With a little faith, trust and some pixie dust… a youtube series based on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is born. The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy has been on my “need to share this amazing series with the world” pile for a while now. After Emma Approved ended and Classic Alice was on hiatus last year, I was aching for a new series to watch. I had devoted so much time and emotion to those series and I wanted something to fill the void.
I saw a gif set of the adorable Kyle Walters on tumblr, but it wasn’t from his work on Welcome to Sanditon so I was curious as to what this new series he was working on was. Little did I know that he was playing Peter Pan.
But What’s It About?
Everyone has to grow up, right? Well, not if Peter Pan has anything to say about it! Peter, a late-twenties man-child and comic book artist living in the small town of Neverland Ohio, has three life goals: 1) NEVER GROW UP. 2) Have as much fun as humanly possible while doing as little work as possible. 3) Win the heart of his best friend, Wendy Darling. With his friends John, Michael, Lily and his fairy, Tinkerbell, Peter is nailing goals 1 and 2. Goal 3, however, is a bit trickier. Wendy Darling, an advice vlogger and overall go-getter, is tired of the never-changing small town of Neverland Ohio and wants to see the world, to become… an adult. It’s Peter vs Growing Up in the battle for Wendy! But is growing up really the enemy? Or is it the solution? (from their about page)
Peter Pan has always been one of those stories that I wanted to like, but never really felt connected to it as much as I wanted to be. Part of that could be that I’ve only ever seen the Disney Animated movie and… well, Hook. It’s one of the classics that I really want to sit down and read through… especially after seeing this adaptation.
Peter would have to be one of the best characters to play, and while watching NAoPaW it’s clear that Kyle has SO much fun with the series. He has the perfect balance of innocence and mischief and channels that well into Peter.
But what I didn’t expect was to see and relate to Wendy as much as I did. In the animated movie Wendy is bossy and didn’t really have a ton of depth. She told stories but was hesitant to be a child herself. Wendy Darling in NAoPaW has her moments where she revels in the innocence of her small town life with her brothers and best friend, Peter. But her desire to leave and grow up is always in the back of her mind. Even when she’s coping with rejection, she bounces back and forth between taking it like an adult and… well, not…
Even throughout Season Two where she is supposed to be more “grown up”, there is still a little bit of Neverland in her.
As I started watching this series I loved what they were doing with the transmedia and the way they embraced their inner geek. As well as how they embraced the geeks that watch. From weekly recaps of recent Doctor Who episodes, to unboxing videos for their Loot Crates each month. Add the legit site for The Kensington Chronicle featuring articles and art from the characters (art drawn by Kyle Walters himself!), and you’ll agree the transmedia team has done an awesome job with making the viewer feel like an integral part of the town.
I liked that this web-series reinvigorated my want to read classics. There are some classics that everyone should read, but I have always had a hard time with. I enjoy series that get me interested and curious about a classic, even if I don’t end up reading it.
If you haven’t watched The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy yet, please do! You won’t be dissapointed!
