I have, as regular readers of this blog know, strong feelings on JM Barrie’s seminal masterpiece Peter Pan and Wendy and its many adaptations.
Peter Pan and the Pirates was an animated series that ran on Fox Kids from 1990 to 1991 and, like all animated adaptations had to contend with comparisons to the Disney version of the nineteen fifties. This obvious comparison (and, I suspect, a desire to avoid leaving blood in the water for Disney’s lawyers) is why we get some of the most radical visual departures from how these characters are usually portrayed with the biggest change doubtless being the series’ depiction of one Jas. Hook.
Now, I’ll be honest I really don’t like this design. I get that the white hair and the black outfit is a deliberate subversion but the hook and crossbones on his his hat is goofy and his face looks more like a background henchman than a devious pirate king.
But, my God, none of that really matters because the creators got Tim Curry to voice him and we get probably the single best depiction of Captain Hook in any medium. I personally prefer Jason Isaacs because he looks perfect but Curry just eats this part alive.
And the great thing is, that for once the writers seemed to realise the gift they’d been given and they proceeded to give him Shakespeare. The writers delighted in giving Curry the most verbose, beautifully ornate dialogue and letting him go to town.
But for all the fun (and it’s is very, very fun), Curry gets at the darkness and majesty of the character in a way that very few actors have.
In the episode Ages of Pan, Peter succeeds in trapping Hook, tying him to a tree and threatening to kill him with a crossbow. And Hook faces him, entirely unflinching, and psychologically destroys him with words alone.
This? This is what Hook should always be.
Evil, Sexy, Evilly Sexy or Funny Accent?: Mostly evil, with a soupcon of Funny Accent given how he pronounces boy as “boi” like he’s on Total Request live circa 1998.
unshavedmouse 