Peter Pan and the Pirates

Unlike many people, before I ever saw this cartoon or the Disney version, I read both of Barry's Peter Pan books, *Peter and Wendy* and the prequel *Peter in Kensington Gardens* and watched a number of televised versions of Sir James Barry's play (including the classic Mary Martin in rerun and a well-meaning effort with Sandy Duncan and Danny Kaye).

I loved the tale of Peter Pan. For all the joyful energy in it, what I particularly loved was the witty satire beneath the hi-jinks and the tale's knowing, poignant forgiveness towards every person's childhood: "thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless."

After all this, I was overjoyed to see the cartoon *Peter Pan and the Pirates*. Not only is this cartoon true to the books and the unsanitized versions of the original play, it expands upon them to turn an incisive Victorian fairy tale into a genuine fantasy work, with a world as intriguing as any ever created by Lewis in his Narnia books.

The very first episode even provides an icy elemental wizard/godling from whom Peter glibly steals treasures for his own amusement.

The one unfortunate thing about this series is that it ruined the Disney version for me. When I finally had the chance to watch Disney's Peter Pan on the big screen, I was deeply disappointed by the tepid treatment of the characters (as well as the naive racism). Disney's version paled in comparison to the original play, Sir Barry's books -- and this cartoon series.

This show had great animation. Very detailed. The show was also more correct with the personalities of many of the characters, or at least that's my thought on the matter. I don't know why the show was taken off the air or why the reruns are not shown. It's a shame todays viewers don't get as much intelligence from television as they used to.

I saw a fair amount of episodes on YouTube and I was shocked that they don't make cartoons like this anymore. This show deserves a lot more recognition, why is it so underrated. The animation and theme tune are fantastic, as are the voice talents. The animation is just amazing, and the theme tune is in my top 10 of the best theme tunes for an animated show ever along with Talespin and Darkwing Duck. Peter and the Darlings are very well done, and all the story lines are gripping and fun. But the highlight of the whole series, was Tim Curry in a phenomenal performance as Captain Hook, who thoroughly deserved the daytime Emmy, and he was aided by some truly terrific dialogue. Sure his character animation isn't what Barrie imagined, but the writers made him into a highly complex character, and as a fan of Curry, I consider Hook to be among his best voice over roles. Hook is seen as a gentleman, who believes in good manners, has the highest regard for his mother but has a rather vindictive side towards his fellow pirates ( a bit like Jekyll and Hyde) There are also plenty of laugh out loud funny moments, like Peter pretending to be a gentleman to even a score with Hook, Hook's reactions were priceless. And there's even an episode when Hook tries to fly! My favourite line of Hook's, other than his iconic insults, is in the episode the Play's the thing, when he says, "Oh Shakespeare, give thanks that you aren't here to witness this atrocity." This show was so good, why don't they show it anymore? It's better, in my opinion, than the Disney movie, and the sequel, and actually my favourite of any Peter Pan adaptation. I think we should get a petition to bring this show back! Without question, 10/10. Bethany Cox

I used to watch this show back when I thought I was going to be 9 years old forever and all I ever wanted to be was THIS peter pan. I used to have the action figure too, but somehow it's gotten misplaced. *sigh* FOX SHOULD BRING THIS ONE BACK!!!!! To stay forever and continue it as best they can. it rocked and I would love to see it again...

i watched Peter Pan and the Pirates growing up and thought it was brilliant. I borrowed all the videos from the video shop and watxhed all the episodes on TV. I even (sad i no) fell in love with peter pan. I loved the character of peter pan and thought the chemistry between Hook, Wendy and Peter was really good. Hook is said to be a gentle man and wendy takes full advantage of that to win the battles. And the coy and witty lines in the episode are very entertaining and sometimes funny. Sometimes I found myself crying!!! Its so cute how peter cares for wendy so much. AAAWWWWWWWWW I still love it even now at 15 and wish it would go back on TV !!!