This cartoon did not get as much time on television as the Peanuts or some other ones but I would look forward to when it was on. I’m not a snake person at all. Seeing Rikki Tikki Tavi take on the Cobra was scary to an eight-year-old but I always enjoyed this cartoon. It’s about a heroic Mongoose named Rikki Tikki Tavi that takes on a King Cobra that tries to harm his adopted family.
It was based on the book by Rudyard Kipling
Summary and cast are below.
Orson Welles narrated it… below is the summary from shmoop
https://www.shmoop.com/rikki-tikki-tavi/
One day, a summer flood washes a young mongoose named Rikki-Tikki-Tavi away from his family. He’s found and revived by a British family living in India. The family adopts the orphaned mongoose—or, more accurately, he decides to stick around. (Their bungalow is pretty swank.)
Naturally curious and adventurous, Rikki-Tikki explores the family’s garden the next day. There he meets a Darzee, a tailorbird who is mourning his baby bird’s death at the hands (er, teeth) of Nag. Rikki-Tikki asks who Nag is and is instantly introduced to the big, black cobra. He also meets Nag’s wife Nagaina, so that’s two cobras for the price of one. Sweet!
Having missed their chance at a surprise attack, the cobras just slither off, and Rikki-Tikki goes to hang with Teddy, the British family’s son. But Teddy gets a wee bit too close to the poisonous krait snake, forcing Rikki-Tikki to fight it. Not that he wouldn’t have anyway. That’s what mongooses do, after all.
That night, Nag and Nagaina plan a sneak attack on the British family, but they haven’t reckoned with Rikki-Tikki. In the ensuing battle, Rikki-Tikki kills Nag, saving the family but also really ticking off Nagaina. The next day, Rikki-Tikki sets a plan into motion to get rid of the cobras once and for all. He has Darzee’s wife act as bait to keep Nagaina occupied (classic move). Then he heads to the cobra’s nests and goes berserker on the eggs.
But all doesn’t go according to plan. Nagaina sets out to kill Teddy, forcing Rikki-Tikki to bring one of her eggs as leverage. In the epic clash of mammal-versus-reptile, Nagaina manages to snatch up her egg and flees into her den. Rikki-Tikki gives the old girl hot pursuit, while Darzee mourns the loss of Rikki-Tikki. No one goes into a cobra’s den and lives.
Except for Rikki-Tikki, of course. He exits all action-hero style, and the family can’t praise him enough. He lives with the family from then on, protecting the garden from snakes.
Cast
Orson Welles … Narrator / Nag / Chuchundra (voice)
June Foray… Nagaina the Cobra, Wife of Nag / Teddy’s Mother / Darzee’s Wife (voice)
Les Tremayne…Father (voice)
Michael LeClair… Teddy (voice)
Shepard Menken… Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the Mongoose / Nag / Chuchundra (voice)
Lennie Weinrib… Darzee the Tailorbird (voice)
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You know it sounds familiar and the GIF up there looks slightly familiar but I can’t really remember if I ever saw it back in the day or not. Guess it wasn’t really mainstream childrens fare!.. I like snakes alright but wouldn’t like living in Asia as much with those cobras everywhere around houses (of course, I suppose given the density of the cities where else would the snakes be there? Plus I’m sure there’s a lot of rodents for them to feast on.)
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That would be scary man… having an asp curled up in your shoe or a 14 foot King Cobra meeting you somewhere.
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As a little kid I knew about cobras and thought they were the most dangerous things in the world. Then I read the book Rikki Tikki Tavi. I had never heard of a mongoose and was astounded they could actually kill snakes! When that cartoon came out I loved it! One of my favorites.
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I always liked this one…it gets forgotten more than the others. It was a fun show.
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A cartoon from my childhood I remember in similar fashion. Never realized that it so prominently featured the voice of Orson Welles. I feel like children’s TV content involving death, or more specifically human death, have been scrubbed off the major networks. The show disappeared long before HD resolution was a factor which might hold it back these days. Still, I feel we lost something special in this particular cartoon.
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I loved this and, I was thinking of another children’s story with a very similar name… Remember this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikki_Tikki_Tembo
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