The Little Mermaid

As a whole this is the TV-series spin-off of a Disney animated classic which is most true to the source material. Most of the original voices return and the replacements for the voice of Flounder didn't ruin anything like Dan Castellaneta did to the Genie in the Aladdin Spin- off series.

The events of the series are doing a good job serving as earlier adventures of Ariel taking place before the events of the original movie. Jodi Benson and Samuel E. Wright both do great jobs reprising their roles. Kenneth Mars' reprisal of his role is overall much like in the movie as a mean father who frequently learns about forgiving Ariel's often disobedient attitude and radical decisions.

The new characters in the series are generally well made. My favorite is Spot, a killer whale who has got away from his family and spends time with Ariel. He is cute, enough said. The Lobster Mobster and his sidekick Shrimp are two bad guys I found a little annoying at times, but were funny once in a while. Evil Manta is voiced by Tim Curry, enough said, he is a perfect choice for a bad guy.

While I welcomed the musical aspect of the series, I must say that aside from the great mix of the famous songs from the original movie into a title sequence the frequent small songs suffer from the lower budget. Some of them do grab your feelings towards the scene in which it is playing, but is definitely not a new "Under the Sea" or "Kiss the Girl".

Overall a well made TV-series which is made for kids, but lives up to their expectations if they are fans of the original.

Being a fan of the Disney movie it was natural for me to see how Disney would do on translating it to a weekly TV series. And I was pretty happy with the results. Throughout it's three season life it managed to bring out more of the characters that I loved from the movie, while bringing new characters to enjoy.

In the series Ariel was maybe three or four years younger than in the movie and still headstrong about seeing the world above her. Flounder is still a yellow guppie scared of everything and best pals with Ariel. Sebastion is still the babysitter of Ariel but less stricter. (I don't recall him ever ratting out Ariel throughout the course) The rest of the cast are still pretty much the same too.

Of the new characters the best recurring ones have to be the Lobster Mobster and his sidekick the Shrimp. Two spoofs on Al Capone and one of his goons. They always showed up trying to take over things but in the end ended up doing more damage to themselves than to other. There was also Urchin, an orphan who through the Lobster Mobster eventually became another friend with Ariel, even hinting as a love interest in the future.

The show even threw in references to the movie, with an occasional visit from Ursula and even Erik the prince, who commented on one day meeting that mermaid he saw in that certain episode.

The show ended with an episode dedicated to Hans Christian Anderson, telling it through an animated Hans reading his classic story to a group of children, the story involving Ariel and Flounder and the entire gang. The last image was perhaps the best of the show, a painted image of Ariel lying on a rock by the sea, smiling, looking out at the distance.

I'm glad that Disney still shows this cartoon on their channel even after many years, and I still look forward to seeing each episode. I only hope that the new sequel will provide Disney with the motivation to continue once again with the series.

I used to love watching "The Little Mermaid" T.V. series when I was little. I was 5 years old when this series premiered and I remember waking up early every Saturday morning with my sister just to watch it. I was so excited to see the new episodes. My favorite character was Flounder, he was so cute. My sister's favorite character was Sebastian, he was so funny. I occasionally still watch this show whenever I get a chance to on Toon Disney.

I loved the theme song of "The Little Mermaid" T.V. series because it was a mixture of many of the songs from the movie "The Little Mermaid", which I also love. My favorite episode was "Wish upon a Starfish".

All together I think this was a good prequel to the movie and I suggest everyone should watch it. I give this series 9/10 stars.

No Wonder this show is on Playhouse Disney it is educational. Ariel and her sister Arista never seem to get along. Triton must combat the bad guys with his magic trident to save his daughter. Sebastin is still the babysitter of Airel. Flounder is a coward. Ursula still has her two pet eels Flotsam and Jetsam. My grandmother and I used to watch videos of this series when I was 3 years old my sister used to watch this with me too. Sebastin is hilarious.

Disney's outstanding reputation of producing the best in children's entertainment continued into 1992 with "The Little Mermaid," and this show is based on the 1989 theatrical animated film. Unlike other shows like "TaleSpin," which would borrow a few characters from the Disney films, this was the first to use all of the characters from the film; something that would become a new practice for the "good old Disney cartoon shows."

This was a cute show; it was friendly, especially for the little ones!!!!! This not only played on local television but this ended up on the Old Disney Channel in the mid to late 90s along with the other little children's shows.

"The Little Mermaid" was not just a great series; it opened up the door to a new way of making Disney shows!!!!!

10 stars