Talk:Tin Banana Tu

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I'm about 99% sure this item is actually called "Tim Banana Tu" because it's a pun off of "Timbuktu". Is the "Tin" spelling sourced from anywhere, or is it an error? Shadow2 (talk) 12:07, February 16, 2026 (UTC)

The problem with that theory is that Timbuktu is a city (or the whole region that said city is situated in), whereas the Tin Banana Tu is a type of banana fruit. While certainly not implausible, I think the theory would be stronger if Tin Banana Tu was also a city or region. As it stands, it might as well be based on gibberish shaman talk. rend (talk) (edits) 19:38, February 16, 2026 (UTC)

I don't see why that disproves of anything. Television shows of this era did everything they could to squeeze puns in everywhere they could, whether it made exact perfect sense or not. There's also plenty of food out there that's just named after the region it's found in. There's a curry called "Ceylon", a confection called "Persian", a salad named "Macedonia"... If you listen to the episode, I think it's also pretty clear that the characters are pronouncing an "M" sound and not an "N" sound. When you've got this show naming things like "Kongo Bongo Gone Wrongo", "Encyclopedia Bananica" and "Kong Fu", it makes much more sense for them to name it after a pun than to just come up with "Tin Banana Tu", which is essentially gibberish. Shadow2 (talk) 00:59, February 17, 2026 (UTC)

The thing with those other things (or well, two out of three) you mentioned is that their puns actually ARE related to the things they're named after. Kong Fu practices martial arts, which is what kung fu is. The Encyclopedia Bananica is in fact an encyclopedia, much like what Encyclopedia Brittanica is. The O being added to "Wrongo" is just so it would rhyme with "Kongo Bongo" (which is a weird thing to include if you want to prove that a foul-tasting banana a pun on Timbuktu, because Kongo Bongo Gone Wrongo isn't really a pun on anything either).
Also, I didn't say just "gibberish", I said "gibberish shaman talk", because the "Tin" and "Tu" spliced around "Banana" do make it sound like some kind of witch doctor cure, IMO. rend (talk) (edits) 16:39, February 17, 2026 (UTC)

I'm still more inclined to believe the writers went for a pun rather than creating such an oddly-specific and long-winded name that ultimately amounts to nothing when they could have just said "Purple banana". Either way, we're not going about this the right way. It doesn't matter which one makes more sense, it matters which one is correct. Is there a way to find out? Do we take the Closed Captioning as a primary source? You can say my idea is wrong, but at the same time there's no source for your spelling either. Shadow2 (talk) 12:30, February 19, 2026 (UTC)

Not exactly related, but most dubs of the episode refer to it as "Tin Banana Tu", though the Japanese dub merely refers to it as a "Blue Banana". Maw-Ray Master (talk) 20:56, February 16, 2026 (UTC)

There's also weird things like Inka Dinka Doo being named after a comedian's catchphrase (as well as possibly a reference to Olmec from Legends of the Hidden Temple ie "swapping one mesoamerican civilization for another, Inca). Maybe it's a pun that makes more sense in French? Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 02:54, February 17, 2026 (UTC)

I listened to all three of those dubs, and they all sound like "Tim" to me. I suppose the answer probably lies in the AppleTV+ Closed Captioning, although CC is often not accurate to the script either due to being made by an outsourced company. Shadow2 (talk) 11:39, February 17, 2026 (UTC)