''Lady Lovely Locks and the Pixietails'' is a character property created by
American Greetings Corporation (creators of
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry shortcake may refer to:
* Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries
* "Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie," a song published in 1956; a version by The Brother Sisters was released by Mercury Records in 196 ...
,
Care Bears and
Popples
Popples is a toy and television franchise created by Those Characters From Cleveland (TCFC), a subsidiary of American Greetings. Popples resemble brightly colored marsupial teddy bears with long tails ending in a pom-pom. Each Popple character ...
among others) in the mid-1980s. The characters were licensed for a toyline by Mattel, and for a syndicated
animated television series by
DiC Animation City
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...
in 1987. Only 20 episodes were produced in all.
Toy line
The Lady Lovely Locks toyline was created by
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
and produced from 1987 to 1989. The toyline consists of character dolls that are approximately 8.5 inches tall, with certain dolls having long, colorful locks. Most dolls came with three to four Pixietails (small plastic squirrel-like animals with long silky tails). The Pixietails could be worn in the hair of either the doll or the child. Additional items in the toyline were other pets and setting playsets.
Animated series
Lady Lovely Locks is the princess of the Kingdom of Lovely Locks. She and her friends are aided by the Pixietails in keeping the kingdom safe from its enemies. Among the hero characters of the show are Lady Lovely Locks, Maiden Fair Hair, Maiden Curly Crown, the Pixietails, Prince Strong Heart, Shining Glory, Silky Pup (a puppy), and Silky Mane (a pony). The main villains are Duchess Ravenwaves, Hairball and Comb Gnomes, the latter of whom tend to speak in rhyme. The show was cancelled after one season.
The series was produced by the French and Japanese animators of ''
Rainbow Brite
''Rainbow Brite'' is a media franchise by Hallmark Cards, introduced in 1984. The animated ''Rainbow Brite'' television series first aired in 1984, the same year Hallmark licensed Rainbow Brite to Mattel for a range of dolls and other merchand ...
'' and ''
Jem'', among other cartoons of the '80s. The music of the series was composed by
Shuki Levy and
Haim Saban
Haim Saban (; he, חיים סבן; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an e ...
and supervised by Marty Wereski. The original "Lady Lovely Locks" theme song was composed by Shuki Levy and produced by the music department of
Saban Productions
Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and S ...
and performed by
Donna De Lory. The original full theme song can be heard on Shuki Levy's official website.
Hi-Tops released five ''Lady Lovely Locks'' videos in the '80s. More recently, the videos re-appeared on the market. They resurfaced as part of the DVD set "Girls Rule Vol. 1" which included the following cartoon series: ''Jem'', ''Rainbow Brite'', and ''Lady Lovely Locks''. Several of the episodes are also available on a DVD in the "Biggest DVD Ever" series for ''Lady Lovely Locks''. Two episodes have never been collected except on the Australian VHS edition.
The series episodes are as follows:
# "To Save My Kingdom": written by Jack Olesker
# "Cruel Pretender": written by Jack Olesker
# "Vanished": written by Jack Olesker
# "The Wishing Bone": written by Jack Olesker
# "The Discovery": written by Jack Olesker
# "The Lake of Reflections": written by Jody Miles Conner
# "The Menace of Mirror Lake": written by
Phil Harnage
# "Blue Moon": written by Phil Harnage
# "The Bundle": written by Howard R. Cohen
# "In the Kingdom of Ice": written by Phil Harnage
# "The Power and the Glory": written by Jeff Rose
# "Prince's Broken Heart": written by Howard R. Cohen
# "The Noble Deed": written by Jack Olesker
# "The Doubt": written by Susan J. Leslie
# "The Dragon Tree": written by Jack Olesker
# "The Capture": written by Jack Olesker
# "The Keeper": written by Jack Olesker
# "The Rally": written by Jack Olesker
# "Fire in the Sky": written by Jack Olesker
# "To Take a Castle": written by Jack Olesker
Characters
Protagonists
*Lady Lovely Locks - the main protagonist. She wears a pink dress and has blonde hair with streaks symbolizing her
royalty
Royalty may refer to:
* Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc.
* Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family
* Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...
in three colors: soft pink (
dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...
), gold (
sun) and lavender (
twilight
Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this il ...
). She is the
princess of Kingdom Lovely Locks, as well as its main source of power and life. She is a very loyal, brave, kind, selfless, polite, resourceful, optimistic, dependable and friendly individual who always treasures her
home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
.
*Maiden Fair Hair - a maiden and best friend of Lady Lovely Locks who wears a blue dress and has her brunette hair done in
waves
Waves most often refers to:
*Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass.
* Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water.
Waves may also refer to:
Music
* Waves (ban ...
. A natural beauty, party-planner,
daydream
Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which partici ...
er and
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, she is very serene, cool-headed, and intelligent, but would sometimes lose track of something important and/or, to the extent, her sense of direction.
*Maiden Curly Crown - another maiden and friend of Lady Lovely Locks who wears a yellow dress and has her orange hair done in curls. A funny and imaginative girl with a big
heart
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...
, she loves making up stories, styling her hair, and collecting
bugs, but is somewhat impulsive and, despite being quite smart, would sometimes get herself into trouble.
*Silky Mane - Lady's kind-hearted, trusty royal
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
who always
understands her thoughts and feelings.
*Silky Pup - Lady's happy-go-lucky, yet trouble-prone pet
puppy who has a secret
crush on the Prince.
*Shining Glory - a blind, yet very wise and powerful
sorcerer and
wizard, and the beloved
mentor to Lady and her friends. He often aids Lady with his magic. It is also said that he has adopted the Prince after he was cursed.
*Prince Strong Heart - originally a human, but was turned into a dog as a result of a dreadful
curse. He often visits the castle gardens after since he was
adopted
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
by Shining Glory. In times, the opportunity for him to turn into human again comes; however, he rather puts this aside into helping his companions, such as coming to Lady's rescue when she is in danger. He was not much likely seen in his previous appearance.
Antagonists
*Duchess Raven Waves - the main antagonist. She wears a purple dress and, like Maiden FairHair, her black hair done in waves. She is the mean, jealous, cruel, stubborn, selfish, domineering, cold, careless and conniving ruler of Tangleland, as well as the main
archenemy
In literature, an archenemy (sometimes spelled as arch-enemy) is the main enemy of someone. In fiction, it is a character who is the protagonist's, commonly a hero's, most prominent and most-known enemy.
Etymology
The word ''archenemy'' sometim ...
of Lady Lovely Locks. Duchess always
plot
Plot or Plotting may refer to:
Art, media and entertainment
* Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction
Music
* ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava
* The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003
Other
* ''Plot' ...
s evil schemes to take over the kingdom of Lovely Locks for herself, and believes that cutting off a piece of her rival's hair would do it.
*Hair Ball - a former
apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
of Shining Glory who is now in employ of RavenWaves. Deemed untrustworthy by good people, he specializes in
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
and is very practical when it comes to making and causing trouble. He also acts miserable when he feels defeated; however, this makes him quite sympathetic to his peers.
*Comb Gnomes - creatures with big ears and wild-looking hair and fur and
henchmen
A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies prim ...
of Duchess RavenWaves and accomplices to HairBall. They are very
mischievous
Mischief or malicious mischief is the name for a criminal offenses that is defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a legal differenti ...
and mean-spirited, yet lazy and irresponsible during a plan and become upset when their part of a planned scheme fails. They are also archenemies to the Pixietails, as they all have magical powers, of which theirs is a
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
attack. Their names were Snags, Dulla and Tanglet. Unlike the Pixietails, these were the only three Comb Gnomes ever to be seen in the entire series.
The Pixietails
The Pixietails are fairy-like animals, who help Lady Lovely Locks when she is in need for a problem or someone's in trouble. Lady's Pixietails are rabbit-like creatures, FairHair's Pixietails are chipmunk/squirrel-like creatures and CurlyCrown's Pixietails are bird-like creatures.
*Pixieshine - A blue rabbit-like Pixietail under the ownership of Lady Lovely Locks.
*Pixiebeauty - A purple rabbit-like Pixietail under the ownership of Lady Lovely Locks.
*Pixiesparkle - A pink rabbit-like Pixietail under the ownership of Lady Lovely Locks.
Dragons
Dragons exist in the kingdom. They can breathe fire and have wings to fly with. Instead of eggs, newborn dragons are born from the Dragon Tree. A plant called Dragon’s Hair has some connection.
*Longcurl - The mother of the dragon triplets.
*Sweetcurl
*Merrycurl
*Bouncycurl
Books
A number of tie-in books were released alongside the toyline and animated series. Among these books are "An Enchanting Fairy-Tale Adventure", "For the Love of Lovely Locks", "Lady Lovely Locks Original Story" (1987), "Silkypup Saves the Day", "Silkypup's Butterfly Adventure" (1987) and "The Golden Ball".
Pop culture
In the eighth season episode of the series ''
That '70s Show
''That '70s Show'' is an American television Period piece, period teen sitcom that aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the ficti ...
'', "Killer Queen", the character Randy says: "Donna, Hyde's already given me a nickname. It's Mrs. Lady Lovely Locks". This is an
anachronism
An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...
, as the ''Lady Lovely Locks'' line of products were not produced until after the mid-1980s.
German audio tapes
In Germany, ten audio tapes were produced by label
Europa
Europa may refer to:
Places
* Europe
* Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace
* Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro
* Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development
* Europa Cliff ...
, which extended on and continued the story lines that were never resolved by the short running TV-show. Not only did the tapes dive into Lady's childhood, they also resolved Prince StrongHeart's curse by turning him human, featured the couple's wedding, the birth of their daughter, as well as the infant's kidnapping by Duchess RavenWaves and her glorious rescue. While each character had her or his own voice actor, the series was narrated by
Hans Paetsch
Hans Paetsch (7 December 1909 – 3 February 2002) was a German actor. He appeared in 52 films between 1939 and 2002. He is most notable for his voice acting, especially as a narrator of fairy tales and audio dramas.
Selected filmography
* ...
. The voice actors differed from those used in the animated series.
Voices
* Tony St. Vincent - Lady Lovely Locks, Pixiesparkle
* Jeannie Elias - Maiden Fair Hair, Pixiebeauty, Snags, Dulla
*
Brian George - Shining Glory, Pixieshine, Hairball
* Danny Mann - Prince Strong Heart, Tanglet, Comb Gnomes
*
Louise Vallance
Stephanie Louise Vallance, commonly known as Stevie Vallance, also credited as Louise Vallance during the 1970s90s, is a Canadian actress, musician, composer and director who has worked on numerous films and television series, both live-action and ...
- Duchess Raven Waves, Maiden Curly Crown
Releases
In Germany the first 3 episodes (6 counting the way Germans numbered them) were released on 3 VHS tapes, containing just the plain episodes dubbed in German with the intro and outro scenes as well as a TV commercial for the Lady Lovely Locks toy series.
In November 2015, the entire series has been released on DVD in Germany containing both, German and English audio (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) under the name "Lady Lockenlicht" which translates into "Lady Locks Light". It uses the broadcast TV material as seen on German television, which is 1:1 identical to the English video material except that it is converted to PAL and therefore slightly faster than the original NTSC format (PAL-SpeedUp).
References
External links
*
Lady Lovely Locks and The Pixietails - Unofficial WebsiteList of Dolls
{{Mattel
1980s American animated television series
1980s toys
1987 American television series debuts
1988 American television series endings
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated fantasy television series
American Greetings
Animated television series about orphans
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Doll brands
Kideo TV
Mattel
Television series by DIC Entertainment
Television series by DHX Media