In case nobody’s noticed the signs yet, Walt Disney is on an animated series binge this 2017, capitalizing on revivals of old but iconic television properties and also entries from their canon of animated feature films. People who were kids from the eighties or early nineties are either eagerly anticipating or waiting to nostalgia-criticize the upcoming Disney XD reboot of “Ducktales” with David “Tenth Doctor” Tennant from the UK’s “Doctor Who” franchise taking over voicing duties of wealthy adventurer Scrooge McDuck from the late Alan Young. In addition, there will be a Disney Channel Original Movie sequel to the 2010 movie “Tangled” starring Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, which will segue into an animated series of its own.
And now the stars who are returning to reprise their voices have announced the premiere of “Tangled: the Series”.
‘Dividual’ speech skit
You just got to love stars who are all raring to hype up their show, doubly so if they’re just voice acting. Moore and Levi cooked up their own teaser for “Tangled: the Series” (in a sound set kind of just like the ones used by the “Ducktales” cast to record their rendition of their show’s theme song), where they try and (sort of) fail at trying to preview what the series and the Disney Channel OM “Tangled: Before Ever After” are all about. At one point they speak together, alternating word for word as they attempt to do a blurb on the story. Three guesses how that turned out.
What we did manage to discern with some clarity (when they just gave up the dividual act and talked naturally) are these lines: "Songs and adventure and everything in between," from Mandy (Rapunzel). "And Flynn is now Eugene, but he's also still kind of Flynn, isn't he?" is how Zack sees his character coping with his name reversion (Eugene IS his real name after all).
Many returning characters, plus hair
The previous Disney teaser for “Tangled: Before Ever After” has shown a who’s who of characters coming back from the original film – Flynn’s horse Maximus and Rapunzel’s chameleon Pascal – plus some new ones like Rapunzel’s mysterious new bodyguard Cassandra. But also at hand will be Rapunzel’s barely present (on-screen) parents the King and Queen of Corona, and Moore has things to say about that too.
As she put it regarding Rapunzel, "I feel like you get to know mom and dad a whole lot better, because family is important." There will be some difficulty however when Rapunzel gets her long magical (and now indestructible) long hair back.
“Tangled: Before Ever After” premieres on Disney Channel March 10. “Tangled: the Series" starts same place on March 24, so you’ll have time to catch Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in “Beauty and the Beast” on theaters in between them. Good work, Disney.
