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: Mommy For A Day Hard Cover Comparisons

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

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

Original Release: ??1991??

Well; this came much later than I expected because I had appointments to keep, and Steet didn't have the Mommy For A Day hardcover book on TaleSpin Source. I thought that I was only going to be able to do three of the four hardcover books, until I discover that I had it on my hard drive all along in the Mommy For A Day folder. So yeah; it came later than I expected; which is why I have delayed the start of the 25 Years Of Spin commentary on the television episodes. Considering what I have seen in the televised episode itself, this one is going to be put through a shredder. Let's rant on shall we...?!

This hardcover was an adaptation that was written by Libby Hinson; done by Ann Braybrooks with illustrations done by Vaccaro Associates. Ann has adapted various movies/toy characters to books for 101 Dalmatians, Mulan, various Winnie The Pooh stories, Barbie, Pocahontas, Beauty & The Beast, and several Mickey Mouse books. Ann has also wrote an indie books called Plenty of Pockets.

Opening Moment #1: Molly is given Henry the Yenkara a bath! That's so cute; I'm grinning from ear to ear. Sadly; the illustrator couldn't fit Kit Cloudkicker into the scene. Henry now has red wings instead of the usual pink wings. The inside cover also has some changes from the televised version in that Kit is on Henry when Molly falls in the hardcover version, instead of both of them falling and Kit hanging onto the tow rope Rebecca tied herself against. Plus; the tow rope is changed as if it looks like a harness.

Pages 1-6: First major change: The entire scene of McNee whipping Henry into the prison wooden crate is gone from the hardcover version. No surprise there. The scene with Molly and Rebecca is pretty much the same; outside of Molly making a much more mess in the televised version. The only major change in the first Higher For Hire scene is that Molly doesn't make a huge mess of herself and Rebecca's papers in the hardcover edition. Most of the dialogue in this scene is removed as well as the narrator summarizes the whole sequence of events.

Page 7/8: McNee isn't shown in these pages yet. Baloo doing the splits on the large cargo box in between boats is gone from the hardcover version. Most of the dialogue is removed as well. The way the box drops onto the dock is changed: In the televised version, Molly spots a wrench and tries to get it. It's too heavy for Molly and Molly is teasing going into the harbor. Wildcat runs in to save her and the box crashes into the dock. This made it as if Wildcat was clearly at fault, but understandable since Molly was in danger of falling into the drink. In the hardcover version; Wildcat turns around like an idiot and lets the crate fall onto the dock. Yeah; the televised version is better because at least Wildcat could justify that he was saving Molly from drowning and that would be a heroic move on his part.

Pages 8-11: For the most part; the McNee/Molly/Rebecca exchanges are more or less the same; just with less dialogue and compressed down a bit. McNee getting squashed by the wooden crate and his dialogue is gone; along with Molly's reaction. Sadly; the entire way Molly meets Henry is changed: In the televised version, Molly doesn't notice Henry at first as she is blowing off having to "staying away" and then McNee gets crushed by the wooden box. Then Henry goes into Molly's overalls and tickles Molly -- giving us the greatest face expression you will ever see -- before McNee notices Molly laughing and she catches herself as McNee is yelling at Rebecca. It was a great timely moment. Then Molly pulls him out of her overalls. In the hardcover version; Henry simply tickles her on the side of the neck and that gets Molly to notice. The rest of this is similar; but the hardcover version only mentions that she gets tickled again, and not that he went back into her overalls.

Pages 12-19: Molly showing off Henry to Kit is more or less the same; only in the televised version, Henry nuzzled against Kit's face. The office thing is more or less the same; but McNee is not even mentioned in the hardcover version. Most of the Molly/Henry interactions are kept in the beach scene -- although the beach is basically a large sandbox -- for the most part. Notable changes: Molly puts on some makeshift crown on Henry; which is over his eyes. "I'm the king of the castle!" chant is also removed. In the televised version; when the castle collapses, Henry does the digging spot to get himself out of it. In the hardcover version; he's stuck in the castle and Molly has to pull him out. He also shed tears in the hardcover version.

Pages 20-23: Couple of notable changes here: Molly using the wagon to raid the fridge on several occasions is removed. Henry doesn't burp in the hardcover version. Henry wears a baby garb in the televised version. Henry tried to escape once, but Molly stops him. All the cute Molly being a mother type dialogue is removed completely. Only the washing hands and Henry growing remain. Otherwise; much of the Rebecca getting mad at Molly and Molly reactions afterwards remain, except for the part where Rebecca is having second thoughts about yelling at Molly and promises to actually spend time with her; but the phone rings and she has to answer it.

Pages 24/25: Here's an example of why it's not a good idea to simply cut out everything you see just to save time or space: In the hardcover version; we cut to Molly giving Henry a bath and already in the tub, just as Kit comes in to tell Molly not to get him wet. Yeah; how did Kit know about this? Well; in the televised version: Rebecca answers the phone and it's Kit on the phone telling her that McNee has gone crazy, as Baloo has to restrain McNee. This leads to McNee saying that this cargo is gone as they discover what it is -- which included a joke about shrinking and a not so funny joke on McNee's mental state --. That the baby buffalo is in fact a Yenkara which expands and shrinks. All of that was removed in the hardcover version. That was an important piece of information there adapter! Rebecca getting the "Gladys & The Gorilla" book is removed as well. Also; Baloo, Kit and McNee entering Rebecca's apartment is removed. McNee coming in and using the whip is surprisingly kept, even though is dialogue is clearly changed. Also; while not shown -- probably because McNee unintentionally whipped Kit on the cheekbone during this scene -- is Kit getting on Henry. The televised version had Kit jumping onto Henry's back as Molly was right on top of Henry after the transformation. In the hardcover version; Kit was trying to stop Molly from getting on Henry; but it was too late. While not shown as well; Henry smashes through the wall.

Pages 26-31: Rebecca, Baloo and McNee staring through the smashed wall as Rebecca panics and McNee tells them that he is going back to his mother is removed completely. Henry's descent is removed as well. Then we get an entirely new scene that could have easily have been spliced in had time constrains not been a problem: Henry flies in the sky in the night, Kit yells at Molly if this thing will hurt them. Molly assures him that he would not as Kit explains that McNee explained to him about the Yenkara and also when it's wet it's dangerous. Molly blows off the suggestion that Henry is dangerous when wet. As I said before; Molly has a point, unless you are afraid of being sat on. I admit that I had an Assist Trophy for Super Smash Brothers with Molly spraying water and Henry comes down similar to Snorlax's attack in the same game. Heck; Snorlax almost has the same voice as Henry. Almost. Anyhow; everything after that is more or less the same; except that in the televised version they landed in a lake rather than a river. Also; a large chunk of Kit and Molly having an argument on Henry being dangerous, and returning to McNee -- which Kit tries to get Molly away from -- is removed; as well as Kit asking Molly if she is crazy.

Pages 32/33: I'm going to just cut to the chase: Everything from that point until the moment when the SeaDuck arrives with Rebecca and Baloo is completely cut from the hardcover version. Considering that the televised version contains scenes of McNee shooting at the kids on the Yenkara, a plane crashed caused by Rebecca managing to change the aim of the gun away of the gun and cutting a fuel line, McNee stalking the kids while they hide, Molly's yelling back at McNee's order to come out in the open, and McNee almost killing Kit before Henry saves him; and that this was marketed to kids under age six, this was for the best. I've already mentioned the changes in these scenes in the opening moment, so I won't repeat them here. Otherwise; it's mostly the same.

Pages 34-39: While most of the spirit of this scene is kept; there are notable changes. Henry didn't hand Kit over to Rebecca because Kit was already hanging from the rope in the televised version. Sadly; the dialogue of Molly blowing off Henry for squeezing her too hard is removed because that was funny. In the hardcover version, when Henry shrunk, Rebecca simply grabbed him by the back and they were reeled in. In the televised version; it's more complex: Rebecca, Molly and Kit are reeled in first as Henry flies over to the tail section of the SeaDuck. Henry then shrinks and struggles to get in. Rebecca then notices Kit's baseball cap and grabs it, as she scoops up Henry with it in a neat moment. The dialogue is kept. The Valley of the Yenkara is less foggy and looks generic in the hardcover version compared to the televised version. The major pathos scene is faithful to an extent; but Molly's dialogue has been cut down quite a bit; which also omitted her embracing Henry when she says that she is going to miss her.

Pages 40/41: What can I say? Almost everything was kept here; and it's almost down word for word in the first two pages. The only changes of note are that Kit was cheering Molly in the televised version. In the hardcover version; McNee's belly got crushed while in the televised version it was his back. Anyhow; the major logic break is that McNee was never seen in the hardcover version from page 25 until page 40; so how did McNee manage to get here?

Pages 42-44: The ending is completely changed here too; but the last three pages actually should have been in the televised version as well; with modifications to avoid logic breaks. Like McNee being tied up or something. The narrator does mention McNee being escorted into the plane as Molly and company wave goodbye while Molly puts on the brave face herself thus showing that she is Rebecca Junior. Henry and his mother wave goodbye and go into the fog. In the televised version, we return to Cape Suzette as McNee is handed over to two police officers as McNee is trying to explain that the Yenkara are real to no avail. They escort McNee to jail as Baloo praises Kit for a job well done and they have the day off because Rebecca is spending time with Molly tomorrow. The last page has Molly and Rebecca sitting on a bench in the zoo eating double dutch ice cream together in a sweet moment as this moment should have also been in the televised version because it would have paid off the beginning when Rebecca had promised Molly about going to the zoo and eating ice cream. Again; time constraints killed it. This is one reason why I would prefer TaleSpin to be a sandbox style Grand Theft Auto like video game without most of the horrible things you can do in GTA of course and not rebooted into an animated series. Simply because then, episodes like this can be shown in full bloom. In the televised version, they simply head to Molly's room as Rebecca is going to read Gladys & The Gorilla and she revises the ending in which Molly calls her out on it. Rebecca then tickles Molly to end the episode. That is that for Mommy For A Day. Most of the spirit of this episode is kept; even though a lot of dialogue and scenes had to be cut in order to squeeze it down to 44 pages and eliminate most of the cruel violence that was in the televised version. On the other paw; there were three scenes in there that could have easily made it to the televised version. I wonder if the adapter found an earlier Libby Hinson written script and went from there. (2025 Gregory Weagle Says: There are earlier beat scripts of this episode, but I only have bits and pieces of it, and there was no proof of changes to the ending.) Call this *** 1/2 (70%).

THE REVIEW LINE

That leaves one hardcover book left: Her Chance To Dream; which taking a quick glance of it is the most faithful hardcover adaption of the episode for this series. Which is amazing considering how problematic that episode was, mostly the finish though.

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!