"Calliope Dreams" is the sixteenth episode of The Little Mermaid TV series, originally aired on September 25, 1993.
Summary[]
Ariel and Flounder find a human instrument that Ariel, naturally, wants to play. It's a harp, but she calls it a Stringamajigger, and she's pretty good at it.
However, Triton wants Ariel to learn to play the Sea Calliope, an Atlantican musical instrument that his grandfather Neptune used to play. Sebastian is charged to be her teacher. Ariel doesn't have the heart to say no to her father when it obviously means so much to him.
Unfortunately, Ariel has no talent in playing the Sea Calliope. She's awful at it, and to make things worse, her playing wakes up the Ancient Seaclops, a creature that is supposed to sleep for a thousand years, and he's pretty cranky at being woken up 600 years early. Years earlier, the Seaclops had destroyed Neptune's Calliope, and he becomes very upset that there is a new one in Atlantica.
King Triton, in his premature joy, arranges a recital for Ariel. That turns out to be the last straw, and the Seaclops attacks, destroying the calliope. Ariel eventually soothes him back to sleep with her new harp.
Trivia[]
- The Ancient Seaclops later returns in Issue 3 of Marvel Comics' The Little Mermaid series: "The DardevilFish", where he clearly wanted revenge for being woken up.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart makes a cameo in this episode.
