Ami: Sea Princess

Ami: Sea Princess is an American animated adventure-fantasy television series based on the children's novel series ]by Mala Miles and Sid John. The series is produced by Bear Bones Productions in association with Nelvana and premiered on Fox Kids in 1995.

Plot
Ami goes on adventures with friends, to save the whole sea world. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a human soul.

Characters

 * Alyson Court as Ami
 * Ron Rubin as Mike (pilot) / Octobus
 * Harland Williams as Mike (season 1-2)
 * Tony Rosato as Mike (season 3-5)
 * Elizabeth Hanna as Queen Sea
 * Gordon Pinsent as King Sea
 * Chris Wiggins as John
 * Stephen Ouimette as Foo
 * Stuart Stone as Hish
 * Kristin Fairlie as Johnny
 * Melissa Altro as Laliyah

Additional voices

 * Marilyn Lightstone
 * Corrine Koslo
 * Lisa Yamanaka
 * John Stocker
 * Mark Hildreth
 * Sonia Ball
 * Daniel DeSanto
 * Paul Haddad
 * Carl Banas
 * George Buza
 * Len Carlson
 * Neil Crone
 * Tracey Moore
 * Susan Roman
 * Peter Keleghan
 * Catherine Disher
 * Cathal J. Dodd
 * Daniel Brochu
 * Lenore Zann

Development
Mala Miles previously developed a TV series adaptation of Ami the Mermaid Princess for Ruby-Spears Enterprises and Murakami-Wolf-Swenson in 1987. The series lasted for 13 episodes, and loosely adapted the books based on the series. In 1990, word broke out that Mala was planning another TV adaption of Ami, this one being a mix of adaptations of the books and new, original stories. The first batch of scripts were written by Mala between 1992 and 1993.

Mala approached Nelvana in late 1993, to see if they would be interested in the series. According to Mala, the studio was "rather reluctant at first, but then picked it up for experiments". Animation production began in March of that year.

For voices, various females were approached to preform Ami, with several males as Mike. Nelvana went between Bryn McAuley and Alyson Court, with Court being the chosen voice for Ami, and Ron Rubin for Mike. Various other Canadian actors were chosen for other characters.

The first two episodes were originally released by Family Home Entertainment on VHS in November 1994. The episodes caught the attention of Fox Kids, who agreed to air the series. Production on the series started proper in January 1995.

United States

 * Fox Kids (1995-98)
 * Bear Bones Lineup/Syndication (1996-2005)
 * Fox Family (1998-January 2000)
 * Bear Bones Channel (2001-16)
 * Nickelodeon (2002-04)
 * Nicktoons (2003-05)
 * Qubo (2008-11; 2017-19)
 * Hub Network/Discovery Family (2011-14)
 * BBToons (2015-present)

Canada

 * YTV (1995-2002)
 * Teletoon Retro (2009-13)

United Kingdom

 * CITV (1995-99)
 * Fox Kids (1996-2001)

Home media
Fox Video originally released the series on VHS through their Fox Kids Video label, which contained two episodes each.

In November 2004, Paramount announced that the series would be released on DVD. Seasons 1 and 2 were released in March 2005, followed by seasons 3, 4, and 5 in September.


 * The complete series is now on iTunes.
 * The series is available for streaming on Netflix in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.