Return to 50 Webs

Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The web master has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.

Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the web master and no one else. The web master has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.

TaleSpin Books: Pet Project Or Shiny Gorilla Bird Rant

Reviewed: 01/05/2020
Additional Commentary: 09/20/2025
Edited: 12/10/2025

Welcome To The Wacky World Of TaleSpin Books, Part Three!

Original Release: ??1991??
Transcript In English (By Me)
The Official English Pictures (By Daily Karnage)

Well, 2020 is here and it's been thirty years since TaleSpin debuted on television. Well, the actual debut wasn't until May 5th, 1990; but work with me here.... It's time to revisit the show of shows in the DTVA lineup. Compared to the 25th year of spin, a lot has in fact happened to TaleSpin that actually means something. No, the show has not been rebooted nor a new show has been announced, at least not yet. (2025 Gregory Weagle Says: Well, it's a lot more complicated than that 2020 Me. TaleSpin was actually on the short list on shows to reboot because of Kit and Molly and Seth Rogan still wants to reboot the show, but Disney has decided to put it in hell so to speak to focus on Darkwing Duck of course. Of course, now everyone hates Seth Rogan reboots for some reason. Listen, I can understand Darkwing Duck fans being pissed off because Darkwing Duck used mostly original characters, had no history and didn't have the "ruin my childhood" effect. They have a right to complain before the show is even been shown in it's first appearance. TaleSpin fans have zero leg to stand on in that department since the whole show uses Disney's The Jungle Book, and knocked out a great portion of Disney's Robin Hood in the process. There is no moral high ground TaleSpin fans have. It doesn't mean that the show will be automatically good, or you have to be forced to like it. However, if you are complaining about the show ruining your childhood, your childhood was probably trash and you refused to admit it all these years. I don't remember like 80% of my childhood. Sure I remember TaleSpin, Nintendo and a few others as good memories, but I also remember bad memories of my teeth, and being a big shit whom wishes he could control himself better and not be the miserable loser that I am now. I'm looking forward to a TaleSpin reboot, good or bad. Most of the popular brands are already extremely overexposed and TaleSpin is extremely underexposed, so a reboot wouldn't hurt it's credibility. Besides, why is it unacceptable to reboot TaleSpin, but totally acceptable to reboot Scooby-Doo over and over again?! I'm tired of this "ruining my childhood" attitude critics seem to have. I can understand people hating "Velma" because it was a terrible show. It only did damage because we invest way too much in these products that are designed to make money. Besides, Velma still has nothing on Chargeman Ken anyway, so even I didn't think it was that horrible. That being said: Velma would have been better as a PG product or even a PG-13 product where most of the bad stuff wouldn't have passed muster with BS&P.)

However, the SeaDuck, Cape Suzette, Don Karnage, Kit Cloudkicker and Molly Cunningham have either returned as characters or references to Ducktales, or are returning as characters -- In the case of Kit and Molly, whom are adults now -- to Ducktales in 2020. ("The Lost Cargo Of Kit Cloudkicker" in my view was an awesome episode despite the lack of Rebecca Cunningham even being mentioned. I can take Baloo and Rebecca being dead because of time, however warped it had to be in order to make sense. Rebecca being erased was complete bullshit in my view. Kit Cloudkicker as usual actually saved it with being Baloo Mark II. One day, I'll rant on the episode and while it was not flawless, it succeeded in reeling in Dewey "Turbo" Duck.) Which is really fitting since all three characters, and the airplane are featured in the story book I'm going to review today. (Albeit Baloo is just in a television ad in the episode.)The truth is, I don't have much in the way of new material for the series despite the fact that there are still a number of comic book stories -- both from North America and the Super Baloo French comics -- left that I don't have. (All the North American ones that were originally released in the 1990's are done and just need to be cleaned up and commentated on. Sadly, the two unused stories that were released as part of the 2024 Disney Afternoon comic books I cannot find in Nova Scotia, nor anywhere. I might be a tech guy, but I'm a lot more cautious when I go on-line. Heck, I know an email is a virus when I can read an email address and it doesn't match up with an official email address of the company that they are faking.) There are quite a few TaleSpin storybooks left, but most are in French and no one has a copy of any of them. However, Super Baloo Poland did have one storybook from Poland with full pictures and this one I am going to review. The story is officially called "Pet Project" from Grolier Enterprises and it was released in 1991 as part of the Disney's Yearbook, which was also part of the "Wonderful World of Reading" series. I think there was an English version of this book, but no one has it. It does go to show you how awful preserving TaleSpin content actually was and still is compared to other DTVA shows. (Compared to Ducktales? Yes. Compared to others, not so much.) Then again, Eisner and company didn't care about the series in 1990. I would like to say they don't care about it now, but Frank Argones completely blew that out of the water in the first three minutes of Ducktales 2017.

Here's the plot of this episode: Baloo, Kit and Molly go to a tropical port to deliver ice blocks and Molly brings in a stowaway bird and Don Karnage has greedy eyes for it. Since it's a pre-school book as most of TaleSpin's merch is, concessions had to be made in order to make the book lawsuit resistant; although there is one moment in the book where someone forgot to get the memo on that. (Hint: Frank Argones does not like this in children's cartoon. Kit respects his opinion for that.) How does this book fare? Let's rant on shall we...?

Sadly, I could not find the writer(s), nor the ones who did illustrations. If anyone knows who did what, e-mail me please. Credit is where credit is due.

We begin this story in the offices of Higher...For...Hire as we get an obvious scene of composite character poses from the production of the show, shown most with Kit's pose and Rebecca almost as much so. The poses work for the scene involved, but I would think that they could have more than that. (Considering how much TaleSpin was rushed, I'm not surprised.) Anyhow; since the translation I did was from Polish to English; I did have to embellish and localize the story quite a bit for clarity since some of the dialogue made no sense when directly translated to English. (Just a note that I mentioned in Chargeman Ken and Capcom's post on localization: Everything is localized to some degree for clairty, better dialogue, cultural differences, etc. etc. etc. It happens all the time with any language to English and it happens when English is translated to other languages! You can argue that errors were made and cultural differences suck, but don't tell me any language can be perfectly translated.) Okay, so the story is that Baloo wants to take Kit and Molly to the zoo today, and thankfully he doesn't say "Are you ready to see all kinds of animals?!" and make Gigi Gazelle look even more like a geek than she already was. (Ah, so this was written just after I wrote the rant involving Madame Gazelle taking the kids to the zoo. This featured the debuts of Mrs. Crocodile and Mr. Lion, whom is the biggest bigot of the show.) Somehow, the Polish version has him saying zoo-bee-doo before saying that they are going to the zoo. That is so Baloo like and it somehow made it through the translation intact! (There was no way I wasn't keeping that trans-literal moment!) Rebecca cuts him off because she has an urgent order that needs to be done soon. (Something that makes no sense since it kills the stake; so I made the localization be "at once".) Molly comes in looking pissed off because she is wearing a pea soup green jacket with chrome button. I don't know why since the order in question is to go to Nostralia. (I'm guessing that Nostralia is TaleSpin's answer to Australia.) They are under a massive heatwave -- which the direct translation was extremely wonky to say the least -- to deliver ice blocks.

Baloo isn't thrilled; but Rebecca does allow Molly to come along anyway, but she must wear that horrible jacket and Molly doesn't have the excuses Johnny Test did with the winter jacket. (Johnny Test's coat was impossible to move in and he had every reason not to wear, and his mom's reason was so absurd that it showed that being a super busy mother can lead to being out of touch with reality.) In the SeaDuck cockpit where Baloo -- wearing silver metal headphones for no reason -- is piloting and Kit is behind him; so he offered Molly his navigator's chair to her. (That's a really nice gesture from the real star of TaleSpin. Wink! Wink! Nudge! Nudge!) Molly is sitting in Kit's navigation chair and she is not wearing the jacket even though she never took off the jacket until she got out of the SeaDuck. When the SeaDuck landed at the port in Nostralia, and Molly went to a palm tree, she then took off the jacket. So, the artist was confused by the storyline. (This logic break could have been easily filled, but it wasn't.) When they landed, Kit and Baloo were unloading ice, while Molly went to a tree to get some shade. When she takes off the jacket, something pulled on the jacket and causes Molly to land on her ass and she is now confused by this story line. I should note that the artwork is really good outside of the color styling, which look brighter in some respects, but subdued in other respects. It looks reasonable as Molly discovers that there is a young bird with shiny metal colored feathers pulling on the jacket. It had a smooth neck, long legs and lumpy knees; which makes their description a lot more nuanced than mine, so the writer is trying way too hard. (A writer trying nuance in a preschool book is noble but foolish.) Now, I should note that in the story, the bird is a generic ostrich. While there are ostriches in TaleSpin, they are anthros -- see one of the Jungle Ace members -- and there is a similar ostrich like bird in TaleSpin called a Gorilla Bird. So I decided to call it a Gorilla Bird, albeit a different look of one since it's drawn more like an actual ostrich. Hence, my embellishment of the title. It was to play into the motives of Don Karnage's involvement in the story more than anything else.

I also realize that this is very Pokemon-equse -- mostly in the use of Shiny versions of Pokemon --, it's not like TaleSpin's world doesn't have Pokemon-equse creatures anyway. (Several Pokemon-equse creatures appeared in TaleSpin, one of them who turns stuff into pieces.) Molly at first protests this outrage, but thinks it is cute and giggles and offers to let the Gorilla Bird be her pet. Well, she only had one pet on television while Kit had two -- although Ignatz stopped being one once Polly Wants A Treasure was over --, so fair is fair. Molly then uses the jacket like a matador's cape and the Gorilla Bird is led into the SeaDuck. Molly notices the back is empty; but there are a few places to hide. Molly tells the Gorilla Bird to hide as she goes back to the cockpit. Baloo is inside along with Kit as Baloo starts the engines and the SeaDuck takes off. I should note that the direct translation has Baloo loving his job calling it "interesting and easy". So, my localization has him calling it "simple and easy". Again, I do not have the English version of the story and a direct translation from Polish gives some weird results. Anyhow; Kit hears a loud noise and decides to go into the back and the Gorilla Bird is so BUSTED that Kit is panicky and the nightmare of Plunder and Lightning Part one has reared it's ugly head. I sort of embellished this as a shout out to the pilot, although outside of the name change, I kept pretty much everything. Furthermore, while Kit's claim of ostriches eating metal is bogus, he's not as off base as I originally thought. (According to Pets On Mom: Ostriches are omnivores, which means they eat plants, as well as other animals. They have a hearty appetite for roots, in addition to leaves, seeds, berries and shrubs. Ostriches can forgo drinking water when they eat plant matter, which provides the hydration they need. When vegetation is not available, which is not unusual in the ostrichs' arid environment, they prey on insects, such as locusts, and even small lizards. At these times, they seek out water holes, where they congregate in groups of up to 700 individuals. In addition to their meals, ostriches will often swallow sand and stones, which aid their digestion. So, yeah.)

Kit would probably be dead on when it comes to Gorilla Birds, knowing those burping buzzards. Baloo wants to know how this happened and Molly is fidgeting in her chair, and confesses that she lured the Gorilla Bird into the plane. And to think, Molly is probably penciled in as a much more likable version of Kick Buttowski in Ducktales 2020. (Yup, that exactly what she was. Sadly for her, she lasted only about a minute but was awesome in that one minute. The pitfalls of the 6-12 boy demographics. Being progessive doesn't cause that, bigots of the world!) The Gorilla Bird -- after swallowing a screw -- goes towards the navigation seat and starts eating a metal arrow off the indicator. Molly gives the Gorilla Bird a literal bear hug and if you consider the difference between Molly and Gorilla Bird, it's the smallest bear hug in history. (That's a good one, 2020 Me!) Baloo is not amused and threatens to return back to Nostralia and kick the bird off the SeaDuck. Molly protests this because it likes her. (Also important, she loves the Gorilla Bird, and not in a bloodlusting manner. Sadly, the relationship is not going to be a sexual one for obvious reasons.) Baloo doesn't buy that bill of goods by shaking his bird and turns the SeaDuck around. Then, we come to the moment where whomever wrote this book forgot the memo on the demographics of this book. As I mentioned before, the book is made for preschoolers and thus concessions must be made to keep it lawsuit resistant. Unlike a number of TaleSpin storybooks; this story is not based on an episode, so they had more creative freedom, within reason of course. (Of course! Just like the TaleSpin audio books "Drumming Up Business" and "The Seeds Of Victory".) Sadly, the writer didn't get the full memo and wrote down that as the SeaDuck turns around, gunfire rings out. Yes folks, this story implies that Don Karnage was shooting bullets at the SeaDuck! That was dumb, considering that removing that line wouldn't have changed the story at all and keep it well within the merch's standards and practices. (Even in a pre-school book, there has to be a moment when actual bullet shooting guns are pulled out, even though they are not seen. This is comical!)

Also, another thing: One of Baloo's insults to the Gorilla Bird I had to localize as "metal muncher" because the direct translation's insult was so stupid that it made absolutely no sense with the scene. Also, Kaczuche is the polish name for the SeaDuck, and sometimes translates to Ducklings. Also, Kit's name in Polish is slightly different, depending on the sentence structure, usually as Kitia. (I wonder if Kitia is a feminine name in Polish? I don't know. In Poland, it can mean a bushy tail which makes no sense with Kit since he doesn't have a tail.) Kit notices it's Don Karnage and we have a chase for a while as Don Karnage's CT-37 arrives. Don notices the Gorilla Birds and he sees dollar signs. This is why I embellished the ostrich as a Gorilla Bird: Because Don going after an generic ostrich is really stupid and having the Gorilla Bird being a shiny Pokemon increases the stakes and gives Don a reason to want to get the bird. I did embellish the demand by Karnage and response by Baloo to Don Karnage saying "Give me the shiny bird" for comedic timing; the direct translation isn't so good. I also called Don Karnage the Air Pirate Leader since the generic Pirate used in the direct translation was rather insulting to me. (I betcha Don would rather be a robber than just a generic pirate after hearing that one. We are the Air Pirates! Sky Pirates work, too!) Don Karnage uses a grappling hook which looks nothing like the Grappling Hook Gun in the television show, so visual guns aren't allowed, even if it's a grappling hook. It stuck into one of the Seaduck's wings since it cannot be the Gorilla Bird's wings, that would have sucked and the bird would probably have hated life. I believe it was the SeaDuck that tilted, but the translation didn't say which plane tilted, so this writer started confusing me. (Probably the consequence of not doing a proper localization and doing a direct translation with embellishment on 2020 Me's part.) Don demands Baloo to give him the bird and Baloo without protest gives Don Karnage the bird. Again; the direct translation calls Don Karnage an "old friend" which makes no sense, although some might point to Stuck On You for that, but I changed it to "old fiend". (Yeah, while it's true that Baloo and Don Karnage did team up twice, once on television and once in the comics; they were both forced. Thus, they still wouldn't see themselves as friends in storyline.)

Baloo is hiding a smile; so he has a Krackpotkin plan and he's not letting Molly in on it. That's because she is crying and protesting this outrage because she believes Don Karnage will do horrible things to this Gorilla Bird. (Which to be fair to Molly, she does have a point there. He is an Air Pirate after all. Kit would know this too, being once one of them.) Never mind that she has never met an actual Gorilla Bird until this story and the pilot and navigator now all too well about those buzzards. (Also a fair point. Don Karnage is about to be wrecked.) Don takes the bird under his arm and returns to his CT-37. Then the Gorilla Bird lives up to it's reputation by eating and shaking the plane in a violent manner. HAHA! I also embellished a few lines with Kit and Baloo, with the word scramble as a pun. Baloo is loving this as the CT-37 is getting thrashed and destroyed piece by piece. Implying that the Gorilla Bird is munching on Don Karnage's plane. Don's plane goes into a tailspin (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) after a while and then Don has had enough. Don Karnage throws the Gorilla Bird out of his plane and the Gorilla Bird free falls. Molly panics because Gorilla Birds (and ostriches) cannot fly. Kit offers to be it's wings, jumps out of the SeaDuck and uses his airfoil. (Sadly, in the direct translation, Kit's Airfoil is called a Wing. One of the reasons for doing a localization right there...) Kit grabs the Gorilla Bird, gently comes down and lands on a dirt road behind the SeaDuck, whom also lands. Baloo gets out and proclaims that there is one task left. Morning arises and Baloo wakes up Kit and Molly early and does his zoo-bee-doo some more which is really the only funny dialogue in this story as we head to the zoo. Apparently; the direct translation had one of the animals called "flemmings"; which makes no sense, but since I had no similar animal to compare it to, I kept that one. (I believe the story was implying that it's lemmings which makes sense, but I'm not changing it in the updated translation.) Baloo, Kit and Molly make it to a glass fence where the Gorilla Bird is complete with nuts and buttons for it to eat, because it can eat metal. Unlike generic ostriches; although they do swallow up stone and sand. Baloo and Molly laugh as Baloo hopes to not get invited to dinner with the Gorilla Bird. (Yeah, there might be no SeaDuck left and that would really suck and this found family would really hate life.) The Gorilla Bird don't care and eats nuts and buttons to end the story. A really fluffy story, but it was okay for what it was. Direct translation hurt it a lot though. ** 3/4 (55%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well, what more can I say? It was a preschool level plot story that was okay as it was. There was nothing bad about it, but there was little that stands out. (Outside of the writing saying that there was gunfire because we got to get the shooting quota out of the way in a preschool children's book.) Baloo's zoo-bee-doo was pretty much the funniest thing about it and most of the comedy was due to embellishment on my part since the direct translation didn't make a lot of sense in comparison to the actual characters. I also liked that they somehow couldn't get away with visual guns; but mentioning gunfire was still allowed, somehow. Yeah, it's an ostrich that I turned into a Gorilla Bird, HUZAH~! Otherwise, it was an average story. (This was the only book I could find during the 30 Years Of Spin, and the rest was mostly PSA ads from the 1990's.) So...

Thumbs in the middle for this book and I'll see you all next time.

Back to TaleSpin Rants!
Return to the Rant Shack!
Return to the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage!