Raja is the main antagonist of Disney's animated short Tiger Trouble and the secondary antagonist of Goliath II.
Background[]
Raja is a crafty old tiger who tries to eat Goliath II (wondering what a tiny elephant tastes like) every time he crosses him, but each attempt always ends in consecutive failures. He is eventually swallowed by a crocodile on his last try, but he escapes from the crocodile's stomach and runs away in horror, and was never seen again. It is unknown what happened to him. But, he presumed gave up going after Goliath II and went somewhere else to do instead.
Appearances[]
Raja first appeared as an unnamed Royal Bengal tiger in the short Tiger Trouble, where he tried to eat the tiger hunter Goofy in the jungles of India.
His most famous appearance was in the 1960 short film Goliath II, in which he attempts to eat the small titular elephant many times before he is eventually thrown to the crocodile by Goliath II's mother. It is the first short where the character is officially named.
A more anthropomorphic version of him also appeared in the TV show TaleSpin in several episodes as an unnamed assistant of Shere Khan, working for Khan Industries. He was voiced by Jim Cummings.
In one opening title for an episode of Mickey Mouse Works, Donald Duck attempts to hijack the show with a magic show. He brings up a disappearing box and closes the curtains, only to discover Raja inside when the duck reopens the curtains. The tiger grabs Donald and pulls him inside to attack him (with the curtains closed during this scene). Here, he is reverted back to his original threatening incarnation as seen in his debut cartoon Tiger Trouble.
In the Mickey Mouse episode "Year of the Dog", Raja appears briefly when Mickey Mouse accidentally splashes him with a torrent of soda from a billboard.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In a vein similar to the Wolf from Make Mine Music, Raja's characterization in his debut cartoon "Tiger Trouble" is far from the one in "Goliath II". In his debut cartoon, he is a dangerous man-eating tiger that is a serious threat to Goofy's life, with little-to-no comedic moments. But in "Goliath II", he is completely rewritten as a buffoonish, incompetent and unlucky comic relief predator that frequently fails in his attempts to catch and eat Goliath II, similar in vein to Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes.
- Raja's second incarnation inspired people to create another similar character; in this case, a wolf based on him in The Sword in the Stone.
- Louie the Mountain Lion seems to be modeled after Raja from Tiger Trouble, albeit recolored light yellow and with the stripes removed.
- Raja is made to look like the short's main antagonist but is never seen again after halfway into the short. The short's real villain is the mouse.
- When Raja tries to trap Goliath II with his tail after he accidentally wakes him up by hitting him on the head with a cattail, the stripes on his tail shift so that the tip of his tail is now colored orange when normally it's supposed to be black.
- When Raja gets twisted around by Goliath II's mother's trunk, Raja is heard screeching like a cat. In reality, tigers do not make cat sounds - however, this may have been an intended comedic moment.
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