Disenchantment (2004 Fox series)

Disenchantment is an American-Canadian adult animated fantasy sitcom created by Chris Bartleman and Blair Peters and developed by Bartleman, Josh Weinstein and Matt Groening that premiered on Fox in USA and Global in Canada on June 16, 2004. Set in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Dreamland, the series follows the story of Bean, a rebellious and alcoholic princess, her naïve elf companion Elfo, and her destructive "personal demon" Luci. Disenchantment stars the voices of Tara Strong (seasons 1-12), Abbi Jacobson (season 13-present), Eric Andre, Nat Faxon, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Matt Berry, David Herman, Maurice LaMarche, Lucy Montgomery, and Billy West and is narrated by Seth MacFarlane.

The show was produced by Imagine Television, Decode Entertainment (seasons 1-6), Studio B Productions (seasons 1-6), DHX Media (season 7-present), and 20th Century Fox Television.

Main

 * Tara Strong (seasons 1-12) and Abbi Jacobson (season 13 onwards) as Princess Bean, a 19-year-old princess from Dreamland. Her full name is Princess Tiabeanie Mariabeanie de la Rochambeau Grunkwitz. She enjoys drinking.
 * Eric Andre as Luci, Bean's personal demon who cause havoc anywhere and like to enjoys drinking. Bean is his first assignment.
 * as Pendergast, the head of King Zøg's knights.
 * Nat Faxon as Elfo, an 18-year-old elf from Elfwood. He is optimistic and likes candy.
 * John DiMaggio as King Zøg, Bean's father and the ruler of Dreamland.
 * The royal family's official name is House Grunkwitz, thus his full name is "Zøg Grunkwitz", his daughter is "Tiabeanie 'Bean' Grunkwitz", etc., but this infrequently comes up in conversation and characters usually just refer to the royals by their regnal names.
 * Tress MacNeille as Queen Oona, King Zøg's second and current wife and Bean's stepmother. She is an amphibian creature from Dankmire who married into the family as part of an alliance between the kingdoms.
 * as Bonnie Prince Derek, Zøg and Oona's son, and Bean's half brother. Their kingdom follows male-preference primogeniture, so Derek is heir to the throne ahead of his older sister - not that Bean particularly cares.
 * as The Fairy, who helps Bean with advice.
 * Matt Berry as Prince Merkimer, from the kingdom of Bentwood, who is arranged to marry Bean, but was turned into a pig.
 * David Herman as The Herald, who announces arrivals for the kingdom of Dreamland and also presents news.
 * as Guysbert, Merkimer's older brother.
 * as Jerry, who assists Cloyd and The Enchantress.
 * Maurice LaMarche as Odval, the three-eyed prime minister of Dreamland.
 * as Big Jo, the world's leading exorcist and all-around creepy person.
 * Lucy Montgomery as Bunty, Bean's lady-in-waiting. She is married to Stan.
 * as The Enchantress, a mysterious woman who sent Luci to Bean as a wedding gift.
 * Billy West as Sorcerio, a wizard who serves as King Zøg's advisor.
 * as The Jester, whose catchphrase is "Oh no!" when he is tossed out of windows or falls through trap doors.
 * as Mertz, a Dreamland knight reporting to Pendergast.
 * as Pops the Elf, Elfo's father.
 * Noel Fielding as Stan the Executioner, Dreamland's royal executioner and manager of the torture chamber.
 * Sharon Horgan as Queen Dagmar, Bean's late biological mother, who appears mainly in flashbacks.
 * Seth MacFarlane as the Narrator

Recurring

 * Rich Fulcher as Cloyd, who is in league with the Enchantress, who was revealed by an assassin to be the Emperor of Maru in the Season 8 episode, "The Limits of Immortality."
 * as Turbish, a Dreamland knight reporting to Pendergast.
 * Unvoiced but appearing are Vip and Vap, King Zøg's silent cape-bearers.

Guest stars

 * Jeny Batten as Kissy the Elf, Elfo's friend, coworker, and former lover in Elfwood.

Episodes
See List of Disenchantment (2004 Fox series) episodes

Production
Production for the series had begun in 2001. The series, developed by The Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening (along with Chris Bartleman and Josh Weinstein), "will bear his newer animation style". The series is animated by Studio B Productions, the same studio that worked on the Canadian animated shows like Yvon of the Yukon and What About Mimi?, and is planned for a primetime animated show in 2004. Groening has stated that while he has enjoyed fantasy since he was a child, the show was developed as a response to franchises such as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Trivia

 * This came out the same day Quintuplets, The Simple Life: Road Trip (the second season of The Simple Life) and Method & Red premiered on the Fox network.
 * Plus, the series premiere of Disenchantment is at 7pm, after the normal shows on Fox.
 * This series's animation and art style from Seasons 1-13 is based off Teletoon's What About Mimi? and the direct-to-video film Little Witch.

Other media
Bean, Luci and Elfo made several cameos in other Fox animated sitcoms:
 * The Simpsons
 * "Treehouse of Horror XVI" - Bean, Luci and Elfo (who are the pacifiers) are appeared at the end of the "I've Grown a Costume on Your Face" segment and entire episode when Dennis Rodman (who is also a pacifier) says "Happy Halloween, everybody!". Also, Bean winks her one eye to the viewers at the end of the episode.
 * "Jazzy and the Pussycats" - Bean saves a choking Elfo when many of Bart's paddle balls are invaded at the First Church of Springfield.
 * "Treehouse of Horror XIX" - At the end of the "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse" segment and entire episode when Marge has a following address, Bean is seen up on the building of Springfield Elementary School at the left and she's holding the sign that reads "SEND HELP!".
 * "Homerland" - Bean, Luci and Elfo appear at the end of this episode.
 * "Steal This Episode" - The NASCAR footage is shown in the ending credits, but Bean walks in and looks annoyed, with the sign that reads "THIS EPISODE IS BORING AS THE NASCAR FOOTAGE APPEARS, BUT... GO WATCH MY SHOW PLEASE." (referring to the viewers wanted to watch the entire series) then she's leaving followed by a pirate flag and Seth Rogen's laughter.
 * "Treehouse of Horror XXIX" - Luci appeared in the "Intrusion of the Pod-y Snatchers" segment.
 * Futurama
 * "The Late Philip J. Fry" - Bean is running in the year 252525 where Fry, Bender and Franworth are travel in time.
 * "Reincarnation" - The anime versions of Bean, Luci and Elfo appeared in the "Action Delivery Force" segment, who are watching the banana-shaped UFOs of gelatinous aliens.
 * "Meanwhile" - The freezing Bean (holding a cereal box of Purpleberry Puffs from the episode "Saturday Morning Fun Pit"), Luci (drinking a can of Diet Slurm) and Elfo (holding the SpongeBot SquareBolts toy from the episode "Yo Leela Leela") can be seen at Bronx Zoo and then St. Koch's Cathedral for Fry and Leela's wedding.
 * Family Guy
 * "Back to the Woods" - Luci and Bean are drinking beer at The Drunken Clam.
 * "Road to the Multiverse" - When an human version of Brian get hit by a car, "Sorry dude, the name's Tiabeanie Grunkwitz!" is heard from Bean in the off-screen.
 * "Dial Meg for Murder" - Luci is seen where the Devil gets pushed by Goofy and later seeing Meg beating up Peter, laughing at it.
 * "Trading Places" - When Chris talks about Canadian high schools are even worse, Bean appeared as a school bully.
 * "The Simpsons Guy" - When the Gracie Films logo (with Peter sings the jingle: "And now the show is over now.") appears, the current 20th Century Fox Television logo (with the 2008 20th Television logo music) is showing (as well as the removal of the "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" screen during the Gracie Films logo, unlike every Simpsons episode), but it is slide away by Bean (in the movie stage), who telling the viewers about this episode with epilogue things (including there's the cameo appearances of Bob [from Bob's Burgers], Cleveland [from The Cleveland Show], Roger [from American Dad!] and herself, the truth of Homer's undeath before he crushed by Kang and Kodos' spaceship [later it revealed in the chalkboard gag from the Simpsons episode "Clown in the Dumps"], and the truth of Lisa's sax in the trash can because Peter did it). After her full speech, she notice that Comic Book Guy say it was the worst chicken fight ever, because it's a reference of Ernie the Giant Chicken when she mentioned him. Then, she's angry and looks towards the camera for telling a special message for Ernie, but it cuts off by a NASCAR footage (just like on the Simpsons episode "Steal This Episode") followed by Brian's hand (including his final words in the off-screen to say "It's over for now.") comes up holding a TV remote and clicks it, and the screen goes blank while the Family Guy end credits appeared, as well as the TCFT logo with the actual 1997 logo music at the end.
 * American Dad!
 * "Season's Beatings" - A skeleton version of Bean is seen in the mysterious classroom where Roger is looking.
 * "Less Money, Mo' Problems" - In the attic, Roger is actually wears Bean's clothing, freckles and her hair. Interestingly, Roger's Bean costume was first seen on the show's opening titles of the Season 4 episode "1600 Candies".
 * "National Treasure 4: Baby Franny: She's Doing Well: The Hole Story" - Bean, Luci and Elfo were seen at the audience of Langley Falls' morning TV show Morning Glory.
 * "Blagsnarst, a Love Story" - A graffiti of Bean's name is seen in the gas station.
 * The Cleveland Show
 * "A Cleveland Brown Christmas" - Bean, Luci and Elfo (in their winter clothes) were seen at the Stoolbend Galleria.
 * "Terry Unmarried" - Bean is seen dancing at Into the Wild.
 * "Who Done Did It?" - Bean appeared at the office of the Waterman Cable building.
 * Bob's Burgers
 * "Seaplane!" - Luci is seen eating a bunch of burgers at Bob's Burgers.
 * "Flu-ouise" - Elfo appeared in the mysterious forest where Louise and Kuchi Kopi walking by.

Syndication and streaming availability
Since its premiere, Disenchantment has been broadcasted on International version of Fox. In Latin America and Brazil, the series is aired on FX. In Canada, the series is aired on Global from the same date before the series premiere (however the Canadian time for the series premiere is at 9pm) started. In Australia, the series is aired on Fox8.

Reception
The series has received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and fans.

Poll
Did you like this idea of Disenchantment would've been aired on Fox in 2004? Yes, I like this idea! No, I don't like it. I don't know. Maybe. It's very bad. It's horrible!