Horrifiying!

E-Online: Disney's Pooh Redo---

Just in time for his 80th birthday, Winnie-the-Pooh is getting an extreme makeover.

The Disney Channel announced Thursday that it was working on a new animated series called My Friends Tigger and Pooh. The show is slated to debut in 2007 and seeks to update the geriatric characters, which were created by British author A.A. Milne in 1926 for his young son, Christopher Robin.

The most controversial part: the character of longtime bear buddy Christopher Robin will be banished from the Hundred Acre Wood and replaced by a six-year-old tomboyish girl.

The kid-friendly cable network said they hope to attract an older audience by adding the unnamed tyke. The series also will change the look of the rest of the gang, including Piglet, Rabbit and Eeyore, by using brighter colors and 3-D computer animation.

"We got raised eyebrows even in house at first, but the feeling was these timeless characters really needed a breath of fresh air that only the introduction of someone new could provide," Disney Channel spokeswoman Nancy Kanter told USA Today.

The news has sparked outrage in Milne's native England, where fans have taken umbrage at the change.

"This is a betrayal of Milne's stories, because he wrote them specifically for Christopher Robin," one purist grouses in Britain's Independent newspaper.

But the makeover is getting a vote of confidence from someone close to Pooh Corner. Lesley Milne, widow of Christopher Robin Milne, says her late husband would be pleased.

"He hated the character Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and Disney," she told London Times. "He detested the whole set-up so much that I don't think he would have minded the loss."

Can you feel the love? (emphasis added)

How dare they PC up Winnie the Pooh by tossing out Christopher Robin and putting a GIRL in!

The question isn't what Christopher Robin Milne thought, but what A.A. Milne created. And this change is a betrayal of A.A. Milne's creation.