Strawberry Shortcake

From her humble beginnings as a character featured on greetings cards, Strawberry Shortcake (the little lady with the piece of cake and hair that smelled of , yep you guessed right, strawberries) went as far as to make it onto the small screen. In 1980, the first of six annual Strawberry Shortcake TV specials was aired. Starring all of the original dolls from the toy range, this TV pursuit was clearly aimed at selling even more dolls to little girls desperate for their five-a-day (of the doll variety) fix.

The 1980 and 1982 TV specials were animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Toei Doga, while the 1983 special through to the last 1985 one were animated by Nelvana. The 1981 special was different to the rest, being animated by Perpetual Motion Pictures of New York.

In 2003, the TV show was reinvented in DVD format, bringing Shortcake's adventures with her sweet-smelling friends right into the 21st century. A time when we though "smellavision" would be a reality - if only! The main emphasis in today's Strawberry Shortcake TV series is educating kids and it is produced by DiC Entertainment and 20th Century Fox.

Not content with her small screen status, Shortcake more recently in October 2006 took to the silver screen when the first Strawberry Shortcake film was released by Kidtoon Films, titled The Sweet Dreams Movie. Watch closely and you'll see a couple of her old friends reappear in the movie, including The Peculiar Pie Man of Porcupine Peak and Sour Grapes. The movie was released to buy on DVD in February 2006.

The last couple of years has witnessed yet another TV series relaunch, with 26 episodes following the CGI movie Sky's The Limit. In this, we get to see how Strawberry Shortcake, Lemon Meringue, Orange Blossom, Raspberry Torte, Plum Pudding, Blueberry Muffin and new girl Cherry Jam are getting on in their fruit-tastic world of Berry Bitty City, a tiny village located in a berry patch (as opposed to Strawberry land in the earlier TV series). Sounds sweet-as!