Tale Spin Vol. 2 DVD Credits:

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Tale Spin Vol. 2 DVD Release Date: 12th October 2007

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Tale Spin Vol. 2 DVD Review:

TALE SPIN originally ran on the Disney channel between 1990 and 1994 on the Disney Afternoon. TALE SPIN takes place in a time reminiscent of CASABLANCA and the INDIANA JONES series, a time where airplanes are still powered by propellers and the radio is the primary source of entertainment. Set in Cape Suzzette, at the “Higher for Hire” air transport company, TALE SPIN centers around bush pilot Baloo, his navigator Kit Cloudkicker and the adventures the duo get into while on their missions. These adventures often involve encounters with air pirate Don Carnage, throw in a love interest for Baloo, in the way of Rebecca the owner of “Higher for Hire” and you have 30 minutes of cartoon fun.

The episodes are sort of formulaic and unimaginative, at least in retrospect. The writers seem to have recycled a large number of the episode story lines from other sources. The first episode of the box set is titled “A Baloo Switcheroo” where a Baloo and partner in adventure Kit accidentally switch bodies due to an ancient idol. In “The Old Man and the Sea Duck” a jittery Baloo forgets how to fly after an accident, but is reminded of his love of flying by a kindly old flying ace that has been deceased for 20 years, and in “War of the Weirds” Baloo and Kit get into trouble after they radio in their own version of the famed Orson Welles’ radio show “War of the Worlds.”

The TALE SPIN television show is painfully unimaginative, often recycling old Disney classics such as FREAKY FRIDAY, and other classic films such as CITIZEN KANE, or novels like The Old Man and the Sea. Each episode seems to be a rehash of the same old plot: Baloo and Kit fly some cargo, they get into trouble, and Rebecca and Wildcat work to get them out of trouble. In fact the show starts to become cumbersome from what it asks of its viewer or at least is adult viewers. TALE SPIN is certain to be enticing for children, particularly for older children.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the TALE SPIN show is the amount of guns that are present in the episodes. In the episode titled “War of the Weirds” an agent of Military Intelligence intercepts the joke transmission from vacationing Baloo and Kit. As a result the agent drags Rebecca to the location of the alleged “alien attack” conjured up by her wayward pilot. When the agent sees the Martian landing spot, he hastily fires hundreds of rounds from his chain gun at it. The story lines for each episode are extremely over used, the classic body switch, rescuing the small town from persecution, the ghost teaching the hero a lesson, etc., although, for a child’s television program, it may be new to them… It may be advised, however, that parents of children viewing TALE SPIN review the episodes due to their somewhat violent nature.


The TALE SPIN Vol. 2 box set is a 3 DVD set featuring 27 episodes presented in no particular order, presented in full frame mixed in stereo. There are absolutely zero bonus features on the discs. In fact the box set feels like the forgotten stepchild of Disney, absolutely zero effort was made to present these episodes in any better fashion than their original air dates up to 17 years ago.

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Tale Spin Vol. 2 DVD review written by: Andrew Mattson