Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins

Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins was the sixth and final made for TV Movie Special. It was released in 1985.

It was the last of Strawberry Shortcake until 1991 when THQ (Toy Headquarters Inc) revived the toyline, which only lasted about two years. Strawberry Shortcake had no digital media until 2003, when DIC created a new series.

Strawberry Shortcake Meets The Berrykins - 1985

Premise

When a horrible smelling cloud covers Strawberryland, Strawberry enlists the help of the Berry Princess and the Berrykins. 

Summary

Mr. Sun greets the audience and takes in the scent of the berries as he reveals that Strawberry and all of her berry friends are preparing for their first annual garden party.

Strawberry goes over a checklist to make sure they have everything they need while everybody else works on setting up. She suddenly remembers something and introduces her new friend, Banana Twirl to the group. Seeing how lively Banana is, she asks how she can be so energetic- with Banana replying that she thinks of everything as a form exercise or a workout. She surprises Strawberry after admitting to have never heard of berry hunting before, and Strawberry explains that for this annual party, everyone searches for their "berry best fruit or berry" to place into a cornucopia centerpiece for the celebration. As everyone heads off, she reminds them to only bring back the berry best, which leads to a song about the same.

A while later everyone returns as Mr. Sun explains that they are almost finished. By now Strawberry has changed into a cute party dress and plays with her hair as she observes herself in a mirror. She thinks she looks nice, but she imagines how she would look when she's older, singing a song to herself.

After tying a ribbon in her hair she heads outside to find the berry best berry right in front of her. She is surprised, but when she goes back to retrieve it, she finds it missing. Upon reuniting with her friends, they reveal the same has happened to them, causing Peach Blush to point out the unlikelihood that several berries would just walk away by themselves. She then scolds Lime for laughing, but Lime insists it wasn't her.

The berry children are surprised when the Berry Princess suddenly appears in a flash of pink light. She greets them and explains that the Berrykins have gone missing. Strawberry asks about them when they hear laughter again, and this time they notice the berries they found earlier are transforming into small, strange people. The little fruits take shelter in the folds of the Berry Princess' skirt, who gently calms them down and explains how it is her job to raise the fruits within the area, to make sure they grow up to be fragrant and healthy. The little Berrykins all help with this; each with his or her own unique scented dust they spray on their specific fruit. The more fragrant the scent, the better the taste.

Before she can explain anything else, a storm breaks out and everyone takes shelter.

Meanwhile, the Peculiar Purple Pieman and Sour Grapes attempt to come up with the world's best perfume as their latest "get rich quick" scheme- with less-than desirable results. Sour Grapes assures the Pieman that by combining the best scents they will succeed. After failing though, the Pieman dumps the foul liquid into a big container that is releasing the foul-smelling gasses into Strawberryland. He expresses doubt, wondering if they should keep doing this.

As the rain slows down to a stop the Berry Princess picks up a strawberry and sniffs it, only to drop it in disgust. Confused, Strawberry does the same and remarks that it smells like pizza! Nearby, a group of raspberries smell like pretzels and chocolate, another Strawberry smells like popcorn. The Berry Princess decides to locate the cause of this scent predicament and she promises to fix everything and make the fruits smell sweeter than ever before.

Plum points out that they don't have much time though, revealing that the large, smelly cloud that formed over Strawberryland will burst in an hour. It's then she sees Elderberry Owl eating lowers, and Banana Twirl sniffs one to claim it smells like marshmallows. The Berry Princess uses her magic to fix it while Strawberry pulls a lemon wedge away from Custard, identifying the scent as catnip.

With that, the Berry Princess realizes that the animals don't understand what is going on. In hopes of helping to keep them safe, Strawberry lines them up and tries to teach them by singing a song. Afterwards, the animals, the Berrykins, and the girls rush off to get to work while the Berry Princess, Strawberry, and the Strawberry Berrykin leave on the Berry Princess' magical cloud to go find the source of the changing scents.

As this is going on, the group of Berrykins comes across one of the Pieman's Berry Birds, who had been out obtaining ingredients for the purple plotter's fragrance experiments, and had been caught in the downpour, rendering him malodorous. The Berrykins decide to "do him a flavor", and berry dust him with all of their various fruity scents when they're unable to decide which one to use. The Berry Bird flies into the air before swooping down, grabbing them within his pouch under the assumption their scents would be perfect for the perfume Sour Grapes and the Pieman are working on.

Meanwhile, the trio arrives at Porcupine Peak to speak to the Purple Pieman about the recent air pollution. Strawberry accusingly states that she should have known the foul smells were because of something he was doing. The Pieman is instantly smitten with the Berry Princess. Silently noting his reaction, the Berry Princess turns on the charm, and calmly and flatteringly persuades the Pieman of the problems his research is causing the environment. the perfume caused in hopes of avoiding a dispute, and he explains that he was trying to come up with an amazing, new scent. He pulls a switch and instantly, the fumes being released into the air stop. The Berry Princess thanks him, getting his name wrong and calling him "Mister Mud Pie" as they float away on their cloud. Sour Grapes insults him for being a "pathetic purple pea-brain". He snaps out of his daze when his Berry Bird arrives, releasing the captured Berrykins.

The trio return to update the others, until they explain that the Berry Bird stole the Berrykins away. Seeing how much darker the cloud and sky have become, they rush back to the Pie Tin home to once again speak to the Purple Pieman. Where it is revealed he has shoved the Berrykins into large salt and pepper shakers to sprinkle their scents in a mixing pot when suddenly he hears the Berry Princess again and quickly gets up to answer. Before he can though, Sour Grapes stops him and she answers the window herself, telling them that they can have the Berrykins back once they finish shaking them for all they are worth.

By now the Berry Princess isn't willing to play nice like before, and she asks Strawberry for help, saying she would do anything to get back the Berrykins. Strawberry gets an idea and sends her Strawberry Berrykin into the nearby vent. It manages to find the device the others are being kept within, only to be chased around by the Pieman when he realizes that someone is there. She escapes by spraying her strawberry scent and lures him towards the vent, getting him stuck. Seeing the door, Strawberry gets inside and frees the Berrykins while Sour Grapes attempts to free the Pieman. As a result, the villains both fall into the cauldron of scent.

Everyone else escapes to safety, and the Berry Princess uses her magic to summon strong winds to rid of the horrible scent. Rain begins to pour down on them, but everyone realizes their scents are returning- leaving them delighted as Mr. Sun remarks on how happy he is now that Strawberryland is smelling as sweet as ever. But by now it's getting late, and he yawns while slowly sinking down, allowing evening to wash over the land.

As thanks for their help, the Berry Princess sings a lullaby for everyone, until she sees Strawberry is still awake, quietly admiring the Berry Princess' long, beautiful hair. Strawberry compliments her song, and the Berry Princess thanks her for all of her help before revealing she must be leaving now. Her job is done, but she asks that Strawberry and her friends watch over the Berrykins while she is away. Strawberry agrees with no hesitation and says goodbye to her as she disappears.

Suddenly, Strawberry notices that her hair is beginning to grow long, a magical gift from the Berry Princess. She thanks the Berry Princess and observes the evening sky as the special comes to an end. As the end credits roll, Strawberry and her friends reprise the chorus to "When I Grow Up", only this time all the girls are sporting new long. glorious hairstyles.

Cast

• Strawberry Shortcake (voiced by Russi Taylor)
• Peculiar Purple Pieman (voiced by Bob Ridgely)
• Sour Grapes (voiced by Jeri Craden)
• Raspberry Tart (voiced by Susan Snooks)
• Blueberry Muffin (voiced by Susan Snooks)
• Lime Chiffon
• Plum Puddin' (girl)
• Peach Blush (voiced by Susan Roman)
• Orange Blossom (voiced by Laurie Waller)
• Lemon Meringue
• Berry Princess (voiced by Susan Roman)
• Berrykins
  • Strawberry Berrykin
• Elderberry Owl

Quotes

• "Something is rotten in Strawberryland..." -- Strawberry Shortcake reacts with surprise when the Berrykins find various fruits with the wrong scents.
• "Berry Princess! The Berry Bird just berry-napped The Berrykins!" --Banana Twirl
• "*Gasp!* What?" -- The Berry Princess, upon hearing Banana Twirl's news
• "Alright, Berry-napper! Make my day!" -- Strawberry Berrykin

Trivia

• "Alright, Berry-napper! Make my day!" could possibly be a reference to the 1983 film Sudden Impact, which uses the character Harry Callahan's famous catchphrase "go ahead, make my day."
• Out of all the specials, this one featured the least voice actors used.
• For this special, there was a handful of characters who did not receive merchandise. However, Mint Tulip, who wasn't in the special, did.
• This short film was played before "The Care Bears Movie" (1985) in theaters.
• This is the only time Strawberry Shortcake has trousers of any kind in the 1980's series, but only in the song When I Grow Up.
• Strawberry Shortcake makes a reference to William Shakespeare's Hamlet when she says, "Something is rotten in Strawberryland," making a pun on "Something is rotten in (the state of) Denmark." This is a line that commonly refers to situations where something is amiss.
• This is the second and final Strawberry Shortcake special not to feature Huckleberry Pie.

Goofs

• In the credit scene, Lime pulls out Parfait Parrot out of the lime tree and it's incorrectly colored dark purple.
• During the marching scene in the intro, Lime holds a lemon.
  • Also note that while Lemon is present, she does not show up in the line. 
• When all of the fruit are sat together, the lemon turns pink after the orange lands in the pile.
• Lime's colors are inaccurate during the song When I Grow Up, instead of green, her colors appear a dark, dull yellow.
• After picking a plum, the object in Plum Puddin's hand turns into a peach. As they put their fruits on the table it turns into a plum again.
• When Strawberry says, "Well I guess I'll just have to teach them a quick lesson!", her hair clips through her shoulder.