Did not see that one coming! Pepper Ann, the first Disney TV Animation series created by a woman and one of the many missing “One Saturday Morning” block cartoons is about to stream for the first time ever! Disney+ announced seasons 1-3 would be arriving September 8th. Here is where it gets complicated. There are 5 seasons listed on Wikipedia. People are freaking out – did Disney finally digitize and add the series only to leave half the episodes off?
We don’t think so. Disney has been regularly adding older cartoons with seasons merged. This is the 4th or 5th time people have been concerned that episodes would be missing from an announced series only to find when they series arrived everything was there, but smushed together differently from what they expected.
Recess (1997-2001) is another example (considered 6 seasons but Disney+ combined them into 3) and it too aired on the One Saturday Morning block. This is likely a result of older records being incomplete or inconsistent. Does it matter? No. What matters is the content is present and in order.
It doesn’t help when certain news sites report “first 3 seasons of Pepper Ann are coming” so we reached out to Disney+ seeking clarification of whether or not all episodes or just some. If we hear back we’ll update you!
The same issue is present with Rolie Polie Olie. Listed on Wikipedia as 6 seasons, but only 5 are advertised. Rolie Polie Olie originally aired on Disney Channel and later aired as part of the inaugural Playhouse Disney programming block lineup which itself eventually morphed into Disney Junior! In 2020 the creator suggested new episodes were in the works. Hopefully this means Disney+ will house them!
Not surprisingly, Pepper Ann trended all day on Twitter. Shades of The Muppet Show announced back in January. At some point, the content team needs to take in all these signs and ramp up their pace of adding classic titles that are completely new to streaming. Both of these being 90s cartoons gives hope to fans of the many missing 90s – 00s Disney TV Animation cartoons that they may actually arrive.
Some frequently requested missing Disney TVA cartoons from this same timeframe are PB & J Otter (1998-2000), Aladdin the Series (1994-1995), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001), The Weekenders (2000-2004), Lloyd in Space (2001-2004), Legend of Tarzan (2001-2003), House of Mouse (2001-2003), and Fillmore! (2002-2004). It’s a pity Lloyd in Space, Tarzan, and House of Mouse are all missing their 20th anniversary – a prime time to add them.
Here are synopsis and opening titles for the two upcoming additions to the Disney Plus library.
Pepper Ann
The quirky adventures of a 12-year-old girl trying to get through life with her family and friends.
Rolie Polie Olie
Olie, his sister Zowie, and his best friend Billy live as robots and discover the values of friendship, family, and growing up to be a great kid.
Are you super stoked to see these two classic cartoons arriving on Disney+ shortly? Which cartoons are you still waiting for?
Drew Ryan is a film, TV, and Disney geek. He has degrees in English, Student Personnel Administration, and Library & Information Science from Lawrence University, Concordia University-Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Interested in the minutia and licensing of streaming service content, he is always publishing lists, suggestions, and advocating for Disney’s missing library to be added to Disney+. Drew subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount+. You can find him waxing nostalgic over classic Disney Channel or geeking out over Marvel, CW shows, & Disney on Twitter.
