Kids who did a lot of their growing up in the 90s likely have fond memories of The Disney Afternoon. There were a lot of programs competing for eyeballs in the weekday afternoon timeslot and Disney put forth a pretty compelling block of animation, even though the actual launch wasn’t that exciting. It included two series that had already been on television for sometime: DuckTales and Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Both shows were already in the weekday afternoon timeslot, but Disney wanted to market an entire two hour block so they took those shows, paired them with an even older show in Adventures of the Gummi Bears and added a new show: TaleSpin.

TaleSpin was my least favorite of all the Disney Afternoon shows. I usually checked out when it came on. It’s possible that it conflicted with the airing of another show I would have rather watched (like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Real Ghostbusters), or maybe I just plain wasn’t interested despite my enjoyment of the other programs in the block. I was aware of, and had seen, the Disney adaptation of The Jungle Book, but it wasn’t a favorite of mine. I didn’t have much of a frame of reference for Scrooge McDuck going into DuckTales, and I just plain liked the characters of Chip and Dale, so those two shows were easy sells for me. The lazy and irresponsible Baloo is now the pilot or a cargo plane? That just seemed too out there for me. And it certainly didn’t help matters that I did not like the introductory theme song. DuckTales and Rescue Rangers have absolute bangers of intro songs, as did Adventures of the Gummi Bears, but that call and response setup of TaleSpin just didn’t do anything for me. I usually didn’t make it past that.

With the benefit of time, I can look at TaleSpin as just a really bizarre concept. It’s basically The Jungle Book plus Tales of the Gold Monkey plus Cheers with a dash of Casablanca. That is a bananas setup for an afternoon cartoon series aimed at kids. I watched some of Cheers as a kid with my parents, but I never made the connection despite the TaleSpin character of Rebecca (Sally Struthers) being an almost exact duplicate of the character of the same name on Cheers. I also probably didn’t watch enough TaleSpin to make that connection, but that is one crazy pull. Does that eclectic mix all add up to something that works? I can’t say since I haven’t dived into TaleSpin as an adult, but there are plenty of people whose opinion I respect that go to bat for the series.

Ironically, my love of Christmas didn’t extend to the original Disney Afternoon shows that I actually watched. Of the four, only TaleSpin dedicated an episode to Christmas. These were all shows designed to be direct-to-syndication for a weekday slot. Programmers don’t really like holiday episodes because they have to schedule around them since most networks don’t want a Christmas episode popping up in June. I think that’s largely the reason why those shows didn’t address the holiday despite Scrooge McDuck first debuting in a Christmas comic. That attitude would wane though starting with TaleSpin as several Disney Afternoon shows would do a Christmas episode. Perhaps someone saw the appeal of being able to sell a block of cartoons that could also be seasonal? Kids like holiday episodes, for the most part. I know it would get my attention when a network would advertise a bunch of Halloween or Christmas episodes coming my way. And when one show in the programming didn’t follow the theme (snow episodes do not count as Christmas episodes, people) it would bother me. Usually, it was my beloved X-Men that wouldn’t join in on the fun, but even that show gave-in eventually.

After the opening song that I still don’t care for, I’m surprised to see an honest to goodness title card for this episode. I have no idea if that’s a regular thing, but I applaud any show that invests in title cards for its episodes. When it fades, we’re treated to images of a snow-covered little town. Rebecca is speaking over the images about her memories of Christmas choosing to really zero-in on said snow. We zoom out and realize she’s been staring into a snow globe while holding her daughter, Molly (Janna Michaels). Rebecca wishes it would snow for Christmas for that’s what she misses most about the holiday. Presumably, she grew up in a part of the world where it snowed regularly. Molly suggests there’s still time for snow as they observe the pouring rain outside, but Rebecca kind of laughs off the suggestion noting that it never snows in Cape Suzette. I think they’re located somewhere in the Caribbean where it has quite possibly never snowed period.

Rebecca has to leave and basically tells everyone to be on their best behavior since Santa’s watching, and all that stuff. Baloo (Ed Gilbert) chuckles and agrees to be good or whatever. A pet peeve of mine is cartoon characters who chuckle and laugh as part of their line delivery for no good reason. Someone decided that Baloo needed to sound extra jolly or something. Nearby, Wildcat (Pat Fraley) is decorating a Christmas tree and Baloo compliments him on his work as he fires an ornament from a slingshot onto the tree. Molly hops up and begins working on a letter to Santa Claus, which we find out from Kit Cloudkicker (R.J. Williams) is actually her second letter for Santa. I have to believe this one is about what her mom wants for Christmas, but as she’s working on it Kit is bouncing around on a pogo stick stringing some garland on the tree and making everything bounce. Molly’s candy cane rolls off the desk and shatters on the floor, drawing a sad reaction from the little cub. Baloo comes over to inspect the mess and share some good news: if Molly puts part of the candy cane under her pillow tonight, the Peppermint Fairy will replace it with a new candy cane! Molly seems dubious, but Baloo insists she’s the cousin of the Tooth Fairy or something. Molly accepts this as true and takes off while Baloo ties a little string around his finger so he doesn’t forget to make the switch later.

The sound of a rooster would seem to indicate morning has come. Baloo and Kit appear to have passed out in front of the television, but are awoken by a panicked Rebecca who comes racing down the stairs. Apparently, the store where she bought a gift for Molly for Christmas gave her the wrong item and she needs to get there and exchange it in time for Christmas (it’s Christmas Eve). Baloo is pretty groggy as he takes his marching orders which are to keep an eye on Molly and to make sure a shipment of soap gets loaded onto the cargo plane. When Rebecca races off, Baloo notices the string on his finger and immediately it dawns on him that he forgot to make the switch. He starts panicking and kind of does a Humphrey Bear impression in the process as he moves back and forth desperate for a candy cane. There just so happens to be two on a wreath directly behind him and he grabs one in hope that he isn’t too late. Assuming that candy cane is real and not plastic, that thing probably has pine needles stuck all over it. I don’t think Molly will be too impressed.

Baloo, rather loudly, exclaims he has a candy cane and runs upstairs to Molly’s room. Then, the big oaf decides to be quiet as he listens for any sounds coming from inside the room. Hearing nothing, he creeps in and we see Molly asleep in her bed with a portion of the broken candy cane peeking out from under her pillow. As Baloo gently reaches in to make the swap, Molly’s eye pops open and she asks, “Did the Peppermint Fairy forget something?” Baloo recoils with a sheepish grin and tries to come up with an explanation, but he can’t get much out as Molly accuses him of lying to a kid! The worst crime of all. She then draws a connection between the Peppermint Fairy and Santa Claus. If the Peppermint Fairy isn’t real, then all of that Santa stuff Baloo told her must be bologna! Wildcat interjects to say Santa hates bologna, but no one seems to be paying attention to him. Baloo tries to recover and insists that there is a Santa Claus, and not only is he real, he’s going to take Molly to see him at the North Pole so she can hand deliver her new letter! As he makes these vows, we see Kit wincing in pain indicating he knows that what Baloo is promising is impossible. Baloo tells the kid to get her coat and then leaves the room whispering under his breath how they need to pull this off before Rebecca gets back. Kit asks him what he’s doing, but Baloo just runs down the stairs and insists he has a plan.

We then cut to Louie’s Place. It’s basically a giant bar built into a massive tree which is run by the former King Louie (Jim Cummings) from The Jungle Book. I don’t know if he was a king at any point in time in the show, but he seems to have a lot of monkey hirelings so he might as well be. As for how he can get away with running a bar in a kid’s show, I’m guessing it’s referred to as a juice bar. We even see him taking a phone call and stuffing a bunch of fruit into a blender, I suppose making his breakfast. Maybe it’s for punch and we just don’t see him add the rum? At any rate, it’s quite clear that the person on the other end of this conversation is Baloo, and he needs Louie’s help to pull this whole Santa thing off. And Louie is an integral part to the scheme as he shouts “You want me to dress up as who?!” as the blender basically explodes juice all over him. Get ready for Louie Claus, I guess.

Back on Cape Suzette, Baloo and the others are getting ready to leave for “The North Pole.” This means that Wildcat doesn’t get to load the cargo of soap flakes onto the plane like he’s expected to. As Baloo and the others run by knocking him over, he calls back to them and his voice actor, Pat Fraley’s, Krang voice sneaks out which sounds really funny to me (he voices the alien brain in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon). Poor Wildcat would like to go with them, but Baloo and the others basically ignore him after he crashes through a crate of soap. They take off, leaving Wildcat to beg for them to bring him along from the end of the dock to no avail. Molly would like it to snow, Wildcat has a shipment of soap flakes…I think I see how these two things will fit together.

Baloo takes the kid and Kit to Louie’s Place, which now is all decked out for Christmas with a sign indicating it’s now Santa’s Place. Not that any of this is needed for Baloo has decided to blindfold Molly and she’s just going along with it for some reason. I have no idea if she’s ever been to Louie’s Place, doesn’t seem like the kind of place a kid should frequent, but it shows up a lot in the show and this is episode 43 or something. An attendant answers the door sort of like the guy from the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. It’s a monkey dressed as an elf, and he promptly lets Baloo and the kids in. Once inside, Baloo removes the blindfold and Molly looks around. These monkeys have done a good job decorating the place and have even thrown together a work shop where they appear to actually be making toys. Louie must have owed Baloo some favor. Molly even sees antlers passing by a window and assumes they belong to reindeer, but it’s just a monkey with a lone horn Max style running by the window over and over.

Kit then encourages Molly to listen for he hears the sound of jingle bells. There’s a commotion by the fireplace and soon a body drops in. It’s Santa Claus! Only, it’s Louie in a Santa suit with black sunglasses. He saunters over to the gang singing like he normally would which prompts Baloo to whisper to him “Ix-nay on the ive-jay!” You can’t take the soul out of this orangatang, Baloo! He’s a different kind of Santa. He does his best to tone down his personality and puts Molly in his chair and whips out his list. Finding “Molly” on it, he insists she’s going to get everything she wanted! He’s got a sack full of all kinds of stuff and starts listing it off as he goes through it all assuming whatever she wants must be in there. She may like some of that stuff, but it mostly appears to be instruments from the bar so that expectation may have been dubious, at best.

Molly, of course, doesn’t want any of that. She just wants to deliver her letter. Louie finally stops yapping and takes a seat with Molly on his lap ready to scope out this letter of hers. I guess up until now, Baloo and Kit hadn’t noticed that Molly’s wish was for snow to make her mother happy so when Waldo (uncredited, could be Richard Karron) reads the letter out loud spelling out her wish Louie can do nothing except tell her that her wish is his command! Louie then excuses himself to have a chat with a shocked Baloo. He tells him he was asked to play Santa, not Jack Frost! How are they going to pull that off? In a backroom, Baloo tells Louie he just needs to keep up the Santa ruse for a little while longer so he can put Molly’s wish into action. Louie is quite reluctant and is also worried about his customers who are bound to show up eventually. Baloo just tells him to invite them into this little game and sing Christmas carols to entertain the kid while he and Kit take off. Louie reluctantly goes along with Baloo’s suggestion and returns to Molly instructing the other monkey-elves to sing “Jingle Bells.”

Baloo and Kit make for the plane and take off to the sound of monkeys singing “Jingle Bells.” Elsewhere, some other folks lurking in a cave are singing the same song, but far worse. It’s the crew of Don Karnage (Cummings), the pirate wolf, and he’s none too happy with his crew for keeping him awake. The only ones credited as speaking are Mad Dog (Charlie Adler) and Dumptruck (Chuck McCann). They’re in a dank cave around a Charlie Brown style tree and looking rather miserable. Karnage, one of the chief villains of the show who speaks with something akin to an Eastern European accent, decides to give his men what they want. They’re pirates, so why not head out and steal their own Merry Christmas? The crew likes this idea as they all make for their planes.

Back on Cape Suzette, Rebecca has returned carrying a lot more than the nutcracker she was supposedly on the hunt for. She has a stack of presents so high she can’t even see where she’s going, and her cab driver decided he must hate tips since he doesn’t offer to help. Once she’s able to look past the pile of gifts, Rebecca is pretty surprised to see Wildcat all by himself on the dock with the crates of soap flakes and no seaplane. She asks him where everyone is and, through sobs, Wildcat explains that Baloo took Molly to the North Pole without him! He’s also apparently been trying to get Molly’s snow globe to work and is having a hard time. He’s not a very bright cat. The seaplane then returns and Baloo and Kit race off of it and onto the dock to grab a couple of crates of soap flakes. As they do, they say “Hi!” to Rebecca, then “Bye!” to Rebecca, then finally stop as if they just realized who they were talking to. She’s a bit pissed, but once Kit explains that Baloo is trying to make Molly’s Christmas wish comes true she softens immediately and flashes some rather hungry eyes the big bear’s way (play your cards right, Baloo, and you just might have a very merry Christmas yourself), but there’s no time to bask in Rebecca’s affection. It’s started to rain and Baloo can see his plan going all up in…suds.

Back at Santa’s, I mean, Louie’s, “Jingle Bells” has apparently been going on for quite some time. Don’t they know more Christmas songs? Worse, the regulars have shown up and they don’t like being left out in the rain. They’re pretty ornery, but Waldo isn’t letting them in. These guys definitely all have the look of alcoholics who need to get their Christmas buzz going on. This show is more like Cheers than I realized. Inside, Louie looks tired and bored as he conducts this deteriorating performance until Molly interrupts him. She politely asks if he’s going to make it snow soon and he can do nothing except answer in the affirmative and hope Baloo comes through.

A voice comes over a nearby CB radio. It’s Baloo calling for “Santa” as he pilots the seaplane to Louie’s. Louie is relieved to hear him, though I’m curious how they expect to pull this off in the rain. Unfortunately for them though, Don Karnage and his band of pirates are also sailing these unfriendly skies and overhear their conversation. Karnage thinks Baloo is transporting something special by the sound of the conversation and he intends to steal it. Unfortunately for him, it’s just soap. Louie tells Molly to get ready for some snow and as the two share a hug Don Karnage moves in!

Baloo gives the order to stand ready to Rebecca and Wildcat who open up two boxes of soap flakes in preparation. I guess they’re just going to go through with this idea and hope it looks like snow even in the driving rain, though this seems rather foolish. Could lead to a fun suds rave at Louie’s though! Before they can start dispensing with the soap, bullets rip through the hull of the SeaDuck. Rebecca and Wildcat are able to duck just in the nick of time to avoid getting their heads ripped apart. I’m a little surprised that this show was able to arm its villains with actual machine guns. Maybe there’s something quaint about the weapons originating from old school airplanes? Looney Tunes had dogfighting in its cartoons and even Snoopy mimed it in Peanuts cartoons. I guess it’s just one of those things deemed acceptable when it came to children’s cartoons, but don’t even think about arming Bebop and Rocksteady with realistic shotguns! Or, this is just Disney doing whatever it wants and no network is going to tell the House of Mouse what to do.

Don Karnage announces himself over the radio to Baloo who ordinarily is not happy to run afoul of pirates when doing deliveries, but is really unhappy here since this is messing up his whole plan. Don Karnage does offer Baloo a way out: give him the cargo and he won’t shoot him down. Baloo does not dignify that with a response as Rebecca makes her way into the cockpit to tell “Don Garbage” (hah, nice one!) that this plane is carrying a present for her daughter and he can’t have it! Karnage indicates that there’s a price on her head, I’m not sure if he means Rebecca or Molly, and reasons that this will be like taking candy cane from a baby. Then, in true, silly, villain, fashion he shouts “I love that!” with an overexaggerated smile. The animation here is pretty fluid and is by Wang Film Productions, not the best animation studio to work on the show, but a solid one.

The pirates continue to rip through the hull of the SeaDuck, but somehow it stays aloft. There’s even one shot where the bullets seem to go right through the propellers but the only damage reflected are holes in the hull, which don’t seem to bother the plane one bit. Kit informs Baloo that they have no chance of outrunning the pirates in this storm, but Baloo has no intention of running. He tells the crew to give Karnage and his boys what they want. Rebecca, Kit, and Wildcat all dump a crate of soap flakes out of the cargo bay door. As they do, each one shouts “Merry Christmas” because we have to stay on brand here. Karnage is at first excited to see the doors open, but then is less so when a bunch of bubbles start blowing in his face. Impossibly, these bubbles cause all of the airplanes the pirates are piloting to malfunction. Don’t ask me how, they just do. They all plummet from the sky to crash in the sea below. No one appears harmed, or even bewildered, Karnage just looks pissed as his plane begins to sink. His associates, on the other hand, are delighted by the bubbles and even refer to it as snow. They’re not too bright. They’re also sinking, possibly to their demise (but probably not).

Aboard the SeaDuck, Baloo asks if they were able to save any soap for Molly. Wildcat proudly holds up one box, but then realizes it’s basically empty. Baloo mutters “Now, what are we going to do?” as their plane flies through the sudsy skies with ease. Back at Louie’s, the monkeys have seemingly regained their vigor and are putting on an at least passable performance of “Jingle Bells.” Louis is seated on a stage with Molly on his knee as he assures her she’ll get her wish any minute now. He also promises it will be so white she’ll be able to clean her clothes with it, which is true, as far as he knows. Waldo then wanders over to direct Louie’s attention to the front door. Despite a board being laid across it, the door is swelling with banging from the other side. The patrons are beyond restless, they need their booze, and they break down the door!

When the drunks come barging in they’re surprised to see everyone in costume, especially Louie. One of the guys immediately addresses him by his actual name, and even though he’s trying to get them to shut it, it’s to no avail. Molly has heard, and seen, that this Santa is not he. Her eyes begin to well up with tears as the patrons laugh at the sight of Louie in a Santa suit. They pull off his beard for added affect and we see Molly’s point-of-view as her eyes dart from the various, unsettling, sights. Eventually, she jumps up and runs to Louie and it looks like she’s giving him a hug, but really she just wanted to pull her letter from the imposter’s pocket. She then runs off as Louie calls out to her, but she slips away. He can do nothing but turn around and ask the patrons, “Now, what did you guys go and do that for?”

Molly runs down to the beach and up a cliffside to a bluff overlooking the sea. She’s in tears, and still in her pajamas from the morning, and clutching her letter to Santa. The rain has at least stopped, but it’s dark and as she ascends to the top of the cliffside she looks down at her letter. Calling it a lie, she tosses it down to the sea then collapses at the base of a tree to sob. Meanwhile, the letter gets caught by the wind and we see it nearly hit the water before soaring high into the air. Almost like a Santa Claus moon-shot, it passes by a full moon and disappears into who knows where?

Molly is soon awakened by the calls of her mother. She rises to her feet, and to her credit, she’s not upset about the whole Santa thing being ruined for her, she’s just sad she doesn’t have a gift for her mom. We then see Rebecca, Baloo, Kit, Wildcat, and Louie come up the hill to find Molly bathed in moonlight. She’s just staring at the sky as her mom approaches her and wraps her in her coat and fusses over her wellbeing like a mother should. Then she realizes her daughter is transfixed by something. She asks her what’s going on, and Molly just whispers “I saw him!”

Rebecca looks up to the sky and is soon joined by Baloo. Both are acting like they see something, but in the quick shots of the sky we’re treated to, we just see stars. The camera focuses on the sky until a single snowflake flutters down and lands on Rebecca’s nose. Louie remarks, “crazy,” because he apparently has to always be doing something. The snow starts to fall a little heavier and Kit catches one on his tongue while Wildcat seems to hardly notice because he thinks he got the snow globe working. They’re all in awe as Louie approaches Baloo. He quietly asks how he pulled this off and Baloo confirms he didn’t. When Louie inquires who did, he can only say “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” Rebecca scoops up Molly in her arms and Molly looks directly in the camera and softly says “I would.” Her mom gives her a smile and Molly says “Merry Christmas, mom.” The camera zooms way out to show Cape Suzette covered in a blanket of snow as the episode fades to black.

I started this post off saying that, as a kid, I didn’t much care for TaleSpin, but I enjoyed this. Maybe I’d enjoy more episode of TaleSpin, or maybe this is just Christmas working its magic on me? There aren’t any surprises in this one. Once the plot is in motion it’s pretty easy to guess where the story is going to take us. It’s almost like the main plot of Miracle on 34th Street condensed into a 23 minute cartoon about bears and jungle animals. Molly is disillusioned and Baloo sets out to prove to her that Santa Claus is real, only she has a mostly impossible ask of the would-be Santa Claus. The only difference is that Louie is not, in fact, Santa and instead he just kind of comes in at the last second to deus ex machina this thing, and it’s okay! Santa has such powers and could do stuff like that. I like that we don’t actually see him (even though I’m wondering what Santa in this world looks like, and if DuckTales (2017) would have stuck with the look) and we just see the awe struck faces of the protagonists. It’s enough.

The animation in this one is quite good with some very nice character work. Louie and his monkey minions are rather emotive and I really feel a cohesive approach to the material with other Disney Afternoon works, especially Adventures of the Gummi Bears. Molly practically looks like an unused design from that show at times and the work done with her when she realizes that Louie isn’t who he said he is was fantastic. My heart broke for her, even if I knew it was coming. And I really liked that the carefree Louie was shown to be pretty broken up by it too. He was too sad for Molly to really get mad at the bar flies, though they could have handled that whole situation better. Just tell them if they want to come in and drink they need to sing Christmas tunes for the kid – no problem!

I may not have covered all of the Disney Afternoon Christmas episodes in this space, but I think I have seen them all. And of them all, to my surprise, TaleSpin might be the most enjoyable. It’s between this and the Goof Troop one. That one tries a little too hard to tug on the heart strings where as this episode is pretty simple and effective at doing so. Even though I knew it was coming, I still got a little teary eyed when Molly ran off into the night because it was handled well. The whole diversion with Don Karnage was a brief bit of comedy, for the most part, that tried to be a little suspenseful. It mostly existed just to make sure Baloo failed to deliver on Molly’s wish himself, though I think the soap flakes rapidly turning into suds might have accomplished that too, but at least we spared Baloo the embarrassment.

If you want to check out this episode of TaleSpin before the holidays come and go then the easiest way to do so is via Disney+. There you will find it as the 43rd episode of the series. The show was also released on DVD if you prefer to go physical. I can’t vouch for the series as a whole, and I still think it’s theme song is mid, but this is a damn fine Christmas episode that I enjoyed quite a bit.