Dopey, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy and Doc from “7D” (Credit: Disney)
Disney Junior’s show “7D” is a modernized re-purposing of Snow White’s seven dwarfs. Seven dwarfs equals 7D: a name that sounds more like a tween pop band. The show is full of veteran voice work from some of the industry’s best, and Emmy award winning writers and producers. Despite this, the end result doesn’t seem to come together as well as it should.
Lord Starchbottom and Queen Delightful from “7D” (Credit: Disney)
Basically, the 7D are called upon by Queen Delightful (Leigh-Allyn Baker, “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”) and Lord Starchbottom (Paul Rugg, “Animaniacs”) of Jollywood to thwart the Glooms, Hildy (Kelly Osborne, “Fashion Police”) and Grim (Jess Harnell, “Animaniacs”) and their plans to overthrow the queen.
All of the original dwarfs are there, and their traits are exaggerated. Happy (Kevin Michael Richardson, “Uncle Grandpa”) sings annoying songs gleefully, much to Grumpy’s (Maurice LaMarche, “Pinky and the Brain”) repeated annoyance. Doc (Bill Farmer, “Goof Troop”) is the bearded Phineas and Ferb with his tendency to have just the right improbable plot device needed to save the day. Dopey (Dee Bradley Baker, “Avatar the Last Airbender”) apes Harpo Marx. Bashful (Billy West, “Invader Zim”), Sneezy (Scott Menville, “Teen Titans”), and Sleepy (Steven Stanton, “Star Wars: Clone Wars”) are just sort of there.
Hildy and Grim Gloom from “7D” (Credit: Disney)
It was hard for me to watch the first episode, The Long Long Winter, in one sitting. The writers reuse the same four jokes over and over again as if to say, “You don’t think this is funny? You probably don’t get it. Here, let me repeat myself.” The Gloom’s first plot is to capture Jollywood Joe the Spring Chicken, a magical beast whose clucking brings Spring. With the kingdom frozen in eternal winter, the Glooms would be free to move in. The 7D go on a barely coherent quest to bring Joe back.
The second episode, Itsy Bitsy Spider Fighters, fares better. The 7D are summoned to dispose of a spider in the castle, with Grumpy taking the lead in the mission. When the Glooms hear the summons they are shocked that there is trouble in Jollywood that they didn’t cause. To rectify that, Hildy transforms Grim into a giant spider. Grumpy is more or less the Sylvester to Grim’s Kangaroo in a plot that resembles the old Looney Tunes schtick where a Kangaroo switches place with a mouse.
Happy, Bashful, Dopey, Queen Delightful, Sir Yipsalot, Lord Starchbottom, small spider, and Grumpy from “7D” (Credit: Disney)
When it came to the voice work, it was full of familiar voices, but they seemed to compete with rather than complement one another. Additionally, having so many seasoned voice actors made a newcomer like Kelly Osborn really stick out. This might not be the best thing since she is half of the pair of primary antagonists, but it may lessen as she grows more accustomed to the characters.
The theme song is a horribly cheesy pop remix of “Heigh-Ho.” Both the first and the second episode has musical number, but the rest of the music is pretty forgettable. In particular Happy’s song is terrible in that it was a poorly executed joke.
Visually, the show is colorful, but often the animation looks a little off. The redesigned dwarfs look like lawn gnomes dressed in discarded, lost and found miscellany. Some of the facial expressions look wooden, as if the script and the art style aren’t quite in synch.
Hildy and Spider Grim from “7D” (Credit: Disney)
Overall, it was not the fun it promised to be. Maybe down the line it will get better, but I’m not willing to be along for that mine ride. I do not want the “7D.”
Writing 🙂
Visual Style 🙂 🙂
Audio 🙂 🙂 🙂
Intro 🙂 🙂
Continue to watch? No way.
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