How many people remember the Disney cartoons that used to be a common staple of our day when we came home from school? Some folks might not remember programs like Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, or Talespin, which was modeled after the characters in The Jungle Book, with a few additions of course. But given all of the throwbacks that have been making their way to Disney+ over the past couple of years, it might be time to bring back this animated series since it was a lot of fun and easily be kept in the time period it occupied even with a few updates here and there. Set in what appears to be the 30s due to the fact that radio is the preferred medium and there’s no such thing as TV, Talespin starts out with Baloo running his own air cargo freight business along with his mechanic, the goofy but talented Wildcat. Every character is an anthropomorphized animal and unlike The Jungle Book, there are no humans in this world. Shere Khan and King Louie make regular appearances as well, with Khan being a very powerful figure in Cape Suzette, the name of the city.
Louie runs his own establishment that’s far away from Cape Suzette and is a regular hangout for pilots and other drifters since travel by sea and air are the preferred methods, and there are plenty of different types that exist in this world. Don Karnage and his air pirates are constant threats to any and all pilots that make their living in the sky, while other adventurers and characters tend to be impediments to honest workers as well. The thing that made this series great was that Baloo wasn’t one hundred percent honest but he did have a strong sense of morality. The thing was, he knew when to get a bit dirty and how to stay mostly honest.
Bringing this series back wouldn’t be too difficult really, but it would definitely need a few new voice actors to take on the roles of those that managed to drive the story. Baloo, Kit, Rebecca and Molly Cunningham, Wildcat, Shere Khan, King Louie, and Don Karnage would likely be the best characters to focus on if the plan was to make things as recognizable as possible. There were several other characters that came and went during the course of the show, but the main characters are those that need to be focused on the most since they were the ones that took up the most screen time and thereby needed to be perfected as much as possible. There were a lot of familiar elements in this show that people tended to recognize from older shows, but it had a feel that was all it’s own given that it focused more often than not on Baloo and Kit and their adventures in the sky and in other faraway lands that were offered up their own challenges. The show did get in trouble from time to time with the representation of certain stereotypes, but at this point, it feels as though saying the wrong word to the wrong person no matter if it’s the right or wrong time is bound to cause offense.
The main point of this series was that Baloo, Kit, and the Sea Duck, the cargo plane that carried them wherever they needed to go, were the adventurous sort that would do just about anything when it came to delivering their cargo and keeping Rebecca happy. To see this show brought back would be great, and it would be a lot of fun to see if it could be brought back in CGI in a successful manner in order to give it a different look. The regular animation style might be the way to go, but with the many different methods and innovations that now exist it feels safe to say that bringing it back as something new and improved would be great since it would re-introduce the main characters in a way that might be easier for the generation of now to accept and possibly give the show a boost, which it likely needs to compete in the here and now on Disney+.
On top of that, the nostalgic feel that’s been spreading might as well bring back titles that were great once upon a time and despite the time period could be great again. Anyone stating that there are too many stereotypes in Talespin might need to take a look around Disney+ and really think about what they’re saying. The fact is that stereotypes exist, but they’re being challenged constantly, and Talespin’s characters could easily meet that challenge in a number of ways. It might not happen any time soon and it could possibly be brought back in a manner similar to how Chip and Dale were brought back, which would be too bad, but until that day happens we’ll just have to wait and see.Ducktales
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