TaleSpin

TaleSpin is an American animated television series first aired in 1990 as a preview on Disney Channel and later that year as part of The Disney Afternoon. It features characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book (namely, some of the film's animals being given an anthropomorphical makeover while the humans are removed), which was theatrically rereleased in the summer before this show premiered in the fall. Namely Baloo the Bear, Louie the ape, and Shere Khan the tiger, along with new characters created for the show. The name of the show is a play on "tailspin", the rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral. The two words in the show's name, tale and spin, are a way to describe telling a story. The show is one of ten Disney Afternoon shows to use established Disney characters as the main characters, with the others being Darkwing Duck, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Quack Pack, Aladdin, and Timon & Pumbaa. It is also one of two animated television series based on the book The Jungle Book, the second being Jungle Cubs.

## Background

### Development

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.

Initially, Disney simply commissioned Magon and Zaslove with creating a thirty-minute animated program for them, with no requirements as to what the show should be about. Nearing the deadline for a pitch without having come up with anything, Magon hit upon the idea of making the story about Baloo, one of the central characters of Disney's *The Jungle Book,* which had recently been theatrically rereleased. The show *Tales of the Gold Monkey* was an inspiration according to creator/supervising producer, Jymn Magon. Similar to the main character in that show, they decided to have Baloo work for an air cargo delivery service, a concept, also, occasionally featured on Disney's successful *DuckTales*. In order to add dramatic tension, they decided to maintain the impressionable son / bad father dynamic which had driven part of the plot of *The Jungle Book,* replacing the human Mowgli with the anthropomorphic bear Kit. Inspired by *Cheers* — then one of the most popular programs on television — Magon and Zaslove created the character Rebecca (voiced by actress Sally Struthers), basing her on the character Rebecca Howe and giving her that character's arc of being an intelligent and headstrong yet inexperienced manager put in charge of a fledgling business. Deciding to make the show a period piece, the pair lastly decided to make one of the show's primary locations a neutral zone inspired by Rick Blaine's bar in *Casablanca*, where they inserted the character of Louie in place of Rick. The decision to add Shere Khan to the cast was not made until later in the show's development. Magon and Zaslove also took inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki's 1989 manga *Hikōtei Jidai*, about a pigheaded man who flies a seaplane and fights air pirates. Two years after *TaleSpin* premiered, Miyazaki released an anime adaptation called *Porco Rosso,* which Zaslove felt took cues from *TaleSpin*. Phil Harris, who voiced Baloo for the film, was initially hired to reprise the role; at age 85, however, Harris had lost some of his comic timing and had to be chauffeured from his home in Palm Springs for each recording session. His work was discarded and Ed Gilbert took over the role for the rest of the series.

Famed Uncle Scrooge comic writer and artist Don Rosa wrote episode 6, "It Came from Beneath the Sea Duck", and episode 9, "I Only Have Ice for You".

The series was animated by Walt Disney Animation (Japan) Inc., Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd., Jade Animation, Tama Productions, Walt Disney Animation (France) S.A., Sunwoo Entertainment, and Wang Film Productions.

Gilbert would continue to voice Baloo in other Disney Projects, Commercials, Promos, miscellaneous until his death.

Harris died of a heart attack on August 11, 1995 Five years after TaleSpin premiered, Three years later in August 1998, Gilbert got sick from his illness and stayed home for nine months and never recovered, Gilbert died from lung cancer on May 8, 1999 Nine years after TaleSpin premiered.

### Broadcast

After a preview of *TaleSpin* aired on The Disney Channel from May 5 to July 15, 1990, the series began its syndicated run in September of the same year. The original concept was embodied in the pilot episode and introductory television movie *Plunder & Lightning* which was the sole nominee for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour) in 1991. After its premiere on September 7, 1990, *Plunder & Lightning* was 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 programming block *The Disney Afternoon*. *TaleSpin* ended on its 65th episode which aired on August 8, 1991. However, reruns continued to be shown on *The Disney Afternoon* until September 1994. On October 2, 1995, *TaleSpin* began reruns on The Disney Channel as part of a two-hour programming block called "Block Party" which aired on weekdays in the late-afternoon/early-evening and which also included *Darkwing Duck*, *DuckTales*, and *Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers*. Later, the show was aired on Toon Disney, where it was first aired from April 1998 until January 2006 (with a hiatus between 2001 and 2002) and later from January 2007 until May 2008, & Returned On September 2020. Throughout its broadcast history, the series has been subjected to numerous edits.

## Synopsis

*TaleSpin* is set in the city of Cape Suzette (a pun on the dish Crêpe Suzette), a place that's similar to San Francisco, California. The city lies in a large harbor or bay enclosed by a high cliff wall. A single cleft in the wall is the harbor's only means of access. The cleft is guarded by anti-aircraft artillery, preventing flying rabble-rousers or air pirates from entering the city. The characters in the world of *TaleSpin* are anthropomorphic animals (though normal wild animals exist too, but no humans). The time frame of the series is never specifically addressed, but appears to be in the mid-to-late 1930s, based on Baloo’s Seaplane and other things, possibly in the last stages of the Great Depression. In the show, the helicopter, television and jet engine are experimental devices, and most architecture is reminiscent of the Art Deco style of that period. In one episode, Baloo comments that "The Great War ended 20 years ago", thus indicating that the series takes place in or around 1938. Radio is the primary mass medium, and one episode even briefly alludes to the characters having never heard of television.

The series centers on the adventures of bush pilot, Baloo the bear, whose air cargo freight business, "Baloo's Air Service", is taken up by Rebecca Cunningham who has a young daughter named Molly. Upon his default on delinquent bills with the bank (run by the criminal tiger Shere Khan), and his perceived irresponsibilty in running a business by Rebecca. She takes over the business and renames "Higher for Hire" making her the Baloo’s boss. An orphan boy and former air pirate, the ambitious Grizzly 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 20-year-old modified Conwing L-16 (a fictitious aircraft using elements from the Fairchild C-82 transport, Grumman G-21 Goose amphibian, and a Consolidated PBY-3) 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 1940s, like the *Tailspin Tommy* movies, and contemporary variations, such as *Raiders of the Lost Ark*.

Their adventures often involve encounters with a gang of air pirates led by Don Karnage, as well as 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*, "The Dogs of War!", had the heroes encounter members of the "Houn" nationality, a menacing militaristic nationality of dogs from "Hounsland" who wear uniforms that are clearly based on German ones and who speak in a mock-German accent.

The relationship between Baloo and Rebecca owes something to the screwball comedy films of the 1930s. More precisely, according to Jymn Magon (co-creator of the series), the two characters were fashioned after Sam Malone and Rebecca Howe from the then-popular sitcom *Cheers*.

### DVD releases

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released the complete series on DVD; three volumes have been released in Region 1 featuring all 65 episodes of the series. The first volume was released on August 29, 2006 (containing episodes 1–27) and the second on November 13, 2007 (containing episodes 28–54). Volume 2 includes the controversial episode "Last Horizons", which never re-aired on broadcast syndication although it did re-air on The Disney Channel and Toon Disney. On June 25, 2013, the third and final volume was released on DVD via the Disney Movie Club Exclusives.

## International releases=

The series has been released into several volumes in different countries, each containing only 4 episodes each.

#### Germany

In Germany, A series of 3-disc sets started with Collection 1 released on December 5, 2012, in Region 2, PAL format. The sets contain the episodes in the same order as the US releases, as well as a Fastplay feature and 6 language tracks: English, Danish, German, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish, but no subtitles have been added. the first collection has only 17 episodes.
A Second Collection, containing 16 episodes, was released on March 7.
A Third Collection, containing 17 episodes, was released on May 29.

However, a few episodes have been removed from the original list. The 1st collection does not include "From Here To Machinery" and "Vowel Play". The 2nd set excludes "A Touch of Glass", while the 3rd set misses out "Jumping the Guns".
There is no confirmation on whether these episodes will be released, along with the final 11 episodes of the series.

#### United Kingdom

The sets from Germany have also been released in the United Kingdom. The First Collection came out on February 11, 2013. The Second Collection was released on May 20, 2013. The Third Collection was released on October 22, 2018

#### Australia

The sets from Germany and the United Kingdom have also been released in Australia. The First Collection came out on August 17, 2012. The Second Collection was released on March 15, 2013. The Third Collection was released on October 11, 2013.

#### India

In India, *TaleSpin* was dubbed in Hindi and Telugu for TV broadcast in the 90s along with DuckTales. In 2012, 63 Hindi dubbed episodes out of the total 65 episodes were released by Disney India on 21 DVD volumes in PAL format. These discs support DVD Region 2, Region 4 and Region 5. However due to limited number of copies, they quickly went out of stock. Each DVD contained only 3 episodes.

1. ↑ Four production teams for TaleSpin. Animationsource.org.
2. ↑ Cronin, Brian (2018-03-04). Was TaleSpin Originally Going to Star Launchpad McQuack?. CBR.
3. ↑ TaleSpin and The Jungle Book. Animationsource.org.
4. ↑ TaleSpin and Porco Rosso. Animationsource.org.
5. ↑ Voice actor decisions – Baloo and Kit Jymn Magon, co-creator of TaleSpin who initially cast Harris for the role of Baloo: "his age was a factor. He didn't have the slick, con man timing anymore. I loved working with Phil, so I was distraught to inform management that he just wasn't going to work out for 65 episodes. (Besides, we had to chauffeur him to and from Palm Springs for the recording sessions – a 4 hour round trip!!)"
6. ↑ Weagle, Gregory. TaleSpin Crew. Cloudkicker.50webs.com.
7. ↑ *The Disney Channel Magazine*, Vol. 8, no. 2 (typo in magazine: should be "no. 3"), May/June 1990: pp. 22, 34, 37, 46, 49–53, 57–59.
8. ↑ *The Disney Channel Magazine*, Vol. 8, no. 3 (typo in magazine: should be "no. 4"), July/August 1990: pp. 45–47.
9. ↑ Primetime Emmy Awards (1991). IMDb.com.
10. ↑ Template:Cite news
11. ↑ Nominees/Winners | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Emmys.com.
12. ↑ DISNEY'S TALE SPIN: PLUNDER & LIGHTNING | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Emmys.com.
13. ↑ "TaleSpin" Plunder & Lightning (TV episode 1990) – IMDb. IMDb.com.
14. ↑ "Block Party: Four Disney Animated Series." *The Disney Channel Magazine*, Vol. 13, no. 5, October/November 1995: p. 36.
15. ↑ Weagle, Gregory. TaleSpin Edits. Cloudkicker.50webs.com.
16. ↑ Template:Cite episode
17. ↑ Template:Cite episode
18. ↑ Gray, Doug (w), Lavoradori, Alberto (p,i). "The Dogs of War!" *Disney Adventures* v2 #1 (November 1991), The Walt Disney Company, Story code: KZ 4590
19. ↑ Question about the relationship between Baloo & Becky to Jymn Magon. Animationsource.org.
20. ↑ TaleSpin, Volume 1: Ed Gilbert, R.J. Williams, Sally Struthers, Jim Cummings, Pat Fraley, Alan Roberts, Charles Adler, Janna Michaels, Chuck McCann, Frank Welker, Michael Gough, Tony Jay, David Mohr, Duane Capizzi: Movies & TV.
21. ↑ TaleSpin, Volume 2: Ed Gilbert, R.J. Williams, Sally Struthers, Jim Cummings, Liz Georges, Pat Fraley, Alan Roberts, Charles Adler, Janna Michaels, Chuck McCann, Frank Welker, Michael Gough, Alan Burnett, Bruce Morris, Carter Crocker, Chuck Tately, David Weimers, Dev Ross, Duane Capizzi, Jeremy Cushner: Movies & TV.
22. ↑ TaleSpin Hindi DVDs