First of all, Jymn seems to have a favourite among his characters, as he greets the chatroom....

>< JymnMagon says, "First, I would like to say "Greetings and salivations to all you Disney-type, mouse-loving peoples.  You are the cream of the corn, yes-no?"  Thanks for having me."

If any of you are familiar with Miyazaki, then you should know that he was one of the inspirations for the Talespin animation!  Miyazaki is known as being THE guy when it comes to Japanese Anime.  To find out more about Miyazaki and his works, go to this site.  Until then, read this interesting excerpt:

>< JymnMagon says, "And one of the first things Art did was to introduce me to Miyazaki.  He showed me Nausicaa, and my mind exploded.  It was fantastic!"... "Then we looked at Laputa and Cagliostro Castle.  Wow! However, the Gummi Bears didn't easily lend themselves to Miyazaki's trademark -- great flying sequences."... "So it was several more years before we got a chance to capitalize on flying... i.e. Tale Spin.  Mark Zaslove and I were acutely aware of our debt to Miyazaki's talent."
>< JymnMagon says, "Flash forward.  Suddenly there's a new Miyazaki film coming out:  Porco Rosa (or however you spell it).  I went to a premiere screening with great anticipation."... "Imagine my surprise when I see a fat animal pilot lounging
in a sheltered inlet next to his seaplane!"..."Then he revs his engines, flies out through a narrow gap in the natural stone wall, and zooms off to battle air pirates!!!  Looked to me like he had viewed Tale Spin, yes-no?"

And on a question about Rebecca's husband....

>< JymnMagon says, "Ah, the famous Mr. Cunningham question.  I could be flip and say Mr. Cunningham was busy being Richie's father on "Happy Days"... but I won't."...
>< JymnMagon says, "Truthfully, there is a quandary.  In the bible we state that Rebecca is a widow.  In the pilot, we state that she's divorced.  (Or is it vice versa?)"..."The truth is in both statements, and Mark Zaslove & I refuse to answer the question until the right time.... like a Tale Spin feature."

Talespin feature you say?

>< JymnMagon says, "(Which means it will never happen!)"

Oh.  Why not?

>< JymnMagon smiles and rocks on the balls of his feet, knowing too much about
inner corporate workings.

OK, never mind. ; )

Well, here's some interesting stuff.  How did Jymn get the brainstorm for Talespin in the first place and how did it get started?

>< JymnMagon says, "After Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers, there was strong pressure to sell another series.  That's when the concept of "B Players" was created... sent back... altered... sent back... altered again... and finally killed."
>< JymnMagon says, "At that point everyone was in a panic for a new series! If we didn't have something to sell, people were going to be laid off."..."Management was putting pressure on me to come up with something.  ANYTHING!  I recalled an earlier, discarded idea we had for Duck Tales in which Launchpad was a courier pilot."..."I combined that with Baloo (who had been in the failed B Players development).  I pitched the concept to Mark, and the rest fell into place.  Within 3 days, Mark and I had developed almost the entire series.  The Big Boys (Eisner, Katzenberg, Jacqueman, etc.) declared it "a homerun.""

And Jymn's feelings about Talespin?

>< JymnMagon says, "Sorry, I could go on about this forever.  Tale Spin is very dear to my heart.  And its character dynamics are more solid than many prime time shows..."

Awww... : )

Oooh, here's a good one.  Somebody asks Jymn  about the geography of Cape Suzette and Thembria.  Read on!

>< JymnMagon says, "...Cape Suzette exists in a tropical area that sort of a cross between Taiwan and Rio de Janeiro.  So I wouldn't call them Americans (though they obviously thrive on capitalism)."..."Cape Suzette (which, of course is NOT a cape) is technically part of a vast, undeveloped continent called Usland.  Far to the north is the arctic realm of Thembria.  It is an amalgam of a 50's Communist state and Nazi Germany."..."So, yes, if you want to view it as America and Russia, then you're definitely on the right track.  Usland vs. Thembria...  Us vs. Them.  But I would hardly depict the relationship as The Cold War."

Also someone mentions that the geography of Cape Suzette is a lot like Hong Kong....

>< JymnMagon says, "Actually, Max is right.  Hong Kong works too."..."My main reasoning about Hong Kong: The approach to Hong Kong's Kai-Tak Int'l airport (located on the edge of a bay surrounded by mountains) is a rather challenging one... Baloo would love it."

And about the Talespin Bible, like where is it, what is it, and where can I get a copy?

>< JymnMagon says, "3rd box down in my storage shed."
>< JymnMagon says, "A "bible" is a show compendium in which all the characters & situations are laid out for the writers."... "It teaches the staff what they need to know in order to create episodes."..."P.S. Bibles are technically the property of the parent company, so I couldn't give you one."

And hey, why wasn't the character 'Bagheera' never in Talespin?

>< JymnMagon says, "He was unnecessary.  His role as protector (mother figure) was replaced by Rebecca."
><JymnMagon says, "Panther characters were inserted as Shere Khan pilots."

Release dates of Talespin....

>< JymnMagon says, "Yikes, I'm not 100% sure.  We began development in Oct of '88 I think.  And it premiered in fall '89, right?"

Some stuff about the late Phil Hartman and his character....

...Example.  Phil Hartman (bless his heart) was on Tale Spin."
>< JymnMagon says, "His character was supposed to seduce Kit away from Baloo, but he was told to play it slimy, which was a dead giveaway.   So that voice didn't quite do what it was supposed to."

Some fun....

RobinHood asks, "Hi, Jymn, how's the figure of Karnage holding up?  :-)"
JymnMagon says, "Karnage is fine.  I'm looking at him now, yes-no?"
Belle smiles at Jymn's own shameless plugs.  :)

About character importance....

JymnMagon says, "Tale spin was constructed like a stool with 3 legs.  It was hard to tip it over.  You have Baloo, the irresponsible father figure torn between raising Kit or goofing around with him...  And torn between hating Rebecca & wanting to date her."
JymnMagon says, "Then there's Rebecca, the mother figure.  Trying to be soft & stern at the same time."
JymnMagon says, "And Kit, who is torn between the big galoot Bear and the Mom he never had.  Very solid character triangle."

This was all I could find for now.  If anyone else can bring themselves to scan through this behemoth of a chat outline and tell me anything I may have left out, go to
(http://www.emuck.com, telnet://game.emuck.com:6903).