The Disney Afternoon (abbreviated as TDA since 1994) was a created-for-syndication two-hour television programming block which aired from September 10, 1990, until August 29, 1997. At that time, it was taken out of syndication, and a new Disney weekday afternoon block was started on UPN. The Disney Afternoon was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and distributed through its syndication affiliate Buena Vista Television.
The two-hour block was broken up into four half-hour segments, each of which contained a cartoon series. As each season ended, the first cartoon shown in the lineup would typically be dropped, and a new one added to the end. The Disney Afternoon itself featured unique animated segments, consisting of its own animated opening theme, and "wrappers" around the various cartoon shows. The opening slightly changed over time, and featured a mix of characters from the cartoon shows specific to the block's programming at the time.
This block did not air in every market across the United States, but for those markets that did not air the block in full, individual shows featured on The Disney Afternoon could be packaged by themselves. In Europe, there was a similar series called the Disney Festival in Denmark, it was called Disney Sjov in Russia (when translated from Russian), in most other European countries it was known as Disney Club, and in Latin America it was referred to as Disney Show. The international opening animation and themes were usually variations of the US original.
History of the block and series that aired[]
Some of the early cartoon series in The Disney Afternoon came from already in-circulation cartoons, such as Adventures of the Gummi Bears (created years earlier). DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers had been a one-hour long cartoon block in 1989-1990, until both were incorporated into The Disney Afternoon the next year. TaleSpin was the first series presumably created expressly for The Disney Afternoon.
Some of the later additions were inspired by shorter cartoons, in the short-lived series Raw Toonage, which appeared on the CBS network in the Fall of 1992 ― for example, Marsupilami; also He's Bonkers!, which has characters that also appear in Bonkers.
Another source for Disney Afternoon cartoons were series inspired by movies created previously; for a time, a 'two-year rule' of sorts became almost reliable, whereby about two years after a Disney movie had come out, a Disney Afternoon series by the same name, or featuring characters from that film, premiered (example: Aladdin and Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King).
Beginning with the 1994 season, the name of The Disney Afternoon was shortened to TDA. That same year, Marvel Comics began publishing a comic book series based on the shows featured on the block, as part of their line of comics based on modern Disney properties (the classic properties were licensed to Gladstone Publishing). The series mainly consisted of stories based on Darkwing Duck, with occasional stories featuring Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin. It ended after 10 issues, but stories based on the block's shows continued in Marvel's Disney Comic Hits! and in the children's magazine Disney Adventures.
Line-up[]
| Season | 3:00 PM | 3:30 PM | 4:00 PM | 4:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One (1990-1991) | Adventures of the Gummi Bears | DuckTales | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin |
| Two (1991–1992) | DuckTales | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck |
| Three (1992–1993) | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop |
| Four (1993–1994) | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop | Bonkers |
| Five (1994–1995) | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop | The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show (Monday, starting in January 1995) | Aladdin |
| Bonkers (Tuesday through Thursday) | ||||
| Gargoyles (Friday) | ||||
| Six (1995–1996) | Goof Troop | Bonkers | Aladdin | Gargoyles (Monday through Thursday) |
| Timon & Pumbaa (Friday) | ||||
| Seven (1996–1997) | Darkwing Duck | Aladdin | Gargoyles | Timon & Pumbaa (Monday) |
| Quack Pack (Tuesday through Thursday) | ||||
| Mighty Ducks (Friday) |
Disney Parks[]
Disney Afternoon Avenue[]
Characters from the Disney Afternoon at the Disney Afternoon Avenue at Disneyland.
The popularity of the Disney Afternoon led to a temporary sub-park at Disneyland called Disney Afternoon Avenue, from March 15 to November 10, 1991.[1] At this time, the block even garnered its own parade and a stage show titled Plane Crazy (not to be confused with the Mickey Mouse short of the same name). Walk-around costumes were created for the characters featured on the shows and regularly appeared throughout the theme parks, mostly in Mickey's Toontown, which featured an attraction based on Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers - Gadget's Go Coaster. As of today, most of the character walkarounds have been retired.
Disney Afternoon Avenue came to Disneyland before Mickey's Toontown (name based on the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit) ever opened. This temporary "land" actually used cartoon building fronts to occupy the space leading up to the "it's a small world" attraction and the Fantasyland Theatre, known as the Small World Mall. The Entrance to Baloo's dressing room was actually under the train tracks, where the entrance to Mickey's Toontown is now. Some say that Disney used Disney Afternoon Ave was a test, to gauge interest in a Mickey's Toontown concept.
Mickey's Magical TV World[]
There was a live stage show called Mickey's Magical TV World (aka Mickey's Starland Show) which opened in May 1990 at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. It featured Zummi and Gruffi from The Gummi Bears, Scrooge McDuck, and Launchpad McQuack from DuckTales, and Chip 'n Dale and Gadget from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. In the fourth quarter of that year, Gruffi and Gadget were removed and Baloo and Louie from TaleSpin took over the section where Mickey would appear and come down the stairs as the Mickey Mouse Club plays. Also, the hostess was named C.J. and the machine located on the right side of the stage became a computer rapper named D.U.D.E. (an acronym for Disney’s Unilateral Digital Electromagnetic Computer) who changes his voice and some of his rapping lines (especially for Darkwing Duck) every year.
When Walt Disney World celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1991, Darkwing Duck replaced the Gummi Bears and Roger Rabbit was added to the show to appear when C.J. and the audience were about to expect Mickey and then bring a young volunteer to throw a ball into the Roger cut-out's mouth.
In 1992, Scrooge, Launchpad, and Roger Rabbit were cut out of the show as DuckTales was replaced by Goof Troop to feature Goofy and Max and the vault was replaced by Goofy's house. The Darkwing Duck segment script changed and had Darkwing and C.J. doing the box trick without Launchpad, and also, after the Goof Troop segment, when Goofy shuts the door, he gets trapped in his house by the home security system which would stop Max from doing his science project.
In 1993, Bonkers D. Bobcat from Bonkers replaced Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. Launchpad returned to the show as Darkwing's sidekick, Baloo and Louie's lines switched places during the finale. TaleSpin remained in the show until the attraction's closure in 1996.
Toon Disney and cancellation of the block[]
poster during the season 3 (1992-1993)
By 1997, The Disney Afternoon was terminated as a formally named series. An eighth season, only 90 minutes long, was no longer named The Disney Afternoon or TDA and was by accounts essentially a simple 90 minute syndicated block of cartoons; however it was referred to internally as the Disney-Kellogg Alliance (a partnership with Leo Burnett and Kellogg's, who had been a major sponsor of The Disney Afternoon, to purchase an amount of dedicated advertising inventory), consisting of new shows like 101 Dalmatians and Hercules, as well as reruns of Mighty Ducks, Quack Pack and DuckTales.
On December 8, 1997, Disney announced the planned launch of Toon Disney, a 24-hour cable cartoon network, effective on April 18, 1998. At the same time, local stations found it hard to comply with FCC restrictions on children's advertising in terms of allowed quantity and content and remain profitable in such blocks. Still, Fox, UPN, and WB wanted to try to hold on to children's programming during the week. Disney continued the 90-minute syndicated block until the fall of 1999, at which time Disney and UPN teamed up for a UPN Kids block. Also, a two-hour Sunday morning kids' block of shows from Disney aired on UPN stations.
By the 1999-2000 television season, some remnants of The Disney Afternoon package were moved to Saturday mornings, solely on the ABC network, under the name Disney's One Saturday Morning. Weekdays, the remnants of this block aired on UPN affiliates. By the fall of 1999, One Saturday Morning had begun broadcasting a weekday afternoon spinoff called Disney's One Too, which bore virtually no resemblance to the Disney Afternoon.
Saturday Mornings[]
Some of these cartoons, when originally airing on Disney Afternoon also had Saturday morning episodes that were being broadcast for ABC and CBS. These are:
- Darkwing Duck 1991-1993, ABC
- Goof Troop 1992-1993, ABC
- Aladdin 1994-1996, CBS
- Timon & Pumbaa 1995-1997, CBS
- Mighty Ducks 1996-1997, ABC
Gargoyles does not fall into this category because only the third season, subtitled The Goliath Chronicles, aired during the 1996-1997 season on ABC, while The Disney Afternoon was only showing reruns of the first 2 seasons. Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears continued running on Saturday mornings during the 1990-1991 season on ABC, but ABC was only showing new episodes while the Disney Afternoon was also showing only reruns.
Status on Television[]
As of February 2014, Gargoyles is no longer broadcasting on Disney XD in the US (in which it aired from February 13, 2009 to March 31, 2012), while edited reruns of Timon & Pumbaa are no longer airing on the Disney Jr. channel in the US.
In foreign countries outside of the US, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Gargoyles, Timon & Pumbaa, and Bonkers have aired on Disney XD in other countries while Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Aladdin, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Timon & Pumbaa, Goof Troop, and DuckTales have aired on Disney Jr. in other countries. Also, Goof Troop, Timon & Pumbaa, Aladdin, Gargoyles, The Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck, The Mighty Ducks, The Rescue Rangers, DuckTales, TaleSpin, and Quack Pack have aired on Disney Channel in other countries. DuckTales, TaleSpin, Timon & Pumbaa, and Aladdin have aired on Disney Cinemagic, which is a Disney channel not available in the US. This list has the countries in which they still air, and there is a notification if the show does not air in that country anymore.
All of the Disney Afternoon shows with the exception of Aladdin and Shnookums and Meat have become available on Disney+ on the United States since the launch of the streaming platform, on November 12, 2019, with selected shows also becoming available internationally through the service in other countries.
Disney XD in other countries[]
DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
- Netherlands
- Flanders
Darkwing Duck
- Netherlands
- Italy (formerly)
- Germany
- Austria
- Switzerland
- Liechtenstein
- Flanders
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden)
- Turkey
- Serbia
Goof Troop and Quack Pack
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden)
Bonkers, Timon & Pumbaa, and Gargoyles
- Italy (formerly)
Disney Junior in other countries[]
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
- Germany
- Flanders
- Netherlands
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden)
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Aladdin
- Japan
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden)
- Southeast Asia
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
- Japan
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
DuckTales
- English Canada (formerly)
- Netherlands
- Flanders
- Serbia
Timon & Pumbaa
- Australia/New Zealand
- Poland (formerly)
- Southern Africa
Goof Troop
- Southern Africa
- Turkey
Quack Pack
- Flanders
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Southern Africa
- Turkey
Disney Channel in other countries[]
Aladdin
- Germany
- Korea
- Portugal (formerly)
- Russia (formerly)
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Bonkers and Shnookums and Meat
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
- Flanders (formerly)
- Germany (currently not airing)
- India
- Japan
- Netherlands (formerly)
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Darkwing Duck
- Germany (formerly)
- Russia (formerly)
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
- Serbia
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
- Germany (also on the Disney Junior block in the channel)
- Russia (formerly)
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
DuckTales
- Flanders (formerly)
- Germany
- India (formerly)
- Italy (formerly)
- Netherlands (formerly)
- Portugal (formerly)
- Russia (formerly)
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
- Serbia
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Gargoyles
- Italy (formerly)
- Portugal (formerly)
- Serbia
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Goof Troop
- Germany
- India (formerly)
- Japan
- Poland (formerly)
- Portugal (formerly)
- Russia
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
- Southern Africa (formerly)
- Turkey
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
The Mighty Ducks
- Portugal (formerly)
- Russia (formerly)
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Quack Pack
- Germany
- India
- Japan
- Poland (formerly)
- Portugal (formerly)
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
- Southern Africa (formerly)
- Turkey
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
TaleSpin
- Germany (occasionally)
- India
- Italy (formerly)
- Russia
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
- Serbia
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Timon & Pumbaa
- Czech Republic (formerly)
- Flanders (formerly)
- Germany
- Hungary
- India (formerly)
- Israel
- Japan
- Netherlands (formerly)
- Poland (formerly)
- Portugal (formerly)
- Russia (formerly)
- Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) (formerly)
- UK/Ireland (formerly)
Disney Cinemagic[]
TaleSpin
- France
DuckTales, Timon & Pumbaa, and Aladdin
- France
- Portugal (formerly)
Quack Pack and Goof Troop
- Portugal (formerly)
Video Games[]
Many of the Disney Afternoon shows were made into video games.
- Gargoyles - Genesis
- DuckTales- NES and Game Boy
- DuckTales 2 - NES and Game Boy
- TaleSpin - NES, Game Boy, Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16
- Goof Troop - SNES
- Rescue Rangers - NES
- Rescue Rangers 2 - NES
- Darkwing Duck - NES, Game Boy, and TurboGrafx-16
- Disney's Aladdin - Mega Drive, SNES (Capcom version), Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, and NES
- Bonkers - SNES (Capcom version), Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear
- DuckTales Remastered - Wii U Eshop, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam
Soundtrack[]
- Main article: The Disney Afternoon (soundtrack)
Book[]
Vinylmation[]
The logo for the 2nd series of the Disney Afternoon Vinylmation.
Two Vinylmation series based on The Disney Afternoon were released, in which the first set was released in 2011 while the second set was released in 2013.
1st Series[]
- DuckTales: Scrooge McDuck and Launchpad McQuack
- Darkwing Duck: Darkwing Duck and Gosalyn Mallard
- Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers: Chip and Dale
- TaleSpin: Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker
- Goof Troop: Goofy and Max Goof
- Bonkers: Bonkers D. Bobcat and Fall-Apart Rabbit
- Doug: (although the show was never a part of the Disney Afternoon block) Doug Funnie and Porkchop
2nd Series[]
- DuckTales: Fenton Crackshell and GizmoDuck
- Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers: Monterey Jack, Gadget Hackwrench, and Zipper
- Darkwing Duck: Negaduck and Bushroot
- TaleSpin: King Louie and Don Karnage
- Adventures of the Gummi Bears: Gruffi Gummi and Cubbi Gummi
Planned Shows[]
There were a few ideas for shows planned for inclusion in The Disney Afternoon that never made it off the drawing board.[2]
- Maximum Horsepower - A show about Horace Horsecollar which explains why he stopped appearing in cartoons after the 1930s. It would have the background that Horace was getting tired of playing minor roles and found out about Mickey's big role in Fantasia. Horace decided that he would go to Walt to try and get him a big role in a movie but never made it to his office due to getting abducted by aliens that transported him halfway across the galaxy, wanting a hero. Horace, however, wants to return to Earth to continue his acting career.
- Double-O Ducks - A James Bond-style show that would have starred Launchpad McQuack as the main character. One problem with developing this show was that the name "Double-O" had been trademarked and Disney couldn't use it. Another problem was that producer Tad Stones had trouble developing Launchpad as a leading character. However, the ideas of this show would lead to the production of Darkwing Duck.
- The Magic Kingdom Show - It would involve a boy and a girl finding out that there is a Walt Disney World in the clouds in which that version of the park and the characters in its attractions and shows are alive and can interact with each other.
- Disney's Critter Country - A show featuring the animal characters from the Critter Country attractions Country Bear Jamboree and Splash Mountain as they collaborate as a community to stop the fiendish plans of Br'er Fox.
- Thumper's Thicket - A show following the adventures of Thumper from Bambi.
International Airings[]
NOTE: The shows mentioned in this section NEVER aired on the US version of the block.
- The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid, and Lilo & Stitch: The Series aired on The Disney Afternoon in other countries, most notably in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and Russia.
- 101 Dalmatians: The Series, W.I.T.C.H, Mickey Mouse Works, and Donald's Quack Attack also aired on Russia's version of The Disney Afternoon in that country, since Russia's version of the block also aired in the 2000s in addition to airing in the 1990s.
- The Legend of Tarzan and Kim Possible aired on The Disney Afternoon in Poland and Russia when the block went through a new look around the mid-to-late 2000s.
- In Israel, the block aired on Channel 2 in 1990s under the "Disney Time" name.
- In Romania, the block aired on Disney Junior in early 2010 and also broadcast The Legend of Tarzan along with Goof Troop, Quack Pack, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and DuckTales around an hour, but it was discontinued recently, although Aladdin, which was a Disney Afternoon series, is sometimes broadcast on Disney Junior.
- Croatia has its version of the Disney Afternoon that airs once a year, and lasts the whole day, broken up and interrupted by other shows and news broadcasts only, it's mostly dedicated to Disney movies, though it also shows some premieres of series, for example, Sofia the First premiered during this block.
- The Serbian TV channel RTS 1 had its own version of the Disney Afternoon in the 2000s. The block was simply called "Disney on RTS". Disney shows and movies would air during the weekends, and they aired with a Disney logo in the top right corner. Due to the dubbed shows and movies being low budget, the songs were never dubbed. The block included: the Tinker Bell movies, Phineas and Ferb, Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and many more.
- Sweden's SVT channels (Mainly SVT1 and SVT2) in Sweden would broadcast the block, with its own name, "Disneydags". The block would sometimes broadcast modern Disney cartoons, including Tangled: The Series.
- In Norway, the block aired on NRK1 hence its name, "Disneytimen". Broadcasts of Playhouse Disney shows would also be shown such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Special Agent Oso.
- The block was also shown in Ireland during the RTÉ2 block, "The Den". The block is even known for broadcasting some Disney Channel originals, such as The Proud Family, Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Dave the Barbarian and Brandy & Mr. Whiskers.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Saturday Disney, the Australian television show which most of the cartoons that aired on The Disney Afternoon (and other Disney cartoons airing after the block finished) aired, used all three openings of The Disney Afternoon block as opening, with slight modifications.
References[]
- ↑ Strodder, Chris (2008). "Chronology of Disneyland Theme Park 1990-1999". The Disneyland Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Hill, Jim (August 25, 2007). "Tube Thursday : The "Disney Afternoon" shows that you didn't get to see - Jim Hill Media". Jim Hill Media.
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