The Little Mermaid Discussion

[WillytheDino]

Dark Horse is releasing a comic book mini-series that tells Ursula's origins story.

Unveil the sordid history of the notorious sea witch Ursula. From writer Sherri L. Smith and artist Gabriele Bagnoli comes the wicked miniseries Disney Villains: Ursula and the Seven Seas, beginning June 2020.

Long before the events of Disney's The Little Mermaid and Ariel's quest to be a part of the human world, Ursula was one of seven sea witches, who each ruled one of the Seven Seas with impunity. But when one of Ursula's sea sisters is found stripped of all her powers, Ursula must find the culprit…And among the merfolk, there is one who dares defy the reign of the sea witches.

"I've always been a fan of the Little Mermaid, both Andersen's original story and the Disney movie. With Disney Villains: Ursula and the Seven Seas, I was able to add my own twist to those wonderful tales. Remember, for every witch you are told about, there's a goddess you've forgotten. What a treat it is to give Disney's most decadent villain her due!"—Sherri L. Smith

"I always loved Ursula's character because I thought she was really evil and dreadful. I'm so excited to be drawing her origins! It has also been very interesting to characterize her sister witches, and I've tried to make them unique and special. In the same way, I tried to give a magical and evocative atmosphere to the undersea landscapes in order to draw every panel with a strong look." – Gabriele Bagnoli

Disney Villains: Ursula and the Seven Seas #1 arrives June 24, 2020 and is available for pre-order at your local comic shop.

Source: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/03/18 ... ns-series/

They just released a 3 part TLM comic that told the story from Ariel perspective. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat- ... cs-1223886

I bought the Dark Horse Snow White comic from her perspective and it was a nice read, there was some additional story and the art was great. So I'm curious about the Ariel one and also about the Dark Horse Ursula one.

Of-topic: Is there a list of Disney comics from the past couple of years, or a topic about that?
I know they are releasing a Frozen 1 and 2 comic as well.

[UmbrellaFish]

She looks like the Joker.

[JeanGreyForever]

I've always been interested in a proper adaptation of Ursula's origin since the TV series never covered that and the prequel film completely dropped the ball on that. Serena Valentino's version was just awful like the rest of her books, and as is typical of her, most of the book revolved around her OC characters and not Ursula herself although it wasn't as bad as the Maleficent book where the Mistress of All Evil is basically a footnote in her own story.

TLM is already told from Ariel's perspective so I'm not sure what else they can add to that.

Was there anything particularly interesting in the Snow White Dark Horse comic you read?

[JeanGreyForever]

^ Cool.

Well, it's reached 30 years now. When I was a child, I was too young to see The Little Mermaid in theatres, but I saw it on home video, and many, many, many times after that. It became my second favorite Disney film. Today it's my third, but sometimes I still think it's second. The mystery and majesty of the misty and murky sea and sky in the beginning, then the magical, mystical world under the sea with (gasp!) merpeople! Such beautiful tails with hip fins, a unique idea to connect the human halves to the fish halves. King Triton's shiny, glittering palace. His magical trident. The cool giant clams Ariel's sisters come out. The scary thrills of the shark chase. The comforting humor of Scuttle. The cool eels with glowing eyes and the magic of Ursula's spying bubble. Her cool cauldron, her cool lair. Her cool, creative octopus design! And that neat-looking and magical gold nautilus shell. I spent a lot of my life looking for a sea shell that looked exactly like that and never found one. Ariel's beautiul voice. Her feelings expressed in song in her grotto. Asserting herself as a "bright young woman". The weird sexual feelings of Triton destroying her grotto (anyone else feel this? No, just me, I'm weird? Ah, embarassing). Ursula's amazing, impressive, magic spells. Those creepy green hands stealing Ariel's voice like they're sucking her soul out of her. The shocking transformation. The striking sillhouette of her against the sun as she splashes through the ocean surface. Her funny but kind of chic sailboat dress. Ariel being funny to me when she huffs in exasperation at Eric not understanding her. Ariel looking a vision in her pretty pink dress. The romantic "Kiss the Girl". Ursula's awesome transformation into Vanessa. Ariel's sad, heart-tugging tears when she thinks Eric's marrying someone else. The funny wedding crash. The thrilling climax. Ariel walking out of the water as a human like a goddess in that beautiful sparkling periwinkle dress. And then, she's part of his world.

Happy 30th Anniversary, The Little Mermaid. One of the greatest film ever made, and one of Disney's very best. Somewhere in the top ten.

I didn't realize TLM was your second favorite film at one point. What made Sleeping Beauty eventually top it for you?

How you described the opening of the film is exactly how I feel about it and I couldn't say it any better. It really is such a captivating and enchanting opening especially with that score and that deep, mysterious shade of ocean blue used to set up the film underwater. I love Ursula's design and her lair too. I've seen nautilus shells in pictures so you certainly should be able to find one...perhaps the beaches you frequented just didn't have them for whatever reason.

Personally, I never got any sexual feelings from Triton destroying Ariel's grotto. I wonder what makes you feel that way. Ursula's lair perhaps, in the sense that people said it resembles female genitalia and Ariel's transformation occurs there and it's positively orgasmic when she surfaces as you somewhat alluded to. So if anything, I'd say Triton in that scene would be standing as an obstacle towards Ariel and her sex drive lol rather than building it up.

I've never understood why so many people think the sparkling dress at the end is purple. It's very clearly light blue (and Disney markets it that way with dolls as well) when you see it in normal lighting and her kissing Eric. It only looks purple in that opening shot because of how the sun is positioned and Ariel is cast in shadow (hence her skin looks darker too). This has become a pet peeve of mine almost because of how many major Ariel fans seem to fall for this and think her dress is purple lol because it never dawned on me for even a second that anyone would be fooled by that.

[Disney Duster]

In time, the beautiful style, and, well, on-land fairy tale stuff, complete with lots of Disney dust made me like Sleeping Beauty more than The Little Mermaid. I just loved how much of an old, traditional, classic fairy tale it was. The castles and gowns and magic designed for land just fit my interests more.

I am so glad you like those parts of the film, too, and how I described them. I found lots of nautilus shells, but never any that looked exactly like Ursula's. I was looking for that exact shape with the three indentations in it. Hard to explain.

I think I felt that way about Triton destroying Ariel's grotto because...well, I don't know what this says about me, but I guess I liked the violence. I would never actually do something violent to someone (not like I've ever not done that as a kid and later felt sorry for it), but I guess I would fake do it because I'm kinda into that. Like, I dunno, destroying what Ariel loves and is private to her did something to me. Film Freak and even another review site felt like Ariel collecting all that stuff in a secret grotto was like masturbation, so, yeah. In that way I could see Triton ruining what pleases Ariel sexually and then Ursula fulfills it. I did not allude to Ariel's splash out of the ocean as orgasmic, but now, that totally fits!

I always thought Ariel's Triton dress was a periwinkle bluish purple. I guess it's really blue. I call it periwinkle, since that is a late shade that can be either purple or blue.

[rodis]

I've always felt the intro was brilliantly executed, that they didn't choose to start underwater right away and instead build the suspense. And of course the main titles scene with the gorgeous deep blues coupled with the irresistible POYW music.

[JeanGreyForever]

@Duster - I don't blame you about the more fairy tale atmosphere of Sleeping Beauty especailly the costumes. The Little Mermaid has some weird outfits especially with the background characters and even Ariel's wardrobe isn't particularly consistent in terms of shape or historical period.

Aww, I think I understand. You were looking for a shell that was movie accurate and sorta like a replica of Ursula's necklace. Then I can understand why you haven't been able to find that because I've never seen an exact one, particularly in that golden yellow shade.

I actually really do understand the whole masturbation allegory wtih Ariel in the grotto so that makes sense, but to be honest, I don't really get how Triton destroying her grotto would be sexual. Maybe because the colors get really dark and red, but for me, that's more akin to sexual violence sorta like the scene where Cinderella's dress gets torn. When you say sexual, I'm not sure if you mean the romantic, intimate type or the violent one. I assumed you meant the first but the latter take on it makes sense and seems to be what you are alluding to with Ariel having to go to Ursula for fulfillment.

Yes, periwinkle can be a light blueish-pruple. That's certainly a more accurate color than purple or violet which always shocks me lol when I see people describe it that way.

@rodis - completely agree!

[Disney Duster]

Yes. I actually like all of Ariel's dresses except her wedding gown, but I do wish they had been more historically accurate. And original. I don't like Ariel's wedding gown because I feel the four-pointed peplum is the biggest steal, straight from Aurora's princess dress.

At first I thought I needed to find a gold nautilus shell, then I was going to paint a nautilus shell gold if it found the same shape as Ursula's original. Never found either lol.

Could you pm me why you think Ariel's masturbaton allegory makes sense? I only barely see it and wonder how in-depth it goes. As for sexual violence, I am into the idea of a partner ruining what pleases you, and that is probably where the sexual violence I see in Triton's destruction comes in.

[nomad2010]

I posted a custom cover I made in the Aladdin thread, hoping to create some more artistic and on model artwork for the classics that have such horrible cover art. I took a hard look at Mermaid's and realized this scene was the one that always stood out to me and had never been done. I liked the idea of her still in the water but human. Or also sort of mid transformation, and Eric meeting her halfway walking into the water. So I decided to give it a go. The Ariel is done by hand, but the background and Eric are pieced together from screen caps and concept art. Not my best work, but I'm pretty happy with it. May do a few more throughout quarantine.

[JeanGreyForever]

Wow, so pretty! Ariel's dress is stunning and I always liked that shot of her rising from the sea as it coalesced into a dress made of seafoam clinging to her. I didn't expect you to obscure her face like in the original film though so that's an inspired choice. Eric definitely should have been there in the water to meet her.

[Disney Duster]

Nomad2010, that is one amazing piece of art. Perfectly encaptures the feel of the movie. Ariel's dress is shimmeringly stunning, but so is the rest of the image. Really amazing cover that collector's would love to have. The scene you picked is a bold choice that paid off.

[Disney's Divinity]

Definitely an interesting idea for a cover, nomad2010! Aside from Ariel as human or in her sea foam dress, Eric's seaside castle is rarely ever on covers as well. Admittedly it doesn't compare to Triton's palace, but it's a very pretty design in its own right. I thought your Aladdin cover was very pretty, too.

She looks like the Joker.

She does. I don't care for the shark teeth.

[nomad2010]

Thanks so much everyone! I really appreciate it and I’m glad you liked them both! I don’t know if I’ll end up doing anymore but this was definitely a fun little experiment.

[JeanGreyForever]

I hope you end up doing Beauty and the Beast at least to complete the Menken/Ashman trilogy. I'd be very curious about what covers you would use for that. And if you ever get around to doing Menken's other films like Pocahontas and Hunchback, that would be stupendous. I always felt the scene where Quasimodo is claiming sanctuary for Esmeralda is such a powerful one and should be made into a cover.

[UmbrellaFish]

Love the Mermaid cover nomad2010! Especially love to see Eric represented— he almost never is!

[JeanGreyForever]

Yes. I actually like all of Ariel's dresses except her wedding gown, but I do wish they had been more historically accurate. And original. I don't like Ariel's wedding gown because I feel the four-pointed peplum is the biggest steal, straight from Aurora's princess dress.

At first I thought I needed to find a gold nautilus shell, then I was going to paint a nautilus shell gold if it found the same shape as Ursula's original. Never found either lol.

Could you pm me why you think Ariel's masturbaton allegory makes sense? I only barely see it and wonder how in-depth it goes. As for sexual violence, I am into the idea of a partner ruining what pleases you, and that is probably where the sexual violence I see in Triton's destruction comes in.

Funny, because I love Ariel's wedding dress. I'll admit that if anyone else was wearing it, it probably wouldn't look very good. I like both of her blue dresses. Her pink dress I used to like but mainly only because Ariel was my favorite princess and pink my favorite color so it won by default. However, the design isn't particularly novel considering how much inspiration it takes from previous princesses (not sure if that was intentional or not like some people say it was) and I'm not a fan of the shade of pink. I don't have an issue with Ariel in pink but bubble gum or candy pink doesn't suit her. A more coral shade looks way better.

On Etsy, they sell a lot of replicas but I don't think those are painted shells but molded out of clay or some other material.

I pmed you

[DisneyFan97]

Sissel Kyrkjebø who did the swedish voice of Ariel, ONLY voiced her in this movie and never agian because she lives in norway, For the DTV sequels Ariel is instead voiced bty Myrra Malmberg, the voice of princess Jasmine and the frist swedish woman to play Christine Daa on the WEST END !. She was equally as great , less susseful was Johanna Ljungberg who voiced in the Satiurday Moring cartoo Johanna Ljungberg's other big credit is as the voice of Megan in My Little Pony 'n Friends.

[Sotiris]

Storytime with Jodi Benson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAPSQvpzU3g

[Disney Duster]

Check out this custom Ursula doll by HeXtian! Looks like she's from the 18th century!

[DisneyFan97]

Dark Horse is releasing a comic book mini-series that tells Ursula's origins story.


Source: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/03/18 ... ns-series/

They just released a 3 part TLM comic that told the story from Ariel perspective. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat- ... cs-1223886

I bought the Dark Horse Snow White comic from her perspective and it was a nice read, there was some additional story and the art was great. So I'm curious about the Ariel one and also about the Dark Horse Ursula one.

Of-topic: Is there a list of Disney comics from the past couple of years, or a topic about that?
I know they are releasing a Frozen 1 and 2 comic as well.

Why not Marvel ?