Jungle Cubs

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Jungle Cubs was an animated series produced by Disney for ABC in 1996. It was based on their 1967 feature film The Jungle Book, but set in the youth of the animal characters. The show was a hit, running for two seasons in syndication before moving its re-runs to the Disney Channel. The show was last seen on Toon Disney, but was taken off the schedule in 2001 and has not been seen since on the U.S. airwaves. The show did air in the United Kingdom on Disney Cinemagic and in Latin America until removed in early 2006.

Contents

[edit] Premise

The stars of Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book were regressed to cubs for this syndicated animated series. Jungle Cubs suggested that when they were younger, both the good and evil animals lived together in relative peace.

Each of the characters were given distinct characteristics which reflected their future personalities as seen in The Jungle Book; this creative idea further tied the show in with its film predecessor. Uptight panther Bagheera, free spirit bear Baloo, headstrong tiger Shere Khan, wild orangutan Prince Louie, neurotic elephant Hathi, and hypnotic snake Kaa all returned from the film, putting aside their differences to live and learn together. The show gave a female elephant named Winifred a prominent role; she was (Colonel) Hathi's wife in The Jungle Book.

The cubs brave a variety of jungle dangers, often matching wits with sneaky vultures Cecil and Arthur. Living up to new federal regulations for educational television, Jungle Cubs offer lessons on friendship, self-respect, and other healthy traits, crafted for an audience of young children.

In the second season of the show, many of the cubs become slightly older and more distanced from one another. (Many are also given different voice actors.) And, although they still remain good friends, they are getting more and more busy with their own lives and spending less time at their fort, the Cub House (Louie's future palace). Louie becomes wrapped up in being King of the Jungle and is no longer so close to Baloo, Bagheera becomes more serious and uptight than before, and Hathi begins spending more time with Winifred than with the other Cubs. The biggest change, however, is Shere Khan. He spends a lot of time hunting, as Bagheera and Kaa do, and as the series progresses, begins to become more annoyed with the other Cubs than before. He even attempts to overthrow Louie at one point, using Kaa (who didn't really get a choice in the matter) as a henchman. Kaa, as well as Baloo (with the exception of his friendship with Louie), doesn't really change much. He still remains sneaky and uses his hypnotism power.

[edit] Character biographies

  • Bagheera: He is a sensible and solemn panther who rarely gets into trouble. He has a preoccupation with being clean. Bagheera is affectionately known as Baggy and is the youngest in the group.
  • Baloo: A caring and happy go lucky bear. He likes to play with his friends and sometimes plays tricks on Bagheera in order to snap the latter out of his seriousness.
  • Louie: Baloo's best friend. He is very physically active, spending a great deal of his time in trees, and wants to become king of the jungle one day. Louie is an orangutan.
  • Shere Khan: A stuck up Bengal tiger. He often tries to lord over the other animals, but his confidence sometimes suffers when faced with actual problems.
  • Kaa: A young python who wants to hypnotize people, but his skills at hypnosis are currently erratic at best.
  • Hathi: An elephant who attempts to keep the pals in order but is known to stammer when under stress. Later, he develops a huge crush on Winifred, who is his wife in the The Jungle Book.

[edit] Voice Actors

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1 (1996)

# Title Air date
1 "A Night in the Wasteland"  10/05/1996
Attempting to prove his courage after a joke by Louie and Baloo, Shere Kahn vows to travel to Pinnacle Rock, unaware that the ruthless monkey Mahra has returned there and wants a new fur blanket 
2 "Buffaloed / Haiti Meets His Match"  10/12/1996

Buffaloed: Kahn is tricked into fighting against a water buffalo by two vultures.

Haiti Meets His Match: A young female elephant named Winifred is separated from her family- owned by humans- after a fire in their village, and runs into Hathi 
3 "Red Dogs"  10/19/1996
Louie tricks Kaa into believing that Baloo's sleepwalking is the result of his attempts at hypnosis, sending Kaa out after Baloo just as the lethal Red Dogs return to the jungle, with only the other Cubs available to save the day 
4 "Bare Necessities / Mondo Mungo"  10/26/1996

Bare Necessities: The cubs' attempts to prepare for the monsoon season are hampered by Baloo's laziness, but he soon becomes their only hope when they are trapped in a cave as the monsoons begin.

Mondo Mungo: Kaa attempts to win over two bullies using hypnosis 
5 "Who Wants To Be A Baboon?"  11/2/1996
After being the victim of one too many jokes, Louie leaves the Cubs and becomes Mahra's assistant 
6 "How The Panther Lost His Roar / The Humans Must Be Crazy"  11/9/1996

How the Panther Lost His Roar: Bagheera's feelings of inadequacy when compared to Kahn are worsened when he loses his voice.

The Humans Must Be Crazy: Bagheera becomes convinced that an old pocket-watch will make him a great hunter 
7 "Hulla Baloo / Shere Bliss"  11/16/1996

Hulla Baloo: Louie becomes jealous when Baloo begins to spend more time with a cheetah after it saved his life.

Shere Bliss: When Kahn becomes a more fun-loving cat after a bump on the head, the Cubs find themselves trying to bring him back to normal 
8 "The Great Kaadini"  11/23/1996
Kaa accidentally hypnotises the vultures, turning them into competent hunters totally obedient to his commands 
9 "Treasure Of The Middle Jungle"  11/30/1996
When a shrew tells the animals about the long-lost 'Treasure of the Middle Jungle', the group- minus Bagheera and Hathi- set out to find it, only to come face-to-face with the massive cobra Whitehood 
10 "Splendor In The Mud"  12/7/1996
When Winifred's lies put Hathi in trouble with her uncle, the Cubs refuse to let her see their friend when she needs his help 
11 "Benny & Clyde / Feather Brains"  12/14/1996

Benny & Clyde: Louie is forced to look after his younger cousins.

Feather Brains: One of the vultures falls in love and kicks his friend out of the nest 
12 "The Coming Of The Wolves"  12/21/1996
The cubs find themselves caught between two runaway wolves- Akela and Leah- and their old pack when Akela and Leah hide out at the temple 
13 "Fool Me Once... / Trouble On The Waterfront"  12/28/1996

Fool Me Once...: After a particularly harsh prank by Baloo and Louie, Bagheera fakes his death to get even.

Trouble On The Waterfront: The cubs break out into violent arguments when a drought destroys almost their entire water supply 

[edit] Season 2 (1997)

# Title Air date
1 "The Ape That Would Be King"  10/11/1997
The Cubs learn of a prophecy that states that Louie will some day be king of the jungle, but Kahn wants the role for himself 
2 "Kasaba Ball / Trunks For The Memories"  10/18/1997

Kasaba Ball: The Cubs divide into teams- Louie, Bagheera and Baloo against Kahn, a monkey, and the inappropriately-named rhinoceros 'Tiny'- in a game of 'Kasaba Ball' (The jungle equivalent of football).

Trunks for the Memories: Hathi's best friend may have to part ways with him when the elephant herd breaks in two due to a food shortage 
3 "Curse Of The Magnificent Melon / Hathi's Makeover"  10/25/1997

Curse Of The Magnificent Melon: After stealing Hathi's prized melon, Baloo finds himself apparently followed by a mass of frogs accusing him of the crime.

Hathi's Makeover: Hathi tries to become a different kind of animal after he becomes ashamed of being an elephant. 
4 "Birthday Snake / The Five Bananas"  11/1/1997

Birthday Snake: Kaa resorts to hypnosis when he thinks that the others have forgotten his birthday.

The Five Bananas: The cubs form a band for an upcoming talent show, but split before the show starts because each of them believes they are the most important instrument in the band. 
5 "Old Green Teeth / The Elephant Who Couldn't Say No"  11/8/1997

Old Green Teeth: Louie suffers a crisis of confidence when the Five Bananas are invited to perform for an old idol of his.

The Elephant Who Couldn't Say No: Hathi's inability to say 'no' to anyone results in him being forced to take care of a basket full of woodpeckers. 
6 "A Tale Of Two Tails / Hair Ball"  11/15/1997

A Tale Of Two Tails: Kaa and Kahn take advantage of Louie's kindness after they sustain relatively minor injuries to their tails while saving him.

Hair Ball: Bagheera runs away from the jungle in embarrasement after coughing up a hair ball in front of the entire jungle, resulting in him joing the 'Embarrassment Club', consisting of various animals who unintentionally humiliated themselves in public. 
7 "Tree For Two / Waiting For Baloo"  11/22/1997

Tree For Two: Bagheera and Louie have difficulty getting along when they are forced to live together after a storm destroys their old homes.

Waiting for Baloo: Baloo is entrusted with delivering a bunch of bananas to the baboons. 
8 "Nice Tiger / Sleepless In The Jungle"  11/29/1997

Nice Tiger: Kahn tries to convince the other cubs that there's nothing nice about him, but they all think differently.

Sleepless in the Jungle: Baloo has difficulty sleeping due to his concerns about the potential water shortage. 

[edit] DVDs

One Region 2 DVD is currently available to buy. Interestingly, the DVD is a DVD port of an original VHS.

[edit] Born to be Wild

This DVD featured three episodes, interspaced with clips of the animals as adults, with Baloo narrating the stories to Mowgli and Shere Kahn as he reminisces about their childhood.

  • A Night in the Wasteland - Young Shere Khan climbs into trouble at the top of Pinnacle Rock.
  • How the Panther Lost Its Roar - Bagheera loses his voice before finding his courage.
  • Red Dogs - A pack of dholes terrorize the jungle while Baloo, Kaa and Shere Kahn are missing.

[edit] Trivia

  • Another carryover from the film was a remix of the Oscar-nominated tune “The Bare Necessities,” which served as Jungle Cubs’ theme song, performed by the late Lou Rawls.
  • This series is among the shortest and most unknown shows in the Disney company.
  • According to this series, Louie wasn't self named King of the monkeys; throughout the series, he is referred as Prince Louie, and it is noted that he will be king one day.
  • The series has several episodes inspired by Rudyard Kipling's tales that never made it to the big screen, including "Red Dogs" and "The Treasure of the Middle Jungle". In the book, these were some of the adventures Mowgli lived while living in the jungle.
  • The series features many animals that are indeed found in Indian jungles but were never mentioned in the original movie or in Kipling's book, including the rhinoceros, the pangolin, the Four Horned Antelope and the striped hyena. Other animals, however, were misplaced, such as the Babirusa, which appears in "Benny and Clyde", or the cheetah that appears in "Shere Bliss". The baboons, which seem to be based upon geladad, are also misplaced (however, geladas actually did live in India in prehistoric times).
  • The length of Kaa the python varies between (or even during) episodes, sometimes being very short, and sometimes exceedingly long.
  • In Kipling's book, Bagheera the panther was born in a menagerie. In Jungle Cubs, however, it seems that he was born in the wild.
  • As the series progressed, more "human like" items were shown, and the animals did more human things; for example, in "Hathi's makeover" two wolf cubs are seeing playing some kind of chess game. In "Kasaba ball", some signs with words written on them are seen, which were obviously not written by humans, and even, in this same episode, Shere Khan runs on his hindlegs, something no tiger could do.
  • The accents of many of the characters are different from their adult counterparts, most notably Bagheera and Shere Khan, who have a British accent as adults, yet North American accents as cubs.

[edit] External links