I've been a diehard Winnie the Pooh fan since birth (or close enough), but I didn't grow up with Welcome to Pooh Corner because it's from long before my time, it didn't have reruns on TV at all during my lifetime, and I never had any of the video releases. This is the worst or least good Pooh show of all. I've seen a number of the episodes online, and only three of them are on YouTube. I don't like Welcome to Pooh Corner, I don't hate/dislike it, it's a mixed bag. Allow me to explain why.
Premise/format: The show is faithful to the cartoons for the most part, but it's very different in some ways. A little too different, but not a whole lot: Christopher Robin never appears (though he is mentioned in one episode), Roo's shirt is red instead of blue, Eeyore's house more closely resembles a tipi, the educational value can be grating at times, etc. I assume that a Christopher Robin costume/puppet would've been hard to make, and I'm guessing that's why he never appears, but a kid actor with no fursuit could've played him. At the end of various episodes, the characters would teach random stuff to kids, which often had nothing to do with the story. A lot of great morals are present like be yourself, too much of a good thing is not a good thing, you're the best at what you do best (that's a new one!), try and try again, and more.
Characters: Their personalities are mostly the same, but they feel a little less like themselves. Pooh is a lot smarter than in the cartoons, despite still being called a bear of very little brain. He knows that it isn't always a good idea to talk to strangers and what to do if one were to ever end up in stranger danger, which doesn't make any sense because the Hundred Acre Wood doesn't encounter many strangers, and the animals in the Hundred Acre Wood don't go into the "real" world very much. Owl can be whiny at times, even though he's supposed to be an old, wise figure. In one episode, he had whined over not being invited to swim with his friends. Rabbit is more relaxed and is a magician for some reason. He has a scary habit of randomly appearing and disappearing out of nowhere with his magic wand. I don't recall him liking magic in any other incarnation. I remember Tigger putting on a magic show in a book, an episode of The Book of Pooh, and an episode of My Friends Tigger and Pooh. He should've been the magician here, not Rabbit. However, I find Rabbit more likable here than in the cartoons for the most part, and his flanderization is a good flanderization, minus the part about him being a magician and randomly appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. Pooh and Owl's flanderizations are barely noticeable, and they were still themselves for the most part. The rest of the characters were still likable, had barely changed, and were not the tiniest bit flanderized.
Visuals: Most of the episodes were recorded with a green screen or blue screen and had custom backgrounds from the cartoons, which I like. However, the quality is a bit dark, dull, and not so bright and colorful, which slightly creeps me out. I find that somewhat justified due to the time this was made. The characters are slightly creepy, and that's one of the main reasons why I don't like Pooh Corner as much as the other Pooh incarnations. Pooh Bear, Kanga, and Roo have whites in their eyes for some reason, which makes them as creepy as they are. If Tigger and Piglet could still have dots for eyes, why couldn't Pooh Bear, Kanga, and Roo? Piglet's design is accurate, but something about the way his face was built creeps me out. Pooh Bear has the creepiest design of the whole cast, and Eeyore and Rabbit look the least creepy. For some reason, Roo was originally a traditional puppet, and for the entire series, Piglet was a costume with animated eyes and an animated mouth like the rest of the characters. Both of them are much smaller than the rest of the cast in the other incarnations, and Piglet is a tad bit taller than Roo. They could've both been traditional puppets, or they could've both been costumes for the entire series. However, this problem was fixed later: Roo became a costume like everyone else.
Voice acting: The voices are on par with the cartoons for the most part, but they have a few hiccups. Piglet's voice is the worst offender, which I find hard to believe because he was voiced by Phil Baron, who also voiced Teddy Ruxpin, another one of my favorite fictional characters. His voice is too high pitched and feminine. Tigger's voice is decent, but it sounds like a hybrid of his cartoon voice and Grubby's voice from Teddy Ruxpin. He was voiced by Will Ryan, who also voiced Grubby, which explains a lot. I'm surprised that John Fiedler and Paul Winchell didn't return as Piglet and Tigger. The only voice actors from the movies who reprised their roles here were Hal Smith (Pooh and Owl), Will Ryan (Rabbit), and Laurie Main (the narrator).
Songs: The songs are actually good! The theme song is the same tune as the theme song from the movies, but most of the lyrics changed. That's a plus because this is the only TV series to feature the franchise's theme song! I like it better than the regular Pooh theme song because it gives a brief description of each character (don't get me wrong, I still love the regular theme song too)! All the characters have their own signature songs here, which is another plus because Pooh and Tigger are the only characters who have signature songs in the cartoons for some reason. My favorite is Eeyore's song, "Just Say Yes, I Can," because it surprisingly has a very positive message about never giving up and not focusing on what you can't do.
Premise/format: The show is faithful to the cartoons for the most part, but it's very different in some ways. A little too different, but not a whole lot: Christopher Robin never appears (though he is mentioned in one episode), Roo's shirt is red instead of blue, Eeyore's house more closely resembles a tipi, the educational value can be grating at times, etc. I assume that a Christopher Robin costume/puppet would've been hard to make, and I'm guessing that's why he never appears, but a kid actor with no fursuit could've played him. At the end of various episodes, the characters would teach random stuff to kids, which often had nothing to do with the story. A lot of great morals are present like be yourself, too much of a good thing is not a good thing, you're the best at what you do best (that's a new one!), try and try again, and more.
Characters: Their personalities are mostly the same, but they feel a little less like themselves. Pooh is a lot smarter than in the cartoons, despite still being called a bear of very little brain. He knows that it isn't always a good idea to talk to strangers and what to do if one were to ever end up in stranger danger, which doesn't make any sense because the Hundred Acre Wood doesn't encounter many strangers, and the animals in the Hundred Acre Wood don't go into the "real" world very much. Owl can be whiny at times, even though he's supposed to be an old, wise figure. In one episode, he had whined over not being invited to swim with his friends. Rabbit is more relaxed and is a magician for some reason. He has a scary habit of randomly appearing and disappearing out of nowhere with his magic wand. I don't recall him liking magic in any other incarnation. I remember Tigger putting on a magic show in a book, an episode of The Book of Pooh, and an episode of My Friends Tigger and Pooh. He should've been the magician here, not Rabbit. However, I find Rabbit more likable here than in the cartoons for the most part, and his flanderization is a good flanderization, minus the part about him being a magician and randomly appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. Pooh and Owl's flanderizations are barely noticeable, and they were still themselves for the most part. The rest of the characters were still likable, had barely changed, and were not the tiniest bit flanderized.
Visuals: Most of the episodes were recorded with a green screen or blue screen and had custom backgrounds from the cartoons, which I like. However, the quality is a bit dark, dull, and not so bright and colorful, which slightly creeps me out. I find that somewhat justified due to the time this was made. The characters are slightly creepy, and that's one of the main reasons why I don't like Pooh Corner as much as the other Pooh incarnations. Pooh Bear, Kanga, and Roo have whites in their eyes for some reason, which makes them as creepy as they are. If Tigger and Piglet could still have dots for eyes, why couldn't Pooh Bear, Kanga, and Roo? Piglet's design is accurate, but something about the way his face was built creeps me out. Pooh Bear has the creepiest design of the whole cast, and Eeyore and Rabbit look the least creepy. For some reason, Roo was originally a traditional puppet, and for the entire series, Piglet was a costume with animated eyes and an animated mouth like the rest of the characters. Both of them are much smaller than the rest of the cast in the other incarnations, and Piglet is a tad bit taller than Roo. They could've both been traditional puppets, or they could've both been costumes for the entire series. However, this problem was fixed later: Roo became a costume like everyone else.
Voice acting: The voices are on par with the cartoons for the most part, but they have a few hiccups. Piglet's voice is the worst offender, which I find hard to believe because he was voiced by Phil Baron, who also voiced Teddy Ruxpin, another one of my favorite fictional characters. His voice is too high pitched and feminine. Tigger's voice is decent, but it sounds like a hybrid of his cartoon voice and Grubby's voice from Teddy Ruxpin. He was voiced by Will Ryan, who also voiced Grubby, which explains a lot. I'm surprised that John Fiedler and Paul Winchell didn't return as Piglet and Tigger. The only voice actors from the movies who reprised their roles here were Hal Smith (Pooh and Owl), Will Ryan (Rabbit), and Laurie Main (the narrator).
Songs: The songs are actually good! The theme song is the same tune as the theme song from the movies, but most of the lyrics changed. That's a plus because this is the only TV series to feature the franchise's theme song! I like it better than the regular Pooh theme song because it gives a brief description of each character (don't get me wrong, I still love the regular theme song too)! All the characters have their own signature songs here, which is another plus because Pooh and Tigger are the only characters who have signature songs in the cartoons for some reason. My favorite is Eeyore's song, "Just Say Yes, I Can," because it surprisingly has a very positive message about never giving up and not focusing on what you can't do.