Fridge / The Little Mermaid (1992)

The TV Series:

Fridge Brilliance

• In episode 2 when visiting the Sharkanians, Ariel emphasizes that Sebastian is the ambassador. She never tells them that she is Triton's daughter or uses her authority as a princess. The brilliance? She knows the Sharkanians are devious and not to be trusted, and telling them she is the princess is likely to get her kidnapped or ransomed.
• Sebastian shows that he has somewhat of a way with children in "Double Bubble.” Of course that's why Triton chooses him to keep an eye on Ariel in the movie.
• As noted under Villain Decay, Ursula isn't quite as menacing as she is in the movie. In the movie when Ariel first gets asked to go to her, she knows Ursula is bad news (her treatment of the Bad Luck Creature). But she still reconsiders, which she wouldn't have done if Ursula had been as menacing as in the film.
  • Ursula is a master con-artist. She had no reason to threaten Ariel when she could just swindle and con her. The whole movie plot was her master con, a bid to get the throne exploiting a weakness Ariel didn't have in the TV Series: Eric.
    • If one gives it more thought, Ursula wouldn't be a threat (or as menacing) as the series takes place before the movies.
• In the first movie, Eric's boots come off in the ocean while Ariel is saving him from drowning. A fan theory is Ariel may have removed them because they were weighing him down. I always wondered how Ariel would even know that Eric's boots would need to be removed. "Thingamijigger" reveals that Ariel saw a young Eric remove his boots before jumping to the ocean to save a dolphin. This likely clued Ariel in that humans typically don't go into the water with any kind of footware on.
• In Double Bubble, the Lobster Mobster turns out to actually be pretty good with babies and to even have a soft spot for them (though he tries to hide it). But then, any true mobster is a family man!

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