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Faster Than A Speeding Tummi/For A Few Sovereigns More
Reviewed: 08/04/2007
Speed and Bounty Hunters Kill!
Well; we are back to the shorts for Season 2 and these two of probably the last two episodes in the entire series that I really remember minus the grand finale when Duke Igthorn invading Dunwyn for real. No surprise that they involve Tummi and Cubbi getting into trouble..and of course DTVA would start another tradition. I'll explain that one when we get to that point. So; let's rant on and see if they held up to the test of time....
Faster Than A Speeding Tummi is teleplayed by the late Bruce Talkington and For A Few Sovereigns More is teleplayed by Mark Zaslove in his first writing debut of any kind in DTVA. There will be one more teleplayer who makes his debut later on in this season and he was the one who ruled TaleSpin in 1990 and even had his picture as part of the cast & crew shoot. I'll explain it in For Whom The Spell Holds since he's the teleplayer of that episode.
Faster Than A Speeding Tummi: We begin this one in the forest as we go to the pan shot to Gummi Glenn and then a close up shot to reveal that Gummi Glen is under attack from the..wait for it..The BUBBLE BATH OF THE PURPLE PIEMAN OF POURCUPINE PEAK! (Does so stupid it's funny Purple Pieman dance before Sour Grapes shrieks to nearly kill my eardrums.) Gruffi appears with the wooden planks as he heads to the spring stump and the purple bubbles are so bad that they cause Gruffi to drop his wood and nearly MURDER his foot in the process. Gruffi calls the Gummi Bears crazy and since Don Karnage isn't around everyone is safe. Gruffi dives into one of the portholes and runs into the living room of Gummi Glen as the entire area is covered with the BUBBLE BATH SUDS OF DEATH! He hates the soap by the way as it tastes awful. What did you expect Bubble Gum?! A bubble covered figure arrives as Gruffi wipes some soap off it's face and it reveals Grammi. Everyone expect Tummi arrives as the soap machine has gone haywire since some purple dye got into the mix and someone was supposed to watch the machine. Grammi then imposes the mean look as if Gruffi was supposed to be the one to look after the machine; but I suspect that since Tummi isn't here; it is his fault..and of course the babyfaces blames Tummi for the mess. I am so good as Gruffi does his annoying pose again. That would be one incentive to make Tummi feel bad.
We head to Tummi's room as Tummi is sitting down playing with his boat in a bottle which would be thrown out and used as a prop for Getting Antsy. Tummi tries the fine art of pulling the boat out of the bottle carefully because he doesn't want the bottle or the boat to shatter. This is one of those things that never makes senses in any world; and of course Gruffi slams the door open which makes Tummi hands do some major slip up with the boat. However; the bottle stays in the hands of Tummi and is fine. Tummi notices the angry babyfaces covered in purple bubbles and tries to get up to stop and then realizes that is a hopeless task for him. Gruffi blows him off because Tummi is an absolute idiot. I don't know who's the bigger idiot: Tummi for leaving the soap machine alone; or The Gummi Bears for buying a defective soap machine. Tummi apologizes and promises to clean up the mess which is a nice thing to say and of course Gruffi blows him off. Oh come on; let him clean the mess and prove he's not a fat jerk who loves to play with boats.
Tummi does a cross his heart and hope to die spot (death reference #1) which is so cute that it should be outlawed by the DANCE POLICE OF LAW. He really promises to do it by putting the boat back. I don't understand why Gruffi had to knock on the glass. It seems that he's rubbing it in more than anything else. Tummi's day is going to be a nightmare I just know it. We head to the kitchen as Grammi is upset that Tummi is doing it so slow with the sack but Tummi is going to milk his chores to the hilt. I think he figures that they screwed with his dreams of getting the boat out of his bottle that this is the punishment for them. Cut to the hallway as he works a tad faster with the vacuum cleaner. Now the episode really sucks. HAHA! Oh wait; Ron Sparks has something to say...
Ron Sparks: It sucks more than Sean Desmond.
Sunni wants to help (complete with purple robe and towel on her hair) but Tummo promise to punish them.. ERRRR...clean up the mess all by himself. Sunni walks away and Tummi looks down the hallway realizing that this is going to take forever. We cut to the shot of Gummi Glenn after HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as Tummi is in the living room with a bucket on his foot cleaning bubbles as the babyfaces comes out in night gear to tell Tummi that he can sleep now; but Tummi won't stop cleaning. Gruffi asks him to hurry up; but Tummi is pushed to his limits in the speed department. Cubbi has an idea: Have Zummi zap Tummi with a speed spell. Sunni grabs onto Zummi's arm to approve of Cubbi's decision. When Cubbi is getting approval from even a diva; you know he's awesome. Zummi refuses because the spell is too unpredictable on Gummi Bears; so Tummi is screwed as the Gummi Bears walk away groaning. Tummi walks to his room (still with bucket on his foot- nice CONTINUITY from TMS) and sits on his bed. He then sees the boat on a bottle on the desk and has some tempting thoughts about finishing that job; but he takes that thought out of his mind and flops on the bed realizing that he cannot do it at all because he's too slow until he realizes his salvation and runs into the book room where Zummi is asleep in his chair.
Logic break #1 for the episode as Zummi is wearing his regular clothes instead of his night gear. Why bother changing?! Tummi storms in with the vacuum cleaner which allows Zummi to flop out of his chair in a funny spot and take a good bump on the floor. Tummi proclaims that his vacuum cleaner is too slow and wants Zummi to cast a speed spell on it instead. Zummi doesn't know about that; so Tummi reminds him that he would have to work all night again if he wants the place clean and tidy so Zummi decides to go to the Great Book Of Gummi lest he get tormented by Tummi's slowness. He finds the speed spell and tells Tummi to put the vacuum cleaner out of range. Tummi sells and Zummi tells him to get out of range. Tummi sells; for about three seconds and then gets into range when Zummi casts the spell behind his back....
Zummi: Spummid, Umup, no-mow!
Translation: Speed Me Up Now!
Tummi gets zapped instead of the vacuum cleaner and then quickly moves back out of range before Zummi can see him. Now that was sneaky Tummi Gummi. Tummi goes to the vacuum cleaner and tests it and it works great. Tummi thanks Zummi and leaves the book room while Zummi goes back to his chair and falls asleep like a goof. We head to the hallway as Tummi has the wiping cloth and decides to test out the speed spell. It doesn't work as well as he hoped until he realizes it that Zummi really cast a Car Speed Spell so he has to run start before it would work. He starts up and he races away cleaning up the picture of an ugly baby bear with a bib. Even the Gummi Bears have those problems. The next picture gets cleaned with a left handed job which means Tummi is right handed I guess. Tummi approves his work by doing Gruffi's pose. Oh swell; not him too?! Tummi does the car racing spot (complete with start pose) and basically cleans up the entire hallway. Tummi looks at his handiwork from the door as Cubbi appears to ask him how he's doing. Tummi calls it sure and steady. Well; he's right of course except it's fast, sure and steady. I guess it's morning since Cubbi's in regular clothes now. Cubbi leaves him to his work as Tummi enters the dining room and closes the door behind him lest someone blows his cover because if there is one thing more worse than ROIDS to cheat; it's magic!
Tummi then races around like a rocket (complete with dust cloud) and cleans up the dining room without any problems or real effort. Tummi then tries to go to the door; but when he grabs it he starts rumbling and nearly whacks his face on the door off-screen (check the door moving outside). Tummi walks out like a drunken goof blowing off Gruffi for the defective door. I suspect a defective spell. We head outside as Tummi starts pouring the bubble solution into the river. What a bad race the Gummi Bears are when it comes to the environment; dumping dangerous chemicals into the water supply?! FOR SHAME!! It creates a bubbly mess as a bubble pops for the scene changer (which is pretty cute) and we head deeper into the forest as we head Dukie and his ultra-cool sidekick Toadie exchange notes about Toadie's lack of knowledge of where the booby traps are proving how much of a booby Toadie is. Two ogres are carrying Dukie like a ogre wagon of course because Dukie is still pretty cool at this point. See; Toadie forgot to mark the defenses on the map Dukie has. Dukie blows him off in a Grade S effort and basically shakes and chokes Toadie nearly to death when he grabs him. Too funny as purple ogre arrives with the MUG OF BUBBLE WATER and gives it to Dukie and calls Dukie..Ummm...Dukie. Dukie grabs it and blows him off telling him not to call him Dukie...and while he drinks it, the ogres calls him Dukie.
Too funny as Dukie drinks up and he spit it out while hiccuping bubble which amuses the ogres. See; it doesn't take much to amuse those hard heads. Dukie demands answers and the purple ogres states that he got it from a bubbly stream; which Dukie blows off because the water is filled with soap. The better to clean your mouth of dirty speech with as the ogres show absolute disdain for the substance because soap is good for your body and ogres are bad. Dukie demands to know who is trying to poison him (or clean his mouth depending on your point of view) and wants the ogres to find the source and report back to him. They salute and call him Dukie and of course Dukie blows it off because he doesn't want to be called Dukie. So the ogre leave and guess how they response: They call him Dukie. Too funny and since they are needed Dukie decides to punish the ultra-cool sidekick Toadie as he throws him off-screen to find those trap. It does take long as he pretty much finds as many traps off-screen as he could within a thirty second period. Dukie goes back to the OGRE THRONE OF DOOM proclaiming that Toadie only has 76 traps left to find. However; he goes into REALLY STUPID levels and drinks from the MUG OF BUBBLE WATER and nearly cleans his mouth out again. Too funny.
We head back to Tummi's room where Tummi has apparently finished his work with cleaning the PURPLE BUBBLE BATH OF DEATH! Now nothing can stop him from finally pulling the boat out of his bottle as Tummi sits down and attempts to slowly pull the string. However; Tummi rumbles again and he completely destroys the boat and the bottle in one go. That's why you do it slowly. Tummi starts to rocket out of control and nearly destroys his room in the process. He rockets out of the room and into the hallway; destroying everything in the process. He head into the book room and speeds past Zummi asking him to help in a cute spot which wakes up Zummi. Zummi goes over to his work to find a counter spell as Tummi speeds out and head into the living room as he destroys the newspaper of Gruffi and the chess game of Sunni and Cubbi.
Nice to see them get along in that game. Grammi enters as Tummi hangs on to the door to get his piece in before rocketing out again. Zummi comes in with the counter spell; but Tummi rockets in so hard that the paper goes flying into the air. I'll try to call this action as much as I can; but Tummi's speed is just too much at this point. Gruffi tries the trampoline spot to stop Tummi; but Tummi breaks through without any trouble. Tummi manages to stop on a dime and has a moment to catch his breath; but the speed spell takes over a few seconds later and he rockets once again into the living room. Zummi has the SPELL OF SATAN; but Tummi's moving way too fast. Gruffi orders the babyfaces to seal the exits and they do. Gruffi orders Zummi to zap him; but Zummi stutters before casting the spell...
Zummi: Slumow! Dumown! Namown!
Translation: Slow Motion! Dumb Motion! Now Motion!
I love that one and Tummi speeds away from the spell just in time for Gruffi to get zapped with it. Gruffi is now slower than Tummi EVER WAS. Too funny and the selling from Gruffi was top notch. More rocketing from Tummi as he races about 15 feet above the floor in a circle (seriously) and the whole place is about to cave in. Zummi orders that the Quick Tunnel door opens up and Sunni opens the door and allows Tummi to escape into the Quick Tunnels. Everyone runs after him except for Gruffi who's too slow to do anything right now. SquareEnix would use these two spells Zummi used as actual spells in Final Fantasy: Haste and Slow. We head to the Quick Tunnels as Tummi races down the track and the Gummi Bears minus Gruffi follow after him (but not before doing the educational spot of the episode by strapping on their seatbelts). More racing which allows part of the track to collapse on itself. Oh great; just what I need. A mental image from what happened in Minnesota. The Quick Car rockets over the gorge and makes it as Tummi races out of the Quick Tunnels into the forest. Cubbi, Sunni, Grammi and Zummi pop out and wait right there as Tummi races around the lake. Zummi does the word for word spot as he tells Tummi to run across the lake so he gets a better shot at using the counter spell.
Tummi sells it and runs across the lake which actually slows him down since there is no solid surface for him to rocket like a car and he falls into the lake. Zummi's little plan backfires a bit and the babyfaces get captured by purple ogre and green ogre. We cut back to Tummi climbing out of the water and he thinks it's over. Trust me; this episode still has about 90 second left as he realizes that the Gummi Bears are caught and tied up. TMS does a horrible job in animating that scene on the far shot. Tummi tries to walk; but he's too far away. He tries to run; but there is no zip in his step. However; he finds a small tree and pulls back on it using his back to gain the speed needed to run again and he rockets towards the ogres. The ogres notice him coming and put down the babyfaces. Purple ogre thinks he has the speeding Tummi as he bends down; but Tummi races over his back which sets it ablaze. HA HA! See; speed does kill after all. Purple ogre just became a nominee for the 1986 Darwin Award right there. Purple ogre stop drops and rolls before Tummi pounces on him from behind and covers his eyes. Tummi taunts Green Ogre and green ogre puts down his set and grabs the tree uprooted from it's roots. He goes over and Tummi escapes just in time just to see Purple Ogre get MURDERED with the tree. (although the animators were inches from having Tummi himself MURDERED) HAHA! Purple ogre get crowned!
Tummi is beside another hill as he taunts green ogre again since he's a slowpoke. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Green ogre gets the boulders and throw it at Tummi; but Tummi backpedals easily and it misses by a mile basically. We return to Dukie's camp (complete with tent and picnic table) as Toadie is on his midsection like a fish out of water bruised and beaten up as Dukie (complete with mug) blows him off for goldbricking. A tactic Bret Hart would use later on in his wrestling life as Dukie proclaims that Toadie has one more trap to find. Curses! Screwed again! One of the boulders nearly MURDERS him and Toadie (misses Toadie by about ten feet, Dukie by 12.). Dukie gets up and decides to look into it. Tummi basically dodges more boulders as green ogre gets another rock and hoists it over his head; but he has trouble keeping his strength up and basically MURDERS himself with the boulder with a MAN-SIZED bump (and I do mean bump judging by the Grade S lump on his head). Why must every lump be a phallic symbol?!
Green ogre falls on his face with a MAN-SIZED bump and he's knocked out and pretty much dead. Tummi declares victory until Dukie arrives and grabs Tummi from behind. Tummi taunts him and calls him Dukie which Dukie blows off because he does have a good grip and he doesn't want to be called Dukie. Dukie's hope chest is completely gone now as Tummi rocket away with Dukie in tow. Dukie is screaming as Tummi races around the camp for a while (with Toadie in clear sight) and he rocket off-screen. Which allows a trap to be sprung basically MURDERING Dukie off-screen. Tummi is all right of course as he races to Toadie and tells him that the boss found the last trap and he rockets away stage left. Dukie is ticked off as Toadie giggles under his breath. WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT?! HEE HEE!
We head back to the destroyed dining room of Gummi Glen as Tummi proclaims that he'll clean the mess up before doing anything else even though he is not fast anymore. Zummi refuses that because they want to help him; lest Tummi tries to trick him with another speed spell. Zummi proclaims that there is nothing wrong with being slow which allows Gruffi to enter and blow Zummi off in funny slow motion to end the episode at 10:39. Great short marred by a few animation mistakes from TMS and one logic break. Dukie is still cool even if he is getting MURDERED in the heat department in this episode. Plus; Square Enix has got some inspiration with this episode too so it worked on all levels here . **** 1/2 ( 90%)
For A Few Sovereigns More: Maybe my favorite episode in the whole series and this one begins in Drekmore as the ogres are guarding the entrance (with the clubs) as a strange traveler (complete with toothpick which he flicks out when the ogres want answers) with a triangle hat, grey cape and leather boots arrives at the gate. He is a human and he's serious when it comes to not taking crap from anyone as demonstrated when the ogres attack him as he invokes the BOOMERANG GUN OF DEATH which flings two boomerangs around for the ogres to witness before they get MURDERED off-screen right in the back of their heads. Now there's a quality kick butt villain as he blows his whistle flute and then we cut to inside Drekmore as Dukie is blowing off some ruler as our ultra-cool sidekick Toadie takes notes on paper using the pink feather.
However; the door breaks down and enter Flint Shrubwood (so sezs Dukie) as Flint fires his BOOMERANG GUN OF DEATH which sends two boomerangs to MURDER several candles on top of a chandelier. Dukie greets him as Flint doesn't seem to care as he sits down on the chair and puts his feet on the table while cutting a piece of destroyed door with his knife. Flint asks what is the deal. Depending on what mood Chris Barat was in Flint is voiced by Corey Burton or Will Ryan. Dukie wants a ruthless bounty hunter with his special talents in order to capture a Gummi Bear. Now you know Dukie is losing his heat when THAT happens. Of course; Flint is around so it's all okay with me. Flint gets up to leave because he doesn't do fairy tale crap. Dukie puts his hands on him; and then recoils lest anything bad happens to him. Dukie proclaims that they are real and doubles the money to 20 gold sovereigns. That's enough for Flint to agree to the offer because he is really in it for the money like most stereotypical bounty hunters are...except for Dog The Bounty Hunter. He's in it for the kicks.
Dukie goes to the map to show Flint the location; but Flint is already gone like the wind. A north southerly wind perhaps?! Dukie of course blows him off as strange after getting a whistle blow from Flint OUT OF NOWHERE. We head to the forest as Cubbi and Grammi are hiding emergency ROIDED JUICE OF DOOM. Well; Grammi is doing that since Cubbi is busy playing knight again. One question that bothers me: What is the point of this?! Doesn't hiding Gummi Berry Juice just encourage people to find it and use it for evil?! I love Jymn a lot as a writer; but I think he should have come up with a much better explanation than this. Cubbi of course is Sir Cubbi today as he will protect Grammi as he does a great overselling of his character and of course Grammi walks away completely ignoring him. Cubbi gets up when he notices that he's being ignored and follows her to Crown Butte. Isn't that just asking for an alcohol reference there guys?! Grammi finds a nice hiding spot for the VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and kneels down and places one in. However; a butterfly lands on her can allowing Cubbi to whack her butt with the WOODEN SWORD OF PIN PRICKS. The butterfly gets away unharmed of course and Cubbi runs to fight it. Cubbi runs for a while and the butterfly nearly sends Cubbi over the waterfall to his watery death.
Cubbi does manage to stop before going over the edge and breathes a sigh of relief. Memo to future kids: Never use a butterfly as your villain. Cubbi walks stage right and has a meeting of the kneecaps with Flint. UH OH! You are so captured Cubbi Gummi! Flint tries to grab him; but Cubbi whacks him in the kneecaps with the WOODEN SWORD OF PINPRICKS and runs away. Wow; what a hero?! Flint doesn't sell the shot and Cubbi hide inside a hallowed wooden log which is a popular hiding spot for most stereotypical cartoons. He comes out the other side and then is officially grabbed by Flint. Good; that log spot is so 1950s. We go over to Grammi kneeling as she's covering the hiding place with stones. She is done and calls for Cubbi since it's time to go. She gets up and notices Flint walking away with Cubbi in his dirty paws. Grammi demands that Flint let Cubbi go while threatening him with the spoon. She is so into her stereotype that it's no longer funny. All she needs is to pro-create and all the offensive stereotypes are covered with her. Flint basically invokes the ROPE BOOMERANG OF DOOM which ties Grammi up. He grabs Grammi and decides on Cubbi to be the one Dukie will have to screw with as he throws Grammi into the bushes in a neat spot. Grammi kicks around in the bushes as she gets up. However; Flint is gone by the time she's up.
We head to the throne of Drekmore as Dukie now has his dirty paws on Cubbi Gummi and there is no where for Cubbi to go right now. This ought to be good. Dukie declares that he finally has a Gummi Bear to play with making him an absolute pervert and scumbag if you ask me. Then again; that helps his heel heat so I'm game. Cubbi blows him off saying that he's not afraid of him and he refuses to confess to anything. I think Cubbi's safe from having his feet tickled (which would be as fun to watch as Sunni getting it which is to say real tons of fun.) since Noelle North is female and hearing Cubbi laugh like a girl would expose that fact. Dukie blows him off while shaking Cubbi. Get use to it Cubbi; you and Dukie will be together for most of this episode. Flint is sitting on his chair with his feet up on the dining table of course and he wants his money for doing Dukie's bidding while carving that wooden stake to drive in Dukie's heart if he refuses. Dukie of course blows him off with sarcasm because he's a scumbag and he loves to cheat even awesome heels like Flint. That basically turns Flint into a tweener now which is fine by me since Flint is AWESOME. Jymn would later create another tweener which lasted a lot longer than Flint EVER did: Shere Khan. Flint threatens to kidnap Dukie if he doesn't get his gold and Dukie goldbricks on him because he's got ogres everywhere to screw with him. Flint gets up with the SHADOW OF DOOM and Dukie is in trouble. Memo to future rulers: Never screw with Flint's money.
Post Production Glitch #1: We start another tradition. Bad commercial break slugs which don't allow for a commercial break. There's one tradition I like to see dead.
We head to Flint's hideout (I almost mistaken it for Drekmore being leveled there for a moment) as Dukie is in prison while Flint is stirring the pot down on the bottom floor of his hideout/badly destroyed castle. Dukie protests this outrage behind bars as Flint comes up and shows the ransom note which will allow him to screw Dukie completely out of all his money more or less. Now there's a quality tweener to Shere Khan's own heart. Flint walks away as we see Dukie in prison chained to Cubbi Gummi. I guess this is the template to Stuck On You. Cubbi of course questions him on his ethics as Dukie puts a bench on top of another bench while giving out his words of dishonesty to Cubbi. He tries to bend his face through the bars but no go. Cubbi questions him even more about honor and promises which Dukie blows off while scaring a mouse who wants something from Dukie I guess. The mouse goes into the hole as Cubbi is disappointed that Chiviary is nothing but dishonesty as the segment ends almost four a half minutes in. A slow start; but now it's going to get good..
After the commercial break; we head back to Drekmore inside the dining area as the ogres are doing nothing..AND THE ROCK SEZS NOTHING while sitting down asleep (TMS shows no animation whatsoever). I guess Flint knocked them out in various funny positions. If that's the case then I so love this guy. We see the boomerang fly around and smack right into the face of Dukie's picture in a symbolic moment. Do you have a vibe that Flint really HATES this guy?! Orange ogre grabs the ransom note from it and of course he cannot read..But Toadie can as they go into the ogre playroom where they are playing tether ball with Toadie. Take one guess who is the ball. Too freaking funny as Toadie is the tool as usual. The ogres go inside and show Toadie (who's upside down no less giving Don Karnage tips on how to hang Kit.) the note which reads that Flint wants 500 gold sovereigns and he wants them to a nameless clearing. Toadie calls him Dukie; but Dukie isn't around to blow him off and orders the ogres to cut him down. The ogres sell as green ogres invokes the dagger and cuts Toadie's ankle ropes loose allowing him to fall flat on his face off-screen with a MAN-SIZED bump. We head to the nameless clearing where orange ogre is picking a daisy (?!) and plucking it off doing the hate her, she hates me spot which is cute as ultra-cool sidekick Toadie and the ogres wait for Flint with the CHEST OF DEMONS in tow.
Now there is something Flint could use to improve his fighting skills and one day he might be able to finally destroy Naraku..Oh wait; wrong show, never mind what I said. Then Toadie gets inspired as he opens the CHEST OF DEMONS which contains the sack containing the gold and he hides it underneath a small hallow tree because he is an idiot and he wants to save Dukie without having Dukie go into bankrupty I guess....(Narrator from Spongebob SquarePants) Five minutes later...(Normal voice) Flint arrives and grabs the CHEST OF DEMONS and opens it to reveal nothing...AND THE ROCK SEZS NOTHING. That allows Toadie and the ogres to attack. Yeah; they are REALLY STUPID as Flint basically squashes them and they are locked in prison complete with boomerang scene changer fade to black. I told you Flint is awesome as we head to the prison cell where Cubbi and Dukie are cooling their heels as the brick dislodges from the wall to reveal Toadie's eyes as he apologizes for screwing up like an idiot. Although he also tells Dukie that he hid the gold which Dukie thanks him for by doing the nice blow off. The crack Disney Captions team misspelled a simple word like hid and used hide. That is just peachy. Of course; Dukie finally blows off Toadie for real because he didn't use the fine art of sneaking up from behind. Cubbi believes in fair play which Dukie explains that you never take chances in the element of surprise. Considering that the babyfaces isn't above such tactics; I don't see why Cubbi is complaining about fair play or anything fair for that matter.
Dukie wants the ogres to run interference and they gladly do that by doing some wretched overselling of upset midsections. The selling is over the top and horrible which with those ogres is apporos so I'll let it slide. Flint climbs up the stairs which is the first really not smart move he has made in this episode as Dukie pushes the stone block and dislodges it completely from the castle wall. Dukie has his freedom as he sees nothing but free paths. Cubbi of course tries to stand his ground but the CHAINS OF IRONY pull him out of prison with Dukie. We head to the forest where Dukie makes it to the tree and grabs the sack containing the gold. Dukie treats it as if it's his son and of course the flute blowing commences to play mind games with Dukie. Dukie proclaims that he is doomed... DOOMED I SAY. You're less doomed than Sony is right now so Dukie scatter away as we get various scenes of Dukie dragging Cubbi through the water and through the mountains (including a spot where he kicks a log bridge down the river below to create one less path for Flint) until they stop near a mountain side where they sit down and take a respite. Dukie thinks he's got Flint beat; but Flint's flute sounds beats Dukie's mind down again. Cubbi looks around and sees that they are near Crown Butte so Cubbi tells Dukie that he knows a spot where there is a VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE. Dukie grabs Cubbi by his ankles and demands that Cubbi tell him where it is. Cubbi agrees to confess; but he gives him a lesson: Treat him better.
I wish he gave that lesson to Michael Eisner when Kit was getting treated like a second class citizen in some TaleSpin episodes while Baloo got all the glory. Anyhow; we cut to Dukie climbing the mountain with Cubbi on top of his head doing the old Jungle Book spot. And of course; Cubbi is king of the castle while Dukie is the dirty rascal. HA! I KILL ME! They climb up to a ledge about ten feet below the cave where the VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE is and Dukie admits defeat. That allows the boomerang to chain Dukie's left arm to the mountain side and Dukie is both trapped and screwed as Flint is now walking around the area. Dukie manages to free himself (thus rendering his I'm trapped speech pointless) and tries to climb up but he slides down just as quickly. Then he grabs the rock and blames Cubbi for everything. Cubbi screams out as if he is thinking that Dukie is going to literally MURDER him; but Dukie breaks the CHAINS OF IRONY with the rock instead and grabs Cubbi's chain and hoists him over the edge shaking him in order to force Cubbi to promise him to escape. Now that is utter insanity and hypocrisy on display! Which is a sign of a real cool villain. Cubbi promises and Dukie gives Cubbi a boost up towards the cave. Cubbi goes into the cave and then comes up from the top and gives Dukie a well deserved Molly worthy Grade S raspberry; and then blows him off while walking away. What a Scummi Bear?!
And Dukie even agrees with me on that one. Flint climbs up towards Dukie as Dukie completely blows off Cubbi as a cheat and then praises himself for teaching that kid too well. If you read the definition of insanity evil you'll see Dukie and Don Karnage's picture beside it. Dukie almost gets MURDERED by the boomerang though. We cut to the forest as Cubbi goes over to the still tied up Grammi and unties her. You know she's a stereotype when she cannot untie herself for almost six minutes plus. Cubbi wants to leave but Igthorn keeps blowing him off because he cheated him and he promised not to screw him. Well; I have to agree with him on that as we see Cubbi walk off. Igthorn has the gold sack cradled in his arm proclaiming that he's dead as Flint now has a clear shot to MURDER him; but the rope drops down from the sky and Dukie looks up to see that it's Cubbi holding it from the top. Even Cubbi wasn't going to screw him even if Dukie would screw him if given half the chance. Dukie tries to climb up with the gold sack; but Cubbi tells him to leave the gold. Dukie proclaims he never will; but the boomerang nearly snaps the rope and the sack of gold is forced onto the ground. Dukie cannot reach it as he's in a moral pickle as Flint's ready to MURDER him now.
Flint: Go ahead...Take my pay...
That was awesome BABEE! It should be noted that Flint's character design is of the Clint Eastwood type. That's enough for Dukie as he climbs up and let's Flint take the gold sack with the boomerang. Flint takes the gold and tips his hat and leaves. Never to be seen again. Another tradition starts here as one shot characters who are so cool appear once and never again. TaleSpin was the most guilty of them all as dozens of characters appeared once and then were never seen again as focus characters which was really sad because it showed that TaleSpin just couldn't be done in 65 episodes; but Eisner only cared about an illusion that they were creative and not for milking off shows. Maybe milking the show might have been a better choice after all. Dukie climbs up and realizes that the baby bear he insulted saved his hide. And of course Dukie blows him off. Some things never change as Grammi criticizes Cubbi's choice to save him. Cubbi responds with the best response to that: If I didn't do it; I would be as bad as Dukie. Although heel Cubbi would have been just as awesome though just like a heelish Kit.
But Cubbi is the babyface so this is not out of character for him. As they are talking Dukie tries to sneak up to the Gummi Bears; but Cubbi takes the VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and they drink up...and it's BUTT BOUNCING TIME as they bounce away allowing Dukie to fall flat on his face one more time while Cubbi blows off Dukie. Don't trust him indeed! The Gummi Bears bounce away from safety and all is right with the world. We head to the prison as ultra cool sidekick Toadie is still in prison as Dukie opens the door and Toadie is giddy with awesomeness as he grabs onto Dukie's leg in a real funny spot. Dukie proclaims his usual lies because he would never say that he lost the gold he worked so hard for. That would make him weak of course. He basically blows off Flint in which Flint blows him off with the flute sound which allows Dukie to cower behind Toadie in a spot that Dave THE CLEANING BARBARIAN OF LAUGHS would recycle when he hid behind a puppy. It's funnier when Dukie does it because the villain isn't lame like Chuckles is. Sadly; for Dukie it was only a blue bird chirping a flute sound on Toadie's little pinhead. Too funny as the ogres laugh it off. Dukie might have lost some heat; but it was funny so I'll let it slide. Dukie is ticked off as the episode ends right there at 10:40. This is the second perfect short of the series. Maybe Mark Zaslove has a future in this industry after all. ***** (100%).
THE REVIEW LINE
The first new shorts for Season 2 and they were near perfect this time around. They were two of my favorite episodes; so that helps a lot. Faster Than A Speeding Tummi was another one of those times where Tummi has tunnel vision and where he tries to show responsibility despite being too slow to do anything. It was a simple premise that could only work in a 11 minute short. It was marred by some ugly TMS animation near the end, one minor logic break and the lack of any funny spots when Gruffi went to slow motion. It would have been funny to see Gruffi in various spots while awaiting for the bears to come back; but the episode would require 15 minutes which the creators didn't have the luxury of flexible episode timing.
For A Few Sovereigns More dealt with the belief systems of the knight Vs. the disgraced knight which showed that even the cool Duke of Igthorn is no match for the cunning and no nonsense attitude of Flint Shurbwood. The Clint Eastwood persona was on full display and it was performed rather well. He was strong from start to finish as he was supposed to be. There was no way Dukie was going to keep his heat in any way with this character; but the writers managed to keep the loss of heat to a bare minimum and focus on Duke's beliefs against Cubbi's beliefs. I pretty much loved everything in this episode; from Cubbi/Dukie banter to Dukie's insanity on display when he is in trouble (the writers did an excellent job in making me think for a second that Duke Igthorn was going to murder a small child for real), to Cubbi's teased heel turn on Dukie (when he left Duke to the mercy of Flint near the end) to Cubbi deciding that he would save Dukie (because he would be as bad as Dukie if he didn't) to Dukie getting screwed by a blue bird, to Toadie getting used as a tether ball. It was done so well and the animation was dead on. I was having fun from start to finish. This was Mark Zaslove's first teleplay appearance and they made his debut count in this one. Next up is two more shorts; which include an angle which was spoken about in the pilot and the next short will pay that angle off; while the second one involves more sleeping. From here on; I'm ranting as if I am seeing these episodes for the first time in my life..So....
Thumbs up for both episodes and I'll see you all next time.