A Visit To The Hundred Acre Wood: Can We Talk about Darby

Now I had gone back and forth over whether or not, I wanted to do a Can We Talk about for this event but I decided to go ahead with this.  Darby first appeared in 2007's My Friends Tigger & Pooh.   Now by that time,  I had grown out of the type of shows that she was in, My Friends Tigger & Pooh was a Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior show.   Now Darby was a new character created for the show and is considered a replacement for Christopher Robin.  Now this is where my problem with the character comes in.

As you see, I have no problems with new characters but making a new character that is a replacement for a classic character is something that just bugs me.   Now, yes I do know that Christopher Robin while an important character is not seen often in the TV shows but still, to say that Darby is a replacement for him is jarring. Now Christopher Robin has appeared alongside Darby in My Friends Tigger & Pooh.

  

Now there have been rumblings that Darby is either Christopher Robin's younger sister or little cousin but I only found this online.   From what I can tell, it appears to only be fan speculation and never actually confirmed in the show.    But I honestly don't believe that because there seems to resemblance between the two and plus the idea of Christopher Robin  having a little sister makes this character feel even more contrived and forced.     Because one should take into consideration  the character of Christopher Robin is based on A.A Milne's son of the same name and if I'm not mistaken Milne only had one child. So not only does that come across as a slap in the face to the fans of Disney's Pooh but also to it's origin of creation by saying  that Darby is the younger sister of Christopher Robin. Oh, sure there is the argument that in some adaptions, Christopher's last name is Robin but that is flimsy because once again these stories were supposed to be  about an only child and his toys and his father created these stories for him.  

Now another problem I have with her and this show in general is that it comes off as though is ripping off Dora by doing the stupid version of talking to a child that feels as though, the characters are talking down to the children. Honestly, I think Sesame Street is the only show to have pulled that off well.     Darby's voice actress, Chloe Moretz does a good job. By the way, yes that is the same girl that played Hit Girl in Kick-Ass.

 Now yes,  I know Kessie was a new character and so was Gopher but I feel that they're different than Darby.  Well,  okay that's not entirely true as Gopher was meant to replace Piglet when the shorts were first around but Piglet was eventually added but even then, I still think it's different and Gopher  had established himself as a Pooh character but I think with Darby, it  just felt forced. At the end of the day,  this is just one of those things that bugs me a little bit.  

 I realize I have a lot of strong emotions towards this character but that is mainly because again as I've been saying throughout,  you should not try to replace a classic character and  the idea that we are supposed to accept the fact that she replaced Christopher Robin does not bode well with me.   The friendship between Pooh and Christopher Robin  is one of the most important elements of any Pooh story.    We will see that with Pooh's Grand Adventure,   replacing him with this new character just feels as though they were stomping on the legacy and importance of their friendship.   Which is something that cannot be overlooked.  

Replacing Christopher Robin is a decision I'll never understand. Honestly, this show was called My Friends, Tigger & Pooh and they're Christopher Robin's friends. So there is no reason that he couldn't have been in this show.   Look I get that this show was meant for a younger generation but did you really have to replace one of the most important characters and also these are Christopher Robin's  toys and he is supposed to be the one having adventures and telling stories with them. Each of the emotions of the toys were meant to reflect a different part of his personality and your really screw that over with Darby.  Well, that's all I have to say on this character. Join me next time as I take a look at an episode of...