Made for Disney by the Henson studios shortly before Jim Henson died, and before the actual Little Mermaid movie premiered, this is quite an interesting show. Only two episodes were made, and as it didn't please either party, no more was ever made. While it was not a terrible show, it was probably for the best that they did not continue with it.
The puppets and costumes are actually quite nice. They look exactly like their cartoon counterparts, and the swimming motions looks really well. The background characters/puppets/dolls are mostly unimpressive, though. Some of the blue screen graphics, especially the water, is very dated. It's interesting how they made the puppets swim using blue screen, but it end result just isn't that good. The use of underwater stock footage is also jarring at times.
The characters are mostly the same as the ones that appear in the movie. There's the crab Sebastian and the seagull Scuttle, while Flounder has got a twin in this show, Sandy. The captain Grimby has a different personality in this than he does in the series, and he has a dog. Flotsam and Jetsam are also here, serving a role similar to the serpent in the garden of Eden, basically tempting the other characters into doing negative stuff. There is also a dragon character introduced, Scales, who does not really serve any purpose in these episodes, other than being an extra character with more rock-like music.
Considering the songs are made for a TV-show, they are not bad. They span different genres, and they have catchy melodies and funny lyrics. The songs are probably the hight light of the show.
The first of the two episodes is about a surprise party for Sebastian, while the second on is about keeping promises. The plots are typical for children's television, and you can't really put them at fault for having a young target audience.
Apart from the visuals, this is an OK show for young children - but that's also all it is.
