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Big City Blues
Reviewed: 04/11/2017
A Cautionary Tale Of Why Parents Need To Travel Around The World.
Now; one of the most tedious things about Goof Troop is that 90% of the episodes feature Pete scheming Goofy and it ignores new characters like Max and PJ. Well; PJ and Max aren't going to take this scheming anymore and they run away to the big city to throw their troubles away. Geez; I wonder what would go wrong with this plan? So; how does this episode fare? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by the late Bruce Talkington and Mirith J.S. Colao. Mirith debuted on this show and wrote episodes for The Return Of Jafar, Aladdin The Series, X-Men, Timon & Pumbaa, Hercules The Series, 101 Dalimations: The Series, Tarzan & Jane, The Legend Of Tarzan and Jasmine's Enchanted Tales: Journey Of A Princess. She also was a writing consultant for The Lion King: Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games video game. That's it. The story is edited by the late Bruce Talkington. The animation was provided by Sunwoo Animation.
We begin this one with a blue sky title card and a sky shot of a cloudy day over the city of Spoonerville and then we jump cut to someone's backyard as a bee is pollening a daisy. Pan over to PJ and Max lying on the ground with green skateboard pads bored to the skulls; while Max picks a dandelion. Out comes Goofy asking for sunglasses; so they are in Goofy's backyard. Then we discover that they are lying on the front yard instead of the back, for no reason. Goofy finds them in the shirt pocket and then walks back into the backyard because he wants to sleep in a hammock without getting his eyelids sunburnt. Let me guess: Baloo suggested this, am I right? Of course; his glasses are dark and he bonks into the front door like a stupid idiot. Max looks shameful as he has sat up as PJ makes a comment about Goofy hiding a report card in his pocket and not finding it, while Max wants to alert the media. Then we hear a cat screeching behind the property line brick wall as Chainsaw and Waffles are chasing each other while Pete in pjs is protesting his newspaper being stolen by Waffles. The kids don't care that the newspaper is being torn to shred in Tazmanian Devil style (minus the sound effects of course) as Pete wants to send the pets to the Salivatin Army; because BS&P will not let them say Salvation, because that is a religious reference, see. Pete grabs the paper and complains before going over to the kids calling them spuds, acting like they did something wrong as PJ claims that he was just resting. Max complains that the suburbs has aged them before their times. Oh come on, now! I can understand people hating the suburbs for many good reasons; but this is not one of them. Pete is showing off his toxic manliness again because it's not right for kids to just be sitting around. Considering all the stupid stuff adults do; can you blame kids for idleness nowadays? Max asks if they should put their pjs on; which was funny in fact. Pete claims that they need to work on their altitude; which only serves to make Pete prove that Goofy is making him stupid; as opposed to being stupid himself because the writers say so. Pete tells them to think big city instead of small town. Okay.
Pete walks back to his house and a photo flies from him to Max after Max and PJ saluted Pete for no reason. Max grabs the photo and proclaims that they are saved which PJ is confused. Max knocks on PJ's head and shows him the picture as his Krackpotkin Plan is to go downtown since Spoonerville is totally beige. Don't ask; I'm not hop to 1990's kids lingo; even though a third of my childhood was in the 1990's. The poster PJ is shown shows two women who look like tourists or business women; because there will be no hookers in DTVA, am I right? Considering that two stripper came out of a cake in Mister T: The Animated Series, I put nothing past Disney here. Most so after watching TaleSpin. PJ no sells this deal because they cannot go to the big city alone; since they are just kids. I know it's 1990; but Kit would kick these two asses if he ever heard that. PJ has his out of nowhere helmet on as he skateboards away stage left. Max grabs him and hangs onto him from on PJ's back as Max puts on his helmet lamenting about living on the cutting edge and being up all night dancing. PJ refuses to comment because he might sound like a wimp. Even PJ realizes that Kit would call these two out on this. They skateboard down a bumpy sidewalk which is all sidewalk as Max laments some more about loaded hot dogs from street vendors. That sounds painful to me as Max talks about food and now I'm hungry again. Thanks a lot, Max Goof! You really know how to put the crush in crushed diets. PJ tells him to stop because he cannot take it anymore and he's in. Then he asks how Goofy would allow this and Max claims that he's going to tell them exactly where they are...as long as Goofy doesn't find the note. PJ's reaction: He feels like he's only in his underwear at a school assembly. Of course; Kit would call him a wimp since he goes to assembles not wearing any pants. *RIMSHOT*! POW! OUCH! Hey!...Jump cut to Waffles on top of a birdhouse and it panics and lands on it's feet on top of Goofy's belly as he's sleeping in the hammock. Because that hammock is connected from the tree to the birdhouse. Why? Why not?!
So we get a really lame sequence of Max and PJ practicing the fine art of not being seen by Goofy while they uses the extendo-arm of doom to place the note in Goofy's pocket. Why is PJ hanging from a tire swing above the tree branch? Why does he has the world's stupidest looking fishing pole? Why is he fishing on Goofy's belly while poking Waffles with the fish hook? Why do I get the feeling that they are doing time filler here? Why bother with the note? Just put the thing on the table and go to the big city and Goofy finds out later. Easy. So they open up Goofy's shirt; but Goofy's snoring blows the note away and his inhaling manages to keep the note from flying away. Geez; the one time in this series where the winds are totally calm in Spoonerville. Finally; Max blows on the paper and it hides into his shirt. Max breathes a sigh of relief and proclaims that it's time to go to the big city. So we head off to the big city and it already has more personality than Spoonerville ever had. Lots of homeless bums near the two bridges on the river. There is a lot of pollution and the place looks dreadful. We see a grey bus cross the bridge into the big city and PJ is not happy about this place because he thought Max was talking about the mall downtown. Max counters by asking what they can learn in a mall. PJ's answer: Better to be alive than dead. Okay; good to know. So the kids get off the bus and as the bus speeds away; PJ and Max get smoked of course. Emission standards in 1992 were far lower than today; although those 1992 standards will likely come back now. Max is buttering up PJ proclaiming that the air smells different in the big city. I don't really care about this big city because outside of the fact that it's overrun by the homeless, there isn't much personality to it. Cape Suzette was the biggest city in the show and it was awesome. Yes; it showed the wrong part of town; but it was more than that. So far; all I see is the wrong part of town from this city. PJ isn't thrilled about this as Max and PJ walk down the steps.
Max talks about being men and not little kids as a street bum vendor (with fingerless purple Mickey Mouse gloves) who has more personality than the city sets up a table featuring a green tumble, a wine glass and nothing else. Max finds the bean at first while the bum does the hard sell. I discover the third one is an orange/cheese glass as it's the old "find the small diamond" gag from Vowel Play. PJ smells hotdogs and bails stage left right on cue, which Max is not thrilled to hear. The bum is taunting Max and Max is outraged by being called sonny. You should only be so lucky, Max. You could have been called a little bastard. The bum offers to turn the five into two hundred dollars if he keeps his eyes on the bean; which Max calls easy. Ummm; I saw this in Vowel Play, so I'm guessing this game is rigged. So; I was giddy to see the result of this...and then we cut away back to Goofy's property. WHAT?! Oh screw you, show! I was just getting into this game, too. Jump cut to the backyard as the stupid idiot adults are blowing each other off because they don't know where the kids are. Pete has a headache because Goofy is making sense. That was funny. Pete shakes Goofy and this causes the paper note in Goofy's shirt to come out and somehow land on Pete's eyes. Sunwoo is being Kennedy Cartoons for no good reason here. Now you know you are watching a crappy show! So they read the note and then spend another thirty seconds blowing each other off before getting the LIGHT BULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY because this segment serves no purpose other than to kill time. So why not have eleven minute episodes if you are going to do eleven minute plots? Even Bonkers had enough sense to do that at least. Pete panics because there are weirdos downtown, along with killer bees and people wearing neo-postmodern fashions. Why should the kids be worried about two washed up professional wrestlers?! Apparently; the sewers are Crock's new home complete with crocogators as his pets. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! He even threatens to pulverize the spud for giving his son the idea of going downtown. I would love to see Pete pulverize himself now.
Goofy then reads the note saying that the kids claim that it was Pete's idea. HAHA! Pete recoils and then drags Goofy by the ankles proclaiming that they must save the kids from civilization. So this show is admitting that the suburbs are not civilized and Pete is demonizing the big city to boot. Lovely, just lovely. Of course; this spot serves no purpose other than for Goofy to take a nasty bump off a sharp rock in the ground on the way out. So we head back to the game BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as Max is broke. Ow; dammit! I would have killed to see the bum rig this game good on Max. Max is checking his pockets as a police siren wails and the bum vendor turns his table into a suitcase and bails stage left calling Max's thing tough luck. You know; if you are going to make the big city look like a sleaze slum; at the very least, show Max getting screwed out of his money instead of going back to Goofy's backyard. In comes PJ with the food of doom as PJ is eating; while they sit down on a green bench. Listen; I have been to Halifax and Dartmouth many times and it's not as bad as this big city is. Then again; our big cities aren't nearly as big as Toronto, so there's that. So; the next spot is a bunch of birds swoop down and just peck and eat all the food in the box PJ had before flying away. I would have saved that for later on; but whatever. PJ wonders what happened as Max tells him to relax and buy another hotdog. PJ states that he's broke and asks for money; but Max is also broke. So yes; they are broke before the eight minute mark of this episode. I'll explain why this is not a good idea later as we scene change to a road heading into the big city as there is a massive traffic jam with Goofy and Pete stuck in the RV. Personally; I would have killed this spot and put them discovering the kids to be gone later on in the second act; but what do I know? I would have also waited until end of the second act for Max and PJ to lose all their money in order to make them sympatheic of being taken in by the big city instead of looking like childish idiots; but I'm not the one booking this episode. Goofy offers to sing the hundred bottles of milk on the wall and I'm sorry, but if you are going to do that spot, you are not topping Binkies performace in Darkwing Duck. Anyone else doing it without beer is asking for hate from the BS&P haters the world over. I'm just saying, writers. Pete groans, cringes and bites his hand as now everyone on the road is now singing it. Again; you wish you were Binkie Muddlefoot. Sadly; I cannot find the episode it was in; let alone a clip of it. So we head to a sidewalk inside the big city of doom as Max and PJ are walking on a sidewalk. Max wonders if this is living life on the edge. Kit: "NO!" (Channels John Cena throwing a vase over Fred Figglehorn's head in Fred: The Movie.)
PJ talks about the payphones not working. Geez; it's 1992 and even the payphones are no longer accepting quarters. Because the big city hates loose change bums like me and opts for Bell Aliant cards now. Stupid idiot bus terminal! Max proclaims that their luck is about to change as they find a dollar bill on the pavement near the sidewalk. I know this because there is a dollar sign symbol in the middle of said dollar bill. Max and PJ run in; but the MACH TRUCK OF DOOM splashes water and the dollar bill flies into the air. Good thing this isn't Prince Edward Island; or that truck is paying $175 for that. The dollar bill flies through the air as PJ and Max are running into a crowded street. Take THAT, Kick Buttowski! PJ and Max climb onto a car and over the limo roof as the dollar bill goes underneath the wheels of a black truck. The dollar bill sticks into the wheels as the truck turns around. The truck drives away; Max and PJ chase it as the dollar bill finally flicks off and runs towards a conveniently placed trash can. Max and PJ tackle the trashcan down on the sidewalk and take back bumps onto the sidewalk. That looked like it sucked, the kids are probably hating life now. The dollar bill somehow gets stuck underneath an orange car in the middle of the road (and there is another one parked as well) as the kids pull the bill out and celebrate by slapping skin. Then one of the birds from earlier swoops in and steals the bill; so yes, Nickeledeon isn't the pioneer of that spot regardless of what they tell you in modern cartoony land. Kids protest, bird thinks it's won and we get the "head straight into a mach truck" spot that I'm tired of in this series; but at least this serves the purpose of the bird letting go of the dollar bill as it heads into the subway. Max is at the top of the stair wondering where the thing went as PJ slides in and Sunwoo animation could not resist animating sparkles on PJ's feet. PJ bonks into Max and they tumble down the steps like little brats. Oh wait... They crash into a pile off-screen as the dollar bill is floating into the tracks part of the subway. Max runs in and grabs the dollar bill; but falls onto the invisible tracks since it was all ground and there were no signs of tracks. If this was a BS&P decision; then this is the stupidest decision ever made because the next spot is the subway trolly heads straight for Max in dramatic fashion. Max gulps in the headlights as the segment ends ten minutes in. Wow; this is tres disappointing thus far. An okay episode; but still disappointing all the same.
After the commercial break; we have PJ telling Max to jump as Max looks like he is a deer in the headlights literally. PJ panics and yells at Max; but Max cannot sell at all; so PJ jumps and tackles Max away. In any other medium, this would result in PJ getting killed by the trolly; but this is Disney and even Disney doesn't go THAT low with allowing death on their shows, so PJ is on the other track unharmed. PJ helps Max up as Max admits that he wants to go home as the educational stuff has worn thin. Kit: "Wimps!". I concur, Kit; I concur. Even I lasted much longer in the big city than these two, and I was smarter than them, too. PJ and Max walk out of the subway tunnel as PJ claims that thing cannot get much worse. Kit: "BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" In comes storm clouds with thunderclaps and rain. PJ proclaims that this fortune teller career is not going to go far at all. PJ and Max bail stage left as we scene change to a street corner somewhere in the big city as it's raining hard with Pete and Goofy walking on the sidewalk. Goofy asks about Pete's car and Pete claims that they'll get it during the morning rush hour. In other words; it's still on the road for whatever reason. You couldn't change that to "We'll get it at the car pool"? Pete calls for a taxi and in comes in splashing water onto Pete on purpose. Again; good thing this isn't PEI! So we have a guy wearing a red coat with a lot of purple trim and furry white with brown hair and he is the dogeared version of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver right down to the catchphrase "Are you talking to me?". So yeah; Jim Cummings does the voice. Pete opens the back and the two stupid idiot adults get in the back as Pete is upset which Goofy gleefully points out the obvious to us. Honesty; thy name is Goofy Goof as Pete drags Goofy in and blows him off. Travis Buckle (That's my name for him and I'm sticking to it.) is fine with it as long as the meter is running as he speeds away like a horse in a race. It's a cartoon thing, don't bother asking. You won't like the answer. Scene change to another part of town in the big city of doom as the rain is flooding the street with a rat in a can as it jumps onto the sidewalk. So yes; even the rats have more personality than this big city. It's almost like this was written to please a bunch of redneck hillbillies in the country.
Max and PJ walk in splashing and walking on the sidewalk as the splashing effects from the rain are so poorly done one of them is hitting the side of a building right in front of the hard camera. Good thing these two didn't bring their Gameboys; even that would short-circuit in this storm. (Kit: You speak from experience, I see.) So the boys are depressed about this and have no clue where to go as PJ suggests that they simply find a police officer. In any other universe; this is not the dumbest thing to do. Except this is DTVA; so I have no confidence that these police officers can help two little boys who were stupid enough to take an offhand comment from Pete the Scheming Scumbag. Max no sells because he doesn't want to look weak in front of his father even though he is in way too deep. Kit: "He is insecure. He doesn't know the meaning of being in way too deep." I concur, Kit, I concur. We hear jazz music playing and Max is giddy, much to PJ's lack of being amused. Max runs off as PJ asks what else does he have to lose. Ummm; you life maybe? So we head to the back of a nightclub featuring jazz music and a neon sign of a saxophone as Max is liking this. The music continues as Max heads to the door with PJ following and not liking this at all. It's open as we head into the steel storage room with a lot of wooden crates as the kids practice the fine art of not being seen; but PJ is ruining this by talking. Max; shut up PJ for me and Kit. Just because Max is in way too deep; doesn't mean you interfere in someone making a big mistake. The is a violin case open on one of the wooden crates; which means it's going to be used when this scene is over. PJ asks why they are whispering as Max claims that he doesn't want to interrupt the musicians. Then we get the funniest logic break I have ever seen: Max and PJ are tiptoeing away from the violin case into a closeup shot of them tiptoeing some more away from the wooden crate. Then when Max is talking about not interupting the musicians, they are back at the crate with the violin case. WHAT?! You know if you are going to do that; you should have PJ running back to the violin case and Max stopping him at there instead.
So the violin case slams shut and dust flies; even though there was no sign of any. PJ is coughing and this leads to PJ setting up to sneeze and Max pokes at PJ's nose to try to stop it. So they walk past the violin case as we see two guys playing the saxophone and piano in the corner. If this were the 1930's; they would be in the main event. Nowadays; they are playing to no one in a closet. So we have a guy wearing spike wrist bands and looks like a bad army dude grab the kids as the Brown Elvis hair dude addresses the bouncer as Spike as we have two kids snooping. Then for no reason; dust flies out of nowhere as PJ is about to sneeze again while the Elvis hair dude is not amused to see two kids snooping around. PJ sneezes and protests and this causes Spike to drop the kids; and the kids run out of the nightclub like scalded dogs. Well; a scalded dog and a scalded cat, so I wasn't totally off in this case. Oh; and the rain has now stopped. So we scene change to Max and PJ walking through town as someone is whistling at the kids now. Max turns around proclaiming that their luck is about to change. Kit: "BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA". In comes the dollar whistle; which it's gimmick is to whistle and point in the opposite direction. Geez; even the money has more personality than this city does. So the kids chase the bill again as we jump cut to Goofy and Pete in the back of the taxi as Goofy is commenting about there being three city halls passed in the last hour. Sadly; there is not, or that would at least give this city something that didn't sound remotely generic. Pete realizes this and orders the cab to be stopped. Travis stops it and demands $103.37 (In centavos: Centavo is a Spanish and Portuguese word, derived from the Latin centum, meaning "one hundred", and the suffix -avo, meaning "portion" or "fraction". Centavo means, strictly, "one-hundredth". Be careful; you know how Trump supporters hate Latino anything.) as Goofy and Pete get out. Pete refuses to pay because Travis was running in circles to ramp up the taxi meter. Ummm; are you sure Pete? The big city might actually have three city halls.
Now; I betcha Travis calls the police and Pete is arrested here for refusing to pay up because somehow the storyline demands that DTVA authority figures much actually be compentent; even though the biggest gimmick in the show is that they are stupider than the average denizen. Travis threatens to call the cops on them for welching him and his promos are creepy for some reason. Jump cut to a wide alleyway somewhere in the big city. It's nice to see a city that shows the poor; even in jest, but you are not Cape Suzette, nor will ever be, okay? So the dollar bill floats and lands on a grey kitten as Max and PJ notice this and go...awww! As Jay Leno once said in a headline: And the little kitty has rabies. AWWWWWW! POW! OUCH! Ummmm... PJ walks in and takes the dollar bill from the kitten's paw calling it mouse breath. That is fighting words, PJ; and here comes the RABID CAT OF DOOM. Max gulps on cue as the cat screeches. Minus the suds; that cat has rabies. PJ and Max bail stage left and run up a ladder attached to a deck next to the apartment buildings. I cannot buy this even if I tried. So the kids run onto the top of the apartment building as we hear guitar music and then we see a hippie in a wooden chair playing the most worn guitar I have ever seen. So after fifteen minutes of this; the guitar playing guy decides to make small talk with the kids as Max and PJ introduces themselves. The hippie addresses himself as Buster Vessel. I'm guessing his middle name is Blood and he's voiced by Dorian Harewood; which you have already seen in one of the Quack Pack episodes I reviewed as well as making Official Guy in Darkwing Duck. They exchange notes as Buster wants to sing a song and PJ's stomach growls on cue. Buster thinks PJ hate him and PJ stammers to explain that he's hungry and he sings great. Buster notices PJ needs a meal and knows a perfect place for it, as good food at reasonable prices. So Buster goes to a wire steel ladder and unwraps it. He slides down the ladder as PJ asks what to do now and Max says when in Rome, do what the Romans do; except he stops halfway in saying the promo. So they slide down the ladder and they land in a conveniently placed dumpster. Geez; I wonder what place Buster was talking about here? Hmmmm...Could it be this dumpster? Nah; couldn't be, because we all know Disney is a happy place and won't stoop to having a poor person eating in a dumpster. Would they? Oh; whom am I kidding? Of course they will. Only live action Disney watching fans would believe otherwise.
Max and PJ are repulsed on cue; they get out and we see a bunch of homeless people sitting down as Max and PJ feel really bad about this while Buster points out that this isn't like Spoonerville. This is one of the few times in this series where I felt the writers actually gave a crap about being better than TaleSpin. And this did it for me. We have seen flashes of this in TaleSpin; but never be the focus in one episode like Big City Blues pulled off. Max brings out the dollar bill and offers to help; but Buster doesn't want it because that's their bus fare home. The kids don't care about that; but Buster still insists. However; he does have one major request to make: Spread the word about the big city and about them in particular. Folks; this is why people hate iCarly and those other live-action shows: Goof Troop made the homeless look like sympatheic babyfaces who lost in the luck lottery; while those modern live-action shows used them as a big joke to laugh at them. It's even worse when you consider that iCarly came at around the time the housing crisis was in full bloom and the economy was in the crapper (although you would never think that given how successful Wii was at the time); and they were making homeless and hobo jokes like they were going out of style. I think this might be the peak of Goof Troop in terms of drama and I like this scene because it was something TaleSpin did in the comics with only hundreds of thousands of readers to a certain extent; but not on television with millions of viewers. PJ and Max wave goodbye as Buster wants them to go home before their parents worry themselves to death. What a lovely scene?! Sadly; it's not the finish, or it would have been even more epic. So we head back into the alleyway and somehow; they go from right to left instead of the opposite way which would have made more sense. Oh well; back to the reality of this show, I guess. They have no idea where to go and they are lost. D'OH! Worse; PJ checks his watch and the last bus left twelve minutes ago. Personally; I would have changed that to PJ panicking that they have only twelve minutes left to catch the last bus in order to create more suspense; but eh. That ends the segment nearly eighteen minutes in. Okay; now this episode rules. Too bad; it's extremely sloppy in places.
After the commercial break; we continue on as Max offers to walk home if they knew which direction to take as Buster runs in and offers to help them with his shopping cart of doom. Max and PJ are liking this as they hop into the shopping cart which Buster calls his Midnight Express. So he races the shopping cart and forgets to stay away from the sidewalk as it bumps and bonks Buster onto the pavement. That looked like it sucked; but he no sells it anyway as he gets up and run after it through the big city. Jump cut to a sidewalk corner with the two stupid idiot adults pondering what to do. Pete has a Krackpotkin idea: Stand there and wait. And here comes the shopping cart with Max and PJ screaming for help. Goofy hugs Pete and calls him a genius. Awww! My heart melted as Buster runs after them and Pete calls him a weirdo and panics. Asshole. Pete grabs Goofy and we give chase some more as we see a catnose police officer (Frank Welker) eating a donut while on a motorcycle. Of course! Where is the hate mail from police forces like Jay Leno gets? Anyhow; he notices the shopping cart speeding away and proclaims that there are no seat belts. Yes folks; in this city, it's against the law to have a shopping cart with no seat belts! That is so stupid; this guy is entrapping these kids already. Buster runs past him and the officer calls it a crime because there's no car. Geez; if that isn't "existing while being homeless", I don't know what is. Homeless profiling, I say! Pete and Goofy stop at the officer and plead for help; and he offers to help as Travis drives in and gets partially out of his car ordering the officer to stop those two men. Ummm; they haven't bailed on you. You mean; "arrest those two men!". The officer looks at Travis' ass demanding answers to this outrage; one I hope is him getting arrested for gimmick infringement. Travis explains it all and the officer is confused on who he is talking about. Travis points out that they are stealing his motorcycle. Guess who is driving and actually stealing the motorcycle? You would think it's Pete, right? Nope! It's Goofy; and he claims that the police officer would help them and the motorcycle helps a lot. I hope he uses that in court and wins; because that would be the most laughable successful defense I would ever see.
Pete puts his helmet on and Goofy speeds away as the officer gets into Travis' taxi and orders Travis to follow the motorcycle. Travis sells and it's time for the SCOOBY-DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE CART NOT SHOPPING CHANNEL EDITION~! Buster runs in and gets into the shopping cart, helped by the boys. Buster thanks them and wants to bring it around town as they do so off the lamp post. Jump cut to Goofy driving the police motorcycle into the hard camera. They ride past the motorcycle as Max and PJ ask if they saw something and then deny it of course. Pete thinks that they are playing wise ass games and Pete wants to show them up and so we bring it around town on the lamp post again as we jump cut to the taxi as the police officer gets on Travis' case and Travis channels Travis Bickle's catchphrase again on the police officer. Bad move sir; as the officer yells at him to look out as we get a shopping cart heading straight for them. Okay; that was different at least. Of course; since there are two kids in it; the taxi has to dodge it because BS&P RULEZ~! I betcha they crash into the motorcycle after this. I check the DVD...Motorcycle rides over the taxi like it's a hill and no one gets hurt. Damn; the kids spot was more believable than this one. I CLUB BS&P! So instead, they crash into a conveniently placed lamp post on the sidewalk, complete with police officer screaming so loud we see a closeup of his tonsils vibrating, then a FPS shot of the taxi ramming into the lamp post; a lot of smoke and a lot of nothing of note. Okay; so once again, Pete gets away with a crime, what a surprise because we head back to the suburbs of Spoonerville AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as Goofy has rode the motorcycle without further incident. Sadly; we never got to see that chase home. Even if this was TaleSpin; they would done this for time reasons as Goofy is relieved to see the kids home safe. Pete is already protesting this because we see Max and PJ giving Buster bags of groceries to put in the shopping cart; which is a great amount of foresight from the kids actually. Pete of course is a scumbag and thinks the kids are stealing from Goofy. So Goofy and Pete hop off the motorcycle as the kids hug Pete and Goofy and the world in Spoonerville is right again. Max shakes Pete's hand thanking him for his idea for them to go to the big city because it was a lovely experience. I could giggle at this; but after the homeless spot, that would be punching down on them and that's simply not right.
PJ and Max are shaking Pete's hand and I'm sadden that they like the suburbs again; but they don't mind coming back as long as they are not alone. That sounds reasonable to me. Pete is stammering and confused as hell as PJ introduces Buster to Pete and Pete stammers like a stupid idiot. A lot of buts in this one, too. You wish you were Pistol there, Pete. I wish Peg was in this episode; she wouldn't know if she should be angry, sadden or amused by this moment. Buster shakes Pete's hand and proceeds to figurally kiss his ass over how awesome the kids are. Pete blushes and claims that he cannot take all the credit. Wow; modesty from Pete? Nah. Couldn't be. So the taxi crashes into another lamp post and out comes the officer and orders everyone not to move. Goofy runs in and shakes the officers hand anyway thanking him for borrowing the motorcycle. In any other world; that would be resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Not here! Goofy claims that he saved the day and the officer sells it and beams. HAHA! Only Goofy could convince a police officer to not file charges on someone. Goofy could commit capital murder someone and not get arrested, let alone charged. Out comes Travis and he protests this outrage and demands the two stupid idiot adults to be arrested for welching; and so the officer points out that the meter cost him $1200. Ooops! Someone is projecting an illegal act on someone. Travis then recoils and proceeds to claim that it's busted and not an intentional attempt to welch others. HAHA! Seems like Pete was right all along for a change. Goofy asks Travis to drive Buster back to the big city with all of his stuff and Travis is asking if he's talking about him. The officer of course points out that he is talking about him and says Travis will be glad to. Travis is not thrilled by this at all as Buster thanks everyone and proclaims that acts like this show that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel; which sounds like he is willing to die or something. That was a wee bit creepy as everyone except Pete bails stage right. Pete yawns and states that there is only one thing left to do. Wait for it....Go back to bed. Okay; that ends the episode and disc two at 21:17. Once again; a episode not featuring Pete scheming on someone delivers again; thanks to Buster and his gang of homeless people. **** 1/4 (85%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Okay; we end this disc on a pretty high note although it was a sloppy affair. Buster was really great here and I do like how they set up the homeless angle as making the homeless look like sympathic people you want to help instead of making them into the butt of all jokes. Travis was great and everyone played their roles well here. Now; I mentioned before that I would have booked some aspects of this episode slightly differently to make it flow better and add on some more suspense; but the premise was really brilliant and it's one of the few times a show like this did an issue better than TaleSpin did. As much as I liked "The Long Flight Home"; it wasn't treated like an issue to solve, although they weren't treated like jokes to punch down on either. So overall; minus some logic breaks and the usual Sunwoo botchery, this episode was awesome and I have nothing more to say on that front. So that ends disc number two and we have nine episodes left to do before we wrap up Goof Troop for this year. While the show is still tedious as hell; And Baby Makes Three and Big City Blues prove that you don't need Pete to be scheming ninty percent of the time. I enjoyed those episodes; and even the Pete-scheming The Incredible Bulk (although that was because I liked the subject matter and it was fun as hell to review) to a lesser extent. Now; I will be taking a full week off from this show and we head into Easter Sadism next weekend with a Canadian cult Z-grade classic: The Mighty Hercules. Think Chargeman Ken in Ancient Greece that is much tighter in quality; but still hideously hilarious for different reasons. YEAH! So...
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.