Thread by @lainasparetime

Okay, I took a week off because I needed it, but we're back! Are y'all ready for #LainaWatchesAnne?

#LainaWatchesAnne So this is a weird one. Um. I kind of don't know what to say.

Background, we'll start there. There's not a ton of information out there. This isn't lost media or anything - you can get this on DVD easily - I just don't think most people. You know. Care.

#LainaWatchesAnne After the 1985 mini-series, Sullivan Entertainment released two sequels and a prequel which we will totally talk about later.

#LainaWatchesAnne They also made the TV series Road to Avonlea between 1990 and 1996. We will ALSO come back to that in the future, probably. That combines the Avonlea books with another series from Montgomery, which I haven't read yet but plan to.

#LainaWatchesAnne But the thing we're going to be talking about today is Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series.

Bet you didn't know this existed!

#LainaWatchesAnne The important thing here is to know that this animated series takes place in the Sullivan universe.

Sort of.

#LainaWatchesAnne This series includes characters from Road to Avonlea and characters from Anne of Green Gables. It's VERY confusing if you haven't seen Road to Avonlea and even reading the wikipedia articles to try and figure it out didn't help very much.

#LainaWatchesAnne From what I read Road to Avonlea takes place after the 1985 mini-series and I think even the sequel series? The main character is about 10 years old during that, with one of her classmates being a couple years older, so Anne should be 10ish years older than them

#LainaWatchesAnne But SUDDENLY she's in school with that classmate - not with Mr. Phillips or Miss Stacey as a teacher, but with the teacher from Road to Avonlea.

They took the two timelines, smashed them together, and went "This is fine!"

This is not fine!! I'm very confused!!

#LainaWatchesAnne Ngl I thought this was Wikipedia bullshit, but apparently this series was partially funded by Barbie.com, according to Wikipedia?

#LainaWatchesAnne There was actually an Anne of Green Gables Barbie in 2001 and it's super cute. If I was a doll person, I would want it. I'm not a doll person and I kind of want it XD

barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/…

#LainaWatchesAnne The show was made for PBS and TVO which is basically Ontario's PBS. I actually remember watching this on TVO as a kid as I grew up in Ontario. That also explains the moral in each episode - it's very much edutainment.

#LainaWatchesAnne And that's about all the background. Nothing really exciting here like with the anime. I could only get one episode as it's the only one on youtube (on the Sullivan Entertainment youtube channel).

#LainaWatchesAnne For some reason, I didn't feel like spending over $100 dollars to buy 26 episodes on 9 DVDs, or $13.00USD each for 3 volumes. Seriously why are there only 2 episodes per DVD???

#LainaWatchesAnne There's also a prequel movie to this series called Journey to Green Gables. The anime also made a prequel series in 2009. What's the deal with all the pre-Green Gables stories, though, honestly?

#LainaWatchesAnne Sullivan Entertainment even made a live-action prequel to the 1985 miniseries... with a completely different plot from the animated one.

I guess the hot air balloon chase didn't work in live action.

#LainaWatchesAnne I just. I don't get it.

#LainaWatchesAnne None of the episodes in the show even have plots from the book. There are 26 episodes and book plots are "Anne dyes her hair green" and... no, that's it.

#LainaWatchesAnne Okay, one plot is "Anne wins a spelling bee" but then it turns into "Anne thinks she loses her spelling ability after being cursed". And one is "Anne wants puffed sleeves" but the episode ends with her apparently not caring about them anymore.

#LainaWatchesAnne And that truly is basically it for book elements. Anything else is in the 2006 prequel movie.

#LainaWatchesAnne Okay. I guess I can't put off actually talking about the episode any longer.

The episode opens on a decent looking shot of Green Gables. I'm not giving them that much credit when they've made like 4 movies and a series with that house, tho.

#LainaWatchesAnne Also, that website is still active. There are sketchy games that require downloading a file to run and you can't join Anne's Club anymore.

Truly a bummer.

#LainaWatchesAnne The opening sequence touches briefly on the prequel so I guess they were planning that movie all along. Oh boy.

So. Opening title. And the very evil looking orphanage.

#LainaWatchesAnne And then there's a very evil looking orphanage director with a shot of Anne begging for food like Oliver Twist.

#LainaWatchesAnne Next there's a shot of Anne staring out the orphanage window and then suddenly she's flying.

No, there's. There's no transition.

#LainaWatchesAnne Apparently Anne Mary Poppinsed herself to Green Gables. Can't say that's how I pictured it.

#LainaWatchesAnne And then she hops in the buggy with Matthew and meets Marilla, who is surprised.

I would also be surpised by the flying child.

#LainaWatchesAnne And then Anne pictures herself like this. I guess, uh, her being a queen with long hair would convince them to let her stay?

#LainaWatchesAnne The rest of the theme song is just boring "I can imagine stuff and you'll love me". The song is better than the English anime dub's song, but the Japanese song is better than this one.

#LainaWatchesAnne Okay, that's a lot already so I'm giving you all a chance to tap out here. You can mute the hashtag fo a day, no harm no foul.

#LainaWatchesAnne If you have pediculophobia, please mute the hashtag. If you don't, or don't know what that is, you may still want to do so.

#LainaWatchesAnne Because, my friends, the only episode Sullivan Entertainment has on their Youtube, the episode they feel represents this show best... is a lice episode.

I'm just going to let you aborb that for a minute.

#LainaWatchesAnne To give you a minute to mute this hashtag if you saw that and went "NOPE", I'm going to point out that I really don't like it when animated Anne winks at me.

#LainaWatchesAnne This episode is called "One True Friend". Clive Endersby, I hope you have gone on to better things than this disaster.

#LainaWatchesAnne Anne climbs a tree and then sees Diana walking past and jumps out to scare her. Diana falls down crying.

Turns out, Diana has cooties. Or, you know, lice.

#LainaWatchesAnne Anne basically acts like she suspects Diana murdered someone and needs her to help hide a body pre-confession, which is funny.

They look like this, also, if you care. Appearances are generally fine in this for the characters I actually recognize.

#LainaWatchesAnne Apparently Mrs. Barry boiled all the bedding, spread lye everywhere, but didn't do anything for her child's actual hair.

Sure, I guess.

#LainaWatchesAnne Anne takes Diana into the woods to see Peg Bowen, who is a Road to Avonlea character which DEEPLY confused me watching this.

She lives in a Hobbit Hole and just has a pet raven. And a giant cauldren. And a pet raccoon.

What?

#LainaWatchesAnne She looks like this. Subtle is thy name, Animated Anne.

#LainaWatchesAnne She gives them a "magic" shampoo. They were supposed to pay her with eggs, but dropped them so they promise to come back with payment.

This is "6 eggs" also, according to Anne. "We brought six eggs," Anne says.

#LainaWatchesAnne "Bring me 6 eggs the day after tomorrow," Peg says. Diana is supposed to use the shampoo for a week. Remember this part.

#LainaWatchesAnne While Diana's washing her hair with the magic shampoo, Marilla comes to see what they're doing and she looks pretty good.

#LainaWatchesAnne She's very practical about the whole thing, saying "there are worse things in the world", but warning the girls not to share hair brushes or clothes etc until they clear up.

Good, practical advice.

#LainaWatchesAnne Anne acts like she's not a LITERAL VICTORIAN ORPHAN who lived in an orphanage and almost certainly had lice, and is all grossed out.

#LainaWatchesAnne She quickly realizes that's a bit of a dick move and changes her tube. Diana hopes "everyone will be that understanding at school".

Uh, objection? Diana should probably be staying home from school for the week.

But okay.

#LainaWatchesAnne She tells Anne not to tell anyone, but says her mother insists they tell Miss King, who is the teacher because fuck established timelines.

Blondie here overhears Anne saying something about Diana's "dreadful circumstances".

#LainaWatchesAnne Now, I assumed - naively, perhaps - that this was Josie Pye. Because look at her.

Also they are this far away when Anne finishes her sentence, but okay, she totally heard that.

#LainaWatchesAnne What is this child's hair though???

#LainaWatchesAnne So not!Josie Pye anounces to... these kids... she's going to have a "costumed sleepover" because that's a thing.

The spacing on the letters of "Avonlea" bugs me.

#LainaWatchesAnne This girl is apparently called Victoria but she's not on the Wikipedia cast list for this or Road to Avonlea so I have no idea who she is.

#LainaWatchesAnne Blonde - Not!Josie - no, I should all her Felicity or this is going to get confusing.

Remember I mentiond Road to Avonlea's MC had a classmate a couple years older than her? That's Felicity. This is her.

#LainaWatchesAnne Felicity spies through the open window and hears Anne and Diana talking to the teacher.

Does anyone care about the plot here??? Blah blah she tells everyone and the Bland Squad here decide to bully Diana.

#LainaWatchesAnne They just yell "dirty girl" at her and that feels SO wrong to type.

Anne defends her but they decide to ostracize her anyways.

#LainaWatchesAnne Can I just say, this ages... oddly in 2020. Diana says she's "being very careful" when the others say they might "catch it".

"They're shunning me," Diana cries.

My brain hurts.

#LainaWatchesAnne Also I wasn't sure at first, but this kid is Gilbert. So Gilbert is just a straight up bully in this.

#LainaWatchesAnne "This is the wost day of my life," Diana says to the ORPHAN who grew up an abused indentured servant.

So this group calls Anne over as she walks home with Diana.

#LainaWatchesAnne Felicity says everyone is going to her house to decorate for the sleepover. Okay. Why is Gilbert decorating Felicity's house for a "Girls Only" sleepover?

Felicity's brother is explicitly said to be staying with Gilbert during the sleepover.

#LainaWatchesAnne I don't understand this premise.

Anne's plan, also, is to join them after walking Diana home. To join the people shunning Diana.

Um. No. Anne is ride or die for Diana. This would not happen. Period.

#LainaWatchesAnne Gilbert bullies Diana a bit more because Gilbert is a bully now. Side note, my eye is twitching.

#LainaWatchesAnne Felicity says Diana is uninvited from her sleepover. Anne says that "the lice will be gone then" so the sleepover isn't for a week still? Why are we decorating for it now???

#LainaWatchesAnne Felicity says "no decorating, no sleepover" so Anne just abandons Diana.

Later, in her room, Anne is dressed as a pirate.

#LainaWatchesAnne And then her reflection starts talking and did I accidentally drop acid before watching this???

#LainaWatchesAnne Listen, I know she has an imaginary mirror friend in the books, but that's a sign of her being desperately lonely.

There's not even any imagination spot transition! So is this just real? Is her reflection actually talking? (I WILL RETURN TO THIS POINT.)

#LainaWatchesAnne Anyways, her reflection guilt trips her but Anne doesn't seem to catch on. Figure... that one... out.

The next day, Anne beings a basket with actually 6 eggs in it to Peg Bowen.

#LainaWatchesAnne Everyone talks incredibly loudly in this world, I guess, so from outside Anne overhears Felicity talking to Peg admitting SHE'S had lice for a whole week.

Anne makes this face.

#LainaWatchesAnne Diana's pissed at Anne for going off with the others and rightfully so, I might add. Blah blah they fight, Diana doesn't want to humiliate Felicity and... Diana just forgives her?

#LainaWatchesAnne There's... no actual resolution to this fight. It's just better because... I guess because we're running out of time? I really don't know.

#LainaWatchesAnne At school, Anne cracks some jokes to Gilbert about "crepy crawlies" and... tickles him.

Okay.

#LainaWatchesAnne Then she realizes Diana heard all that and realizes MAYBE that was kind of shitty.

The teacher talks about Henry the 8th for some reason and says Anne Boleyn "betrayed the king" which, strong words there, teach.

#LainaWatchesAnne Walking home, Diana mournfully sings Greensleeves and continues to give Anne the cold shoulder. So much for that reconciliation.

#LainaWatchesAnne AND THEN. AND THEN. The "imagine spot" music plays and things go all wavy and have this filter and THE TREES START TALKING TO ANNE.

#LainaWatchesAnne Which. Okay, one, the trees are talking. Two, when Anne's reflection talked, there was no filter or music. It just happened.

Can Anne's reflection just talk in this???

What. Is. This.

#LainaWatchesAnne So the trees talk for a while. They're annoying. One was Lowly in The Busy World of Richard Scarry, though, which I'd much rather be watching than this.

Hmmm.

#LainaWatchesBusyWorld In the first segment of this episode, Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm are shopping for a birthday gift for Huckle's mom and almost murder this poor pickle pig man.

#LainaWatchesAnne Okay, no, I'm kidding.

Back to trees, I guess. This show is so weird. I spent so much time on this and this thread is so long XD And it's like a 22 minute episode!

#LainaWatchesAnne The trees bicker about being selfish and how much they don't like each other. And Anne realizes the lesson of the day that Diana is her loyal friend etc.

And they flashback to the episode where Anne dyed her hair green. This is a very hair heavy episode.

#LainaWatchesAnne We also flashback to the puffed sleeve episode I mentioned earlier. Lots of flashbacks going on for such a short episode.

The trees start crying because they're so moved by Anne's story about Diana.

#LainaWatchesAnne Anne goes to ACTUALLY apologize to Diana, but she's still rightfully pissed. Later, Marilla gives Anne some good advice about friendship.

Honestly, Marilla's voice actor is probably my favourite of them all. She's pretty good.

#LainaWatchesAnne At school the next day, Diana is swinging sadly alone while the others play baseball. They invite Anne to play, but she goes to be with Diana instead.

#LainaWatchesAnne When Felicity goes to bat instead, she refuses to wear the helmet at first and the show is VERY pro-helmet which is good obviously but it's very heavy handed, and not subtle at all.

#LainaWatchesAnne She finally starts to put it on but Anne stops her, saying "It isn't fair to the others."

Diana follows this with, "We know you have a problem. You shouldn't spread it around."

Anne: "Why don't you be noble and admit it?"

#LainaWatchesAnne Is... is anyone else really uncomfortable? It's almost like they're using "lice" as a metaphor for more serious diseases or conditions at times.

I'm just so very uncomfortable.

#LainaWatchesAnne Eventually Felicity admits to her lice - and apparently her parents didn't know - and they all go back to playing ball.

That's the climax of the story. "Felicity admits she has lice" is the big high point.

#LainaWatchesAnne Costume sleepover time! As previously mentioned, Anne is a prate and Diana is DISNEY'S CINDERELLA.

#LainaWatchesAnne What the fuck. Why is she completely in a Disney Cinderella costume and how did they not get super sued for this?????

#LainaWatchesAnne Peg Bowen comes to scare them/ask about Diana's lice which are gone, as are Felicity's. I guess the sleepover got pushed back.

Still don't get why the decorating was done so early.

#LainaWatchesAnne And they run off as Peg... winks at the trees which are suddenly alive!!

WHAT IS REAL IN THIS WORLD?????

#LainaWatchesAnne And the episode closes out saying they'll see us next time for "even more fun" and the credits roll.

#LainaWatchesAnne "Fun" is one word for this show.

But wait, there's more! There are teaching materials on the website. From, apparently, 2013.

#LainaWatchesAnne They suggest from this episode children can learn "what it means to be a true friend", "the role loyalty plays in friendship", and "about head-lice".

Also they can "Learn how head-lice relate to other communicable diseases".

#LainaWatchesAnne The target audience is 4-8, and they suggest some New Vocabulary to teach like "loyalty", "dread", "precautions", "betray", "shun", and "cowards".

#LainaWatchesAnne Also the episode summary says "Anne feels only sympathy" which is a STRONG statement.

#LainaWatchesAnne Then they suggest teaching about handwashing and cleaning surfaces and toys, which are concepts no child has ever heard of today.

Yeah, that doesn't age super well.

#LainaWatchesAnne There is a lot going on with this series. I find the decision to smash the two timelines together utterly bizarre. What purpose does this serve?? Was Felicity - who's not even Road to Avonlea's main character - THAT popular with viewers???

#LainaWatchesAnne This, in the end, has very little actual "Anne of Green Gables" in it, either in plot or in character. This could be almost any early 2000s edutainment children's cartoon. Nothing sets it apart in a unique way besides how bizarre I personally find it.

#LainaWatchesAnne This is a show made for adults who like Anne of Green Gables and want something to put on for their kids that will keep them quiet for half an hour and be vaguely educational so they don't feel guilty about them watching TV.

#LainaWatchesAnne The voice acting is standard for what it is, and the animation isn't anything special. I remember watching this as a kid.

I don't, however, remember liking it much.

#LainaWatchesAnne Also Luce HATED this one. They've been watching adaptation with me because they're very patient and lovely, and they've mostly been neutral to positive about them, but they really, really didn't like this.

#LainaWatchesAnne I would not recommend this one. If you have fond memories of this one, maybe don't rewatch it. Just let your memories be what they are.

If you just want to watch an animated Anne of Green Gables show, I'd recommend the anime instead.

#LainaWatchesAnne And I still don't get how you put a hot air balloon chase in an Anne of Green Gables movie.

BUT if you liked this thread, please help me out by RTing it! And if you can, maybe consider tossing something in ye old tip jar ko-fi.com/A0602GN

#LainaWatchesAnne It'll help me heal in this trying time after this cartoon destroyed part of my soul. Am seeking compensation from Sullivan Entertainment, but they are refusing my calls.