The World According to Winnie the Pooh is an unproduced television series. The pilot, titled New Friend!, was developed by Cartoon Saloon in 2014 for Disney Television Animation, the series was intended as a modern reimagining of the characters from the Winnie the Pooh series. Disney ultimately passed on it.
Mr. Narrator reveals the new setting of the Hundred Acre Wood Estates which is "nestled between Woodland Pines and Que Towers". Winnie the Pooh is in the backyard of Christopher Robin's house when he finds a smart phone that begins to talk back to him when he asks questions. Thinking the phone is sentient, he becomes convinced that it is lost and wants to help it find its mother. He shows the phone to Piglet and the two of them take it for a walk, via a rollerblade. They encounter Tigger who while examining it, accidentally causes the phone to wheel backward and down a hill.
Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger give chase to their new friend who flies off the rollerblade, causing it to swoop up Piglet instead. Pooh hops off a trampoline to catch the phone, but it stops in midair because "the internet was slow that day" and Pooh is able to catch it on a tire swing. However, the phone calculates Pooh's trajectory and he drops the phone and flies over a rainbow towards a pot of honey, only to scared off by the bees. Piglet nearly crashes into Eeyore, but Tigger bounces on the rollerblade and sends Piglet flying. Upon seeing the empty rollerblade, Tigger becomes convinced that the Woozles got the phone.
Piglet catches a reed with the phone on it and gets a message from Christopher Robin who tells Piglet that he needs to push the pause button to save himself. Piglet is unsure what that is and the video message goes out. Pooh is also falling beside him and they ask the phone for the pause button, which it does so, causing the two to float over a slide in Christopher Robin's backyard. They ask for it to play again and the two are reunited with Christopher who has the phone's "mother", a touch pad. Tigger also arrives to see what has transpired and is happy to see everyone reunited.
Christopher Robin's mother arrives, apparently revealing that Pooh, Piglet and Tigger are mere dolls, and Christopher sheepishly takes them and leaves, while also returning the phone to his mother. She looks through the phone, revealing that the entire adventure was thought up of by Christopher. Upon seeing the final image of Christopher and Pooh, she mutters "Silly old bear."
The pilot featured an entirely uncredited British cast, though had the show been picked up, it would have most likely used the typical Winnie the Pooh cast.
Tigger quotes "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb.
This is one of the few times where it is blatantly made obvious that Pooh and his friends are, in fact, stuffed animals, rather than being ambiguous or otherwise implied by the viewer.
This is the first time Pooh has a British voice actor instead of an American voice actor like in his debut appearance.
In this series, Pooh and Tigger have separate voice actors instead of the same voice actor (Jim Cummings had to voice both Pooh and Tigger following Paul Winchell's retirement in 1999).
Pooh and Tigger as well as the others appeared in stylized designs.
