Tag: 1990s

Arthur: “D.W. Tale Spins” (1999)

12 min. / English / Season 4, Episode 6a

In this episode of the long-running PBS show, Arthur, the titular aardvark’s little sister, D.W., composes an adventure story based on the Odyssey.

D.W. wants to hang out with her big brother Arthur and his friend Buster as they read together, but they exclude her because she is too young to read and write. D.W. gets upset and claims she can make a better story than what’s in the books, and Arthur challenges her to try. She expresses her frustration to her Grandma Thora about her inability to write a tale, but grandma responds by telling her how cavemen passed on stories by word of mouth (or, oral composition).

After this, D.W. recites a tale to Arthur and Buster about the warrior queen O-D.W-eus and her epic adventures, which is depicted in the animation with the show’s characters in the iconic roles. We first see the queen angering Poseidon (played by the monkey Francine) by stealing his unicorn. The god crashes the queen’s ship, but she and her crew of preschoolers survive. After eating plants that make them forget everything, they are seized by the Cyclops (played by the rabbit Buster). He eats a few friends in his cave, but O-D.W.-eus blinds the Cyclops — she ties one of his ears around his eye — and the crew escape using his boat and his sock as a sail. The boat passes by the island of the Sirens, who sing the song ‘Crazy Bus’ (a recurring song on the show), as the queen is tied to the mast. They pass between Charybdis and Scylla (played by the monkey Muffy and Arthur, respectively) and throw the Cyclops’ sock in Scylla’s face to escape once again. Finally, as they are reaching their home island, the boat is struck by lightning and only O-D.W.-eus reaches land, eager to share her story.

In the end of the episode, the boys at first claim D.W.’s story is no good. D.W. responds that they must not kow what a good story is, since she was telling them the Odyssey, which her grandma had shared with her. They then admit that it was actually pretty impressive, and ask her to tell parts of it again.

More: https://arthur.fandom.com/wiki/D.W._Tale_Spins

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The Pink Panther: “Pinky and the Golden Fleece” (1994)

10 min.; Season 2, Episode 13; English

In 1993, MGM/UA rebooted the Pink Panther franchise with a new TV series that lasted two seasons. In this series, unlike in previous ones, the Panther was a speaking character, which was apparently a controversial change.

This episode blends quintessential elements from the epic stories of Jason, Odysseus, Theseus and Perseus to create a silly adventure for Pinky (the Pink Panther), a shepherd who is tending to two sheep, one white and one gold. A burly soldier who identifies himself as Jason appears when Pinky is grooming the pair. He demands the golden fleece for his wife, but is refused, as the sheep belongs to the king.

The two sheep participate in a fashion show and the queen demands that a stole be made for her from the golden fleece. Jason steals the fleece and flees but a strand of its wool leaves a clue, much like Ariadne’s ball of thread, for Pinky and his sheep sidekick to pursue.

Jason escapes by boat and throws food in the water to rouse a sea serpent who tries and fails to eat the pursuing pair. He then retreats to an island where he order some “babes on a half-shell” to sing and seduce his pursuers. These apparent Sirens do slow the two down, but they themselves are seduced by the false offer or a recording contract by Pinky in disguise. Next Pinky and the sheep are lured to a cave where a doofy Cyclops lives. He places them on a rotisserie, but they escape by distracting him with a Viewfinder (which he can’t figure out how to use). [A Cyclops also appears in the episode “Pinkus Pantherus” from the show’s first season.]

Finally they catch up to Jason as he reaches home, only to find that all of the golden sheep’s fleece has unraveled. Jason’s wife grows enraged at this and reveals herself as Medusa. She transforms various things to stone with her zapping gaze, including her husband. Pinky is able to avoid this fate by quickly weaving a wig from the golden fleece for her, which she welcomes with pleasure. He then returns home and tricks the queen by making her stole from his sidekick’s fleece and painting it gold.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pink_Panther_(TV_series)

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Aries: Shinwa no Seiza Miya [アリーズ 神話の星座宮] (1990)

45 min; Japanese; based on a shojo manga series by Rurika Fuyuki

This romance and fantasy-inspired OVA anime adapts the story of Hades and Persephone, giving it a modern twist. Middle school student Arisa Sakura starts a fortune-telling club at her school. Through her rivalry with another student, the astronomy club founder, she learns that many students at her school are actually Greek gods reincarnated who still possess great powers. This includes Arisa herself, who is a second incarnation of Persephone, though she does not recall her past life. It also includes Amano Sho, a classmate who is Hades reincarnated and with whom she is destined to fall in love all over again. Amano recalls Arisa’s tragic past life experience and he does not to lose her again. He therefore fights to protect her, in particular from Zeus, who wants access to the unique power she holds: the ability to revive the Titan.

The storyline has some similarities with Sailor Moon and may have inspired it, though there is much more direct engagement with Greek mythology here.

More: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=19002

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