#strawberry shortcake housewarming surprise

[cureazure]

First video of 2025 up Now!

it's a ranking of the 1980's strawberry shortcake specials because that's the best interpretation of strawb and I will fight people over this

[lexie-squirrel]

[bunnelbaby]

Here is a list of links to Strawberry Shortcake specials and series for you to enjoy while regressing or dreaming!

𐐪𐑂 The World of Strawberry Shortcake (1980)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City (1981)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake: Pets on Parade (1982)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise (1983)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name (1984)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins (1985)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake (2003)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Movie (2006)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake’s Berry Bitty Adventures (2009)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake: The Sky’s the Limit (2009)

𐐪𐑂 Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City Season 1, Season 2 and Season 3 (2021)

(Gif Credit) (Divider Credit)

[crisp-sweet-pink-lady]

Summer of Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise

Since Pets on Parade was so lackluster, I went ahead and watched Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise tonight. This was the first special on the tape I had growing up, and in my opinion, it's the best of the Nelvana-produced specials. I may change my mind after watching the next two, but I doubt it.

A big part of what makes this special my favorite of the Nelvana ones is the music. The songs are by John Sebastian and the score is by Patricia Cullen, who both also worked on the Nelvana Care Bears movies and TV series, and they bring a more contemporary (that is, 1980s) feel to the specials than Flo and Eddie's more 70's sound. I also just really love how the characters' walks are animated to the bounce in the music of the first song. It's very pleasing to watch.

As the cast of characters in Strawberryland continues to grow, it gets harder for the writers to work them all in (see the last special), but I think that Housewarming Surprise does a decent enough job of it. Blueberry Muffin gets dialogue for the first time since the first special, and this is the only one IIRC where Lime Chiffon gets to do anything significant. But even the characters who don't get dialogue at least get to do something in the background most of the time.

What I really like about this special is the way the plot flows. There's a lot of disparate parts that come together, but watching the whole thing, it all seems to progress naturally. And the climax at the end is pretty darn tense.

Strawberry's international friends do fall into some cultural stereotypes, but not to the extent of Tamale and T. N. Honey in Big Apple City (Lem and Ada may spout out stock british phrases, but that's not the extent of their dialogue like it was with T. N. Honey, for example). Other than that, this is a pretty solid special.

[lexie-squirrel]

[lexie-squirrel]

[crisp-sweet-pink-lady]

Where would you recommend starting with Strawberry Shortcake? I adore MLP and Carebears, and I had some of the Strawberry Shortcake toys as a kid. It seems like something I would really like but I’ve never seen any of it. Which show should I start with?

Well, it really depends. Each version is pretty different, and hits a different (though similar) demographic.

The original 1980s specials are probably the easiest to get into, if only because there are only 6 of them and they're all on youtube. These are the ones that every other version is based on, though every version takes the characters in its own direction, so it's not necessary to watch them before watching the other series.

If you want to see actual kids doing actual kid things while living in a world of candy, and you like lots of songs and loads of characters, then the 2003 series is probably for you. The pacing of the plots is a little slower, especially in the first 4 specials, so depending on what you like, it might feel like a bit of a slog, or it might be a relaxing watch.

If you prefer a closer-knit cast and fewer songs, with zippier plots, and CG animation, then Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures is the one you should go with, especially if you happen to like voice actors from the Ocean Group (a lot of the voice actors also worked on Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, among other things, and a few are on the latest SSC reboot).

If you like episodes that are short and sweet, but with a heavy dose of comedy, then you'll want Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City. You mentioned liking My Little Pony, and if you mostly mean Friendship is Magic, then you'll be happy to hear that the person in charge of this series also worked on that show, including writing the movie, and it has occasional songs by Daniel Ingram, also of FIM fame. Plus, it's currently on-going, so there's new episodes every week, though each episode is only 4 minutes long.

As my Summer of SSC rewatch project has shown, there are good things and bad things about each different version. Each version is its own continuity, so start with whichever version appeals to you most.

As for where to start watching, the 1980s specials in order are The World of Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City, Pets on Parade, Housewarming Surprise, Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name, and Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins. As I mentioned before, you can find them all on youtube, but as only the first two had DVD releases, most of them are iffy quality.

Seasons 1, 3, and 4 of the 2003 series are available on TubiTV, but Peacock has all 4 seasons, plus The Sweet Dreams Movie (which takes place mid-way through season 3) available on the free-tier, but you do have to make an account.

Peacock also has the pilot for Berry Bitty Adventures, as well as The Sky's The Limit movie (the proper start of the reboot), and the whole series. TubiTV has all four seasons of BBA, except for one episode of season three that is inexplicably missing.

The first season of the latest reboot, Berry in the Big City, is available on Netflix, and season two drops later this month. But all the episodes of season one, the currently aired episodes of season two, and a handful of bonus material videos are all available on the official youtube channel. If you can, I recommend watching the episodes on Netflix for two reasons: 1. a number of episodes were uploaded out of order on the youtube channel for various reasons; 2. the Netflix episodes have an opening theme and end credits. But do check out the bonus material on the youtube channel. There's some fun stuff there.

Hopefully that answers your question, and good luck in checking out the many different versions of Strawberry Shortcake!

[crisp-sweet-pink-lady]

Summer of Strawberry Shortcake: Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name

This is the last special I had taped, and it's better than I remembered, but that's not saying much.

My main problem with this one is the title character, who is crammed into this story about Strawberry and her friends discovering a local cryptid while on a camping trip for no real reason other than there's a toy of her (that's why she doesn't have a name, her gimmick was that you, the consumer, got to name her). And yes, the main point of anything in these specials is to show off the toys, but most of the time they at least make them relevant (i.e. Maple Stirrup taking the girls to the trolley station, the girls going camping to show off the Sweet Sleeper outfits, etc.). This story could very easily unfold without the title character.

As for the actual plot, it's a fun, if slightly predictable romp. Once again the songs are pretty catchy, especially the opening song. My memory of the villains' song was that it isn't very memorable (despite the fact that the lines "For lunch he gobbles city, for snacks he munches cars" are usually what springs to mind when I think about this special), but on this rewatch I thought it was actually pretty good. It adds a different flavor from the rest of the songs from the Nelvana specials.

Fun fact: while the first three specials got soundtrack releases, none of the Nelvana specials did. However, there was a mail-in promotion where you could join Strawberry Shortcake's Friendship Club and receive a handful of goodies, including a small record with the songs from this special. As far as I know, this is the only year that this promotion was offered, so there's no record out there with the songs from Housewarming Surprise or Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins.

This special is the infamous return of Plum Puddin' as a girl character, something I don't think really registered with me as a kid. Rather, I think it just made me see the character's previous appearances as also being a girl, since, unlike Huckleberry Pie, there was nothing about his appearance or behavior that screamed "boy." And since all the characters were slightly redesigned, and most got new voice actors, in the Nelvana specials, it made sense that Plum Puddin' looked pretty different.

One last note: this special has the most costume changes of all the 1980s specials, mostly to show off the different toylines, though not all the characters shown got dolls in those outfits.

[crisp-sweet-pink-lady]

Summer of Strawberry Shortcake: The World of Strawberry Shortcake

Ever since Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City season one was fully released on Netflix, I've been wanting to go back and rewatch all the various SSC cartoons in order, starting with the specials from the 80s, and share my thoughts on them as I go. Some of these I've watched relatively recently, some I haven't seen in a while, and some I only ever watched the one time, so it'll be interesting to see what stuck with me over the years, and what I completely forgot about.

I decided to start in June, mostly because my hometown always had a strawberry festival in June, so I've come to associate that month with strawberries. And I didn't plan this at all, but apparently today is National Strawberry Shortcake Day, so it's the perfect day to get started.

Without further ado, here are some thoughts on The World of Strawberry Shortcake, the very first Strawberry Shortcake special from back in 1980.

Growing up, I had all the SSC specials taped off of TV (except for the last one), but not in order (Housewarming Surprise was actually the first one on the tape), so I didn't even realize it was the first one until many years later. Not that it truly makes a difference which special is first or last when you get right down to it. This plot (The Peculiar Purple Pieman taking advantage of Strawberry Shortcake's birthday to get his hands on all the berries in Strawberyland) could have happened at any point in the 80s specials timeline, really, though if it happened later Sour Grapes would have had to be added to the mix.

That said, it's interesting to see how many things were introduced here that never came back again (as far as I recall, and I may be proved wrong): the Peculiar Purple Pieman just straight up having magic powers, Lucky Bug, Apple Dumpling's writing only being understood by Blueberry Muffin, and of course, all the rhyming! I was originally going to wait until after I rewatched the first special to make a post connecting the fact that The Peculiar Purple Pieman in BitBC is voiced by the same VA as Johnnycake Cobbler, who speaks exclusively in rhyme, just like The Peculiar Purple Pieman did in his first appearance in the 80s, and I'm glad I waited because it turns out almost everyone speaks in rhyme in this special. Definitely did not remember that.

Storywise, the plot has always felt a little disjointed to me, even as a kid, and I never understand surprise party plots that hinge on the other characters straight up abandoning the person the party is for while they set up the party. It's not even particularly relevant to this plot, as even the narrator gets tired of seeing Strawberry so distraught for no real reason and just tells her what to do. Ah well, at least it's only a very short portion of the special.

The songs are catchier than they have any right to be, probably because most of them are by actual pop musicians, Flo & Eddie (originally from The Turtles), who did the music for the next two specials, too.

Being so short, we don't learn too much about any of the characters, but the interactions we do get to see are fun. I'll comment more on the characters after the third special, since I have something I want to say, but want to wait to make sure I'm not misremembering (like with the rhyming).

Overall, an enjoyable special, especially as a first outing for Strawberry Shortcake and her friends.