Your earliest memories of TLM

[Random Prince]

What are some of your earliest memories relating to TLM and its characters.?

Watching TLM is one of the things I remember most clearly from being a baby. In particular, I remember during PoYW, when Ariel sings "warm on the sand" and stretches out on her back, I used to think she was completely flat, like a pancake! I know there are loads of other things I used to completely misinterpet, but I can't think of any right now.

The only part of the movie that used to really scare me was when Eric's eyes turned yellow. I don't think I even knew what was going on in the scene with giant Ursula and everything, because that never bothered me at all.

Our video of TLM apparently came with the Sing Along Songs cover by mistake, which we must have taken out, because I only ever saw it in the empty case with a small picture of Ariel slipped inside. It was the same picture they used for the cardboard cutout in those promotional pictures of Sherri Stoner. I hated that picture at the time and I can vivdly remember the day when we finally threw it out and made our own artwork. My mum drew it with marker pens and it didn't exactly turn out amazing, but I was very happy with it anyway and I've kept it ever since. I can see it on the shelf right now.

Aside from the movie, I remember the swimming pool in our town having a big mural of Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian on the wall, but they'd seriously screwed up Ariel's face and I swear it looked terrifying. Nobody else seemed to think so, but I always hated going in there!

There's plenty more where that came from, but that's enough for now. I want to hear some of your memories!

[Rena Bam Bena x3]

I remember I got the Ariel doll that you could play with in the bath whose tail changes color in water and the Eric doll with matching swim trunks! I'd sing PoYW with the dollie and I reacted the last part where she's on the rock and her hair is all puffy
For some reason I didn't like Ursula on the 1998 release VHS cover. My Mimi's house (well, it's our house now) was right by a Kroger and they used to give out these "Thanks for Krogering!" stickers with 3 different colored smiley faces. I took the sticker and put it right on Ursula's Face! So there's this sticker on my VHS cover
I used to have an Ariel wallet which I thought was the coolest thing ever and I had until the sixth grade! I don't know where it went :( Oh and it had a foamy green fish to keep in shut that my kitties would chew on!! Lol

Those are the ones that stick out in my mind right now

[Zavi]

I think I had the fin color-changing Ariel doll, too! There have probably been plenty of moments when Little!Zavi pretended to be a mermaid in the bathtub, but I don't remember any. Never had any Eric merchandise, but I had a giant sheepdog plushie. Probably not Max, but if I ever find him again, I'll call him that.

My mom said that "The Little Mermaid" was the first movie I went "gaga" over. I'm not sure if she meant that literally or figuratively. XD

I remember King Triton used to remind me of my dad--not because he sheltered me or was too harsh, but I think he had the same kind of intimidating air that Triton has. I don't mean that in a bad way, though.

I think I was in shock the first time I found out Flounder didn't look like any of his real-life counterparts.

Also, I just assumed Carlotta and Louie were married. I don't know quite when that stuck--probably when I was fairly little--but I never questioned it. I just went through years of my life thinking that they were, until I watched the movie months ago and realized that there wasn't anything that hinted Carlotta and Louie were married. Guess I'm a little slow on the uptake.

I remember watching certain episodes of the TV show over and over again. When I watched them on YouTube for the first time in at least ten years, the nostalgia poured in.

TLM never quite scared me as a little kid. Jodi's said something about her scenes being a little frightening, but when I was little I was only frightened of Snow White and a certain Pooh TV episode. I was a strange child...

[ariel101]

My earlyest memorie of TLM was when i got my first Ariel thing and Ariel. Which was tropical splash ariel doll. Also watching the tv series.us And i loved singing poyw. There is a lot more but it would take like two pages.

[Frodo]

my earliest tlm memory is the first time i saw it. i was in kindergarten and from time to time they gathered all the kids in the room with the TV and VCR where we watched cartoons. and i remember that after seeing it all the kids sang 'aaaaah aaa aaaah aaa' for weeks we really liked that part, it was a big hit. and i fell in love with the movie and ariel and i wanted to be a mermaid. and i remember i asked my grandma to knit me a mermaid tail

[arielnmelody]

I have a few memories. I remember when TLM came out on the big screen and I wanted to see it really badly. I didnt get to because my fater was terminal and we had to move to where he could get help. Which happed to be sunny key-west florida. Where I would be at the beach on the weekends and I pretended I was Ariel and I would swim around. That xmas my sister bought me TLM on VHS (with the banned cover)(it wasnt banned yet at this point) I watched the heck out of that video. I learned POYW By heart. At recess me and some other little girls would hold a singing contese all singing POYW of corse and I would always win. That year I was riding my bike I fell off of it. I broke the cap off of my elbow. I had to have surgey. My mom asked what I wanted when I came out of surgery I told her an Ariel doll. So when I woke up there she was. A tyco Ariel doll. the one that came with the tourof the kingdom dress. I dont have her or the video anymore due to moving around:( years go by many years that is Ill say fast forward to 2002 while I was pregnant. I was at my friends house who had the video. So I watched it and me being my pregnant hormonal self cried and sang through the whole thing. lol I cried of joy and of memories. Also my father was a lot like king triton. He passed when I was young and when TLM made an impression on me. When my dad passed I didnt get to say goodbye. So everytime at the end of the movie even when I was little when she says goodbye daddy. I cry. lol I know I know. Its okay though. I dont mind sharing with you guys. I hope I didnt bring any of you guys down. Its just meyfeelings.

[lilredsippycup]

My mom got me the original doll that came out right before the movie was released in theaters. i was 4 at the time, and thought she was a mermaid, and you know what? Mermaids don't have toes. So I bit them off.... My mom thought it was so funny. She still tells people 20 years later.....

[Random Prince]

Wow, Violet, TLM holds some very special memories for you! Thank you for sharing that story. I can relate to the part about seeing the movie again after many years. I watched it all the time when I was really young and although I never stopped liking it, as I got older, a few years went by when I didn't actually sit down and watch it. I think I was about 11 or 12 when I realised, so I put it on and I was totally mesmerised. Like you said, there were all those happy memories and yet it was even better than I remembered. I was welling up at the end, which wasn't like me at all!

Feb 5, 2009 18:42:40 GMT -5 Frodo said:

after seeing it all the kids sang 'aaaaah aaa aaaah aaa' for weeks we really liked that part, it was a big hit.

Worryingly enough I still find myself doing that sometimes! Most people whistle or hum, I apparently sing mermaid scales. I hope it's not just me.

[tnadav1]

Well,I think that The Little Mermaid was my first movie.
I watched the movie many times,and I used to sing POYW and UTS,I espically remember the POYW Reprise.
My VHS was with the Jungle Book together and I used to want the re-release VHS.
I used to have lots of Ariel toys,many,I had 3 Flounder plushies (I still have the mini one from McDonalds) and even a Sebastian plush,I don't know what happened to them thought,if I still had them today I whouldn't give up on them,I even had all the 5 Little Mermaid toys from McDonalds that they had for the re-release and I watched other version of Little Mermaid.
Also in the re-release (In 1990?) I actually went to see it in theater.
There wasn't a scene that scared me,ever.
And Random Prince-I have the Under The Sea volume of the Sing Along Songs,I also don't like the Ariel clipart on the box.

[ameliafish]

This is a great thread! I was 8 or so when this came out and my earliest memories of the Little Mermaid are actually sitting in the theatre. I remember my dad laughing really hard at the line from POYW "betcha on land they understand that they don't reprimand their daughters..."
I also rember thinking that the reason Triton and Ursula hated each other was because they were secretly brother and sister. I watch alot of soap operas as a kid with my grandmother, so I was always seeing way more than was there.
I was also very very surprised by the ending. The anime version Anderson Dowya.... was my favorite movie as a kid so I was very used to the Hans Christian Anderson sad ending. I know I was both happy and disapointed...and I loved telling people how it really ended!
For weeks after the movie I played mermaid in the pool with my cousin, and we spent way too long arguing about which of us should be Ariel. I managed to get my parents to get me all the MacDonalds toys despite the fact that none of us like MacDonalds food. I also got my grandmother to dye my hair red, but fortunately (I looked awful) it quickly washed out.

[Rena Bam Bena x3]

Feb 5, 2009 19:54:59 GMT -5 lilredsippycup said:

\i was 4 at the time, and thought she was a mermaid, and you know what? Mermaids don't have toes. So I bit them off.... My mom thought it was so funny. She still tells people 20 years later.....

Haha that's great!

Omg, I totally just remember my Little Mermaid bike!! It was the greatest thing in the entire world. It was pinkish-purpleish. It had pom-poms on the side of the grips on the handle bar and it had pictures of Ariel on little round cards in the wheels. I still have the little backpack that went on the front of the handlebars. I learned how to ride without training wheels on that bike

[PrinceAdam]

My tale with Ariel is a long one.

I had to think quite a bit about this. When I was around 7 or 8 we lived in Georgia and my oldest brother would babysit. This girl he would watch loved the movie and would want to watch it constantly, sometimes 3 times a night. I would watch it with her, perhaps more intently than she did. We only had the VHS. I would pretend I had a tail when we would go to the base pool. I was in love (I think...) with Ariel, Jean Grey and Rogue from the X-Men, and ... *sigh* Judy Jetson. That's a demon I never thought I'd have to face again. Judy far more than the other 3 I think. I didn't know really what to make of these feelings and I thought I was completely weird, being a boy that liked something a girl would normally like...

Later in life but still in Georgia, we lived there for 4 years, I was close friends with this girl named Adrian, we were almost best friends I would say, though we never tried to keep in contact, our parents were in the military so we moved around every 4 to 8 years. Some of my best memories of us were riding the bus to school, she had a tape player and The Little Mermaid sound track.

That would put me around... 12 to 13 I think, we had to move, overseas to Germany, for another 4 years, and my interests subsided but they were still there. From Germany to New Mexico for a bit, Dad retired, then we moved to Arizona.

The Arizona schools were a bit rough for our tastes, having grown up around Department of Defense schools, they don't put up with anything from the kids, the kids respect the teachers, the standards are higher compared to public schools (at least when I went) - we were shocked to find actual armed police officers on the school grounds. We asked the registration desk what was going on, we were informed it was run of the mill and business as usual. We left with due haste.

So the next step was to do homeschooling for my high school diploma. Got that in a short amount of time, I think I had that when I was 19. I graduate high school and my girlfriend Diane breaks up with me. This was my first and only girlfriend up to that point, I was absolutely crushed, I had never known what having someone completely dump on you was like. Additionally, we had been going out since we were almost 16, I kept in contact with her after she moved from Clovis to the other town she moved to, even after we moved away to Arizona as well, and even after she moved from that other town to Oklahoma. My one condition of getting to visit Oklahoma to see her was graduating, which I did, then wham, I got hit with the news.

After 3 weeks, I was kind of over it. Due to a lot of crying, bike riding, and having the support of our Dalmatian Augie, no other animal will know you're hurting quite like a dog I think. Then there was me breaking into her email account and wiping out all her emails plus address book, then changing the password. I think that helped the most. The blinding rage of a nerd, I tell you to fear it!

3 weeks go by, Dad tells me get a job or go to school, either way, I'm doing something. So, I seek to go to college. After getting my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science specializing in Networking, my parents wanted to give me a graduation present. They asked me what I wanted, anything, and if we could do it, we would do it. Though a bit cliche, I said I wanted to go to Disneyland. I had never been before, only visiting EuroDisney once while in Germany and even then only for a day. I just remember a bunch of stuff flowing through the air and toyed with my allergies something fierce.

So we go to Disneyland. We drove to Disneyland, what a drive it was, but I loved every second of it. Everything that I'd ever felt for Disney, Ariel, or the Princesses in general, all of it came flooding back while I was there, I have a picture on my wall of Ariel and I, it was the only one of the photo pass photos I had printed. I was so very happy when we went. I was physically sick to think we'd have to leave such a wonderful place. All my cares and worries were gone. Any notion I had of feeling weird for liking girl's things was shattered that weekend. I picked up a few pins and the love rekindled, wonderful imagery, the sounds... I watched TLM every day for a month before I went to work in the morning.

So with my present step in this long road, of which I'm sure I'm only in the middle, I look back and I see some highs and some lows. I look around me and I see you guys, I see my friends that get together for the Arielcons, they are in just as madly enamored with her as I am. I'm welcomed with open arms. We watch TLM and I sing along with them, its a great feeling. I get Ariel shirts that fit me! I don't exactly have an hourglass figure, so this is just awesome. Can't look ahead yet, so we'll just have to see what the future holds.

I counted my collection before I posted this. Not counting any pins or books, I have Ariel's likeness appear roughly 100 times around my house. Relatives have said "oh my GOD" when they see it for the first time and I have never felt prouder to love something in my life.

You wanted earliest memories, so there you go, there was more to it, so I added.

As a bonus for reading this far, or scrolling past all that text, you cheater, I give you a poem I wrote in college that relates to my breakup with Diane, cleaned up to be a bit more friendlier to these forums. The class laughed quite a bit while hearing this (creative writing class) and I got an A+ for the assignment. Can't beat that. We actually had to write 5 poems, this was #3 and the one that sticks out most in my mind.

It's 10 at night
on my buddy list
her screen name
doth appear.

I fire off a quick
"How are you
this evening,
my dear?"

There is this silence
and I now know
I am about to be hit
with a heavy load.

Break up with me?
How dare you, witch!
I'll get even with you,
I swear this, you cur.

I want revenge.
I want blood.
She's got to pay
For what she's done.

Her address book empty
and all emails deleted.
I walk away from my evil deed,
feeling completed.

With no job and no girlfriend
I'm what some
could consider
a slacker.

Revenge is swift and
her lesson is learned...
don't ever upset a hacker.

(YAY nerdy revenge)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my leave now, I've been up for almost 24 hours straight, we're at hour 23 and 17 minutes. I've only started to yawn, that is the strange part. I don't really feel tired, yet I've had no coffee or anything like that. Yes, I said I was going to stop typing and post this yet here I go on and on and on and on.....

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*head slams on keyboard*

(By some miracle, my forehead typed this *and* hit the post button! wowzers! YAY Inspector Gadget!)

[DanTheMan]

My earliest memory of TLM is actually a pretty common, and obvious one, from the movie. Now, while I don't really any specifics from what I felt, I have found (well my grandmother did) some old little camcorder tapes of my childhood, and one happened to be my fifth birthday. Now, when I watched it, I basically looked around at everything, and what I had in my hand was actually kind of interesting. I had a King Triton figure. Now, why that was interesting, was that I don't remember that at all. Yep, as big a TLM fan I am, I don't remember that figure at all. Well, I was holding it the entire time of my party, and there were quite a few times during it where I told my mom, 'I wanna watch The Little Mermaid.' So, I'm 100% sure it totally captivated me and rightfully so, though I can't really give out specific details. It makes me mad that I can't, seeing as how I love the movie and characters that much.

[pokeria1]

Well, I had watched it a lot when I was a kid (Actually, to be honest, it was my first movie, so I guess we have a bit of... a bond, so to speak.). Also, before I (or even my parents, for that matter) was exposed to TLM, right when I was born, when my Mom revealed my name to one of my uncles, they kinda compared me to Prince Eric due to us having the exact same name (a running joke among my mom's side of the family involved one of my uncles and aunts two children having the same names of Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan "Ben" Kenobi.). Mom, not having heard of their releasing TLM (I was born a few months after it was released, anyways), was naturally confused.

Also, my Maternal Grandma, known as "Nana", was the one who suggested to my mom TLM when we were coping with the fact that she is sick.

That much I can say, other than another one of my aunts and Uncles (as well as my other three cousins) seeing the rerelease of TLM in 1996 in regards to my "earliest memories".

BTW, slightly off topic, (though, considering how it relates to Ariel, it won't really matter, anyways), but there's this... well... pretty disturbing person on IMDb by the name of "Taran Wanderer" who's viewpoints on how Ariel should have learned her lesson in the end is... disturbing and creepy, possibly borderline sadistic.

He pretty much claims that Ariel should have suffered for her actions in order to learn from her mistakes, thinks she was let off the hook without any consequences (oh, and get this, he didn't even count that Ursula battle as a consequence), claims that she doesn't care for her friends well-being as long as she gets what she wants/Deserves (despite the fact that Ariel saved Flounder's butt from Glut the Shark.), among other things. Heck, he even admitted that seeing Ariel suffer would be music to his ears, and even hinted that he would especially enjoy it if Eric turned out to be an Abusive Jerk so he could see her suffer and learn her lesson.

In fact, the word "Troll" doesn't even begin to describe him. The closest thing I could compare him to is Dr. Weil from the Mega Man Zero series (for those of you who have played those games, you'll know who I'm talking about.).

For those who don't know who that is: Dr. Weil (Dr. Vile in Japan) is the main villain of the Mega Man Zero series. He used to be a Reploid Researcher during the late period of the Maverick wars (when Mother Elf was created by Ciel's ancestor from the Viral Data from Zero's original body). Everyone was happy that the Maverick threat was neutralized, except for one person, that person being Dr. Weil himself. He thought the Reploids/Former Mavericks should pay for the carnage they caused during the Maverick Wars and should submit to humanity (He was also upset at the fact that they just "Neutralized" the Mavericks/reploids rather than outright destroying them.). So, he stole the Mother Elf and transformed her into the Dark Elf, thus starting the most horrific confict in Mega Man History, the Elf Wars. Not only that, but he also stole Zero's original body (which was nothing more than a hollow shell, due to their trying to researched it) and reprogrammed it to become the God of Destruction, Omega. by the time the Elf Wars were over, 60% of all Humans, and 90% of all Reploids were wiped out. The survivors were filled with hatred towards Weil for starting the war that they ripped his brains/memories out of him, turned it into data, and put it in a biomechanical rejuvination body so that he can eternally suffer therein (be experienced with pain beyond belief, as the rejuvination process makes him feel as though he is dying and being reborn every moment), and they placed the memories into him so he would never forget what he had done, and then they Exiled him into the wastelands he created from the Elf Wars.

This all occurs before the events of the first Mega Man Zero game.

Anyways, You'll notice that the way Dr. Weil reacted to the Reploids being cured was similar to Taran Wanderer's reaction towards Ariel.

Anyways, that's all for now.

EDIT: By Reploid researcher, I mean someone who researches Reploids. I should note that Weil was originally a human Being.

[merprincess]

I remember crying every time Vanessa showed up on the screen while watching the movie. Sometimes, I'd even run out of the room and hug my mom really tightly. I was mortified by her! I also remember saying *eeewww* after every kiss or near kiss between Ariel and Eric in the movie (like every immature child does sometime in their life).

Pokeria1, I haven't heard of that Taran Wanderer person on IMDb (I go on that site a lot) and I'll try to steer clear of him or her. Why would anyone think Ariel doesn't care about her friends? Haven't they seen the series, or even watched the first part of the movie where Ariel pretty much saves her best friend?

Anyways, some of my other memories are: Laughing when Ursula gets bigger and bigger at the end of the movie (I have no idea why I laughed, I was a pretty weird kid), Crying whenever Ariel cried in the movie (of course), and my mom singing POYW whenever I said something about Ariel (which was all the time, and her voice wasn't really the greatest, no offense mom), getting my Ariel doll dirty and crying for hours over it (I cried a lot as a child, I guess I was pretty emotional)

[flyingdutchmermaid]

It all started with the first theatrical trailer on my older cousin's Bambi VHS, then I received TLM on VHS in my fourth birthday. Once I put it the first time, I couldn't get enough of it

[missariel]

i remember being very little and my mother got me the singing tyco ariel. i used to do everything with it. also i used to brush my hair with a dinglehopper at dinner time.

yes true ariel fanaticism started when i was little

[fathomsbelow]

I remember watching TLM on Disney Channel all the time, and struggling to find a copy of the video. When I got older, I realized it was in the vault and had to wait at least 6 years for it to come out again but it was worth the wait.

I do remember being freaked out by Ursula--her laugh more than anything scared me. Even when I got older and played Kingdom Hearts, I had to turn off the sound during the boss battle XD.

My parents bought me this Ariel purse from when the movie came out, and I still have it to this day I'm proud to say

My funniest TLM memory is whenever Eric and Ariel kissed, my dad would cover my eyes lol.

Oh, and I've had a crush on Eric ever since I saw the movie, and still do

[arielrebel]

Although I watched many Disney movies when I was younger, my parents never did let me watch Little Mermaid. Maybe like 3 times. I think they had an issue with Ariel's rebellious nature(they're weird people). I was always obsessed with watching it though, but eventually forgot about it. But last year I slept over my grandmothers because I like to watch movies in her basement at night when I'm all alone, and I found a VHS copy of TLM. I decided to finally watch it in full and to enjoy the whole thing. I fell in love with it again and have become a huge fan since.

I was very upset when I found out it was in the vault and that I couldn't get a copy, but I found one on Amazon and ordered it. It came just yesterday and I'm so happy to have it!!!