll see Elsa/Anna anytime soon though since they have a Broadway show and sequel coming in the future.

I wish that would happen so we could see the classic princesses return to their roots (for some of them I mean that literally like Cinderella with her natural hair color.

lol, yes. and they can stop "restoring" their classic films to look like the merchandise colors.

I think Moana will help determine that. If she's a huge box office success like Frozen or Zootopia, then I guess we can count her out of the lineup too. Already she's being labeled as NOT a Disney Princess, but I wouldn't put any weight into that until we see how her film is received.

I am still unrealistically holding out hope for Beauty and the Beast's upcoming release. It's still up in the air as to which restoration it is. Apparently some people emailed Disney and the they responded saying even they don't know which version was used for the Signature Edition.

[bradhig]

Is this story similar to Anastasia? It sounded like her family got deposed and she has to fight to reclaim the kingdom.

[Sotiris]

The show has already been renewed for a second season!

[#1JasmineFan]

I loved Spellbound! It was full of adventure, suspense, humor and an awesome message! Along with an incredible song! The Magic Within You means a lot to me. It's helped me through some difficult times in the last month. I'm so excited for the next new episode, "Prince Too Charming" in Sept!