"7D" Television Pilot Announced

Disney unveiled it's 2011 television plans for Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior at its annual presentation to advertisers last week in New York. The news included a pilot for a new animated series entitled 7D. According to Nancy Kanter, Senior Vice President, Original Programming and General Manager, Disney Junior Worldwide, the television program would star the Seven Dwarfs.

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As reported by Animation Magazine...

7D takes a new creative approach to the beloved Brothers Grimm tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, re-imagining it in a comic and contemporary storybook world. The new music-filled stories introduce the whimsical world of Jollywood, where the kind-hearted Queen Delightful calls upon the 7D – Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy and Doc – for assistance. Emmy Award-winning Tom Ruegger (Animaniacs) directs the pilot written by Craig Shemin (Tasty Time with ZeFronk) with character design by Noah Z. Jones (Fish Hooks). It is a production of Disney Television Animation.

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From Jim Hill Media...

7D would chronicle the Seven Dwarfs' adventures before they met up with Ms. White. Back when Doc and Co. still lived in the kingdom of Jollywood and were regularly recruited by Queen Delightful to come help out around the castle.

The end result will hopefully be an original animated series that still feels familiar to Disney Junior's 2 to 7-year-old target audience. "7D" - as Nancy Kanter describes it - is supposed to be a ...

... comic take on the world of fairytales and storybooks ... (where the Seven Dwarfs) are (Queen Delightful's) go-to guys. (But) what the queen doesn't realize is that while (the Dwarfs) do eventually save the day, it's less about their skill and more about their ingenuity and luck that gets them through.

Anyway, the pilot for "7D" has just gone into production. Later this year, Ms. Kanter and her team at Disney Junior Worldwide will formally review this test episode and then make a decision about whether or not they should proceed with full-blown production of a new animated series which would star the Seven Dwarfs.

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I personally am apprehensive whenever there's talk about tampering with characters from the original Snow White film. However for the time being, I will reserve judgment, keep my mouth shut and see what develops.