pepperan was an absolutely radical show that's accurate terminology for the 90s
in this era of cartoon renaissance the variety of stories characters and settings shown off
gave everyone not just one but a handful of personal favorite shows to gravitate to
but with this abundance a lot of cartoons could easily be overlooked that was the case for me
with pepperan i personally wasn't aware of this show until the tail end of its series run
as much as i enjoyed a lot of the disney channel for me the 90s were dominated by nickelodeon and
cartoon network primarily over time the show went from disney's one saturday morning's programming
block to some reruns on disney channel and their sister channel tune disney and by 2008 the show
stopped being circulated so there were some substantial re-run legs but it got overshadowed
and overlooked compared to the constant barrage of cartoons the 2000s would bring so in retrospect
i've had this vague memory of watching the show but not retaining much as it had been out of my
consciousness for some time now but in working on other videos for the channel the name pepperan has
started creeping its way back from the recesses of my brain i said recesses so i truly wanted
to scratch that itch and re-watch pepperan one problem though there has been no proper way to
watch it with it no longer being on the air with those reruns and no official dvd release until
now as of september 8 2021 disney has released the show on disney plus for a new generation
to discover and for the nostalgic gremlins like myself to relive a part of their childhood so with
that being said i've spent the past several days binging the show and letting these memories wash
back over me and honestly learned a lot about this fascinating show that was a quintessential product
of the 90s peperan was a unique and quirky look at the early teen life through the lens of a pre-teen
girl while also making history as the first disney animated series ever created by a woman the next
woman created animated series from disney would not be for another 17 years until 2015 with daryn
nefc's star vs the forces of evil first premiering on september 13th 1997 pepperan like i mentioned
earlier aired as a part of disney channel's one saturday morning cartoon block for five seasons
until its final episode on november 18th 2000. the series was created and written by sue rose and at
the time advertising executive and cartoonist and co-written by cbs news correspondent harvard alum
and later cooking show host morocco for the sake of the dog please let me go the world of pepper
anne was an episodic slice of life series that follows around red-headed 7th grader
pepperan pearson as she navigates life at hazelnut middle school with a cast of friends and family
backing her up through the hilarious fantasies she experiences now these fantasies which are normally
driven by peperan's emotional response to a situation were a major defining aspect of the show
with several bizarre and entertaining scenarios being played out in pepperan's mind throughout
an episode as her imagination ran away with her often resulting in the source of pepperhan's drama
for example in the first episode cinderella when pepperan develops a pimple the day before school
pictures she dreams up a world where her only future prospect is as pimple anne a low paid
hunchback phantom of the opera mask wearing brick oven pizza operator at the pizza pit
a quirky little detail is that after the first few episodes at the end of the banger intro song
where she would find five dollars underneath her desk at school there would start being a
new gag every episode where she would find weird stuff like a mood ring and even the letter q for
quirky hey that's neat don't go away pepper anne will be right back now back to pepper
backing up pepper and through her stressful middle school days as her best friends nikki
little a fellow 7th grader who is just a bit too perfect and the always mellow milo kamilani the
show had a plethora of supporting characters that were heavily featured throughout the show's run
such as pepperan's classmate dieter lederhosen who had moved here from germany and throughout
the series is revealed to be the secret crush of several characters in the show there's principal
hickey who is constantly trying to run away from pepperon's crazy misadventures and because of all
the mishaps that pepperan gets into really is the only antagonist of the show and even craig
bean the hazelnut 8th grader and pepperance lovage well everyone's love interest honestly he just has
this certain look about him with the sunglasses and the way his hair is parted even has braces
like he has the full tic toc starter kit right here pepper anne herself is a snarky tomboyish
character who breaks away from the mold of other teen female protagonists of the time she was a
bold confident character who controlled her own story instead of being a side piece of someone
else's it was one of the first times a female main character of a featured tv show operated like this
as a quirky well-defined character who moved past the 90s cultural feminine norms breaking
the narrow stereotypes that female characters often fell into during this era as well as being
a prominent footnote for strong female leads going forward this show locked so kim possible
could run even more of note this standard of fully developed unique characters was applied to all of
the female presenting characters in this show from pepper anne and her friends to pepperon's
little sister moose a young child who found her truth in a gentle rejection of femininity and
gender norms in general and pepper's mom a single mother raising two children with care compassion
and determination another way they broke out of the formulaic mold was by having pepperan's
parents be divorced her father chuck while rarely in the show itself is scarcely detailed into who
he is in general we actually don't even see his face until the episode that's my dad
emphasizing the distance her and her father have and the struggles that come from divorced parents
especially at a young age kind of surprising to see a deep-rooted internal and external struggle
like this play out as some major plot points not only in the story but in character development as
well even bit too perfect nikki little is shown to have multiple dimensions through the series
with a great example being season 4 episode 15 the amazing becky little in this episode
nikki deals with the jealousy she feels towards her nearly perfect and greatly fond over older
sister becky when she comes to visit for their parents anniversary these feelings of jealousy
and inadequacy were highlighted by nikki stumbling at her audition for the hazelnut junior orchestra
despite pepperan and milo's best efforts to help her due to her fear of swans it is this fear
and this failure that gives nicki the chance to reconcile with her older sister who suffers
through a similar feeling of inadequacy towards nikki before eventually going on to finish her
audition pepper ann's quirky ways began long before she ever appeared on disney as a cartoon
originally pepper anne was created by sue rose as a teenaged comic strip character who talked
to herself about her inner feelings for the teen magazine ym the at the time longest running girl
focused magazine in the country there pepper anne carried much of the same messages and
attitude as her later animated counterpart with major differences being in design and the cast
of background characters it was later on that a friend of rose suggested that she should try and
pitch pepperan as a tv show so they went and had a nice lunch no they went and pitched the show
obviously rose already had some experience with animation and production companies as one of the
co-creators of fido dido a cartoon character and later pepsico mascot who was featured in numerous
ads and commercials for the company using that experience she worked out a storyline aged pepper
and down a few years created a supporting cast and pitched it to nickelodeon in 1995.
nick ended up turning the pitch down feeling the character looked a bit too similar to fido
dido hey at least it's better than all the adult animated shows coming out today that all look the
same i mean come on if i took away any of these shows names and told you they were any of the
other shows here instead you wouldn't be the wiser nobody's gonna know nobody's gonna know they're
gonna know nobody's gonna know they're gonna know rose then approached tom warburton and animator
rose had worked with previously when developing fido dido to help redesign her character in order
to give them a more unique look while this redesign did not get nickelodeon to pick up
the series disney eventually did and added it to their morning cartoon roster a formal reason for
why the show was eventually canceled has never been stated but fans of the show simply chalked
the cancellation up to disney's stupidity hey at least it had several seasons if nick did pick it
up it probably would have lasted like one before they shoved it on nick dunes and let it slowly
fade into obscurity maybe then disney would have pulled a dug and stole it over and given
it its first movie and it's only movie during and after pepperan's success sue rose went on to be
involved with several other works that challenge stereotypical gender norms and characterizations
while looking at the world with a more open three-dimensional view such works includes
the cartoon angela anaconda if you've ever seen the digimon movie you know what that
is for sure which carried very similar themes of self-expression and confidence as pepper anne as
well as sue would create the nickelodeon show unfabulous which took a look at early teen hood
in an earnest and lighthearted way yeah i'll say it unfabulous was extremely underrated don't at
me peperan's characterization as a spunky well-rounded stereotype-defying protagonist
has made it a well-beloved childhood show for many that is often cited as an underappreciated
narrative on the growth the 90s underwent in regard to gender roles and gender equality
fans of the show now have the chance to re-watch the iconic series after 22 years as disney has
recently put pepperan on disney plus where can be enjoyed as well by a whole new generation i wish
i had given this show some more attention when it was originally airing but i am glad i got to
watch it growing up through mostly reruns and now being able to jump back into it as an adult
and appreciate how ahead of the time it was and what it helped pave the way for pepperan is a
certified classic gem in my book and i implore you to give it a watch i appreciate you checking out
this video let me know your thoughts on pepperan down below in the comments make sure to hit that
like and subscribe for more content like this i'll see you soon with a new video but until then later
you