Return to 50 Webs
Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The webmaster has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.
Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the webmaster and no one else. The webmaster has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.
Over The River & Through The Trolls/You Snooze, You Lose
Reviewed: 08/05/2007
To Gummi Glen we go...I feel so sleepy...I feel so husky....driving through the Lazybones!
Remember in the pilot episode A New Beginning where Cavin mentions that his grandfather gave him the MEDALLION OF PROOFS to show that his grandfather was in fact in contact with the Gummi Bears?! Well; the writers decided that in the next short I'm going to rant that they would pay off this little angle and this is Grandfather's first appearance. Ironically enough; this is the first episode on Disc two to not involve the ogres or Dukie in any way. So let's rant on shall we...
Both episodes are teleplayed by the late Bruce Talkington. That was easy enough no?
Interesting Moment #1: Disney decided that an Extreme Opening Sequence Makeover was needed and there are several scenes from the original opening were replaced with Tummi's rocketing sequence, Cavin & Cubbi running away from the fake lizard men, more bouncing sequences, Cubbi's awesome bowling spot with purple ogre, Cavin bouncing off the spring stump, a different Quick Tunnel sequence and finally Toadie falling from an airship near the end. Stupidity question of the episode: Which is more deadly and painful: Getting squashed by an ogre which Toadie suffered in the first opening; or falling off an airship which Toadie suffers now in the second opening? I don't get why Disney bothered with a second opening in the middle of the season when they could have waited until the third season when Gusto's debut would REQUIRE such a change in the opening. Oh well; let's begin the rant....
Over The River & Through The Trolls: We begin this one in the forest as we get the pan shot to Sir Lazybones Tuxford and his knights looking for a sign and not getting it. The talking knight is Will Ryan for the two of you who care. Tuxford swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE twice (drat and blasted) because they are after robbers. I guess he's been busted down to robber knight! HA! I KILL ME! See they need to capture a bunch of trolls before the King's gold arrives. And of course we get the mug shot of the troll leader hiding in the trees. Lazybones doesn't suspect a thing as that knight looks to me like a troll spy as he points out that the trolls escaped stage left. Lazybones proclaims that there isn't a troll within a hundred miles and then the ROPE OF TIEUPS tie up Lazybones and pull him up. Drat; Lazybones cannot even play robber knight properly because there are now at least three trolls (two of them with their ugly faces hidden by masks) within ten feet from Tuxford! How about that?! The horse runs away scared of course. The talking knight backs up too slowly and he is punished with the hole in the ground spot which Team Rocket would drive down to the earth's core. Two more trolls appear from the bushes and they taunt two more knights to chase them which ends up with them getting the trip wire spot allowing to land off-screen on their faces with some good bumps in the process. Lazybones proclaims that those wart infested trolls cannot get the best of the knights of Dumbwin...ERRR..Dunwyn. I think they already did Lazybones. Man; Tuxford's talking is SO lazy. He made more of an effort to swing around to amuse me. We return to Castle Dumbwin...ERRR... Castle Dunwyn as the knights are all right minus their armor because all trolls need steel in order to protect themselves I guess. Sir Lazybones explains the situation to King Gregor, Cavin and Unwin.
Methinks Lazybones is a liar because he's well; a lazybones. King Gregor is worried that those wart infested trolls will steal his gold. Cavin is even more worried because his grandfather is returning to see him which allows Unwin to do his usual mocking of Cavin. See; this grandfather believes in Gummi Bears and that's why Cavin earned that slap on the back. Remember that Cavin had mentioned in the pilot episode about having a grandfather who gave him the medallion? Well; here's the payoff episode for that angle. Lazybones then demonstrates that he is lazy by stating that they would be too late to save him once they re-arm. Cavin is upset and runs out of the castle to help Gramps. I'm surprised that King Gregor allowed it without saying a word. Cavin runs into the dark forest wondering if the trolls would discover him. Sadly; Cavin doesn't look where he is going and does the second trip wire spot of the episode and gets caught in the net. These is a moving of the bushes as Cavin gulps in fear realizing that those wart- infested...Gummi Bears?! Never mind as the babyfaces comes out of the bushes with various international objects. Except for Zummi; who has his magic and Cubbi who has his WOODEN SWORD OF PIN PRICKS. Oh lookie; Sunni and Grammi are welding kitchen object; how stereotypical of them. Cavin waves hello to them and we quickly cut to inside Gummi Glen's living room as Cavin and the Gummi Bears exchange notes on the situation. See; Cavin needs their help because his grandfather is on that stage coach and he's the one who gave Cavin the medallion. Cavin seems angry for some odd reason as he recalls the story in the flashback. Note to Family Guy: This is the proper way to do a flashback sequence.....
We go to a cliff where Cavin's grandfather (who is a lot younger at this point) climbing up the North Mountain which is close to Userila (?sp- I'm not going to rewind the DVD. I want to get this done as soon as possible) according to Zummi. Stay out of Cavin's flashback you nosy mage! He makes it to the top; but he foolishly steps on a loose rock and slides down to the bottom mountain. The dust cloud beckons which allows for the BLACK SHADOW OF DOOM which in the shape of a Gummi Bear to bounce away. Grandfather notices it for a moment and then looks down to see the medallion on the ground. He grabs it and keeps it for the rest of his life. Cavin states in the narration that it brought him good luck as we cut to Grandfather who is a young man with the brown mustache wearing the medallion on his neck. Advance time some more and we see Cavin's grandfather (who looks awfully goofy to me) give the medallion for good luck when Cavin became a page. Then Cavin gives the medallion to Zummi in the pilot episode. Cavin's screed is enough for Gruffi to admit that they will help his grandfather. We now go to the real action as a stage coach is near a river and is having problems moving due to the thick mud around the edges. Two people are pushing while the coach driver (voiced by the late Lorenzo Music) is demanding them to push. If you think back seat drivers are bad; imagine a front seat one. The coach driver has one tooth gone as we cut to the three people pushing the coach out of the mud. Or at least trying to. Seeing a woman doing her part is so out of place during the time period that it deserves being mocked. The middle one looks like Unwin which is good because he's getting to be almost as lazy as Lazybones. The right is a man who looks like Mario in Dark Ages gear. And of course; Cavin's grandfather does nothing...AND THE ROCK SEZS NOTHING.
Oh wait; he's stroking his white mustache, my mistake! He's also got a gold cane and just looks too goofy to be taken seriously. I guess the cane shows that he is justified in not pulling his weight if you know what I mean; wink, wink, nudge nudge! He is voiced by Michael Rye as he recalls his Gummi Fable just to annoy them. The posse is sick of hearing this because they are stuck and they need muscle. Sadly; the coach remains stuck in the mud. Cavin's Grandfather decides to show them the story of the badger and the boulder where the badger rocked the boulder back and forth as the posse is swimming in the mud after collapsing from the pain and suffering of using muscle to move a coach about six inches. Cavin's grandfather manages to rock it enough so that the coach moves forward completely out of the mud and to safety. The posse get swamped by the wave of mud the coach makes of course. That'll teach them for wasting Sir Gowan's time. The coach driver is SHOCKED about Gowan's smarts. We cut back to Gummi Glenn's living room as Grammi is sewing up masked outfits in order to keep the Gummi Bears from being spotted. So now Grammi has all of Dave THE CLEANING BARBARIAN OF LAUGHS gimmicks down pat: cooking, cleaning and knitting. And she's still better than Dave in spite of being an obvious stereotype. Gruffi of course blows her off because she said short and not blowing her off would be out of character for him. It looks like Gruffi and Zummi will be going on this mission. Cavin of course is in his outfit wearing the goofy mustache. He also has the sack with the Great Gummi trophy. Let me guess; that was made by Gruffi too right?! Cavin's MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN is basically to sneak in and rescue grandfather and stop the trolls using the trophy as a decoy I guess.
Cavin calls this plan foolproof. Geez; Cavin just say Cavin's got a plan and it would have been funnier. All I got was a sneeze spot which the goofy mustache get blown right into Gruffi's face. Gruffi doesn't like this as we cut to a check in station as the stage coach is waiting for the other passenger. Sir Gowain and the coach driver are wondering where they are. The coach driver explains that they are staying at the check in station and that Gowain, the king's gold and the driver will go to Dunwyn alone. Gowan now wants to drive and gets it weither the drivers likes it or not. I'm really digging Gowain for some reason as he grabs the reigns and flicks them and it's OFF TO THE RACES. Gowan amuses me even more as he drives and blows the bugle at the same time. This is a fun episode to rant on now as we cut to Cavin in his MASTER OF DISGUISE walking with the sack wondering where the Gummi Bears are and Gruffi blows him off behind the bushes because he's done this ten times already. Do you sense that Cavin doesn't trust the bears anymore? This sounds out of character even for him. Zummi hides Gruffi in the bushes by whacking him with a bush. Cavin walks into the LOOP ROPE OF DEATH and gets hung upside down for his troubles. Zummi wants to enter; but Gruffi holds him back from the bushes as the TROLLS OF DOOM arrive (about seven plus the leader) as Cavin demands answers twice in a row. One in his normal voice and one in his stupid adult voice. You're so BUSTED Cavin! Admit it! The Troll leader proclaims that he is collecting for the poor; and the trolls are poor.
Yeah; sure like I buy that from a stinky wart infested troll. The green troll leader is voiced by Corey Burton. The trolls laugh as they empty the sack which contains the trophy. They are in awe and we know this because the gold Gummi Bear trophy is shining. Did TMS exchange notes with Sun Woo animation before Sun Woo took over animation duties at Disney? The trolls jumps on it and fight over it like a bunch of ogres fighting over who gets to play with ultra-cool sidekick Toadie's head. Green troll leader blows it off because he's the leader here as he whacks Cavin away and grabs the trophy from the trolls who are still fighting. What a bunch of dense trolls?! Cavin swings back and whacks the troll leader for whacking him in the place as the troll leader falls down in a wussy bump. Did Sun Woo invade this episode?! Troll leader gets up and demands answers and Cavin claims that he bought it and then sneezes to blow his cover. The trolls do a cute spot with the mustache of course. Don't ask me who voiced the yellow troll; I'll assume it's Corey Burton since neither of my sources on the matter have any references to it. Although New Gumbrea claims that a troll was voiced by Michael Rye however, there is no episode reference to it. Now apparently; the Gummi Bears blend in as the troll leader realizes that Cavin has mostly useless objects to give.
Then Zummi enters the fray and it turns into a battle of verbal psychology. Apparently; it ends up Gruffi proclaiming that yellow troll wants to be the leader which yellow troll doesn't want to be. Now that is PSYCHOLOGY BABEE! I wish more animation nowadays would learn the fine art that DTVA knew a long time ago. The trolls get mean and nasty and that leads to the trolls to fight each other complete with dustcloud. It's 1986; what did you expect?! You expected to see their fists actually make contact on faces on screen?! Zummi and Gruffi go to help Cavin; but Cavin wants them to go to Dunwyn to warn King Gregor. Cavin's plan: be trolls and lure them down here. Yeah; that will really work..NOT! Cavin wants some VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and he gets that at least to keep. Gruffi and Zummi leave Cavin to deal with the fighting with each other trolls. I wonder how these trolls EVER got so good?! I guess fighting each other makes them stronger as a team...However; a bugle blows off-screen and green troll leader ends the fight in a tangled mess as they go to MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN #23A. I know that because green troll tells us that the stage coach is coming and it's time to execute Plan #23A. The trolls scatter leaving Cavin to hang upside down to show how Kit should perfect the spot. The stage coach arrives and stops as Sir Gowan sees Cavin hanging upside down. Stupid move Sir Gowan as Cavin tries to warn them; but the troll blindside the stage coach easily. So much for Gowain's fighting skills I say...
We cut to the trees while Sir Gowain and Cavin are tied up to one tree while the stage coach driver is tied up against another tree. Well; this is another fine mess you got Sir Gowan into Cavin?! Or maybe not as the trolls try to open up the CHEST OF DEMONS to get the money. You need something better than a rock to open that CHEST OF DEMONS guys?! Cavin does have his VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE in his hand as he does a neat spot in struggling to uncork it while Sir Gowan is amazed that Cavin is even here. If he wants to know why Cavin is here; he can blame it all on Sir Lazybones Tuxford. Cavin has no success as he and Gowain exchange memories which leads to Gowain admitting that he never believed in luck anyway. Like most stories you have to lie to make it good right?! Never mind as we cut to the front of the drawbridge where Zummi and Gruffi are sizing up how to get King Gregor's attention. Zummi's idea is to use a spell to dry the moat. However; that spell isn't needed because Sir Tuxford and his men are on horseback ready to MURDER some trolls as he orders the drawbridge to be lowered. Gruffi throws a rock and it hits the drawbridge and the drawbridge opens anyway. Sir Tuxford sees the fake trolls and wants his men to MURDER them. Zummi and Gruffi run away as Zummi blows Gruffi off. I don't get that.
It's not like anything Gruffi would have done would have changed the fact that the drawbridge was going to open regardless of what the Gummi Bears did. I guess it was done to pad episode a little bit. We cut back to the stage coach as the trolls raise the CHEST OF DEMONS with a pulley rope on a tree branch and then let go which allows the CHEST OF DEMONS to fall. It still doesn't open. They try again as Cavin finally manages to uncork his VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and spit the cork out. Great spot there Cavin as he asks Gowan to loosen the ropes a little and Gowan sells it with some reservation as he groans which gives him the CHEAP HEAT OF LAUGHS. Cavin manages to drink up and it's ROID RAGE TIME! Cavin snaps the ropes with his ROIDED strength and the stage coach driver is SHOCKED at Cavin's strength. That's the power of the ROIDS dude! The trolls try again to break the CHEST OF DEMONS; but Cavin grabs the CHEST OF DEMONS before it hits the ground again. Gowan has his cane and IT IS ON BABEE! Gowan gets onto the stage coach driver side as Cavin tries to get the CHEST OF DEMONS onto the stage coach but the roids wear off. You know you are screwed when THAT happens. Gowain invokes the cane to lift the CHEST OF DEMONS on the coach before Cavin gets MURDERED by it. Gowain flicks the reigns and we get the always exciting stage coach race with the trolls following close behind.
I guess the real driver's teeth scared Gowain off because he's not joining them. The Gummi Bears are running stage left as they are being chased by Sir Lazybones and his knights. Back to the stage coach as Cavin's got the cane to whack those ugly wart-infested trolls. The trolls hang on and the stage coach teeters to one side which allows the trolls to get onto the stage coach and now Cavin is hanging on for dear life. How about that role reversal?! Green Troll Leader goes over to Cavin's hand and does the release fingers from grip spot which is as stale as ten year old bread. Cavin yells for help; but Gowain has two trolls of his own to deal with who are running interference. And now; Green Troll leader decides to whack Gowain with the TROPHY OF DEATH. Why?! Shouldn't you get rid of Cavin first?! I don't understand why the writers are changing stuff so quickly. And here comes the Gummi Bears and Sir Lazybones from the front shot as Zummi and Gruffi split the pair while the knight follow in two directions complete with nets. The coach continues to drive toward Dunwyn and stop as the knights capture all the trolls including the leader. The leader tries to make the yellow troll the leader; but he gets caught anyway.
He still has the trophy in case you are wondering. Yellow troll is the only one left and he hides inside the stage coach. Sir Tuxford goes over and greets Sir Galwin. Normally; I would say that the crack Disney Caption team is full of crap; but since Sir Tuxford himself refers to him as Sir Galwin; then Chris Barat got his name wrong along with New Gummbrea. However; yellow troll runs in front of the horses and that's enough to tease them as they run away with the stage coach in tow. Cavin flies out of the stage coach and takes a really sick bump onto the ground. OUCH! The stage coach races away as Gruffi and Zummi uncork their VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and drink up. It's BUTT BOUNCING TIME as the chase continues on. Zummi bounces to the stage coach and Sir Galwin notices him. He is in complete SHOCK as Zummi bounces onto the stage coach and gives Sir Galwin the reigns. The axle assembly which connects the horses to the stage coach completely breaks and the horses go one way while the coach goes down a steep hill. How does that work?! The stage coach is heading for the rocks so Zummi looks into his SPELL NOTES OF SATAN and finds the spell to cast...
Zummi: Flummie, nummow!
Translation: Fluff me now cow!
That was was pretty funny as the medallion lights up and the stage coach has red wings (via the red curtains) and flies away. So that's how Red Bull is made! The stage coach lands safely onto the ground as Zummi waves goodbye and bounces away as Cavin approches him. I don't see the point of this since Cavin is Zummi's friend; but whatever. Cavin and Galwin exchange notes as Cavin lies about not ever seeing a Gummi Bear himself. Galwin proclaims that he will someday to end the episode at 10:39. Galwin is that dense. Anyhow; not a great episode by any means; but it served it's purpose of paying off the angle involving Cavin's grandfather. I still think Galwin's character could have been developed a little more instead of using the time to pad spots that were quite pointless. *** 1/2 ( 70%)
You Snooze, You Lose: We start this one in Drekmore (well we're back to overexposing Dukie after one episode of bliss) as we head to the kitchen where Dukie and his ultra cool sidekick Toadie are trying to make the ROIDED JUICE OF DOOM. We know this because Dukie wonders how many Gummi berries they used in the last batch. This is why Dukie has lost his heel heat because you would think that a villain would have remember to keep two sets of notes when he tormented Grammi in Secret of The Juice. Although they do manage to maintain CONTINUITY from the episode; so it isn't all bad. Dukie proves just how weak he is now when he cannot squeeze a yellow berry in his fingers. He puts it into the batch and it smells like a wet ogre. He must have smelled Toadie because he doesn't smell anything wrong with the batch. Dukie takes out the spoon to take a sample out and Toadie tries to scatter to find a suitable volunteer; but Dukie grabs Toadie and forces him to drink. He still manages to gain as much heat as he's losing it at this point. He clearly drinks too much as Dukie puts him down and Toadie holds his mouth as he turns into hot pink fuzz. I can see it now: the priest from Hot Fuzz coming into the room and saying: “Stop This Mindless Violence!” before pulling out two pistols and shooting at them.
Dukie throws the batch away in an act of mindless violence (and swearing in DUBBED ANIME STYLE and it lands in the water trough. The smell actually puts the ogres and the horses to sleep and Dukie seems inspired now because they just made SLEEPING ROIDS. And without Larson and Gary's help too. Maybe Dukie is all we need to bury those two losers. Or maybe not as Dukie shakes the hot pink fuzz off of Toadie and they hug in a disturbing spot. Over a sleeping potion?! That is so lame as we head to the hallway of Dunwyn as Calla is trying out her new fashion as the future queen of Dumbwin...ERRR...Dunwyn. Sadly; the crown won't agree with her and keeps doing Kit's pull the hat over Molly's eyes spot on it's own. Princess Calla is blowing it up so to speak as she has some roses in her hands. Thornless of course lest she goes into a Sleeping Beauty sleeping spot. Her Charm Teacher (Roger C. Carmel) is explaining that after she is announced she floats down the staircase. He has a dagger and is in clothes that should be outlawed by the FASHION POLICE OF LAW. He demonstrates how to float down the steps and he looks like a jerk doing it. Calla holds her white dress up and walks down the stairs and doing a decent job of it while the Charm Teacher continues to annoy her with the chin up routine I hear from so many Sustainer gamers. Sadly; that crown she's wearing is too big for her head and it drops down over her eyes and she trips and falls down more gracefully than Rockstar Games is right now after their meal ticket gets delayed until 2008. That seems to be happening to a lot of PlayStation 3 games lately.
The Charm Teacher blows her off because she dropped her flowers. Memo to Charm Teacher: Get her a better fitting crown and then she won't trip and fall in the first place. She looked fine otherwise and Princess Calla blows him off in kind and storms out of the castle. Good for her; that Charm Teacher is so lame! Charm Teacher calls her back; but she won't bite. Then she blows off King Gregor because she's useless. Oh come on..Leave Gregor out of this! It's not his fault that the Charm Teacher gave her a defective crown. Calla hates her life as she basically stains her dress just to prove her point and goes to the storage box and pushes a button to open it. See; it's really a secret box which allows her to visit the Gummi Bears without drawing King Gregor's attention. She hops in and goes down the stairs as she opens up a little playroom where she sits in the rocking chair and decides to torment her father a little because she is being made to look like a stereotypical princess. Umm..Okay; if that is what you want Princess Calla. King Gregor could always starve you to death to make you think otherwise. That turns out to be a good decision as we cut to outside Castle Dunwyn as purple ogre makes his return with green ogre as they pour the SLEEPING ROIDS OF DEATH right into the moat while wearing their sleepy proof masks (!!) which are so hideous that even the FASHION POLICE OF LAW would allow them.
Of course when they start talking; they are too stupid to realize that taking off the masks will make them sleepy. So they take off the masks and become sleepy. Ogres: Big body; little tweey weeny brain. The sleep smell overtakes the castle like a death plague and everyone is in lala land so to speak. The sleep smell dies as Princess Calla comes out of the box and notices that everyone is sleeping in broad daylight. She goes towards the drawbridge and notices the sleeping ogres. Drat! If they weren't so stupid; Dukie's cover wouldn't have been blown. Calla goes to the drawbridge wheel in order to close the drawbridge but it doesn't move and she rips off more of her dress in the process. She takes out her VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and uncorks it. She drinks up and it's ROID RAGE TIME! She spins the wheel of fortune and her fortune is good because the drawbridge is closed and locked up. That will buy some time as she looks her help from the Gummi Bears no doubt...
We head to the forest where the ogres are sitting down on the job while Dukie continues to blow the two ogres off as morons because they haven't returned. Well that is what happens when you hire dumb henchmen Dukie. I wish Don Karnage had learned that lesson before creating the Air Pirates. And not to screw with a child's moral compass either. See; he only has one hour to take over the castle which is the time limit for the SLEEPING ROIDS to wear off. Toadie is gliding on Dukie's new red cape just to amuse me because he's an idiot and he's the ultra-cool sidekick. We head to Gummi Glenn (because we see the shot of outside of Gummi Glenn) as we see the Gummi Bears and Cavin (huh?) playing in the living room and roasting various stuff over an open fire including wieners. IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK YOU SICK FREAKS! Sunni the teenybopper wonders if her wiener is done and of course that allows Tummi to eat her hot dog. I guess Tummi is enabling Sunni to suffer from an eating disorder. What a bad influence as Princess Calla is in the dining room and she looks tired. Cavin notices Princess Calla and comes to her rescue; but she screams for help like an ugly old woman. Now that is one quality scream there! Gruffi wakes up and takes a back header on the floor with a wussy bump. I see TMS is referring back to the 1985 style for this one so you know it's a special occasion. Or not...
We cut back to Dukie as he decides it's time to strike as he tells ultra-cool sidekick Toadie to turn the hourglass on the rock. Toadie turns the hourglass which is supposed to give him one hour to take over Castle Dumbwin..ERRR..Castle Dunwyn. I think they should have done that about five minutes ago and now they have only 55 minutes left to win. Toadie turns over the hourglass and LET THE FAIL SEIGE OF THE CASTLE COMMENCE! A quick Quick Tunnel sequence involving the Gummi Bears commences and we quickly cut to Toadie doing the Skip-To-My-Lou spot (YAY!) with the red leaves which he throws to the ground out of his basket. Finally; he does my favorite spot involving him. He is so much an idiot. Two ogres carry the stretchers with Dukie on it of course because real stereotypical kings NEVER get their hands dirty. That's why King Gregor is a fair and just king. The rest of ogres play music behind him and I wait with baited breath for Dukie to clobber them with those foul instruments they are using. It doesn't happen sadly as they make it to the drawbridge and of course it is closed to Dukie. Dukie is angry so he orders the ultra-cool sidekick Toadie to pop over there and open the drawbridge.
Which means Toadie will be thrown by two ogres in a cute spot over the bridge and land with a MAN-SIZED bump on the other side. Damn; I'm good as Dukie feels so gushy inside because he's going to be king of Dumbwin...ERRR...Dunwyn. Sadly; Toadie gets popped right out of the castle by Princess Calla and Toadie lands in the moat. Dukie is mad now...Oh; Dukie just stomped on his red robe so you know he's serious. He hates the fact that he's going to get defeated by two children and a bunch of mythological bears (his words, not mine) which is responded with a blow off from Gruffi of course. Dukie blows off the bears because he has all the time in the world; but Toadie blows off the secret of course. Dukie tries to swipe Toadie; but he misses of course. You know he's weak when he cannot even swipe Toadie. The babyfaces thank Toadie for blowing that little revelation. This is becoming like Louie's Last Stand right now as Dukie doesn't care because one hour is enough to win the castle. Zummi asks for the princess' orders and Calla has none to offer because she's just a princess. She accepts whatever Gruffi's orders are and Gruffi decides for the bears to scatter and use their heads. They only have to defend the castle for our hour. That shouldn't be too hard since many great sieges last much longer than that in real life.
We cut to the forest where three ogres are on stilts as Dukie's first MIMI JOKE ZONE plan to get inside is underway. They walk across the moat easily as Gruffi and Princess Calla find the saw and rope pulley. Gruffi will go low while Calla goes high. A wrestling finisher using international objects ensumes as Princess Calla manages to tie the orange ogres stilts and drag orange ogre into the moat. However; green ogre manages to grab onto Calla's dress and tear away another piece. She's going to have a wardrobe malfunction at this rate. Tummi pulls onto the piece of dress as that is enough to run interference as Gruffi invokes the saw on the stilts. Green ogre collapses and falls into the moat after one of the stilts is broken in two (thanks to a pushoff from Tummi.). That leaves yellow ogre as he manages to get to the castle walls and climbs up to the battlement just as Sunni comes in on cue with an open box and she blows the GUMMI ashes. OH MY GOD! That no good little teenybopper diva just degraded her culture by using her grandfather's ashes to defeat that ogre. Does she have no shame?! Okay; it's only dust. Yellow ogres sneezes of course (EWWWW! He got ogre germs on Sunni! That's going to tick her off!) and basically gets MURDERED by several trees on the back of his head with MAN-SIZED bumps along the way. He is out and so are the trees. I think he's chirping to himself. Oh wait; she was only using pepper actually.
Lame joke from Bruce Talkington though. That was an easy inning for the Gummi Bears; so sezs Tummi. The second inning begins with orange ogre with the tree and he's going to play pole vaulting as he basically MURDERS himself on the castle walls with a resounding splat. If this were South Park; there would be blood dripping and this show would soon be canceled because of their heroic efforts to prevent the show from farting anymore. We cut to another area where the ogres make up a chain ladder using themselves of course. See; even heels know the fine concept of teamwork and group think. Grammi is SHOCKED and appalled that the heels have degraded the biggest babyface concept in all of DTVA. It's too far away; but Cubbi doesn't care because he's AWESOME. He uncorks his VIAL OF ROIDED JUICE and drinks it. It's BUTT BOUNCING TIME as he bounces on the roofs of the houses inside the castle to cover more ground quickly and bounces right to the battlement. He then plays pinball on the green ogres and topples him over the edge carrying all the ogres in chain ladder formation to certain doom. HAHA! That will teach you to steal babyface tactics and call them your own you group thinkers! A
ll of them fall into the moat except for green ogre who falls on the ground in a sick bump to his jaw. OUCH! Did I mention how AWESOME Cubbi is?! Then Logic Break #1 ensues as Cubbi is already back to the area where Cavin is. Wow; those ROIDS give Cubbi a new land speed record there as Cavin points out that there are more ogres coming and Princess Calla is panicking because she want King Gregor so badly. Logic Break #2 for the episode ensues as injured green ogre tries his hand at pole vaulting now. It's a logic break because Cubbi refers to him as if he did this before when he only did it just now. Zummi goes into his SPELL NOTES OF SATAN and has an Ice Wall spell. Isn't that a Level 30 spell there Zummi....?
Zummi: Ummice, cummold, nummov!
Translation: My Ice Come Mold Numb Now!
....Of course he blows it; but it turns the pole the green ogre was using into an icicle and it shatters on cue as green ogre falls into the moat. Gruffi blows him off course because he's still a Level 29 mage. The good news for the Gummi Bears is that Dukie's time is almost up. We know this because ultra cool sidekick Toadie has the hourglass and it's nearing the end of it's sand. The bad news is that the three ogres (green, yellow and orange) has created the bridge to get over the moat now. Sadly; it doesn't reach the bridge and when they try to charge twice (the second time with the axes); the bridge points down and they have to run away to avoid going into the moat. Dukie's heat is flying away as we speak now. Gruffi gleefully blows Dukie off as Dukie tells the ogres to hold the bridge while he charges instead. Princess Calla taunts him because he's a dumb general. Dukie blows her off with a sexist comment of his own. Hey; he's the heel; what did you expect?! This is 1986; not 2006 people! Princess Calla really takes offense to that comment and Dukie eggs her on even more as Princess Calla stands her ground because she's a princess see. So she orders the babyfaces to lower the drawbridge.. WHAT?! That has got to be the biggest brain fart I have witnessed this side of Sony.
The babyfaces are SHOCKED; but they don't want to handle the WRAITH OF CALLA so they sell. We cut to outside as Dukie has the giant ax as he tells the ogres to follow him when the drawbridge is lowered. The ogres sell like brainwashed dorks who think making money is evil instead of merely a sin. The babyfaces bounce on the lever (WRONG LEVER!) and that lowers the drawbridge. There is about one minute left in the episode by the way. So the drawbridge basically presses hard on the bridge and Dukie is slingshot and is popped right out of the episode. The dumb ogres follow because they are REALLY STUPID of course. The babyfaces exits the castle and follows the ogres out of the episode as well. Cavin and Princess Calla waves goodbye (to Dukie and his heel heat no doubt) on the battlement as Gruffi waves goodbye one last time before running away.
The SANDS OF TIME run out in the hourglass and everyone in Dunwyn wakes up. They do not suspect a thing; except the blacksmith breaks his thumb on the mallet, the baker is face planted into a pie. That was pretty cute and the world is right again as they say. Princess Calla and Cavin walk down the stair just as the Charm Teacher notices her and she walks down the steps gracefully. I told you it was the crown you stupid teacher! Calla blows him off nicely as she plays with her crown and that ends the episode at 10:37. Worst short in the series so far. I'm sorry folks; I didn't like this episode much as this template of Louie's Last Stand was a bummer. And Dukie lost a lot of heat here as he didn't even get into the castle once as he was reduced to blowing off Princess Calla while his army got pretty much completely squashed. I think now we can say that Duke Igthorn's fall from grace has officially begun with this short. * ¾ (35%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Wow; after going through a streak of good to great episodes; I get some good to poor episodes here. Over The River And Through The Trolls was a pretty good albeit middling short which was designed for the purpose of developing Cavin's Grandfather and pay off the angle which was started in A New Beginning. The purpose was served; but Galwin could have been developed just a little more as he looked like a goofy old man with some spunk; but he would have been more special if the writers didn't show us pointless spots which weren't needed. Gruffi throwing the rock at the drawbridge was useless because the knights would have lowered the drawbridge and noticed them anyway. The trolls were nothing special as they were a band of thieves who like to fight at each other as much as steal stuff. They were pretty easy to defeat as well. The yellow troll turned out to be the smartest troll out there. The ending was all right; and we all know that Galwin saw a Gummi Bear so it worked all in context. Besides; it's not like he's going to convince anyone of his exploits anyway so the secret is safe.
Sadly; You Snooze; You Lose was a losing episode with good animation and a great spot from Cubbi; but not much else. The sleeping potion plot device is stale; but that wasn't the big problem. It was a bad template for Louie's Last Stand as Duke Igthorn wasn't just soundly defeated; he and his army was basically squashed without as much as getting over the battlements. This plot device doesn't work for a 11 minute short and it showed. Because of this; Duke Igthorn loses a lot of heel heat as a result. I was hoping that Dukie would succeed in getting into the castle; but the time would run out just as he's about to get to the throne and then King Gregor would wake up and Dukie would be forced to scatter out of the castle by the knights. King Gregor and Sir Tuxford weren't even involved in this episode. They didn't even make a cameo. Bad, bad decision there Jymn. There will be better episodes involving this plot device like in Louie's Last Stand. So......
Thumbs in the middle for Over The River & Through The Trolls and a thumbs down for You Snooze, You Lose and I'll see you all next time.