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Hey Duggee Series Two #1 Rant

Reviewed: 09/28/2025

Greg? Isn't It Time For... DUGGEE~!

Well, my hunt for some perverse entertainment struck again thanks to Family Junior up here in Canada. I had considered revewing "The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy", but the cross-dressing angle is just there and it's just a storytime segment show for the most part. It's a fun show, but it isn't qualified to be an Easter Sadism show. You need perserve, creative entertainment, where the creators just don't give an elf. That's when I saw our following subject from the UK, only this time it's a BBC show. This show is an awesome fun mess of an episode that intentionally is trying to get onto the trainwreck scale. Welcome to the Rant Shack, Hey Duggee! Just watching this show made me giggle in an amusing way because the characters and everyone making the show is fully committed to make this story stand out. Hey Duggee started out in 2014 as part of a Christmas special for the BBC and then was made into a show. The premise according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!):

The programme's characters are talking anthropomorphic animals, with Duggee communicating in woofs. The episodes are based around The Squirrel Club, an activity club for children that Duggee leads. The children – the club's Squirrels – take part in all kinds of activities, have adventures and earn badges for their accomplishments. Each episode shows the Squirrels completing an activity or adventure relating to a badge that they earn at the end of each episode. There is no set formula for every episode, with many referencing or parodying pop culture.

I disagree with the last sentence as there is a sort of set formula to the episodes, but they often would go off-script in certain ways. For example, there are always at least FIVE opening sequences in the series, each assigned depending on the Squirrel member. Like Peppa Pig, the endings are sometimes different, although more visual than audio this time around. The finishing sequences are mostly similar, but the middle is clearly like a Peppa Pig episode even with the structure of the stakes being exactly the same in all episodes: The Squirrels do stuff to earn badges. Then you have the narrator who is voiced by Alexander Armstrong, the voice of Captain Dog, who talks to Duggee, despite Duggee being a full on anthro dog with clothes on, doing human things, but talks literally like a real dog. It's Koi Fish from Fish Hooks all over again, and yes; everyone in the show somehow understands him. To be fair, at least it's not Molang where every character does the Duggee/Koi Fish speaking and you have zero way of understanding what the hell they are saying regardless of language. I've been wanting to review a bit of this show since it looks perversely entertaining to me and finding episodes on Family Junior is easy, but those episodes are more recent. I want to do the early episodes and finding them is another matter. It's not as easy as Peppa Pig, let me tell you. The episode titles speak for themselves, except for the pilot episode "Chop! Chop!" which I couldn't find even partial footage of it. Believe it or not, there were supposed to be SIX Squirrels in the group, but that got cut down. Also, the hippo Squirrel was originally supposed to be an anthro pig. I wonder who was responsible for rejecting that one?! Anyhow, this should be a fun ride. How do these episodes fare?! Let's rant on shall we..?!

All episodes are directed by Grant Orchard. The Making Music Badge is written by Jenny Landreth. The Whistling Badge is written by Sam Morrison. The Shape Badge is written by Danny Stack. The Juice Badge is written by Jo Clegg. The Footprint Badge is written by Ian Skelton. The Fossil Badge is written by Phillip Warner. The Treehouse Badge and The Kite Badge is written by James Henry. I'm not going to do tributes here. The animation is done by Studio AKA.

Opening Moment #1: This opening features Happy in his room with his boom box and colorful microphone spitting beats. There is a purple teddy bear wearing rain gear on top of some drawers (NOT THOSE ONES~!) which is odd until you realize that Happy's gimmick is his love for water. It's basically making sounds and raspberries and then Happy yells "DUGGEE~!" and does the funniest flip drop mike spot of all time. Seriously, he flipped the microphone like a baseball batter does when he hits a homerun, it twirled high into the air and then it landed and the microphone goes beep! I apologize to Happy for the sunbathing one being his best opening, this one actually tops it. The title card features a keyboard piano, a drum, a triangle, a guitar, stars and musical notes againest a red background, with the badge trimmed with black and white stitching, like bunch of piano keys. Okay.

The Making Music Badge: Short opens in the clubhouse as the Squirrels are playing with their toys again. Norrie is typing on a play typewriter, Happy is playing with building blocks, Roly is conducting a science experiment with the ball smasher of doom -- probably figuring out a way to kill some birds --, Tag is playing with a toy car and parking lot set and Betty is reading a science book because she's the clever clogs of this show. The narrator asks what Duggee has planned for them today, and the Squirrels drop what they are doing and run stage left giggling and smiling. Cut to Duggee in a music room wearing his black beret, a blue sweater and black pants trying to play a saxophone. The kids run in asking questions as Tag has no idea that this is a saxophone as the kids are confused. Duggee taps his mouth with his mouth and then starts playing really bad sad music. So bad, the Squirrels are literally sad after about ten seconds of smiling. The kids say it all as even the narrator has to concede that this song is making them sad. How can violent video games corrupt THESE minds?! Duggee woofs a countdown and then plays jolly music which actually makes them happy. Imagine Pablo's dogs giving out the meat and Pablo is excited and lapping it up. The kids are happy and knee dancing for a while. The narrator has to shout to get the point across. Betty asks if they can have a go and Duggee accepts pointing his finger like it's a gun. Like he's daring her to play the saxophone...which is exactly what it is. Betty calls it a bit big, but then has a Krackpotkin plan: Betty bails and returns standing on Happy's head while Happy is standing on Roly's head. UGH! When the nephews from Ducktales do the human ladder spot, they sit or stand on the shoulders because it's safer on them and on the person's head. Roly is not amused and I don't blame him. This is not how you do a spot safely. Then Betty puts her lips together and manages to suck and blow at the same time. HAHA! This would play into the next episode actually. Happy is tired of this and wonders how they can play music as the narrator proclaims that Duggee can help them make instruments that are their size. Why?! Because Duggee points to his chest and shows off his "Making Music Badge". The kids all bounce in with spring sound effects excited. I thought "let's bounce" was just a figure of speech, but in this show: they literally bounce up and down when doing a run in. That amused me. The kids all cheer and we have our first badge scene changer of Series 2: Duggee is wearing all black with red pants, red belt and a hat that is one inch above his head. He has a drum set attached to his back playing drum beats while Duggee is playing the banjo. As absurd as it sounds.

Also, the music play is the setup to HIT THE MONTAGE~! Basically, it's the Squirrels making musical instruments from recycled items, basically five years before Peppa Pig did the same thing in "Made Up Musical Instruments" in Series Six of that show. Roly is blowing up balloons because he loves fart sounds. Norrie is using containers as drums, Tag puts colored beans into a yogurt cup and makes a mess. Enid is sleeping on the window sill as Happy is filling up bottles with different qualities of water from a pitcher and making a mess. Betty is playing a cardboard tube while decorating it with stars and circle stickers. Imagine Roly being the only one who didn't make a mess in this scene. We get a Brady Bunch sequence as the narrator asks what the kids have made as instruments. Tag shows off his makeshift shakers, Norrie made drums with a tin container and a wooden spoon, Betty made a "tubey thing" which is bendy I might add, Happy made Pinkly Plonks. I always wondered what the official name of that musical instrument was. Roly calls it a balloon, because calling it a artsy fartsy wouldn't pass muster with BS&P. The narrator calls this jolly good and wonders how they play. This is a stupid move by the narrator, because we all know what is going to happen next: The Squirrel play their instruments and the music they make is so bad, it causes dogs and cat to flee together within a 400 KM radius. And damn it to hell if I'm not right. By the way to CBC Kids: It was Roly who yelled the "1-2-3-4" promo, not Norrie. Enid is up and becomes completely traumatized by this hideously hilarious noise. Duggee looks into the hard camera with that look of "Damn, my ears!" I'm not going to call this, I cannot do it justice, it was awesomely terrible. Peppa Pig and her gang could never top this since everyone else is angry. The birds are like "Is this Roly's way of trying to kill us?!" And to think, Roly's balloon noises barely register. It's mostly Norrie's fault since her musical instruments are causing most of the jump scares in this scene. By the way, I believe this is the debut of Egg, who becomes a chick without the eggshell in the next episode actually. The end result is that all the animals run into the hen house which has clear TARDIS powers. Is Duggee Doctor Who after he officially dies?! I hope that when Doctor Who officially ends as a story, this is the final result: Doctor becomes a dog who builds TARDIS powered stuff and can only speak in woofs. Duggee woofs in a pleading manner to stop a good fifty seconds too late and the Squirrels all stop playing right there. Norrie then asks if this was good. Advice to Norrie: When Duggee is telling you to stop in a panicky manner, it's not good.

Duggee does the two finger come together and swipes up and down in the process. The narrator calls the music "unique" in such a way that he's basically saying that it's shit without saying it. I thought it had it's charm. The narrator proclaims that Duggee can help them play in a different way as Duggee magically changes into a conductor. SUZY SHEEP~?! Only this one was intentional on the creators part actually. Duggee starts the conducting and the Squirrels all wear white suits with black bowties and black pants. Somehow, this makes them all play the music properly. I don't like that, because it plays way too much into magically thinking instead of actual skill. Roly of course has to invert the colors of his suit as he plays the balloon like a chello. That was amusing, but still. Despite this not so good finish, Betty playing her instrument like a saxophone was neat. More music playing as the worm is the only one who didn't bail out enjoying the music now. Everyone enjoys the good music now. There's really nothing of note here other than a spider appearance. Sigh. The Hippie Rabbits all prove how devlish they are by floating in mid air while saying "cool, man". More dancing as the barn has colored spot lights now. Duggee's dancing is so silly that Enid is asleep and don't care at all. Duggee dances around and ends the music. At least in Peppa Pig, Gigi Gazelle showed the correct way to correct damnable music by letting the student figure it out with some assistance in a science-y way. Here, this was pure magic and now the kids have learned that they have to depend on Duggee's magic to learn anything. Not a good lesson methinks. The narrator thinks this is brilliant and Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the badge. The kids all cheer as Tag officially debuts the "pogo stick" victory bounce that makes him look like he's doing the "suck my dick" pose from Kevin Nash. Here come the parents in their vehicles which is the signal for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids all giggle and bail stage left to present the badges to the parents. The parents hug the kids and then leave in their vehicles stage left. Oh, and they got to keep their music clothing as well as a parting gift, how nice. The narrator asks if this was fun and now all the animals are in those musical suits playing music. HAHA! The narrator and Duggee laugh to end the episode at 6:45 as the music continues into the end credits. Sadly, the "Do stop it, Duggee!" promo by the narrator will no longer be used in any episode from here on out. I guess they couldn't top the uncontrollable sockpuppet spot in "The Maze Badge". As for the episode: This was an awesome episode with a bad lesson as part of the finish. I would have cut twenty seconds off of the musical noise and the good music sequences each and have fewer animals in those scenes to teach the Squirrels how to do the beat properly without resorting to magic to solve the problem. Call it *** 3/4 (75%).

Opening Moment #2: This opening features Betty in her room I think doing a chemistry experiment. She teases putting yellow liquid from a test tube into a beakor filled with blue liquid, but the narrator cuts her off. Betty yells "DUGGEE~!" without gasping and then runs off as the yellow drop does a perfect dive into the blue liquid and it changes color to green and bubbles and then spits out liquid into a gas. Did I mention Betty is the best actor among the Squirrels when it comes to these openings?! The title card is a train whistle with Duggee's face on it whistling against a blue background with white and blue trim on the badge.

The Whistling Badge: Short opens in the clubhouse with the Squirrels playing with their toys again. Basically, it's mostly toy cars, fire engines and helicopters, so this is a transportation theme. Roly now has Mr. Bull's destruction tendenices since he's bowling over his stuff with the fire engine. The narrator asks what Duggee has planned for the Squirrels today and the Squirrels all giggle and bounce stage left with the yellow toy car getting flipped by Happy in the process. The kids all bounce outside with spring sound effects as Duggee is apparently feeding a Delta Chicken and the little chicks. I notice this because Duggee has a yellow pail and when the kids asks what he is doing, Duggee is in fact sprinkling bird seed onto the ground. The chicks and Delta Chicken are peaking at the bird seed, except for the one on the far right. The narrator says it all as the far right chick can speak. The chick cuts a promo and the Delta Chicken completely ignores the chick and continues peaking. The chick has had enough of this horrible life that Duggee's world has handed to it and runs off. Basically it bounces around and is inspired by what it sees. The kids are kind of happy that the chick is addressing them despite only addressing them by their spieces. Although the chick does have trouble identifying Tag as a rhino though. Then the chick runs off identifying stuff as Roly groans because this chick has done this before. Oh come on now, Roly! What could possibilty go wrong?! Roly apparently gained pink eyeliner below his eyes during this. Chick then continues it's identification rampage as the brown square cow somehow goes high into the air during this, then sheep who bail in opposite directions, a horse (which is it's debut for rant purposes since I ranted these out of order) which runs and bonks into haystack blocks, Enid who destroys a lot of flower pots in it's panic, two birds in a nest which destroys the nest, the naughty monkey who topple a barrel of fruit, Whoooo who pops it's feather, Delta Chicken who lays an egg and brother who isn't even seen. Yeah, this is dumb. Next is the naughty mice with Johnny as their card game goes up in cards. Delta Frog topples and then we get a far shot of the entire property as this chick left no one safe. The hen house is toppled, the cow is on top of the roof and I'm done trying to call this action.

Betty then gives the chick a name: Egg. Are you serious?! Yes, yes they are as Betty calls Egg making everything silly. That makes Egg the babyface in the eyes of the kids watching and the heel for the adults in the audience, and a funny plot device for someone like me. Everyone wins, but this has to stop right now because the joke is going on for far too long and it's time to mercy kill it. Is Happy talking about the chaos or that fiddle music in the background?! TUNE INTO SOFT COPY TO FIND OUT~! Duggee decides that this has to stop and whistles so deeply that the background changes about three times while causing the music to end aruptly. Egg stops and everyone pop out from the carnage caused by a little chick who didn't do anything but say their spieces. What a bunch of wimps most of these characters are?! At least the kids and Duggee weren't fooled. Sure, Betty and Roly were offended by this, but it had to stop at some point. Norrie and Tag handled it better than Betty, Roly and Happy did. I think Duggee knew what to do from the start and just held back just for his amusement. What a dick?! He might as well be Danny Dog's goofy cousin. Anyhow, Norrie asks what was that and Duggee woofs that it is a "whistle". Woofs and whistles should never mix together, like dogs and whistles. Just a hunch on my part. Roly asks how to do it and Duggee whistles while pointing at his chest to reveal the Whistling Badge. The kids are in awe of this as Duggee woofs some more and the narrator is actually translating the instructions and the narrator uses the word "purse" and this confuses Roly. I'm sorry; but you are going up against Peppa Pig and her exact same episode, and nothing can top the infamous Suzy/Peppa "You put your lips together and blow" phone call moment. The fact that Egg had to cause chaos for almost two minutes is a testament that Peppa Pig's version of this episode cannot be topped. Duggee demonstrates the whistle using the closest close up shot of his face the animators could pull off. The kids decide to give it a go and it's mostly raspberries and farting. Betty's sounds like a drill as the kids groan on cue afterwards. The narrator tells them to practice and the kids raspberries now sound like badly played trumpets. Duggee is sighing as Egg bounces in proclaiming that this is such a mess. What a dick?! Duggee woofs "Are you kidding me?!" and I howled with laughter. Norrie finally gets it and whistles for real, which is fitting because she's supposed to be the nicer and kinder version of Peppa Pig.

Tag whistles like a siren while playing a toy police car, becoming the second coming of Freddy Fox. Happy is doing exercises with the Delta Chickens while doing what sounds like a sliding whistle. Roly's whistles sound like tweeting, fitting since he lusts for birds. This annoys Worm despite the fact that the whistling is quieter than Roly's screaming. Betty is the only one who cannot whistle. So much for being a clever clogs. The kids suggest trying again, but with more feeling. That is a non-starter because it doesn't work. Betty's mouth is full as Norrie and company decide to accept her for being good at lots of other things. This only causes Betty to sound like air coming out of a balloon, that was funny. Betty's doing this because one of the questions involved telling people what to do and Roly screams "being purple"! Geez, everyone is acting like a jerk today. Betty than rises up and she whistles for real. Norrie points this out and Betty is surprised by this. Betty finally whistles and is getting the hang of it. Betty starts whistling and we HIT THE MONTAGE~! The Squirrels walk and whistle under the sun as the whole farm property is cleaned up. The horse whistles on top of magically build hay stacks. SUZY SHEEP~?! We get the Brady Bunch-equse shot of six close up faces, the final box is Duggee's obviously. Somehow, Betty's whistling causes the brown cow to come down gently. And you thought Peppa Pig was absurd?! Peppa Pig feels more grounded in reality than this show. More whistling with the naughty mice and Duggee together as the place is fixed as Whoooo goes it's feathers back. Egg also whistles as we end the whistling with the Squirrels. This was just fine and designed to kill time since the badge has been earned. Egg then notices everything is tidy and it is, despite Egg doing nothing but whistle. Egg needs to learn some shame methinks. The narrator asks if the Squirrels have done well today as Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the badge. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicles as it's Egg who addresses them, annoying the narrator. DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug as Egg watches on. The kids giggle and bail stage left to present the badges to their parents. The parents hug the kids and the parents leave with the kids in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun as Duggee woofs. Three chicks appear on Duggee's head and start whistling as the music starts up again. Duggee smiles to end the episode at 6:45 as the music continues through the credits. This was no Whistling from Peppa Pig, but the chaos was fun in the first half and then became anti-climatic near the end. *** (60%).

Opening Moment #3: This opening features Roly drinking pink soda from a bottle with and I'm not making this up: The most Rube-Goldberg'ish plastic straw you have ever seen. You could do a marble run with that straw. Sadly, he left a mess and couldn't finish because of the narrator. The title card features shapes against a white background, with orange and white trim and the badge is a hexagon.

The Shape Badge: Short opens with a zoom out shot of the farm with Duggee getting the wash off the clothes hanger, Tag and Happy are playing with building blocks, Betty and Norrie are skipping rope, the sheep and cows are just there in the background. Roly is in the block wood model area, which means Roly has to be so dumb that he cannot get the shapes to fit in the holes. The music just makes it even funnier in hindsight as Roly is pushing and banging a square into the wrong holes because he sucks at shapes. It does make me feel better about Kit thinking that 7*3=73. Roly also throws the block and it nails him in the head. Uh-oh! Time to go into concussion protocol there, Squirrel. The narrator calls this tricky. I call this lack of self-awareness. The square mold on the wooden wall is clearly visable. Roly proclaims that he needs help and the Squirrels all agree with him and call out for Duggee. Why not?! We have an episode to kill and Roly is the age where he has to be taught this anyway. By the way, the clothesline has a bag attached to said clothesline. That was funny. Roly's attitude when he points was terrible though. For goodness sakes Roly, if you want help, at least have the decency to say "please" and tone down the screaming. Duggee accepts and shows off his shape badge on his chest. Roly is inspired by these shapes and we do a scene change of the wooden wall featuring shapes with Duggee's face making funnier faces with each new shape. The first one is the star, so he is the star of the show. Execs would like to have a word with you, Duggee. The kids are the main event, even if you are the comedy geek and the show is in your name. We return as Duggee has a bundle of shapes in his hands and the narrator explains the game for us. You put the right shape into the right hole. The purple rectangle is first and Tag gets this one right since it's the top left hole. Betty has a blue triangle, so it goes into the bottom right hole and Betty gets this one right. The orange square goes into the bottom left hole and Happy gets this one right. Wait a second?! When Roly was playing the game, the square was dark blue. SUZY SHEEP~?! Norrie thinks her shape is tough as the narrator tells her it's a hexagon as the green hexagon goes on the center bottom. Norrie gets this one right. That leaves Roly with a yellow star and the fact that he calls the star a funny shape is hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Roly is now confused as he has no idea where to put it despite one is a half circle with zero points, while the other have five points like the shape Roly is holding.

Roly decides to ponder this over like he was meditating in "The Juice Badge" opening sequence. Then a giant storm cloud rains on their parade. Swell, I knew Granny Sheep would go too far in her artistic expression in this world. Duggee panics and puts the drying clothes into the basket as the Squirrels except Norrie don't care at all. Norrie watches as the other kids decide to return to the clubhouse to play board games, including Sleeping Lions which Roly screws up in the process. Norrie is now worried that the animals will get wet, too. After all the times the Delta Chickens got wet and windy, NOW Norrie cares about them. The kids return and decide to help Norrie keep the animals dry as the storm cloud bubbles some more. Now, we HIT THE MONTAGE~! The Delta Chicken has Betty perplexed until she realizes that the hen house has a triangle room. Norrie sees the barn has a rectangle area and the cow is teleported there eating hay and looking surprised. SUZY SHEEP~?! Duggee continues to take down his underwear and the narrator is amused, but Duggee is not. Did this clothesline gain TARDIS' power to have more clothes on the line than it should be allowed?! Tag teleports the blue square bird into the bird house with a square shape door. Happy cares about the fish so much that the fish is trying to tell him that he loves water, so rain is good to him and shouldn't be dry. Happy then puts him into the fish bowl with water because it's the right shape. Ah, this explains how Happy had a goldfish in his room in one of the opening sequences. HA! We get the Brady-Bunch look and the giant goldfish is offended, probably because he saw what Grandpa Pig did to Goldie the Goldfish on that Italian holday during Series 4 of Peppa Pig. Duggee has the entire wash now and it's time to bounce for your life stage left into the clubhouse. The storm cloud bubbles violently. Then the Squirrels notice that Roly is not inside. You know, this episode would be a lot better if Happy was the dumb one who couldn't tell what shape is which since Happy's gimmick is that he loves water. Now everyone panics and watches outside as Roly is face to face with Ladybird. There is this public domain music that is so overdramatic and Roly and Ladybird are completely no selling the whole thing. That made me laugh. Ladybird wants to stay dry in the Shape Game and Ladybird is the shape of a half circle. You know, the one with no points. Roly grabs Ladybird and he cannot decide which one. Damn, we need an opening sequence with Roly trying to do some weightlifting with dumbells, considering how indecisive Roly is.

Roly is shaking and sweating as they are now using purple hight liner on the bottom of the eyes to signal panicking as the cloud is bubbling and the Squirrels believe that Roly is going to get splooshed. I cannot take any of this seriously because it's so overdramatic that they might as well play circus music instead. It would be more fitting for this scene than the public domain music they are using for this episode. The cloud is teasing peeing on Roly as the Squirrels in the barn are in shock. Did I just say that?! Then they do about a dozen jump cuts in ten seconds, which annoyed me. Even more amusing to me, Ladybird changed voices from Series 1 and has a deep male voice now. Roly squeezes Ladybird into the half circle, Ladybird proclaims that he chose wisely, the rain drop drops on Roly's head. The Squrriels remind Roly of the rain, Roly does the ultra-slow motion "Nooooooo..." which might be a stock voice for all I know since it sounds nothing like Roly's voice. Roly runs like the wind...mostly a southern wind and runs into the barn via the doggie door (HA!) and he's inside. The rain pours down like a boss as Roly cheers. We get a Brady-Bunch sequence of the gang watching the rain and fuck Enid, no one cares about that yellow cat. The narrator is relieved as the rain stops and the cloud spirits itself away stage right. The sun is out and there are no muddy puddles, because we are not that pink gaslighting troll Peppa Pig. Everyone is happy outside, including Happy; but not the goldfish of course as the narrator asks if the Squirrels did well today. Duggee bails on all fours and then returns with the badge. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicles. DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids giggle and bail stage left to present the badges to their parents. The parents all hug the kids and then leave the area with their kids in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun and we get a logic break: During the goodbye wave, there was no pond near the goldfish bowl. When they do the final spot, the pond appears. SUZY SHEEP~?! Unlike most of the logic breaks, I can forgive this one because it leads to the goldfish blowing off this entire episode and hopping out of the goldfish bowl and going into the pond. That is the funniest ending in Series 2 right there as everyone else laughs to end the episode at 6:45. A really fun episode with an awesome ending despite a few logic breaks. A music change during the overdramatic Roly putting Ladybird into the slot would have helped also. *** 3/4 (75%).

Opening Moment #4: This opening features Roly channeling the Karate Kid and meditating in his room. I howled with laughter because it's completely opposite of his gimmick. He also loves the Care Bears and has a lava lamp in the background. The title card features three flavors of juice in a glass with a straw against a lavander background and the badge has blue and white stitching on the border.

The Juice Badge: Short opens at the kitchen with the Squirrels watching Duggee making something with fruit I think. Or he's repairing some machine since he's wearing repair person gear. Oh wait, he created a juicer as Tag proclaims and Duggee shows it off to the audience. Roly becomes loud, Norrie likes some juice and Duggee shows off his chest to reveal the Juice Badge within thirty seconds. Duggee brings out a basket behind a green screen literally because they need to pick up some fruit because of course! We're only one minute into this episode which includes the entire opening. Duggee bails outside on all fours and the Squrriels follow him to the fruit sucking bushes, because they contain, well, fruit. Wow, the technology and nature are so advanced to have different kinds of fruit on one bush. The brown square cows and sheep are not impressed. There's a lot of juicy juice that I swear that the Squirrels want to make Juicy Fruit gum. Anyhow, Happy picks a raspberry and then we see a yellow face bug with a cyan blue top, purple pants with subtle crimson red spots and pink gloves and shoes trying to grab a piece of fruit, but no go. She pouts as the Squirrels pick the lower fruit as Roly, the loudmouth, steals her blueberry. The bug protests this outrage and Roly is confused. The bug then talks to herself because no one can hear her, and her name is Buggee by the way, because "-y" is uncool, but "-ee" is way cool. Just ask Dugg-ee! Ah, woof! She goes on a tirade, calling Roly a meatball. Roly wants to give the blueberry back, but Buggee no sells and walks away stage left in a huff. Her tirade continues with a scream, so she and Roly are soulmates. The kids are worried as Norrie doesn't think small is bad. Buggee proclaims that it is no good because she cannot have a decent conversation on the phone, and we jump cut to Buggee answering the telephone. Buggee has to run from the speaker to the microphone part over and over again. I think the garbled noise is a much bigger problem than the running to and from the parts of the phone. See what I did there? Buggee cannot eat out because she is trying to see saw an ice cream float and it works. It also buries herself in whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry on top in the process. Sports is also hell on her because tennis balls squash her or something. Happy proclaims that Buggee is sad and Norrie offers her some juice. Buggee shakes her head, but accepts anyway.

Stylized scene change ensues with fruit dropping to reveal Duggee's face. Considering that Duggee's a brown dog and they used a watermelon for his face, and a banana as the mouth: that's racist~! The pears for ears do it no favors, either. Then blueberries drop down on the fruit's nose and we cut back to inside the kitchen with Duggee and the juicer. The Squirrels run in with Buggee and Roly holding hands. Roly asks if Duggee can give her some juice. Duggee looks surprised, but then decides to make some for Buggee anyway. Duggee makes juice out of fruit using a hand cranked juicer that looks like the front of a train. Then Duggee cranks it up so hard that we hear a giant crack and a screw pops out and bounces, falling onto the floor. The juice looks weird as the Squirrels are shocked and appalled by this. We get a badge scene changer with Duggee's head popping up as the narrator asks if he's seen the screw. Duggee cannot find the screw much lest pick it up. Meaning we need to find the screw with something little. Time to play the old "What shall I use?" spot every edutainment shows ever does. Tweezers sounds reasonable, pencil and needle are pushing it and baby carrot was Roly's answer. Buggee is ignored, AGAIN! Betty's answer is a peanut by the way. Buggee paces around in a panic and decides "Wait, I'm small enough to find it. I'll be the winner and find it!" Buggee hops onto the juicer and declares that she is going in. I was mistaken, the screw fell into the machine which makes a lot more sense than falling onto the floor. One of the kids asks if they should help her and the other says "probably". Buggee goes into the juicer's insides, and it's a makeshift maze. In order to coordinate the effort, there are blueprints of the juicer and they are using a red X and stick mover to move the X into areas where Buggee is. I should note that Duggee was looking at the engine, which explains why it looked like a badge. It was the ground shot. Buggee walks around the maze, slides down a small slippery pipe before recovering.

Then it's the old lava spot, only it's just the juice well. Then it's the pulverizer, which Happy calls a funny word, and stop right there! Listen, when they did the lava spot with the juice well: It can bubble without any heat whatsoever, so it could still make sense. The machine is hand cranked, so the pulverizer should not work at all since the handle is broken and it's needed to make the machine work. SUZY SHEEP~?! What a terrible logic break this is?! She dodges the pistons which shouldn't be moving, much less pounding, but they do. Then they lose contact with her and Buggee is starting to panic again. Then she has a meeting of the mind, and it wasn't at the junkyard. It's the pink headed screw she bumped into. Betty is growing impatient, Buggee cannot grab the screw, she's screwed. She screams and it echoes. Somehow this motivates her as Buggee toughs it out and pops the screw out of the juicer, just to allow the kids to yell "Buggee" like they do with Duggee in the opening sequence. Duggee tightens the screws on the juicer, than hand cranks the juicer until the fruit is fully juice now. Buggee has a small glass with a small straw and drinks up with ease, they do the Brady-Bunch spot with her and the Squirrels. The kids love the juice and thank Buggee. Buggee is so happy about this that she happy cries and her selling outdid everyone at Mr. Bull's wedding combined. That was some quality happy crying there from Buggee. The kids hearts melted as the narrator asks if the Squirrels did well. Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the badge. Even though they never actually juiced the fruit so to speak. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicles to set up the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. No, Buggee didn't get the hug, they are not that dangerous. The kids bail to their parents, show off the badge and the parents hug the kids. The parents than leave with the kids in their vehicles. The narrator asks if that was fun and the narrator is addressing Buggee who is cosplaying Duggee! Okay, that was funny as Duggee is surprised, and then everyone laughs to end the episode at 6:45. This needed the "Do stop it, Buggee!", but they have stopped using that line from Series 2 onwards. Also, the credits do address her as "Buggee". A fine episode with a good finish and ending. *** (60%).

Opening Moment #5: This opening features Tag wearing a red cape and red helmet forcing to put the brakes on his ten speed because he's almost going to drive into a muddy puddle. Thank goodness for the narrator for preventing Tag being all muddy because this is not Peppa Pig, you see. Then the funny bit happens as Tag yells "DUGGEE~!" and then rides backwards on a ten speed bicycle which should not be possible. I already mentioned this opening in the last rant and I laughed. It's so stupid that it's funny. The title card features a lot of footprints against a yellow background with cheese orange and yellow trim.

The Footprint Badge: Short opens with Tag near a tent outside with a sunflower in a pot and a yellow bucket of whatever. The narrator asks what they are doing and we see Norrie, Betty and Roly popping out of the tent and sunflower pot because of course Roly is doing that. They are playing Hide and Seek, or "seek and go hide" as the Looney Tunes would call it. At first I thought Happy was the seeker, but the Squirrels proclaim that Happy is the one hiding. Okay, this is interesting. Hey kids, check the pond first since Happy's gimmick is that he loves water. Nope, we have to waste time finding him in places he would never hide in willfully. Just to get the Delta Chickens' contracted appearance in as Rolly interupts a tea party by the birds in a nest on a branch in a tree. Oh, Roly screams as well here. The male bird is rightfully pissed off since Roly is planning a bird genocide at some point, I just know it. Tag is literally looking for Happy in Duggee's sweater as Duggee is another anthro who has socks despite not wearing any most of the time. Tag is now stuck and has to crawl with the sweater on. I'm sure Duggee would be thrilled about this since grass stains are hell to clean up. The narrator asks if Duggee can help and the kids think this is a good idea, so Roly screams from the top of his lung despite the fact that Duggee is literally five feet away from him watering a sunflower plant. Sigh. Duggee is concerned as Norrie asks if Duggee can assist finding Happy. My suggestion: Drain the swamp! Oh great, now I'm godwhistling. That's horrifying. The sun in this scene doesn't move, at least the Peppa Pig one has the rays of the sun animated. This sun is just a yellow circle. Duggee agrees and walks on all four panting as he apparently got the scent of Happy. Duggee runs in a weird path towards a bush with a daisy flower in it, which gives away that it's Happy. Norrie's not buying this, but out comes Happy with a daisy flower. Damn, Duggee's excitement of finding Happy is coming dangerously close to lust at this point and it comes off as creepy. It turns out that Duggee found Happy by following his footprints instead of his scent (despite not seeing them ourselves), and has his Footprint badge as shown when he points to his chest. Norrie asks how Duggee figured out Happy's prints and the narrator proclaims that everyone has different sets of prints and this blows the Squirrels' minds. Their minds will be blown even further when they discover that it also applies to their hands as well. They stamp and step back and we see the prints. Roly's is totally square, Betty has five circles, Norrie is similar to Duggee's only smaller and Tag and Happy's are similar, but Tag's is wider while Happy's is taller.

This alone should end the episode right there because they know how to do footprints, but we have four minutes left, so it's time to Cartoon Duck Syndrome the episode. Sigh. The badge scene changer for this involves Duggee hiding behind a berry sucking bush using binoculars. He smiles and the wink sound effect is used to annoy me. Tag finds the mustache tortiose footprints as the turtle says "Hola". The tortiose wears a hat that is an inch above his head and a black collar. Apparently, this tortiose can speak Spanish. I haven't seen his official debut yet, so this is the first appearance for rant purposes. Norrie finds the naughty mice footprints and Johnny and the crew are not amused by this. Johnny basically says it all with a question. HAHA! The next set of prints are found by Happy as he's at a tree where the Naughty Monkey steals his glasses and wears them. Happy is not thrilled about this. Betty finds Delta Frog's footprints, which are triangle shaped because Delta Frog has no legit legs. Roly runs as there are literal dents in the ground, and then bonks into Ethel 's leg. Ethel blows his trunk and it sounds like a clown horn. Then there is two sets of prints, one of them is like a footprint and the other looks like a taller version of Delta Frog's. The kids have zero idea who these belong to, so Duggee does the GADGET TRICK OF DOOM to reveal a red book called "The Encyclopaedia of Animal Footprints". We open the book as this is basically the educational portion similar to Dora The Explorer's backpack segment. I'm not going to bother describing the animals shown with their footprints because none of them are of any importance. It's mostly the Squirrels yelling "no" in response since the baboon yells like Roly. Yeah, the book doesn't help at all. Norrie's suggestion is to just follow the prints and see where they lead. Good idea, and then you can document the footprints in the book later on since that's how books get their content. Well, the documentary ones anyway. They follow the footprints to the tree and Betty notices that they stop at this berry tree with a butterfly flying around it. Norrie notices someone behind it and it's a pink flamingo with a purple flower at the side of her head and has a Spanish accent. She's afraid of something as she addresses herself at Katerina. Katerina clearly has a shoe on one of her feet, I believe the right one and she slips and falls, doing the splits. She sobs and does a better job of this than Mummy Pig ever could. The story of the character is that she is a synchronized swimmer and part of the synchronized swimming team. She is angry because her flipper is gone as the other flamingos are streching out near the lake and each has two flippers. I don't get why you need flippers since I have seen synchronized swimming before, and the swimmer don't usually wear flippers.

Katerina wiggles her exposed toes as the kids offer to find the flipper and Roly decides to follow the footprints. This leads to a far shot of the area as Roly follows the footprints and finds the flipper near the pond. Roly acts like a dog showing what kind of influence Duggee has on this poor kid. He probably lusts for birds, too; but knows how to be subtle. Then we discover that Delta Frog was the thief as it pops up. We now have a naughty chick, a naughty monkey, naughty mice, and a naughty frog. This naughty gene is catching now. The Squirrels get the Delta Frog out of the flipper off-screen as Katerina continues to sob, so yes; they did the adult crying well before Peppa Pig did episode aligned. The Squirrels offer her the flipper back. Katerina is happy to see it and puts it on off-screen. Katerina is not only in the show, she is the show. She's literally acting like Peppa Pig now, except Peppa Pig doesn't say the quiet part out loud. Then the music of "March Of The Toreadors" By Carmen is playing in the background. Thank you CBC Kids for the subtitles once again. Basically, Katerina does a split image effect to start because they are doing a synchronized swimming routine that awes the crowd. Ladybird, Enid, and a Giraffe make an appearance to watch. I'm not going to call this, it was a fun little routine to show off and waste time. Don't expect this to get over in the Olympic games though. Lots of different color bubbles underwater too. The finish to this was great through: The pink flamingos manage to defy the laws of physics with shaped U's, and then they rise up on a giant cake like pillar wearing feather crows while water spouts surround them before the rise. That looks really neat and ended a really fun routine. Katerina walks out as her flippers are making her fart, she calls the Squirrels clever for finding her flipper. The narrator asks if they did well and Duggee just reveals the badge without bailing. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicle. There is time for one more thing: DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee Hug. The kids giggle and bail stage left to present the parents their badges. The parents hug the kids and then leave in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun with Duggee's face on the closeup, and the entire gang decides that they are going to do this synchronized swimming routine to end the episode at 6:45. The music and the entire routine is seen in the end credits, and somehow this was better than the flamingo's routine! AWESOME~! It's too bad the kids won't see it outside of the audience. Outside of a slow segment of the Squirrel looking for footprints, this was an awesome episode and one of the best finishes and ending to the show. **** 1/2 (90%).

Opening Moment #6: This opening features Norrie doing a snake charmer gimmick with Worm. The Worm has googly eyes and might be concussed as a result. When Norrie does her spiel and leaves, the Worm snaps out of it and just smiles. Pfft, whatever. The title card features a dinosaur fossil against a rocky background with grey and purple trim.

The Fossil Badge: Short opens in the garden with the Squirrels digging and already this is going to be a Youtube Poop episode just waiting to happen since Roly is involved. The narrator asks what are they doing while Roly is still digging and everyone else has stopped. Yup, Roly's bloodlust for those birds is starting to go into it's next stage and he needs help ASAP! Betty claims that they are digging for buried treasure and I suggest Roly is digging for some formerly angry birds, if you know what I mean. I'll get my coat...Norrie claims that no luck is given as Roly digs faster and faster. Despite having plastic shovels, it acts like it hits metal. Wait, I'm not saying the line yet because Roly pulls it out and it's a rock fossil, which shouldn't be able to make that sound. Okay, now I can say it: SUZY SHEEP~?! Also, the holes have been all filled up in the next shot after they show the closeup of the fossil, which is octagon in shape. The Squirrels groan, but Roly is actually interested in knowing what the light grey squiddly stuff is. Tag decides to ask Duggee about it as the Squirrels cheer and are happy to run stage left. We head inside the clubhouse with Duggee in his farmer's outfit with a wrench fixing a ten speed bicycle. HAHA! I'm guessing Tag broke the bicycle after pedaling the ten speed backwards during Opening Moment #5. Nice touch of continuity as the Squirrels all run in and show Duggee the fossil Roly found. Duggee woofs and the narrator translates this as finding a fossil and Roly is confused and starts asking what a fossil is, in a normal voice tone. The narrator calls this a big question, but that's okay because Duggee points to his chest to reveal his Fossil Badge. Duggee explains through woofs and the narrator translates that fossils were created a long time ago as we HIT THE MONTAGE FLASHBACKS~! The first scene is literally the stone age version of the opening sequence when Duggee comes out of the house and does his "kick out" dance. He literally looks like Fred Flintstone here. The kick out music is basically drums at this point. The narrator narrates during Duggee holding the pose and then Duggee gets offended. Not because the narrator calls him primitative, but because they need to go back in time much further. So, Duggee doesn't mind being called dumb basically.

Jump cut to the shoreline with a green snail like creature with a really colorful shell that looks like something that you would say today in an not natural state. While rainbow shells are legit, they are not as colorful in real life as they are in this show. The colors are far more subdued in real life. The snails also do not wear pants, nor have shovels and buckets in real life either. They also do not sing sea songs, although I wish they could. Much better than listening and obeying God wannabes, that is for sure. They we get a sequence as the narrator is talking about conditions of weather and the snail keeps dodging snowstorms/blizzards and volcano. Somehow, despite lava clearly on the ground, the snail no sells a hot foot much less death since the snail's "feet" are clearly touching the lawa. SUZY SHEEP~?! Sadly, the dreaded sandstorm buries the snail deep within the earth and is legit killed although BS&P would only say that the creature is stuck forever. We return to reality (no, not really) as Tag basically summarizes the event for all of us watching. Then we get a sequence of events where the snail dies, and we get another thirty jump cuts, including a scene where the naughty mice are apparently Greeks or Romans, one Duggee was apparently a king in Italy, one was the castle, and then they did the kick out jungle again as it ends with the kids finding the fossil in a wider shot just to get the Delta Chicken contracted appearance in. We return to the clubhouse for more talking. Norrie asks if there are more fossils and the narrator agrees with her because fossils are from creature that lived a long time ago...and then died. Okay, I made the last part up. I don't get why they cannot say the word "die" on this show. Even Peppa Pig allowed the word "die" at least once and it was to mention extinction, which was actually a better word for it. We HIT THE MONTAGE AGAIN~! Jellyfish swimming in the sea, more colorful than in real life, a green lizard crawling out of the sea dressed in modern hiking gear with a tuque. Okay, I get this show is suppose to be chaotic, but come on now! Now, you are doing chaos for the sake of it. A yellow bird like creature lands on a green dinosaur stomping hard near a volcano. Betty is excited about these big creatures that she thinks like me and knows it's dinosaurs. Sadly, we will probably never see Roly nor Happy be one in a dream sequence and chase Norrie nor Betty, because Georgasaur chasing Peppa Pig in Series One was hilarious!

They then proceed to do the next best thing: The Squirrels in their dream sequence become dinosaurs after the narrator talks about dinosaurs coming in all shapes and sizes. Betty is the purple long neck called a Bestiesaurus to her. Norrie is a Norridactyl naturally because she loves to be a birdwoman, or something. Roly is a Rolysaurus Rex, which looks like a grey palette swap of George's Mr. Dine-e-saur from Peppa Pig. Also, it chases birds. Not as funny as Georgesaur chasing Peppa Pig though. Tag is a TriTagatops who pops bubbles with the dullest horn ever, the birds seem to like him over Roly. Happy is a Happygator, because he loves ponds and water as per his gimmick. He's apparently a friend of Nessie, the Lock-Ness Monster, since he says it's name over and over again. Then, the Squirrels all bail off-screen to die and then return with the Squirrels as cave kids. This show's evolution is warped to say the least. The abiogenesis is even more so. Roly calls them cavemen and Norrie corrects him as "Cave Squirrels" as I can hear the bigots whining about wokeness again. I do recall a binary character is on this show like there was in the spin-off of PAW Patrol that causes Moncia Cole to write stupid takes. Enid plays the role of the sabertooth tiger. In other words, Enid is a Enidtooth Tiger....I'll get my coat, AGAIN~! The narrator corrects Tag as Enid growls loudly. Jump cut to Happy wearing a mammoth coat talking to Ethel who is a wooly mammoth. With a wooly hat on in a snowstorm. Norrie summarizes Enid and Ethel and the narrator agrees with her. Then Roly's tummy rumbles, the signal that he's hungry. Roly screams and then bounces away into Duggee's cave clubhouse of doom. Then he returns mad because he wants to know where the kitchen is. The narrator says there isn't one and one of the Squirrels wonders how to cook things. Duggee woofs at during all this grandstanding and bally-hoo, Duggee made a campfire and was roasting a red onion during the whole thing. HA! See, the Squirrels must make things themselves and this leads to the badge scene changer: This one features a volcano that blasts a puff of white smoke with Duggee's face on it. This is almost a reference to enemies in Yoshi's Story. Almost.

We go to black and then return as Duggee shoves a block of cut rock down onto the ground to create a window. Tag is thrilled as Roly rolls a rock block without any problems whatsoever, which means Roly is actually walking back his giant boulder rolling from "The Show And Tell Badge". The rock blocks are for chairs and table, Happy uses a leaf for a plate, Betty makes a fork out of a branch, Norrie throws a potato and it sticks. More stuff being made including painting art on the walls, Rolly makes a bed from a tree log, a soccer ball out of hay (yes, it's called a football here), Betty makes a bowl as it turns into a strainer thanks to Ethel and the water from it's trunk. Duggee makes a two wheel car from wood and stone, looking annoyed. Tag runs in, sits in the car and Duggee rolls him away stage left. Tag goes down the hill as we get thirty more jump cuts of different vehicles in the sequence of history. ending with the ten speed bicycle as Roly races down the hill, goes into the clubhouse and brakes perfectly in front of the babyfaces. Okay, the finish to this was great, but damn; the history here is more warped than Peppa Pig ever was. Delta Frog makes it's contracted appearance as Norrie asks if this fossil is the basis for everything existing and Duggee wants to do a nuanced explaination, but only has ten seconds left, so he woofs "yes". Roly calls fossils amazing as the narrator asks if the Squirrels have done well. Duggee bails on all fours and then returns with the badge as the kids cheer. Cue the parents in their vehicles and they all look stone age, particually Happy's vehicle which doesn't look even close to the vehicle usually driven in. Cue the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug as Tag's bicycle helmet is gone in that sequence. The kids all giggle and bail stage left to present the badges to their parents. The parents hug the kids and leave in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun to Duggee, and Enidtooth Tiger growls on cue. Duggee and the narrator laugh to end the episode at 6:45. The end credits feature Duggee sleeping in a literal dog cave, with an orange paw print on the side. A fine episode, but the "education" portion was extremely warped to me with some logic breaks. ** 3/4 (55%).

Opening Moment #7: This opening features Roly doing the pinwheel spot from Series One, only it's connected to a wooden model of Duggee looking like a geek. HAHA! It was funny during the Paddling Pool Badge and it works here. The title card features the new treehouse from Series One in a berry tree against a blue background with pink and white trim.

The Treehouse Badge: Short opens with the Squirrels doing the usual in the clubhouse, only this time Betty is creating a double decker bus drawing of her friends on an easel. The narrator asks what they are doing as Tag proclaims that they are playing with their to....oh wait, the vacuum cleaner is hoovering according to the subtitles CBC Kids is using. That was amusing, but vacuum cleaning the room is not due to a lot of noise. This has to be revenge for the "Making Music Badge", it just has to be. Cut to Duggee vacuuming the floor and bumping a chair with Enid on top of it. Enid is not amused by this as Duggee has donut colored rings on his cyan blue overalls, cyan blue boots and a white shirt on. The kids try to do stuff, but it's all messed up because Duggee is vacuuming, plunging up a sink and banging which destorys the artisty Betty was doing. Betty cannot work in these conditions, so the Squirrels decide to play in the treehouse. They cheer and bounce out of the barn as Duggee vacuums up their toys and teases sucking up the easel before cutting away. Now this episode really sucks. HAHA!

Ron Sparks: It sucks more than Sean Desmond.

What is with Duggee today?! He's never this careless and reckless. Anyhow, the Squirrels walk up the treehouse and somehow this treehouse doesn't have TARDIS powers, and the Squirrels are squashed into a ball inside. The kids all complain as Tag complains about someone trod on his foot. Trod is British for "setting one's foot on top of", which is a BS&P decision if I ever saw one. Roly's screeching causes the roof to raise, but not topple over. The Squirrels of course blame the treehouse, just like any developer blaming their tools and hardware instead of their own lack of skill. At least the Squirrels are kids and don't know any better. What is the adults excuse?! At least with publishers, it's money and power. Outside is Duggee with a lawnmower and a basket of leaves as the kids scream for help, and they really need help. The kids groan and manage to get out of the treehouse themselves. The narrator points out that the treehouse hasn't gotten smaller, the kids got bigger. Happy proclaims that they love the treehouse. If you love that treehouse, why are you blaming IT for your own hurbis?! I laughed because if you love something, you are responsible for loving it, so blaming the treehouse means you don't love it and are just using it as a shield. Inanimate objects are one thing, but when this is applied with other anthros/human beings, this causes a lot of trouble and that's putting it mildly. Norrie then has a plan: Let's make the treehouse bigger, like her own house when she gets new siblings. Norrie's dad is a carpenter and does it without changing his clothes too. Geez, I didn't know money was so tight in the Norrie household. Apparently, including Norrie, this family has 19 siblings! And you thought Mummy Rabbit was littering?! Not littering as much as Ma Beagle is though. Duggee is gravely offended by this and interupts these proceeding of having Norrie's dad involved in this because the narrator thinks Duggee can handle it since he points to his out of nowhere cap to reveal the badge. Also, the design is a flower design, not lifesaver candy stuff on his outfit, so he was cleaning the empty floor just to annoy Enid. The narrator seems to be bossy here as he demands Duggee get the toolbox. Stylized scene changer shows a treehouse with Duggee's face on it being built piece by piece.

We return with Duggee, the tool box, planks with nails in them and a power cord circular bar and I thought they were just starting and we are going to hit the montage; but we zoom out and the treehouse is finished. WHAT?! The kids head inside and not only does it have TARDIS powers, the treehouse has two rooms and the kids simply do their thing inside. Roly is running and enjoying the free space while the rest do the usual. That's it?! We're not even three minutes in and the job is done. In comes Naughty Monkey and he's sad, even shedding a tear. WHY?! Happy claims that the Naughty Monkey has nothing to do. What does this has to do with the treehouse?! Roly screams that he has an idea and scribbles something on the paper. I discover that they want Duggee to build an extentsion on the treehouse. I thought there was already a second room when we saw the completed treehouse. Naughty Monkey can use that room. Duggee is pissed off when he brings out the saw. Oh wait, he's pissed off because Norrie offers her dad to assist him. Why is Duggee so pissed off at Norrie's dad?! What in the blue hell did Norrie's dad do to make Duggee this po'ed?! I would like an answer to that...Actually, I don't really care all that much to be honest with you. Still, why?! Now we HIT THE MONTAGE~! At least Duggee doesn't have a beef with Norrie and the other kids helping him. Roly brings in a twig, how very nice, how very evil. I'm not calling this action, there is a lot of messy stuff and the end result is the Naughty Monkey has the monkey bars underneath the treehouse. Har! Har! Naughty Monkey don't care about racism, he just wants to swing without a care in the world. Now the sheep conveniently placed below Naught Monkey are bleeting in sadness. Might be time to teach the empathy paradox there narrator, because we all know where this is going. Tag draws a see-saw and Duggee looks defeated as he brings out the saw again. WE HIT THE MONTAGE ...AGAIN~! Hey, at least Norrie didn't bring up her dad again, that probably would have been the end of her dad on this show; and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Delta Frog gets involved and more work being done which ends with Duggee drinking coffee from a yellow cup, which is a repeat of the end of the first montage. Betty is talking about her blueprints to Ethel, calling it just right for the modern day elephant. Duggee wishes he was yelling "PEGGGEEEEEE~!" at this point.

Ethel accepts the terms by doing the clown horn trumpet sound. Betty bails to talk to the structural engineer. If you don't know who that is, you have no business being an engineer of anything. Duggee is probably wishing he wasn't right now and let Norrie's dad take all the credit. Duggee has the most clownish face to the camera ever, literally sticking his tongue out. It's time for more montage! It's a giant ball pit for Ethel as Ethel wants to juggle the ball with trumpet sounds from his trunk when Ethel pops up from the ball carnage. By the way. the last two structures are built on platforms near the treehouse as Duggee thinks it's over. Then we pan east to the Squirrels showing off blueprints to the rest of the animals claiming that Duggee can build anything they desire and the brown horse says "anything?". Listen, this whole thing is "HAHA" funny and all, but it is also sad at the same time because Duggee is now being overworked for nothing in order to justify the cartoon duck syndrome nature of this episode. So, this endless montage must continue as the horse gets a conveyer belt, the hippie rabbits get a meditation jukebox (I think), Enid gets a sleeping room which is actually in the top of the tree with white berries, Delta Frog gets a bathtub, and the rest of them you can watch for yourself. Duggee acts like he's smiling geninuely as I'm just tired of this episode and I want them to mercy kill it. Duggee finally takes his last sip of coffee tired as the treehouse is so Rube-Goldbergish, it isn't funny. Yes, there is a space observatory on top of the tree, why do you ask?! Then the Squirrels yell for Duggee...AGAIN! I was ready to punch down on these kids for real, but they made a swinging bench for Duggee to put his feet up. Duggee is shedding a tear, he's so happy as the narrator asks if the Squirrels did well. Duggee sits in the bench and then gives the Squirrels the badge right there. Here come the parents in their vehicles because it's time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. Sadly, it was not on the swing bench, that would have been money. The kids giggle and bail stage left to present the badges to their parents. The parents hug the kids and bail stage left with the kids in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun and the bench comes down halfway off the ring hook. The narrator and Duggee laugh to end the episode at 6:45. The finish saved one of those episodes where I was torn between the hilarious attempt to show empathy towards the characters and the outright cruelty of the Squirrels overworking Duggee because they don't understand the meaning of the empathy paradox. It was an amazing spectacle in both instances, so I'll call it *** 1/2 (70%).

Opening Moment #8: This opening features Tag making a LEGO version of Duggee's head. The title card is a kite shaped badge of Duggee's head and front against a blue background with a yellow trim and brown stitching.

The Kite Badge: Short opens outside in a sandbox with Norrie and Tag making a sand castle, Betty bouncing a ball, Happy building a tower with building blocks and Roly being distracted by a pinwheel. The narrator asks what the Squirrels are doing as Norrie proclaims that they are playing in the sandbox. Suddenly, a gust of wind appears with leaves as the flag and grains of sand fly away. The sand hits Tag in the eyes, Tag is forced backwards and bumps into Betty. Betty falls on her back as the ball bounces off the back of Happy's head and he drops flat on his face with blocks flying. The blocks hit the pinwheel and make it go faster, completely screwing up Roly's eyes like a screw on dial. Roly gets googly eyes and falls to his knees. I do admit seeing Roly in that position is funny, but damn; Happy needs concussion protocol, STAT! The Squirrels admit that it's too windy and want to bail to inside as the Delta Chicken try to stand their ground, but they are forced to take bumps by the wind. The Squirrel watch in horror while trying to walk into the wind, which is a feat in itself. But wait, the Squirrels notice that Duggee is flying a kite. The kite is doing loop-de-loops for only 15 pounds while the narrator explains the obvious to us. The Squirrels are in awe and ask if they can help. The narrator says they can and Duggee can assist in them making kites because Duggee points to his chest and reveals his Kite Badge. The Squirrels jump up and down and cheer as the wind dies down. We get the scene changer of doom of Duggee's face and body on the kite of course. It also blinks with cartoon sound effect that annoys me. We return with Betty at an easel as we HIT THE MONTAGE~! Duggee is banging nails into a board and Roly uses a hammer to damage some ice lolly sticks taped together. Roly doesn't even bother to register anything but happiness. What a sadist?! Tag unintentionally binds himself in yarn, I'm sure Enid was amused by that at least. Happy is painting the zig zag of Charlie Brown's shirt and letting it drip, which is symbolic of Charlie Brown from the Peanuts. Norrie bounce walks with the kite tail in a widescreen cinematic shot. This ends with everyone yelling "finished" and showing off their kites. Tag made a paper airplane basically, Betty and Norrie made faces of themselves, Happy created Charlie Brown's shirt and Roly is totally square with eyes and is rough around the edges.

Then we waste more time introducing the kites as the kids reveal the type of kites made. Happy does a lot of snapping on his while Roly doesn't really know what he made, other than to admit that he's still loud. The introductions were split screen with the Squirrel introducing on the left and the kite they made on the right. The Squirrels cheer and then bail stage right because it's time to fly them in the sky. Betty throws hers in the air, and it works perfectly. Roly throws his in the air and it splats like a dying seagull. HAHA! Roly's not happy about that one. Norrie's kite works, Tag's kite works so well that Tag is running like the wind...an easterly wind this time which probably the actual wind direction in this episode. Roly's kite is thrown into the air...AGAIN! It splats like a dying seagull...AGAIN! HAHA! Roly is dragging his kite on the ground as the Duggee theme song plays in the background, just to make Roly look like the GEEK OF THE WEEK~! Happy's happy flying his kite, so then Duggee grabs the kite and throws it high into the air and now it's flying. Wait a second?! Everyone was able to get their kites into the air, and Roly throws it the same height but cannot get his into the air without Duggee's help?! SUZY SHEEP~?! The kites are flying in the air as the narrator calls them good at flying kites. HAHA! I'm suppose to buy that for Roly?! The kids raise the kites even more as one of the Squirrels -- I think it was Tag -- saying that they can see their house from there. You can't do that with a kite unless you are in the kite itself, come on now. One of the Squirrels literally says "watch out for that tree", but the tree is not a tree at all. It's Hennie standing around doing nothing. I guess standing is a form of fitness in Hennie's mind. Then we get an unintentionally hilarious moment: Hennie is looking at the kites as the Squirrels are introducing themselves as flying. This not only confuses Hennie, the motion of the kites literally hypnotizes her! It's unintentional because the Squirrels had no intention of brainwashing her, it's the motion of the kites that caused Hennie to be charmed. Hennie cannot take this anymore as she calls the kites a bunch of foul beasts and tries to slap the strings, but cannot slap the kite faces. This somehow is enough to bring the kites down and it splats right onto the kids' heads. Happy's lands on the ground as Hennie screams, runs into the mountain side and hides. Hennie actually was legit scared and didn't run away laughing and happy in the process.

Tag claims that Hennie is a bit upset in the understatement of the week. At least she sells fear a lot better than you Squirrels. The kids want to cheer her up and decide to make a kite for her, but it has to be really, really big. I'm sorry, but I cannot scream as loud as Roly. We HIT THE MONTAGE...AGAIN~! We need sticks the size of wooden brooms. One of them is a meter stick. Norrie is saying "think big" everytime the Squirrels bring out the materials. One of them involves Duggee's underwear of course, and Duggee is shocked and appalled by this. The really big string is literally rope. Betty end with really big paint brushes and paint cans used to paint walls. Because you see, Hennie is a bird who is suppose to be 50 feet tall in storyline. The kite is finished as the narrator is impressed with the Squirrels. Happy clearly painted the top, since there is that moving paint splatter I saw in his snapping kite earlier in the episode. The narrator asks to see what Hennie thinks as the babyfaces meet Hennie who has her back turned. The kids greet her and she turns around and is in full fight mode position, that was funny. Hennie is slightly relieved that it's just the kids and not those horrible flying beasties. The kids then tells her that those were their kites and offer to show them the kite that they made to her. Hennie seems interested now as the kids show off the giant kite and Hennie has seriously gotten over her fear and they are flying kites together. I'm glad that they resolved this phobia angle as quickly as they did and not let it simmer and boil for no reason like Peppa Pig did with Daddy Pig's fear of heights. The kites all cut promos in the sky as the narrator calls it good kite flying. Duggee then bails on all fours stage left and returns with the badge. The badge actually has a animated kite tail during the presentation in a nice touch. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicles, which means it's time for the DUGEEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids giggle and bail stage left to show off the badges to their parents. The parents hug the kids and leave stage left in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun to Duggee as Duggee is flying his kite. Duggee woofs as Enid, Delta Frog and the Delta Chicken are flying kites with their faces on it making noises. Everyone laughs off-screen to end the episode at 6:45. This was a fun episode with a hilarious snake charmer moment from Hennie. *** 3/4 (75%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well, this was mostly a decent set of shorts with one stand out which was The Footprint Badge. I loved that episode despite the slower build than I liked. I thought the synchronized swimming angle was really brilliant as you don't often see it used as an angle and it was done extremely well. Katerina was a very good character in her role as the star and while most of the routine was absurd and looked more like a sports entertainment piece rather than an actual sport, (Trust me, the actual sport is much duller than what was shown here) it was well executated and they even has the rest of the adults and animals involved in the ending which gave a really unique touch than the usual funny spot the show does on a regular basis. The Kite Badge almost became a standout, mostly due to the snake charmer spot since it wasn't the kids being cruel, it was just unintentional on their part. The Shape Badge could have been a thumbs up episode had they not overwrought the classic music and replaced it with circus music because there was no way I could getting splooshed by rain seriously even if I tired. The Making Music Badge could have also been a standout if they edited down twenty seconds each of the musical sequences, used fewer animals and used it to demonstrate how to make music good instead of using magic to solve the problem. The rest were fine, although The Treehouse Badge and The Fossil Badge came awfully close to being thumbs down episodes if they were not careful enough to have something that saved it from such. So...

Thumbs up for The Footprint Badge. Thumbs in the middle for the rest, and I'll see you all next time.

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