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Disclaimer #1: All images and characters are copyrighted 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company Inc. and are being used without permission. The webmaster has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this page and all material is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin team.

Disclaimer #2: The following is an editorial about TaleSpin. The views expressed here are of my own and does not mean that you actually agree by it. If you have any comments relating to this editorial or any other editorial created by me; then E-Mail me at: gweagle@eastlink.ca

The TaleSpin Trivia Reference Page

Update #3 (07/18/2015) - Updated Page.

General Trivia References

Overall TaleSpin Trivia

[1.] TaleSpin has several meanings from "To Spin A Tale" which gets to the heart of making a story. It is a corruption of "TailSpin" which has two meanings: The descent of a downward spiral; and the second which means "Anything bad that can happen will happen."

[2.] According to Ocean Glide: TaleSpin was definitely a quick development. The episodes started being written in late summer and fall 1989. Some of the character designs weren't even finalized yet at this point. The second season DuckTales and the Chip N Dale series bibles were really polished with a ton of artwork and graphic design. The Chip N Dale bible even had a foldout sheet with all the color codes for the characters (not sure why episode writers would need that). The TaleSpin bible, on the other hand? About 35 typewriter pages with some Xeroxed pictures. IMHO I thought the TaleSpin bible looked the best because all the effort went into the writing and it showed. It read more like a sandbox to play in compared to the others.

[3.] TaleSpin was originally supposed to be an action cartoon instead of the character based cartoon it would be in the final version.

The Characters:

[1.] Kit Cloudkicker: Cloudkicker is a Native American name which literally means kicking the clouds. It refers to his sky surfing; but it also refers to Kit's wanting to kick the clouds of his dark past away which keep coming back to biting him on the butt. Kit's first name is a leftover from the pre-production of Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers (Kit Colby) which formally was pre-named "Metro Mice". Kit's character comes from three different characters: the kid from A Thousand Clowns, Johnny Quest and The Artful Dodger. Only a lot more bolder than they are. Kit was originally supposed to be more into far-flung treasure hunts than Baloo was; but that was toned down because it contradicted Kit's more reasonable final design. Kit Cloudkicker was described as the focal point of the show and the pivotal character; he tied the series together. He was the character the writers had to pay the most attention to in order to keep the show's dynamics together.

[2.] Rebecca Cunningham had four different designs including one as a fox. Three of them as bears and the other one as a fox. There's the one from the conceptual drawings with her in the skirt and fuzzy hair. There's also another one looking more 1930s contemporary with a skirt and hat. She looked more like a bear in this one compared to the others. Then there was supposedly one of her as a fox until finally the final design you all know came to be. Rebecca was described as being divorced but it really didn't matter whether she was divorced or widowed. They just needed her to be single so the dynamics between her and Baloo would work. Molly was just to soften her image up, which would obviously bring up the question about her being divorced or widowed. It doesn't really matter when development Rebecca. Originally; Rebecca was supposed to get Higher For Hire from her father; but that was changed with Plunder and Lightning.

[3.] Don Karnage is based on Kevin Kline's character Otto from "A Fish Called Wanda". Don Karnage's codename was "Dread Pirate Anthrax"; changed for obvious (copyright issue) and not so obvious reasons (blacklisted due to the terrorist name; although it didn't rid the image of a terrorist in the final version).

[4.] Wildcat is pretty much a G-rated ex-hippie. Definitely the pilot from "Fandango." A comedy pilot in that movie, who flew a crapped out Cessna around like a dune buggy. The original story bible in a rough draft showed a sketch of Wildcat looking serious compared to the dimwitted Wildcat we would get in the final version.

[5.] Colonel Spigot and Sargeant Dunder were drawn as lions at one point but I don't think this was ever meant to be a final version.

[6.] Shere Khan's original code name was Mr. Downs.

[7.] The original codename for the Iron Vulture was The Sky Shark complete with shark fins. That was probably changed due to Taito video game of the same name having the trademark.

[8.] Baloo was the most developed of the characters before the episodes were written.

The Episodes

I Only Have Ice For You

[1.] The episode is written by Don Rosa; the comic producer of Donald Duck comics; considered second in the chain of command behind Carl Barks. From the interviews that I have heard from Don Rosa; I think his major problem with it was it was watered down because Don Rosa couldn't get absolute creative control for his product. I don't think the problem was the watering down as much as it was about creative control which he had with his comic works. Which explains why he wasn't too fond of his retirement gift to work on this series in general. He made the most of it though as evident in his book:

"'TaleSpin' was an interesting show -- it was based on old adventure movies of the 1930’s which was certainly one of my interests! I soon was getting enthusiastic about giving it my best shot. I even did storyboards for my own scripts for free, trying to make myself valuable. A screenwriter who can also do his own storyboards was just as rare as a comic writer who can draw his own scripts. It turned out that I wrote the first two episodes of the show that were animated in Korea or France (Disney no longer did their own animation), though they were not the first episodes broadcast. The two episodes were 'It Came from Beneath the Seaduck' (a parody of 1950’s giant-monster movies), and 'I Only Have Ice for You' (they liked puns as story titles). I recall that the first script was animated almost exactly the way I wrote it, while the second one was altered totally. But the producers were very gracious; I had written that second script based on the story synopsis they had given me, and they later said that they needed to see that synopsis in script form to realize that it would not work, so I still received full pay and a good review."

[2.] This is the first episode written, produced and was voiced over; just listen to Ed Gilbert. I don't think he found his comfort zone with the voice yet in that episode.

[3.] The title is a play on "I Only Have Eyes For You" which is a 1934 popular romantic pop love song composed by Harry Warren. Art Garfunkel wrote a remake of this song as a soft rock piece in 1975. That song was performed on the second episode of Saturday Night Live.

Time Waits For No Bear

[1.] Baloo/Wildcat's wearing of an alarm clock is similar to what Flavor Flav wears. Flavor Flav was the hype man and founder of The Public Enemy music group in 1982.

[2.] Savior Faire is a French phrase that means being adaptable and knowing what to do in any situation.

[3.] Kranji (In Kranjipoor) is a suburb in northwestern Singapore about 22 miles from the city center.

[4.] The title is based on the catchphrase: "Time Waits For No Man". It's origin is not clear cut since the phrase has been around long before the recorded phrase in modern English: "the tide abides for, tarrieth for no man, stays no man, tide nor time tarrieth no man" by St. Marher back in 1225.

[5.] The pink pilot's cap that WildCat wore is in fact Baloo's cap. Walt Disney Animation Japan made an intentional mistake since it wasn't an one-off thing and was pink from the moment Wildcat was wearing it until Baloo got the pilot's cap back.

[6.] This is one of the few episodes written by Karl Geurs. Karl normally edits stories for this series.

A Touch Of Glass

[1.] The only Disney Channel preview episode to not have Kit Cloudkicker appear in a speaking role; although he did show up in one of the ads Rebecca bought to sell the business to upper class people.

[2.] Believe it or not; there is a wedding planning shop in St. Niverville, Manitoba called A Touch Of Glass and even a window cleaning company in Calgary, Alberta. The name has also been used whole sale on the BBC sitcom Only Fools & Heroes released in December of 1982. The title is a play on "A Touch Of Class" meaning a touch of sophistication.

[3.] Buffy and Muffy Vanderscheemer both talk with fake Boston-ian accents and Buffy talks similar to Thruston Howell III from Gillian's Island. Henyasport is a play on the town of Hyannis Port, Massachusetts; which is where the Kennedy's would live. It's one of the smaller communities with 115 year round residents and up to 570 plus residents in the summertime since the majority of the housing is vacant and used in the summer time only. Muffy sadly is Australian slang for licking someone's vagina or even the smell of said vagina. Strangely Muffy's name was used for Muffy Crosswire in Arthur for PBS. Despite being male, Buffy is slang for a clean-cut, white, cheer-leader type girl. Buffy is sometimes reference as a sub-machine gun or SMG as a nickname.

[4.] Louie's monkey band is the "Bandar-log" from Disney's version of The Jungle Book; only with a more Southern Pacific Seas theme to them.

It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck

[1.] Molly Cunningham's debut on the series is also the official acting debut of Janna Michaels; who voices Molly Cunningham in the show.

[2.] The title is a play on the 1955 Ray Harryhausen science fiction film movie: It Came From Beneath The Sea; which a lot of us thought was written by the late Hal Smith who was in the tail end of his career as an actor at this point. That was proven wrong as the credits read Hal Smith; it was a different person named Harold Jacob Smith who did the screenplay for the movie, who is not related to Hal Smith in anyway. On an interesting note; the squid in this episode is more of an octopus and has six tentacles while the movie also had six tentacles; mostly for budget reasons.

[3.] The hot red pepper gag was also done in Ducktales in The Status Seekers; and the gag is also used during a Halloween edition of Saturday Night's Main Event for the WWE which featured a sketch with Rowdy Roddy Piper making candies out of actual bowling bowls and bricks. So the kids at the door decide to give Piper some chocolate which was actually a chocolate covered hot red pepper. Piper eats it and he needs water fast. It should be no surprise that a lot of Carl Bark's plot devices were used here because Don Rosa wrote this episode. This scene in particular is an homage to the Carl Barks story, Ghost of the Grotto.

[4.] Frostipep ice cream might be somewhat related to the substance Gyro made from a Ducktales episode The Big Flub which is simply called Pep. Pep is more of a bubblegum like substance though. Surprisely enough; the pelican sailor might be voiced by Hal Smith; whom voiced Gyro Gearloose.

[5.] The seamonster/Squid eating the ice cream is a bit of a rib on Scrooge McDuck's infamous meltdown in the Ducktales episode: Cash As Catch Can: A Whale Of A Bad Time.

The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink

[1.] The episode title is a play on "The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall" catchphrase.

[2.] Hayseeds "R" Us is a play on the toy department store Toys "R" Us which was founded in 1948. Hogzilla is a play on the Japanese monster Godzilla which first appeared on film in 1954.

[3.] Zibaldo Island is a made up name with no real meaning; but it became the name for Doctor Zibaldo in The Incredible Shrinking Molly later on in 1991.

[4.] Rebecca calling the Pygmites "sod-up" means that she calls them contemptible in British slang. It can be confused with sodomite though.

[5.] Truffles are in fact mushrooms as stated here: The term "truffle" as commonly used refers to members of the genera Tuber and Terfezia. There are many other kinds of subterranean fungi, "false truffles," which outwardly resemble the ones we eat. They are far more common than the ones that are collected for food, and some are poisonous. Truffles are round, warty, and irregular in shape and vary from the size of a walnut to that of a man's fist. The season for most truffles falls between September and May. The mention of truffles conjures up images of the expensive French black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) from the Périgord region of southwest France, used in making pâté de foie gras, or the renowned odorous white truffle (Tuber magnatum) of Alba, in the Piedmont district of Italy. Since the times of the Greeks and Romans these fungi have been used in Europe as delicacies, as aphrodisiacs, and as medicines. They are among the most expensive of the world's natural foods, often commanding as much as $250 to $450 per pound.

[6.] "I'm in the truffles!" is a play on "We're in the money!"; from the Gold Diggers in 1933. Rock-A-Bye Baby is a song written as a nursery rhyme around 1765; only Rock-A-Bye Baby is replaced with Hush-A-Bye Baby in the first verse. The other verses are completely untouched. Baloo's version replaces baby with pig references by the way.

The Idol Rich

[1.] When Kit looks at the map; he comments about a lake called Lake Veronica. Veronica Lake just happens to be an actress from the 1940's/1950's. Here is her credits: Click Here! . Strangely enough; it is an alternative name for Veronica Sage who is a porn actress from the 1990's.

[2.] Libby Hinson's name is not shown on the original 1990 Disney Channel debut of the episode. Libby's name would be added in the second run of the episode when the episode was released into syndication. This is merely speculation, but since Libby Hinson was originally brought in to take the edge off of Rebecca, this might indicate that the Rebecca/Baloo conversation with the sick aunts was probably very different in the first run syndication than in the final version we got. Maybe even the scene was added since there are several areas where there seems to be jump cut (like the one between Baloo and Kit walking towards the idol and then cut to them already putting the stick into the box for instance.) . Or Disney forgot to add her name to the credits on the first run. Special thanks to the late Christopher Barat for pointing this out for me.

[3.] The episode title is a play on the 1914 silent film "The Idle Rich" and the 1929 sound comedy film from MGM.

[4.] During an interview with Libby Hinson on DAF Radio concerning "A Molly Jolly Christmas"; Libby mentioned that The Idol Rich was originally supposed to have Shere Khan (which would officially be his international debut on the show rather than the Plunder and Lightning television movie on Disney Channel several months later.) in as a character and that the episode was re-written to remove Shere Khan because Libby wasn't a fan of Mr. Khan (originally called Mr. Downs when the project was in development.)

Stormy Weather

[1.] The original codename for this episode was called Baloo Skies and some website plug it as the official name of the episode; but the North American version is clearly Stormy Weather. Stormy Weather is the name of a yacht in 1934 which won the 1935 Fastnet race and Trans-Atlantic races. It is also references as a 1990 song played by the pixies; but the name is also used in an earlier 1933 song by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler and sung by Ethel Waters at the Cotton Club in Harlem. It is also the name of two films including the 1943 film which is based on the title song I mentioned earlier. It is also a 1935 British comedy film. Stormy Weather is also a cocktail drink made with rum, ginger beer and lime juice.

[2.] Dan Dawson's number of alias' are a play on the fact that the voice of Dan Dawson is Cam Clarke, who goes by various alias' in real life depending on what productions he is in. Alias: Kelly Brewster, James Flinders, Jimmy Flinders, Cameron Charles and a few others.

Plunder and Lightning

[1.] Fandango Mango account - Same movie reference as to WildCat's character.

From Here To Machinery

[1.] R.J. Williams' debut in syndication as Kit Cloudkicker. Alan Roberts did all the voice work for Kit in the Disney Channel preview episodes; with the exception of Plunder and Lightning which was done by R.J. Williams.

[2.] The title is a play on the 1951 novel (and 1953 drama film) "From Here To Eternity" which is about boxing. On an interesting note; the title of the novel is based on a line of poetry written by Rudyard Kipling called "Gentlemen Rankers".

[3.] The console on the SeaDuck during the race is set up as a vertical version of the Nintendo Entertainment System controller with it's A and B buttons. In fact; when Baloo plays the A button; the music played is a few bars of a remix version of the main theme from Kid Icarus which was on the NES in the late 1980's.

[4.] Martin Torque's last name is, loosely speaking; a measure of the turning force on an object such as a bolt or a flywheel. For example, pushing or pulling the handle of a wrench connected to a nut or bolt produces a torque (turning force) that loosens or tightens the nut or bolt.

[5.] Patrick Gorman is well known for his work on Civil War drama films like Gods & Generals in 2003 and Gettysburg in 1993; doing the same role as Major General John Bell Hood.

[6.] Ratchet fur is colored grey in this episode for some odd reason.

[7.] While the story has elements of the Depression of the 1930's; the actual tale is a cautionary tale on the effects of a disrupting product, how it can change the world and how it can easily fall. Martin Torque's Auto-Aviator was the closest thing to a disruption as you could get and it succeeded in what it could do. However; instead of Baloo foiling Martin, Martin made the critical mistake of fooling himself (and you are the easiest to fool) into thinking that his Auto-Aviator was flawless. When the Auto-Aviator turned on Martin, Martin outsmarted himself and all the flaws of the Auto-Aviator were exposed for all to see. It turned into a really bad idea that almost cost Khan Industries everything. However; in spite of that, it begged the question: Will another invention take up the mantle of change? More to the point, will it be the true game changer?

Mommy For A Day

[1.] The episode title is a play on Lady for a Day which is a 1933 American comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra. "Mommy For A Day" is actually a song sang by Kitty Wells as part of Kitty Wells' Golden Favorites in 1959. It was the #5 song on the country list in the USA during that time and #13 in Cashbox Magazine top country hits.

[2.] This is Alan Robert's first syndication only appearance. (It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck aired first, but that was part of the Disney Channel preview months earlier.) He final 22 minute appearance was For A Fuel Dollars More.

[3.] The Yenkara (mistaken as Inkara by Disney Captions. The key is that Alan Roberts puts the sound on the "Yen" part (In Act III, Scene III) and is not pronounced "In".) appears to be an Americanized Moogle (From Final Fantasy III) with pink flamingo wings. He also has the powers of the Fat Chocobo of becoming big and squashing things (also from Final Fantasy II (and his ability to sqwash enemies didn't exist until Final Fantasy V a few years after TaleSpin was released); known as Lard-Ass Chocobo in Japan in some translations.).

Molly Coddled

[1.] Molly Coddled is a catchphrase meaning "overprotecting someone".

[2.] Milly (Molly's second bear doll) is a talking doll. Talking dolls have been in existence since the 1880's. Although a talking bear wasn't in the cards until 1985 with Teddy Ruxpin.

[3.] When Covington mention Rebecca's name as royalty; it is in the context of toning down the biblical origin of the name in that Rebecca was the wife of Issac in the Book of Genesis in the Holy Bible. Covington's name is Anglo-Saxon meaning Cofa's Settlement.

[4.] Skull Island's origin started in the 1933 movie King Kong by RKO Radio Pictures.

[5.] While the trench coat wearing crook doesn't have an spoken name (his partner does however, addressed as Arnold); he dresses similar to Dick Tracy.

Polly Wants A Treasure

[1.] Man; this one has a lot of references to feet for some odd reason. Ignatz calls Baloo twinkle-toes. Baloo while reading the newspaper refers to the fallen arches. Baloo tells them to make with the feet in the run sequence back to the Sea Duck; and of course Kit Cloudkicker gets his feet tickled by the Air Pirates. Podiatry or podiatric medicine (as referenced by Baloo: Cyrus P Macdonald podiatry franchise) is a branch of medicine devoted to the study of diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and lower extremity. The line of "sign of the fallen arches" is a parody slogan for the MacDonald's franchise which was founded in 1940. Podiatry has been around since 1895 and is now considered one of the top 15 best paid professions in the USA.

[2.] The episode title is a play on Polly Want A Cracker which has been around long before Treasure Island was around; probably as early as 1616. However; since it is named as "Polly Wants A Treasure"; it's also a song written by Kurt Cobain which is titled "Polly Wants A Cracker" which was released a year after this show aired (although the recordings took place in April of 1990); but according to Songfacts; the song is based on a 1987 incident with a fan: This song is about the actual kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl. In 1987, she was returning from a concert in Tacoma, Washington when she was abducted by a man named Gerald Friend. He took her back to his mobile home and raped her. The girl, whose name was not released, was tortured with a whip, a razor, and a blowtorch. She managed to escape when Friend took her for a ride and stopped for gas. He was arrested and sent to jail.

[3.] Ignatius is a male given name of presumed Latin or Etruscan origin, believed to mean "fiery one" (compare the word "ignite"). Ignatz, is a central character in the comic strip Krazy Kat between 1913 and 1944. Although that character was a mouse instead of a parrot. Ignatius of Antioch (Ancient Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, Ignátios Antiokheías; AD c. 35 or 50 – 98 to 117[1]), also known as Ignatius Theophorus (Ιγνάτιος ὁ Θεοφόρος, Ignátios ho Theophóros, lit. "the God-bearing"), was an Apostolic Father and student of John the Apostle and was the third bishop of Antioch.[2][3] En route to Rome, where he met his martyrdom by being fed to wild beasts, he wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an example of very early Christian theology. Important topics addressed in these letters include ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops.

[4.] Carlsbear Caverns is a play on Carlsbad Caverns; which is a United States National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. It was a national park in 1930.

All's Whale That Ends Whale

[1.] Kit's comment on the harpoon being a oil model from Smith & Wesson which produce hand guns and other police enforcement gear in real life.

Vowel Play

[1.] Detective Thursday is a nod to Dragnet's Joe Friday.

[2.] Heimlich Menudo reference to the blimps are called Led Zeppelins which is based on the band of the same name

[3.] Heimlich Menudo is a corruption of the Heimlich Maneuver which is used to prevent choking; a reference made more obvious when Weazel has to save Heimlich with it from choking on one of his diamonds.

[4.] The Wanted poster has a human face on it; a reference to TaleSpin's lack of human characters in the series.

[5.] Vowel Play is a corruption on Foul Play; a term police use to suspect that this was a crime instead of being unintentional. Baloo's major spelling problems seem to be related to the use of vowels in a word. Interestly enough; the original codename for this episode was Vowel Language which is a play on Foul Language.

For A Fuel Dollars More

[1.] The title of the episode is based on the Clint Eastwood movie For A Few Dollars More.

A Bad Reflection On You

[1.] When Baloo mentions the boys from Dover; that is a M*A*S*H* reference.

[2.] Wily Pole's name is based on the 1930's aviator; Wiley Post who was killed in a plane crash with comedian Will Rogers.

Captains Outrageous

[1.] In "Captain's Outrageous" there is a scene where Don Karnage is torturing Baloo, Kit, and Wildcat by wearing a clawed glove and scratching it against a chalk board. There is a similar scene in one of the Peter Sellers, Pink Panther movies where Inspector Dreyfus does the same thing to torture a woman prisoner.

The Time Bandit

[1.] Kit: "Put on a happy face, because gray skies are gonna clear up!"
Baloo: "Now why does that sound familiar?"

It's familiar because it's part of a song from the 1963 movie/Broadway hit Bye Bye Birdie.

[2.] When the infamous show during Rebecca's execution; the announcer states that Rebecca got Higher For Hire from her father. That was an intentional error since in the original TaleSpin story bible; that was the original plan for Higher For Hire. This of course didn't happen in Plunder and Lightning as the final version had Rebecca buy the defaulted business from Baloo.

My Fair Baloo

[1.] When Rebecca is crossing out names on her notepad; they are names of the crew of the series. It also shows the funny mistake of the hands which look like Kit Cloudkicker's hands (The green sweater gives it away).

Flight School Confidential

[1.] Kit Cloudkicker's height is officially revealed at 3' 9".

Ransom Of The Red Chimp

[1.] The episode entitled "The Ransom of Red Chimp" is an adaptation of O. Henry's famous short story "The Ransom of Red Chief." Much like the O. Henry story, the episode concludes with the kidnappers having to pay a sum of money to the kidnapped's guardians, in exchange for the right to return them.

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