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TaleSpin Books: Her Chance To Dream Hard Cover Comparisons

Reviewed: 05/02/2015
Additional Commentary: 10/12/2025

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

Original Release: ??1991??

Well; we have reached the final hardcover edition of TaleSpin episodes; and they decided to adapt Her Chance To Dream. Now to be fair; the first 15 minutes or so of this tale is actually suitable for children without question, it's when Louie and Baloo discover that William is a ghost and the fact that he loves Rebecca that makes it go downhill into an episode that syndies blacklisted for a while. Of course; that didn't last long and it was reinstated. Her Chance To Dream is the definition of mood whiplash: The first 15 minutes are mostly comedy; but then when William starts to ramp up the romance part and turns Louie's into his flying Dutchman, it becomes clear that Rebecca is about to make the most important decision of her life. Her decision is a mix of what the trope squad calls "fridge brilliance" and "fridge horror" all in one shot! Someone claimed on that site that this episode puts Gargoyle episodes to shame in terms of tragedy. I'm not so certain about that. Yes; Rebecca had to basically kill William with the "Spells From The Seas", but Gargoyles had much more gruesome deaths attached to it. I think the mood whiplash is what made this episode amazing. And Libby Hinson did this at least twice after that. So how does this adaptation fare? Let's rant on shall we...?!

This story was written by Libby Hinson and adapted by Naomi McMillan; illustrated by Vaccaro Associates. Naomi's work includes books like Wish You Were Here (A Minnie & Me story), a hardcover version of Catteries Not Included for Rescue Rangers, Baby's Colors, and has written takes on Jack & The Beanstalk and Cinderella for Mcclanahan Book Company.

Opening Moment #1: The cover features Rebecca with William Stansbury using the wheel to steer the flying ghost Dutchman while Baloo and Louie are forced to clean up after themselves. HA! Notable changes to talk about later on: Baloo is wearing a red belly shirt which is way too short with a blue beret cap which drapes over which is way too big in the hardcover version. Louie is wearing a blue shirt with his straw hat in the hardcover version. In the televised version Baloo was wearing a red/white striped shirt with a purple doorag; while Louie was wearing a purple hat with red ribbon trim and a blue/white striped shirt. I guess striped shirts are considered too complex for small children in 1990. Rebecca's dress is also changed. In the televised version; it was pink/lavender with a pearl necklace, pink slippers and a flower in her hair. In the hardcover version; it's all lavender and she looks like she is going to a wedding. (2025 Gregory Weagle Says: I guess someone in BS&P felt there was too much pink being worn by women in this scene.) William Stansbury is mostly unchanged. The inside cover basically is a shipwreck; which considering that the hardcover apparently was released after the television series stopped at 65 episodes; it's kind of fitting.

Pages 1-6: The entire first scene is shortened a lot. All of Molly's antics are gone including a sweet spot of Rebecca redoing Molly's ribbons -- which was an important ribbon for the finish in the televised version -- as Molly wants to do the work. (It's both funnier and a lot less creepy compared to Kit wanting to be Rebecca's date in "My Fair Baloo".) It's mostly Rebecca taking phone calls and being more and more pissed off by the second in the hardcover version. The scene where one of Louie's monkey's answers the phone is gone which is understandable because Rebecca did in fact say "Where the hell is Baloo?" and lampshade monkey has bad hearing like I do nowadays and thought it was a hullabaloo. Otherwise; the next few pages are in fact faithful, although much of it is compressed and dialogue is changed for obvious reasons. It's much better to watch this on television than read it, just to get the full effect of the surreal nature of this entire scene when the ghost scares Baloo and Louie. Also of note: Baloo and Louie breaking through Louie's wall and running to the Seaduck was removed.

Pages 7-10: Again; most of this is the same, but there is no Molly acting like Rebecca Junior which is funny. Rebecca was also asleep in the televised version before Molly answered the phone. Again; funny. Of course, the dialogue was cut down considerably. Most so the excuse Baloo made including claiming that Molly ate his map and Baloo claiming that he'll quit if there is no ghost, which Rebecca threatens to fire him basically. In the televised version; only Baloo is dragged out by the arm. In the hardcover version, Baloo and Louie are dragged to the Seaduck; Baloo by his collar and Louie by his flower necklace.

Pages 11-16: It's mostly the same; but they removed the "I've been framed" spot and Rebecca's "9/10's of guilt" lines. Captain Stansbury entrance is pretty much the same in saving Rebecca from slipping on a pineapple. Again; mostly the dialogue was cut and the scenes compressed to save space. Oh; and Baloo did tell Rebecca to take a walk off a short pier. (What an asshole Baloo was here?!) Sadly; William pointing his sword at Baloo to force him to apologize profusely is gone from this version. Again; probably for the best. Again; most of this is faithful; but the drawings couldn't show the magic dust causing the door to be locked.

Pages 17-22: Sadly; Baloo's meeting with the hydra smoke masks of doom is removed from the hardcover version. (Also for the best since at least one scene has a gun and racist chants of "Oooga Booga" present in the dialogue.) The conversations with Stansbury and Rebecca is pretty much intact. While Baloo and Louie did crash through the straw wall the second time in both versions; they fell into the ocean and then swam to the SeaDuck in the hardcover version. No mention of the magical dust in the hardcover version, which gives away that Stansbury is a ghost.

Pages 23-28 - Again; more dialogue cutting and compressing makes Gregory Weagle something something. Yeah; this adaptation is the most faithful one so far. Sadly; the scene where Stansbury puts the flower in her hair is removed. (I betcha Juan F. Lara was not pleased with that one.) In fact; the entire surreal scenes where Stansbury and Rebecca are walking on the bridge and meadows are removed in the hardcover version.

Pages 29-35- I should note that the hardcover version actually got the blankets right with them being purple and kept it purple throughout the book. Good for them. Anyhow; again, more dialogue cutting and compression. Stansbury doesn't raise his sword like He-Man in the hardcover version. They don't show him getting out of the net though either; but it was mentioned. As noted in my opening moment, Rebecca's dress is completely different from the televised version. And speaking of logic breaks; Baloo and Louie are now wearing the exact same clothes in the televised version instead of the ones in the cover of the hardcover version. Lovely!

Pages 36-42 - Again; more of the same. I know I have been slacking off, but seriously; this comparison is pretty much similar to the televised version. It just feels compressed for space more than anything else. Since there was no ribbon involved; that moment is not present in the hardcover version, even if almost everything else is. All the final sequences of the surreal moments are gone; mostly due to space constraints. The only thing of note is Rebecca seems happy in the hardcover version; compared to upset, but knowing that finishing the spell was the right thing to do. That was what made the whole episode tragic in hindsight. Since no flower is involved; the scene where Stansbury takes the flower away from her hair is gone; and Rebecca running as Stansbury is flying away in the Dutchman is removed as well as Rebecca crying on Baloo's shoulder. The last page is different as it takes place in Molly's room in the televised version. Molly is wearing a lavender version of her overalls in the hardcover version. And they are next to the window as the narrator merely mentions Rebecca telling Molly about William. That is it for the final hardcover version of TaleSpin adapted episodes. This was the most faithful episode of the four, as only the ending was compressed a lot and it had the fewest actual changes to the plot. (Most of the cuts were for space reasons.) It's kind of surprising considering that this is one of the most emotionally charged episodes in the series, and the whiplash mood was toned down somewhat here, but it was still there. *** 3/4 (75%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well; that ends of the hardcover comparisons of TaleSpin episodes. It was interesting to see what BS&P allowed and didn't. (Just to note before I go: you can say dead in the hardcover version too; which would be taboo in a huge chunk of shows that are even outside this book's target audience. Lovely!) This was more about the constraints of space and the audience would be able to stand. At least from the execs point of view. Her Chance To Dream in hardcover form is toned down a lot; but much of it isn't due to BS&P, and more to do with space because many of the scenes are still present and much of the dialogue that isn't cut is faithful for the most part. Again; if you like reading, you are better off watching the televised edition because you'll never forget it in that form. Again; this was made for small children who cannot watch the actual show because it's considered too violent, too scary, too sexual, too much dirty language (and radar dodging) and so on and so on. However; the artwork for these books is really good; so it's visually pleasing at least, even if they brighten the coloring of the characters a little too much for my liking. Tomorrow, I'm going to start I Only Have Ice For You. I'm going to write extra commentary for the rants, add more trivia, correct the credits lists on each episode and add full transcripts of each episode. So...

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

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