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Of the few women in the Peter Pan story, I always liked Tinker Bell the best. Mrs. Darling had a one-dimensional role and Wendy came across as simple and boring (why would she want to be the mother, of all things, when she’s in the middle of a fairy tale world?). Tiger Lily had a lot of potential and I wouldn’t have minded if we’d followed her adventures on Never Land rather than Peter Pan’s; even as a child I thought she must have gotten up to more than Peter realized, but he, selfishly of course, only thought of her when she was convenient for him.
But Tinker Bell was the one I always wanted to know more about. Personality-wise even the underdeveloped Tiger Lily fares better than the selfish, jealous, Peter-obsessed Tink. But Tinker Bell is a fairy, and especially the child me always preferred fantastical creatures to normal humans.
Tinker Bell deserved more of her own story. All we ever knew of her is that she followed Peter Pan around because she loved him – something that struck me as a bit strange, because for some reason I always got the impression that Tink was older than Peter. Maybe she was technically, but perhaps fairy years, like hobbit years, run differently; 50 years old, for example, might just be adolescence for fairies.
If the child me knew how much attention Tinker Bell would soon be getting all just for herself, no Peter in sight, I’d have been ecstatic. I always wanted to know far more about the denizens of Neverland than the Darling children, and the Pixie Hollow series provides just that.
When I looked at the Tinker Bell books and movies last summer I was disappointed by how bland they were. Most of the adventures seemed mundane and everyday, and the worst villain was a single fairy with a bad attitude.
But now that I’ve had a year’s worth of time to reflect on Pixie Hollow I like it more. It’s not one of the Disney properties that I’ll be paying much attention to as an adult, but it still has a lot to offer for fans of Disney’s most famous fairy. The world of the Never-fairies is fleshed out just as I always wished, and Tink gets to have a real life outside of Peter Pan.
Perhaps many Tinker Bell fans were less than enthused by her new series and that’s why Disney World scrapped plans to create a Pixie Hollow section in Fantasyland. But devotees shouldn’t despair: the franchise is far from dead. This fall sees the release of a new Disney Channel special: the Pixie Hollow Games.
Watch your favorite fairies compete at unique sporting events, and see the rivalries that will flare up between them. No release date has been announced, but stay tuned to the Disney Channel for more information.
If you’d like to get your pixie fix before then, the gargantuan Disney Go website has its own Disney Fairies section. Head over there for previews of upcoming films, myriad games, to create your own fairy, sign up for a pixie art contest, details on where to meet your favorite fairies at the parks, and much more.
Related Articles:
Pixie Hollow: One of the Stickiest Places I’ve Ever Been
The Many Worlds of Disney on Ice
The Return of the Dark Fairy Tale
*(This image by Jeff Kern is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
