Strawberry Shortcake (2000s Series)

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Strawberry Shortcake
Genre	Animated series, E/I
Created by	Those Characters From Cleveland. American Greetings
Developed by	DiC Entertainment
Theme music composer	Andy Street, Judy Rothman Rofe
Opening theme	Straw Buh-buh-buh-buh-berry Shortcake
Ending theme	Straw Buh-buh-buh-buh-berry Shortcake (Instrumental)
Composer(s)	Andy Street, Judy Rothman Rofe, Nick Brown, Sandy Powell
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	39 [1]
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andy Heyward Michael Maliani Kathy McConaughy Mike Brown
Producer(s)	Karren Brown
Associate producer(s)	Kyle Jolly, Bradley Bowen, Anne Michaud
Co-producer(s)	Cindy Moyer, Mark Spangler, Dave Polter
Location(s)	Strawberryland
Running time	22 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	First-run syndication (U.S.)(2003-2006) CBS (2007-present)
Picture format	NTSC 480i
Audio format	Stereo sound
Original run	March 11, 2003 – present
External links
Official website
Production website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

In 2003, almost two decades after the last special aired, a new Strawberry Shortcake series, animated and produced by DiC Entertainment and 20th Century Fox was released. As of March 2008, there are 28 episodes (including 4 two-part episodes), plus one short and one movie. None of the original voice actors returned to reprise their roles (not even Russi Taylor); instead, fresh talents were recruited to fill in the roles. Also, while the sun can be seen with a face various times through the series, it does not narrate the story or interact with the characters like the original Mr. Sun.

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-video beginning in March of 2003. The first few episodes were released on both DVD and VHS, and bundled with certain toys; later episodes are DVD-only. 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 (most notably Disney Channel Asia), as well as on the Kewlopolis time slot on CBS in the US since September 2007 (prior to that, they were aired on select syndicated TV channels, most notably on The CW affiliates in certain areas in the US).

The first four videos contain only one story but run for twice the length of subsequent episodes. In the North American TV markets these four episodes are broadcast as edited 30 minute versions. In international markets, however, these are broadcasted 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". This is especially true for the fifth DVD onwards that is released in the North American, European and Australian market. The same market also presents the first four DVDs as expanded versions of the TV broadcasts (e.g., in the US and Canada, where the TV airings of the first four episodes of Strawberry Shortcake is known to be notoriously edited for time instead of being split into a two-parter). Other markets present the DVD releases as an uninterrupted version in the case where the TV episode is aired unedited as a two parter (as aired in certain markets worldwide- particularly the Asian market. Disney Channel Asia airs the first four episodes as two parters, where Part I is first shown followed by Part II airing the next day). As of April 2008, 17 volumes (plus one volume for the movie) have been released.

[edit] Shorts and PSAs

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. Numerous scenes from the short were used in the 2000s series' second opening sequence, and the song from the short was released on the "Strawberry Jams" CD.

Apart from that, a Public Service Announcement for the ASPCA was produced and aired in the US. The PSA features Strawberry Shortcake talking about the basics of pet ownership.

[edit] Episodes

This is a list of all the episodes released to date, including placeholders for episodes known to exist but whose title is as of the moment unknown (i.e. the title is not shown on the start of the program). Also, it should be noted that some episodes are released under different names in different regions. This will be listed down as alternative titles if available. The episodes are classified as E/I - educational content - in the US.

Throughout the series, the theme song has been changed a total of 3 times, the voice of Custard the cat was changed from Sarah Koslosky to Anna Jordan and the voice of Huckleberry Pie was changed from Daniel Canfield to James Street after the initial 8 episodes.

At the beginning of Season 2 of the 2003 series (which kicked off with Big Country Fun), the artwork style of the characters has been changed. Due to the design of the style, the artwork leaves an impression that the characters has aged into teenagers. This illusion of the aging of the characters was further backed by the fact that Strawberry Shortcake was seen applying for a job and later driving a car in Big Country Fun. Also, Honey Pie and the other fillies have now been relegated into background characters (indeed, the Honey Pie character has not spoken since the Meet Apricot/Let's Dance episode). She was implied to have moved to Ice Cream Island permanently in the book The Friendship Trip^[2] which featured the Season 3 characters, logically explaining why she appears less in the series for the season.

[edit] Video Releases

Below are a list of videos released to date. In the US, up until "Moonlight Mysteries", the videos were released on both VHS and DVD. However, subsequent video releases after Moonlight Mysteries were DVD only.

These videos are released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in the US and Europe as well as Magna Pacific in Australia and New Zealand, and on VideoCD by Innoform Media in South East Asia and the Far East.

Season 2 still credits James Street as the voice of Huckleberry Pie, suggesting that the actor has completed voice recordings for the whole of Season 2 prior to his tragic death in July 2007.

[edit] 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 two songs and half of the scenes from "Spring for Strawberry Shortcake" were missing from the GBA Video release if compared to the other videos. Also notable is that the song Friendship Grows Like a Flower was shortened.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

1. ^ Including 1 unknown episodes in Big Country Fun + 1 promotional 5-minute short episode.
2. ^ Megan E. Bryant (Author), Laura Thomas (Illustrator); The Friendship Club Book #3: The Friendship Trip; Grosset and Dunlap; 2007; ISBN 0448445573
3. ^ The internal season counting method used by DiC, Fox and affiliated licensees. Apparently the seasons are identified by the different opening theme sequences
4. ^ [1] Information on the episodes released on TV.com a few days before the DVD was released
5. ^ [2] - Koch Records' page for the Let's Dance Music CD
6. ^ ^{a b} Take 2 South Africa online store catalog
7. ^ ^{a b} Upcoming DVD release search on Take2 South Africa online store