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TaleSpin DVD Volume Two

Reviewed: 11/13/2007

It's Round Two and it's still very good for the money!

Welcome back kiddies; it's time for the next volume in the DTVA Box Set series and it's the return of my favorite and one of the best Disney Television Animation Series' of all time: TaleSpin. The first volume set contains a few problems like lack of Chapter Stops, no extras and of course the lack of the scene “Home Is Where The Heart Is” from Plunder and Lightning. However; the overall package was a good one due to the best audio/video quality of the DTVA sets, it is unedited from the 1990 syndication tapes (and not from the 1995 Disney Channel versions) and it had French Audio. The first volume clearly sold well enough for a second volume to be released. I'm sure a lot of Gargoyles fans are crying in their beer over this one. Although it was close as Disney decided that November was a better date than August. Never mind because I now got the second volume in my hands and it's time to dissect this volume and see if it measures up to the first volume. I got TaleSpin Volume 2 from HMV for $39.95 (including taxes). I was hoping to get a better deal from Toys R'Us (since their prices are usually lower than HMV); but they didn't have the DVD available. At least the price wasn't almost $50 like it usually is; but I guess ripping off the customer after the Canadian Dollar trades at $1.10 US (I cannot believe it either). Does this volume measure up? Read on and find out...

The DVD Box

Just like the previous DTVA volumes; the whole set comes in a cardboard box with an opening on the right side. The front cover has mostly a crimson red background which looks absolutely kick butt with the negative of a World Map. The TaleSpin tilted compass logo (with flying SeaDuck) is in the middle and it looks even less sloppy than in volume one mostly due to the lack of the “'s” in the Disney part of the title. It's no more silly than when Nintendo calls Kirby's Air Ride: Kirby Air Ride. Above and Below the logo; you see Kit and Baloo from the European VHS version against a light blue background. I like Kit's pose on top (and Disney is smart enough to know that Kit's the best character in the series and so he's on top while my least favorite main character is on the bottom. Nice touch folks.); but Baloo looks pretty silly. Then again; Baloo is really silly at times so it works in it's own funny way. On the bottom right against the crimson red background is the number of discs and the Disney DVD Logo. There is a small strip of beige background with crimson red letters saying that it includes 27 high flying episodes. I think the front cover is even better than the first volume to be perfectly honest here. The side cover on the left is similar to the first volume in presentation with different colors and the circle on the bottom shows Kit's face (from That's Show Biz!) against a blue background. The only beef here is that they just say 27 episodes instead of saying Episodes 28-54 like they say Episodes 1-27 in the first volume. This one of the few continuity errors in this volume I should point out. The back cover is exactly the same kind of presentation as in volume one; but without the artwork still errors that were present in the first volume. The tag line is in the top left above the Seaduck and the first piece of artwork. The ISBN and UPC bar code are right beside it. The three pieces of artwork which are all television stills are on the middle left portion. The stills look a lot better than Darkwing Duck and Gummi Bears combined and are very well done. The bottom portion contains all the logos including the Canadian Home Video Rating (Rated G and it only applies to Ontario), the SDH logo, the Dolby Digital logo (since the series is done with 2- channel Dolby Stereo), the NTSC logo, Region One logo, DVD video logo and the Disney logo from left to right. The total running time is below which is 617 minutes (the same as the first volume and a telegraph on if the episodes are edited or not.) and there is the usual technical and legal information. Again; I personally don't care about most of them.

What I do care about is the middle right portion of the back cover. When Disney released the press release for this volume a month ago; a lot of TaleSpin fans were not very happy about it. There were a lot of mistakes in the press release and the whole thing read like it was done by a Michael Eisner sympathizer. A lot of us have seen this series can disrespected and downplayed by Michael's marketing managers before and Ted Heinz is one of those who was really vocal on it (the big straw that broke the camel's back was the one where Kit is merely a sidekick as if he was merely Robin. Although after seeing Batman: The Animated Series; I'm not so sure.) Anyhow; here is a list of bad gaffes made in the press release for your viewing pleasure or disgust depending on your poison (Special thanks to Gabe Bennett for this):

Baloo and a cast of unforgettable characters embark on more full-throttle escapades in Disney's "Talespin: Volume 2". Along with his feisty sidekick, navigator Kit Cloudkicker, Baloo pilots precious cargo in and out of the island nation of Cape Suzette while fending off familiar foes like the evil Colonel Spigot and the insatiable industrialist Shere Khan - as well as a contingent of nefarious newcomers! The always resourceful Rebecca Cunningham is on hand to run the business end of Higher and Hire courier services, along with her adventurous daughter Molly and madcap mechanic Ace. Disney's "TaleSpin: Volume 2" includes plenty of high altitude hilarity as Baloo and Kit battle air pirates, ancient curses, mummies and their most hair-raising challenge ever...finishing high school!

1.) Kit doesn't strike me as particularly feisty, except when pushed or told he can't do something when he thinks or knows he can. Feistiness is more Becky's department, IMHO.

2.) I'm pretty sure Cape Suzette is part of the mainland and not an island.

3.) It's "Higher For Hire", not "Higher and Hire".

4.) "Madcap mechanic Ace"? Apparently the author confused Wildcat with Ace London.

5.) "...and their most hair-raising challenge ever...finishing high school!" Uh, watch the show, moron! "Sheepskin Deep" was about Baloo finishing grade school, NOT high school!

Source: TaleSpin High Flight Comment Board

Now personally; I'm going to ignore #1 and #4 because while it is a bit of flexing the truth; there is honestly no way to write a summary about Kit and Wildcat because they are not simple characters. It would take five boxes just to describe Kit alone. So to yell at this is pointless. However; Ted should be ticked off to see that Kit is described as a mere sidekick in the press release. He usually is when it comes to these things. #2 is probably wrong; but then again as I said in my comments on the subject; I wrote my fanfics as if Cape Suzette was an island. And since Disney does read my website; you can pretty much blame me for that gaffe. However; #3 and #5 are simply no excuse. If anyone was reading my website then they should know that it is Higher For Hire and not Higher And Hire like they did here. And since I did my rant on Sheepskin Deep already; they should know that it is Grade School and not High School. Also; calling Colonel Spigot evil is only half right since he mostly a comic tweener half the time. With that said; out of all the mistakes that were present in the press release: Only two showed up in the actual summary of the back cover of the box. And it's the one where they say finishing high school and the evil Colonel Spigot part (although the Spigot One was to deflect criticism that Spigot is a tweener in the series rather than a real heel.). Kit's feisty sidekick status is gone and replaced with merely being a navigator which is the right decision. Higher And Hire is gone and Higher For Hire is used here. Again the right decision along with WildCat changed to ace mechanic. Strangely; Shere Khan's role is gone here and replaced with a band of rouges. Works for me I guess; although losing Shere Khan isn't a good thing mind you. The summary is much better than the press release in spite of the gaffes and the disc covers also have Perfectly Acceptable Summaries so to speak. The tech specs are below the summaries and it's the usual. Except for one major difference...More on that in setup....

Click on this link for the press release from TV Shows On DVD: TaleSpin Press Release

My Rating on the DVD Box: **** ¾: Minor gaffes on the back aside; this is better than the first volume box.

Disc One

Artwork Error #1: The front cover (and the disc itself) is from the correct episode “Flight of the SnowDuck” but the color of the sky and WildCat's uniform are different from the VHS version called Imagine That! It's not really a mistake in continuity as much as a simple coloring mistake.

Artwork Error #2: The VHS artwork in the back is from the episode “The Balooest of The Bluebloods” which doesn't exist on this set. It exists on Volume One.

The discs come in plastic cases just like the first volume and have the star press button that I don't like since they can easily break when shipping. The disc cover is similar to the front cover of the box using the same red on the edges of the cover (with the exception of the top and bottom). The logo is on the top and it overlooks the VHS artwork which again looks well done and has the correct episode. However; the coloring of WildCat's uniform and the sky in the background is different (WildCat's uniform is black and the sky is blue in this case). The White Disney DVD logo is on the bottom right along with the crimson red Disc One. The back cover contains the same red crimson border; but it's bigger and on the top and bottom. The Proof of Purchase clips are on the top right side with the summary below it which is as good as I could hope to be. The episode titles (along with the wavy tagline above the cartoon selections title) are in the middle right of the back cover right next to the well done; but error when it comes to continuity artwork. The Canadian Home Video Rating (rated G in Ontario of course), DVD Video Logo and Walt Disney Logo (along with address information) are on the bottom left of the crimson red border. Like the box cover; Disney was clearly running out of original artwork and there is two stills from the actual television series. They surround the VHS artwork on top and the right side. Both television stills are pretty well done and look like they are from 1990 instead of being in the 1970's like The Gummi Bears DVD suffered. I really the design overall; very clean and it doesn't look sloppy. Maybe the lack of the “'s” was a good thing after all. The actual disc contains the front cover artwork; but the compass background in the logo is removed for goodness knows what reason. The disc information is on the middle left with disc number, number of episodes, technical assistance support phone numbers (and I'm not going to print out that information here), the running time (which is 205 minutes for this disc by the way), stock number, region one logo, NTSC logo, Dolby Digital Logo, Disney DVD Logo and the Canadian Home Video Rating. The copyright information and address is on the bottom edge of the disc I should note.

Episode Rants For Disc One

A Baloo Switcheroo Rant- Screwing with Kit's body is a dangerous thing!

WhistleStop Jackson; Legend- He's Gizmo Duck; I Swear he's GIZMO DUCK!!

Double Or Nothing Rant- I win the bet!!

Feminine Air- Baloo should cross-dress more often; it gets him over.

Last Horizons Rant- It's going to be one of those episodes!

Flight of The Snowduck Rant- Molly and Wild Cat show that Imagination Does Not Suck!

Save The Tiger! Rant- Who's the one who needs saving in this one...?

The Old Man & The SeaDuck- The TaleSpin body count stands at Two.

The War of The Weirds Rant- I love it when Kit says the word die!!

My Thoughts: Before I begin with the actual episodes; I would like to mention quite a few things about the set. The first thing is the menus as I really loved the backgrounds in this set as they are like the television series. However; the character in designs were not as good and somehow seeing Kit with a remote control doesn't make sense to me from the sense of series continuity. Although I love the one where Kit has the pasta strainer on his head as he looks like a complete tool in it. Then again; it could be Molly's revenge so to speak. The menu selections were pretty lacking as they decided to not be clever in the designs like they did with the first volume. On the other hand; there is a lot of good things to say about this volume from a quality angle so to speak. For one; there are now five chapter stops per episode. This was one thing I complained about in previous volumes including the first volume of TaleSpin and they finally listened to me after going through the pain of looking for scenes to watch. For two; the video and audio quality are still great for the most part and still a lot better than almost all of the DTVA DVD sets. Most of the video problems have nothing to do with the transfer of the master tapes to DVD as much as the quality of the video tape itself. And again; I don't want them to restore the series to the point where none of the wear and tear elements show because quite frankly; I do not want to wait years for this to happen like they did with Doctor Who. That's because there are a lot of episodes missing or badly damaged; Doctor Who needs restoration. TaleSpin doesn't because the video and audio is more than good enough as is. The DVD version is certainly a lot better than the Toon Disney version/VHS versions that's for sure. Speaking of the master tapes; all of the episodes are from at least the second run syndication version master tapes rather than the edited Disney Channel versions from 1995 where Disney cut scenes for violence and in one case for no reason whatsoever (It's in Pizza Pie In The Sky if you are looking for them. (2016 Gregory Weagle Says: Actually; there was a good reason for it: The way they shot Louie holding the health inspector made the health inspector's tie look like a legit noose. If they would cut it in All's Whale That Ends Whale; they would cut it here.)). All the sword pointing is there; matches are used; Baloo's groin gets nailed good by Buzz; and of course a lot of gun shooting like there was in War of the Weirds. In other words; the TaleSpin is pretty much everything you can hope for. Now it comes down to one thing; the quality of the episodes themselves. And that is the cake of this series....

If there is one thing about TaleSpin episodes is that it is like pizza; when it is bad it's still really good and Disc One of this volume is no exception as there are only three middling episodes in this deal and two of them are very close to being a thumbs up. Double Or Nothing is the worst of the First Disc mainly because of Baloo. He came off as a very unlikable jerk in that he basically screwed Kit out of his money for his own selfish reasons and paid for it when he lied to Trader Moe and his goons to win ahead. The good thing is that despite the anger of Kit; Kit was able to fully forgive him in the end which shows that he can finally trust adults in some form. The other two middling episodes are A Baloo Switcheroo and Last Horizons. Quite frankly; logic breaks from both prevented them from getting a thumbs up. Last Horizons is a rather infamous episode for it's Asian Stereotypes (Kudos to Disney for showing some guts in releasing this episode; unedited to boot) or more to the point: Asian people attacking the West in terror like fashion. The biggest problem was a huge logic break in which WildCat appeared out of nowhere in the porogda when he should still be on the docks. A Baloo Switcheroo was the Freaky Friday episode and probably the best one in all of DTVA. The infamous salt in the cloud thing was pretty stupid and the execution problems like Kit running in slow motion around the hurtles hurt the whole track and field scene. On the other hand; the episode was handled well and well written plus I got to hear Kit takes God's name in vain for real. No "oh my gosh" stuff. He really did say Oh My God. Sadly; Disney Captions screwed it up for me because they cannot do anything without screwing up something (more on that later). It is still Ken Koonce/David Weimers best episode of the series bar none. The other six episodes are really good to excellent depending on your tastes. War of the Weirds and Save The Tiger are the best ones of the disc for a lot of reasons. War of the Weirds is really a funny story (written by Len Uhley who along with Libby Hinson and Jan Strnad ruled 1990/1991.) about lying and it is one of the most violent episodes in the series do to the out of control gun shooting of Uncle Bucky/Colonel Grogg. If he didn't run out of bullets; he probably would have murdered everyone in that episode. He is insane and really funny. Baloo's plan to get a vacation was pretty funny too even though Rebecca knew about it right out of the starting gate basically. Plus; Kit probably becomes the first child character in animation to say die...twice!

Save The Tiger is the dramatic piece where Baloo screws someone out his money that he shouldn't be screwed out of: Shere Khan. It is one of those episodes few know and yet it won a considerable amount of respect from the TaleSpin Community (Dan Green in particular). Plus; it is the scene where Kit and Rebecca hug each other in a moment like mother and child. They didn't need to speak about Rebecca loving Kit as a son; the scene did it for them. Something a lot of cartoons and even live action could learn from. The others are really excellent with a few minor mistakes for the most part. Feminine Air is a really good one for fans of the Baloo/Rebecca relationship as Baloo demonstrates that he's a lot more tolerant than about 90% of the pilots and businesses in this world. I know that Coolhands Luke wasn't over; but then again Coolhands is a sexist and he made no bones about it. Baloo's makeover as Tan Margant was classic although I would have liked it even more if Kit wasn't written out halfway through the episode. It might have worked with My Fair Baloo; but it doesn't work here. Whistlestop Jackson, Legend is also really good although it takes a while to get through Jackson's look as a smiling Barney The Dinosaur and Gizmo Duck voice. He really has a good character and the writers did a good job in giving Shere Khan some back story that he was lacking in other episodes. Flight of The SnowDuck is another great episode and one of only two episodes involving Molly as the focus character. It's a believable and more fitting story about imagination that doesn't look contrived and forced. That's right folks; there are no contrived rainbow spots and a television box which Spongebob SquarePants used to get his point across. It was real imagination and it almost got crushed because they did it in Thembria. Molly getting cuffed, guns pointing and even teasing a death sentence before giving her life in a freezing hell hole (basically) made this one really scary. Molly was the star along with WildCat who was the only one who could relate to her in every way. Something even Kit Cloudkicker couldn't do despite being the awesome character that he is. The last one is The Old Man And The Seaduck which is another favorite among TaleSpin fans because of the twist ending which convinced pretty much everyone. Joe Magee was alive for the entire time and when Baloo came back after regaining his memory (and looking for help after trying to get out of flying because he was scared of what happened earlier; a nice little touch) and then finding out that he was gone. It's still unknown how this happened; some say it's a time warp and other say it's a guardian angel. Either way it rocked and it was one of the few times where Kit's master plan backfires. Sadly; he didn't say his sorry in the episode for it though. Six thumbs up and three in the middle (two are close to being up no less).

My Rating for Disc One: **** ¾ : A few artwork errors gone and this disc would have been perfect in spite of the three middling episodes.

Disc Two

Artwork Error #3: The front cover is from the episode I Only Have Ice For You which only exists on the Volume One set.

The second disc contains the same kind of presentation as the first Disc. However; I find the front of the cover a little disturbing with Don Karnage coming out of the Iron Vulture like he does (he looks like a half spider, half fury in that pose) when he points to Baloo. However; the overall artwork is well done in spite of the obvious gaffe. The television artwork is well done of course although the bottom right one looks like the brightness level was increased a little too much. This disc is 206 minutes long it should be noted.

TaleSpin Disc 2 Episode Rants

Captains Outrageous Rant- From Zero to Hero and one that I can believe.

The Time Bandit Rant- Geez; why not call this Allowance Day Redux and get it over with!

For Whom The Bell Klangs Part One Rant- One of the few times Tim Curry did not suck!!...

For Whom The Bell Klangs Part Two Rant- Enough comedy!!...

Citizen Khan Rant- Someone call Judge Judy!!

Gruel & Unusual Punishment Rant- Why Miss Finster will NEVER be over...

Jolly Molly Christmas Rant- Best Christmas Special Ever...And that's saying something!!...

My Fair Baloo Rant- Baloo is No Love Machine!!

Waiders of the Wost Tweasure Rant- Talespin's Answer to the Jaloo Joke!

My Thoughts: This is the undisputed worse disc of the Volume set and yet that isn't saying much. Let's get the stinkers out of the way. The Time Bandit has been called one of the worst episodes in TaleSpin because it is basically a redo of an episode that aired eight months before The Time Bandit which is Allowance Day from Ducktales. While the episode was a pretty entertaining one with a excellent climax and ending; the fact that it was based on a much worse episode did the episode and the series no favors because everyone remembers the first time (no matter how bad it was) and redoing the plot line so quickly made a lot of critics call TaleSpin a Ducktales wannabe (which it was clearly not.). (I cannot laugh at the "This Was Your Life" scene anymore. The concept is funny; but the wrong person was the vicitim of it.) Citizen Khan was all right for the most part; but the Judge Judy scene near the beginning took the air right out of the episode before it could start. It did have another great female character and WildCat did an excellent job as usual; but it took forever for Gomer to get over and he needed Wendell in order to do so. (I have a much different opinion of Citizen Khan now: Gomer is a character you are supposed to hate with a passion now. This is one of the few times where a plot that sounded irrelevent in it's time is actually a lot more relevent now given certain current events.) Waiders of the Wost Tweasure was a middling episode with some funny moments involving Baloo and Jane; but it could have been better if the writers didn't bury Kit in the suit of armor like that. I would have Kit and Gwace meet together instead. My Fair Baloo was another good middling episode where Kit teaches Baloo some manners and Baloo teaches the rich snobs a thing or two about tolerance. The later moral was better than the former and I'm glad that they went for that angle because the manners angle was falling fast. Not only that; but Rebecca got to say the word screw on children's television (maybe for the first time even); a lot of guns blazing from Owl Capone and Baloo told everyone to take off their clothes at the end.

The best ones were Captains Outrageous and Jolly Molly Christmas. Captains was the zero to hero story which dug deep into Kit's character as he showed that he may be a jock; but he will defend a dork in Oscar Vandersnoot if need be even against his own friends like the Jungle Aces Secret Midnight Club. It's all about getting an adventure which starts off as Kit and WildCat playing Air Pirates; before it turns into a real adventure because Don Karnage wants to kidnap Oscar to steal money from her rich mother. Jolly Molly Christmas in my opinion is the best modern Christmas Special ever made and one of the best Christmas Specials ever. And that covers a lot of ground. The storyline is simple: Molly wants snow for Christmas (but cannot get it because it's too warm in Cape Suzette) and Baloo and Louie play Santa to give her the present; but it backfires as usual. The climax and conclusion is absolutely break taking and I still swear to this day that she really saw God and not Santa. I mean; if she said I saw him then it cannot be Santa. Can it? Something to think about. The last two episodes are really good too as one of them deals with losing weight and there's the two parter with enough action and Klang to deal with. Gruel & Unusual Punishment is great because of the sadistic Warden Slammer who shows how the cruel teacher character design should be played (Miss Finster; I'm looking at you!). For Whom The Bell Klangs is another excellent multi-part episode which features the strong female known as Katie Dodd who might be a little too patronizing at times; but she is spunky. Excellent animation (even from Sun Woo) and only one scene that I didn't like which was the chase scene in Part Two. Five Thumbs Up, Two in the middle and Two down for this disc. A note about the thumbs down: TaleSpin's scale is much different from other series because if I did it the same way as Darkwing Duck or Gummi Bears; there would be exactly zero thumbs down for the entire series; let alone this volume. It's that good folks.

My Rating On Disc Two: **** ¼: A few stinkers and one artwork error mar an otherwise excellent Disc set.

Disc Three

Artwork Error #4: This applies to the front and back. The front of the disc cover (and disc) and the VHS artwork on the back are from the episode Mach One For The Gipper and this episode doesn't exist on Volume One or Volume Two of the DVD sets.

The Disc Covers of Volume Two is basically the same as the first two disc cover in terms of presentation. Despite the artwork errors; I still love the artwork and the VHS artwork cover on the back (The one where Baloo is riding the engine) is very well done. Sadly; it should be in Volume Three if and when it officially comes out. The actual television stills are well done and look about as close to the 1990 cartoon as you can get. This disc is 206 minutes long I should note.

TaleSpin Disc 3 Episode Rants

Flight School Confidential Rant- Kit's a MIRACLE WORKER!

Bringing Down Babyface Rant- This episode needs a little sprucing up here.

Jumping The Guns - The worst character of the series beckons...Thank goodness for Don Karnage.

In Search of Ancient Blunders Rant- Mark Lungo's Favorite Episode...and one of the best.

Louie's Last Stand Rant- Don't call me Dougie....Call me Monster Over....

Sheepskin Deep Rant- Lame porno flick or one of the best TaleSpin episodes ever? You decide!!

Pizza Pie In The Sky Rant- What's this funky episode?!

Baloo Thunder Rant- Buzz...Buzz...Buzz!

Bullethead Baloo Rant - A Template to Gargoyles Sez I!

My Thoughts: Anyhow; like the previous Discs there is lots of goodness in Disc Three as well. Jumping The Guns was the real stinker overall (although in any other universe it would be a middling episode) thanks in large part to the worse good guy in the series Barney Toruk. Barney was a one joke who looked like Mister Magoo and is old. He wasn't funny and he was borderline offensive at times. However; Don Karnage as always along with the bomb bowling Hal saved this episode. No matter how bad it gets; Jymn Magon and company found a way to make a good enough episode for government work. Pizza Pie In The Sky and Bringing Down Babyface were both middling episodes (and both unedited in this volume I should add.) with some good moments; but didn't have enough steam to be awesome like a lot of TaleSpin episodes. The main event for Kit Cloudkicker fans everywhere is Flight School Confidential. It's one of the few episodes which I really loved (and the first one that forced me to refocus my previous misgivings on the series I should note) because Baloo acted like a jerk and Kit's dream of flying was realized in the usual awesome way. The best moments are near the end where Kit finally saves himself (through Baloo's assistance) and Kit blows off Baloo because he was the one who save himself and not Kit's own flying.). Many Disney shows wish they had as much emotion as that scene. Bullethead Baloo is another one where Baloo tries to impress Kit (when he didn't have too) and it backfires allowing Kit to actually give up his dreams in flying in order to join his friends who loved a fake hero rather than a real hero like pilots. Plus; Baloo takes a groin shot from Professor Buzz's beak and Buzz breaks the fourth wall near the beginning. Baloo Thunder is another good one simply because Professor Buzz's scatter brained antics screwed Baloo big time; but it had a really good ending that was in the perfect context of the episode. Louie's Last Stand is another excellent one which showed that even the bad writers can pull out a diamond in the rough as this one. Plus; Kit has a violent streak as he uses a knife and even moves the dynamite right into the area where Douglas pushes the plunger. Plus; Douglas was the ultimate sad heel who had good ideas; but no context on how to use them.

Of course; Mark Lungo's favorite episode In Search if Ancient Blunders which featured a kick butt female guest character (Myra), Don Karnage gets involved, an upside down tomb, a Scooby Doo Mummy, Don Karnage gets involved, the Chamber of Eternal Night; WildCat makes Baloo work for his money; did I mention Don Karnage gets involved? And then there is Sheepskin Deep; the episode where Baloo tries to earn his diploma from Grade School. Before this episode; there was a crack on Baloo's education in Vowel Play and this episode cracks a part of Baloo's character wide open for everyone to see. The best thing about this episode is that unlike cartoon shows about school; the teachers and principal were cast as believable real life characters. They were not stereotypes like in Recess where the teacher like Miss Finster was a human hating sadist and the Principal Prickley was a heartless fiend who only cared about his promotion. Miss Mossiary was a really nice teacher who knew when to be serious and Ed Pomroy was a principal who really cared about his students. One particular scene proves that when Baloo officially failed the big test near the end of Act II. If Prickley was there (or worse Miss Kisskillya from Detention) he would have gloated over Baloo's failure as a student (or worse if it was Miss Kisskillya). Pomroy did no such thing (in fact he actually felt a little sorry for Baloo for trying so hard and coming up short) and he had a lot of sympathy as a character because of Baloo's reckless regard for management. And near the finish where he could have had Baloo arrested for basically kidnapping him during Baloo's plead for the question to be appealed (since the book was wrong and it was); however, he recoiled and accepted that the book was wrong (and it was). It made him a restrained character that is really lacking in education characters. Some say this is the best episode in the entire series and in many ways; there is an argument to be made for such a thing. Two thumbs in the middle, One thumbs down and Six thumbs up overall.

My Rating For Disc Three: **** ½ : Only one stinker and two artwork errors kills an otherwise perfect disc. This is the kind of thing I like; few errors and excellent episodes. Total thumbs for the volume: 17 thumbs up, seven in the middle, three down.

Extras

This is an easy section to write because there were no real extras on the set other than subtitles and the Sneak Peak section which is all one big ad fest.. While this is disappointing; it wasn't surprising at all. When you got a three disc set with about four hours of DVD space on DVD9, it doesn't leave much room for any good extras. Even more since Disney loves to put their silly ads on Disc One (through the Sneak Peak option). The problem is that this series like Gargoyles before it deserves extras because there are a lot of things that TaleSpin fans want to know. Of course there is Volume 3 where Disney could put extras in to fill up the remaining 11 episodes left on the show; but that could be in trouble if TaleSpin doesn't sell well enough to warrant another set let alone two additional sets. Since there are no extras there is No Rating.

Set Up

Each disc contains a menu where you can set up for sub-titles for the hearing impaired in English. This volume are also available in French subtitles. This is both good and bad news on Disney's part. On the one hand; the French subtitles is a good thing since it is complete French and not the silly attempt by Disney characters to put French word in where it doesn't really belong. Also the English Captions for the most part were on their best behavior for the most part; as there were a few spots missing. On the other hand; this is really a weak excuse for Disney not to release a French Audio Track for the volume like they did with Volume One. Sure; the idea helped with getting the Five Chapter Stops and the much better video and audio quality. However; the overall video and audio isn't that big of a difference since the entire series is 17 years old and unless you put forth a two year restoration program; it would have been better served if they let in the French Audio like they did with Volume One. Also; the English Caption changed an important moment in A Baloo Switcheroo where Kit said Oh My God in the audio; but in the caption he said Oh My Gosh. This was clearly changed for BS&P reasons. Personally; I find it pointless because other than that; the entire volume is unedited. Why bother changing something to please a parent's group when the audio still has Kit taking God's name in vain? Thankfully; this is the exception to the rule overall.

My Rating for Set Up: ****: I take French Audio Track over the French subtitles and it wouldn't change the quality of the video and audio all that much.

My Rating for the Entire DVD Set: **** ¾ (95%)

The Review Line

TaleSpin must be a cursed series. First; the episodes just get better and better in quality the more I see them and review them in full. Now the DVD sets are getting better and better as they go along. An excellent selection of episodes (only three of the episodes are a thumbs down); very good video, excellent audio (despite the limiting 2 channel sound), the addition of chapter stops at five per episode, unedited episodes, Disney Captions making few errors and few errors make this set overall a better set than Volume One was. While Disney manage to deliver on most of what I wanted; it did come with a price: The lack of French Audio (although this volume does have the French subtitles). It's sad because I though TaleSpin in French was really good and I'm sorry that I got the Looping/Super Baloo parts mixed up. I don't think this is going to make TaleSpin fans in Quebec or New Brunswick very happy. That is really the only mistake in a really good volume overall. However; it's going to be very hard for Disney to top that effort when the final 11 episode volume is released; when and if that happens. I'm going to say this to Bob Iger: Volume Three must contain really good extras, deleted scenes from the Plunder and Lightning movie, The TaleSpin documentary that Luara Ann has and the skipped episode Flying Dupes. You now have no choice in this. You have produced two excellent volume sets and you need something to fill up at least disc two when Volume Three is made. You cannot afford to make Volume Three look like a DUD in comparison. Basically; you painted yourself into a corner and nothing less will be allowed (short of having poor Volume Two sales). I'm just saying Bob. Overall; this volume is just like the other volume: It is worth the money. And you can show this to your kids and say to them: This is what we defined as the best animated series ever made. Once they watch it; they might finally be able to agree on something. As Luke would say in his review in Ultimate Disney:

A number of things about "TaleSpin" impress me. High among them are the rich characterizations and complex stories that work well on different levels for children and adults. Perhaps even higher is the series' originality. While it's not too difficult to spot certain patterns and trends in the storytelling and an inherent order to the universe, practically every episode boasts something unique, clever, and interesting. The chronological collections of animated shorts that are so prevalent on DVD today often reveal a repetitive nature; frequently, variables were merely plugged into a formula, given a clever title, and released. If that's commonly the case among even the most praised cartoon studios that were making their films over runs of many years, how is it that the mass-produced "TaleSpin" avoids repetition so well?