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Review of The 7D – Season 1 So Far

Review of The 7D

The 7D, Vol. 1

Season 1 – So Far

The 7D! Hi Ho! Here we go! Here’s a review of the first season so far of Disney’s newest cartoon series. It’s from Tom Ruegger of Tny Toons and Animaniavs fame! TFG1Mike gives his spoiler filled thoughts on the series so far!

Everyone knows…. or if you don’t know… The Seven Dwarfs aren’t my favorite characters in fairy tale land. December 16, 2009 OptimusSolo and I released ToonCast Classic Episode 29 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I’ve never cared for the Disney Snow White film. And you can listen to that podcast to find out why. HOWEVER with Ruegger at the helm, and nearly all the old Animaniacs writers back. They have turned The 7D into one of if not the best NEW cartoon series from Disney. There is so much to love about this show. The humor in it is of the wall gut busting laugh out loud funny. It is smartly written, and has a few emotional moments as we go along. In doing my fact checking for this show… I’ve seen things said that it takes place BEFORE Snow White meets The 7D. I am perfectly fine with this, because to me it’s like having an origin story, but not really.

7D - Queen Delightful Starchy and Yippsalot

So I don’t want to spoil everything about each episode, I’ll be giving my general thoughts on the series, and first half of the season. BECAUSE YOU NEED TO WATCH IT FOR YOURSELF! And find the funny in it. My main complaint about the Dwarfs has always been that they are portrayed as creepy old midget men who have an unhealthy attachment to Snow White. Ruegger and company basically take the dwarfs outta snow white, and place them in their own town. The town of Jollywood which is ruled over by Queen Delightful, helping the Queen are her assistant Lord Starchbottom, and her faithful pet dog Sir Yipsalot! We also have the villains of the series The Glooms! The general episode plot is that either the 7D are having their own adventure, working in the mine under Jollywood, or something like that. Then the bing bong bell goes off. This is the signal the Queen uses to summon them. It’s pretty funny how they arrive at the castle each time. Or the episodes will start off at the Castle and then The 7D are summoned. The last opening is starting with The Glooms. Plotting how they are gonna live in the castle.

The Voice Cast in The 7D is filled with voice actors and actresses we all know and love! I’m gonna cheat here just a bit and repost the cast list from the wiki article. I’ve linked the wiki article as a source below as well.

The 7D

The 7D are a group of dwarves who protect Jollywood from the Glooms and other threats. Among the members of the 7D are:

7D - Doc

Doc (voiced by Bill Farmer[1]) – Doc is the leader of the group. He comes up with various inventions to help the 7D on their missions and engineered the sky buckets transportation system for Jollywood.[4] Farmer has been the voice of Goofy, and also Sleepy in other Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs projects.[5] Farmer said that in making a new take on Doc, he pinches his voice and made him a little scatterbrained.[6]

Doc………… Voiced by the awesome Bill “Goofy” Farmer! I really enjoy how Doc thinks up all the solutions to each of the problems the Queen faces.

7D - Dopey

Dopey (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker[1]) – Dopey communicates with whistles, animal sounds, and visual gags. In an interview with Disney Examiner, Baker said that portraying Dopey was easier and allows for more freedom because he uses only animal sounds and whistles.[7]

Dopey…….. is perfect for Dee Bradley Baker who let’s face it is the  “SoundEffects Man”  of the voice over industry. As the song says Dopey’s gags are always funny. What I like about Dopey in this version is that he can communicate with many other creatures and things!!!

7D - Bashful

Bashful (voiced by Billy West[1]) – Bashful is shy and sweet. He harbors a crush on Queen Delightful and hides in embarrassment when he hears his name.[4] West describes Bashful as a sweet character who tries to catch up to the others, but likes that he has another side.[5]

Bashful… voiced by Billy West is an ingenious casting call. I love how he can hide virtually anywhere!!! Such a warmhearted character. As the Season has gone along we got to an episode titled “Bathtub Bashful” Turns out Bashful can sing!!!! Tony Galla is the singing voice of Bashful and it’s been said it’s very Elvis like. I thought that giving Bashful a talent that forced him to confront his fear was a great thing. Check out The Songs here:

7D - Grumpy

Grumpy (voiced by Maurice LaMarche[1]) – Grumpy is grouchy. In portraying Grumpy, LaMarche drew inspiration from his friend who is a stockbroker, as well as parts of Danny Devito‘s character Louie De Palma from Taxi and Jason Alexander‘s character George Costanza fromSeinfeld.[5][8]

Grumpy….. is the dwarf who is quite possibly the most awesome. He is always blowing his top, and LaMarche puts an excellent comedy beat on Grumpy’s anger. He and Starchy have a lot in common I think. They both get very angry at times, even though Starchy is more uptight than Grumpy. I loved their Stalling for Time song in Bathtub Bashful.

7D - Happy

Happy (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson[1]) – Happy is joyous and is known for breaking out into song much to the dismay of Grumpy.[9]Richardson said that he drew inspiration from fellow voice actor Jim Cummings with a “country / New Orleans” voice where he is “always upbeat, always positive,” and as “if someone just handed him a beer.” [5] Ruegger said that Richardson was the first one of the seven to be cast and his voice set the tone for casting the others.[6]

Happy is…an enigma. By that I mean his voice actor. You take what I’ve seen and heard Kevin michael Richardson do in the past…. Roles like Panthro from thundercats, Bulkhead from Transformers Prime… hell even Bishop from X-Men EMO…..take all those voices and throw them out the window. Happy’s voice is classic KMR, but it’s well.. it’s a HAPPY KMR. There has only been one time in the series to this point when he got gruff with his voice. That was when Goldilocks was visiting The 7D.

7D - sneezy

Sneezy (voiced by Scott Menville,[1]) – Sneezy has powerful sneezes and has a variety of allergies that causes him to sneeze.[10] In the episode “Welcome to the Neighborhood“, he shows off his handkerchief collection.

Sneezy is awesome!!!! Sneezing is a great way to travel apparently…. who knew! Scott Menville does a great job with the character. It doesn’t surprise me that he has a hankey collection either. He’d need to have that. There were times when before finding out that Scott is the voice of Sneezy… I thought it might have been Rob Paulsen. Which would have been awesome, but Scott does an equally awesome job.

7D - Sleepy

Sleepy (voiced by Stephen Stanton[1]) – Sleepy is always tired. In an interview with Variety, Scott Menville said that Stephen Stanton came up with over fifty different ways to snore.[11]

Sleepy can sleep anywhere! Although when the Glooms put all of Jollywood to sleep Sleepy and Sir Yipsalot had to save the day!!! That was an interesting plot line for Sleepy.

The Glooms

7D - The Glooms

Grimwold “Grim” Gloom (voiced by Jess Harnell[1]) – Grim is a warlock who is Hildy’s husband. In “Itsy Bitsy Spider Fighters,” it is revealed that Grim is afraid of spiders and ladybugs. Harnell describes him as “a bad-at-being-bad guy”. Regarding his role as a Disney villain, he said that “there’s a fine line — especially in ‘7D,’ which is a broad comedy — because you don’t want to scare little kids”.[12] He said “Grim is so awesome because he’s totally stupid but he’s got a really good heart. He’s actually not a bad guy, he’s just trying to keep up with his wife, which I guess a lot of us can relate to.”[6]

Hildy Gloom (voiced by Kelly Osbourne[13]) – Hildy is a witch and Grim’s wife. Hildy is Osbourne’s first major voiceover role;[6][14] Osbourne was asked after Disney had auditioned 300 girls. She said that she had not seen the character design, which was created before the auditions, until after she got the job. She describes Hildy as “bad with the best intentions” and calls her “my alter ego – my Sasha Fierce”.[14][15]

The Glooms are great villains for The 7D. Each scheme they come up with really is interesting and they are so gracious in defeat, because Grim and Hildy still have each other’s love. Jess Harnell and Kelly Osbourne really are the best people to voice these characters. I think my favorite appearance by them in the season so far is when they became the neighbors of The 7D.

Jollywood characters

Queen Delightful (voiced by Leigh-Allyn Baker[1]) – Queen Delightful is the ruler of Jollywood. Whenever there is trouble, she acts like a police light and siren, and then summons the 7D by pulling a rope for the Bing-Bong Bell.

Lord Starchbottom (voiced by Paul Rugg[1][16]) – Lord Starchbottom is Queen Delightful’s personal assistant. In “Itsy Bitsy Spider Fighters,” it is revealed that Lord Starchbottom is afraid of spiders. Rugg drew inspiration from Jerry Lewis, whom he and Ruegger both admire.[5]

Recurring characters

Magic Mirror (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg[17]) – The Magic Mirror serves Queen Delightful and resides in the castle’s treasure room. In the episode, “Mirror, Mirror”, the Glooms steal the Magic Mirror from Queen Delightful and replace her with a wise-cracking Not-So-Magic Mirror. After the Magic Mirror was rescued by the 7D, she falls in love with the Not-So-Magic Mirror and dates him.[4]

Crystal Ball (voiced by Jay Leno[17]) – The Crystal Ball is an artifact the Glooms use to spy on Queen Delightful.

Sir Yipsalot (voiced by Bill Farmer[18]) – Sir Yipsalot is Queen Delightful’s pet dog.[11][10] His favorite treat is pickles.[18]

Squire Peckington (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker[18]) – Squire Peckington is Queen Delightful’s pet parrot who is seen perching in her crown.[10]

Snazzy Shazam (voiced by Leigh-Allyn Baker) – Snazzy Shazam is a witch who was Hildy Gloom’s rival in school. She is the one who put 100 people to sleep with one sleepy spell.

OK So I know that was a lot of time about the voice cast. BUT I had to highlight them, because they make the show. So far The 7D has had 13 episodes. They have all been awesome. There’s not a bad thing I can say about this show. From the animation to the voice acting to the lessons they hide in each episode. The 7D is easily the BEST new cartoon on TV right now. It’s great for kids and wonderful for adults as well. My favorite parts of each episode are when Happy starts singing… and Grumpy says no, don’t, or stop. Or sometimes Grumpy will say something else similar to those denials. Leigh-Allyn Baker is the voice of Queen Delightful, and I cn barely recognize her in the role. Which means she’s a wonderful voice actress. I originally had seen her as Amy Duncan on Good Luvk Charlie. So when she appears as the Queen here I wsa kinda shocked and awed at the fact that the voice sounds nothing like what I know. The image below is from the episode when Goldilocks terrorizes JollyWood. She actually pulls off Bashful’s hat as you can see I loved that scene for how Billy West screamed.

Bashful Revealed!

Final Thoughts:

Even if you do not have kids… you owe it to yourself to watch one episode of this cartoon. If after that you don’t care for it fine. But I’m betting you’ll love it as I do. The 7D is wonderfully written, acting, and animated. It has something for everyone. No pardon me as I go watch more episodes!!!!! They are so rewatchable!

 

Review Overview

The 7D always Defeat The Glooms

The 7D it's magically delicious!

The 7D is wonderfully refreshing, engrossing, and classic Tom Ruegger style. Funny in every way! The writers bring a fresh new take on the characters and they play up the comedy angle so well.

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TFG1Mike

TFG1Mike is a geek with many interests. He has been podcasting for over a decade, and sees no stopping point in sight. From Transformers, He-Man, Batman, Comics, movies, video games, cartoons, and so much more, Mike has a zeal for the things he loves, and he will bring the hammer down on the things that he has a disdain for. He's generally a postive person, but negativity can creep in there. Mike is all about the innuendos and innuendon'ts too. You'll hear him on many of The GCRN podcasts!

2 Comments

  1. The thing that has me in awe about this show is the staff. It’s not just the writers, but the directors as well from Tom’s Warner Brothers Days who are back on the scene, and they are having a lot of fun. Plus, they are having SNEAKY fun. In the episode “Grim the Dragon”, they managed to bring back an old Animaniacs gag – Hello, Nurse. In a Disney show! In “Hildy The Good”, you had references to classic Saturday Night Live (land sharks), Shrek 2 (Giant Gingerbread Men) and Seinfeld (Lord Starchbottom with a puffy shirt). This show is amazingly sophisticated in its humor. And “The Jollywood Jam” is one of the most amazing pieces of musical animation in years. They are really hitting their stride. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

    1. agreed same here! Jollywood Jam was awesome!!!! my fav ep still at this point is bathtub bashful though…. the stalling for time song rocked lol

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