Tut, tut. It looks like rain.
Posted on 12/10/2005 5:19:57 AM PST by cloud8
After 80 years in Hundred Acre Wood Winnie the Pooh is to get a female friend, replacing Christopher Robin, according to reports.
The Walt Disney Company has decided to pair Pooh up with a red-haired six-year-old tomboy for its 2007 series, newspaper USA Today reported.
Disney said My Friends Tigger and Pooh will keep the "trust, friendship and happiness" of AA Milne's stories.
Pooh is being re-branded as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations.
Active side
"We got raised eyebrows even in-house at first, but the feeling was these timeless characters really needed a breath of fresh air that only the introduction of someone new could provide," Nancy Kanter of the Disney Channel told USA Today.
Disney said the new series will emphasise the active side of Pooh's adventures as described in Milne's original 1926 book to appeal to activity-loving children of pre-school age.
Preston Kevin Lewis, director of the Pooh franchise, told Reuters: "Trust, friendship and happiness - Pooh doesn't lose any of those things, it just changes how we talk about him."
But that is unlikely to please Pooh purists, who can point out that the original stories were written specifically for Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne.
Court battles
Casting a shadow over Pooh's 80th anniversary are continuing court battles over the rights to the franchise.
Milne's granddaughter, Clare Milne, who lives in England, is trying to reclaim the rights from Stephen Slesinger, the company that owns the North American merchandising rights.
Disney obtained the rights from Slesinger in 1961, but the agency later sued Disney claiming hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties.
Milne's case was dismissed by a US court this week, and Slesinger's claims against Disney were thrown out last year - although further appeals are likely in both cases.
Why do they have to kill him off .. why can't they make him go off to college or something like that ..??
Christopher Robin IS one of those "timeless characters"!
But what we really want to know is if she's a lesbian.
Probably a hunter in the woods who is hunting bear but his shot misses horribly.
Tut, tut. It looks like rain.
Winnie Mandela ?
Heather has two Tiggers?
From the headline I thought they were giving him a "girlfriend".
Oh bother!
WTF. How is this an improvement on the franchise?
As far as I'm concerned, Winnie the Pooh died with Sterling Holloway.
And Tigger died with Paul Winchell.
Another misleading headline
So he's got a new Hunny?
My first thought was maybe they think Christopher was a little too "white".
Look on the bright side. Winnie is hetero.
I epecially like the statement about "Timeless" characters needing to be "Updated"...
To make the story appealing to a younger, hipper audience, they are introducing a new character -
Snoop Doggy Pooh
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.