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My Gummi Lies Over The Ocean
Reviewed: 08/11/2007
Gusto gusts right into my heart and ends Season Two!
We finally start the tail end of Volume one of the Gummi Bears DVD with the season finale of Season 2. At this point; only Chummi Gummi was added as a Gummi Bear who was still alive at this point. It didn't quite work out well. So; the writers decided to try again to get a new Gummi Bear over as a regular character and this episode would be perfect for it. This I believe is the DTVA debut for Rob Paulsen as a voice actor. It also is the end of the constant credits in Gummi Bears as Season 3 would prove to be the first sign of the creator by committee. It was also the end of the line for Gummi Bears to have no competition from within Disney Television itself as a new series was going to be born in the Fall of 1987: Ducktales. So how did this finale do? Let's rant on and find out...
This episode is teleplayed by Doug Hutchinson, Bruce Talkington, Jymn Magon and Mark Zaslove. Holy crap! Four teleplayers for a 22 minute episode?! That's real overkill if you ask me. I believe this is Doug's last appearance on Gummi Bears; at least for now. He'll be back on DTVA soon enough though so don't worry. The reminder would go on to make the best series in the land in 1990.
Interesting Moment #1: The 1985 opening sequence is used in this one. Hopefully; this will be the absolute last time I mention this.
We begin this one inside Gruffi's bedroom as the GUMMI ALARM OF DOOM beckons to wake him up. And since it's a Gummi Bear Alarm Clock; it has to have a bee ringer. Gruffi in his yellow painted tinfoil suit and hat get up at once and starts doing exercise moves. I can see him buying a Wii sometime in the future. He brushes his teeth over a wash basin counting like a goof. He then goes to the SIGN OF THE GUMMI WAY which violates ANIME DUB CONDUCT RULE #12 (Thou shalt not rhyme- because it's COOL!) and fixes it to show that this is an orderly life. He then goes into the kitchen and everyone is hard at work to make Gruffi's life miserable. I see Sunni's flute is back after it was cleaned from The Fence Sitter. Zummi is now claiming that he isn't TOO FAT. Even though he's about the same size as Gruffi; color me unamused. Cubbi is using the MALLET OF PAIN on a weird bottle as Gruffi swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (bear's fur) and moves in to bring order to chaos. He steals Sunni's flute (YAY!) and removes Cubbi from the steam bottle (BOO HISS!) and gives Zummi his toast on a plate (YAY!) and of course it ends as Gruffi points out that Grammi's pot is in the sink, not under it. Grammi thanks Gruffi and Gruffi points out that he's an orderly man as the orange KETTLE OF DOOM is corked while Gruffi wants to know where Tummi is go he can steal his tools back from him.
Zummi doesn't know so Gruffi attempts to leave the scene but the cork (remember it was on the kettle) shoots out from the spout and nails Gruffi right in the can. HA HA! Gruffi's pain is my gain. Oh great! I just violated ANIME DUB CONDUCT RULE #12 as we cut to the shot of outside Gummi Glenn so DTVA's batting average on that spot is kept up. We cut to the stairs where Gruffi is walking up while blowing off Tummi because he's in the middle of one of his cockamamie garden projects (Gruffi's words, not mine) He goes through the door and slides down the slide in really bad fashion while blowing off Tummi's use of a crowbar. I won't state what he is using it for because it's funny. Gruffi looks behind the bushes and sees a horrible sight as Tummi is building a sailboat. No; seriously; he's working his tail off making a sailboat. Gruffi shouts at Tummi as the sails basically cover Tummi in a tomb of sails so to speak. Tummi recovers and asks for Gruffi's approval of this marvelous work of art and Gruffi blows him off because it would be a danger to Gummi Glenn and he grabs the AXE OF PAIN to chop it up.
You would think that after 31 episodes that Gruffi would have learned by now that only Dukie is a real threat to them; but I guess the green painted tinfoil hat is turning the rational part of his brain into mush. Tummi gasps...badly..in horror because that was his life's work and he stands in front of it to defend it's honor from the paranoid Gruffi. See; he's been building model boats his whole life and wanted to build a real boat. Gruffi takes it as still justification to MURDER it; but Tummi wants to test it to see if it is seaworthy. A one way trip to Nilsson's Point is all he asks and since he said please; Gruffi is screwed and throws down his weapon of choice for killing people's hopes and dream. Squidward would be proud. However; he's coming to make sure Tummi destroys the thing and Tummi agrees to it. However; before Gruffi can walk away to get another axe (I think) Tummi wants to do a launching party because it's a tradition to do so with a new sail boat. Gruffi is taken aback from this; but since it is a joke, Tummi must win this one....
So we go to the launch of the S.S. Tummi as Gruffi is in the sailboat wearing a sailor hat on top of Gruffi's hat which proves that the hat Gruffi is wearing is green-painted tinfoil. They are wearing life jackets which shows that the PC'ness is still around. After all; in TaleSpin Kit and Baloo didn't wear any life jackets in Time Waits For No Bear and they were in a speedboat no less! As I said back it would be a few year before they got the PC'ness out of their systems and then it returned in 1997. Tummi is wearing a captain's hat and the life jacket assures that he doesn't look like a complete tool wearing it. Why does this sailboat have a happy face on front of the ship?! Tummi request permission to come board and Gruffi grants it while mumbling which allows Tummi to ask him about his mumbling (What was that boatswain?!) and Gruffi grants the permission and calls him Admiral Tummi. Now that's how to order an orderly man! Tummi climbs aboard and calls this fun. It's going to get better Tummi; at least I hope it will as we cut to Tummi at the front looking for typhoons off the starboard bow. Memo to Tummi: In Europe; it's hurricanes. In Asia; it's typhoons. Just want you to know. Gruffi lays there doing nothing but handle the rudder while Tummi plays sea captain.
The sailboat reaches the bushes which means an ambush of ogres is about to commence and it does happen! Tummi uncorks his paddle and they are forced to paddle away from the shore. I betcha Gruffi's happy to hear that he was right about being exposed; but then again he's never happy. Again; the tinfoil hat... We get a downstream chase with the ogres and the ogres stop as the river narrows. Tummi wants to slow down; but Gruffi wants to go faster. Tummi wins because they are now downstream and they go down a waterfall, a S-curve rapids and another waterfall into the ocean (or lake; hard to tell from the animation) and the boat doesn't break in any place at all. Tummi and Gruffi are down; but Tummi recovers by praising his own building skill. Or maybe; it's fuzzy cartoon logic, who knows?! Okay; we are at sea as Gruffi blows him off since he wants to go back to land. Tummi suggests waiting until the wind changes and of course Gruffi blows that off and gets the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE and sees a green post in the water.
He lassos it and I predict that a sea monster is attached to that green post...It's always fun when I'm right as the GREEN SEA MONSTER OF DOOM arises from the watery grave of the sea and starts racing across the sea in S-waves dragging the S.S. Tummi with it. Tummi is looking smarter the longer this episode goes. Tummi wants Gruffi to cut the rope; but the sea monster is too fast so...(Spongebob Square Pants Narrator) 90 minutes later..(Normal voice) the sea dragon finally slows down enough for Gruffi to crawl slowly with the ax and cut the rope. The rope snaps and the sea dragon finally dives underneath the sea apparently dead tired. Gruffi stands up and blows off Tummi because there is no land. Memo to Gruffi: You have no one but yourself to blame for that spot.
Tummi wants Gruffi to be careful while standing on a boat. Gruffi blows him off and then Gruffi trips and falls onto the boat like an idiot. Gruffi gets back to the rudder and order Tummi to cast the sails. Tummi asks him why he doesn't get to steer and Gruffi proclaims that when the chips are down he is in charge. Despite the fact that he knows NOTHING..AND THE ROCK SEZS NOTHING about boats. Tummi mumbles to himself which makes Gruffi's face tighten up even more. That's enough for Tummi to get it and he raises the sails after saluting him. The sails finally catch wind and we are underway as Gruffi pushes the rudder to the right and the boat goes right and he still claims that the boat went left. Bad gaffe there TMS as Gruffi blows off Tummi's craftsmanship because he built the boat backwards. Tummi blows him off because boats are built that way and if he wanted to go left; he should have turned the rudder to the right. Gruffi blows it off because it's NOT THE GUMMI WAY. See; this is why Gruffi is an idiot. He thinks he knows the ways of the world; but he only knows his way is law and no one else's. See Sustainer gamer. See tyrants. So he pulls the rudder to the left and the sails MURDER him right in the head to shut that mindless boat expert up. Gruffi sees more stars than Paris Hilton doing a sex tape and faints dead away. That'll teach him to mess with the nature of boat making..
Post-Production Glitch #1: Half second black slug again. UGH!
Nightfall commences inside the S.S. Tummi as we shoot over to Gruffi getting up feeling his head as Tummi taunts him nicely. Gruffi then agrees to let Tummi steer; however, Tummi has no wind to steer with getting off death reference #1. Gruffi's is clearly getting sea sick at this point as his face wants to throw up; but BS&P won't let him...So.....that logically leads to...
Post-Production Glitch #2: Half second black slug. That's got to be some sort of record at about 15 seconds.
Morning commences inside the S.S. Tummi as Tummi is pointing at his toes while sitting down on the boat while Tummi is fishing pondering how long it takes to strave. Gruffi blows that off suggesting that it takes two years. I'm guessing about...(Spongebob SquarePants Narrator) 2 minutes later....(Normal voice) we see Gruffi and Tummi sitting against the sail pole as Gruffi now wants Grammi's cooking. Tummi feels dizzy because something is moving. Gruffi notices that they are caught in a current and he spots an island. Gruffi feels great because he is now in his element and gets to boss Tummi around I guess. Tummi then feels a bit concerned because they are going faster and there's rumbling up ahead. Gruffi doesn't like it because there is a hole in the ocean. THAT ISLAND IS FLOATING IN MID-AIR! Tummi takes over the rudder; but it's no use as the S.S. Tummi is about to literally go over the edge to end the segment eight minutes in...
After the commercial break; the S.S. Tummi races down and Tummi uses the rudder to find the spike ledge and guides the sailboat over to jump off the spike ledge and the sail boat jumps over the hole and lands right on the island. The boat glides across the beach and then takes an ultra MAN-SIZED bump right into a large rock allowing Gruffi and Tummi to be thrown from the sail boat into the bushes about 20 feet away. And finally; the S.S. Tummi is destroyed on impact which means that rock has ROCKS OF STEEL BABEE! Tummi and Gruffi walk from the bushes as Gruffi kneels down and kisses the ground. EWWWWWW! The ground didn't need Gruffi's paranoid germs. Tummi goes over to the boat feeling bad that his life's work is destroyed. Gruffi doesn't care because he's a fixer and he'll fix Tummi's boat. However; we get the side pan of the jungle inside as we hear Rob Paulsen's angry voice yelling at some lizard who is threatening him I guess. Gruffi gets out his ax and quiets Tummi so he can practice the fine art of not being seen. Tummi follows him with the broken board as we head into the jungle with Rob Paulsen's voice still on full blast. They walk into the forest and then Tummi notices the SCARY EARTH DRAGON OF DEATH against a mountainside; and it looks really ugly.
Tummi gets scared and tries to run; but Gruffi stops him because that dragon is only a statue as we cut up to see that there is scaffolding against the giant statue and the guy who's yelling like a maniac is a light blue Gummi Bear wearing a yellow tinfoil hat driving a spike with a mallet against the rock and the rock won't agree with him. He has on perch a tropical bird on his right shoulder with a Sea Duck like beak and black/white coloring scheme on his body. Tummi and Gruffi cannot believe their eyes because it's ANOTHER Gummi Bear! That makes eight now. No wonder Dukie is so paranoid. Gusto is having no luck and wallows in defeat as Artie Deco blows him off since Gusto's an artist not a dentist. For some reason I'm feeling Gusto despite his paranoid personality. You know Gusto's voice; but Artie started with a different voice for this episode which was either Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen or Lorenzo Music depending on what Chris Barat's mood was when he released the credit lists to me. The favorite is probably Corey Burton. Thankfully in Season 3; the creators decided on Brian Cummings as his voice. Gusto looks around and sees something he likes so he goes around and invokes the spike on the rock tooth and it shaves off some rock. Gusto then cheers for victory and thanks the muses because the statue is perfect now. And I thought Dukie was insane?! Then again; most great artists have to be a little insane in order to get their projects to work.
He then notices Tummi and Gruffi and he's really excited now (check out the poses he does; he's like a cartoon character) and he calls for Artie to get the dip ready and then swings down the rope and makes it to the bottom floor to greet his new guests. Gusto greets them and reveals his official name: Augustus Gummi while shaking Tummi's hand. Can you say child in man's body? Can you say explosion of excitement? Can you say AWESOME? That would be Gusto to a tee. This is going to be great and maybe Chummi wasn't so useless after all. He shakes Gruffi's hand in a fun way and asks Gruffi if they can get out of here. I guess he's not the only one who has been driven insane by the island. Gruffi shakes like a goof and informs him that their boat is in no shape to get away from the island and asks for other ways off the island. Gusto provides none because he was painting on the island and the beach disappeared completely. Then Gusto becomes inspired as he does a camera promo on them and tells them to move to the right a little bit. Tummi and Gruffi foolishly move to the elevator and step on it which allows Gusto to step with them and operate the elevator rope as it goes to the top of the statue. Gusto is so explosive and full of energy that even I am having trouble calling his spots.
He is really hyper here as he shows his artwork. He's so hyper that he claims to work on it for a year every 12 days; when it should be every 12 days for a year. Tummi is awed by it's presence and even Gruffi is awed enough not to do his annoying pose. However; Gruffi blows off Gusto's scaffold. Thank you Disney Captions for being useful by teaching me how to spell that word properly. Gusto goes into the mouth of the dragon as Gruffi blows him off for not being very Gummi because Gusto's exciting and Gruffi is boring. Unless when he's stubborn and blowing off Grammi. Gusto goes over to the oven door and it he shows the lava. Now you would think that he would use the lava because it would create a bridge to get across the island back home; but he's really doing it to make it breathe fire! BWHAHAHAHA! Tummi calls it dangerous; but Gusto responds that he's a safety geek because he wears googles. Double BWHAHAHAHAHA! This guy is so good as he offers Gruffi and Tummi a bite to eat because he is really a nice guy. An insane nice guy; but still a nice guy.
We cut to Gusto's broken down ship (which is his home I should point out) which looks like a goofy cafe you would see in Nova Scotia. Gruffi then actually studies the whole thing and comes within two letters of saying God Forsaken. Trust me; in 1986 this is close to Kit saying Oh My God in A Baloo Switcheroo. We cut to inside as Gusto blows off the lava bridge because he tried it himself and the it didn't reach anywhere. I should note that there are paintings everywhere inside the boat which makes Gusto officially the most vain babyface in DTVA history..before the FCC shows came along. Gruffi (who's sitting at the table while having the coconut bowl) blows Gusto off because his scaffolding was defective and therefore there is a tiny flaw in Gusto's logic thinking. Gruffi wants to tear it down so he can show Gusto how to build a bridge; but Gusto refuses because he's both vain and needs it to finish his statue. As Artie Deco lands on the table; Gruffi then asks Gusto what is more important; his vanity or getting off the island? Gusto of course is so vain that he doesn't take the question seriously. Why should he?! He's done awfully well on this island.
Tummi is feeding Artie the whole time with yellow berries and treating himself with watermelon. Gruffi proclaims that when there is a problem he is in charge and wants Tummi's approval on the subject. Considering that his boat slinging sucks like crap; I think Gruffi needs a better line of convincing. Gusto proclaims that they are safe and there is no emergency which Gruffi blows off getting in this face because Gusto cannot see that the island is falling apart at the seams. Gusto then responds by asking him about his hat which really gets Gruffi screaming mad. Why should we take Gruffi seriously when he wears a green tinfoil hat?! Gruffi storms out of the boat as Gusto then calls himself a moron because he was trying to cheer him up. Tummi responds to that as well as I expect from him and Gusto decides to return to his dragon statue walking out. Tummi decides that he is going to help both of them and then throws a watermelon for Artie Deco to catch and of course Artie is way too small to catch it so he's pretty much dead......He pretty much asked for that one..
Post-Production Glitch #3: Half second black slug...UUUUGGGGHHHH!
Nightfall beckons as the lights are on inside the bowels of Gusto's ship as Gusto is snoring in a the hay fever cover on the right while Gruffi and Tummi are sleeping in hay covers on the left side. Gruffi then proclaims that tomorrow they will get off the island and that orderly conduct will see them through. Tummi hopes so because they miss home. Gruffi blows out the lit candle and we go to sleep...for about five seconds as Gusto screams OUT OF NOWHERE that he sees a forked tongue. Gusto is up and he seems to be having way too much coffee for it to be healthy. Gusto runs out as Gruffi and Tummi wake up at the waking of the scream. Gruffi goes to the opening and sees that Gusto is at the statue creating a fork tongue because he is so inspired and vain. Gruffi yells at Gusto's hammering but Gusto blows him off because he is so vain. I am so loving this episode now that Gusto's involved as Gruffi returns to his bed and proclaims that he's building that bridge regardless of what Gusto thinks. They try to sleep again and morning arises as Gusto enters the boat house with Artie as Artie even agrees with the forked tongue. I don't care about the artwork; I care about you screwing Gruffi because for a guy who has no experience in boat sailing he should know better than to bring order to chaos. Gusto lays on his straw bed and tries to get some shuteye at last; but he hears chopping as Gruffi is chopping down a tree while Tummi is tying up wood. Apparently; he's the ordinary hard worker: Early to bed, early to screw Gusto's vanity.
Gusto doesn't take kindly to that spot so...(Spongebob SquarePants Narrator) Three hours later..(Normal Voice) we see Gusto (complete with googles, mallet and spike of course) working on his dragon statue again talking to Tummi about Gruffi's pushiness. Tummi blows it off nicely because Gruffi doesn't want to live on this island at all and Grammi keeps him in line of course. Gusto then admits that he rubbed Gruffi the wrong way while speaking in Left Right sequence. See; he wants Gruffi to understand his work because it involves a lot of pain and suffering which is something most video game designers don't get or want to get either. Tummi of course is holding up Gusto as we see in the faraway shot. Well; no one accused Tummi of being a bias helper that's for sure. Being lazy maybe; but not being biased. We head to the northeastern side of the island (I think judging from TMS's animation) as Tummi now becomes a table for Gruffi as he is sawing wood with the saw. He has already started work on the bridge I see as Gruffi blows off Gusto because he doesn't want to leave the island. Tummi claims that Gusto is homesick and wants to leave which Gruffi blows off because he doesn't want to help in order to leave. Artie Deco lands on the saw which annoys Gruffi to no end as Gruffi tries to swipe the bird away from the saw but Artie holds firm. Gruffi yells at him; so Artie flies away and bends the saw back to allow Gruffi to do the vibrating saw spot on cue. OUCH! That's gotta hurt!
Gruffi wants to MURDER that bird now. Not if Gusto can help that you won't you paranoid freak! We cut back to Gusto working on the statue as he has stolen Gruffi's steal spike and enjoying it. He even offer a raise to the real thief Tummi. Tummi is inside with the oven door roasting an apple on a stick with the lava and it burns because the lava is now about six inches away from overflowing. Then TMS makes a mistake as the apple goes from being fired to a crisp to being an uncooked apple. Gusto is excited because the dragon will breathe fire any second. However; Tummi is forced to back up because the dragon is rumbling from an upset stomach; or from the lava depending on my mood. Tummi goes over to the scaffolding and Gusto is gone apparently as Tummi screams out in pain...badly! However; Gusto goes from behind and tells him that he's more than all right because his dragon statue is completed for real. He even jumps on Tummi in celebration. That was so sweet of him as we cut to Gruffi still making his bridge and now is officially halfway across in completing it. Tummi and Gusto tell Gruffi that the dragon statue is completo (complete with Gusto being so vain again) and Gruffi blows it off because it's about time. Gruffi tells them to be useful and repair the S.S. Tummi. However; more rumbling ensues as the volcano is rumbling beyond belief and the bamboo bridge is starting to collapse. Gusto and Tummi grab the lines as Gusto tells Gruffi to get off the bridge and sounding serious this time around. Gruffi no sells because he needs his tools. He goes to them as the snap rope spot returns to rear it's ugly head. It's a Jymn Magon series; what did you expect?!
Gruffi hangs on to a thread as his tools fall into the watery abyss. Well; you have no one but yourself to blame for that Gruffi. See; Gruffi thinks he controls the world; but the world always controls you. It's the law of heaven see. Gusto calls him a nut. Speak for yourself Augustus! Artie Deco does his high spot for the episode by grabbing onto Gruffi's clothes and nudging him back onto the bridge. Gruffi thanks him and Artie Deco blows him off because it's time to run. Gruffi runs as fast as he can while keeping his balance on the collapsing bridge and in the end the bridge basically destroys itself and falls into the abyss. Gruffi makes it across and takes a MAN-SIZED bump into the rock ledge and slides down looking googly eyed. Great sequence there and animated well by TMS. I'm sure Sun Woo would have screwed up that complex spot big time if they got their mitts on this series. Tummi thinks Gruffi is all right and Gruffi blows it off because his bridge is destroyed and they'll never get back to Gummi Glenn. Gusto proclaims that he'll help build another bridge with him; but Gruffi blows it off because his tools are gone. See what happens when he tries to control something?! Gruffi storms off proclaiming that they are stuck forever. Tummi tries to go after him; but Gusto stops him and shakes his head. For a guy who is so vain; he is showing a mature attitude when trouble arises. Maybe he is more than a 2D vain character after all. We cut to Gusto sulking on a Gummi Statue (that he created no doubt) as Tummi offers him a banana for victory because his dragon is going to breathe fire. However; Gusto isn't biting because that volcano is going to blow it's top and all HELL IS GOING TO BREAK LOOSE. More rumbling from the volcano as it is spitting out lava while Gusto and Tummi take a few wussy bumps on the ground to end the segment nearly eighteen minutes in.
After the commercial break; we head to the faraway shot of the sinking island as Tummi proclaiming that they are doomed..DOOMED TUMMI SEZS! Gusto isn't about to quit just yet as he puts his thinking cap on and they decide to find Gruffi. We cut to see Gruffi on a rock sulking to himself as Tummi and Gusto run to him proclaiming that they got an emergency for him and Gruffi stands up and blows him off because he refused to help. Gusto tells him to be inspired in his control and to think crazy. Gruffi just continues to blow him off because they have no tools, no bridge, no catapult either. The volcano continues to rumble and trees are falling down allowing Gruffi to get off death reference #2 for the episode. However; a piece of lava rock shoots out and lands in the river and creates steam. That's enough for Gruffi to get inspired as he calls Gusto a maniac. Vain maybe; but maniac?! That's kind of insulting as he loves Cubbi now. EWWWWW! Remember what Cubbi was playing around at the beginning of the episode? Well; there is your plot device for the finish right there. That begins another tradition: A child becomes a deciding factor in the episode despite now even being in the episode for more than thirty seconds. See Her Chance to Dream.
Scene changer and we go to Gruffi, Gusto and Tummi building something with the leftover bamboo shoots. Another scene changer as the knew device is nearly complete and Tummi has fixed the S.S. Tummi while Gusto is at the dragon statue. More volcano rumbling and then scene changer to sunset as Gruffi, Tummi and Gusto pull the S.S. Tummi onto the mouth of the dragon statue and secure the rope to the oven door inside. See; the plan is to pull the rope (great animation from TMS as the lava is already making contact with the steam.) and let lava make contact with the water to create steam allowing them to fly right over the abyss and clear sailing to home as they say. They get into the S.S. Tummi and Gruffi wants Gusto to sit down because Gusto is foolishly standing up. Gusto is SO VAIN as the volcano rumbles. Gruffi tries to pull the rope to open the oven door; but it snaps. You know you are screwed when THAT happens. Artie decides that he love to be fired chicken and flies to the oven door much to Gusto's horror. Artie makes it to the oven door and pulls the rope which opens the door and lava goes pouring in. Arite flies towards Gusto; but the steam blinds everything as Gusto wants to leave the sail boat; but Gruffi won't let him. The steam is enough to shoot the S.S. Tummi into the air and where it lands I don't care.
Unless it's into the abyss of course! The sailboat races over the abyss easily and takes a MAN-SIZED bump on top of the ring rock statue before dropping about 500 feet away from the abyss and out of harms way. Tummi proclaims that he made a boat that will fly. Gusto points to his dragon statue because it's breathing fire. Actually; it's vomitting lava; but I'm not going to say it to him because I want him to enjoy his bubbly little world. However; he then remembers the dead Artie and Gruffi calls him a noble bird; but the S.S. Tummi isn't out of this yet because it's going towards the abyss now. Tummi, Gusto and Gruffi manage to get the paddles and they paddle as hard as they can. They make it somewhat; but now the island is sinking and the abyss is increasing. The S.S. Tummi is heading faster towards the abyss; but the volcano completely explodes and that allows for the BIG WAVE OF DEATH to beckon. Well; there's one way to get out as Tummi is now steering as they cut into the tidal wave as it rolls into a barrel so to speak. This is really defying the law of gravity; then again fuzzy cartoon logic always does that. The wave overcomes them and we cut to the middle of the ocean as the S.S. Tummi is safe and sound with all it's passengers minus Artie. Wow; the cartoon logic is so generous.
Gruffi, Tummi and Gusto recover as the stone dragon head darts into the air and misses the S.S. Tummi by 20 feet which is enough to soak Gruffi and his tinfoil clothes. Gruffi proclaims that he'll never leave his room again. Gusto can only think of Artie and of course he comes Artie (questioning the merits of art of course) who is all right despite being fuzz dried. SOMEONE FIRE THAT STEAM! We cut to the sunset as the S.S. Tummi is back to normal for some reason (huh?!) as Gruffi blows off the boat because it's nothing but trouble. Tummi complains about Gruffi's assertion (while we go to the neat shot of Tummi steering the boat) and I'm on Tummi's side. Because they brought back a Gummi Bear who is monster over and of course Gruffi blows it off. Gusto is of course at the front sulking which suits Gruffi just fine because he's sit still. However; Gusto is inspired once again because he'll use the sails as a canvas. Well; it looks like Gruffi is going to get his wish of destroying the boat after all thanks to Gusto of all Gummi Bears. Gusto cuts one more vain promo as the episode and Season 2 at 21:20. Drake Mallard has NOTHING on Gusto when it comes to vanity. A great episode marred by a few logic breaks. **** 1/2 ( 90%)
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; that is all for Season 2 and we end this one with a bang as Gusto Gummi more than lived up to the hype. He had the style of a character; the vanity that Darkwing Duck wishes he had and of course he was ultra hyper. I really loved Gusto; most so when he is screwing with Gruffi's mind. He is going to be awesome once the writers know when to use him. Artie was pretty good as well as the cool speaking bird. This was an ultimate example of why Gruffi's order to chaos character nearly killing him as the chaos was winning in this episode. The finish was really simple: Use the chaos of the matter to their advantage and of course have Cubbi's little adventure with the steam bottle be the ultimate factor in winning the day. There were a few logic breaks mostly from TMS's lack of direction in animation. Although TMS animation didn't blow any spots. The beginning also exposed just how little Gruffi really knows which isn't surprising since in all honestly; most human beings have this problem as well. It also shows that they didn't need heels or Dukie to make a good story for the second episode in a row; and a full episode to boot. I really loved this episode and I'm looking forward to more Gusto. So; now we go into Season 3 which is going to be chaos in it's own right since the credits get more muddy and we march towards the end of Duke Igthorn's creditability as a cool character. In fact; the next two shorts should create that ending. So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.