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Someday My Prints Will Come/Can I Keep Him?
Reviewed: 07/07/2007
Can I keep him? NO! Can I keep him? NO! Can I keep him? NO! Can I keep him? WILL YOU SHUT UP AND QUIT BUGGING ME!!
Oh come on; you knew that one was coming a mile away. If only the writers tried that spot than they can show that the Simpsons were really ripping off Disney all along. Oh well; I cannot complain anymore so let's rant...
Someday My Prints Will Come is written by Steve Hulett, Richard Hoag and Jymn Magon while Can I Keep Him is written by the late Bruce Talkington. Unless there are Wuzzles episodes not written by Ken Koonce and David Weimers that I'm not aware of; this would be the first episode in DTVA to involve three writers in the same episode. In fact; this is a 11 minute short so each writer wrote an average of just under four minutes. UGH! Steve Hulett is actually famous for writing several Disney feature films at around this time including The Great Mouse Detective, The Fox & The Hound and The Black Cauldron. He also did liner notes for Oliver & Company in 1988. I have found no writing credits for Richard; the USIMDB states that he was an actor in the 1981 movie Earthbound (no relation to the SNES video game Earthbound (Mother series) from Nintendo) as a Frogman. For now; this is the only writing credit that I'm aware of.
Someday My Prints Will Come: We begin like the last episode inside the book room with the side pan shot towards Zummi who is clearly into reading the Great Book of Gummi. Well at least he's got the candle lights fixed this time around as we see Tummi lifting a book from the book stack. If there is one danger in life for Zummi; it's the book stacks. Tummi wants to know why Zummi's got all these books and Zummi responds to that by saying that they contain wisdom. And I thought it was to keep dumb bears like Tummi away from his studies. Well; live and learn unless you are me; then I just live because I forgot to change the hyperlinks from going to the DARKWING..DUCK web page to the Gummi Bears web page. I am so ashamed. Tummi pulls from the bottom and just like Jenga (coming to Wii and Nintendo DS from Atari) the book stacks tumble all over Tummi and he's in a book like tomb. Zummi turns around and notices him and it looks like he's ready to lay down the law on Tummi. Tummi apologizes; but Zummi recoils and admits that Tummi did a wonderful thing because he found a wooden door that was never seen before. Call my crazy but is Zummi really that blind not to notice that since he probably stacked those books in the first place?! It's not really a logic break; but come on.
Zummi cannot be that dense. Zummi needs help with opening the door because working together on something that can be done by one person is ultra cool in 1985 so to speak. We head down the dark hallway as Zummi and Tummi go down it via candlelight. Zummi claims that Gummi Bears have NEVER been down this hallway in a hundred years. So are you saying that those books were stacked perfectly in line for the same amount of time. Fuzzy cartoon logic I guess. You know it's creepy because there is creepy music playing which is not so creepy since it's Disney BABEE! Zummi tries another door on; but it's locked. Zummi claims that the Great Gummi's probably lived down here. Geez; you think they probably lived down here Zummi?! Honestly; Zummi needs a logic check book so to speak. Tummi tries the other door because he wants the kitchen. Now there's a realist if I ever heard one. Tummi tries the open the door with his hands and feet spot and it swings out which the power of suggestion forces Tummi to fly right into Zummi and open the other door inside allowing them to tumble down the rock pathway with decent bumps in the process. So the Great Gummi's allowed the left hand side doors to be opened swinging out; while the right hand side doors to be opened swinging inside. Okay; works for me. Nice spot by Tummi by the way.
Zummi and Tummi regain their bearings as Tummi sees the plot device for the episode which is the DRAGON PAW STAMPER~! Zummi does the blow the cobwebs and dust spot and doesn't sneeze as a result. I guess bad colds are still not allowed on DTVA yet. Zummi sezs that it's built by the Great Gummi's as Tummi is on top of the DRAGON PAW STAMPER waving at him as Zummi is trying to find him. Geez; Zummi is looking like a real dummy in this episode. Which suits me just fine thank you. Zummi panics because Tummi is going to work the controls and of course his prediction comes true as Tummi pulls the levers (WRONG LEVERS!) and the thing starts up. Zummi demands that Tummi shuts it off so the episode can end right there; but Tummi thinks Zummi is a wuss and right on cue the DRAGON PAW STAMPER is on full blast and it destroys everything in it's path. Zummi is forced to scatter and almost sezs bitch (Witch is off! Um Switch it off!) while Tummi cannot switch it off. Finally; an exciting episode involving Zummi. Let's see if it will last. Tummi's DRAGON PAW STAMPER crashes into the ceiling and leaves the scene as Zummi nearly gets MURDERED by the debris in the process. Excellent animation there TMS as Zummi is not liking this and I don't blame him.
We head to the Gummi Glenn focus shot as Grammi is in the kitchen preparing some oatmeal like substance just as Tummi is bouncing around outside like a madman on steroids. Oh wait; it's the DRAGON PAW STAMPER doing it, my mistake. That allows for the bowl to bounce up real good; turn that son-witch upside down and stick it straight down Grammi's candy head! If it was a foot higher; the spot would have worked perfectly; but great animation otherwise as Grammi's reaction was absolutely priceless. We head to Sunni's room as Sunni is making her bed while Cubbi is sitting on the dresser. Or is it Cubbi's room where Sunni is making Cubbi's bed as punishment for paving the way for bad teenyboppers everywhere? You the viewer decide! The rumbling manages to make Cubbi and Sunni bounce into the bed sheets and the bed sheets tie them up ala Molly and Kit from my fanfic Unforseen Impact Chapter Three. Sadly; Rebecca doesn't come over and tickle their feet for my pleasure. We head to the bathroom where Gruffi is taking a bubble bath ala Sailor Moon. And like the dub version of Sailor Moon; no forbidden parts are shown. In fact Sailor Moon dub version showed more skin than Gruffi does here (not even his neck is shown in this sequence). Don't worry anime purists; there is lots of stuff in DTVA that you can complain about soon enough.
The rubber ducky floats up to the surface as the rumbling commences and Gruffi floats up into the air as the water completely fuzzes out his entire body in the process for about two seconds before falling into the bathtub again.. Why bother?! Cubbi was shown butt naked and he even got to strip for an episode later on (Yes; it's true!) so this is rather pointless. Or it was done because it was funny and not because of BS&P. Great spot otherwise. The babyfaces come out (again Gruffi covers himself with a yellow towel) to the living room as Gruffi swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (What in the Dark Ages? Good one there Gruffi) while acting badly. And of course the writers annoy me by making Cubbi the baby to Sunni. Sunni should be the invalid here. Everyone's upset that this is a come-as-you-are party. Zummi enters to tell them that Tummi is in trouble and Grammi wants answers. Zummi gives none because the thumping won't stop until the DRAGON PAW STAMPER. Cubbi agrees with me since he says Let's rescue Tummi! Nice to see someone has the guts to put differences aside and save someone. We head back outside as Tummi is still having deep problems with the DRAGON PAW STAMPER. Even the quicksand moat doesn't stop it which is good because I hate quicksand spots.
We head to the forest where the birds are chirping. Note about pointless animation spots: TMS did it because they were cool. Sun Woo did it because they were hiding the fact that they blow spots more often than not. That's the difference. We go to the side pan shot as we see a clothesline filled with a suit of armor and Molly's cute pink pj's as we see two knights (One of them is Sir Tuxford) sleeping in a white pump tent which is animated so perfectly that you swear that Disney is using feature to do it. I see Logic Break #1 for the episode because there is one suit of armor in the sequence. And why did the writers bother with two knights? Why not just have Sir Tuxford only since he's more over than that nameless knave on his left side? Never mind; I'm just surprised.
The DRAGON PAW STAMPER completely tears up and tent and ties it up into a tree as Sir Tuxford is still in his pj's. So the right knight was completely naked...EWWW! Sir Tuxford protests this outrage (Cannot stay I blame him) while doing some nice bumping in the process as he looks to his right and sees the DRAGON PAW STAMPER stomping again filled with enough muck to fill an MXC event. Tuxford is in mortal fear because it's a dragon. Well; it is a machine dragon which are the worst! The branch of course snaps and Sir Tuxford falls faster than PS3 going under 10,000 units in Japan and takes an ugly off-screen bump in the process. OUCH!
Just for Fun Rant #1: I haven't done this since Polly Wants A Treasure; so here we go. According to stereotypical RPG's there is a pecking order for dragons depending on the color. Here is the guide from weakest to strongest: Brown Dragon (usually just called Dragon), Green/Gas Dragon, Yellow/Earth Dragon, Ice/White/Frost Dragon, Fire/Flame Dragon, Zombie Dragon, Blue Dragon, Red Dragon, Hydra, Tiamat and Bahamut (The God of Dragons according to Final Fantasy lore.). The guide varies depending on the RPG as in Final Fantasy I; Green Dragon was the second most powerful dragon next to Tiamat.
Back to the rant as the DRAGON PAW STAMPER continues to bounce off the edge of a cliff and slides down the cliff with the paw and then bounces away from the bottom. This is an important spot because there is a cave where a green dragon wakes up from it's slumber and snorts to tease us that this is an evil green dragon out to MURDER someone and then she walks out of the cave and she's a peaceful loving dragon who just wants to sleep. I'm sure that the moralists will be going to their letter writing tools like Sustainer gamer going to their e-mail accounts and complaining that Sean Malstorm used a perverted word like soft-core and then Sean rightfully blows them off with his genius business sense. After all; a babyface dragon is evil in their eyes. As for me; I don't really care, although I think the writers should kept her a secret until the Gummi Bears meet with her for the first time to keep up the suspense; but then again this is their first experiment so I'm not going to be too hard on them unless I really need to. The Green Dragon is voiced by Tress MacNeille (Babs Bunny, Gadget etc.) in her second role on DTVA (The first is with The Wuzzles) as she is funny when she puts her foot right into the footprint made from the DRAGON PAW STAMPER and calls it a Dragonus Humungus. That deserves a laugh just for the complex speaking. Nice to see that this dragon isn't trying to be dumb.
She is so happy because she wants a date with another dragon and she hops away in the funniest way possible following the track. Hey; this episode is getting much better now since I actually remember this episode and I liked it actually. She just wants to have with them. Sadly; she's still screwed as Sir Tuxford and his knight (which looks like an adult version of Unwin I should note) returns to Castle Dumbwin...ERRR...Castle Dunwyn I believe the knight is Will Ryan or Michael Rye, but judging by the similar voice to Unwin; I'm leaning towards Will Ryan. King Gregor comes out with his knights to ask the panicky knights what is going on. Tuxford and Unwin Sr. say that a dragon is terrorizing the countryside as Unwin Sr. gets the first official death reference in DTVA history (deadly). And they said Gummi Bears was dumb down? Oh wait; it was, my mistake. See; that evil dragon broke Sir Tuxford's lance which just earn him a one way ticket to looney-ville.
King Gregor doesn't buy it for one second which is sad because Tuxford's story is in some way more believable than King Gregor's no-selling of the whole thing. Tuxford swears on his bloody honor that it is true and I want to believe him. King Gregor asks him where his clothes are and Tuxford proclaims that the dragon ate them. BWHAHAHAHAHA! Even the knights think his excuse is lame so that should end all debate on the fact that saying “My dog ate my homework” doesn't work at all. Sir Tuxford is ticked off now and decides to do what most students don't do when their dog ate their homework: Show the evidence as he twirls Unwin Sr. around and shows them the purple dragon stamp on his ass and everyone gasps in horror. Unwin Sir faints on cue as King Gregor finally gets it which sounds so...lame. Sir Tuxford calls for the knights to slay the dragon and the knights sell for good cheer. Umm; Tuxford take your time and put on some armor clothes. I hear dragons can fry wool to ashes...
Scene changer and we head back into the forest where the Gummi Bears (minus Tummi) are looking for the DRAGON PAW STAMPER (plus Tummi) and they start to hear rumbling and Sunni declares that it's Tummi. Cubbi proclaims for them to go up the hill and the Gummi Bears follow...RIGHT TO THE EDGE! They manage to stop in time; despite the artwork showing that they could have stopped anytime they wanted too. The writers can do better than that I know...Zummi pants and wheezes as he swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (oh my spectacles) and then walks towards a shadow and a green dragon's foot. UH OH! You are so screwed now Zummi as he notices the dragon right away and everyone scatters like scalded dogs into the bushes. However; the green dragon is HAPPY to see them and doesn't seem to be a threat to them. I find that quite contrived because she was already seen as friendly earlier in the episode and it ruined the suspense as I noted earlier.
Again; the writers are still learning at this point. Cubbi and Green Dragon exchange notes and rubs on her nose as she declares herself to be a peaceful dragon. Try telling that to Sir Tuxford as we head to the apple tree as Tummi and the DRAGON PAW STAMPER continue to bounce along as usual. However; the fun finally ends as the DRAGON PAW STAMPER smashes against the top of the tree branch and it finally stops completely. That is one devastating tree branch as it allows a lot of apples to fall down as the whole thing falls down and Tummi takes a MAN-SIZED bump in the process almost knocking Tummi down and out. Nice animation sequence with Tummi being literally carried by the apples away from the plot device. The babyfaces arrive as Tummi barely wakes up and he wants an apple which of course allows Gruffi to be a meanie as per his contract. Green Dragon offers him an apple and Tummi's cobwebs aren't clear because he still thinks she's Grammi with big eyes. Too funny and then the cobwebs are clear and he screams...badly...Sunni (WHAT?!) snaps him out of it because Green Dragon is their friend..She thinks...Geez; is dense syndrome catching in this show?!
Green Dragon offers him an apple and Tummi gladly accepts it as Gruffi goes over to the DRAGON PAW STAMPER and asks what it is. Tummi gets up and states that it's a big thumping pain and then does the smash his foot against it spot which turns into the second foot grabbing spot of the series (the first being in A New Beginning by one of the ogres). Again; good animation there TMS as the spot was dead on. Gruffi blows him off as Green Dragon explains what the plot device is for while giggling at regular intervals and wiggling her toes in a neat spot. Sunni doesn't understand as the DRAGON PAW STAMPER was modeled after her which seals the deal on her peacefulness. I should point out that we are just two minutes away from the finish as the knights are yelling in the background and they are out for the blood of the dragon. Unwin Sr. and Tuxford chop away the bushes to advance as Unwin Sr. makes my proud by saying that they will lop off his head. I thought that statement would never be allowed in Disney anymore; but here it is. The knights follow with the weapons getting off death reference #2 for the episode (death to the monster!) as the Gummi Bears are trapped like rats.
Cubbi has a suggestion: Bop it on the head and of course the Green Dragon hates violence so that plan is out. Grammi suggests flying away; but Green Dragon has the smallest wings in dragon history and she can barely get six feet off the ground; let alone fly away. Sunni suggests that they use magic with Zummi. Zummi doesn't have a good spell to save his life since he's only a Level 2 Mage at this point. Gruffi doesn't like the shower of rose petals which is an anime technique. The knights get closer as Tuxford and Unwin still haven't changed their clothes. That is just sad as Tummi has a MINI JOKE ZONE PLAN: Give them the DRAGON PAW STAMPER. The Gummi Bears see that and help him stand up the DRAGON PAW STAMPER. This starts off a grand tradition of using an otherwise useless plot device as the tool to finish the episode it should be noted. The Gummi Bears struggle until Green Dragon arrives and stands up the DRAGON PAW STAMPER up for them. How nice of her to do that? She even help Tummi up to the device with her tail to boot as well.
Tummi gets in and pulls the lever (WRONG LEVER!) and it's KNIGHT INTERFERENCE time as the DRAGON PAW STAMPER nearly kills the knights in the process while bouncing away from them. Tuxford orders them to follow and they do an awesome shuffle up spot before going after it. Nice animation there TMS as Tummi bounces towards the GORGE OF DEATH VALLEY and bounces down it allowing for some patho dramatics from the Gummi Bears as Tuxford and his knight make it to the edge. Sadly; a fifty foot fall isn't enough to MURDER the thing since Tummi still is alive so it bounces up and allows Tummi to jump into the tree even though I'm sure Tuxford would have seen it which is Logic Break #2 for the episode. The DRAGON PAW STAMPER bounces back down as Tuxford and his men roll the blouder (Geez; Not another one!) into the gorge and that is enough to absolutely MURDER the plot device once and for all. Beating a plot device; how manly of them which shows how lame they are when they cheer after the fact. Just silly. Nice animation from TMS though and Ready...Steady...Push would become Ready...Steady...Go in Full Metal Alchemist.
We head back into the Green Dragon's Cave as the lights are on and we see the Green Dragon sitting in a large chair on the left side while the Gummi Bears are sitting on the right side with a chair. The fireplace is in a middle. Talk about a mature dragon here as they are having tea and cookies for their amusement. Tummi apologizes once again and Green Dragon accepts because she had a lot of fun for the first time in 100 years. Well; there is CONTINUITY there as the Green Dragon states that the little stunt of Tummi's was worthy of the Great Gummi. Sadly; the DVD version of the scene is changing color by the second as the print is wearing thin here. Tummi is so great that he keeps repeating himself just to annoy the rest of the Gummi Bears which allows Gruffi to do his annoying pose while sitting which ends the episode at 11:39. Now that's more like it as the hijinks of Tummi entertained the rubes and there was no real stupid moments although the Green Dragon opening could have been done better. **** ( 80%).
Can I Keep Him?: This is one of my favorite episodes in the series because it's the first Cubbi focused episode and we begin inside Zummi's room as he is writing in his diary while Cubbi starts performing his magic to amuse me as he stands on the book stack while calling a spider web the grave-robbing, carrion crawling something something which we don't know because the book stack collapses which allows Cubbi to fall backwards and take a decent off-screen bump onto the floor which destroys the stack of books of course. Zummi notices and asks Cubbi to play with Sunni. Well; at least he asked nicely this time around; unlike Gruffi who would give him heck over it. Cubbi blows it off because Sunni is no fun anymore. I didn't know she was EVER fun to begin with. All Sunni does is talk forever which is a true sign of a teenybopper right there. Cubbi has nothing to do and Zummi has a solution for that. Zummi blows the dust off the CHEST OF DEMONS (YAY! My favorite pun is back!) and opens it. Cubbi looks inside and grabs the flute from it. Cubbi loves it already as he has found something to do: Annoy people. HEE HEE! This episode is fun already and we're not a minute in to this episode.
Cubbi runs away as Zummi goes back to the diary and tries to write something with the blue feather and of course Cubbi plays the flute and the ink nearly blinds him in a neat spot. That was just great as Cubbi even remembers to egg it on by asking if he heard it. That is just great as Zummi is forced to wipe his hands and face clean of his stupid mistake (for him but not for me). Cubbi runs down the hallway without a care in the world as we focus on Gruffi's workshop as Gruffi is taking care of some gears while Sunni is talking forever of course. See Cubbi is a child and she is supposed to learn to be an adult from him. Maybe it's because Cubbi is more mature than you are Sunni since you whine like a little wrench. Gruffi completely ignores her (Yippee!) as Sunni blows him off for doing so. Gruffi continues to ignore her and Sunni sighs because no one listens to her. Perhaps they are smart enough to know that you are an annoying little brat and that Cubbi is a mature lad who wants to be a knight. Hey; I've got to stick up for the little guy.
Sunni storms off as Gruffi continues to act like he is completely ignoring her..and no; Gruffi is not stupid as Sunni is off to see Grammi. We head into the kitchen as Cubbi is showing off his flute skills to Grammi while Tummi is doing the dishes. I guess the fact guys is the one who does it because it's THE GUMMI WAY BABY! Sunni comes in to completely annoy Cubbi and even Grammi blows her off albeit in a nice way. Sunni and Cubbi get into the CRZ version of an argument (which is basically yelling I was hear first by the way) which ends with Cubbi doing the old Kit stick out your tongue spot. Well; Kit started off as a Cubbi clone; so it's apporos. Sunni whines at Grammi as she tries to ignore her while getting something out of the oven. Her whining is so bad that Cubbi invokes the flute to causes the greatest screech of Gummikind which allows Tummi to do an awesome spot involving the dishes which all but one gets shattered of course. Tummi is so great; but Grammi doesn't approve of that whatsoever as she wants them to go far away and play. Stick in the mud as that provokes Sunni and Cubbi to argue at each other again. I
'm on Cubbi's side in this one fellows; learn to deal with it. Grammi has had enough and invokes the moral lesson of the episode which is to get along with each other. Sunni doesn't want to do it; but the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH forces Sunni and Cubbi out. Such is the power of suggestion. Sunni and Cubbi go to Gruffi as they sit down in front of him and Cubbi invokes the flute which is even enough of the rest of the Gummi Bears to invoke the POINTY FINGERS OF DEATH to force the kids out of the Glenn. Even Zummi and Tummi are doing it?! Geez; you know Sunni is a teenybopper when THAT happens. Of course seeing Sunni screwed is fine with me; but keep Cubbi out of this you sick freaks!!
We head to the Quick Tunnel as Sunni and Cubbi ride them while Cubbi annoys Sunni the entire time with the flute. At the rate they are going; they will NEVER return to Gummi Glenn ever again. The sound is enough to destroy some spikes on the ceiling but not much else. We head outside to a lake (which would be the water cooler of the Dark Ages and that's no stupid pun.) which looks like a scene recycled from the Winnie The Pooh feature. Cubbi pops out of the tree stump trap door right away and hops away from Sunni playing his flute while Sunni yells at him because he's not listening to him. If this is some message against teenyboppers because they are a bad influence on teens and tweens then that is A-OK with me! Cubbi completely ignores her as he sits on a rock while Sunni goes to him whining like a spoiled little brat. I don't blame Cubbi; I would have done the same thing too. Sunni's attitude and Gruffi pose is so awful that I swear Rebecca would steal it for TaleSpin in 1990. Cubbi doesn't care about her and her attitude which gets a huge pop from me. So Sunni decides to take the flute and folds it up into a zig zag.
Ooooo...You..Are...Asking...For.. A...Babyface....Beat down...There...Sunni....Gummi! I guess she is the heel of this episode now which makes Dukie the tweener in this one. Cubbi is mad now as he does the blowoff that Shippo would later drive into the ground in Inuyasha. Sunni throws the flute down like a little girl (Oh wait; that isn't funny since she is a little girl) and storms away behind a tree because she doesn't like to talk to a child. Speak for yourself you teenybopper! How dare you ruin Cubbi's dreams to get over and my dream to see you get screwed in royal fashion as you deserve?! Cubbi grabs the flute and bends it back into shape. He plays some good music which allows the plot device to appears as Leviathan RISES OUT OF THE LAKE in dramatic fashion allowing enough time for Sunni and Cubbi to get in proper position just like in the opening which ends the segment nearly four mintes in. Wow; that was awfully quick there....
After the commercial break; we return to the lake where Sunni and Cubbi are looking at Levi. I'm naming him that because it's easier to type I should point out. Levi screams as Cubbi wants to go home; but Sunni doesn't want to because the sound is the same as the flute. Sunni wants Cubbi to answer to Levi and Cubbi sells sounding like he's only doing it because he has to. He invokes the flute and Levi sells like Pablo's Dog. Cubbi is enjoying this as Sunni is telling Cubbi what to do and Cubbi gleefully sells it which is contradicting what the whole point of the episode is. Levi sells by floating onto the water and putting his head on the edge of the shore. Nice animation from TMS which is a great change of pace from the blown spot blowing in DARKWING...DUCK.
Cubbi and Sunni get on and Sunni tells him to try another hole and Cubbi sells it which allows Levi to invoke the fire breath to melt down a huge rock. Okay; this dragon has some awesome moves and well as a combination of water and fire moves to go along with it. It's unstoppable sezs I! Sunni asks Cubbi for another song and Cubbi gives it as Levi flaps his wings into the air and it creates the tornado for it's wind attack. Okay; the animation looked great; but it was a blown spot since no dragon on earth could pull that spot off. Levi lands on the shoreline once again as apparently; Cubbi and Sunni are finally getting along. Now the episode would end here; but of course that will not be the case since the episode is less than five minutes complete. So; they start arguing which is now completely out of place as Sunni wants the flute which earns a blow off from Cubbi. Cubbi blows the whistle (on Sunni and on Levi) and Levi flies into the sky and does the Loop-de-loop for only fifteen cents spot. They fly around nearly everywhere while showing a little bit of animation magic (waves crashing as one example) which is only there to waste some time. However; the sweeping animation is really cool; so it works out for the best.
However; Sunni is screwed further as Levi lands right on the cone roof of Castle Drekmore where Dukie is..and since Dukie is still cool at this point this episode has gotten even better. Drekmore is awfully creepy with it's jagged rock faces and bad fashion sense. However; Dukie is more interested in destroying Dunwyn; so taste is not in his mind at this point of time. Sunni doesn't like this at all. Oh BOO HOO to you as Fang said to DAVE THE CLEANING BARBARIAN OF LAUGHS after Dave yelled at Fang for gluing his butt onto a horse. If only it was Twinkle The Marvel Horse then it would REALLY be funny! They hop off and Cubbi is liking this because somehow he likes trying to annoy Dukie. It may be a fantasy world; but I'm liking him now. Sunni wants to leave; but Cubbi blows it off because it's time for Dukie to get screwed (my words; not his). That's good enough for me as we look down to see Duke Igthorn and the ogres doing things like the good little slaves that they are. Dukie and is ultra-cool sidekick Toadie are back after Dukie got MURDERED by the boulder in the pilot episode and they notice Levi right away. Dukie demands answers on that thing on the battlement (thanks for pointing that tower out Dukie!) and Toadie blows him off in a nice way since it's not doing anything at all. That makes Dukie mad of course and then he looks up to see Sunni and Cubbi pulling on the flute on top of the battlement again.
They are officially screwed now as Dukie is liking this. At this point; his lust for Gummi Bears is now for the Gummi Berry Juice instead of just having them eaten by ogres. Dukie invokes his famous catchphrase: “GET ME THOSE GUMMI BEARS” which he would drive down to the ground completely before this series ends. Toadie REPEATS THE SPOT; but does it in a funny way so in this case I'll let it slide this one time. Sunni notices that they are screwed as she invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on the ogres as they climb up. She should know better than it's not polite for a child to point. Cubbi invokes the flute which confuses Dukie until Levi flies around and starts blowing hellfire and brimstone which causes the ogres to scatter. Apparently; they snipped out the part where the ogres got fried before it aired the first time. Doesn't surprise me in the least since it is 1985. The ogres wailing like little babies as Dukie is pleased while shaking Toadie like a madman because that thing is the key for destroying Castle Dunwyn. Who needs Gummi Berry Juice when a mean dragon with three awesome attacks would do?! One of the yellow ogres is still on the tower as he manages to make it to the top; but Cubbi invokes the flute (while he and Sunni don't even see the ogre coming up from behind them) and the ogre invokes the SWIPE OF PAIN which misses by a mile; but the power of suggestion forces Cubbi over the edge in dramatic fashion.
That spot was really blown there TMS. Sunni follows him despite not selling the over the top swipe and they tumble down the roof and free fall towards the ground below in which Dukie gets the flute, Red and Green Ogre get Cubbi and Sunni (in that order) and Toadie of course gets MURDERED with the boulder which shatters on his little pinhead. Too funny as he is knocked out. Levi lands perfectly onto the ground and let's the welcome flourish begin from Dukie. This is going to be really fun now. Dukie steals Cubbi's VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE but doesn't take Sunni's. Does he know if Sunni's batch is satanic or something?! Dukie then focuses on the flute and demands that they show him how to use it of course because the rack is always a painful spot to do anyway. Cubbi blows him off course and Dukie responds with threatening to feed him to the ogres. Because Dukie is such a slave driver and therefore ogres have yet to eat anything. Dukie goes over to Sunni for answers and Sunni is in her teenybopper rage today because she'll only tell if Dukie listens to her. I'm sure Dukie would be HAPPY to listen to you; since that dragon is the key to his hopes and dreams you teenybopper heel. Then Sunni confesses without torment as Cubbi is trying to get Dukie to not listen to her at all. Dukie sells on Sunni's orders and blows the flute which allows Levi to do the Loop-de-Loop for only fifteen cents spot again. Dukie is loving it; so he asks for the serious stuff like breathing fire. Cubbi tries to prevent it; but Sunni shows Dukie; allowing Dukie to blow again.
Levi nearly torches Igthorn to ashes with his fire breath and torches a wagon of hay in the process. Dukie is really loving this; but Sunni is annoying me now. Dukie sezs that he cannot wait until he goes to Castle Dunwyn for his new door opener causing Sunni to wink which Cubbi realizes that Sunni is merely playing with Dukie's emotions. Dukie wants to know the really dangerous secret and Sunni tells him to blow as hard as he can and doo-dee-dom. Cubbi tells Dukie to listen to her and Dukie foolishly invokes the flute. And Levi absolutely MURDERS Dukie with the TAIL SWIPE OF DEATH which causes Dukie to take the sickest bumps I have ever seen right into the wagon. Oh man; that is the sickest bump this side of Baloo's head splat in Polly Wants A Treasure. Dukie has the orb around the head spot as he is dead, done, toe-tagged, buried six feet under, whatever. The ogres continue to scatter away like scalded dogs as Cubbi now has the flute to summon Levi back into his own senses as he lays down perfectly and that allows Sunni and Cubbi to hop on. Cubbi plays away as Levi flies right into the sky. However; Igthorn gets up and drinks down the VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and it's ROID RAGE time as no one escapes from the WRAITH OF IGTHORN.
Stupidity question of the episode: Which wrath is better: the WRAITH OF DUKIE or the WRAITH OF BECKEY?! Dukie throws a BARREL OF LAUGHS at Levi; but misses by at least five feet which upsets Dukie. That is sad as Cubbi orders Levi to turn around. Why? Igthorn is a poor shooter even with the juice. This can only mean that Cubbi wants to show that he is the most over guy in town which would be something that Drake would steal. Not a good thing as Cubbi blows him off calling him a cross-eyed troll. Ooooo; those are fighting words as Dukie grabs the cart and throws it up into the sky which misses Levi by only two feet this time around. I would say that Dukie's hope chest is gone as he goes for the boulder; but the juice wears off right on cue and he gets absolutely MURDERED by the boulder and this time he is officially done for this episode at least. Sunni then invokes this classic line which is one of the few times I like Sunni:
Sunni: Not even Igthorn can escape the wrath of Igthorn! (giggles)
It comes back to haunt him for the rest of his life...Just like the WRAITH OF BECKEY as Levi flies away and lands back on the lake as the sun is beginning to set. Cubbi and Sunni get off as Cubbi's flute falls from his grasp and Cubbi steps on it which the flute breaks. UH OH! That was Zummi's best flute too. Cubbi blows into it and the sound is so bad that Levi dives back into the lake and is never seen again in this series apparently (unless you count the opening titles). Cubbi feels bad because he wanted to keep him which Sunni assures that it is for the best of course. Cubbi and Sunni exchange apologies (well; only Cubbi really sezs that he's sorry of course) and they joke around about giving Dukie what he deserved. Sunni does the old pull down the hat over eyes spot which Kit would do to Molly in Plunder and Lightning Part Two later on and they run to the tree stump trapdoor. Sunni hops in giggling and telling Cubbi that he should tell the story because they would NEVER listen to him. Cubbi blows the flute one more time before throwing it away for good and hopping into the underground. I'm sure Zummi will be REALLY HAPPY to see that Cubbi threw away that toy. What a litterbug Cubbi is. Then OUT OF NOWHERE as Cubbi shuts the trapdoor flies a pink baby bat like dragon who blows into the flute which would have been all right if the sound people didn't start playing the whistle music three seconds before he started blowing into the flute. Again; bad timing there as the episode ends at 10:38. Despite the blown spots; this is as great of an episode as I remember it. If it wasn't for the minor blown spots; this would be the first perfect episode in DTVA. **** ¾ (95%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Now this is more like it as both episodes entertained me with some good writing and solid pacing. Although the writers are still learning how to perfect the timing; you can see the seeds of awesomeness in play by now. Someday My Prints Will Come was pretty simple and there was nothing complex or screwy about it as it was straight and to the point which is needed in a short like this. The only bad thing about the episode was that the Green Dragon's role was screwed up a bit as they made it known that she was friendly before she meets the Gummi Bears and therefore is loses all the suspense that they were trying to build for her. It was also historic for being the first DTVA episode to allow death references. Tummi did enough to amuse me with the decoy dragon machine and it was a simple enough plot device to fool Tuxford and company. I personally thought that having three writers in a 11 minute short would really kill the episode; but it didn't.
As for Can I Keep Him; a few spots were blown including one from the sound folks at the end, but it was a perfect episode otherwise. Sure; the getting along with your brother/sister thing has been done to death; but the writers focused more on Cubbi's attempt to screw Dukie and as you can see it worked a lot better. Plus; Dukie took two of the sickest bumps I have seen from heels so far. OUCH! This episode is why Bruce Talkington was so good at writing and of course Jymn Magon is a genius in television animation at Disney at the time and even beyond that to 1999/2000 before he left Disney for good. Next up is the next full 22 minute episode: Gummi in a Glided Cage..I suspect the first perfect episode right there.
Thumbs up for both episodes and I'll see you all next time.