Dumbo's Circus

As you know, Dumbo is my favorite Disney movie. Well what if I told back in the '80s, Dumbo had his own TV show on the Disney Channel. Shouldn't be to surprisng when you consider all the other types of shows that aired back then. Today, I'll be taking a look at Dumbo's Circus

A Breif History

Yes that's right Dumbo's Circus. This show aired for three seasons from 1985 - 1988. It was a mixture of puppetry and live action.   However reruns of the show were aired until 1997 when Disney Channel stopped airing this show for good.

The Plot

The basic plot is that Dumbo is now the ringmaster of his own travelling circus and he is now a teenager. Oh, he also talks. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Opening

Admittedly, the lat time I watched this show I was three years old.  The opening is all right. The song tells you what the show is about. Not bad, it explains that Dumbo has a travelling circus. As we can see he pulls the wagon as they fly through the sky. However is there one minor complaint I have towards this show already. Where in the world is Timothy The Mouse? He was an important character in the film. I can understand that they would want new characters and making a puppet his size might be hard. But I'm sorry with Timothy being one of my favorite Disney charcters, the fact that he does not seem to appear in this show greatly bugs me. Besides that you can tell that his show has not aged very well when you look at the puppets. Fun fact, they puppet suits were desinged by the same person who created Teddy Ruxpin. 

Characters

Okay after doing some more reading, apparent Dumbo is the only returining character from the film. Still don't like that fact.  Speaking of Dumbo, what do you say whe take a look at him.  

Dumbo voiced by  Katie Leigh

I have to say that I don't really care for the look of Dumbo in this show. Perhaps it is because I'm so used to see the film version but it just feels like something was lost here. In the film, he was cute but here that cuteness factor is gone.  I might be able to give that some leeway seeing as Dumbo is supposed to be a pre teen but even still  it;s hard to tell what age he is supposed to be.  Now there are some changes they made and well, I'm not so sure how to feel about these changes. The first one being that Dumbo now talked. Though knowing that Dumbo is a now a pre-teen,  I can almost forgive that. The one thing I can't forgive though is the fact that Dumbo still needs the magic feather to fly. When he did not need any longer in the film. If he is supposed to be a pre teen that just makes Dumbo look silly.  It's not a bad look but not what I would have expected for a Dumbo puppet.  Though, I will be honest, I don't like the idea of Dumbo talking.

Lionel The Lion voiced by Jim Cummings

Now unlike, Steve I actually like the look of this puppet. This puppet here is Lionel The Lion.  He was the show's replacement for Timothy. Just like with Timothy he has a Brooklyn accent, he serves as the popcorn server and ticket taker for the circus. On the whole he doesn't seem like a bad replacement for Timothy.  Perhaps it's for the best, that Timothy wasn't in this show.


Q.T. voiced by  Walker Edmitson




Q.T. was the resident strong man and he sometimes didn't know his own strength. He was ver freindly and that's all there is to say about him as there isn't much else that can be said about his character. 


Side-Show Acts


Now just as how MMC had sketches, Dumbo's Circus had what they called Side-show acts. These were running sketches that featured the characters doing something. Be it Dumbo saying a nursery rhyme or one of the characters performing a magic trick.  Now sadly I could not find videos of just the side show acts but that expalins the basic idea behind the side-show acts.  


My Final Thoughts

While I don't like the fact that Dumbo can talk nor do I care for the look of the puppet. This show is okay at best. It's nothing special. In the end, all it is, is just a circus themed that has Dumbo's name slapped on it.  It seems to be an okay show for preschoolers as that was most likely the target audience for this show. In the end though, if I'm going to watch something with Dumbo. Just give me the movie.