Tim Hoskins

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation.

Based on the Winnie-the-Pooh books by authors A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, The New Adventures was the first time a major Disney character headlined an animated, made-for-television series as well as the first Disney television series based on a major animated film.

Winnie the Pooh was created by British authors A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard in the 1920s.

The character was named after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne.

He had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they had met while on holiday.

Drawing from this and other toys owned by his son, Milne created the world of Winnie-the-Pooh.

He first appeared by name on December 24, 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London Evening News.

The following year, a collection of Pooh stories was formally released bearing the name Winnie-the-Pooh.

The stories proved very popular and inspired a sequel.

The idea for a television series was first discussed in 1957.

NBC suggested Jay Ward undertake the pilot, then titled The World of Winnie the Pooh, with an option for thirty-nine episodes.

Some songs and bits of dialogue were recorded, but the project was ultimately abandoned.

He subsequently produced a series of three short featurettes throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966).

Disney had also aired a variety show with the characters that used electronically controlled puppetry and life-sized costume titled Welcome to Pooh Corner.

This became the highest rated program on the Disney Channel.

In 1961, Disney's namesake founder Walt Disney purchased the film rights to make an animated movie starring the characters.

The cartoon premiered with a limited run on The Disney Channel on January 17, 1988.

Nine months later, the show moved to ABC as part of their Saturday morning lineup.

New episodes continued until October 26, 1991.

Proving popular with children and older fans, it remained on television in the United States for nearly two decades.

The series depicts the everyday lives of Christopher Robin and his companions Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Owl and Gopher.

Rather than a straightforward adaptation, the show was more Americanized than previous Pooh efforts.

Episodes dealt with strong messages about honesty, responsibility, persistence, cooperative effort, friendship, and caring.

Many stories are designed to help young children distinguish between fantasy and reality and overcome common childhood fears.

Publications ranging from The Los Angeles Times to TV Guide gave the series extremely positive reviews for its resemblance to the earlier Disney efforts and its high production quality, receiving praise for its wholesome tradition.

The show won back-to-back Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program as well as two Humanitas Prizes.

The show was well received by both children and their parents.

Most of the viewer mail the crew received were from parents thanking the staff for producing a show that they can watch with their children.

The New Adventures is credited with bringing about a resurgence of Pooh animated media, including a series of television and video specials.

For the most part, the show used a limited cast consisting only of characters in the original Milne books, with the notable exception of the Disney-created character Gopher.

However, several minor characters did make appearances.

Christopher Robin's mother is shown occasionally, but always with her face obscured.

Kessie, a female bluebird that Rabbit rescues, makes her first appearance in this series; Kessie would later appear in The Book of Pooh.

Stan Woozle and Heff Heffalump appear as a pair of honey thieves.

This marked the first time heffalumps and woozles were seen on-screen.

Prior to this, heffalumps and woozles had always been portrayed as creatures that did not exist and were representative of childhood fears.

Instead, the show used other unseen villains such as Jagulars and the "Grab-Me Gotcha."

Papa Heffalump also appeared from time to time.

Other characters on the show include Owl's cousin Dexter (voiced by Hal Smith) and Skippy the Sheepdog.

Chuck McCann provided additional voices as well.