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| Dec 02 |
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Strawberry Shortcake This animated series is about four confectionary companions who give their nemesis, the Purple Pieman, his just deserts. |
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| Strawberry Shortcake (2003) Strawberry Shortcake and her friends first entered pop culture as characters in a series of greeting cards. Then, in 1980, the first of six annual Strawberry Shortcake TV specials aired, firmly embedding the titular heroine in the minds and hearts of eighties children everywhere. Nearly twenty years after the final special aired, Miss Shortcake has been revived for another generation. History The original design of Strawberry Shortcake and her cat Custard was done in 1977 by Muriel Fahrion during her time as a greeting card illustrator at American Greetings' Juvenile & Humorous card department. After the idea was presented to Bernie Loomis of General Mills and became a licensing entity, Fahrion designed a subsequent thirty-two characters for Those Characters From Cleveland (American Greetings' toy & licensing design division). Cindy Moyer Patton and Janet Jones designed the other later characters of the classic Strawberry Shortcake line. Lyn Edwards was the editor of the line and along with brainstorm group developed the personality profiles and the story line and philosophy. The first doll was a rag doll directed by Muriel Fahrion and created by Susan Trentel, Fahrion's sister. The Strawberry Shortcake line of characters each had their own fruity or dessert-themed name with clothing to match, and they each had a dessert- or fruit-named pet. Like the Strawberry Shortcake doll, all the other characters' dolls had hair scented to match their dessert theme. The characters lived and played in a magical world known as Strawberryland. During the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake became a huge fad. At the time, there were several related products, such as sticker albums, clothes, a video game for the Atari 2600, and several other products. Several TV specials were made featuring the characters, one each year between 1980 and 1985, when the fad had apparently waned. Kenner produced no new dolls or toys thereafter. In 1991, THQ tried reviving the franchise by producing an updated line of Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Strawberry and five of her classic friends each got a makeover, with new clothes, hair, and eyes. However, the line enjoyed at best a modest success, lasting just the one year. In 2002, the franchise was revived again, this time with a revamped look by a different designer. Also, for the first time ever, a television series with new DVD and VHS (and in certain markets, Video CD) releases was made, with soundtracks for the episodes being put out on CDs at certain intervals, along with many strong licensing deals. Bandai (along with KellyToy) was granted the rights to manufacturing the dolls and toys. DiC Entertainment was granted rights in producing the TV series, who sub-licensed the production of videos, DVDs and Video CDs of the series to 20th Century Fox Home Videos (who subsequently licenses the production of the video outside the US to various other licensees). For the first time in almost two decades, new videogames were launched, produced by The Game Factory for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Educational CD-ROMs for the PC were also produced. The current revival is still running, with the most recent activity being the release of a CGI-animated feature film into the US market as well as games based on the feature film for various different gaming platforms. In 2006, Playmates Toys picked up the rights to make Strawberry Shortcake figures. The line is named "A World Of Friends". The doll Frosty Puff was new to this line, but, although a good deal of shuffling and re-distribution was made concerning the pets of the re-launched characters, very few of the new dolls were actually merchandised with pets. The line was received with mixed reactions (see Criticisms section below) From Bandai. Animation 1980s television specials In the early 1980s, there were six television specials starring Strawberry Shortcake. The specials were produced by Gary Rosen, and Romeo Muller (the latter of whom co-starred as "Mr. Sun") in conjunction with RLR Associates. The first and third specials were animated by what is now known as Fred Wolf Films, while the fourth, fifth, and sixth specials were produced by the Canadian company Nelvana (a company based in New York called "Perpetual Motion Pictures" animated the second). In the United States, the specials were syndicated by LBS Communications. Russi Taylor provided the voice of Strawberry Shortcake for all six specials. As of April 2007, The World of Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City have been released on a single DVD by Allumination Filmworks, however it is unknown at this time when or if the remaining four specials will be released. 2000s series In 2003, almost two decades after the last special aired, a new series, animated and produced by DiC Entertainment was released. At present, there are 28 episodes (including 4 two-part episodes), plus one movie. 20th Century Fox began releasing the series direct-to-DVD beginning in March of 2003 (the first few episodes were also released on VHS and bundled with certain toys). They are also available on VideoCD through various fourth party licensees in South-East Asia and in certain other markets. The series can also be seen on select TV outlets worldwide. The first four videos contain only one story but run for twice the length of subsequent episodes. In some TV markets these four episodes are broadcast as edited 30 minute versions, while others broadcasted these as two-parters, doubling the episode count to eight. Subsequent videos in the series have two 22-minute episodes per disc. As of May 2007, 14 volumes (plus one DVD for the movie) have been released. Inconsistencies A criticism from long-time fans is the inconsistency of characters, pets, scents, etc. that exists between the vintage franchise from the 1980s and the current franchise. Some examples are: Character names - Raspberry Tart's name was changed to Raspberry Torte. Almond Tea's name was changed to Tea Blossom. Pets - Pupcake now belongs to Strawberry instead of Huck (who now has Shoofly Frog). Angel Cake no longer has Souffle skunk, but instead Vanilla Icing. Lemon Meringue's pet frog, Frappe, is replaced by Sourball the skunk (possibly explained by the switching of Souffle skunk to Vanilla Icing for Angel Cake and switching of Pupcake to Shoofly for Huck). Apple Dumplin's turtle, Teatime, is replaced by Apple Ducklin'. And maybe oddest of all is Rhubarb's (Raspberry's pet) change from a monkey to a raccoon. This might be explained by the existence of Banana Bongo (Tangerina Torta's monkey), although Banana Bongo himself was originally introduced as the leader of a monkey band on Seaberry Beach during the story introducing Coco Calypso and Seaberry Delight. Relationships - Previously unmentioned sibling pairs keep popping up, such as Strawberry Shortcake and Apple Dumplin' and The Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes. There is also some confusion about the relationship between Crepes Suzette and the younger, recently-introduced Cherry Cuddler. Both have cherry scents and early promotional materials indicated that they are sisters. However, the box for the Playmates doll set indicates they are merely friends. Scents - Playmates' introduction of the 2006 toy line is very loose with the linked scents that have been traditional in this franchise. Examples include cherry used for Crepes Suzette, Grape used for Tea Blossom, etc. While some consider the scent mixing and blending to be part of the fun, it is also criticized for taking some of the unique and distinct personalities and associations away from each individual character. Fillies/Ponies - In early 2007, Playmates introduced three new ponies, but these are different from the previous Strawberryland Fillies. The ponies belong to Strawberry Shortcake, Angel Cake, and Crepes Suzette, and are aligned with the Berries to Blossoms doll line. The Honey Pie Pony and Milkshake names are not used and neither pony looks like the fillies previously linked to Strawberry and Angel. The new ponies are not given names of their own. In June 2007, three new ponies were introduced - two are new remakes of Strawberry's and Crepes' ponies (even more inconsistencies) and the third is Apricot's. Still no individual names for these ponies, but the series is called Sugar Sweet ponies. Character designs - Many feel that the Playmates line of dolls does not look anything like the characters on TV or the other materials at all. The Playmates dolls are all looking increasingly alike (same expressions, hairstyles, outfits) with just differing colors. Also, changes to hair colors in the dolls for Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Meringue, Angel Cake, Seaberry Delight, and even Strawberry Shortcake herself make the dolls look even less like their contemporary TV/Book/movie versions. Likewise, some eBay-savvy fans recently found a line of Baby Strawberry Shortcake dolls from South America that not only look nothing like the other Baby Strawberry Shortcake materials or the episode "Baby Takes the Cake", but even remind some fans of Psygnosis' Lemmings games. The TV show and the movie Some people were disappointed with the absence of The Purple Pie Man in the TV series. However, others applauded the removal of villains from the series with the latter preferring that the series being kept in its current format: an educational, real-life adventure program similar to Arthur or Caillou. Two camps clearly exist on this issue: There are fans (adults and children alike) that love the inclusion of antagonists such as Purple Pie Man, Sour Grapes and Licorice Whip. These fans want to continue to see more of them in movies, books, and toys. However, there are others who feel that the inclusion (or re-inclusion) of villains in the show take away from the primary focus on Strawberry and her friends as well as erode the educational content of the show, and would prefer the show and franchise be kept villain-free. Controversy In 2003, webcomic Penny Arcade posted an "advertisement" for an imaginary computer game, American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake, in reference to American McGee's Alice - a twisted and violent take on Lewis Carroll's works. American Greetings took offense to the parody and issued a cease-and-desist letter, to which the authors begrudgingly complied - but not without making their indignation very clear . Some argue that Penny Arcade's case was not covered under the fair use doctrine because the use of the characters in this case was for satire; they claim that fair use only protects the unauthorized use of copyrighted characters in parodies of the original material, and that satire and parody are totally different concepts. Others, however, take the view that parody and satire are equally protected by law. Regardless of the legality of either side's actions, this brief altercation is likely to have caused damage to American Greetings far beyond what the removed piece could have done by itself; given the webcomic's immense popularity (amplified by an article of the lawsuit appearing on Slashdot - a news site with a very large readership base and whose majority of readers are for fair use and against the likes of DRM and copy protection), American Greetings made itself look to many eyes as overzealous as Mattel in the protection of their properties, to the point of being capable of trampling artistic expression. Various other TV shows, including Drawn Together and Robot Chicken, have since also parodied or satirized Strawberry Shortcake in one way or another but at this time have met no reported retaliation from American Greetings.
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