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A New Beginning
Reviewed: 07/06/2007
Well; you have to start somewhere..DUH!!
Hello kiddies and welcome to the next round of rants from me..Mister Gregory Giantlord Weagle! I was going to call myself Emperor Gregory Weagle; but Ed Brayton and Kuzco stole those titles from me long ago. Besides; Giantlord sounds so kick butt anyway. Yeah; I went into a Mister T reference so I am weak and evil. Anyhow; it's time for the second DTVA series in the time line to commence (I would have done The Wuzzles first since that was officially the first show in production; but Disney still hasn't announced the DVD, so I'm not.) which is the only time in history that Michael Eisner ever came up with a good idea. Take those gummy bear candies; make them into colorful bears who live in the Middle Ages who are in hiding from the pesky humans who they think are evil (or something along those lines) and add a villain who wants to steal their juice which gives them roided powers. That is The Adventures of The Gummi Bears and it was in fact a number of firsts for Disney Television Animation.
For one; it was a first for Jymn Magon as he moved from music producer to story editor and supervising producer. For two; this was the first time Disney used child voice talents for a television production. Don't get too excited; only like three characters got the honor of being played by a child talent in the entire series (Cavin (who was played by R.J. Williams in the final season including the grand finale, Milton played by R.J. Williams and maybe one of the Gummi kids played by Diana Hill). It's not like TaleSpin where almost every child was voiced by a child (in fact; only one kid was voiced by a middle aged woman in that series and that was a one line part in Lost Horizons). And for three; this is the first show to get over and it paved the way for Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, Winnie The Pooh, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers and so on right up to The Emperor's New School (or Skool according to the original pitch material). Not a bad resume for a new series which also helped pave the way for television animation not to suck either.
In all honestly; I wasn't a big fan of The Gummi Bears. I respected the series and felt it was pretty good; but not in the same league that Ducktales was at the time. However; after 17 years of retrospect; Gummi Bears is a better series than Ducktales is and has aged better than Ducktales has. It can be as good as TaleSpin is now at times; but it doesn't do enough to make it better than TaleSpin. Then again; TaleSpin was such a risky production from the start despite it's constant staying power to the premise involved due to the 1930's timeline; use of Jungle Book characters, use of Robin Hood style and of course lots of shooting. Gummi Bears was a much safer production since there are no guns and the violence level is much lower than TaleSpin. Gummi Bears was also a series which introduced the 11 minute episode to DTVA which was used a lot in this series and then was revived for the series Timon & Pumbaa in 1996 (although Ducktales did two 11 minute episodes once during it's run.) and then used in other series afterwards including Recess, Pepper Ann, 101 Dalimations, Teacher's Pet and most recently Emperor's New School.
With that said; you are going to see a lot of rants from me where there will be two episodes ranted on in the same document. That will reduce the amount of clutter that would occur if I wrote 47 separate rants. It's a lot easier that way. You may have also noticed that I'm no longer using the episode name as part of the filename. The reason for that is simple in that I noticed that one of the episodes in this series has the exact same name that an episode that I have already ranted on in Darkwing Duck: Water Way To Go. So; I'm going to using the Disney Afternoon System where I use the first letters in the name and then use a two-digit number to indicate the rant number. This shouldn't be a problem with Ducktales since two episodes are a combined 22 minutes long so there will be 99 episodes in total. Neat eh?! Otherwise; all jokes that I have used in previous rants apply here. I think most of you should see the first obvious joke commencing when it comes to Gummi Bears.
So; here is the pilot episode (kind of) which is the origin story of Cavin actually meeting those pesky Gummi Bears (so sezs Duke Igthorn). To be honest; I haven't seen this episode in any meaningful way so I'm ready to be surprised. So let's rant on....
The episode is written by the Doug Hutchinson and the story is edited by Jymn Magon. You know Jymn Magon already so I don't need to explain how much he rule animation in the 1980s. Doug Hutchinson has only one credit to his resume and that is with The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. A note about Gummi Bear episodes: I should mention that NBC ran the series on broadcast television and most of the episodes don't have syndication episode credits (at least for the first two seasons anyway). Thankfully; I e-mailed Chris Barat before writing this rant and he gave me the full release list of credits for the first 47 episodes of the series. And of course; USIMDB gets the pilot episode wrong as usual. Although they did get Jymn Magon's story editor credits correct so it's 50/50.
Hopefully when I finish ranting that someone sees my rants and realizes that they got Bruce Talkington's name on the wrong episode. He should be in the short: Can I Keep Him? As for animation studios; that is an easy one. It's going to be TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsha) who rules so much and it's a crying shame that Disney ended their deal before TaleSpin went into production because I betcha that they would have shown even Walt Disney Japan a thing or two in animation. I think Wang Films/Cuckoo Nest Studios did some episodes; but I have no evidence in this. So I'll be doing a lot of voice talent mentioning to replace that since there is information on the web on those subjects..Okay; this is the longest opening scene ever; so let's start the rant....
Interesting Moment #1: Since some of the series was released on NBC; it actually starts with a narration of the scenes that will occur from this episode narrated by Tummi Gummi; the fat, out of shape purple gummi bear. Tummi is voiced by the late Lorenzo Music and he's still good along with his character. Still; why does Lorenzo Music get shafted into fat roles as a voice? I saw it with Garfield, Dunder and now even Tummi. That gives new meaning to the phrase _Type Casting_... The animators are only 20 seconds in and they already MURDER Ruby-Spears in quality. Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears should have taken the hint right there.
Interesting Moment #2: Let's start with the Gummi Bear opening which is still pretty awesome when it comes to the music. How could you not love those Gummi Bears bouncing here and there and everywhere? How could you not love seeing Sunni in a cage and that cage getting bashed by the ZUU KING (I'll explain that joke when we get to Gummi In A Glided Cage later on.), or Cavin bashing a Ogre with the WOODEN SLEDGEHAMMER OF PLOT or swinging like Tarzan? Or Zummi twirling his cape around to reveal the title screen which looked so beautiful. TMS was clearly ripped off by Disney if they left Disney before TaleSpin went into production. Can you imagine how awesome the animation would have been in Plunder and Lightning if it was done by TMS? Okay; I've let this rant go on for too long. Let's continue on...
We begin with the near shot outside Castle Dumbwin...or wait; I'm sorry, it's Castle Dunwyn and the fighting has already begun as the catapult unleashes it's deadly contents and nearly destroys the castle as the voice of Michael Rye beckons that the castle is his. Oh; wait, it's only a model of Castle Dunwyn; my mistake. We then see the evildoer as Duke Igthorn which is officially the first human in the series to be shown for the purpose of my rants; although Cavin was shown as the first human on the opening sequence before the actual opening theme. He's wearing blue in almost every area and you know that he's satanic and a heel because he's wearing the evil GOATEE OF LUCIFER. He of course is the boss of the ogres as they are forced into slave labor on the catapult. The Duke is pretty cool; but it's early on and he gets really bad in later seasons. I'll explain that once we get to that point. See; Dukie wants to take over the kingdom of Dunwyn from King Gregor which is as close to my name as possible without making me feel like I'm in a surreal moment there...and I also see that he was Don Karnage's teacher too. Which explains why they were overused; although Don Karnage manages to stay over head with some awesome speaking and panache. Dukie (and yes; this name does have a meaning in this series) on the other hand plays straight up; so he didn't have something to fall back on when he was overused..and Dukie's laugh is funny in a perverted sort of way.
We now head to the real Castle of Dunwyn which looks beautiful and has the most serious flooding problem since most stereotypical castles have a rather small moat. However; the castle isn't the focal point as we see the first children in the series on horseback carrying supplies to the woodcutters. If this happened today; King Gregor would be arrested with child labor; however, since this is 1985 it doesn't happen. The kid riding on the horse like he doesn't care is Unwin (according to the crack Disney Captions team) who is a lazy knight squire (Will Ryan- Grubby from the Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin which came about two or three years after this cartoon. ) who is complaining because he cannot practice his sword fight skills and has to deliver supplies to yokel woodcutters. Unwin is nothing special to me and seems like a bad version of Tank Muddlefoot which is an awfully bad sign for him. He is blown off kindly (because it's 1985) by Cavin who is the more responsible knight page and riding his horse with grace and dignity. Cavin I like a lot; but he tends to be a lot more shy than Kit is and somehow couldn't get beyond that enough for me to truly love him as a character. Although that might have been due to Disney being like Nintendo and being really careful about their content at the time so it sounds quite apporos. Cavin is of course the first DTVA character to be voiced by a real child (Will Ryan would be about 45 years old by this time) and for this first season, the voice is Christian Jacobs (Gloria as Joey Stivic). There will be about four additional children voicing him before the series is over including the grand finale which is voiced by Kit THE MIRACLE WORKER'S own R.J. Williams.
Unwin of course is a bully because he cannot stand being stood up by Cavin so he throws the chicken leg (which he was eating the whole time) and it misses the horse by about a foot; but the power of suggestion scares the horse stiff and Cavin is forced to BUCK-A-ROO as he takes a really wussy bump onto the ground. Since it's Cavin and it's 1985; I can see why the bump was wussy. Too bad; TMS should be able to handle that spot better. Unwin laughs..really badly...at him which proves beyond reasonable doubt why 12 year old's must do boy characters. Cavin is ticked off (YAY!) and tries to invoke the POWER OF THE PUNCH; but Unwin is bigger than he is and he grabs the medallion from Cavin's neck. We get the always exciting protest by Cavin (That's mine! Give it back!) as Unwin blows him off because he had that when he was four years ago. You can tell Unwin is lying because he doesn't give the medallion back to Cavin so we go into the tug-of-war sequence. Hey; it's 1985, you were expecting Cavin to pull out a sword?!
Cavin actually wins the battle as he gets Unwin out his high horse taking a wussy bump in response as the medallion falls to the ground. Unwin hates that and pounces right onto Cavin's belly and tries to make him admit that he believes in Gummi Bears. Cavin actually submits (which is why he's no Kit Cloudkicker) and admits it which allows Unwin to tell him that he has no hope. A sure sign of a true bully...NOT! Unwin gets off of him (since kicking Cavin's butt is still a no-no at this point even off-screen) and mounts onto his horse as Cavin gets the medallion back. He claims that Gummi Bears used to exist and Unwin mocks him of course by REPEATING HIM. Unwin rides the horse away as Cavin follows him with the sacks behind him. He should look for his horse first. Another thing about 1985: The little guy doesn't get the honor of doing the carry stuff that is bigger than his body weight spot yet. Apparently; a pink Gummi Bear wearing a blue bard's hat is looking on in the bushes. More on him later on.....
We now head to a woodcutter human who looks like an archer judging by the clothes chopping down a tree as everyone in the scene is cutting wood; except one and that is the knight with red hair wearing a iron suit of armor. That would be Sir Tuxford who happens to be a friend of Cavin's and a knight of King Gregor's royal guard. He is voiced by Bill Scott here; however, Bill Scott actually passed away in November of 1985 due to a heart attack basically right in the middle of the first season and that wasn't his only role in this series. And Sir Tuxford went through a few voice actors himself as well. I found him all right for the most part regardless. Tuxford is in the hammock being a lazy bones. Ah; I see he was Baloo's teacher as well. Tuxford calls the kids out for being late and Unwin blames Cavin for it of course. Cavin tries to protest this outrage (that's not fair so he sezs) as he is officially now carrying more than his own body weight; trips and takes a decent bump on the ground as the food pops out of the sacks and Sir Tuxford grabs an apple. Nice reflexes there lazybones!
That bump looked sick even by 1985 standards. Cavin grabs a bit of the food on the ground and beats the five second rule which was recently debunked by Mythbusters and science everywhere as he asks Tuxford why he isn't battling the fiends of the humans which are the ogres. Unwin blows him off calling him dumb because there isn't a ogre within ten miles of here....and of course a brown ogre shows up from the behind the bushes and Unwin screams...really badly....and he runs away like a scalded dog. Like all bullies he is a coward; what a shock?! Another two ogres ( green ones this time) follows him as everyone scatters. They run to Sir Tuxford as he is on the horse and they play pull the donkey as Tuxford yells at Cavin to jump on. Cavin is sizing up another yellow ogre which would be the first logic break of the episode since there are no another yellow ogres present. Even TMS can make errors and the crack Disney caption made an error spelling whining as whinnying. Or maybe not since spell check accepts both words. Cavin ducks underneath the PHANTOM YELLOW OGRE OF DOOM's legs in an almost perfect spot (another two inches to the left and it would have been dead on) as he grabs the MEAT HAMMER OF PLOT and runs up to the tree trunk and we get that awesome spot from the opening where Cavin absolutely MURDERS that green ogre with the MEAT HAMMER OF PLOT (because the SLEDGEHAMMER OF PLOT is still a no-no on children's television) complete with squeak sound which is really funny to hear.
The green ogre dies (kind of) as Tuxford gets control of the horse (I think) and it gallops away with Cavin running close behind. The ogres follow and about 20 of them come OUT OF NOWHERE. Geez; that was pretty contrived even by 1985 standards. Sir Tuxford and his trophy horse gallop away to get help because Tuxford is too stupid not to learn the fine art of actually stopping the horse...and the alternative method (basically MURDERING the horse ala Riff-Raf Sam from Bugs Bunny) would have Peggy Charmon going to her phone as we speak. The yellow ogre chuckles really badly (which is understandable since it wasn't all that funny scaring them off.) as Igthorn arrives on his BLACK HORSE OF HELL stating that they were getting too close to blowing his cover. We see more ogres running as an obvious leg snare trap (check the lasso on the ground) is shown. However; to show that the ogres are too stupid; one of them steps into the trap (which is clearly shown) and he is hung upside down.
We also see a bunch of hands (one brown, one orange) using knives to cut ropes which causes another ogre (a green one) to get whacked right into the mid-section by the tree limb and that knocks him out. That spot was officially retired when Kit tried the same thing and he succeeded; only to get caught by Don Karnage in Polly Wants a Treasure. Cavin is running and apparently the heat is getting to him because he foolishly runs into a bush which allows him to fall down a hill while taking some really nasty bumps in the process (he looked like he was going to be broken in half there) and lands in a plain completely knocked out. The ogres are of course too stupid and run away from him. If that's Dukie's henchmen than no wonder Don Karnage was such a failure in evil doing.
We head back to Castle Dunwyn (with another beautiful shot I might add) as we see a female human on the lookout behind a jail cell like window with beautiful blond hair as she jumps down from the look out and lands with a wussy bump on the hay giggling with glee. That was a cute spot and that is Princess Calla which is the better female girl in this series. She is voiced by Noelle North (The Smurfs, Geppetto, Bite Me etc.) and I really like her as she is as spunky as Kit is; but with the light heart trait that Kit lacked due to his past. Interesting Fact: Calla was named after the daughter of the late NBC president Brandon Tartikoff She is the daughter of King Gregor and it's another single parent show. Not that it matters I suppose; but it seems a bit out of place in this world. Then again; revisionist history always rears it's ugly head when it comes to such matters. Calla is enjoying her until she has a meeting of the minds with the real king of Dunwyn who is King Gregor.
We know this because he looks like a stereotypical king with a crown on his head and he's really old and really pushy when it comes to the well being of his daughter. He is also voiced by Michael Rye it should be noted as well. Apparently; jumping in the hay is still outlawed in his castle because apparently it's too sexy and it conjures up bad memories of other kings doing the same with sleazy good for nothing priests...Or maybe not. Princess Calla repeats the motto given to her by the pushy king (A princess must set an example for her people) which is silly because that example means the princess is a fungal. Get it?! Never mind; here comes Sir Tuxford complete with horse as he finally manages to learn the fine art of stopping a horse on his own. Curses! I was hoping for him to MURDER that horse; but Peggy's presence is still around. It wouldn't be until 1987 when they got some of the bad dumbing down out of their systems. Calla of course knows Cavin and Gregor isn't impressed by this because he's a mere page of Sir Tuxford and has no respect for royalty like himself (check out the attitude when he asks Calla about her friend). Hey; Gregor, she cares about his safety. It's not like she's going to marry him since that is still a no-no on DTVA. Thankfully; King Gregor doesn't get this bad later on so I'm going to let it slide and think of it as a plot device rather than a character flaw that needs to be squashed.
We head to the plain were we get the shot from Cavin's perspective who is knocked out mind you so he couldn't see those Gummi Bears; thus destroying the attempt at suspense of Cavin seeing actual Gummi Bears right there. There are six of them and they are color coded according to their skin and flavor. The first time is a yellow gummi bear wearing clothes similar to Link from the Legend of Zelda. She is Sunni Gummi (voiced by Katie Leigh) and I really hate her since she is a token preteen who rebels for all the wrong reasons (Kit at least had good reasons to rebel against Baloo (and sometimes Rebecca and again for good reasons) since Baloo was quite a jerk in Flight School). She is quite annoying and she grates my nerves when she has to play the big sister role on the much cooler pink Gummi Bear Cubbi Gummi. Cubbi Gummi rocks my world as he is the prototype for Molly Cunningham (who not only got Cubbi's personality; she got Sunni's looks as well which was Sunni's only good point) in that he's really spunky and loves to be a Gummi knight. He's also got a gimmick which is released later on in the series and quite frankly; I'm not going to spoil it because it is AWESOME! Sadly; he's saddled with a middle age woman voice of Noelle North (which is evident since Calla and Cubbi show excitement since it sounds exactly the same). Tummi Gummi you know already, so I'll go to the top of the screen with the orange bear wearing the noble lady clothes called Grammi Gummi.
Now another problem that TaleSpin and a certain extent Rescue Rangers solved in 1990 is evident in 1985: The female roles and even mannerisms are pretty stereotypical as Grammi is the cook and cleaner of the outfit. She and Sunni pretty much do girl things. Even Princess Calla has this problem. However; since this show takes place in the Middle Ages; this is actually apporos. It becomes a real problem in Ducktales with that show being in the 1980's time period though. Grammi is voice by the great June Foray (Rocky in Rocky & Bullwinkle show, and even the classic Loony Toons) in her old lady voice. I found Grammi Gummi to be okay and in-offense. The bottom right brown gummi would be the tough as mini nails Gruffi Gummi. He is also the stubborn mule and has a clash of styles with Grammi which suggest that they are husband and wife even though there is no proof of that relationship. Then again Rebecca and Baloo had the same relationship except Rebecca was the tough as nail one in that outfit. Gruffi was all right too and voiced here by the late Bill Scott until late 1985 and would be replaced by Corey Burton later on. The bottom left purple gummi with the MAGIC HAT OF DOOM is Zummi Gummi who is the mage of the outfit as I suspect the forces of anti-Satan will curse him to death as we speak. He is voiced by the late Paul Winchell (Gargamel from the Smurfs, Tigger from Winnie The Pooh) for most of this series with Jim Cummings taking over near the end of the series due to Disney's love to put voice talents out to pasture. Fun Fact: Paul Winchell had a website called ProtectGod.com. Cannot say I can't blame him for putting it up and that's about it for the main characters (except one or two which come later in the series)...and Zummi is also cool for his love of magic and making up spell words which are too funny to hear.
Gruffi of course is intolerant towards humans and doesn't want to deal with them. Cubbi is amazed because he's never seen a human before. Don't worry boy; you'll be seeing a lot of them up close from here on. Cubbi is scared that humans eat Gummi Bears which is too funny to mention as Zummi checks Cavin's teeth and they look like Adam Copeland's regular teeth. Zummi shruggs off the suggestion as I giggle at that statement. Zummi don't know the half of that statement by Cubbi; it's so unintentionally HA-LARIOUS! Gruffi sezs that avoiding humans is the Gummi way; because today they would get eaten! BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Cubbi notices the medallion and Gruffi blows him off which earns the eye contact violence from me. Zummi grabs the medallion and it glows brightly. What is this; a Sun Woo animated episode now?! Grammi looks at the medallion and wonders how a human child got it. Gruffi doesn't care because he grabs it and wants to keep it away from him. A tug-of-war on Cavin's neck ensues as Zummi proclaims that the medallion is too powerful in the hands of a little boy. Zummi has NEVER met Kit or Molly in his lifetime and they have more power than the Gummi Bears do right now...and Cavin's eyes slowly open up and then to add some real suspense he does the goofy zombie situp and yells out that he sees Gummi Bears and therefore Unwin is a lying little bully.
Of course right on cue; the Gummi Bears scatter like scalded dogs just as Cavin sezs that he's not going to hurt them...and he didn't forget to say please; what a lad?! Cavin goes after the smallest one in the group which is Cubbi (which is good because Cubbi rocks!) as he pulls out the flask containing a purple liquid. He opens the cork and drinks from it. ALCOHOL TO A MINOR! PEGGY CHARMON CALL YOUR OFFICE! Okay; it's not wine..it's much more funnier as we get the DONING SOUND OF LAUGHS and then Cubbi starts bouncing on his butt complete with the funniest sound effect I have ever heard and then taking some really sick bumps against the tree before managing to climb up away from Cavin. I'll explain the gimmick later on since it deserves a real mention when the writers start making the characters explain it. And yes; I stole that from Ed Brayton of Dispatches From The Culture Wars; so shoot me.
Cavin tries the diplomatic way and it works as Cubbi yells at him to look out as the Gummi Bear finally come out from the bushes being chased by the ogres OUT OF NOWHERE. Geez; Dukie's soldiers are smarter than they appear. Cubbi pulles the wooden lever (WRONG LEVER!) and the big oak tree shows the trapdoors. All of the Gummi Bears manage to get in safely except for Tummi who is much slower than they are because he's TOO FAT! It pretty much allows for him to collide right into Cavin and they falls into the only open trapdoor and it closes right on cue despite neither one having a chance to close it. Nice bump from Tummi, Cavin and the Yellow ogre though.
Cavin slides down the slide doing some nice cute twirling in the process as Tummi and Cavin slides into the home of the Gummi Bears which is Gummi Glen for the two of you who care about such things. Tummi and Cavin manage to do a cute spot where he stops just behind the wooden table perfectly as Gruffi continues to show his hate for humans and Sunni yelling that it isn't fair. If Sunni is Cavin's defense than I'm taking Gruffi's side. Hey; how did Tummi get over with the team?! I must have missed something and this rant has gone on too long for me to rewind. Cubbi likes him which means that his word is LAW for this series. Everyone of course is against Gruffi as they want to know more about humans; although Zummi wants answers on that medallion. Gruffi realizes that Cavin has it and Cavin of course blows his cover intentionally right on cue. The Gummi Bears scatter like scalded dogs. It's like Pablo's dogs with these bears. Tummi tries to hide in the wastepaper basket but he's TOO FAT! Grammi decides to invoke the SCROLL OF PAIN to whack Cavin into next Tuesday. I guess they know the days of the week which is funny considering that they are supposed to not know about humans.
Cavin tries to play diplomat in this situation as Gruffi gets in from behind with the LASSO OF BANE FOR ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE and ties Cavin up with ropes. TMS did a kick butt job on the spot as you can see the weaving of the rope when Cavin is tied up. We head back to outside as Dukie is looking at himself in the PINK ROYAL MIRROR OF VAINITY (HEE HEE!) as he wears the most goofy cape I have ever seen someone who's trying to be a serious king of Dunwyn. He of course doesn't like it so here comes his cool and trusting sidekick Toadie who is a midget (both physically and morally) ogre is forced to remove it. Toadie is THE reason why Dukie has a lot of heat and he can carry episodes like no one else on the heel sidekick side. His real name is Toadwart and voiced by the late Bill Scott and later by Corey Burton once again. So in other words; only Igthorn and Gregor are voiced by TaleSpin voice talents in the original cast and it's a minor role as Trample at that. An ogre tells him that the catapult is ready to test and Dukie goes to it while Toadie is still hanging onto the cape. Toadie loses his grip and takes a decent bump on the ground and then runs to Dukie by talking in third person singular (using regular nouns). He also starts the running gag by calling him various forms of Dukie which is Igthorn's pet name and he hates it more than Rebecca Cunningham does.
We head to the catapult as the ogres load up the BOULDER OF CRUSHING DEATH and Dukie gets to pull the rope and the catapult works like a charm....because Dukie gets out of the way and Toadie gets absolutely MURDERED by the BOULDER OF CRUSHING DEATH. Too funny as Dukie then blows off the orange ogre because he would have been hurt which is even funnier. It's so sad that The Secret of The Juice basically killed the poor Dukie's heat because he absolutely rocks here. We head back to Gummi Glen where Cavin is tied up so much that he will be getting a coma after this. Gruffi makes Don Karnage look like a wuss now. Gruffi starts to lay down the law on him (He wants to know why Cavin has the medallion) and Cavin would tell the truth if only the rope wasn't around his mouth. On second thought; Cavin is able to speak freely which is Logic Break #2 for the episode. Cavin explains that his grandfather got the medallion in the Western Mountains. Another thing in 1985: Name puns were still not in yet. Cavin wants something to drink and Gruffi blows him off as Grammi blows Gruffi off in kind.
Anime Moment #1: When Grammi said “Bless you child” (first religious reference in the series); her hands are over her cheeks in such a manner that it looks really similar to anime. That's not surprising since most DTVA producers (Jymn Magon admitted as much) were big time anime fans. That would be the first anime spot in the series.
Grammi agrees that he should get a drink and Tummi wants the honor of giving Cavin the drink much to Gruffi's disdain. Gruffi does his standard arms folded pose which gets annoying the longer the series gets. Tummi returns with the pink mug which is completely out of place in this animated series. I would have thought it would be clear glass instead of plastic....and Tummi gives Cavin the drink. Sadly for them Tummi gave him..wait for it.....wait for it some more...Gummi Berry Juice. The EXILIR OF ROIDED DOOM. Zummi pleads for him to stop; but he should have checked the inside of the mug about five seconds earlier. Cavin breaks free from his bondage and the Pablo Bears scatter again. Gruffi hides behind a door so you know that it is serious. Cavin then goes over to the table and lifts it high in the air which allows Tummi to escape in a cute spot. Cavin is so happy because he will be the greatest knight ever and Princess Calla will notice him. Memo to Cavin: Princess Calla does notice you; it's King Gregor who needs to notice you.
By the way; you have just witness the secret of Gummi Berry Juice. My working theory on this is that Larson and Gary regenerated into Doctor Who after getting nearly killed by Bushroot (who isn't human to begin with) and created a time machine called the TARDIS. Then Larson and Gary zoomed into the middle ages and met with the Gummi Bears. Since he's an anthro in this form; it doesn't scare them. Larson and Gary have a secret formula called Stero-Water which is 10% water and 90% steroids (according to MXC's Captain Tameal I should point out) which when added to crushed Gummi berries they make the bears stronger than usual. As for the bouncing effect; according to my MXC scripts; Grammi admitted to Captain Tameal that the butt bouncing is due to a mini-trampoline inside their butts.
Cavin plays diplomat as he grabs the wooden door with Gruffi behind it which makes Gruffi looks so stupid as he's hanging on to it. Cavin is in the wrong era and he should know that by now. He wants to be friends because the Gummi Bears are his heroes. Since I lost a so-called hero because of a double murder-suicide I would be careful on picking heroes from now on Cavin. Sadly; the juice wore off and the door squashes him flatter than me on a rainy day. Gruffi's manners still suck as he forces the obvious on him. Of course the juice wore off buster! Gruffi then shows how much of a meanie he really is as he tries to run off to get more of the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE; but is stopped by the GRAMMI FOOT OF LAUGHS (Secret of The Juice- Just saying) and Gruffi takes a really sick bump on his face. Oh man; TMS is making DARKWING..DUCK look like a total pussy now; if something as simple as a trip require a MAN-SIZED bump.
Grammi and Cavin exchange notes. By the way; it's pronounced Kevin; but it is spelled Cavin even in fandom. I don't know if this is some crack on Engrish (Japanese voice talents attempt to speak English that fails..EG: Ecolis is usually called Ecoris. The name in question is an Interchannel-Holan RTS Nintendo DS game funded by the World Wildlife Fund of Japan.); but if it is, that's not a good idea since Disney will edit such things. See Chinese Firedrill...See Lost Horizons...See Puffed Rangers. Grammi likes Cavin; Gruffi does not as he's into his annoying pose again. Cubbi's introduction is AWESOME as he does it just to make a cute spot involving Zummi and a bookcase. Decent bumps result in that spot. And of course the Gummi Berry Juice gets involved of course with Sunni chiming in to annoy me. Zummi pops from the book pile and takes Cavin's hand into the book room explaining the Great Book of Gummi.
Cavin wonders what it is and Zummi doesn't know. He'll know that it's nothing but trouble because it gets involved in some silly plot devices later on. And of course; the book is shining under the sunlight complete with metal medallion seal...and more red bookmark than humanly possible in a book. I could say that the Great Gummi is the Gummi Bear's religion; but that would be mean because there be no religion in DTVA. Zummi demands that Cavin put his hand on the book and swear on his bloody honor that he tells no one of their existence and Cavin promises on his bloody honor. Or somewhere along those lines. The book glows to confirm it and I suspect that promise will be broken within this episode; or when Princess Calla finds out in a few episodes from now. Hey; it's 1985, you were expecting Cavin to rebel on the spot like April O'Neil?! The Gummi bears welcome Cavin into the family and this is almost too scary since it looks like a mafia family without the guns and violence of course.
We head to the Quick Tunnels as Cavin points them out to me. Sunni and Cubbi join him as Sunni explains the Quick Tunnels. Shouldn't Cubbi be doing that since he's more over than you?! Then again; the writers were still trying out the characters at this point so it's all right. See; the ancient Gummi had built them. So Gummi Glen has been around for a long while. I wonder how much those pesky Gummi Bears are keeping a secret? Cavin, Cubbi and Sunni hop in and fasten their seat belts. So it was the Gummi Bears who taught the humans that seat belts save lives. I knew it! I just needed the episode to prove it. Cubbi pulls the lever (WRONG LEVER!) and the GUMMI BOBSLED OF DOOM races around the tunnels at great neck speed. So the writers love bobsledding and skeleton I see. It goes way too slow and Cavin thinks he's safe and then it dives into fast mode quicker than anything else. Cavin screams and ducks like a goof as they do the waterfall splash spot sequence to amuse me. They pop through two ground trapdoors into another tunnel (with the catapult in clear sight) which is enough for Cavin to ask for them to turn around. I cannot believe he managed to see that this so fast.
Cubbi agrees to in a bland monotone and the ride MUST CONTINUE! They manage to stop it in front of the trapdoor as Cavin stutters while claiming that he's afraid of the Gummi Bears because they ride the quick tunnels often. So I guess Cavin was Honker's teacher then. The babyfaces peeps out like a peeping tomboy as Dukie is blowing off the orange ogre because if he fails here; he will be fired....from the catapult of course. Too funny as the ogre shudders in fear as Dukie pulls the rope and the catapult finally works the way it's supposed to. Dukie proclaims victory right there and laughs like an idiot as he declares Dunwyn is doomed! DOOMED I SAY! Lesson to future villains in training: Never take pointers about seizing property from Duke Igthorn. Cavin proclaims that he's going to destroy the castle to end the segment 12 minutes in. Another problem in 1985: Learning how to time the commercial breaks since Cavin should have said that after the break; not before. An annoying mistake; but a minor one.
After the commercial break; we return to Gummi Glen with the ED shot of Gummi Glen which looks cool. We head inside as Cavin explains the situation and states that Gummi fight for love and justice. Oh wait; that's Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon; it's only justice. He proclaims that King Gregor is a just man which I find a little hard to believe considering his relationship with Calla. Zummi sezs that like to help but they cannot fight against an army. Of course Gruffi doesn't want to fight because it's the Gummi way to avoid humans. Cavin protests this because people are going to get hurt and they are going to let this happen. Another thing TaleSpin improved: the realistic use of the death reference. Something anime has yet to learn on the polar opposite end of things. Cavin absolutely blows them off for being a bunch of selfish Gummi Bears and storms off throwing the medallion away. Ooooo. Those are fighting words Cavin. Where was this when Unwin was tormenting him? Gruffi responds by telling them to ignore it because IT'S THE GUMMI WAY of course. A note about Gummi Bear animation styles: You can tell this is from TMS due to the soles of the feet of the Gummi Bears as they have an extra circle with a slightly different color in the middle. In later episodes; that circle is gone and it looks closer to the TaleSpin style minus the claws.
Cubbi still wants to help though thus making him the least selfish bear by default. Zummi chimes in as the second least selfish bear as the medallion around his neck glows and HAS A MIND OF IT'S OWN. Zummi doesn't even have the smarts to remove the medallion and therefore is helpless against it's power as it forces Zummi into the book room to the Book of the Great Gummi. The medallion attaches itself to the metal seal and a thunderclap ensues which means the book of the Great Gummi is finally open. Zummi does the clear the throat spot to annoy me and then reads the book as it states that the past is there and it's time to find the future. And basically help Cavin slay the wicked and make the Gummi's great once more. The book poofs itself and the words disappear.
At least it was intentional and a joke on Ruby-Spears crap animation even though I see several mistakes in this episode. Gruffi calls this a trick. I see Gruffi is anti-religion in this case and Zummi states that it is no trick at all. They must help Cavin and Zummi agrees to go. Cubbi, Tummi and Sunni follow him which makes Sunni less selfish than Gruffi is. We then quickly cut to the forest outside which looks really jarring. Another problem in 1985: knowing when to cut to another scene. If this were TaleSpin, Grammi would try to convince Gruffi through some form of manipulation and Gruffi would finally sell and go along relucently. Kit was a master of that through Rebecca weakness of having business sense over the red herring that Kit would throw so she could take the bait. And Kit's only 12 years old...and Molly does it just as well and she's only six. Thankfully; the writers realized that and put it in later on.
We continue in the forest as Cavin sneaks into Dukie's personal tool shop and grabs the saw because Cavin needs wheels to fight Dukie. Cavin needs a lot more than a saw to beat Dukie; I GUARN-TEE! Cavin backs away as a yellow ogre just stands there the whole time with a spear that could slaughter him. Cavin tip-toe's away from a sleeping yellow ogre with the mallet in his hands as he goes inside the catapult to saw it to pieces. In 1985; Hanna Barbera sound effects were still the ownership of HB; so the twinkletoe sound effect is not in evidence sadly. Cavin starts sawing; but he is grabbed instantly by a green ogre and chain by his leg to a stake on the ground as the ogres march away with the catapult in tow. Again; see above problem in 1985 for more details. Also; Cavin must be awfully weak to not be able to simply pull the stake out of the ground and get himself free. Otherwise; that's logic break #3 for the episode.
We head back to Gummi Glen where Gruffi finally agrees to go along with it because he's only trying to keep them out of trouble. Fair enough as Cubbi has his WOODEN SWORD OF SLIGHT PAIN and Zummi writes down a spell from the Book Of The Great Gummi to prepare in case they get into trouble of course. Nice to see them take their sweet time preparing themselves. I'm sure Cavin is really happy to see that. Again; problems with sequencing as they were still learning how to do an adventure series properly. The Wuzzles was more of a sitcom rather than an adventure series. We head into the forest as Grammi, Gruffi and Zummi are hiding inside the bushes waiting to strike on the yellow ogres doing their chores and cleaning. I'm sure Dave THE CLEANING BARBARIAN OF LAUGHS would be proud of them. Then again; only Dave would suck enough to cheer for the heels as long as cleaning is one of their fortes. Time for the MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN and it's give Cavin Gummi Berry Juice to make mincemeat out of them. Tummi loves mincemeat...Mmmm..Mincemeat..SLURP! Proof that the Simpsons do steal from Disney. Take one guess which spot they stole from. Gruffi of course goes into stubborn mode because it's too dangerous. Zummi suggests an invisability spell and Gruffi blows it off because apparently Zummi's magic sucks eggs.
Gruffi does have every RIGHT to be concerned as that is Zummi's one major flaw. Gruffi decides to charge in as Grammi eggs him on just to make sure that he is doing it for the right reasons. I think Gruffi was taken back by that one. Gruffi blows her off as Grammi gives him the VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and it's all for Cavin. What message are we sending to children that putting steroids in your juice or Kool-Aid is cool?! Seriously; I WANT TO KNOW! Zummi of course tries out his SPELL OF FAILURE and a thunderclap ensues and it WORKS! MY GOD IT WORKED! There is hope for Zummi after all..Or maybe not...Actually Gruffi not being seen is much better since it gets rid of that annoying stubborn pose he does. He should stay that way. Gruffi goes down as he practices the fine art of not being seen (Ala Jung Dragons on The Cat from WCW); but the footsteps and music give him away. Sadly; the ogres are too stupid to notice. However; the spell actually wears off faster than Cavin's strength wearing off after drinking Gummi Berry juice and his cover is blown. I believe it's time to say that Gruffi is screwed and Cavin makes it even more obvious as he does the flourish routine on him. Despite all the errors; I am still loving this episode.
Gruffi flickers in and out as he dodges the ogres despite them making zero attempt to catch him. However; Gruffi does get caught by the orange ogre and only because of Dukie's threat against which is nice CONTINUITY from the writers. Gruffi throws the VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE to Cavin and then becomes stubborn as the ogre demands answers. Gruffi is the last guy I want answers from because it's THE GUMMI WAY. Cavin drinks up (after doing a beautiful job of catching the darn thing) and it's ROID RAGE TIME. He breaks the chains of bondage (again) and pulls his sleeves to show that he is serious in MURDERING some ogres. I should point out that this is a CONTINUITY ERROR because according to Gummi Berry Juice rules; humans can only drink the stuff once to get strong per day.
That was made in a future episode and the writers either forgot about it or this was produced before the rule was put in place as a plot device. If you watch it in sequence; it isn't notable; but it will be once the episode where the rule is goes into effect. Cavin grabs him by the foot and demands that he put Gruffi down or it'll be CLOBBERING TIME! The orange ogre sells as he puts Gruffi down on the ground just as Cavin is holding the 800 pound guy with both arms in the air. Beat that Dino Bravo. It's not like you didn't take the juice once in your lifetime. Check that ogre's urine because he is done for now. Cavin throws the ogre away like everyone wishes they can throw Rosanne Barr after singing the national anthem so badly that dogs were screaming in a forty mile radius. The green ogre tries; but he is thrown away just the same. This is really not fair and now I'm glad that rule is in place now.
We head to the hill above Dunwyn castle which looks tinier than before as Dukie and his cool sidekick Toadie are proclaiming victory as they proclaim that the denizens of Dunwyn are done for and no one can save them now. However; his victory celebration will have to wait because Dukie then gets MURDERED by the orange ogre. OOOOHHHHH! Check Dukie's urine! Toadie doesn't get squashed and he jumps for joy singing that he didn't get squashed in the third person...and then he gets MURDERED by the green ogre. Check Toadie's urine on that spot! That is outstanding! Dukie manages to climb out of the carnage without getting any injuries whatsoever (It's a Disney cartoon; what did you expect? A violent anime series?!) and wants answers in a diplomatic sense (which is wearing thin already for him). The orange ogre sezs that little boy threw him away and of course Dukie doesn't buy it as the orange ogre declares that he got strong because of a magic drink given by Gummi Bears.
Dukie calls him a fool and is ready to choke him out as his evilness levels are clicking into overdrive. The orange ogre then asks how many fools are there and that made me spit out my drink in laughter. Yellow ogre (with spear) appears and gets ready to attack as Dukie rubs his palms in love to kill things. Dukie decides to call them traitors to the cause and put them in irons because death is not allowed at this point. We head to the castle look out as King Gregor and Tuxford wonder how they got that thing ready without them spotting it. You know something; perhaps it's because the ogres were chasing you earlier and therefore it was pretty clear that they were hiding something. Sir Tuxford calls for the troops inside to mount up and get ready for the catapult assault as the segment ends 18 minutes in. Again; they still have problems with timing here....
After the commercial break; Sir Tuxford orders the drawbridge to be lowered and the attack to commence. However; the catapult fires the big ass tar ball and the drawbridge is stuck together preventing entry or escape. Well; so much for 99% of Dunwyn's offense right there. Time to go to defense now since that is the only thing left now. Sir Tuxford of course doesn't know that his plans are screwed right from the starting gate as the knight guard still cannot pull the lever (WRONG LEVER!). Geez; those knights are wusses. They need Gummi Berry Juice as we head to the shot of the catapult as Gruffi comments on the amount of ogres they need to defeat. Well; it's not a LASER BEAM, so it is different which is a good thing thank you very much. Cavin and the Gummi Bears are hiding on top of a tree as Cavin invokes MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN #2: Cavin destroys the catapult while the Gummi Bears run interference. I think that's a good plan myself; but it'll all depend on the Gummi Berry Juice lasting and how much of a tolerance level Cavin has built up since the first drinking of it. We head back to Dukie savoring the flavor of victory before him. So Dukie fires the catapult and the BOULDERS OF CRUSHING DEATH start their destruction on Dunwyn castle as the model from the beginning holds true to the word. Back to the forest shot as the Gummi Bears drink up their VIALS OF ROIDED JUICE and it's BUTT BOUNCING TIME! That sound it makes is sooooo funny.
Gruffi commences the attack and it is WAR BABEE! The Gummi bounce around pounding on the heels like a bunch of disruption arrows that Nintendo loves to use just to annoy Sustainer gamer to pieces. I see Grammi settling into her stereotype rather well as Dukie is ticked off and his urge to kill Toadie is rising. But since Toadie is cool; Dukie cannot MURDER him...yet...Toadie calls them Gummi Bears as Gruffi does a decent raspberry and bounces away just to annoy me. More bouncing and the ogres get destroyed by their stupid attempt to catch something that bounces away. Let them come to you and then grab them when you can reach them; it's a lot eaiser. Sadly; the ogres are REALLY STUPID so they are defeated pretty soundly. The ogres try to grab Tummi; but they have a meeting of the minds and it wasn't at the water cooler. Besides; a water cooler in the Middle Ages is really a lake or a moat. Dukie is pretty much finished until he notices Cavin going over to the catapult. Memo to Gummi Bears: Your MIMI JOKE ZONE is falling because Dukie ain't buying it. It's like someone parking in handicapped parking. “I know you have a beer gut; but you're not fooling anyone”. I got that one from the radio during my work at Reboot. Dukie throws Toadie towards Cavin and he grabs the VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and it slips from his grasp. So it's time to play the hot potato spot. Can you guess who gets to drink the juice before the end of this sequence?!
The answer is Dukie of course after Cavin helpfully uncorks the vial when he catches it. Bottom's up for Dukie and it's DUNWYN CRUSHING TIME! What?! No funny spot. That is SOOOOOO CHEAP! Dukie goes over to grab the BOULDER OF CRUSHING DEATH to show off his strength and I believe his hope chest is gone as Cavin knows that the first time someone drinks the juice it wears off quickly. So the Gummi knights go over to the catapult and they try to release the brake; but no go. Duke Igthorn marvel at his strength and wants King Gregor to bear witness to his doom. Dukie throws the boulder right into the castle walls and they crumble as Calla hugs King Gregor in a rather disturbing. Oh; so now you want to use him as a sercuity blanket. Sir Tuxford tries to get his men to push the drawbridge down; but no go. Maybe they should have built a catapult..It would have been more logical. Then again; this is 1985 and the show had to be dumb down in order to get the maximum ratings to let DTVA continue on. The babyfaces try to pull the lever (WRONG LEVER!) and it finally works as the catapult rides along and heads somewhere as Dukie gets onto it and declares that it is worthless to him as he grabs the BOULDER OF CRUSHING DEATH from the slingshot and rises it high above his head just in time to have the juice wear off and crush him flatter than Alexander The Grape.
You know you're screwed when THAT happens. Dukie gets slingshot over the castle (DUH!), lands into a fruit wagon (DUH!) slides across the floor into a fireplace (huh?!), drives up the chimney (WHAT THE HECK DOES HE THINKS HE IS, SANTA CLAUS?!) and pops out of the chimney and out of the episode I do believe. Got all that?! I don't get it...The sequence made absolutely no sense whatsoever and the bump was really wussy. King Gregor and Calla ignore the spot by focusing on the catapult as the Gummi Bears jump away because it's going to hit the castle but Cavin gets his shirt stuck against the device. Oh man; Cavin is one dead boy now as Calla notices him as he dramatically crashes into the drawbridge (with the catapult smashing into a million pieces and basically killing him if this happened in real life) and he is in the water appearing to be dead. The drawbridge finally lowers so at least they can help him; or give Cavin a decent burial with honors. Tuxford, Unwin (who didn't fight once in the entire sequence), Calla and Gregor check on the damage as Cubbi thinks Cavin is dead; but Cavin climbs out of the carnage with just messed up hair. Everyone is happy except for the realism mutants; but whatever. They aren't going to kill Cavin in his first episode; that would be stupid.
Gruffi calls him all right for a human since he still hates them. He just hates Cavin the least now. Tuxford helps him on the bridge as Calla congratulates him for saving Dunwyn in which the crack Disney captions team misspells really as regally. HAHA! Some things NEVER change. Cavin teases telling the truth and blowing the Gummi Bears cover but then admits that he had nothing to do with it and King Gregor accepts the lie. Zummi feels relived. I'm sure he did; but a lie is a lie nevertheless. Don't worry Calla; you'll meet them soon enough. We end the episode with Zummi and the Gummi Bears inside the book room as he talks about how they saved the kingdom and writes it down in the Great Book of Gummi and that is that for the pilot episode at 22:37. Yeap; that is it. No real funny finish or dramatic finish; just a simple ending which isn't a bad thing all things considered. As for the episode; it's no where near Plunder and Lightning, but then again they were still learning the fine art of television animation and the result here wasn't too bad. The episode isn't special; but it was fun and that is what counts at this point. *** 1/2 ( 70%)
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; it took nearly 12 pages and about six and a half hours to complete; but I did it and it was an okay episode for the most part. Nothing about it was really bad; just several rough spots that the writers were still learning and trust me; they will improve on this in later episodes and future series in general. It was a simple story on getting the Gummi Bears together with Cavin and setting up the battle between them and Duke Igthorn. The performances were decent and no one looked bad at all which is a good sign. I just hope the shorts are easier to rant on than this though since this episode took me forever to write. Not the best of starts with TMS doing a few logic breaks and a few spots blown; but nothing major and at least the bumps are much better this time around. I'm sure a lot of people complained about the finish being unrealistic; but once you see multi-colored bear; the creditability on realism died before it got started. And don't get me started on the ogres. Overall; a good episode and at least you get to see Duke Igthorn when he was really cool before Secret of The Juice would kill his heat and creditability and he had to depend on Toadie to stick around the rest of the way.
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.