Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Jake and the Never Land Pirates is a musical animated Disney Junior show based on the successful Disney franchise, Peter Pan. It is the first Disney Junior original show following the switch from Playhouse Disney. It stars Colin Ford, Madison Pettis, Jonathan Morgan Heit, David Arquette, Corey Burton and Jeff Bennett. The show quickly became Disney Junior's most popular series surpassing Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso and even Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Premise
The show revolves around a group of three children (two boys and a girl) who are pirates in Never Land (vs. Peter Pan's Neverland), looking for treasure. Their main obstacle is Captain Hook, Smee, and Tick-Tock the Crocodile from Disney's Peter Pan franchise. Captain Hook usually sees Jake and his crew doing something fun and steals it from them, and Jake and his crew have to get it back. After they succeed, Jake and his crew count their gold doubloons (which they receive after solving each "pirate problem").

Each program contains two eleven minute animated episodes, followed by a live-action song by the Never Land Pirate Band. The singing characters "Bones" and "Sharky" appear in both animated and live action forms.

Main characters

 * Jake
 * Voiced by Colin Ford
 * Jake is the main protagonist of the series and leader of the Never Land Pirates. He has a wooden sword, which was given to him by Peter Pan. He is Captain Hook's main pirate rival.


 * Izzy
 * Voiced by Madison Pettis
 * Izzy is the only girl pirate in the group. She has a small sack of pixie dust, which was given to her by the fairies (Tinker Bell and her friends). The team only uses the pixie dust for emergencies. However, there had been episodes whe pixie dust is not used at all. Her catchphrase is "Yay, hey, no way.


 * Cubby
 * Voiced by Jonathan Morgan Heit
 * Cubby is the youngest of the group with his catchphrase ,"Aw, coconuts!" He has the map of Never Land. Cubby is not a member of the "Lost Boys", despite the fact he physically resembles the Cubby of the group.


 * Skully
 * Voiced by David Arquette
 * Skully is a small, green parrot who acts like a guardian to the team. He keeps a lookout for Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.


 * Captain Hook
 * Voiced by Corey Burton
 * Captain Hook is Neverland's resident pirate captain and the main antagonist of the series. Commander of the galleon "The Jolly Roger". Legendary for his cruelty to his enemies as well as his own men, Hook has trouble holding onto a permanent crew. In fact at the moment, he holds only three crew members. Hook is seen to be completely hopeless without the constant aid of Mr. Smee.


 * Mr. Smee
 * Voiced by Jeff Bennett
 * Mr. Smee is Captain Hook's "left-hand man", first mate, and the secondary antagonist of the series.


 * Sharky and Bones
 * Voiced by Loren Hoskins and Kevin Hendrickson (singing)/Jeff Bennett (animated speaking)
 * Sharky and Bones are members of Captain Hook's pirate crew. They usually spend time performing musical numbers rather than advancing the plot, acting as troubadours. The duo, who specialize in a music from called "Pirate Rock", were asked by Disney to write the music and lyrics for all the songs for the show.


 * Marina the Mermaid
 * Voiced by Ariel Winter
 * A young mermaid who lives in the ocean around Never Land with the rest of her people. Unlike other young female merfolk, who tend to be snobbish, selfish, vain and downright cruel, Marina is gentle and kind to the young pirates. She often shows them the secrets of the NeverSea she finds. It is hinted that she has a crush on Jake.


 * Tick-Tock the Crocodile
 * Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker
 * The very same crocodile that devoured Hook's left hand after Peter Pan cut it off in a sword fight some years ago. Tick-Tock loved the taste of Hook's hand so well, he has followed the Jolly Roger ever since, licking his chops as he imagines the rest of his meal. And he also swallowed an alarm clock to goes tick-tocking to warn Captain Hook.

Recurring characters

 * Russi Taylor - Never Bird - A former sidekick of Captain Hook who she soon betrays and joins forces with Jake and his crew.
 * Loren Hoskins - Sandy the Starfish - Marina the Mermaid's singing pet starfish with the ability to heal with a special song.
 * Tori Spelling - Pirate Princess - A legendary beautiful pirate who was cursed by a sea witch and shipwrecked in a hidden grotto but rescued by Izzy and the others.
 * Lisa Loeb - Winger - Skully's close friend who reveals to be the princess of the Sky Bird Kingdom.
 * Adam West - Wise Old Parrot - An aged scarlet macaw and ruler of the Sky Bird Kingdom.
 * Sharon Osbourne - Mama Hook - Captain Hook's mother
 * Jane Kaczmarek - Red Jessica - A swashbuckling pirate with whom Captain Hook falls in love with.
 * Josh Duhamel - Captain Flynn - A pirate who became stranded on the Never Land desert with his ship The Barracuda but rescued by Jake and the Never Land Pirates.

Reception
The series received generally positive but lukewarm reviews. A review in Variety called it "[p]art video game, part interactive cartoon, part advertisement for 'Peter Pan' merchandise". A review in The Los Angeles Times stated that Captain Hook "has been laundered — reasonably enough, yet sadly as well — into a shell of his former self, too silly to be frightening, not even a decent bully, just a kind of (much) older boy who wants to steal your toys." Common Sense Media rated it "on" for ages 3 and older, praising the educational content, role models, and especially the messages of the show, and expressing only mild concern about the moderate violence. As the flagship of the newly-launched Disney Junior channel, the series was rated the most-watched program among boys ages 2–5 during its first few weeks on the air, with 2.9 million viewers, including 1.1 million ages 2–5, and over 600,000 women ages 18–49 (presumed to be mothers and other caregivers), only about 100,000 less than the typical Friday night first-ran episode on Disney Channel. On July 27, 2011, the series was awarded #2 of the Best TV Shows 2011 list.

The character Jake has to received positive reviews. The character has been thought of as a "classic Disney character", lovable and entertaining addition. He has quickly become an icon at Disney's Hollywood Studios from the popular Disney Junior Live as well as being added on the park's entrance drawings.

Trivia

 * The episode Cubby's Goldfish were shown in some international viewings of Winnie the Pooh.
 * "Hide the Hideout was the first and so far only time Skully has ever collected any gold dabloons.
 * Captain Hook's Parrot was the first time anyone other than Jake introduced the episode.

DVD releases
A Jake And The Never Land Pirates DVD was released September 27, 2011.