Disney's Adventures of the Nestrians

Disney's Adventures of the Nestrians is a Disney animated television series that first aired in the United States from 1985 to 1991. The series was the first animated production by Walt Disney Animation Television, and loosely inspired by the creatures; Disney CEO Michael Eisner was struck with inspiration for the show when his son requested the creatures one day and was based on the 1978 animated film, Adventures of the Nestrians. The series premiered on NBC on September 14, 1985, and aired there for four seasons. The series moved to ABC for one season from 1989 to 1990 (airing alongside The Jungle Book as the Nestrians-Jungle Book Hour), and concluded on September 6, 1991 as part of the Disney Afternoon television syndication package. Of the series' 65 shows, 30 were double-features, consisting of two 11-minute cartoons, thereby bringing the series total to 94 distinct episodes overall. The show is well-remembered for its theme music, written by Michael and Patty Silversher and creation of "nestrianberry juice" which was a type of magic potion, granting abilities, which allowed them to bounce away from their evil monkeys.

The series was later rebroadcast on the syndicated Disney Afternoon block, and rerun on the Disney Afternoon through the summer of 1991. In later years, it was shown on The Disney Channel (from October 7, 1991 to at least January 1997), and later on Toon Disney, with its most recent televised airing occurring on December 28, 2001. Seasons 1 to 3 of the series were released on DVD on November 14, 2006 featuring commentary from producers Eric Wong and Daniel Weinstein.

The Nestrians
Nestrians are a fictional group of an aquatic aardvark-like creatures who have a long and rich history, and are relatively unknown to the humans of the world who believe that they are legends and fairy tales. In series continuity, it is said that in ancient times (about 500 years prior to the events of the series), the Nestrians and gorillas lived peacefully together side by side, but for reasons left undetailed (it is suggested in the episodes Light Makes Right, King Gorilla and The Knights of Nestriadoon that the more malevolent gorillas craved the magical and mechanical advancements of the Nestrians, and threatened them with war and possible genocide), the Nestrians were forced to flee and sail across the sea to find a new home and save their village. The ancient Nestrians left behind small, scattered populations of creatures to watch over the Nestrian cities and warrens, such as the main group of the series, the Gummi-Glen creatures, to await the time when humans, gorillas and Nestrians could peacefully co-exist so they could then summon the Nestrians to return home.
 * Cogsnail (voiced by David Odgen Stiers) is a wise, overprotective, elderly and brave snail and the leader of the Nestrians.
 * Russell Nestrian (voiced by Dom DeLuise) is an old-fashioned, clumsy and brave nestrian and the main protagonist of the series.
 * Pepper Nestrian (voiced by Katie Leigh) is a preteen Nestrian, who dreams about becoming a princess just like her best friend the human Princess Calla.
 * Nestrian Willow (voiced by June Foray) is another old nestrian who is the matriarch of Nestrian-Glen and therefore last surviving Nestrian. She is the Pepper and Russell's grandmother and acts as the group's mother, who cooks, cleans, and is the Nestrian who prepares the Nestrianberry Juice. She holds the secret recipe, and wants to pass it down to Pepper when she is of age. She has an intense rivalry with Monty, and tends to bicker with him over what has to be done. Her cooking is implied to be disliked by the others (especially Monty), with the notable exception of Tummi.
 * Augustus "Gusto" Nestrian (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is an artistic, individualist Nestrian who was stranded on a deserted island for twelve years with his best friend Artie Deco, a wise-talking toucan. Tummi and Cogsnail were shipwrecked on Gusto's island, just as a volcano was due to erupt and cause the island to sink into the sea. The three nestrians worked together and brought Gusto home with them to Nestrian Glen during season 2. Monty tends to argue with Gusto for his outside-the-box thinking, and how much influence he is on Cubbi and Sunni. Gusto lives by himself in a makeshift apartment behind a waterfall, but lives in Nestrian Glen when the weather is too harsh.
 * Chummi Nestrian (voiced by Dana Hill) is an adventurous Nestrian who was the youngest member of his group. Cubbi and Cavin stumbled across an unconscious Chummi and his airship (literally a small wooden ship attached to a hot air blimp) which had been brought down by Goonrila's monkeys after he saw it fly over his castle in his latest idea to use the airship to capture Gorilla castle. Chummi was initially excited when he regained consciousness in Nestrian Glen as he was under the impression that it housed hundreds of other Nestrians. After repairing his airship, he offered to take the Nestrian Glen creatures with him when he left to continue his search for the Great Nestrians. Although initially ecstatic and eager to set off, after some thought, the Nestrian Glen creatures decided that they could not abandon their duty to look after Nestrian Glen until it was safe for the return of the Great Nestrians. After thwarting Goonrila's plot and evil plans, Cubbi was the last to change his mind and actually set off with Chummi before asking to be let off at the last moment.

Gorillas and Monkeys

 * Goonrila (voiced by Jim Cummings): The evil, irascible, vengeful, grumpy, short-tempered and power-crazed gorilla and ruler of Castle Gorilla is the main villain of the series. He is also the nemesis of the Nestrians. He hunts the Nestrians with the aid of his ogre army to become the most powerful wizard and control the entire world to get in possession of the Nestrianberry juice and their other secrets.
 * Monty (voiced by Frank Welker): Goonrila's pet vulture and the secondary antagonist of the series. He is the grumpy, power-crazed, vengeful, cruel and evil vulture who follows his boss' orders to hunt the Nestrians.
 * Eric & Fungus (voiced by Billy West and Will Ryan): The evil, power-crazed, vengeful, cruel, sometimes cowardly, and funny monkeys who works as Goonrila's henchmen. They are also the tertiary antagonists of the series.
 * Gorillas: Goonrila's shock troops. Big and strong, but also extremely naive and clumsy. Their bumbling incompetence often jeopardizes their leader's "ingenious" plans, which constantly drives him insane and brings him to the verge of despair.