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 anthropomorphized versions of characters adapted from Disney’s 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book, which was theatrically rereleased in the summer before this show premiered in the fall, notably Baloo the Bear, Louie the orangutan, and Shere Khan the tiger, along with new characters created for the show
Here’s a description of the Animated Series – “TALESPIN”
Title: TALESPIN
Run Time: 1990-1991
Genre: Animated TV Series
The name of the show is a play on “tailspin”, the rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral, and on the fact that tale is another word for “story”. The show is one of nine Disney Afternoon shows to use established Disney characters as the main characters, with the other eight 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.
TaleSpin is primarily set in the fictional city of Cape Suzette (a pun on the dish Crêpe Suzette). The city lies on an unnamed island, in an unspecified body of water, on 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 as well. The time frame of the series is never specifically addressed, but the helicopter, television, and jet engine are experimental devices. In the episode “Bygones”, Baloo comments that “The Great War ended 20 years ago”, thus suggesting that the series takes place around 1938. Radio is the primary mass medium, and the episode, “The Incredible Shrinking Molly” 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 and his perceived irresponsibility in running a business by Rebecca, she takes over the business and renames it “Higher for Hire”, making her Baloo’s boss. An orphan boy and former air pirate, the ambitious grizzly bear Kit Cloudkicker, attaches to Baloo and becomes his navigator. He sometimes calls Baloo “Papa Bear”. Together, they are the crew of Higher for Hire’s only aircraft, a 20-year-old modified Conwing L-16 (a fictitious twin-boom cargo plane using elements from the Fairchild C-82 transport, Grumman G-21 Goose amphibian, and a Consolidated PBY-3) named the Sea Duck.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
BEST QUOTES FROM TALESPIN
1. Baloo: If it’s got wings I can fly it! Sometimes even if it doesn’t.
2. Don Karnage: This will be like taking candy from a little baby child!
3. Wildcat: You know, using these leftover spare parts, I could probably make a plane in an hour.
4. Wildcat: Sure. And since I only have half the parts, it’ll only take half as long.
5. Rebecca: We’re going and I’m not taking “no” for an answer.
6. Don Karnage: He who steals and runs away, lives to steal another day!
7. Don Karnage: No, no, no, my friends. It is the feared *pirate*, Don Karnage. And… How are you?
8. Rebecca: It’s Jack! What a guy, what a spy!
9. Baloo: Zhembrians like to get your attention with large objects.
10. Defense Minister: He is leader of your Air Force, High Marshal.
11. Shere Khan: I only desire money and power. Unpresentable employees give me neither.
12. Molly Cunningham: Mister Guardman, can i have a drink of water?
13. Baloo: This jail food’s worse than Louie’s all-you-can-stand-for-a-dollar special!
14. Thaddeos E. Klang: You have a sharp tongue madam. But my teeth are sharper! [Bites through a chain]
15. Thaddeos E. Klang: I am Thaddeos E. Klang, finder of rare lost antiquities.
16. Katie Dodd: I have a problem with names. Can I just call you lying thief?
17. Don Karnage: It is I, the spectaculous Don Karnage! My bloodthirsty horde is on an intercept course with you. We will be shooting you and looting you in precisely… Ten minutes. Felicitations!
18. Don Karnage: My brilliant mind tells me it may be time for a strategic withdrawal.
