The Little Mermaid (TV series)

The Little Mermaid is an American animated musical television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation based on the 1989 animated feature film of the same name. It features the adventures of Ariel as a mermaid prior to the events of the film. This series is the third Disney television series to be spun off from a major animated film. Some of the voice actors of the film reprise their roles in the series, among them Jodi Benson as Ariel, Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, Kenneth Mars as King Triton, and Pat Carroll as Ursula. Other voice actors include Edan Gross as Flounder, and Jeff Bennett as Prince Eric.

The Little Mermaid premiered on September 11, 1992 with the animated prime time special called "A Whale of a Tale," then moved to Saturday mornings. This series originally appeared on CBS, with an original run from September 11, 1992 to November 26, 1994. Some of the episodes contain musical segments, featuring original songs written for the series. The opening theme to the show is an instrumental combination of the songs "Part of Your World," "Under the Sea," and "Kiss the Girl." The overture for the 2007 stage musical of The Little Mermaid is similar to this.

Premise
The Little Mermaid is a prequel to the movie of the same name. The story is set between the 2008 prequel film The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning and Disney's 1989 animated feature film, and follows Ariel's adventures as a mermaid still living under the sea with her father King Triton, Sebastian the crab and Flounder the fish. Various episodes highlight her relationships with her friends, father and sisters, and usually involve Ariel foiling the attempts of various enemies that intend ill harm to her, her family and friends, or her kingdom. Ariel's Beginning contains events that contradict the television series (such as Ariel's youth and first meeting with Flounder), making the TV series and the prequel independent continuities.

Production and development
After the success of Disney's 1989 animated feature film, The Walt Disney Company planned to produce a children's television series for its Disney Channel cable outlet called The Little Mermaid's Island. The proposed series would feature puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop interacting with a "live" Ariel. But after Jim Henson's untimely death along with production difficulties and as the video release of The Little Mermaid soared in sales during 1990 and early 1991, Disney quietly dropped plans for "The Little Mermaid's Island" in favor of a more ambitious plan: an animated weekly series for CBS. The new show would be about the adventures of Ariel and her friends before the events in the film.

Jamie Mitchell, an artist and graphic designer who worked on Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, was named the producer and director of the new series. Patsy Cameron and Tedd Anasti were the story editors and wrote almost all of the episodes for the show's second and third seasons. Their previous joint work included Hanna-Barbera's The Smurfs, the animated Beetlejuice and Disney's DuckTales. Some of the artists and technicians on the feature film also contributed to the TV series. Mark Dindal, chief of special animated effects for the film, was a consultant for special effects on the TV show. Robby Merkin, who worked with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman on arranging the songs for the film, worked as the arranger and music producer for the first season of the TV show.

Disney Animation Japan and Wang Film Productions in Taiwan both contributed animation to the series.

Broadcast
The show's broadcast debut in September 1992 was in the form of a half-hour prime-time special, The Little Mermaid: A Whale of a Tale. Its Saturday morning debut came the very next day. The show's time slot was 8:30 a.m., following another new animated series, Fievel's American Tails, based on the animated film An American Tail. The Little Mermaid series drew a fair bit of media attention, including more than one spot on Entertainment Tonight, because it was the first series based directly on a Disney animated feature and was a rare television cartoon concerning a strong female character. The show kept its time slot the following year with its second season.

For the series' third season, the show was moved to the 8 a.m. time period and was the lead-in for a new Disney animated series, Aladdin. The third season was the final season to be produced; CBS elected not to buy another batch of episodes. On October 2, 1995, Disney Channel began rerunning the show seven days a week.

Disney Channel reran the series from October 2, 1995 to September 29, 2002 and again from September 5, 2006, to July 4, 2010. It was also shown on Toon Disney until January 25, 2008. The series then aired on Disney Junior from the channel's launch in 2012 until 2014. However, in Russia, Disney Channel continued to air the series until the channel closed in 2022.

VHS releases
Seven titles containing 14 episodes of the series were released on VHS in the United States and Canada. Almost simultaneously, three double-feature LaserDiscs containing 12 episodes were also released.

Ariel's Undersea Adventures

Princess Collection - Ariel's Songs & Stories

International releases
11 titles containing 22 episodes of the series were released on VHS in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa. These titles were also released on VHS, LaserDisc and Video CD in Mexico, South America, and Asia.

Ariel's Undersea Adventures

Princess Collection

DVD releases
The series has not yet been officially released on DVD. However, four episodes were released as part of the following Disney Princess DVD releases.

Digital releases
As of August 24, 2018, all 31 episodes of the series are available for purchase on the iTunes Store, and on Amazon Prime Video, in two volumes in High Definition (HD).

The series has been available with the exception of the pilot episode ("Whale of a Tale") through The Walt Disney Company's streaming platform Disney+, since the service’s launch on November 12, 2019.

Songs

 * "Just a Little Love" (Ariel)
 * "You Got to Be You" (Sebastian)
 * "To the Edge of the Edge of the Sea" (Ariel)
 * "To the Edge of the Edge of the Sea" (Reprise) (Ariel)
 * "The Lobster Mobster's Mob" (The Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp)
 * "The Lobster Mobster's Mob "(Reprise) (Da Shrimp)
 * "Beddie-Bye Blues" (The Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp)
 * "Sing a New Song" (Ariel and Simon)
 * "In Harmony" (Ariel)
 * "In Harmony" (Reprise) (Ariel)
 * "Dis is de Life" (Sebastian)
 * "You Know I Know" (Sebastian)
 * "You Know I Know" (Reprise) (Sebastian)
 * "Never Give Up" (Ariel and Sebastian)
 * "Everybody Cha-Cha-Cha" (Sebastian)
 * "You Wouldn't Want to Mess with Me" (Ursula)
 * "You Wouldn't Want to Mess with Me" (Reprise) (Ursula)
 * "The Sound of Laughter" (Sebastian)
 * "The Sound of Laughter" (Repeat) (Sebastian)
 * "Daring to Dance" (Ariel)
 * "Daring to Dance" (Reprise) (Ariel)
 * "Hail Apollo, Defender of the Sea" (Atlantica's Army)
 * "I Just Like the Sky" (Scuttle)
 * "Just Give Me a Chance" (Scuttle)
 * "Just Give Me a Chance" (Reprise) (Scuttle)
 * "I Go to the Beach" (Sebastian)
 * "Just Like Me" (The Evil Manta)
 * "Let's Play Princess (With Ariel)" (opening for Princess Collection - Ariel's Songs & Stories)

Music album release:

Critical response
Caroline Siede of The A.V. Club praised the development of Ariel across the show, calling the character relatable and compelling, and said, "The Little Mermaid TV show finally gave Ariel the kind of adventure stories she deserves." Katerina Dailey of Screen Rant included The Little Mermaid in their "10 Best Disney TV Shows That Started As Movies" list, stating, "The film is a great watch even 30 years later. The same can be said, too, for the 1992 to 1994 animated series."

KJ Dell Antonia of Common Sense Media gave the series a grade of two out of five stars, writing, "Spin-off sinks for everyone except besotted fans."

Following the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel in the 2023 live-action remake of the 1989 The Little Mermaid film, several journalists highlighted the character of Gabriella, a deaf mermaid of color appearing in the show. Sarah Kepins of MovieWeb asserted, "Gabriella was loved and accepted. There was no negative backlash over her addition to the animated show, and her inclusion meant something very important to many people."

Spin-off
The series received a spin-off entitled Sebastian the Crab, which aired as a segment of the TV series Marsupilami. The segments star Sebastian, and are set outside of the sea, taking place after the wedding between Ariel and Eric in the film.