Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Jake and the Never Land Pirates is an Annie Award-winning musical interactive animated Disney Junior show based on the successful Disney franchise, Peter Pan that was in turn based on the famous book and play by British author J.M. Barrie. It is the first Disney Junior original show following the switch from Playhouse Disney. It stars Cameron Boyce, Madison Pettis, Jonathan Morgan Heit, David Arquette, Corey Burton and Jeff Bennett. Colin Ford voiced the titular character Jake until season 2 episodes 11, 13, and 14. The show quickly became Disney Junior's most popular series surpassing Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso and even Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

The series focuses on a band of young pirates consisting of Jake, Izzy, Cubby, and their parrot Skully, who continuously spend their days competing against Captain Hook and Mr. Smee for treasure. They are often accompanied by several characters including their mermaid friend Marina, and Bucky, their living pirate ship.

In November of 2011, Disney announced a one hour prime time special for the show to air February 13, 2012 entitled Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Peter Pan Returns. A second season was also ordered for the series and began airing on February 20, 2012. The series is a critical and commercial success, receiving high praise from critics and fans for its educational, yet entertaining format. The series is currently in its second season, whilst Disney recently ordered a third season, to premiere sometime in 2013. Also, a line of items, such as party supplies, apparel, room decor, plush, role play and accessories, and action-oriented play sets and figures, including a boat of Bucky, Jake's Pirate Ship, were released in the summer of 2012. At the American International Toy Fair in New York City, Disney announced a film based on the series, premiered on September 19, 2012, entitled Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Bucky's Great Race. The film was later downgraded to a special episode renamed Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Jake Saves Bucky. The one-hour special premiered on September 19, 2012 on Disney Channel in the USA, and released on DVD October 16, 2012.

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 obstacles are Captain Hook, Mr. 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 puzzles, or "pirate problems") and put them in their treasure chest known as the "Team Treasure Chest".

The first season of the series followed more "playful" conflicts such as, Jake and the crew getting their basketball back from Captain Hook, or Jake and the crew taking back their stolen skateboard. The second season gave a larger scale to the adventure in the show, now having the characters find a lost city of gold, and an ancient pirate pyramid.

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.

Cast Thoughts

 * Colin Ford (Jake): "‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’" is a really great show because it incorporates a lot of things that children should know from an early age, like sharing, teamwork and responsibility. What attracted me to ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’ was the Peter Pan factor. Also, the fact that I'm the leader and I have my crew, Izzy and Cubby, behind me. It's always fun to get to work with my friends.”
 * Ariel Winter (Marina): “I play Marina and I'm a mermaid. I help out the pirates in all their water duties … I help them with anything they need, I care for them, and I do whatever helps Jake and his friends. We're basically one big pirate family. I think Marina may have a little crush on Jake. I've seen that a bit throughout the script. She's always there to help him in her sweetest voice… ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’ is basically about teaching kids to go for it. Even if you have to fight off evil to get what you want or get what you need or to help someone, you should always share, be kind, and do what you can to help.”
 * David Arquette (Skully): “There are a lot of shows out there that are all over the place. You can't really follow them, and they're a little loud. This one has a real story and it's very easy to follow, and it's a lot of fun. It's really colorful. It's got a great heart, and the kids will learn something in the process. You could talk with them about the adventure they just had. It all has to do with social skills and being nice to your neighbor and being a good friend. I watched the first one with my daughter Coco before Skully was in it. She liked it a lot, but she also said that parrot should talk because he was in it briefly, but he didn't really have a voice. I said, ‘That's funny you say that, because that parrot is going to talk. That parrot will have your daddy's voice.’ That's pretty much how it went down. She loved it!”

Main characters

 * Jake
 * Voiced by Colin Ford (Series), Cameron Boyce (Online)
 * Jake is the main protagonist of the series and leader of the Never Land Pirates. He has a wooden sword, created from the Forever Tree which was made and given to him by Peter Pan, and serves as 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, and is not a member of the "Lost Boys", despite the fact he physically resembles the Cubby of the group.


 * Skully
 * Voiced by David Arquette (animated speaking)/Loren Hospkins (singing)
 * 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" and 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 or Greek Chorus. Both Hoskins and Hendrickson, specialists in a music form 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.


 * Peter Pan
 * Voiced by Adam Wylie
 * Captain Hook's arch nemesis and the leader of Never Land (specifically the "Lost Boys"). Even though he didn't appear in all of season 1, he was frequently mentioned and appeared in the special 1-hour episode Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Peter Pan Returns.


 * Bucky
 * Jake, Izzy and Cubby's pirate ship who has a mind of its own and communicates with the crew through its ringing ship bell.

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.
 * (speaking)/Laura Dickenson (singing) - 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.
 * - Winger - Skully's close friend who reveals to be the princess of the Sky Bird Kingdom.
 * - Wise Old Parrot - An aged scarlet macaw and King of the Sky Bird Kingdom.
 * Dee Bradly Baker - Monkey - A mischievous primate who steals Jake's bongos. Later on, her returns them and becomes friends with Jake and his crew.
 * - Mama Hook - Captain Hook's mother. She was once queen on the NeverSea and taught Hook how to become a worthy pirate captain.
 * - Red Jessica - A swashbuckling pirate with whom Captain Hook falls in love with.
 * - 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.
 * - Misty the Wonderful Witch - A villainous witch who reformed sometime upon meeting Jake and his crew.
 * - Pip the Pirate Genie.
 * Rhys Darby - Percy the Penguin

Music
The show's musical elements are handled by Loren Hoskins and Kevin Hendrickson, who were emailed by the show's creator Bobs Gannaway, asking if they would be interested in creating songs for the show. "The show's creator, Bobs Gannaway, he just wanted good music to listen to while he was writing the pilot," said Hoskins, 37. Gannaway typed "pirate music for kids" into a web search engine and found his way to Captain Bogg & Salty, listening to their songs while working on the script. He introduced the band to Jay Stutler, vice president of music at Disney Television Animation. "We're in charge of creating every note of music for the show. "We create the underscore. "We sit in the studio and record the background music that comes in and out." The music for the show has been praised for being enjoyable for both the children, and the adult caretakers. A soundtrack, featuring songs from the show, was released September 20, 2011.

Reception
The series received positive 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 series premiere got 2.2 million viewers. On Feburary 13, 2012, Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Peter Pan Returns got a record 3.091 million viewers. It is cable TV's #1 series among Boys 2-5 and Disney Channel's #1 preschool series of all time among Total Viewers, Kids 2-5, Boys 2-5 and Women 18-49 - more than any new program (Phineas and Ferb, ANT Farm, and Jessie) on the Friday before. For the second special Jake Saves Bucky, it only got 1.9 million, well less than the first special.

The series has a 6 rating on IMDB with 134 votes. The first DVD has a 4.7/5 on Amazon.com with 28 ratings, while the 2nd DVD has a 4.6/5 from 16 ratings. The 3rd DVD has 4.8/5 rating from 10 users.

The character Jake has too 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. The atmosphere character can be seen at the Hollywood And Vine character breakfast and the Animation courtyard, while at Disney California Adventure, Jake can be found on Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood Studios backlot.

Spin-offs
On July 27, 2012, Disney announced a spin-off series of the show centering Skully. The show is entitled Playing With Skully, and is a collection of short cartoons that aired on September 19, 2012. Another short series entitled Jake's Never Land Pirate School premiered on November 26, 2012.

Merchandise
Upon the initial release of the series onwards, there has been a high demand for toys, games, and other merchandise from the show. At the American International Toy Fair in New York City, Disney announced a line of toys to be released in the summer of 2012. On July 16, 2012, the app Jake's Never Land Pirate School is released on the iPad and other Android devices.

Trivia

 * The episode Cubby's Goldfish were shown in some international viewings of Winnie the Pooh.
 * Hide the Hideout and Peter Pan Returns are the only times Skully has ever collected any Gold Doubloons.
 * 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. The second DVD, containing the episode Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Peter Pan Returns, was released April 3, 2012. The 3rd one, with the special, Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Jake Saves Bucky, was released on DVD October 16, 2012.