Strawberry Shortcake

An original Strawberry Shortcake poster

Strawberry Shortcake is a licensed character owned by American Greetings, originally used in greeting cards and expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products. The Strawberry Shortcake properties also include a toy line of the character's friends and pets.

History

The original design of Strawberry Shortcake and her cat Custard was done in 1977 by Muriel Fahrion during her time as a greeting card illustrator at American Greetings' Juvenile & Humorous card department. After the idea was presented to Bernie Loomis of General Mills and became a licensing entity, Fahrion designed a subsequent thirty-two characters for Those Characters From Cleveland (American Greetings' toy & licensing design division). Cindy Moyer Patton and Janet Jones designed the other later characters of the classic Strawberry Shortcake line. Lyn Edwards was the editor of the line and along with brainstorm group developed the personality profiles and the story line and philosophy. The first doll was a rag doll directed by Muriel Fahrion and created by Susan Trentel, Fahrion's sister. The Strawberry Shortcake line of characters each had their own fruity or dessert-themed name with clothing to match, and they each had a dessert- or fruit-named pet. Like the Strawberry Shortcake doll, all the other characters' dolls had hair scented to match their dessert theme. The characters lived and played in a magical world known as Strawberryland. During the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake became a huge fad. At the time, there were several related products, such as sticker albums, clothes, a video game by Parker Bros. entitled Strawberry Shortcake Musical Match-Ups for the Atari 2600 [3], and several other products. Several TV specials were made featuring the characters, one each year between 1980 and 1985, when the fad had apparently waned. Kenner produced no new dolls or toys thereafter. In 1991, THQ tried reviving the franchise by producing an updated line of Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Strawberry and five of her classic friends each got a makeover, with new clothes, hair, and eyes. However, the line enjoyed at best a modest success, lasting just the one year. In 2002, the franchise was revived again, this time with a revamped look by a different designer. Many strong licensing deals were made. A television series with new DVD and VHS (and in certain markets [particularly in Asia], Video CD) releases was made, with soundtracks for the episodes being put out on CDs at certain intervals. DiC Entertainment was granted rights in producing the TV series, who sub-licensed the production of videos, DVDs and Video CDs of the series to 20th Century Fox Home Videos (who subsequently licenses the production of the video outside the US to various other licensees). Bandai (along with KellyToy) was granted the rights to manufacturing the dolls and toys. For the first time in almost two decades, new videogames were launched, produced by The Game Factory for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Educational CD-ROMs for the PC were also produced. A full-length feature film , Strawberry_Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Movie, premiered in 2006 and released to videos in February 2007. The current revival is still running strong, with the latest activity being the release of the Let's Dance DVD and the upcoming Big Country Fun DVD set for release in 2008. In 2006, Playmates Toys picked up the rights to make Strawberry Shortcake figures. The line is named "A World Of Friends". The doll Frosty Puff was new to this line, but, although a good deal of shuffling and re-distribution was made concerning the pets of the re-launched characters, very few of the new dolls were actually merchandised with pets. The line was received with mixed reactions (see Criticisms section below) from the series' fans.

1980s Friends

The following is a list of the original Strawberry Shortcake's friends and villains with their pets and release dates. There is a bit of "wiggle room" in a few cases, between the introduction of a character, and their release as a toy. For instance, Raspberry Tart (the character) was introduced in 1980, with the first Strawberry Shortcake TV Special, alongside Huckleberry Pie, Apple Dumplin', etc., but wasn't released as a Doll until the next year. The same is true of Strawberry Shortcake's nemesis, The Peculiar Purple Pie Man. Plum Puddin' also debuted in 1980, but would not get a doll until 1984, by which time the character had apparently switched genders, and was now a girl! Moreover, with the exception of Apple Dumplin', Apricot, and The Purple Pie Man, none of the other characters would come packaged with pets (nor indeed, would most of them even be known to HAVE pets) until the 1982 releases, when all the earlier-released characters were re-issued with their animal friends. A couple of the characters listed below weren't produced as dolls at all, namely T.N. Honey, Raisin Cane, and Baby Needs-A-Name, who was only made as a larger-sized "Blow-Kiss" baby doll. Raisin Cane was introduced as the niece of villainess Sour Grapes in Issue #1 of Star Comics' (an imprint of Marvel Comics) short-lived Strawberry Shortcake Comic Book, and, as far as is known, was never considered for any kind of commercial merchandising.

1980s toys

• Berry Bake Shoppe
• Snail Cart (with Escargot The Snail)
• Carrousel
• Berry-Shaped Carry Case
• Flitter-Bit the Butterfly
• Garden House (Gazebo)
• Berry Cycle
• Big Berry Trolley
• Berry Merry Worm (Philbert Wormley III)
• Berry Happy Home
• Maple Stirrup and the Oatsmobile

2002-current relaunched characters and DVD voice actors

A contemporary Strawberry Shortcake poster called "Berry Best Friends" featuring Strawberry with Angel Cake (left) and Ginger Snap (right)

Relaunched characters and their pets, and homes

A little revamping took place at the characters' relaunch. Both Pupcake and Custard now belong to Strawberry Shortcake. In Pupcake's place, a new pet, Shoofly Frog, was introduced as Huckleberry Pie's pet, and Apple Dumplin' was relaunched as Strawberry Shortcake's sister. Also, Strawberryland is now divided into "districts" like Cakewalk, Orange Blossom Acres, Huckleberry Briar and Cookie Corners.

Strawberryland Fillies

Animation

1980s television specials

In the early 1980s, there were six television specials starring Strawberry Shortcake. The first three specials were produced by Robert L. Rosen and Romeo Muller, who also wrote the specials. The first and third specials were animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Toei Doga, while the second was animated by Perpetual Motion Pictures in New York. Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, of The Turtles and Flo & Eddie fame, wrote the music and songs for these specials. Russi Taylor voiced Strawberry Shortcake, Bob Ridgely voiced the Peculiar Purple Pieman, and writer/producer Romeo Muller voiced the narrator, Mr. Sun. The next three specials were produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Only Russi Taylor and Bob Ridgely reprised their roles from the first three specials; Chris Wiggins assumed the role of Mr. Sun, and other Canadian talent comprised the rest of the voice cast. Frequent Nelvana collaborator John Sebastian, most known for his music for Nelvana's Care Bears series, wrote the songs for two of these three specials. In the United States, the specials were syndicated by LBS Communications.

As of April 2007, The World of Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City have been released on a single DVD by Allumination Filmworks, however it is unknown at this time when or if the remaining four specials will be released.

2000s series

In 2003, almost two decades after the last special aired, a new series, animated and produced by DiC Entertainment was released. At present, there are 28 episodes (including 4 two-part episodes), plus one movie.

A set of Strawberry Shortcake VideoCDs exclusive to the South-East Asia region, next to a set of Strawberry Shortcake DVDs released in the US

20th Century Fox began releasing the series direct-to-DVD beginning in March of 2003 (the first few episodes were also released on VHS and bundled with certain toys). They are also available on VideoCD through various fourth party licensees in South-East Asia and in certain other markets. The series can also be seen on select TV outlets worldwide, as well as on the Kewlopolis time slot on CBS in the US. The first four videos contain only one story but run for twice the length of subsequent episodes. In some TV markets these four episodes are broadcast as edited 30 minute versions, while others broadcasted these as two-parters, doubling the episode count to eight. Subsequent videos in the series have two 22-minute episodes per disc. In certain markets, the episodes are presented individually on the TV broadcasts but appear on the DVDs as "compilations" in which Strawberry recounts the featured adventures using her "remembering book". Other markets presents the DVDs as expanded versions of the TV broadcasts, or as an uninterrupted version in the case where the TV episode is aired unedited as a two parter (as aired in certain markets worldwide, Disney Channel Asia in particular - the first four episodes are aired with as Part I with Part II airing the next day). As of October 2007, 15 volumes (plus one DVD for the movie) have been released.

DVD Releases (Region 1)

Episodes

Shorts

A five-minute Strawberry Shortcake short, "Growing Better All The Time", is available exclusively in the Care Bears: Daydreams DVD (released September 27, 2005) as a bonus feature. Another different short is also available exclusively in the Care Bears: To The Rescue DVD.

Game Boy Advance Video

Majesco has also released Strawberry Shortcake episodes as a Game Boy Advance Video cartridge:

Strawberry Shortcake Volume 1

• Meet Strawberry Shortcake
• Spring for Strawberry Shortcake

Note: The episodes released on Game Boy Advance Video are the 22-minute edited broadcast version of the episodes (some markets show these episodes as a two-parter without cutting off scenes instead), unlike the video versions which are 45 minutes in length each. Presumably this decision was made to keep the costs of producing the cartridges down (as the need for higher density memory chips would drive the cost of the cartridge up). As a result, two songs and a significant number of scenes from "Meet Strawberry Shortcake", as well as a song and half of the scenes from "Spring for Strawberry Shortcake" were missing from the GBA Video release if compared to the other videos.

Theatrically-released feature film

In October 2006, the first Strawberry Shortcake film, The Sweet Dreams Movie, was released in select cities by Kidtoon Films. The Peculiar Purple Pie-Man of Porcupine Peak and Sour Grapes, which were notably absent from the TV series, are re-introduced in the movie. However, Sour Grapes is re-introduced as Purple Pieman's sister in materials related to the Sweet Dreams Movie. The movie was released on DVD on February 6, 2007. Disney Channel Asia has screened the movie as part of it's Wonderful World of Disney movie-time line-up in May 2007, and has since rescreened it several times. It was finally released on VideoCD (as a two-disc set due to the limited storage capacity of a CD being insufficient to hold the entire movie) in the region in December 2007, more than a year after the movie's theatrical debut in the US and 10 months after it was released to DVD in the US.

Soundtracks

As of 2007, 6 soundtracks (plus the soundtrack for the movie) has been released to CD.

* Meet Strawberry Shortcake
* Spring for Strawberry Shortcake
* Get Well Adventure
* Growing Better Short

* Berry Merry Christmas

* Seaberry Beach Party
* Adventures on Ice Cream Island
* Play Day Surprise

* Best Pets Yet
* Moonlight Mysteries
* Dress-up Days

* The Sweet Dreams Movie

* World of Friends
* Berry Fairy Tales
* Cooking Up Fun

* Berry Blossom Festival
* Let's Dance
* A yet-to-be-named 2008 dvd release

Criticisms

Inconsistencies

A criticism from long-time fans is the inconsistency and retconning of characters, pets, scents, etc. that exists between the vintage franchise from the 1980s and the current franchise. Some examples are: Character names - Raspberry Tart's name was changed to Raspberry Torte. Almond Tea's name was changed to Tea Blossom. Pets - Pupcake now belongs to Strawberry instead of Huck (who now has Shoofly Frog). Angel Cake no longer has Souffle skunk, but instead a lamb named Vanilla Icing. Lemon Meringue's pet frog, Frappe, is replaced by Sourball the skunk (possibly explained by the switching of Souffle skunk to Vanilla Icing for Angel Cake and switching of Pupcake to Shoofly Frog for Huck). Apple Dumplin's turtle, Teatime, is replaced by Apple Ducklin'. And maybe oddest of all is Rhubarb's (Raspberry's pet) change from a monkey to a raccoon. This might be explained by the existence of Banana Bongo (Tangerina Torta's monkey), although Banana Bongo himself was originally introduced as the leader of a monkey band on Seaberry Beach during the story introducing Coco Calypso and Seaberry Delight. Relationships - Previously unmentioned sibling pairs keep popping up, such as Strawberry Shortcake and Apple Dumplin' and The Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes. There is also some confusion about the relationship between Crepes Suzette and the younger, recently-introduced Cherry Cuddler. Both have cherry scents and early promotional materials indicated that they are sisters. However, the box for the Playmates doll set indicates they are merely friends. Scents - Playmates' introduction of the 2006 toy line is very loose with the linked scents that have been traditional in this franchise. Examples include cherry used for Crepes Suzette, Grape used for Tea Blossom, etc. While some consider the scent mixing and blending to be part of the fun, it is also criticized for taking some of the unique and distinct personalities and associations away from each individual character. Fillies/Ponies - In early 2007, Playmates introduced three new ponies, but these are different from the previous Strawberryland Fillies. The ponies belong to Strawberry Shortcake, Angel Cake, and Crepes Suzette, and are aligned with the Berries to Blossoms doll line. The Honey Pie Pony and Milkshake names are not used and neither pony looks like the fillies previously linked to Strawberry and Angel. The new ponies are not given names of their own. In June 2007, three new ponies were introduced - two are new remakes of Strawberry's and Crepes' ponies (even more inconsistencies) and the third is Apricot's. Still no individual names for these ponies, but the series is called Sugar Sweet ponies. Character designs - Many feel that the Playmates line of dolls does not look anything like the characters on TV or the other materials at all. The Playmates dolls are all looking increasingly alike (same expressions, hairstyles, outfits) with just differing colors. Also, changes to hair colors in the dolls for Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Meringue, Angel Cake, Seaberry Delight, and even Strawberry Shortcake herself make the dolls look even less like their contemporary TV/Book/movie versions. Likewise, some eBay-savvy fans recently found a line of Baby Strawberry Shortcake dolls from South America that not only look nothing like the other Baby Strawberry Shortcake materials or the episode "Baby Takes the Cake", but even remind some fans of Psygnosis' Lemmings games^[3]

The TV show and the movie

Some people were disappointed with the absence of The Purple Pie Man in the TV series. However, others applauded the removal of villains from the series with the latter preferring that the series being kept in its current format: an educational, real-life adventure program similar to Arthur or Caillou. Two camps clearly exist on this issue: There are fans (adults and children alike) that love the inclusion of antagonists such as Purple Pie Man, Sour Grapes and Licorice Whip. These fans want to continue to see more of them in movies, books, and toys. However, there are others who feel that the inclusion (or re-inclusion) of villains in the show take away from the primary focus on Strawberry and her friends as well as erode the educational content of the show, and would prefer the show and franchise be kept villain-free. These people include, but may not be limited to those who:

• are non-fans
• are unfamiliar with the franchise
• are fans of "educational real-life adventure" programs who've taken a liking to the new version of the franchise
• are only familiar with the current version of the franchise
• disliked the original franchise for various reasons (including presence of villains), but found redemption in the new version of the franchise

Controversy

American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake

In 2003, webcomic Penny Arcade posted an "advertisement" for an imaginary computer game, American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake, in reference to American McGee's Alice - a twisted and violent take on Lewis Carroll's works. American Greetings took offense to the parody and issued a cease-and-desist letter, to which the authors begrudgingly complied ^[4] - but not without making their indignation very clear ^[5]. Some argue that Penny Arcade's case was not covered under the fair use doctrine because the use of the characters in this case was for satire ^[6]; they claim that fair use only protects the unauthorized use of copyrighted characters in parodies of the original material, and that satire and parody are totally different concepts. Others, however, take the view that parody and satire are equally protected by law ^[7]. Various other TV shows, including Drawn Together ^[8], Robot Chicken^[9], and South Park^[10] have since also parodied or satirized Strawberry Shortcake in one way or another but at this time have met no reported retaliation from American Greetings.

See also

• List of Strawberry Shortcake characters
• List of Strawberry Shortcake villains

In Other Languages

• French: "Charlotte aux Fraises" (France), Fraisinette (Canada)
• Spanish: "Tarta de Fresa" (Spain),"Jagodica Bobica" (Serbia), Rosita Fresita (Mexico), Frutillita (Chile, Argentina), Fresita (Peru, Colombia)
• German: "Emily Erdbeer"
• Danish: "Jordbær Marie"
• Vietnamese: Cô bé bánh dâu

External links

• Strawberry Shortcake - official site
• Mint Tulip's Garden Tea Party - fan site
• Strawberry Shortcake - fan site
• Huckleberry Briar - fan site
• Strawberry Shortcake Guide - fan site
• Strawberry Shortcake Convention
• Strawberry Shortcake Heaven - fan site
• Strawberry Shortcake Central - Vintage Site
• Strawberry Shortcake Wiki - fan site

References and Footnotes