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Hey Duggee Series Two #2 Rant

Reviewed: 11/20/2025

Jennifer? 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 Pottery Badge is written by Sam Morrison. The Teamwork Badge is written by Danny Stack. The Tadpole Badge and The Medicine Badge is written by Jo Clegg. The Honey Badge is written by Ian Skelton. The Dancing Bug Badge and The Pizza Badge is written by Phillip Warner. The Train 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 Tag in his yellow pj's sleeping on the bed. Okay, this is hilarious: When the narrator does his spiel, Tag completely milks the sleeping until the end where he yells "Duggee~!", and then he jumps up, bounces on the bed until he makes it to the foot of the bed and then runs off stage right. That's right, he didn't jump out of bed from the side like most people do. That was funny. Also of note: Apollo is trademarked since the poster on the top left reads "Apllo". The title card features a tadpole with pinks spots against a green background with yellow/white trim. Also, the rest of the screen showing animated bubbles.

The Tadpole Badge: Short opens outside with Betty doing skip rope with Norrie and Tag turning the rope while Roly and Happy simply watch on. The narrator asks what Duggee has planned for them today and the kids drop what they are doing and bail stage left smiling, giggling and making bouncy sounds. Cut to Duggee struggling to lift large rocks while wearing his farming gear. The kids bounce in and asks what he is doing. Duggee drags the rock, struggling stage left and drops it off-screen with a thud as the narrator explains that Duggee is putting the finishing touches to a pond already filled with water. It's a rock pool, according the narrator. Hmmm, another episode theme Peppa Pig tackled with good success early in her series. Notable for one of the funniest George bawling scenes I have ever witnessed in the show actually. Happy bounces in because he loves water and splashing you see, but Duggee cuts off his bloodlust at the knees because a rock pool is not for swimming and splashing, you see. It's basically a place for animals to enjoy the spring flowers and peaceful music that is not death metal. The brown horse arrives to drink from a straw using a belly bomb plant as a stand, that was funny. Butterflies fly, ducks quack and I should mention this, they have done a spin-off series featuring Quackee The Duck as the main character. I'm not making this up! Although that series was only recent, compared to the next rant I might be doing on this series since that one will likely contain the debut of Peggee and the Humming Birds! The narrator then goes into full over the top melodramatic promo cutting that even Betty found so appalling, despite being a clever clogs. Oh wait, Betty is offended because the pond is filled with viruses. Oh wait, they are not viruses, they are tadpoles. Norrie calls the tadpoles "wiggly raisins" and everyone is suddenly surprised that Norrie is a "take that" on Peppa Pig?! The narrator explains through translation from Duggee's woofs that they are babies. Betty then asks if tadpoles are baby worms. Worm appears and no sells. Happy thinks they are baby fish and the giant orange fish no sells. By the way, all the animals no selling have flower trims on the edges of the frame for no reason whatsoever. Norrie thinks they are baby snails and a yellow shelled snail no sells. Sadly, we never get to hear Tag nor Roly's answer, although Roly's answer would likely be "BIRDS~!" Hey, it wouldn't be any worse of an answer than the other Squirrels answers, that is for sure. The narrator points out that they are baby frogs as Delta Frog appears to ribbit against a pink background with flower edges. Of course! What a fool they are?! It's obvious that Delta Frog has to have a focus episode at some point of this show since Delta Frog appears in most episodes of this show anyway. The kids cannot believe this, I can.

Tag doesn't think they look like Delta Frog, Betty doesn't think they sound like Delta Frog, and Norrie asks Duggee is he's sure despite not giving them the answer. Duggee points to his overalls to reveal his Tadpole Badge. Delta Frog is now with Duggee as the kids all bounce in happy. Duggee then shows off his Delta Frog owners manual, which looks like he wrote and created the cover himself. The narrator then flips the page showing the sequence of how a tadpole becomes a frog, I'm certain that they don't wear red boots during this sequence. There seems to be a sequence skip between the tadpole looking circular and then suddenly turn into a triangle frog with no visible limbs. What caused that?! Absolutely zero explaination here. Betty don't care, she's amazed; I think this is all sus, if you know what I mean. Happy wants to inform them of their greatness and the kids all bail stage left in glee. This logically leads to the badge scene changer with Duggee smiling and then Delta Frog splats on top of his head as per an earlier series ending. HAHA! We return to the rock pool as Betty is doing the promo cutting complete with melodramatic music. And then we get a record scratch and the tadpoles cannot believe that this is true and refuse to grow up. Uh-oh! Trouble. Betty is reading the book and the tadpoles are now gravely offended by this because they will grow old and fat. (Kit Cloudkicker: First time?) Delta Frog then literally stands up and looks like his legs have been Hennieized, and does Duggee's "kick out" move. Now THAT is offensive, and the tadpoles agree with me! Tag claims otherwise, sod off! You Squirrels are responsible for them changing their tunes about growing up, you pay the price for it! Betty claims that they are useful, and the tadpole won't let that happen...and then all of the tadpoles grow arms and legs, along with white boots and white gloves. The jokes just write themselves here. The tadpoles demands this to stop, Happy claims that they cannot because Norrie calls it nature. Well, your horrible letting the secret out was not nature, you cold blooded trolls. Betty is reading from the book, and one of the tadpole is literally plugging it's ears and going "lalala". These tadpoles are in a religious cult, the cult of the Tad Poles~! I'll get my coat...Then Duggee's reality says "Fuck you!" and the tadpoles all turn green.

The tadpole calls this unfair and Norrie basically says they are doing very well. Geez, you sound more and more like Peppa Pig now, Norrie. One of tadpoles thinks they are patronizing. No, they are telling the truth and you hate reality and want to kill it. One of the tadpoles calls it embarrassing and nature is like "whatever" and they all turn into Delta Frog. No magic from Peppa and Suzy could pull this stunt off. Next up is sounding like Delta Frog and despite talking, now they cannot speak anything but ribbit. Is this how Duggee went from talking normally to speaking in woofs when he grows up?! Now there's some fridge horror to consider. I should put a pin in that for any future episodes. Norrie is so loving this and Happy looks like he's bloodlusting for non-talking ribbiting Delta Frogs. Tag asks Betty what happens next and Betty gasps in horror because they now leave the pond. Even the kids are appalled by this, I don't know why. The music played says it all as all the Delta Frogs are out of the pond as nature intended. Somehow, this causes the duck and ducklings to leave the pond. SUZY SHEEP~?! Betty is so sad to see this, even though it is what nature intended. The kids are the GEEKS OF THE WEEK~! Then, to make this even funnier, three of the Delta Frog suddenly speak normally and talk about their future lines of work. I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. Duggee is either appalled, relieved or both. I cannot tell his reaction here, which made this even funnier. Betty and Tag are in mourning and the music is so cheerful as to say: "You two are full of shit!" I cackled here. I cannot take anything seriously in this sequence, it's so absurd! I also love that the kids are telling them what to do and the Delta Frogs are doing the exact opposite, just to make complete fools out of the Squirrels and Norrie and Happy do not give a damn about their creditibility. This was great! The kids wave goodbye as the Delta Frogs hop stage left and that is that. The narrator says it as Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the Tadpole Badge. The kids all cheer even though they looked like complete geeks getting this one. In comes the parents in their vehicles, which means it's time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail stage left to present their badges and the parents hug them in unison. The kids and parents leave in their vehicles stage left as the narrator asks if this was fun to Duggee. Duggee and Delta Frog do the "kick out" in stereo and ribbit woof to end the episode at 6:45. A really good episode that made my laugh my ass off, just as the nature and nuture of comedy intended. **** 1/2 (90%).

Opening Moment #2: This opening features Happy doing the old "find the ball in a pot" trick and finds a bug. The bug is gulping thinking that Happy is going to eat it, but the narrator does his spiel to cut that off. Happy yells "Duggee~!" and then runs off as the bug is trapped once again. This is probably for the best. The title card is an octagon shaped badge with a natural beehive hanging from a tree with orange and yellow trim.

The Honey Badge: Short opens outside with Norrie playing with a doll house, Happy using building blocks to build a wall, Betty playing with the car port parking lot set, Tag is playing with a toy fire engine and Roly is hiding behind the doll house and only appears when the narrator asks what Duggee is planning for them today. The orange/yellow/white rainbow above their heads in the sky looks like a visual clue, methinks. The kids sniff the air and they smell pancakes, which is not foul. The kids bail inside to the kitchen as we see Duggee in chef's gear does the greatest backflip of pancakes from a stove I have ever seen. This was so amazing that it manages to make five pancakes land on all five plates perfectly in front of the kids at the table. That is a SUZY SHEEP~ moment if I ever saw one. The kids want some toppings as Roly loves bananas, Norrie wants raspberries, Tag wants raisins which are dried grapes, Betty wants blueberries and Happy wants a giant strawberry. This is done in a Brady Bunch sequence as Duggee's paw brings out the bottle of honey for the sixth and final box. Back to the table with Duggee trying to squeeze honey from the bottle, but no dice. There is a bowl of fruit and a glass with a container of orange juice on said table. Duggee is not happy about this because the honey bottle is empty, which causes the kids to gasp. Somehow this giant strawberry shrunk to normal size. SUZY SHEEP~?! Tag doesn't like it, but it's okay because Duggee has his Honey Badge as pointed on his chest. Now Duggee could have just buy a bottle of honey from the store like everyone else, but that would end the episode too soon, and no education would take place. In other words, we are heading straight for the source: the bees. The kids are shocked by this, when it really isn't a surprise to me since Grandpa Pig had a bee house in Peppa Pig. That episode wasn't all that special, so I can only guess this show's version of it. The narrator then goes into a flashback educational segment which is done in a water color paint style which the narrator explains how the bees with a basket collecting nector from the flowers. This is so absurd, but the different art style more than makes up for it. It's not that the narrator is wrong, it's that the visuals are done that way due more to BS&P than anything else. By the way, in Duggee's world, the bee house is literally on top of a rainbow. I can not take anything this narrator says seriously. Also, the queen bee is literally Queenie, only a lot classier than the Rescue Rangers version of this. The kids are in awe of all this misinformation, except this is Duggee's world, so it means the narrator in this context is in fact saying that in Duggee's world that this is all legit and real. Betty wants to get some honey from the bees and Duggee woofs yes. The kids all cheer as we go to the stylized scene change of a flower with Duggee's face watching a flying bee.

We head to the bee house outside in the flowers with Duggee and the kids as Tag asks the obvious to Duggee as the bee house has a spout, so the bees and Duggee are in good terms. At least in theory. Duggee twists the knob on the spout and no honey comes out after some weird movements. Norrie is not impressed by this. The narrator is confused by this as Duggee knocks on the bee house. The tiny bee door opens to reveal an anthromorphic bee wearing blue shoes, a blue hat, has a unibrow and mustache, along with a blue clipboard. Judging by his attitude when we meet and greet, this is not going to end well for the kids and Duggee. Norrie asks nicely about the honey and the bee shakes his head and acts rather nice, apologizing for the bees not delivering the nector yet. I was surprised by the bee's response since his look didn't match his demeanor. This has happened before with the scared response by the kids when they run happy and giggling. Although the later was hilarious, this demeanor isn't funny at all. Betty asks where the bees are and the bee general doesn't know. Then he gets mad because the Queen bee is supposed to get her afternoon tea with honey and that could create bigger problems than the Squirrels never getting honey. We see the Queen Bee on the throne saying Cooee and waving at the hard camera. Her pink hair matches her pink seat on the throne I should note. The stained glass windows look like Final Fantasy crystals in rainbow colors I should note as well. Then we hear buzzing as the honey bees have arrived in bee aeroplanes. I am not making this up! They are called the "Nector Squadron" and yes, they communicate as if the bee general is the air traffic controller. Peppa Pig be like: "And they excuse my show of being unrealistic?! Absurd!". The female lead bee wants to land; but cannot because the runway is blocked. 2:1 odds that Duggee and the kids are blocking the runway. I check the video...By the way, the female lead bee in this squadron is Captain Bumble. One of the bees is called Maverick and he acts like a rebel, so he has watched TaleSpin in his life and Captain Bumble doesn't like that show because she's pleading for him not to do it. This leads to a really whacky flying sequence where he goes through a house and then gets wrecked by the bouncy ball. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Captain Bumble: This is not TaleSpin, Maverick! Deal with it! I howled with laughter seeing this. Despite all this, the plane still manages to reform in perfect formation. SUZY SHEEP~?! Bee General is desperate as Queen Bee wants to pop the kettle on because she wants that tea right fucking now! Now the kids are shocked and appalled. I have an idea: CLEAN UP THE RUNWAY!! Thankfully Betty figures out the problem since it's their toys blocking the runway. Close enough, so damn I am so good! Betty invokes Operation Tidy Up and Mummy Pig is prepping the legal department I see.

Then we HIT THE MONTAGE~! By the way, the kids put everything into the wagon, and I do mean everything. That wagon tower is going to fall I bet. I check the video...Roly bails with the wagon and somehow, nothing fell out of it. SUZY SHEEP~?! Tag has paddles to signal that the runway is clear. The planes goes into their landing dives as Norrie and Betty do air controller with binoculars, a cardboard box and a doll house. Peppa Pig is so appalled by this as then we get a huge logic break: Okay, Captain Bumble's plane is upside down and is in major trouble. One problem: It was Maverick's plane that suffered the most after his plane went off the bouncing ball. This makes zero sense whatsoever! Apparently, the instruments are stuck with honey even though no honey was present. She must have meant nector, maybe it came from Maverick's plane, but that makes no sense either. This sequence was going so well and now the continuity is shot here. Betty is on transmitter to help as Roly sets up a pole with a windsock on it. Happy is typing on a toy typewriter for no reason, but Bumble does turn around and the airplane is right side up now. Anyhow, all the planes go through instructions from the kids and land safely as the Bee General reveals the other bee names: Jaegar (brown helmet), Waldo (brown helmet with shades), Airheart (female bee with Waldo's helmet) and Baron who stops (black helmet, red gloves) as Baron is the only one who speaks here. Bee General tells them to unload the cargo as a bee arrives with a giant green hose and attaches it to the back of one of the planes. It drinks up nector like a cartoonish gas guzzler and we get a frame shot of the entire bee hive. Yes, it looks like your average building to make something for profit, right down to a financial board room just a floor below the queen bee's throne room. She might as well be the CEO of this company. Bascially, this is a modern day making of honey as demonstrated on How It's Made. Only it's in bee form of course. Yes, the bees have servants delivering tiny pancakes with honey to the queen bee sitting on the throne drinking tea. The Queen Bee thanks the Squirrels for making sure the bees were safe in landing to make this honey and her voice sounds like a really bad version of Queen Elizabeth. Peppa Pig's queen sounded much better than this. She presents them with a bottle of honey as it gets a ding sound. The kids are cheering in unison as we return to the house as the kids eat their pancakes with honey and Duggee's mouth is full. The narrator asks if the kids did well, and Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the honey badge. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicles, which signals it's time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail stage left and show off the badges to the parents. The parents hug the kids and they leave stage left in their vehicles. The narrator then asks if this was fun and now Duggee is wearing a bee's outfit. HAHA! Duggee woofs and then he buzzes and floats up into the sky. The narrator cannot believe this as they both laugh to end the episode at 6:45. Massive logic break aside, this episode was really fun. *** 3/4 (75%). A Note: The Bee General is called "Jobsworth Bee". Yeah.

Opening Moment #3: This opening features Norrie and a purple bird painting a bird house, which looks like a joint project. Norrie's pink spot on her cheek is written out by teleport during this spiel I should note. SUZY SHEEP~?! The title card is oval in shape with a teacup, a vase and a bowl againest a yellow background with biege and dark brown trim.

The Pottery Badge: Short opens inside the barn in the sitting room with Tag standing there like a Peppa Pig character. Enid is sitting on the loveseat sleeping as they are clearly playing seek and go hide since Norrie is peeking and ducking, and her giggle is just outing her at this point. Then Happy does the same behind the drawers (NOT THOSE ONES!) as Betty is hiding with Norrie behind the chair. The narrator asks what Duggee has planned for them today. All the kids except for Roly bounce and giggle stage left. Cut to Duggee at a tea stand pouring tea from a kettle to a tea cup, just to remind everyone that this show is British. If donuts were eaten, it would be Canadian, you see. Duggee's favorite tea cup has purple eight pointed stars on the side as the kids are confused about this tea product. The narrator then trolls on the kids for a while about the awesomeness of this tea cup. Duggee drinks some tea and breathes a sigh of relief, nothing out of the ordinary. The narrator is about to finish his spiel when Roly jumps in stage left to give Duggee a shock in the lowest volume of voice Roly can give. This is enough for Duggee's tea cup to fly into the air in slow motion playing public domain classical music before cutting off the music and dropping straight down. The landing of the tea cup was absolute classic: The teacup lands on the floor perfectly, stays intact for one second and then shatters. I'm supposed to be angry at Roly for the shock and yet I'm laughing my ass off seeing this. You couldn't make this look more overdramatic and comedic if you tried. The kids gasp, Roly apologizes and the narrator forgives him because it was an accident. No, it wasn't sir. That was a troll move on Roly's part. I didn't let Peppa off the hook for stuff like this and I'm not letting Roly off the hook either. Duggee woofs in the highest pitch possible, as if he was kicked in the groin with his eyes all bugged out. This was funnier than when the Great Book Of Gummi had a page torn out and Sunni's reaction to this was someone kicked her in the groin. It was awesome acting on Katie Leigh's part and Sander Jones really nailed the part here as well. Betty wonders how Duggee will drink tea now and Roly claims that he fixed it with glue and tape while covered in glue and tape as well. Yeah, sure; you Peppa Pig wannabe. The tea cup is not fixed. During this failed fixing of the tea cup, Duggee bailed and returned wearing a white shirt and brown overalls with modeling clay splattered on it because he points to his chest to reveal his "Pottery Badge". Happy asks what pottery is and Duggee woofs while the narrator translates for him. Unlike the "Whistling Badge", this episode does have a chance to outdo Peppa Pig's version of the same episode. Happy did make me laugh by asks if he could do a pottery. The answer is yes, and it's not a bathroom break, although if Happy does need the "pottery", I wouldn't mind. When you love water as a gimmick, you probably drink a lot of water.

This leads to the badge scene changer as a brown Duggee face mug of hot liquid rotates. No, I'm not calling Duggee an idiot, honest! Duggee also does the annoying eye wink sound effect and we return with the kids looking at a pottery apparatus that molds and shapes the pottery clay. Tag wonders what it is, and the narrator calls it a potter's wheel. Basically, Duggee throws some biege clay onto the potter's wheel and stomps on the button on the bottom and molds and shapes the clay. Even the narrator is somewhat hesistant on the throwing part, so he never made pottery in his life, methinks. The kids want a go and Duggee woofs yes as we HIT THE MONTAGE~! 2:1 odds Roly's will be the worst shaped of the five. The kids are wearing their gear and clay is thrown onto the potter wheels, Brady Bunch style. All of the kids cannot handle this throwing and molding bit as Norrie comes close; but takes clay to the face. Roly is on the wheel spinning around like a clown. Betty asks how Duggee pulls it off. By the way, the entire room is littered with sprayed clay. The narrator proclaims that you have to be delicate since pottery is art, you see. This is just asking for trouble, mostly after what happened in "The Drawing Badge". The narrator claims that Duggee learned all this pottery from someone named Hatsu Kimara, who is a pottery white poodle wearing a blue dress with orange and aqua blue trim. Although she is shown via a pottery produced blue/white dish. Tag is confused as Duggee bows and woofs. Then we hear a "gong" sound and in comes Hatsu Kimara in a puff of white smoke, just like that. She greets them in Japanese and the kids all gasp. Masami Eagar voices Hatsu I should note. By the way, when Hatsu greets the kids and walks, she is always facing the hard camera for no reason whatsoever. We exchange notes for a while, half of them are in Japanese. If anyone know what Hatsu said in Japanese, please let me know. Hatsu dances around in circles and then molds and shapes the clay into a heart shape and then a bowl while talking about the clay being a part of them, and using the heart to make the hands shape the clay the way they want. This ends with a clay fish jumping in the bowl as the kids are in awe. I would be too, and I also say: SUZY SHEEP~?! Hatsu speaks more Japanese and tells them to be one with the wheel, as down we have descended into Daddy Pig's infamous "Be one with the puddle", except this makes a lot more sense. The kids try again and this time, they have a lot more success. Happy of course makes a cup based on his face, Betty's looks like something, Tag is the messiest, Roly looks like a jar. Next up is that these creations are to bake and harden into a kiln. The kids are confused as Duggee demonstrates his oven and it's red hot literally. By the way, we have a teacup with two handles, three of them are faces and a vase on the tray Duggee is holding. Betty then asks if they eat them and Hatsu continues to dance and explain through the allegory of the pottery being heated to become real.

The oven is closed with the tray of pottery inside, then the clock begins to tick. We do a badge scene changer of a clock. Duggee is at twelve, Norrie is at eleven, Tag is at two, Happy is at four, Betty is at six and Roly is at eight. The other faces are Johnny the naughty mice at one, A hippy rabbit at three, a purple bird at five, a delta chicken at seven, naughty monkey at nine and Enid at ten. We return with the pottery on the table as Hatsu claims that they were excited and now they are calm, meaning that the pottery was hot and now it's cold, it's time to paint. Hatsu also speaks more Japanese as the kids all cheer. Then we get probably the best and weirdest part of the episode: A montage of water color drawings of various stuff set to Japanese music. It ends with a circle face of Duggee woofing. I personally liked it, for the ten or so seconds this scene was on and it certainly stood out compared to Peppa Pig's pottery episode. The final results are: One is a unicorn with a rainbow unicorn horn, hearts on the side and a purple base, the second one is Norrie's face with different colored ears, one is Betty's face with the headband on top as the trim, one is Happy literally carrying a rainbow, that was funny. The last one I believe is Roly's as it's gray with two carrots on the side, I assume it's to toast with the Hippy Rabbits. Hatsu is pleased and dances and speaks Japanese before telling them it's off to the kiln for the finish and the kids all groan. We repeat the spot again and return with Hatsu claiming that the pottery is done and it's time to reveal the kids' true hearts. Hatsu is so great in this episode and then it gets ever better: The presentations are actual real pottery on a spinning wooden table and while most of the pottery looks really rough, it is really creative and looks awesome. This scene alone completely destroys the pottery episode in Peppa Pig and it's not even close. Hatsu is so impressed by this that hearts literally come out that when Norrie shows off the out of nowhere teacup Duggee is holding, Hatsu escapes in a puff of smoke and disappears with a gong. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hatsu knew this cup was fake and wanted no part of this. AWESOME! The narrator then claims that she is always doing that. I wonder why. Wink! Wink! Nudge! Nudge! Duggee woofs as the narrator asks if the kids have done well today. Duggee bails on all fours and makes his teacup disappear. He returns with the "Pottery Badge and the kids all cheer while the pottery is now on the floor. Here come the parents in their vehicles and the kids are clearly behind the pottery when they do the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail with their badges and pottery as they show off the badges and pottery to their parents. They remember to put the pottery down on the ground before the hugs in stereo. The kids and parents bail stage left in their vehicles and the narrator asks if this was fun. Duggee is making more pottery and then Hatsu pops up out of nowhere asking if he revealed himself. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Duggee woofs in fear to end the episode at 6:45. Okay, that ending was a bit creepy; but this is the best episode of Series Two thus far. Outside of that ending, Hatsu was an awesome character, the setup was dead on perfect, the presentations of the pottery were really creative for a pre-school show and Hatsu was awesome, outside of that ending. **** 3/4 (95%).

Opening Moment #4: This opening features Betty in her living room spinning a globe while wearing safari gear and there is a briefcase on the floor. Betty manages to step on the briefcase during this sequence and it was so light that she might as well jumped over it, and it wouldn't have made a difference. She is a perfect worker for a wrestler, if she and I had a wrestling match, I would not have felt a thing and she probably would shoot on me. There's not much else of note inside the room I should note. The title card features red ants carrying a green leaf against a sky blue background with orange/cheese trim.

The Teamwork Badge: Short opens in the clubhouse with the Squirrels building stuff with building blocks. The narrator wonders what Duggee has planned for them today and the Squirrels bounce and giggle stage right as Roly and company knock down another unstable tower of building blocks. Duggee is standing on the window sill panting like a dog just as the Squirrel ask what he is doing. I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. Duggee woofs as the narrator points out that Duggee is waiting for something, I don't know because the door bell rings and all the kids notice it's the post man. Duggee salivates so much that his saliva actually appears on the window before he bails. Duggee opens the door and the post man appears to be a tiny creature. Apparently, Duggee's intials are Double D, which means his last name is also Duggee. Duggee Duggee. Also, Duggee signs the clipboard page with his paw print of course. The post man declares that it's all Duggee, as the purple bird is marking the package and I beg for Roly to scream at this point. The package is taller than the building minus the roof I should note as the narrator says the understatement of the episode while Duggee woofs with approval. This leads to the stylized scene change of a red post stamp containing Duggee's face as apparently he owns the post office. Ooookkkaaaayyyy then. The numbers on the side are "24102006" and "02082010". None of these number really mean anything to me. If anyone in creative knows what these numbers mean, you know my email address. The post stamp also winks with the annoying wink sound effect. If it sounded like a heart beat, then I'll hear you out in using a sound effect as a wink. Cut back to inside and now the package is as big as Duggee. SUZY SHEEP~?! The kids wonder what this is and Duggee can only say that it's a surprise. Uh-oh! Anytime I hear the word "surprise" when it comes to unknown package, I'm reminded of Jokey Smurf and his presents containing bombs. Roly screams to open it, so nothing his changed in his gimmick at all. Duggee lifts the package which needs to be shaked to get the stuff out. Now, normally, it should contains plastic bags of stuff and therefore would require shaking. However, all the stuff is loose and should have fallen the second Duggee lifts up the box. SUZY SHEEP~?! The kids are not impressed by this as the narrator tells them that it's a kit for building something. Duggee puts all the stuff on the table and reads the instructions as it's called a WRLYSLUD. Hmmm, I think it means "Whirly Slide" and if so, that gives away the finish in advance.

The kids offer to help and their "help" is reduced to "where does this stuff go", putting more and more stuff on the table and generally annoying Duggee so much that even Duggee has had enough of this and cuts everyone off. The narrator claims that Duggee needs space to build this something, I don't know. The kids translate this into "He doesn't need our help" and then bounce away to the play room to play their toys. This is for the best I think, but the problem is, it doesn't help them earn their badges, which is the premise of this cartoon. The next stylized scene changer is building a living LEGO Duggee against a black background. Head back to the play area as Tag is playing a toy car, Betty is reading Gedo's Memoirs I think, Norrie and Happy playing building blocks and Roly being all pissy mad pacing around. Tag decides to stop playing and watch the window to see how Duggee is getting on with this building stuff. Let's just say that Duggee's building skills are somehow worse than Daddy Pig's, if that is anthromorphically possible. Tag returns claiming that he's nearly finished like a troll and then admits he doesn't know. This attempt to build this something, I don't know goes on for a long ass whomping time. The narrator suggests that Duggee take a tea break and Duggee agrees with him and then they cut back to Tag sitting on a stool (NOT THAT ONE!) having an orange juice break. HAHA! It's like he watched this show now. The Squirrels are acting like detectives playing good cop, bad cop and Tag doesn't know what anything looks like. Betty has had enough of this and walks stage left. CBC Kids used this scene as their animated GIF for the Youtube. Betty was like "fuck this, I'm out of here!". That was funny. Betty wanted a closer look for real as the kids decide to join Betty, although it takes Tag about twenty seconds before he reads the room properly and bails stage left with them. HAHA! The Squirrels are in the construction area of the house and they are confused because there is literally no progression whatsoever here. This makes bad puzzle solving in video games look easy in comparsion. Roly jumps on the thing and claims that it's a rocket. This leads to a dream sequence of Roly flying the rocket into space without any equipment whatsoever. I'm fine with this. If the kids and Duggee start doing The Golden Boots, then I will be legit pissed off. Happy thinks it's a giant robot, which is far more reasonable as a guess than Roly. Still incorrect though. They do a robot dance that is so reserved that it comes off as cowardly. Tag thinks it's a racing car, which it is clearly not. Duggee's mom would say that's too dangerous. Betty claims that this is obviously a submarine in the water.

Yes, all the kids have dream sequences as the fish underwater look like swimming parts. Norrie thinks it's an aeroplane as Norrie has a yellow scarf on just to amuse me. All of them are good guesses, not you Roly, still incorrect. Then the aeroplane stalls, breaks into pieces and Norrie drops to her doom. I couldn't laugh at this even if it was a dream sequence, that was sad because Norrie is supposed to be a nice girl, not a troll like that pink gaslighting troll known as Peppa. The kids then go onto the pieces and we have a fight over who is going to build something, I don't know. Happy and Tag are having a tug-of-war with a purple piece and even the narrator has had enough of this and it's time to bring in Duggee to do the badge angle. We have a fight of putting stuff together into shapes that are so incomplete I swear that I am seeing Concord being made like this in real time. Then it collapses and the kids blame everyone but themselves, which means that they blame themselves via projection. Roly is pissed off as Duggee comes in with his cup of tea and almost five minutes into this episode, he points to his chest to reveal the Teamwork Badge. The kids are in awe of this and we HIT THE MONTAGE~! The kids put the pieces together, Duggee uses the metal wrencher to screw the screws together. Tag helps by wiping the sweat off Duggee's forehead. They yell "teamwork" as we get more plans and building outside wit Norrie and Happy wearing hard hats. Duggee's hard hat cannot protect the top of his head to save his life. His hat is also smaller than the one Norrie is wearing, indicating that he drew the short straw. By the way, despite Duggee doing most of the assembly, Betty was allowed to use the metal wrencher to screw in screws while being on Duggee's head. Of course, since Betty's leg work is so light she couldn't hurt Duggee even if her life depended on it. More assembly and teamwork make Gregory Weagle something something and the surprise is finally finished. Yup, it's a slide known as the Helter Skeleter slide. Helter Skeleter was a song line in a Beatles song and an operation of a cult to start an actual race war. Charlie Manson, everyone. The kids love this and they go up the slide and down the slide thrice and it sure wasn't nice. The narrator calls it great teamwork as Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the Teamwork Badge on the third slide attempt by the Squirrels. The kids cheer and here comes the parent in their vehicles. DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail and show the parents their badges. The parents hug the kids and leave with the kids in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun and Duggee is on top of the Helter Skelter and tries to slide. The slide is now not slippery enough and Duggee is basically pushing it to end the episode at 6:45. HAHA! The episode was good, but the finish was anti-climatic. *** 1/2 (70%).

Opening Moment #5: This opening features Happy sunbathing as per a previous episode from Series One I do believe. The only difference is that Happy yells "Yeeha" when he runs off. The badge for the title card is oval in shape and features a bunch of country dancing bugs in purple/orange colors against a lime green background with yellow/purple trim.

The Dancing Bug Badge: Short opens outside the barn as Tag is playing with a bouncy ball with Norrie, Betty is reading a blue covered book with someone, I don't know and Happy and Roly are making daisy chain necklace and Roly is clearly overdoing it while Happy giggles. Apparently, Betty is reading a cookbook with a blue bird and has three other books along with a glass of juice and a red apple. Duggee is putting petro into his grass cutting lawnmower while wearing a straw hat and he is going to rue the day he ever wore that thing. Apparently, the lawnmower is a new one according to the narrator and Duggee confirms this by woofing. Then we hear country music and Duggee is uncontrolling stomping his left foot. Uh-oh! Here we go, the moment I have been waiting for since starting this rant. Then he starts dancing and woofing for it to stop, and Duggee will not stop dancing. He gonna DANCE, DANCE, DANCE TO HIS DOOM~! HEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The kids turn around and proclaim that Duggee is doing something funny. Yup. I wonder if something was responsible for that male sockpocket woofing without Duggee's permission during "The Maze Badge"?! Happy is loving this like a bloodlusting troll that he is. Duggee dances in the tall grass for a long ass whomping time and I love it! Duggee dances out and the kids ask what Duggee is doing as we clearly see a bug on top of Duggee's straw hat. and Tag notices it right away. I am so disappointed in you kids, I wanted them to not figure it out until about halfway through the episode. Yup, it is a bug in wood logger's gear playing a banjo. Sadly, this is a British show and thus they wouldn't have the rights to the Canadian Log Driver's Waltz music because it is just daring to be used. I would love an angle featuring Duggee being forced to cosplay a Log Driver and do all the spots from this cartoon short. It would be glorious! The music stops and Duggee finally stops dancing. BOOOOOOOOOO! The dancing bug introduces himself as Billy, and yup, he talks like a Redneck Southerner. Then he plays his banjo and Duggee MUST DO THAT DANCE~! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The kids absolutely love this and I with them.

If Billy is the one who made Duggee's sock puppet woof at the end of "The Maze Badge", then AWESOME~! Huge if true. Billy explains that he is practicing his banjo playing skills for the Big Bug Ball, which is about the size of a soccer ball methinks. But by bug standards, it's also huge, if true. Then we hear a badly sounding horn to reveal a jeep car containing four dancing bugs with a green loveseat that somehow is in better condition than the blue loveseat Daddy Pig never chucked out in his own show. The car is so old, you can tell this troupe does not spend their money well since the car almost backfires on itself. One of them is Dilly on bass, Hilly is on harmonica, Gilly is the big bug with a white beard and is on fiddler, Milly is on washboard and the only woman of the troupe. Billy bounces in and call themselves "Billy & The Sillies". I think it's written as "Billie & The Sillies" with Dillie, Hillie, Gillie and Millie, but I'll check the credits after this episode to make sure. Dillie has a spaghetti colored beard that goes down literally to his groin. They all play and now Duggee & The Squirrels are all dancing, which is not as funny as only Duggee dancing. Somehow, the narrator cannot hear this music and is not dancing in the background. "Look, Narrator Monsoon is breakdancing!". "WILL YOU STOP?!" Billie continues playing for a while and then stops because you see, the troupe forgot to bring the lighting, refreshments, stage and portable toilets. Spoiler: They are cheapskates and a Z-grade band. So yes, the kids and Duggee will have to bring all these to their concert. I have seen worse from wrestling promotions than this. Millie farts after that one as Billie thinks there Big Bug Ball is over. But wait, Duggee wants to help because he points to his chest and has his "Dancing Bug Badge". Duggee is such a glutton for dancing to his doom, I see. Billie is happy and plays the Duggee theme song as a stylized scene change of jeans with a jean pocket does stitching of Duggee's face. That winks with the annoying wink sound effect. Change it to a heart beat, since that is more realistic. We return with Duggee wearing a cowboy outfit and looks ready to be at the Canadian Stampede.

The bugs are on a stump as Duggee has a clipboard and Duggee is wearing the tiniest cowboy hat he could find. Tag will be in charge of lighting, Norrie is on set design, Happy is on refreshments (DUH!) because Happy's gimmick is that he loves water, and Roly and Betty will be building the stage. Having Roly doing anything is asking for trouble, but pairing him up with clever clogs Betty is going to be a disaster. Roly is just gleefully happy to do anything and bounces off as Betty then gets on Duggee's case for his job. Duggee woofs, which by the way, all the woofs were the orders for the kids earlier, that he is going to cut the grass. Actually, this is a good idea since you need to put the stage and the audience somewhere and they did to see the event, so cutting the grass makes sense here. And since Duggee is the only one who can operate the lawnmower, this also makes sense from a safety standpoint. Betty can sod off, if anyone is doing nothing, it's the dancing bugs. And even then: They have to do practice for the big event. I'm guessing Betty hates the orders she has been given because she has to work with ROLY~! Betty then gets it and then runs away smiling and giggling. Either they do not have any time to do different emotions during this, or it's a BS&P decision because they don't want to scare the kids. Either way: FUNNY~! I was half expecting the bugs to play during the lawnmower sequence, but nope. They talk for a bit as we cut to Norrie painting a background humming and singing, Happy is pouring drops of orange juice into cups at the picnic table, Tag is bringing out strings of Christmas lights for the lighting, and I have no clue what Roly nor Betty is doing. Roly I think is wrapping strings around sticks and building wireframe cubes. Betty is literally using building blocks for no reason. Billie then proclaims on the stump that these Squirrels need music to help them work faster. This is a bad idea, but I don't care because I love these dancing bugs and this episode is way too boring for me right now. It's not like Roly cannot cause chaos by himself without music anyway. As I suspected, everyone turns into crap and apparently the lawnmower drives by itself; thus cementing my theory that Billie was responsible for the rogue sockpuppet in "The Maze Badge". Then the dancing bugs stop playing as Duggee looks at them and they all comb their hair and beards in unison. I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. I love this angle!

This actually makes the Squirrels do better at their jobs! HAHA! Billie is so happy to see this that they play their music...AGAIN! You can guess what happens next without me telling it. I love this angle! Their music causes everyone to uncontrollable dancing. It's almost this show version of tickle torture and is much funnier because the music is so effective that the Squirrels cannot help but DO THAT DANCE~! This somehow manages to make the perfect stage in spite of the chaos! I cannot do the sequences justice, you need to see this yourself. It was awesome! Did I mention that I love this angle?! Billie saying that their music sure helped is one giant middle finger from them. The kids are surprised that this all worked out as the audience arrives and it's all insects, including the dreaded stick insect! Oh goodie, the one responsible for the best pre-school music song of all time is here for the first time for rant purposes. Billie's song on stage is the second best pre-school song on this show at best though. It's really good as Buggee and Delta Frog make an appearance as the kids are now dressed like hicks. Ladybird does make an appearance for the second faster verse of the song. Happy's cowboy is actually bigger than Duggee's. The music finally stops as Billie calls this the best Big Bug Ball ever and I think he's right. The narrator asks if the kids did well, as Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the "Dancing Big Badge". The kids all cheer as the parents arrive out of nowhere dressed up in matching outfits. Time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug, which was done with country music and everyone doing the knee dance. AWESOME! The kids giggle and bail to reveal the badges while still doing that dance, then get hugged by the parent still doing the knee dance. The parents leave with the kids in their vehicles, thankfully they didn't do the dance and music during this. The narrator asks if this is fun as Duggee woofs. Billie wants to do this again and it's time for Duggee to DO THAT DANCE~! HAHA! Duggee and the narrator laugh to end the episode at 6:45. Sadly, Billie is spelt "Billy" in the credits, but the sequence is more than made up for the ending credits with Duggee dancing to Billy's music during the entire thing and he is rueing the day he laughed at this. The music ends and Duggee stops dancing as Billy proclaims that he has a handle on this as the kids say "Hey Duggee" at the end. You all know what this episode is getting, it's the best episode of Series 2 and it's probably the best one of the series. ***** (100%).

Opening Moment #6: This opening features Norrie doing the snake charmer gimmick on the worm as per a previous episode. The title card is a rectangle badge featuring a toy like train against a white background with purple/yellow trim.

The Train Badge: Short opens in the clubhouse as the Squirrels are reading a giant book about acorn as shown on the cover in picture. I'm assuming Betty is turning the pages as the Squirrels pop up when the narrator wonders what Duggee is planning for them today. The kids all giggle and bail stage left while keeping the book upright and steady. That was neat. Cut to Duggee wearing a conductor's uniform playing with a model train set on the table. It's a pretty decent train set methinks. Wait, this looks like the set up for a real train ride now that I think about it since Duggee's barn is part of this train set. The narrator explains the obvious to us as the kids are amazed by this. Duggee points to his hat while mimicking a train whistle, because on the conductor's hat is his "Train Badge". No, it's a not a group in ancient times, but since the Squirrels are a group, calling them a "train" in that context works, too. Duggee is doing his chugging sounds in woofs, that was funny. Betty is in the zone because it looks complicated, like her. Duggee continues his chugging and whistles in woofs as Norrie shows off her naughty troll side by pulling one of the sheep models out. Damn, so much for her being the anti-Peppa Pig then. Tag is flicking model trees, Happy is playing with the train signal post like a cash register, Betty pulls out a track (so much for being a clever clogs...) piece and Roly takes control of the remote control device to make the train a bullet train. Duggee is panicking throughout all this as the train breaks through the model train station barn, but otherwise stays on track despite Betty pulling a track piece earlier. SUZY SHEEP~?! Duggee thankfully stops the train before anymore damage can be done to Norrie's reputation. The narrator tells the Squirrels to be more careful as one of them claims that it's a toy and toys are meant to be broken. Geez, those British execs are more naughty than the North American execs methinks. The narrator explains that the model train is a toy, but it works like a real train. Duggee demonstrates the train some more with the narrator narrating and the kids are in awe. However, when the narrator and Duggee show off the train carrying cargo, the kids groan. HAHA! Kit would be like: Just like my job in flying. Narrator praises Duggee's shunting abilities as it is called. Then we hear Hennie (which CBC Kids now called Henny) counting something, it might be either eggs or chicks or squats. It's probably the squats. Not quite, it's Hennie doing jumping stars and somehow causing earthquakes outside the barn, but not inside the barn. That barn has to be the TARDIS, there's no other explaination in the world that makes sense.

The kids decide to go outside to find out what Hennie is doing because trains are boring to them now. Hennie and the kids exchange notes on the situation as Tag looks like he is hung over. Hennie is excited to see a train set as Duggee comes out to assist Tag in finding out what the train set is. Hennie calls the train set the Trans-Siberian TH3000, so I'm guessing this is the old country train set. Hennie then asks about the Pullman cross-track carriages which seriously implies that Hennie is a train set model fan who speaks like Kit Cloudkicker as a navigator. Once she said wagon tippler, I knew she was an expert in train sets, and maybe trains in general. This is a very interesting angle for Hennie because it contradicts her fitness gimmick and shows that she does have a downtime side to her. I actually like it, even if she steers a little bit too much into Kit Cloudkicker knowledge terrority, which is and I have to concede this: an slightly annoying aspect of Kit's character. Hennie likes the British Hogland steamer and I hope the show got the licensing rights to use these names because this would be a major problem in legal if they didn't get clearance. It reminds her of curves, and now she's connecting this to her fitness gimmick. Norrie literally has to ask if Hennie loves trains which is proof that the kids cannot believe that there are two grown adults loving children's train sets. Sod off Norrie and read the damn room better! Hennie offers to show off her model train set and Duggee is so excited, he is literally acting like a dog. I love this angle! I give 2:1 odds that Hennie's train set is a real train and train tracks that is exactly like Duggee's train set. Also hilarious, the badge scene changer is literally Duggee looking like a train from Thomas The Tank Engine, chugging in woofs. I cackled with laughter here. Cut back to Hennie in a conductor's uniform showing off a West Lake Riviera and I can breathe easier knowing that all the train models are using fictional names and past muster with legal. Hennie puts the train down on the ground and yes, it's the size of a regular train. Duggee's bloodlust is so hilarious here as Hennie informs them that they cannot play with it, because they have to play in it. Duggee is so excited that he literally runs like a dog with the kids as we get the second stylized scene changer which is a train whistle with Duggee's face on it. I am so disappointed that it didn't whistle in woofs, since that is the continuity that the episode was shooting for. Why yes, the train model set Hennie has is the size of the real world trains, what do you ask?! Duggee and the kids are in the train, Hennie switches on the train set from a giant sized remote control and we are off. The lime green train cart is bland and uninspiring compared to the front as Duggee is literally having the time of his life in that train.

The blue bird watches from a train as the train goes through the forrest, than onto a bridge. I have already seen Peppa Pig with trains, so this isn't all that new to me. The kids are making clickty-clack sounds as music because we have to kill time in a nearly seven minute episode. We head to the mountains with a yellow duck swimming in a pond. The kids are somehow singing this song without music for some reason, I wonder if the music was removed for licensing issues?! Oh wait, it's just a slow setup to the music as the duck jumps and joins in the cart. SUZY SHEEP~?! Then it's winter time with snow, a yak with a goofy winter hat on and penguins with hats, gloves, scarves, and one of them in a purple coat that looks like it cannot move an inch. Somehow, that penguin can still jump and flip it's flippers. We see brown cows, another appearance of the castle of Lord Fingal who is present. Somehow, the train is gaining more and more carts, including a castle themed one as Fingal says hello, and gives his Scottish hats to the brown cows for fun. We go up the hill to fetch a pail of train nuts and it's not going to make it to the top; so Hennie counters with more twisting of the knob and the train makes it over and goes down. The speed lasts about five seconds before they head into the jungle with a snake, naughty monkey, and King Tiger making his debut for rant purposes. He got a special Middle Eastern suite as King Tiger and Norrie do the "ticket, please" spot. We head towards the ocean side with sharks and whales and then into the tunnel for the "only eyes darkness" spot. They head out of the tunnel and they make it back to the end of the track as the song ends. That song needs better music, but the singing was good. The caboose of course is where the Delta Chicken gets picked up out of nowhere. SUZY SHEEP~?! Hennie calls for the train change as it's the end of the line and the kids all groan, but the adults are so happy about this ride. HAHA! The kids do thank Hennie for the ride and Hennie is happy. The narrator asks if the Squirrels have done well today as Duggee rides the train stage left despite being no track left. SUZY SHEEP~?! Duggee returns with the "Train Badge" and the kids all cheer. Here come the parents on a train because it's time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids giggle and bail stage left as they show off the badges to their parents. The parents hug their kids and everyone leaves via the train with Roly and his father doing the old cartoon seesaw train spot and wearing a bicycle helmet despite not needing one. That was funny. Cut to Duggee as the narrator asks if this was fun as Lord Fingal drives the train of suspects away, but Duggee is not inside the train kart as it rides away. HAHA! Duggee chases the train as the narrator laughs to end the episode at 6:45. Started off awesome, and then they did the train ride and it was anti-climatic until the King Tiger spot with Norrie. *** 3/4 (75%).

Opening Moment #7: This opening features Happy doing his spitting beats as per the "Making Music Badge". The title card badge is a veggie pizza with tomato sauce. It looks literally like a pizza. Simple but effective.

The Pizza Badge: Short opens outside with Tag playing with a toy car, Norrie and Betty playing in the weirdest sandbox ever making a sand castle, Happy is jumping and Roly is just looking. The narrator asks what Duggee has planned for them today and the Squirrels all drop everything and run stage left smiling and giggling. Cut to Duggee in chef's gear at a brick table and a brick oven preparing dough as the kids ask what he is doing. There is a pepper grinder, a steel can of tomato sauce, a salt shaker and a bowl of vegetables on the table. Duggee admits that he's making pizza of course as Duggee is spinning and flipping dough into the air while Italian music plays. The kids are in awe as the dough splats on the table. Hey, at least Duggee is not Daddy Pig flipping pancakes. Duggee paint brushes the dough with tomato sauce although the sky shot only shows the sauce painted on and no arms doing it. SUZY SHEEP~?! Mushrooms and tomatoes (oh, the irony!) are put on the pizza via teleportation, along with basil leaves and black olives. A wooden pizza board with handle is brought it in take the pizza and put it in the oven. Duggee then becomes a clown and does his "kick out" dance that he does in the opening sequence. Then we get a really goofy scene changer of a real pizza counting the time, which is about ten seconds tops, complete with Duggee's face made from various food items. That was cute at least. DING sounds ensue as we cut back to Duggee taking the pizza out of the oven and presents it to the Squirrels. The kids do not like this pizza because it has topping periods, according to Roly. Apparently, the tomatoes are peppers and there is onions that are invisible. Okay, someone is trolling here and it's not Roly. Duggee ponders this over and then woofs because he has a plan. The narrator informs the kids that they can make pizzas that they do like. After all, Duggee has his "Pizza Badge" when Duggee shows the badge on his chest. The kids cheer and jump up and down, using their "badge get" formation from Series One. Then the music plays as the narrator explains the whole thing as we get a sky shot of the table. The dough is rolled out flat and then tomato sauce is added as the kids then say it's time to add the toppings. Betty adds red onions, asparagus, olives, basil leaves (some in bits) and some cheese in the shape of seagulls to make a seaside pizza. This is a *** 1/2 pizza methinks. Happy is all in on pea soup puddle pizza. ***** for creativity, DUD for taste sadly, although it's probably ***** for Happy's tastebuds. Norrie's pizza contains broccoli, pineapple, raisin, violets and it's a garden pizza. **** 1/2 for form, ** for taste. Roly made a potato pizza. HAHA! **** for both. Would have been ***** if French Fries were used outright. Bonus points for the unique shape to boot. Tag's pizza is shaped like his face with a spaghetti mouth, a carrot stub, cooked eggs for the eyes and basil leaves for the ears. HAHA! ***** for creativity, * for taste. I think Roly's pizza is the best and Happy's is the worst.

Duggee takes the wooden pizza handler and puts all the pizzas into the oven as the narrator thinks they are all great. Stylized scene changer is Duggee literally being an egg timer. HAHA! Hey, Tag used eggs for his pizza, so this makes sense. It dings and woofs as we return with the pizza's being all finished. Tag's eyes look like they are going to cry. Everyone takes a slice of pizza that magically is cut. SUZY SHEEP~?! I get it, the squirrels are not allowed to use a pizza cutter, but Duggee's an adult and is allowed to use sharp objects even in a pre-school show. Everyone eats up and I think they like the pizza, and then a brown horse arrives snorting because apparently, this horse wants a slice of Tag's pizza according to Betty. Then a bunch of bees, Delta Frog, a zebra, Katerina the flamingo, one of the Hippy Rabbits and a brown goat I do believe arrive because they want some pizza. Norrie asks if they want some pizza and the animals all sell it. Ah, I see naughty monkey is upside down in the center there. The narrator proclaims that they will need a bigger oven and Duggee is just stunned. Of course he's stunned, he just realized that the Squirrels have basically earned their badges barely two minutes into this thing, and the episode has to go into Cartoon Duck Syndrome since we have at least three minutes to go. Even more silly: The Squirrels are magically dressed up as waiters. SUZY SHEEP~?! The oven gets expanded at least three times bigger within seconds. We then get a sequence of eight tables containing the animals, including the blue bird I missed earlier. The Squirrels take the animal's orders on notepads and Duggee puts the paper on clothespins on a clothesline. Rinse, lather, repeat. Hippy Rabbit wants his pizza with extra cheese please I should note. Lots of non-English words are spoken in English as the goat is eating the table cloth and making a general mess of the table. All orders are secured and now it's time to do a montage. This time, the kids are dressed in chefs gear making the pizzas as Roly tosses his dough up and turns into a dough ghost, that was funny at least. After some painting tomato sauce and topping fly around for the second time in the episode, the pizzas are done. Naughty Monkey's pizza is a banana slices pizza, Hippy Rabbit is a carrot pizza (but with no extra cheese, SUZY SHEEP~?!), Zebra's pizza is striped, the bees is honeycomb shaped with honey, Katerina's pizza is shrimp based, One is green apple, one is small with bird seed and the last one is a table cloth with pieces of paper which I assume is for the goat. Speaking of the goat: When Betty asks for the orders, we see the brown goat eating all the paper orders on the clothesline. By the way, when the characters try to blink, their eyes disappear. This happened with Naughty Monkey during the Brady Brunch-equse sequence with the characters and the pizzas.

The apple pizza is delivered to the brown horse of course by Norrie. Next up is the honeycomb pizza, which is clearly the bees favorite, so Tag delivers that pizza. Happy delivers the carrot pizza to the Hippy Rabbit. No mention of the fact that no extra cheese is present on the pizza, so they did the extra cheese thing as a gag; but never properly paid it off. Banana pizza is the Naughty Monkey's pizza, DUH! Funny how he was well behaved in this story compared to the brown goat in this story. We have a naughty goat in our mists! Betty delivers that pizza. Of course, Roly has to deliver the bird seed pizza and blue bird is like "fuck this, I'm outta here!". HAHA! I don't blame her. Roly has a lust for dem birds! Next up is Norrie and she delivers a strippy licorice pizza. Ah, I wondered what they used for that pizza. Geez, a lot of foods that some would argue should be against the law to use as toppings. As expected, it was Zebra's pizza. Zebra loves licorice and probably loves the licorice whip song as well. There are two pizzas left and one of them is actually a pinky prawn pizza and not shrimp as I originally thought. It's Katerina's pizza of course as Tag delivers it and Katerina loves it. Finally, the only pizza left is the tablecloth paper pizza and it's the brown goat who should be grounded for life for causing all this mess. Happy delivers the pizza anyway and the brown goat speaks claiming that he's full. Wheels screeches and records scratch as Happy asks "really?" and then the brown goat says, "no, he's not full" and starts eating. I think we all owe the Naughty Monkey an apology. Brown Goat is somehow naughtier than Naughty Monkey and he looks at the hard camera during this, talking to the audience. Of course! Time to eat and enjoy as we get a love symbol from the bees and a Brady Bunch-equse sequence of the pizzas being cut like clock timers and then eaten by the characters. The narrator calls the pizzas a roaring success, which causes Duggee to bail on all fours stage right. He returns with the Pizza Badge, the kids all cheer. Here come the parents in their vehicles because it's time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug against the tablecloth background. The kids bail giggling stage left and present the badges to their parents. The parents hug the kids and then they leave stage left in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun as Duggee flips some more dough into the air and he now turns into a dough ghost, because we cannot have Roly have all the fun of that spot now, can't we?! The narrator and Duggee laugh to end the episode at 6:45. I discover that the brown goat's name is Billy. Of course! What a fool I am?! This was a fun episode and not much else. *** 1/2 (70%).

Opening Moment #8: This opening features Happy doing the same sequence as per the "The Honey Badge". The title card features medical supplies and a green apple (HAR! HAR!) against a blue background, with white/blue trim. In an odd moment: The narrator pronounces this as "men-send" instead of "men-a-send".

The Medicine Badge: Short opens outside with Norrie on a pogo stick while the rest of the kids watch on. The narrator asks what Duggee has planned for them today and everyone bounces giggling stage right. Yes, Norrie bounces on the pogo stick stage right, why do you ask?! We then cut to Duggee panting against a tree as the Squirrels asks what he is doing. Which in this case is a legit good question, because otherwise, this doesn't sound good for Duggee. Duggee woofs and it sounds horase. Now apparently, we can hear him woof; but he cannot be horase in his voice, or else the kids have no idea what he is saying. It's so bad that he has to point to his mouth and say "Oh" and "Ah!". These words that kill Duggee's gimmick are enough for Norrie to realize that Duggee has lost his voice. How did he lose his voice?! He's not Reggie Rabbit for goodness sakes. Well, in a way he is Reggie Rabbit since he's doing educational stuff for the kids in the audience and thus he must get his voice back. It's just Duggee is not annoying like Grampy Reggie Rabbit is. By the way, Happy pronounces medicine like I do and not like the narrator does, so if the title card was a BS&P decision, it didn't work. Tag then points to Duggee's chest to reveal the "Medicine Badge", and Tag proclaims that Duggee will tell them what to do. Oh, TAG~! Doesn't he know that Duggee cannot talk right now because he lost his damn voice?! Duggee is pointing to the water spout near the barn because he wants some water. However, since his voice doesn't work and Delta Frog is in the way, the kids assume that they must get medical advice from Delta Frog and bounce to him instead of the water spout. Duggee is shocked and appalled by this. The kids meet and greet Delta Frog, exchanging notes for a while. Norrie asks Delta Frog for help, Delta Frog looks at the water spout but doesn't say anything and Tag decides to ask someone else, because we as human beings failed to teach these kids the importance of non-verbal cues. Duggee has the universal HAND OF GOD informing them to stop; but these kids have no clue what non-verbal cues are, so it's to no avail. This should have been the "Non-Verbal Cues Badge", that would have been better.

Happy holds Duggee's hand and walks him to his house so Duggee can get some rest, which is the only kid who at least understand some aspects of being ill. Today's badge scene changer is Duggee dressed up as a confused doctor. We return with Happy telling his life story to Duggee at Duggee's kennel as Happy said earlier. The blue bird seems also interested. I'm not going to bother mentioning the promo Happy cut here, I cannot do it justice. It's the best part of this episode by leaps and bounds. Duggee is not thrilled about this story as the other kids are at the barn with Ladybird. Oh goody! Our resident Imposter Syndrome bug is back! The kids exchange notes, except for Betty who just wheezes to cosplay Duggee's situation. Ladybug comes out with a flow chart of Duggee's body as apparently he has a bone in his stomach and every other area is completely cartoonish. Ladybird points to the mouth and explains the possible aliments and possible treatment remedy. Okay, this is the best moment of the episode right there. The kids have understandably zero clue what Ladybird is saying, even our resident clever clogs Betty! Thankfully, Ladybird basically tells Duggee to swallow as Tag tells Duggee that. HAHA! Okay, Tag didn't try to act like this is sexual, but for goodness sakes it was amusing to me still. Duggee gulps and it fails badly, as Tag runs away and that it didn't work. Happy then resumes his story just to annoy Duggee and make me laugh. Duggee clicks his tongue and sighs as we jump cut to Mr. Crab and a pink crab with blue rimmed glasses on as Mr. Crab suggests warming up the voice to get it working again. Mr. Crab and the Squirrels do a humming session with their voices for a while. Betty does some "Baru" on Duggee at the kennel after this and this fails badly. Betty is not happy and walks off stage left disappointed. Happy continues talking as the brown bull with beige hair and horns is shocked and appalled by the fact that Duggee cannot speak today. And now this bull is pissed off by this. Mr. Bull he isn't. Brown bull screams if he has tried shouting and Roly screams "NO". At least here, we can figure out where Roly probably got his loud gimmick from.

Roly asks why didn't he think of that. Answer: Because he's the loud mouth resident bird brain who has a lust for dem birds. So, Roly tries screaming at Duggee. No surprise, it failed. Roly walks away not amused, but Happy don't care because he's on a roll with his surprisely interesting story. Next up is for rant purposes, the debuts of Agnes and Thora, the Old Deers; whom debuted on "The Acorn Badge", an episode I was going to rant on, but couldn't find it. They are cheapskates, they are old women who nag a lot and in this case, they talk about old remedies like a bunch of quacks. Of course! One of them is carrying an orange purse, the other has a pink hat with a daisy on it. I have zero clue who is who. Whatever they said, it ends up with Duggee in a bathtub filled with soapy water and a rubber duckie and this remedy fails badly. I betcha Happy creeps up in the bathtub to tell more stories to Duggee. I check the video...Not quite, but damn I'm so good. I check someone complained about the ending to The Pottery Badge with Hatsu, even though Happy doing it would make more sense at least. Duggee sinks into the bathtub as we jump cut to a polar bear with a red nose and colorful winter hat talking against a red background. He suggest blowing the nose. Duggee tries that, it fails. The kids except Happy leave as Happy is carrying this episode kicking and screaming with his stories because we all know that his suggestion would be to get Duggee a drink of water because he loves water and that remedy suceeds. It's not nearly as offensive as Evie's bawling when fireworks are issued because all Duggee has to do is get the water himself. He's not that powerless, but the storyline requires him not to do it because the kids have to earn the badge. Sure, it annoys me because it's an Idiot Plot, but at least it's Duggee's fault for the cruelty because he can easily shut this one down if he wanted to, but the SLEDGEHAMMER OF PLOT makes it impossible to do at this point. Next up, Hennie suggests exercising while on a treadmill. Doesn't work either as King Tiger suggests the most quackiest moment of them all: find a crown. It slips off Duggee's head and that doesn't work.

Tino the Mouse also makes it's debut for rant purposes and this would be at least his third appearance on this show as he suggest Duggee express himself. Duggee tries to do some acting, it doesn't work as the Hippy Rabbit suggests "Flower Power", which I'm sure Danny Dog runs away like a scalded dog at this time. The flowers in his hands hate him, that failed. The penguins suggest an ice pack, which does work for some medicial aliments. Sadly, this is the wrong aliment and now Duggee has the chills, making it worse. Now, the kids are stumped as they ponder things over. Happy then talks to Duggee about his cousin Erik to kill time and mention that Erik drink a whole jug of water and this time Duggee actually smiles and suggests repeating the story again. Happy repeats the story slowly with about ten jump cuts of Happy and Duggee and finally Happy gets that Duggee needs a jug of water to drink. Happy cracked the code! Sadly, they didn't give him a jug of water, just a glass of water to complete my life. Regardless, Duggee drinks up and his voice is back basically humming the "Kick Out" portion of the Hey Duggee theme song without kicking out. The narrator finally speaks for the first time since the beginning I do believe as Duggee gets on all fours and returns with the Medicine Badge. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicles, leading to the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail stage left to show off the badges to their parents and the parents hug the kids in unison. The kids and parent leave in their vehicles as the narrator asks if that was fun. The entire animal gang joins him as Duggee now has a cold and sneezes. You can blame the penguins for that one as the narrator goes "oh dear" right in front of the old deers. I'm shocked they no sold that one to end the episode at 6:45. Anyhow, this was a whiplash episode: The episode sort of sucks because it's a stupid idiot plot designed to make Duggee look like an idiot and everyone else unintentionally cruel. On the other hand, Happy literally saved the episode with his stories and Ladybird's explaination on the cause was hilarious at least, so call it *** 1/4 (65%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well, we got some good to outstanding episodes in this set. The Pottery Badge was the best episode involving that plot device and was almost perfect episode. Hatsu was a great character, whom I understood every analogy she said and it was really fun to watch, although I did get creeped out at the ending when she popped up right in front of Duggee when Duggee was making more pottery. I also loved that the pottery was presented as if it was real pottery in the real world. There was also the water colors scenes that were really fun as well and in the end, this was an episode that I didn't expect to wow me, but it did. Peppa Pig's pottery episode was good because that episode give character development to Mummy Zebra in that she has an actual job. This episode created an awesome new character and did spots that made it stand out. The Tadpole Badge was also great, and I laughed so hard at the tadpoles acting like a bunch of religious zealots while the kids were acting like reality is going to set in, and then when they did, the kids had complete empathy for the former tadpoles and regretted it all. I enjoyed this episode. I was expecting the Dancing Bug Badge to be the best episode of the set, and I was not disappointed, all due to everyone dancing to their doom which somehow made their work better. The Train Badge was awesome at the start, but the finish and climax was a bit flat and the episode ran out of steam at the end. The Honey Badge was also good, but a massive logic break killed it's greatness a bit and the rest were fun and not much else. Overall, a really good set of episodes. Now, I won't be ranting on Hey Duggee until early 2026; but I still have TaleSpin and the return of the mainline Peppa Pig series where they might start releasing episodes featuring Evie on the main show for real. Hey Duggee is always fun and the next set might actually have the debut of Peggee & The Hummingbirds! So...

Thumbs up for The Pottery Badge, The Dancing Bug Bade and The Tadpole Badge. Thumbs in the middle for the rest, and I'll see you all next time.

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