Disney's New Princess: Sofia the First

This show seems to have grown a fandom over on Tumblr. Now if only I knew where to watch it so I could see what all the fuss is about.

It's on Disney Junior, and I think the pilot is available for streaming on the Disney website.

Also: http://www.watchcartoononline.com/anime/sofia-the-first (not sure if that will be accessible from your area though.)

Yeah, the pilot seems to be still freely available, which is somewhat surprising, given the note on the page for the show "Merchandise-Driven: Disney Junior advertised this "movie" so much, it seems like they want you to buy the movie once it comes out." I think I'm going to re-write that with information about actual merchandise, because given how widely they circulated the movie and how much they aired it, it seems obvious to me that they're not banking on making a lot of money off a DVD or downloads of it. (Edit— done. I also changed it to The Merch, as I see no strong evidence that this show is intended mainly as a vehicle to sell toys/other merchandise.)

Kinda surprised, though, that no episodes at all are on their official website yet. I checked earlier today.

I didn't notice the problematic animation in the most recent episode— may be worth a re-watch. I suppose, believe or not, I was enchanted enough by the story to not pay attention to any quality issues with the animation. I particularly enjoyed the observatory scene with the trolls.

edited 27th Jan '13 5:07:59 PM by JMQwilleran

x3 Link to the pilot on the site please? I tried finding it and nothing.

They seem to have gotten rid of it since I was last there. Sorry.

Oh. I saw "Once Upon a Princess" and thought it was still on there, but that's just a trailer.

For what it's worth, though, all of the song numbers are still freely available.

Re: Tumblr following— Sofia the Pony has already started.

http://karzlr.tumblr.com/post/41798836498/i-havent-even-seen-a-full-episode-of-sofia-the

Sorry, didn't actually read over the whole thing at first, link is a spoiler. It's getting harder and harder to avoid, sigh.

edited 30th Jan '13 1:45:48 PM by JMQwilleran

are we sighing about the pony fandom making everything ponies or just sighing about the show becoming popular?

Anyway, so what's everyone's favorite character? I think clover definitely kicks ass.

Neither, I was just sighing about that particular spoiler and the fact that it seemed like anywhere you went, there was no way to avoid it. I see the link has become broken, though.

Sofia herself is my favorite. I like the way she deals with things and I think she makes for a pretty nice heroine for the show.

edited 17th Feb '13 7:59:59 AM by JMQwilleran

Finally saw the premiere. I must admit that I'm surprised how much I liked it. It brought me back to the times of my infancy when I first discovered Disney. And I even appreciated the fact that it is obviously meant to be directed at girls who fantasize about being Disney Princesses, because it did its job very well (and creatively) in that regard. Of course I will need to watch more episodes to judge if the series lives up to its potential, but I intend to do just that.

I quite liked the most recent episode, "The Shy Princess." This is a topic that's fairly common on this type of show, but Sofia once again handled it her own special way, being a friend and offering gentle encouragement and thoughtful ideas without being pushy. And the subplot of her rabbit making friends with the shy princess's dragon was fun as well.

Nothing says cute like helping a Shrinking Violet to bloom. I hope she comes back in future episodes (don't remember her name). Minimus returned, so she probably will as well. Though she's no longer a Shrinking Violet character, but a talented musician. Her dragon was funny.

I really like that Clover is much sweeter than most cartoon rabbits. He has a snarky, selfish side, of course, but it's very toned down and he's never mean to anyone.

edited 3rd Mar '13 7:30:27 PM by Ruise

OK, I've seen seven more episodes, so I have a more solid opinion on the show now.

As I said, the show definitely works well as what it is intended, a Wish-Fulfillment series for little girls who dream of being a Disney Princess. I have a few problems with it though. The first is that, despite being an aesop-based show, sometimes the messages seem wrong or incomplete. For example, in Let the Good Times Troll, the main aesop was not to judge by appearances, and that one was handled well. But Sofia met the trolls by disobeying her father's orders and put herself in grave danger (from the old bridge, not the trolls- and note she forgot about their warning later!) She does not get reprimanded for this later, that was wrong. Also, things always turn Sophia's way; even when she lies, she ends up rewarded in the end (Like in A Royal Mess where she lies to cover for her brother, but their punishment of not going to the circus is rendered moot when the circus comes to them anyway.) She runs the risk of becoming a little Mary Sue.

Another thing that bothers me (a little, mind you) is her amulet. Wasn't it supposed to grant her a new power every time she did a good deed? AND curse her if she did something bad? So far despite all her good and wrong acts, she has gained one gift (the power to speak to animals) and never been cursed. OK, so they obviously don't want the medallion to be what drives the show. But then why add that part to start with? Why not say it just allowed her to understand animals to begin with and leave it there?

Then there's Cedric. He must be one of Disney's lamest villains ever. I get he's not supposed to be very threatening, both not to scare the kids and because Sofia and her friends would not be a match for him. But you can't help but think "How hard is it to steal a pendant when you have magic powers?" It isn't as if EVERY spell he casts backfires. Oh, and what is up with his parents? I can get his mother urging him on to be evil; it helps justify his attitude- but his father is a GOOD wizard? Who knows what his son is up to, and limits himself to just urging him to do the right thing? And he and Cedric's mother ARE STILL TOGETHER? The heck?

Now I don't want to sound like I hate the show. I'm just puzzled by some elements, but otherwise I find it great for its intended audience as well as other people. (My favorite part are the songs- well except the rap ones. Those feel completely out of place.)

Enjoyed the most recent episode, "The Princess Test." I guessed almost right away that Sofia was facing a Secret Test Of Friendship. They did a pretty good job, though, I thought, of keeping us guessing— for a while there, I was half-convinced that it wasn't actually a deliberate test.

well considering it's a show for kids

you guys are taking this show way too seriously.

Or maybe we are just discussing it from a different angle.

The "Princess Test" was OK, and I could tell the person Sofia was helping was really Fauna (since she was the only Fairy Godmother absent during the test.) It was a nice idea, and handled well (the other princesses were not chastised for not helping; it was more like extra credit.) My only problem is that it sends the message that skipping your duty to help someone you barely know will always be acceptable, and that's just not true. I wish there had been a point were Sofia had excused herself to go back to the test. As it is, it again gives you the impression that she can never lose, no matter what.

Still, overall it was a fun episode. I especially liked the subplot with Hildegaard. It was nice to see Sofia's sister helping people on her own, even if in her own prideful style.

Di$ney... Di$ney stahp...

I tend to agree with Sijo. It may be a show for kids, but I see no reason not to expect quality out of the show. I feel the same way about Arthur, and I think in general fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic feel that way too.

Anyway, Sijo regarding some of the things you brought up— yeah, I don't disagree at all, Cedric is an awful villain. I think it may be a sort of syndrome, but I'm not sure if it's tropeable— in a children's show like this, they feel that they need to have a villain, just because, but they never really wanted one from the beginning, so they just make him sort of lame/bumbling and then don't really use him much.

Re: Amulet— I had completely forgotten it was even supposed to do that. Completely agree that if it was going to be used as they said it was supposed to be, then they never should have introduced the idea in the first place.

Mary Sue, yeah, she does skirt dangerously close to this at times. I agree, it doesn't seem unreasonable that at some point she could have excused herself. And come to think of it, even if she did, she should still have been awarded full marks for helping, seeing as she was the one who was willing to stop to help, and others didn't. But she was expected for what was clearly stated to be an important test, and that's an obligation to fulfill too.

As for your recognizing it was definitely a test because you knew it was Merryweather she was helping— good point. I suppose I probably would have caught that if I had been paying more attention.

I watched 5 minutes of an episode. it had a really cool villain song...so maybe i'd like the show.

I'm not one to talk down to kids; however this is Disney Jr. we're talking about. They are the last people I expect not to talk down to kids.

Any particular reason for that? I've always thought that Disney Junior has had a fair few quality programs, both now and when it was called "Playhouse Disney."

how old are you again?

66 Sorastitch: Everything gets criticized at one point, even those that others deem minor and unimportant.

I say every criticism counts for everything.

edited 15th Aug '13 7:28:31 PM by asiacatdogblue

There's two different threads on this show but this thread is the longest one, so I'll post in this one.

The show finally ended. I wondered why I kept on seeing Sofia the First videos on my Youtube rec's. I thought it was just some special or a season finale.

I haven't watched the episode yet, but it has a nice Villain Song and I'm surprised the series mentioned the kids biological parents.