''The Book of Pooh'' is an American

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

that aired on the

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Televi ...

block on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...

's works; the other two were the live action ''

Welcome to Pooh Corner ''Welcome to Pooh Corner'' is a live-action/puppet television series that aired on Disney Channel, featuring the characters from the Winnie the Pooh universe portrayed by actors in human-sized puppet suits, except Roo, who was originally a traditio ...

'' (to which this series bears resemblance) and the animated ''

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ''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 ...

'' which ran from 1988 to 1991. It premiered on January 22, 2001 and completed its run on November 29, 2004. It was repeated on Playhouse Disney until June 2, 2006 (May 2007 in the UK). The show is produced by Shadow Projects.

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

released the first of two films, a direct-to-video spin-off film based on the puppetry television series titled '' The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart'' in 2001. The show became available to stream on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

on its launch, November 12, 2019.

Overview

The series take places after the events of Milne's original stories since his son Christopher Robin is clearly a

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 in the United ...

and 11 years old. The series departs from many of the established facts of Milne's books; for example, Tigger resides in the Hundred Acre Wood from the start and Kanga and Roo are later introduced as newcomers. Neither Christopher nor his mother speak with an English accent, such is the case in ''

'' where Christopher has an American accent. Kessie, the

bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

from ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' episodes "Find Her, Keep Her" and "A Bird in the Hand" returns as a main character in this series. Each show begins entering Christopher Robin's bedroom and hearing his mother say "Christopher, time for school." Christopher Robin answers "OK, Mum", grabs his backpack and leaves. This is where the book with Pooh and his friends in it opens and the theme song begins. The show can be viewed as non-canonical in other ways. For example, Tigger can climb up—but more importantly climb down from trees and Christopher Robin's face is never shown. Plus, Rabbit lives in a tree, as opposed to living in a burrow in other adaptations.

Cast

The characters in the show regularly sing and dance in ways that enhance the story being told. Many of the episodes do not have much basis in the original stories by A.A. Milne besides the characters. The production design of the show was done by

Chris Renaud Chris Renaud (born December 1966) is an American film producer, director, illustrator, designer, animator, and voice actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the 2006 animated short ''No Time for Nuts'', which featured the character Scrat ...

, who would later become the co-director of the 2010 film '' Despicable Me''. The characters who appear regularly and the actors who voice them are: *

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...

and Tigger: Jim Cummings * Piglet: John Fiedler (speaking voice)/ Jeff Bennett (singing voice) * Rabbit:

Ken Sansom Frank Kenneth Sansom (April 2, 1927 – October 8, 2012) was an American actor. Among his best known roles, Sansom voiced Rabbit in animated television series, television specials, and films for Disney's ''Winnie the Pooh'' franchise from 1988 to ...

* Eeyore:

Peter Cullen Peter Claver Cullen (born July 28, 1941) is a Canadian voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Optimus Prime in the original 1980s ''Transformers'' animated series, reprising the role many times since 2007. He has also voiced many other ...

Owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

: Andre Stojka * Kessie:

Stephanie D'Abruzzo Stephanie Ann D'Abruzzo (; born December 7, 1971) is an American actress, puppeteer and singer. She has performed various Muppets in the TV program ''Sesame Street''. She held starring roles on '' Oobi'' and ''The Book of Pooh''. She was one of ...

* Kanga:

Kath Soucie Kath or KATH may refer to: * Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm * Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska * KATH (AM), a radio station in ...

* Roo: Nikita Hopkins * Christopher Robin: Paul Tiesler * Christopher Robin's Mum: Vicki Kenderes Eibner * Mr. Narrator: Roger L. Jackson The versions of Tigger and Pooh are seen on this show was later made an appearance in a music video by the We Are Family foundation.

Puppeteers

Heather Asch Heather C. Asch (born May 28, 1966) is an American puppeteer. Biography Heather Asch, who hails from Minneapolis, graduated from the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts Program in 1991. Her first puppet project is ''Bosum Buddies'' which deal ...

* Peter Baird *

Jennifer Barnhart Jennifer Barnhart (born March 11, 1972) is an American actress and puppeteer, with a portfolio of television and theatre performances.Tyler Bunch Tyler Bunch, also known as H.D. Quinn, is an American puppeteer, puppet designer, director, and actor. Career In addition to his work for the Jim Henson Company, Bunch has created and performed puppets for PBS, Nickelodeon and Disney's Th ...

- Tigger *Todd Coyle *

- Kessie *Sophie Doyle *Vicki Kenderes-Eibner *Jodi Eichelberger *Eric Engelhardt *David Matthew Feldman *Chris Fields *John C. Fields *Preston Foreder *James Godwin *B.J. Guyer *Robin Howard *

Eric Jacobson Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all role ...

- Piglet *Liz Joyce *Jim Kroupa *

Tim Lagasse Tim Lagasse (born 1968/1969) is an American director, puppeteer and puppet designer. He has worked on films and television programs for Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and HBO. He is known for playing the title character on Noggin's '' ...

*Matthew Lavin *

Peter Linz Peter Linz (born June 28, 1967) is an American puppeteer. His most prominent role is being the performer for the character Walter who was introduced in the 2011 feature film ''The Muppets''. Since 1991, Linz has performed on ''Sesame Street'', ...

- Winnie the Pooh *Jon Ludwig * Rick Lyon *Lara MacLean - Roo *

Noel MacNeal Noel MacNeal (born September 15, 1961), sometimes credited as Noel McNeal or Edward Noel MacNeal, is an American puppeteer, actor, director and writer of children's television who has performed since the early 1980s. He was the voice and puppetee ...

- Rabbit *Amanda Maddock *David Martin *Cathy McCullough * Paul McGinnis - Eeyore *Anney McKilligan *John Pavlik *Barbara Pollitt *

John Tartaglia John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American actor, singer, and puppeteer. Early life Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 19 ...

*Robin Walsh *Dan Weissbrodt *Steve Widerman * Alice Dinnean-Vernon *

Victor Yerrid Victor Yerrid (born November 13, 1971) is an American actor and puppeteer for the Jim Henson Company and has performed Muppet characters in many films, television commercials and television shows. He is best known in the Muppet World for his work ...

- Owl *Bryant Young

Style of puppetry

The style of puppetry is based on

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or (puppeteers ...

puppetry, and that — along with the cut-out-styled backgrounds — gives the show the look of a pop-up book, hence "The Book of Pooh". It was the first use of the Shadowmation process developed by creator Mitchell Kriegman which was later used in the PBS series ''

It's a Big Big World ''It's a Big Big World'' is an American children's television series that aired on PBS Kids from January 2, 2006, to January 8, 2010. The series was created by Mitchell Kriegman, the creator of the Muppet television series, ''Bear in the Big ...

''.

Main themes

* "Everyone Knows He's Winnie the Pooh" (opening theme) - Brian Woodbury * "Goodbye for Now" (closing theme) - Brian Woodbury and Mitchell Kriegman

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2001)

Season 2 (2001–04)

Awards and nominations

The series received three Emmy Awards nominations, and tied with

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series at the 29th Daytime Emmy Awards in 2002.

Film

'' The Book of Pooh: The Stories from the Heart'' is a direct-to-video animated spin-off based on the television series ''The Book of Pooh''. It was produced by

. The film was distributed by

Buena Vista Television Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,Walt Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...

and released on both VHS and DVD. It contains 6 episodes, each of which focuses on one character. It is wrapped together by a loose plot in which the characters wait in Christopher Robin's room for his arrival. As is typical with the series, each episode features an original musical number. It is a

compilation film A compilation film, or compilation movie is a film composed of scenes and shots taken from two or more prior films and edited together so as to make a new film, whether on the same or a different subject. The most common example would be a docum ...

of footage from the TV series.

Home media

Several VHS Tapes were released in 2001 and 2002: Fun with Words *The Words Are Out *Brain Drain *I Could Have Laughed All Night *X Marks the Spot Fun with Friends *You Can Lead Eeyore to the Books *The Spice of Life *Best Wishes Winnie the Pooh *The Double Time A Valentine for Eeyore *My Gloomy Valentine *Mr. Narrator *Don Pooh Xote *The Beastly Burden

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Book of Pooh, The 2001 American television series debuts 2004 American television series endings 2000s American children's comedy television series 2000s American musical comedy television series 2000s preschool education television series American children's fantasy television series American children's musical television series American preschool education television series American television spin-offs American television shows featuring puppetry Disney Channel original programming Disney Junior original programming English-language television shows Television series about bears Television series based on Disney films Television series by Disney Winnie the Pooh (franchise) Winnie-the-Pooh television series