'Peter Pan and the Pirates' very quickly not only became one of my favourite animated shows but also one of my favourites ever. Of all the adaptations of 'Peter Pan', it's also my personal favourite.
All the characters are not only interesting but remarkably complex, especially Hook, even when not looking like Barrie's Hook all the character traits of the character are fully explored and expanded upon. The show is advantaged furthermore by good animation (with some exceptions here and there). Great music particularly the theme tune, one of the best of any animated 90s show. Remarkably good writing that had real maturity and a wide range of emotions rare in animated shows today. Gripping and imaginative stories that maintain the spirit of Barrie's source material while expanding on the themes, events and characterisation. And really excellent voice acting, for one of the most talented voice actors in the business and near-unequalled in villain roles Captain Hook contains some of the best work Tim Curry has ever done.
"The Play's the Thing" has always been one of my favourite 'Peter Pan and the Pirates' episodes and one of the show's most special episodes. My only small nit-pick is Wendy's ignorance towards what is actually in the story of 'Romeo and Juliet' (to her it's just a love story with no deaths) knew when quite a bit younger than her that the story was the opposite of what she said it to be.
Animation is vibrant and detailed, the characters drawn with smoothness and nuance. This is the best Hook has looked since perhaps "Living Pictures". The music is a great mix of lively, haunting and lush, the theme tune immediately sticks in one's head and never leaves it.
Writing is as mature, intelligent and emotionally complex as one would expect, never feeling dumbed down for adults or too complicated for children. The episode contains some of the best and cleverest writing of the show, with Hook having some of his most quotable lines and a couple of the most priceless coming from Starkey and Mullins, while Shakespeare has rarely been this well and entertainingly adapted, hilariously butchered and performed in animation.
Story is incredibly absorbing, with every character serving a never less than entertaining role in it. Seeing a more sophisticated side to Hook, and also the most sophisticated and most intelligent of all Hooks in any adaptation of 'Peter Pan' was a delight, and there should have been more examples in the show of Hook being an actor and dramatist because he is brilliant at them. It was not a surprise that the pirates were going to mess up catastrophically, how it's done is so well done that it's part of the fun and not a flaw.
Every character as ever is well written, loved the pirate crew especially where you see even more of their personalities come out. Starkey is hilarious. Likewise with the Lost Boys and Peter has strengths and flaws, like how Barrie wrote him. Hook steals the show easily. The voice acting is as great as one would expect, phenomenal in the case of Tim Curry, born for Hook and for Shakespeare.
Overall, one of the best 'Peter Pan and the Pirates' episodes. 10/10 Bethany Cox