Disney Shows From The 90s - TaleSpin

TaleSpin is a half-hour American animated television series spin-off of The Jungle Book that first aired as

part of The Disney Afternoon. The name of the show is a play on “tailspin”, defined as “the rapid descent

of an aircraft in a steep spiral”. The “Tale” in the name originally referred to the series DuckTales,

because Launchpad McQuack from that show was originally going to be the star of TaleSpin, but was replaced

by Baloo.

Background

After a preview of The Disney Afternoon that aired on the Disney Channel in May 1990, the series began its

run in September of the same year. The original concept was embodied in the introductory television movie

Plunder and Lightning which was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (Prime Time

for Programming One Hour or More) in 1991 and was later re-edited into four half-hour episodes for reruns.

The show was often seen either on its own as a half-hour show, or as part of the two-hour syndicated series

The Disney Afternoon. TaleSpin ended on its 65th episode which ran in 1994. However, reruns continued to be

shown on The Disney Afternoon through late 1994 till 1996. Afterwards, it was moved into Disney Channel and

later into Toon Disney.

Several of the characters are loosely based on characters from Disney’s animated film version of The Jungle

Book: in particular Baloo, the hot-shot pilot hero of the series; Louie, the owner of Baloo’s favorite bar;

and Shere Khan, a business tycoon who appears in many episodes. Kit seems to be a stand-in for Mowgli,

since Baloo calls him by the same nicknames his Jungle Book counterpart called Mowgli, like “Little

Britches” and “Baby Bear”. Shere Khan’s soldiers are black panthers, resembling Bagheera.

Also, many of the series concepts seem to be based on the 1982 ABC series Tales of the Gold Monkey,

including the main concept of a cocky flying boat cargo pilot and his rocky relationship with his

girlfriend, his scatterbrained mechanic sidekick, the era and designs of the aircraft and costumes, the

Pacific Islands setting, the secondary character relationships, even the visual appearance of the lagoon.

Also, the protagonists of both series fly planes named for waterfowl (Cutter’s Goose and Sea Duck) and are

regular denizens of taverns named “Louie’s”.

The series was largely developed by writers Jymn Magon and Mark Zaslove, who were also the Supervising

Producers on the series as well as Story Editors. There were four production teams, each one headed by a

Producer/Director: Robert Taylor, Larry Latham, Jamie Mitchell and Ed Ghertner.

Synopsis

TaleSpin is set in the fictional city-state of Cape Suzette (a pun on the pancake dish, Crêpe Suzette), a

harbor town protected by giant cliffs through which only a small opening exists. The opening in the cliffs

is guarded by anti-aircraft artillery, preventing flying rabble-rousers or air pirates from entering the

city. Characters in the world of TaleSpin are anthropomorphic animals. The timeframe of the series is never

specifically addressed, but appears to be in the mid to late 1930s; the helicopter and jet engine are

experimental devices and most architecture is reminiscent of the art deco style of that period. “The Great

War” ended “nearly 20 years ago”, and radio is the primary mass medium.

The series centered on the adventures of bush pilot Baloo the bear, whose air cargo freight business is

bought out by Rebecca Cunningham, and renamed “Higher for Hire”. An orphan boy and former air pirate, the

ambitious Kit Cloudkicker, attaches to Baloo and becomes his navigator. He sometimes calls him “Papa Bear”.

Together, they are the crew of Higher for Hire’s only aircraft, a modified Conwing L-16 named the Sea Duck.

From there, the series follows the ups and downs of Higher for Hire and its staff, sometimes in the vein of

old action-adventure film serials of the 1930s and ’40s and contemporary variations, such as Raiders of the

Lost Ark.

Their adventures often involve encounters with a gang of air pirates led by the histrionic Don Karnage,

with representatives of Thembria, a parody of the Stalinist Soviet Union inhabited by anthropomorphic

warthogs, or other, often even stranger obstacles. In deference to contemporary sensitivities, there is no

equivalent of the Nazis in the series, although one story in Disney Adventures Magazine had the heroes

encounter “the Hausers,” a menacing militaristic nationality of dogs who wear uniforms that are clearly

based on German ones.

The relationship between Baloo and Rebecca owes something to the screwball comedy films of the 1930s. It is

even more closely patterned after the later years of the television sitcom Cheers—in both shows, a

buttoned-down businesswoman named Rebecca takes the reins of a struggling company, then hires its previous

owner (a fun-loving but irresponsible slacker) to do most of the work for her.

A video game by Capcom was also released on the NES and Game Boy. Sega produced a different version for the

Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear. A third incarnation was produced by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-16.

Famed Uncle Scrooge comic writer and artist Don Rosa contributed to episode 6 “It Came From Beneath the Sea

Duck” and episode 9 “I Only Have Ice for You”.

Characters and cast

Main article: List of TaleSpin characters

Episodes

Main article: List of TaleSpin episodes

DVD releases

Disney released the first 27 episodes (including the 4-part pilot) of TaleSpin on DVD in Region 1 on August

29, 2006. Volume 2 of the series was released on November 13, 2007, which includes the controversial

episode “Last Horizons”. Disney has yet to confirm a third volume with the remaining episodes, and there is

no word on whether the other controversial episode, “Flying Dupes” will be included, (see “Controversy”

below).
DVD Name     Release Date     Eps#
Volume One     August 29, 2006     23eps. with 4-part pilot.
Volume Two     November 13, 2007     27 eps.
Volume Three     TBA     11 eps.

Controversy

Banned episodes

Two episodes of Talespin drew varied amounts of controversy, enough for one episode to be temporarily

banned and the other to be permanently banned.

The first of these, the episode “Last Horizons”, was temporarily banned and taken off the air.

Investigation of the event has since revealed that the reason for its temporary removal was the alleged

stereotyping of Asians. The villain in the episode is an anthropomorphic panda Emperor named Wan Lo (voiced

by actor Robert Ito) living in a mock-pre-WWII Asian nation called “Panda-La”, who takes Baloo into his

country to exploit his naiveté and attacks Cape Suzette. There is a reference to how their lust for

conquest is not shared by all of their species with “Good Pandas especially dislike us.”

The fictitious nation may have been a take on Japan, which attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii on December 7, 1941. That incident ushered America’s entry into the Second World War.

The second episode, coincidentally the last in the series, titled “Flying Dupes” was aired for the first

time on August 8, 1992 and was immediately pulled from the lineup afterward, not to be seen again for more

than ten years. It made a brief re-appearance on Toon Disney several years ago, possibly by mistake, and

has never been re-aired since. Considered by Disney to be a banned episode, the apparent reason for this

episode’s permanent removal from the airwaves is the terrorist theme associated with it. Despite this ban,

the episode was aired repeatedly by independent stations, including Seattle-based KSTW-TV and Family

Channel in Canada. They also get aired on German TV (dubbed) practically anytime the series gets broadcast.

The general synopsis of the episode starts with Baloo being asked to deliver a goodwill present (a cuckoo

clock he is told) to the High Marshall of Thembria from Cape Suzette. Baloo is unaware until the end of the

episode that the package really contains a time bomb planted by munitions manufacturers who wish to provoke

a war between Thembria and Cape Suzette in order to boost weapons sales.

Voice impersonation

A controversy related to TaleSpin involved the character Louie. In 2001, the widow of Louis Prima, who had

voiced the scat singing orangutan in The Jungle Book, filed suit against Disney for “breach of contract,

non-payment of royalties, unjust enrichment, fraud and negligent misrepresentation”. At issue were back

royalties owed for profits made from video and DVD sales of The Jungle Book and unauthorized use of her

husband’s voice and its likeness in shows like TaleSpin (Jim Cummings’s impersonation of Prima’s voice was

near-perfect). Although the case was eventually settled out of court, Disney has since chosen to avoid any

further trouble and has refrained from using the character in anything else. Illustrating this point was

the appearance of a Louie doppelgänger in an episode of the Disney’s House of Mouse, “King Larry Swings

In.” Here “Larry” was identified as Louie’s identical twin brother to avoid offending the Prima estate. It

was also due to this lawsuit that Louie was conspicuously absent from The Jungle Book 2 (2003); he is the

only major Jungle Book character who did not appear in the 2003 film.

Comics

A monthly comic book based on the show was published by Disney Comics in 1991, running for seven issues

(eleven, counting a four-issue mini-series based on the series premiere). Bobby JG Weiss was the writer for

issues 1-4 and 6-7. As issue 5 was adapted from the episode 41, “The Old Man And The Sea Duck”, Weiss only

is credited for adaptation.

The comic’s cancellation seven months later terminated several planned stories that would have revealed

pieces of background for the main characters. Issue 7 explored Kit’s past, and how he joined up with the

pirates. According to the letter page in #3, a planned story for the comic’s annual would have explored the

origin of the Iron Vulture. #4-7 would have letters ‘answered’ by the characters.

A collected edition called Disney’s Cartoon Tales featuring TaleSpin came out in 1991 (ISBN 1-56115-269-2).

It reprints #4 and 6 from the regular comic book series.

Subsequent comic stories were also printed in Disney Adventures from 1990 to 1995 then re-appeared in the

Summer 2006 Disney Adventures Comic Zone Magazine, as well as in the Disney Afternoon comic book published

by Marvel Comics.

TaleSpin #8

While issue #8 of the monthly comic series never made it to print, the end of issue #7 included a preview

for it:

“Spies in Cape Suzette?! There are some mighty mysterious folk sniffing around Shere Khan Industries. When

Special Agent Booker shows up to handle the problem he finds that battling foreign agents is easier than

dealing with Baloo as an assistant in… THE SPY WHO BUGGED ME!”

Relationship

At some point during the series, Baloo and Rebecca’s relationship matures into a strong friendship with

possible romantic overtones. Several episodes feature Baloo serving as escort to Rebecca for various social

occasions though often with a degree of reluctance from one or both. In “It Came From Beneath the Sea

Duck”, Baloo accompanies Rebecca on a shopping spree; in “Her Chance to Dream”, Baloo becomes slightly

jealous when Rebecca is courted by the ghost of a Victorian era sea captain; in the beginning of “A Star Is

Torn”, the two have a dinner date as “friends”. Baloo’s statement to Rebecca of “Remember the last time we

went out?” suggests that this is not their first date; In “Feminine Air”, when Rebecca reveals that she

could tell her co-pilot “Tan Margret” was really Baloo in drag, she calls Baloo her “best friend”; “Gruel

and Unusual Punishment” both Baloo and Rebecca ready themselves to go the annual Pilot’s Ball with her

getting a new dress (which is a leftover from “Her Chance to Dream”) and him losing weight when she

threatens to take someone else and they get just a little bit closer (but not a lot) in the closing moments

of “My Fair Baloo.” In addition, at the end of “Lost Horizons,” Rebecca clearly shouts with joy at Baloo’s

escape from certain death, “I love you, Baloo!”

Trivia

* Prior to Talespin, voice actors Ed Gilbert and R.J. Williams starred as father and son in the NBC

cartoon Kissyfur.

* Kit Cloudkicker’s first name is leftover from a never produced Disney TVA series called “Metro Mice”

which starred two mice detectives: Colt Chedderson and Kit Colby. Metro Mice eventually evolved into Chip

‘n Dale Rescue Rangers.

* Don Karnage’s massive airship, the Iron Vulture was originally going to be called the Sky Shark. It

also had a much more fishlike appearance in the early concept art.

* Baloo is the only character to appear in all 65 episodes

* In the show, Baloo would use recycled lines from previous Disney works. He often mentioned “bear

necessities” and called Kit “little britches”, both hand downs from The Jungle Book (1967 film). In Plunder

and Lightning he said “One more time.”, a line said by Louie in The Jungle Book. In A Bad Reflection on You

he said “This ain’t no hay ride, lets move it on out of here.”, said by Little John in Robin Hood (Disney

film). The latter was originally voiced by singer/voice actor Phil Harris who originally portrayed Baloo

for Disney.

* In one episode of the Aladdin cartoon the Genie, Princess Jasmine, Abu and Iago attempt to stop an

evil genie by flying a plane very similar in design to the Sea Duck. Genie is dressed as Baloo, and

resembles him facially; Jasmine is dressed like Rebecca, Abu like Louie, and Iago like Kit.

* The plot for episode 38, “The Time Bandit” was recycled from an episode of DuckTales, “Allowance

Day”, which premiered less than eight months earlier.
* This is the first Disney show to have a major use of CGI to create the perspective’s of the planes

and 3-D backgrounds. This is very noticeable on the pilot episode. This would be later used in Goof Troop.

* A smaller Sea Duck look-a-like appears in Total Drama Island.

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