Adventures in Wonderland "White Rabbits Can't Jump" (lost unaired episode of musical television series; 1993)
Cover of the episode's picture book adaptation.
Status: Lost
Adventures in Wonderland is a live action/puppet musical television series broadcast on The Disney Channel from 1992 to 1995 that was based on Lewis Carroll's novel's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
The series revolved around Alice travelling to Wonderland through a magic mirror in order to find solutions to problems she is facing, whereupon she partakes in a strange adventure with its inhabitants which relates to her problem in some capacity. The show was another attempt by Disney to adapt one of their popular animated films into a serialized live-action television series similar to the previously produced Welcome to Pooh Corner and Dumbo's Circus.
Another similarly these three programs shared is that they were all considered impossible to view in their entirety, with 25 of Adventures in Wonderland's 100 episodes being considered lost media until Disney added almost the entire run of the show to its streaming service Disney+ on April 30th, 2021. This included one episode that was unaired outright due to the unfortunate timing of its production.
"White Rabbits Can't Jump"
"White Rabbits Can't Jump" was the second-to-last episode of the series to be produced, and was notable for featuring a guest appearance from actor and former football player O.J. Simpson. The basic plot of the episode revolved around the White Rabbit being reluctant to participate in the annual Wonderland Leap Year Games out of fear that he'll lose. He then receives encouragement from an imaginary representation of O.J., who gives him the courage he needs to take part. The Games eventually end in a tie, with Rabbit having to take part in the tiebreaker event. He loses due to his poor jumping ability, but his spirits are lifted significantly when he is presented a second-place trophy from the real O.J. Simpson.[1]
Availability
Production on the episode wrapped in late 1993,[2] with it being set to air at some point the following year as part of the show's third and final season. These plans were immediately halted on June 17th, 1994, when O.J. was arrested for the alleged murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and restaurant waiter Ron Goldman. Since then, the episode has yet to see a release of any sort, likely due to how poor taste the idolized portrayal of O.J. showcased in the episode would have seemed in hindsight. Ironically, the episode was one of only two throughout the entire series that was adapted into a picture book, the accompanying images from which currently serve as the only visual evidence of its existence.
Adventures in Wonderland remained unavailable for streaming for many years following its release, with Disney finally adding the broadcast episodes of the series to Disney+ on April 30th, 2021. When this took place, "White Rabbits Can't Jump" was still omitted , likely due to O.J.'s cameo appearance and the episode being unaired during the show's original run to begin with.[3] As such, the episode remains lost, with chances of it resurfacing being unlikely.
Video
See Also
References
- ↑ Google Drive document featuring the images from the picture book. Retrieved 13 May '20
- ↑ Goodreads page for the picture book adaptation. Retrieved 13 May '20
- ↑ Disney+'s page on Adventures in Wonderland (requires a subscription to view the series). Retrieved 30 Apr '21