Looking at Disney Nature Films Where the Title includes the Main Character’s Name, What Kind of Animal it is, and a Modifier

The April 30, 1961, episode of “Walt Disney Presents” was entitled “Flash, the Teenage Otter,” and was the story of a figuratively teenaged otter whose name was Flash. Presumably it was considered a success, as six months later, by which time the program had been retitled “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color,” there was an episode called “Chico, the Misunderstood Coyote.” Three months after that, it was “Sancho, the Homing Steer.” This formula was so successful that January 1976’s “Twister, Bull From the Sky” was the 25^th of these to air on the Disney weekly television show (which had become “Wonderful World of Disney” in 1969). Two of them, “Chandar, the Black Leopard of Ceylon” and the best-remembered one, “Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar,” had been released originally as theatrical features before airing on television. Here’s the complete list, with original TV air date (and please keep in mind that I’m not making any of these up):

Flash, the Teenage Otter 4-30-61

Chico, the Misunderstood Coyote 10-15-61

Sancho, the Homing Steer 1-21-62

Sammy, the Way-Out Seal 10-28-62

Greta, the Misfit Greyhound 2-3-63

The Ballad of Hector, the Stowaway Dog 1-5-64

Ida, the Offbeat Eagle 1-10-65

Concho, the Coyote Who Wasn’t 4-10-66

Joker, the Amiable Ocelot 12-11-66

Brimstone, the Amish Horse 10-27-68

Pancho, the Fastest Paw in the West 2-2-69

Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar 11-2-69

Cristobalito, the Calypso Colt 9-13-70

Lefty, the Dingaling Lynx 11-28-71

Chango, Guardian of the Mayan Treasure 3-19-72 [okay, this doesn’t exactly fit my parameters, since the title doesn’t tell you that Chango was a spider monkey]

Nosey, the Sweetest Skunk in the West 11-19-72

Chandar, the Black Leopard of Ceylon 11-26-72

Salty, the Hijacked Harbor Seal 12-17-72

Chester, Yesterday’s Horse 3-4-73

Carlo, the Sierra Coyote 2-3-74

Ringo, the Refugee Raccoon 3-3-74

Shokee, the Everglades Panther 9-29-74

Stub, the Best Cow Dog in the West 12-8-74

Deacon, the High Noon Dog 3-16-75

Twister, Bull From the Sky 1-4-76

Did I mention that these are all real? My inclination was to make fun of these by thinking up even sillier-sounding ones, but I’m not sure that’s possible—half of these sound like jokes already. I mean, after “Joker, the Amiable Ocelot” and “Brimstone, the Amish Horse” there’s really no way to take it any further…

(Let me make it clear that I’m not ridiculing the programs themselves, just the titles—I have very fond memories of “Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar” and like to imitate Rex Allen’s narration when I have a cold and my voice gets nice and resonant, and I’ve probably seen most of the others even though I don’t remember them.)