| Lady Lovely Locks | |
|---|---|
| Logo of the series. | |
| Also known as | Lady Lovely Locks and the Pixietails |
| Created by | Andy Heyward |
| Written by | Jack Olesker |
| Directed by | Bernard Deyriès |
| Starring | Tony St. Vincent |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 [1] |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Andy Heyward |
| Producers | Andy Heyward Tetsuo Katayama |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | DIC Enterprises Paramount Television Those Characters from Cleveland |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication |
| Release | April 4 – June 6, 1987 [2] [3] |
Lady Lovely Locks and the Pixietails is a character property created by American Greetings subsidiary Those Characters from Cleveland (creators of Strawberry Shortcake , Care Bears and Popples among others) in the mid-1980s which soon expanded into a toyline by Mattel. An animated television series produced by DIC Animation City was produced in 1987, running for a single series of ten half-hour episodes (each consisting of two segments); and was syndicated by LBS Communications on the Kideo TV strand. [4]
Lady Lovely Locks is the princess of the Kingdom of Lovely Locks. She and her friends are aided by the Pixietails in keeping the kingdom safe from its enemies. Among the hero characters of the show are Lady Lovely Locks, Maiden Fair Hair, Maiden Curly Crown, the Pixietails, Prince Strong Heart, Shining Glory, Silky Pup (a puppy), and Silky Mane (a pony). [5] The main villains are Duchess Ravenwaves, Hairball and Comb Gnomes, the latter of whom tend to speak in rhyme. The show was cancelled after one season. [6]
The series was produced by the French and Japanese animators of Rainbow Brite and Jem , among other 1980s cartoons. The music for the series was composed by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban and supervised by Marty Wereski. The original "Lady Lovely Locks" theme song was composed by Shuki Levy and produced by the music department of Saban Productions and performed by Donna De Lory. The original full theme song can be heard on Shuki Levy's official website.
Hi-Tops Video released five Lady Lovely Locks videos in the 1980s. These videos have since reappeared on the market. They resurfaced as part of the DVD set "Girls Rule Vol. 1" which included the following cartoon series: Jem, Rainbow Brite, and Lady Lovely Locks. Several of the episodes are also available on a DVD in the "Biggest DVD Ever" series for Lady Lovely Locks. Two episodes have never been collected except on the Australian VHS edition. As of 2024, the series is currently owned by WildBrain. [7]
| No. | Title | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "To Save My Kingdom" "Cruel Pretender" | Jack Olesker | April 4, 1987 |
| 2 | "Vanished" "The Wishing Bone" | Jack Olesker | April 11, 1987 |
| 3 | "The Discovery" "The Lake of Reflections" | Jack Olesker Jody Miles Conner | April 18, 1987 |
| 4 | "The Menace of Mirror Lake" "Blue Moon" | Phil Harnage | April 25, 1987 |
| 5 | "The Bundle" "In the Kingdom of Ice" | Howard R. Cohen Phil Harnage | May 2, 1987 |
| 6 | "The Power and the Glory" "Prince's Broken Heart" | Jeff Rose Howard R. Cohen | May 9, 1987 |
| 7 | "The Noble Deed" "The Doubt" | Jack Olesker Susan J. Leslie | May 16, 1987 |
| 8 | "The Dragon Tree" "The Capture" | Jack Olesker | May 23, 1987 |
| 9 | "The Keeper" "The Rally" | Jack Olesker | May 30, 1987 |
| 10 | "Fire in the Sky" "To Take a Castle" | Jack Olesker | June 6, 1987 |
The Pixietails are fairy-like animals, who help Lady Lovely Locks whenever she is in need for a problem or whenever someone is in trouble. Lady's Pixietails are rabbit-like, FairHair's Pixietails are squirrel/chipmunk-like, and CurlyCrown's Pixietails are bird-like.
Dragons exist in the kingdom. They can breathe fire and have wings to fly with. Instead of hatching from eggs, newborn dragons are born from the Dragon Tree. A plant called Dragon’s Hair has some connection.
The Lady Lovely Locks toyline was created by Those Characters from Cleveland and produced by Mattel from 1987 to 1989. The toyline consists of character dolls that are approximately 8.5 inches tall, with certain dolls having long, colorful locks. [8] Most dolls came with three to four Pixietails (small plastic squirrel-like animals with long silky tails). The Pixietails could be worn in the hair of either the doll or the child. Additional items in the toyline included other pets and playsets.
A number of tie-in books were released alongside the toyline and animated series. Among these books are "An Enchanting Fairy-Tale Adventure", "For the Love of Lovely Locks", "Lady Lovely Locks Original Story" (1987), "Silkypup Saves the Day", "Silkypup's Butterfly Adventure" (1987) and "The Golden Ball".
In the eighth season episode of the series That '70s Show , "Killer Queen", the character Randy says: "Donna, Hyde's already given me a nickname. It's Mrs. Lady Lovely Locks". This is an anachronism, as the Lady Lovely Locks toyline and animated TV series were released in the mid-1980s.
A customised version of the tape was chosen by film critic Gene Siskel as his worst gift for the 1987 holiday season during the Holiday Gift Guide episode of Siskel & Ebert. [9]
In Germany, ten audio tapes were produced by Europa, which extended on and continued the storylines that were never resolved by the short-lived animated TV series. Not only did the tapes dive into Lady's childhood, but they also resolved Prince StrongHeart's curse by turning him human, featured the couple's wedding and the birth of their daughter, as well as the infant's kidnapping by Duchess RavenWaves and her glorious rescue. While each character had her or his own voice actor, the series was narrated by Hans Paetsch. The voice actors differed from those used in the animated series.
In Germany, the first three episodes (six, counting the way Germans numbered them) were released on three VHS tapes. The tapes contain these episodes dubbed in German with the opening theme and closing credits as well as a TV commercial for the Lady Lovely Locks dolls.
In November 2015, the entire series was released on DVD in Germany containing both German and English audio tracks (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) under the name "Lady Lockenlicht" which translates into "Lady Locks Light". It uses the broadcast TV material as seen on German television, which is 1:1 identical to the English video material except that it is converted to PAL and therefore slightly faster than the original NTSC format (PAL-SpeedUp).