As a fan of Winnie the Pooh, 'The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' was always one of my favourite shows as a child. Not all childhood favourites have held up, but 'The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' is one of the strongest examples of those that have.
While the original three 60s-70s short films ('Honey Tree', 'Blustery Day' and 'Tigger Too') and the 1977 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' are just a little better, 'The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' is one of the Winnie the Pooh franchise's high points. 'The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' is, as said a few times already, a rare example of a show with not a bad episode for the whole four seasons it ran, and has something for kids and adults alike. "No Rabbit's a Fortress" is a delightful Rabbit-centric episode, while in contrast "The Monster Frankenpooh" is an ingenious 5-6 minute Frankenstein parody through the eyes of the Winnie the Pooh characters.
The animation in both episodes is very bright, well drawn and colourful, everything looking lush, detailed and smooth. Also love the dark and creepily atmospheric visuals for "The Monster Frankenpooh". In addition to that, the music is playfully jaunty and beautifully orchestrated, enhancing scarier moments (like the beginning of "The Monster Frankenpooh") with hauntingly urgent and eerie scoring, sadder moments with poignant and particularly lush and emotional scoring, whimsical parts with an energy but also pathos and the more playful moments with a jaunty touch. The theme tune is very rousing and one of the catchiest theme songs of any animated show of the late 80s.
Writing has a perfect mix of whimsy, drollness, wit, charm and childhood innocence, shining in both episodes.
As can be seen in "No Rabbit's a Fortress", Rabbit is not the most likable character of the show, in fact he can be quite mean, but he actually learns from his mistakes which is the case here. Love the slap-stick comedy, especially with the trapping boobies idea, and the animation, music and story bounce along nicely. My favourite exchange dialogue-wise being "How could you? You're in my garden./ We are?/The signs say: KEEP OUT (OWT), among other things. Can't you read them./ I can read them I just can't see them." And how can one forget Rabbit's "Oh yeah. It's right outside the (sees that he's stuck) door?! (panics) Ahh! The door! I've forgot to open the door! I can't get out! I can't! Doomed! Did you hear?! Wait! Oh, Pooh! Tigger! Please come back!".
Contrastingly, "The Monster Frankenpooh" as has been said earlier in the review is an ingenious Winnie the Pooh parody of the oft-filmed and parodied Frankenstein story, being both creepy and hilarious and notable for the priceless interplay between Tigger and Piglet. Loved seeing Tigger and Piglet's personalities contrasting, Piglet being timid and Tigger boisterous and really quite hilarious. It's the writing and the way the story is told that stands out, there is such a creepy atmosphere but it still manages to be incredibly funny and to maintain the show's innocent nature. Tigger's "And things go shopping in the night" and the Night/Day exchange are the writing standouts, and the episode has perhaps Gopher's longest fall yet.
Love all the characters, especially Tigger as well as their friendship, family-like bond and loyalty regardless of arguments and character flaws. The voice acting is uniformly excellent, with as ever Paul Winchell beyond praise as Tigger.
In conclusion, two delightful episodes, especially "The Monster Frankenpooh". 10/10 Bethany Cox
