Today I watched Peter Pan and the Pirates which originally aired September 8, 1990. Peter Pan is especially dear to my heart so I was both excited to learn about this series and surprised that I hadn’t heard of it before. This cartoon was produced by Fox and based on the book “Peter and Wendy,” better known as “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie as opposed to the Disney cartoon with which everyone is familiar.
Obviously they took some liberties with the universe as there aren’t 65 episodes worth of content in the relatively small book on which it’s based. The first episode, titled “The Coldest Cut of All” opens in the underground tree house where Peter presents Wendy with a gem stolen from the ice caves. This makes the ice king the central villain rather than Hook.
Barrie makes no mention ice caves or an ice king in his classic book, thus the series expands the universe in this series. Surprisingly, Captain Hook plays an incredibly small role despite being the central villain and being voiced by none other than Tim Curry.
Tinkerbell is immediately upset at Pan presenting Wendy with the gem because he had previously given this gift to her, this establishes the long running competition between Tink and Wendy for Peter’s attention. Tink insists that Pan not speak of the gem of the ice king or say his name lest he summon him. Pan in his arrogance of course disregards her advice and the ice king appears within their small home, he demands that Pan return his gem and never again set foot within his domain.
Peter insists that all of Neverland is his and he’ll do what he will whenever he wants. The ice king then takes the gem and returns to his caves warning Pan never to disturb him again. Pan of course interprets this as a challenge and determines to retrieve Wendy’s gift, taking Michael and John along with him.
The ice king, knowing that Pan cannot refuse a challenge creates a new enchanted gem that will transform all of Neverland into an eternal winter from which none of them will survive.
Peter says Neverland is his kingdom and he’ll go where he pleases when he pleases.
King recovers his gem and threatens Pan to never return or he’ll suffer an endless winter that no one will survive. Once Pan returns to the tree house the gem activates freezing himself, Tink, Wendy, and the lostboys in solid ice. Tinkerbell uses her fairy magic to thaw herself and Peter but doesn’t have the heat to loose the rest.
Pan then travels to the Neverland volcano, Krakatoa (a reference to a real life Indonesian volcano) to retrieve fire powerful enough to thaw his friends. Pan, the perpetual child, seeks retribution by taking the volcanic fire to the ice caves in an attempt to thaw the ice kings domain once and for all.
The ice king creates an icy version of Pan with all of his power and none of his limitations in the reflection of an icy wall. The mirror Pan is loosed upon Neverland with the promise that summer will not return until Pan gives back the stolen gem and promises to never disturb the ice kingdom again.
Pan briefly fights his mirror self before becoming bored with the game and returning the gem. The ice then melts, returning Neverland to its previous state.
Caption Hook briefly appears toward the end of the episode before being frozen and then thawed. Pan promises to acquire new gifts for Wendy to replace the lost ice gem.
The spirit of the characters and the universe Barrie built is more honestly portrayed in this series than in Walt Disney’s portrayal, Pan is perpetually forgetful and selfish, having never had those traits curbed by adults, he simply wants always to be a child and to have fun, the consequences be damned.
If you’re a fan of the story that Barrie told, this is a series I’d recommend you watch. Plus you can’t beat Tim Curry as a villain, he provides the perfect voice for the ever contemptuous Captain Hook. All 65 episodes are available on YouTube and you can see the pilot, right here, right now.