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23 reviews in total

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18 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
This is hands down one of the best TV series Disney has ever produced., 25 June 2000
Author: Figaro-8 (greyfigaro@hotmail.com) from Columbia, SC

"Tale Spin" is a classic. I love it so much that I'm not sure where to begin to sing its praises, so let's begin at the beginning. Michael and Patty Silversher wrote the single most IRRESISTIBLE theme song ever for this show! One listen and you just know you're in for a good time.

Scripts--For being a "kids' show," this series had a wide variety of story lines, and they were not totally geared toward comedy. The stories ranged from hilarious ("Mach One for the Gipper") to extremely touching ("Her Chance to Dream") to Indiana Jones-style adventure ("Search for the Lost City").

Voices--The cast was perfect, especially Sally Struthers as Rebecca. R. J. Williams as Kit Cloudkicker, Tony Jay as Shere Khan and Jim Cummings as Don Karnage.

There are other things I could get into, such as the quality animation, beautiful backgrounds and nice music score, but once you see an episode these things will all speak for themselves. This was, and still is, a fun and entertaining animated series. Disney has yet to top it.

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14 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
"TaleSpin" is great and now it's on DVD!!!!!, 29 August 2006

Author: Seth Nelson from (Near) D/FW Airport, Texas, USA

"Spin it!"

The 90s opened up with a clever Disney favorite, "TaleSpin," the TV cartoon series that featured characters from "The Jungle Book." Join Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker as they fly the Sea Duck like you've never seen it before: out of Cape Suzette, to Louie's, up mountains, through jungles, on water, in volcanoes, looking for adventure, looking for treasure, looking for fun, all in one action-packed cartoon adventure!!!!!

This was a favorite of mine as well as my family's. This ran on The Disney Afternoon the entire first half of the 90s until the original cartoons moved to the Old Disney Channel in 1995, which I have seen on vacation once in 1996 before getting cable in March 1997.

And good news: today the DVDs are here!!!!! Relive the fun and excitement of "Dun, dun, dun, TaleSpin!!!!!"

10/10

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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Don't worry folks, it's all part of the show, 21 October 2002

Author: happiscotsman from Chicago, IL

If you are viewing this show for the first time, you may start wondering if you are in an alternate reality. Colorful and imaginative characters? Entertaining dialogue? Plots that seem to have some depth to them, even creating atmospheres of suspense and drama at times? I mean, this is a syndicated children's show right? This is the same venue that has brought kids such drek as "Pokemon", "Pepper Ann", "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", and "VR Troopers" (please note that three of the titles mentioned above are crass Japanese exports, courtesy of the Fox Network and Saban Entertainment). Don't worry, you are just sampling some of the quality fare that was available to kids during the late 1980's and early 1990's. Some examples of this period would be "Transformers", "Garfield and Friends", "Captain Power", and "C.O.P.S." (a cartoon NOT to be confused with the live action show on Fox). Besides these prime examples, Disney also returned to syndicated programs for kids, coming up with a lineup called "The Disney Afternoon". Aside from a dumbed-down show called "The Gummi Bears", early shows like "Darkwing Duck", "Duck Tales", and "Chip 'N Dale's Rescue Rangers" gave credence to the Disney animation teams that were also turning out theatrical classics like "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Rescuers Down Under", and "The Great Mouse Detective". But above all these wonders shines "TaleSpin". The premiere of "Plunder and Lightning" was a two-hour thrill ride, and won an Emmy. Much to my delight, the rest of the episodes were up to par on the promise of the premiere.

While I enjoy the plots and dialogue, I guess for me the greatest attraction are the characters. There's Rebecca Cunningham, an independent female, but still fallible; Kit Cloudkicker, full of pre-teen angst and optimism; Louie, with his loyalty and support; Frank Wildcat, the most entertaining engineer since Scotty on the original "Star Trek"; Molly Cunningham, cute and witty, but with some depth that most child characters don't have, and of course in the middle of it all, there's Baloo, whom I would describe as a slobby version of James Bond. This is because whenever there's trouble, Baloo saves the day with the assistance of his sleeker-than-most, fastest-of-all Sea Duck (Read: James Bond's Aston Martin). Of course every great show has to have great villains, and TaleSpin doesn't disappoint here either. From the megalomania of businesstiger Shere Kahn, to the vain and always failing air pirate Don Karnage, to the hilarious and inept Soviet-satirized Thembrians. The animation is good, the music appropriate, and the episodes are (for me) the finest that children's programming has ever had to offer. Great fun for the WHOLE family!

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8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
One of the best and last, 10 June 2004
Author: Terminal Madness (rpgforms@yahoo.com) from http://www.cinema-crazed.com

I was born in '83 so I was lucky enough to be old enough to love and appreciate the old incredible Disney Cartoons from the nineties.

The nineties were truly the best decade for animated series. Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, Duck Tales, and Tale Spin were only a few of some of the best cartoons ever made.

While today's animated series are derivative, fluffy, shallow, and pretty dumb, these shows were epic, fun, entertaining, adventurous, funny, and exciting.

Suffice to say they were three-dimensional cartoons. They never talked down to kids and always took them on one incredible adventure after another. Disney has never been able to re-capture such imagination.

In this spin off from "The Jungle Book"'s most popular character Baloo, he stars as a lazy, self-centered but adventurous pilot who unwittingly gains responsibility stumbling upon Kit, an orphan. He teams up with Kit, a young cub who calls Baloo "papa bear". Their relationship is one of the main reasons to watch this show.

Baloo's airplane is then lost and is then bought back by small business woman Rebecca Cunningham and her daughter Molly who buys the plane and hires Baloo as a cargo pilot setting up the cargo business "Higher for Hire". They all form an uneasy relationship but grow fond of one another as they go from one exciting adventure to another.

Watch for an excellent cast of supporting characters including wildkat the odd mechanic, Shere Khan another Jungle Book character as an intimidating and powerful business mogul, and the pirate Don Karnage who's a mix of Blackbeard the pirate and Ricky Ricardo.

Inspired by "Indiana Jones" and old time adventure serials, this swashbuckling, episodic, animated serial show gave me some of the best memories of my childhood and truly took kids on memorable adventures.

Check it out if you get the chance, it's a can't miss.

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8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
fun and entertaining, 8 August 1999
Author: Derek Barichello (vanhouten46@hotmail.com) from Streator, Illinois

i found tale spin a fun and entertaining cartoon...i really liked the fact that the characters from the jungle book were placed into a role in this cartoon. a cartoon which had some pretty complex plots, always maintained a simple enough wit, to keep children entertained. it was very humorous...i loved it!!! truly a cartoon classic....

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Talespin, 3 March 2008

Author: Ursusarctosuk from Somewhere in the World

As for many on here I can't help but praise the Cast and Crew who developed Talespin and others they made throughout My Childhood, I as all who have commented here have thoroughly enjoyed the Quality of not just the animation but the quality of the story lines and the characters.

To Class this work of art as a "Cartoon" could never do talespin justice, In fact it's an insult to class it as a "Cartoon", Talespin is an Animation and nothing less, It is evidently the greatest work of genius to be produced at Disney to date, When Disney "Pulled" it from the air little did they realise what they did and I'm sure their souls have been tortured by regret ever since.

I'll take a moment to explain, From the first which is ducktales to the last which I think is Darkwing Duck, Disney has been plagued with failures due to political Correctness and have taken a Quantum Leap backwards since, They prefer Quantity over Quality now not to mention the room full of Monkey's for the story's, I couldn't have My children watching the mind-numbing "Cartoons" they throw out now in fear that they would all turn out to be homer Simpson some time in the future and 50% of the blame would be on me for permitting them to watch it, I couldn't let that happen, Which is why I have ALL of the shows from the late 80's to the mid 90's on a Harddrive so one day My children couldn't be corrupted by the "Cartoon Crap" of today and to Savour the last piece of childhood I have and to hold on to and I owe that all to Talespin.

Talespin to me is without a doubt the best Animation ever produced in the world on account of it's depth, Charm, Wit, Compassion, Emotion and lack of Truly bad quality and story lines of which many have today, Do You see any of that content in say "Ed, Edd and Eddie or anything else You can think of?, The rubbish produced today can be likened to some 3 year old's undecipherable Hyroglyph Depicting a Picasso.

The next time You watch an episode of Talespin; take a look at the woodgrain on any wooden object or building such as Higher for Hire and salivate over the quality of workmanship and effort put into this Animation, Even the one shot backgrounds were done as though they would use them again and again, The Buildings look true to the Art Deco movement which was popular in the time period depicted, Even the vehicles are true to life, OK not ALL of the Episodes Were Fantastic in animation but the lower grade scenes were covered up by the superior scenes so all in all it evened it all out by the end of the episode and You'd probably never even notice at all unless you were focused and have an attention to detail.

The one thing I love about this is what I like to call the "Deliberate Mistakes" or "Intended Mistakes" in each episode and some have two, For example in sheepskin deep where rebecca say's "You're up to something Baloo" and Baloo replies "Who, Me!, I'm as innocent as a schoolboy" take a look into rebecca's eyes, I won't spoil the rest of the Baloopers but just keep an Eye out next time.

Everyone elses comment's are bang on and 100% correct, I have nothing else to add that others haven't said already on here, Disney, WAKE UP and smell the coffee, You have been asleep for over a decade, Stop producing rubbish and bring back Quality into Animations and Stop producing "Cartoons", We have seen the proof of what You can do and We want it back as rapidly as possible.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
An excellent parody of the Jungle Book- WARNING! Possible Spoilers, 6 February 2004
Author: Gregory Weagle from Porters Lake, NS

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Count me in for singing the praises of this Disney Television Animation series. It is my favorite show of all time and prehaps the best creation Disney has ever created. It's sad that it took me almost three years after the show was cancelled in 1991 to finally see TaleSpin for what it really is (a show that would have destroyed the Simpsons if it wasn't a kids show) and by that time the show meant nothing. There is a good reason why cartoon fans loves this show based on Jungle Book characters and then turn around and hate Disney's The Jungle Book II. TaleSpin is a parody which Walt wouldn't mind considering that he self-parodized Mickey Mouse many times before; while a sequel is denounced simply because Walt didn't like the concept.

The show stars Baloo the bear, Louie the Ape, and Shere Khan the tiger in all new roles which fits them perfectly and then some. Baloo now plays the role of a cargo pilot who at first starts off as a lazy, fat bear who behaved just like the Jungle Book. Louie the Ape owns a resturant/motel/bar while Shere Khan owns a major corpration known as Khan Industries; which pretty much owns any industry that he wants. New characters include Kit Cloudkicker, an ex-pirate and Baloo's navigator; Rebecca Cunningham, a business major who's nudged into the rough and tumble world of cargo; Molly Cunningham, a hyper cute daughter of Rebecca who loves Dangerwoman and trouble; WildCat, a goofy but depectively intellegent mechanic. Baloo and Kit are often attacked by Air Pirates led by Don Karnage and his brainless piles of myhem. Baloo is almost always late (or losing cargo) with the cargo and the new owner of Baloo's Air Sevice (known as Higher for Hire); Rebecca is always ready to unleash her wrath to him as Kit tries hard to keep the relationship together for his own reasons.

The biggest strength of this show is the one that is the most likely to be ignored: The characters and how they interact with each other. Kit Cloudkicker is one that resonates in my heart the most because he had a mind of his own and wasn't afraid to speak out. He has so many talents and behaved very well; while at the same time, he was a rebel seeking redeempation for the past that has haunted him. Although the series didn't go into much detail about Kit's past, the interaction and reaction of Kit throughout is staged in brilliant fashion. It is a testement of how you can create depth without the need for flashbacks. Not to mention that I love the kid's spine-tingling laugh (R.J. Williams) Don Karnage is one of the best villians I have seen; he is a ruthless character (when he needs to be) who has the ability to scare or kill anyone; but we can feel sorry for him since his crews is a bunch of bumbling idoits. He is also very funny with his dialogue and his physical comedy; special thanks to Jim Cummings. Rebecca was impressive to me for being able to see through Kit's tough side and for her innovative ways to make money; even though many of them backfire. Molly was hyper-cute and moronic (although not near to the level of Patrick Star); but she has some great moment where her mature nature resigns. The rest of the characters are great for the most part for various reason. Suffice to say that the seller of the series- Baloo, Louie and Shere Khan; as great as they are, were not needed to make this series float well above water.

The episode quality of each episode ranges from above average to awesome. Minor Spoiler upcoming- Stormy Weather (Kit Cloudkicker joins an Air Circus), Her Chance To Dream (Rebecca falls in love with a ghost) and Jolly Molly Christmas (Molly wants snow for her mother) were beautfiul examples of drama. "Mach One For The Gipper", "Stuck On You", and "Ransom of The Red Chimp" did a great job of making me laugh out loud. Even the worse episodes were good enough for a look. The animation quality was excellent for the most part with it's art deco style. However; there were some episodes where spots where missed and the artwork looked off. However; those mistakes are minor and are covered up by the artwork. The opening theme was beautiful and very addicting to the mind; the music track is also very good and the voices were very believable; partically the child characters which were done by actual children.

There's a lot more to sing for this series; but I probably got to my maximum now. In closing; this show shouldn't be missed; it should be shown to anyone who is thinking of working for DTVA. It'll make you forget about bad shows like Recess and Teamo Surpemo. A perfect *****.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
This is hands down one of the best TV series Disney has ever produced - YES!!!, 4 March 2003
Author: JOE 'THE BEAR' GORIA www.goriajk@aol.com from LOS ANGELES CA.

Those words came from another post/user. You're so right!!! Tale Spin was Disney's best animated series made for Television, as it attracted me intensely in the early 1990's - I cut college classes to watch TaleSpin (And, I still got my Bachelor's degree in '94!) I was so upset when then Disney-owned KCAL Ch. 9 (Which aired Tale Spin weekday afternoons at 4:00 in 1991-92) pre-empted Tale Spin Apr 29, 92 for the Rodney King LAPD court verdicts (Of course that led to a riot which I won't indulge into). I was a student going to a major local university between 1990-94 and I had to make sure I got either to the Student Union for the TV room or if in class, tape Tale Spin from home for viewing later. I was never into any other animated series before and since. I knew Ed Gilbert by luck (The voice of Baloo in the series) as we took yoga classes together in 1991 - We had met in N. Hollywood at a yoga instructor's house. He was a great person to talk too (I teased him once - called him "Yoga Bear" and he loved it, he called me just "Big Joe") and gave me a lot of Tale Spin secrets & info I could never put here on this post. We lost touch after 1993, and just recently heard of his death two years ago. I feel saddened, but I'm sure he (and Phil Harris...) are looking down on us singing a chord of "The Bare Necessities". (I'm bummed he's not in the new Jungle Book 2 movie -Gilbert would have been great as he reprises his voice of Baloo - He was natural, man... (Tony Jay reprises his voice role of Shere Khan in the new movie) Sally Struthers spells R E B E C C A and was perfect for the single mother - independent-minded entrupeneur of "Higher For Hire" and I loved Wildcat (Pat Fraley) the mechanic and Louie (Jim Cummings) the bartender and party monkey!! What wonderful memories, Ed signed my Tale Spin comic book one day after our workout with this inscription "To Joe, Keep Yer Tail Spinnin, And Don't Fall Outa The SKY!! Ed Gilbert "The Voice of Baloo" ** Miss you and see you in the sky.... Joe "The Bear" Goria - Los Angeles

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Bring this show back!, 8 February 2009

Author: TheLittleSongbird from United Kingdom

Along with Darkwing Duck this is unfairly cancelled. Disney has been in decline since Tarzan and we need a show like this to get Disney back on track. Ed Gilbert and Jim Cummings were perfect for the voices of Louis and Baloo (sounds familiar?) The theme tune is also catchy, one of the catchiest theme tunes ever I'd say. Out of all the villains, which are all great on their own merits, Tony Jay stands out as Shere Kahn. Louis and Baloo actually sound very similar to the voice overs in the Jungle Book, which isn't a bad thing at all. As a matter of fact, it's quite inspirational! The animation was spot on, and the script had plenty of wit that has been severely lacking in animations for years. PLEASE BRING THIS SHOW BACK! 9/10. Bethany Cox

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
The reason I got into aviation, 3 February 2009

Author: Tim Kaczar (tkaczar@siu.edu) from United States

Ever since I remember, I have loved airplanes and flying. I am now in college with a private pilot's license and looking to become a commercial. I could never remember why I was so obsessed with the subject until I came across my old Tail Spin tapes in my basement at home and it hit me, this was it. My parents bought every single tape they had and this was the only show I would watch as a kid. I had the theme memorized as I grew up and I can still re-cite it today. It is absolutely amazing and I plan on buying the DVD's soon! It really is great for children and adults and is absolutely timeless. I cannot get enough of this show.

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