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Hey Duggee Series Two #3 Rant

Reviewed: 01/13/2026

Peggee? 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 Camping Badge and The Shadow Badge are written by Jenny Landreth. The River Badge is written by Duggee. The Theatre Badge is written by Danny Stack. The Making Friends Badge and The Yoga Badge are written by Jo Clegg. The Collecting Badge is written by Ian Skelton. The Memory 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 Betty doing chemistry as per a previous episode, only this time she gasps before saying "Duggee~!". The title card is a triangle badge a night sky with a tent set up on grass, with green trim and white stitching.

The Camping Badge: Short opens in the clubhouse with the usual toy playing, only they have plush dolls with them this time. Of course, Betty's plush doll has to be reading, that was funny. Roly is rubbing the tummy symbol of his doll as the narrator asks what Duggee has planned for them today. The kids all giggle and bounce stage right as one of the dolls speaks some English in the process. I have no idea what it said, or which doll said it and I don't care. Cut to Duggee blushing his cheek while stuffing his backpack with more than his body weight, of course. The kids meet and greet as Tag wonders where Duggee is going. The narrator proclaims that they are all going camping together. Tag asks what camping is and the narrator explains that it's living outside to the call of nature compared with the calm domain music you hear for these type of thing. We head outside to show a tent popping up out of nowhere in the opening clear in a forest with plants and a giant brown bear, some birds in the trees and Quacky with it's ducks on the pond. Yawn, it's your typical "nature is better than you" moment, whatever. Tag is not impressed by this as the narrator calls it fun. Yeah, because apparently, being the SPORTSMAN OF MAN is fun despite being one of the most toxic personalities ever. Although I blame Drake Mallard for most of that theory coming true in cartoons though. Maybe Duggee can prove me wrong on this though. The rest of the kids are confused as Duggee shows off his Camping Badge on his chest. This is return for the kids to cheer and jump. Okay, that was funny. Then we HIT THE MONTAGE of Duggee dressing up in camping gear in sequence while the kids just have their gear on already. SUZY SHEEP~?! Hey, the kids love it now, so it's already less toxic. We'll see if this continues as we continue on. Duggee does look like a complete tool in his outfit, but he don't care. Duggee woofs and we get the stylized badge scene changer of Duggee's face as the sun, smiling. A lot less creepy than the baby as the sun in Teletubbies.

It's BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as we march to the music in camping gear in the wilderness, which is set up like the backgrounds are made from cloth felt and using a "walking on a globe" effect. At least the globe is moving, unlike the globe used in "Captain Daddy Dog" in Peppa Pig. Sadly, the later was much funnier in a SUZY SHEEP~ sort of way. We stop in a clearing and plop the backpack down as the narrator agrees that this is a good spot. Then we watch Duggee try to pitch the tent and I'm trying think whom did this worse among this and Daddy Pig. Actually, it's Duggee who is worse because the gaslighting Hippie Rabbits show up to order the babyfaces to go away because it's on their turf. These are the same Hippie Rabbits who lured Happy into eating a strawberry cake just to get a carrot cake. Not falling for their tactics this time. Sadly, we all know the Squirrels will be forced to march elsewhere and find another spot. The kids apologize and of course we NEVER see the carrot patch the Hippie Rabbits are talking about. So, it's just more gaslighting on their part. More marching for a while as it's the same exact background as the first sequence. Betty asks if this is a good place to pitch the tent. They try to pitch the tent...AGAIN! A bunch of dressed bugs who live in a mushroom protests this outrage and the kids apologize. At least this time, the bugs were justified since the kids were dangerously close to their own home. Third repeated sequence of marching as Duggee is getting blown up at this point. Norrie thinks this is the spot as we try again thrice and it sure wasn't nice. This time, no one protests! We hit the MONTAGE of setting up camp, including a spot where they cannot get the tent up properly with ragtag music, that was at least amusing. Delta Frog shows up for his contracted appearance as the tent is up while Roly in this sequence poses directly into the hard camera. Somehow he didn't scream this time. Then the sheep come in and want to eat the tent, much to Roly's screaming no while the sheep are screaming yes. Roly is also wearing a party hat just to be Roly as Betty wonders where to pitch the tent now. Duggee ponders this over and he has a plan.

This leads to a stylized badge scene changer of Duggee with a light above his head. Then we head inside the tent, with everyone in PJ's in sleeping bags. Just like that! $20 they are in the clubhouse. Duggee is literally wearing Kit Cloudkicker's sweater of course! Tag wants his Sargeant Smash doll and Duggee bails and returns with the bear doll in army gear as Tag calls it smashing. Happy wants a glass of water and gets it. Yup, they are in the clubhouse barn, there is no way they couldn't be. Happy spills the water off-screen and Betty is splooshed and demands a towel. That is hilarious because Betty is an octopii/squid who you would think would love water. Splashing it on Norrie would have been better. Duggee bails and returns with the towel anyway. Duggee is not happy with this as Roly is now in Norrie's sleeping bag being a nusiance, his screams invalidate this show insurance! Wait, Duggee has insurance?! Huge, if true. Roly is pissed because he accuses Roly of being in his. By the way, the blue sleeping bag is Roly's, Norrie's is green. Roly has been infected with the Hippie Rabbits syndrome. I should have guessed. Oh, and Duggee got Tag's towel instead of Betty's and Norrie wants Zsa Zsa, whom I assume is her doll. Basically, the kids are being so demanding that they are the toxic ones instead of the SPORTSMAN OF MAN, Duggee! Somehow, this is hilarious as we continue this for a long ass whomping time while a spider from a spiderweb watches on thinking that this needs to stop because Duggee is gonna die. The spider says cheer, Duggee sighs and then after several seconds; everyone is asleep. Oh, wait, it's just Duggee and somehow, he's a heavy sleeper because the kids are doing their usual in the opening while Betty still reads. HAHA! Tag and Norrie are cosplaying their dolls exchanging notes, that was funny. Roly is bouncing off a pillow while Happy is flying an airplane. Then we hear some ripping paper sounds and Tag is already not liking this. Betty asks "what noise?". I howled with laughter because Duggee's snoring while Betty is sitting on his back.

Norrie thinks it's ants eating crisps. Earth to Norrie: The ants are army ants. They are not allowed to eat crisps. Okay?! They even show a dream sequence of red ants eating crisps. Sorry, not buying it still. Tag thinks it's a monster while Betty thinks it's a mouse opening a present. Which they show one of the naughty mice opening it up to reveal a block of cheese. That's believable at least. Happy deduces that it's a goat eating a book. Doubtful, since there would be a chewing sound instead of a ripping sound. Yes, they showed Billy eating the book. Tag is still thinking that it's a monster as Roly cannot think of one and then just screams for Duggee in unison with the kids. That is enough to wake Duggee up as Duggee checks outside and then return to show that it's Enid scratching the tent! By the way, the stars and crescent moon are in one tiny spot in the entire area, which completely gives away the tent's location in advance. Basically, Enid enters the tent because Enid wanted to go camping, too. Enid sits down in the tent and falls asleep. The narrator asks if the Squirrels have done well as Duggee flips the switch on the wall and yes, they were in the clubhouse the entire time. That's not camping, that's glamping! I can just hear SUZY SHEEP~ say that right now. Yes, it is now offiically AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the camping badge anyway. The kids all cheer and here comes the parents in their vehicles. DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. It's like being hugged by a dog version of Kit Cloudkicker with that visual. The kids bail to show off the badges to their parents and get hugs abound. The parent leave with their kids in their vehicles as the narrator asks if this was fun. Duggee is in his sleeping bag waving and then drops dead to sleep! HAHA! Yup, the Delta Chickens appeared for a cameo, don't care. The narrator actually says "oh, Duggee" as the episode ends at 6:45. The end credits are basically Duggee sleeping in his tent with a blue bird on guard watch. A fun enough episode just to see the toxic SPORTSMAN OF MAN turned on the sportsman. *** 1/4 (65%).

Opening Moment #2: This opening features Tag driving a fire engine doing Freddy Fox's gimmick of the siren. Simple, but okay. The title card is a circle badge containing the globe, sky and mugshots are all the secondary animals on this show, which is a bait and switch considering what is to follow. The friends also spin around said globe, even though the globe should be spinning instead.

The Making Friends Badge: Short opens outside with Duggee being a dog carrying the kids on his back. Music plays in the background as the narrator and kid exchange notes for a while. The guise of this is that the Squirrels are going to a jamboree which the narrator calls it fun. I hope it's not a Mario Party jamboree, that will torch a lot of friendships, if you know what I mean. I'll get my coat...Happy then asks what is a jamboree is and the rest of the kids explain it. It's basically a picnic party assignment to make new friends. Happy seems to sort of get it, but is still not thrilled. We finally make it...a palette swap version of Duggee's barn. There is a toucan on the barn and some hippos in the water in the background. Then there is a bunch of kids with a woman beige dog wearing a green scout shirt with badges on it and purple pants, while wearing a bull horn hat on her head. She greets the Squirrels as we get a closeup of the new kids. From left to right, there is a moose, a zebra, a kowala in a wheelchair, a giraffe and a kid leopard who is unlikely to eat anyone, let alone their faces. The kowala is clearly playing Mandy Mouse's role. The giraffe is clearly their answer to Gerald Giraffe, only gender swapped. The zebra is probably a gender swap of Zoe Zebra. The woman scout actually speaks English with an accent, but doesn't speak in woofs herself. The kids say "hello" as Duggee woofs back and waves. Yes, the scout leader is named Peggee and she understands Duggee. The troop's name is the Hummingbirds as the leopard's name is Finbar, who wears overalls with a white shirt. The giraffe's name is Mary with red rimmed glasses and a striped green/white bodysuit. Both are voiced by Charley Orchard. The moose's name is Chad, wearing who is shirtless with yellow pants, and purple shoes. Voiced by Bastian Varrall who is related to Dexter Varrall, who voices Roly. The Zebra's name is Otzi who wears blue jeans and does a subdued loud gimmick. He sounds like he's got the infamous "Toasty" line down pat, sort of. Voiced by Sean Orchard. Finally, the kowala's name is Rochelle whom is voiced by Poppy Green. Peggee is voiced by Morgana Robinson. Peggee wants the kids to show off their welcoming dance and it's nowhere near as good as the "DUGGEE~!" opening sequence. If I ever get to rant on "The Same Badge", I'll put a pin on this episode and the upcoming episode because there is something mind blowing about these three episodes.

The kids are like "what is this?!" when they wave hi to the Hummingbirds. Peggee wants the Hummingbirds and the Squirrels to get to know one and other as the Hummingbirds love it and the Squirrels are not sure about this. The narrator tells them not to worry because Duggee has his Making Friends Badge. Which the friends do not spin around the globe. That was really sloppy, show. The narrator suggest that everyone be themselves, even Roly. The kids decide to relucently do this, and Betty has to push Happy forward. The only kids in this outfit who thinks this is a bad idea. Peggee asks Duggee if he wants a cup of tea, Duggee woofs and we get a badge scene changer of a cup of tea being poured with the coffee mug showing off Duggee's own mug. That was amusing to me. We head inside Peggee's kitchen with Peggee pouring out tea in their tea cups, which are not mugs, sadly. Duggee is reading some blue book with white drawings, I have no idea what it is. Peggee asks if Earl Grey tea is agreeable to him and Duggee agree with her gleefully as public domain music is playing in the background. Then it grinds to a halt as the kids are outside, while Finbar wants to play a game. Hopefully, this will not involves even fake eating people's faces, that would be bad. All I know is that Roly and Otzi are basically the same character at this point. Finbar's game is called Squish Squash Cabbage. Believe it or not, this was literally a "Hey, Duggee" invention and is not related to literally anything. The closest that I could come up with was a Squash and Cabbage Casserole. The Squirrels have zero idea what they are talking about as the rules of engagement are that the game involves saying the most nonsensial three words you can come up with, and the best one wins, I guess. Sadly, it's not "Copy The King" which Tag thinks it is. That was a game presented in "The First Aid Badge" of Series One. I might do that episode and prep work for the rest of Series One in future if I feel like it. The kids do a sulking staredown afterwards as we head back to Duggee and Peggee's conversation. This was awesome! Peggee is laughing and snorting over some incident that involved a possible stolen lawnmower. It's too damn bad we didn't hear the setup to this because it makes more sense than Squish Squash Cabbage, that is for sure. Duggee is like "What?!", probably thinking that Peggee is going to get sued by the creators of Peppa Pig for gimmick infringement over the pig snorts. Trust me Duggee, they have no case.

\Peggee asks about Duggee's hobbies while dressing up in certain hobbies to keep the conversation going. HAHA! Duggee does not know how to respond to this. Duggee's brain has crashed out as Peggee is curling, purling, twirling; which is curling, knitting and dancing in that order. Then she asks if Duggee wants more tea. Also funny. Duggee woofs "yes" and we head back outside. Damn, give the kids background music of some kind, show! The kids are now in the same three lanes as the vehicles of this show. Finally, I can figure out which characters are the similar ones: Tag is basically the same character as Chad, Roly is basically the same character as Otzi, Betty is basically the same character as Rochelle, Happy is basically the same character as Mary and Norrie is basically the same character as Finbar. I should have guessed since Finbar is a nice boy like Norrie is a nice girl. The kids are slowly breaking into this friendship thingie with various spots. Betty and Rochelle are arguing about good idea while not explaining the "good idea". Happy and Mary are awkward giggling, Norrie and Finbar are doing weird exercises, Tag nails Chad in the nose with a soccer ball and then apologizes for it while Chad does the same, Roly and Otzi are screaming to the point where I want to crush their voice boxes. Then we head back to the public domain adults are "talking" scene as Duggee is talking about something, I don't know because he speaks in woofs and the narrator doesn't even bother to translate it. Peggee than asks about the horse and Duggee cannot answer that one as Peggee offers Duggee some biscuits on a plate on the table. Peggee also has a yellow pink polka dot Delta Frog on the top shelf in the kitchen. Back to Happy and Mary as Happy is like "fuck this!", finds a water puddles and splashes in it. Happy is literally wanting this show to be sued by Peppa Pig's creators for gimmick infringement. This spot might have a weak case, though. Mary then sees something in this and joins in with Happy. Back to Duggee and Peggee as Peggee is talking about the salt shaker now. Back to Finbar and Norrie noticing Happy and Mary doing the Peppa Pig thingie as Happy is literally happy to splash along with Mary. Then everyone is like, "fuck Peppa Pig!" and they all run in and basically jump up and down in a water puddle. Now, the music plays and this is great!

Then the kids run down the hill, up and through a hallowed log. Next up, skipping rope with Tag, Norrie, Chad and Finbar. Finbar and Norrie do some knee dancing, while Rochelle and Betty cosplay knights with cardboard weapons fighting dragons. Otzi is the seeker in seek and go hide and Roly hides in a barrel and then exposes himself instantly. That last one was hilarious because the next scene after that is Duggee and Peggee looking ashamed of themselves. I howled with laughter seeing that. They look like HR is going to come down on them any second now as we cut back to the kids playing on the tire swing and then back to the adult dogs watching the clock. What a bunch of geeks?! Peggee is now doing the same finger motions Duggee and Kit Cloudkicker have done before as the kids pop up from the background window and want the adults to join in the fun. We repeat the sequence of the kids loving to play earlier, except the adults are following their lead in the spots. Oh wait, they play baseball and Peggee hits a home run, lest they bury the Hummingbirds. I do have one major problem with this angle and I want to address it now: I realize that Peppa Pig is not as good as Hey Duggee anymore and Hey Duggee has opened my heart. However, Peppa Pig has one major advantage over Hey Duggee in one regard: They built up the kid characters outside of Peppa Pig, George Pig, Suzy Sheep, Pedro F'N Pony, and Danny Dog really, really well compared to Hey Duggee since the Hummingbirds will not be seen again until much later with "The Same Badge". It's mostly building up the main event kids and the animals that surround them. Peppa Pig introduces new kids on a regular basis and tries to get them over as unique characters. Here, the Hummingbirds are basically B-versions of The Squirrels with little character development outside of that. Heck, even Gerald Giraffe and Mandy Mouse have better personalities compared to Mary and Rochelle! As much as I enjoyed this episode, the Hummingbirds are not going to become really awesome unless Hey Peggee is an actual spin-off series. And that creates another problem: How do you make it different from Hey Duggee?! There's only so much you can do before BS&P is forced to step in. Yeah, I'm done ranting on this and it's time to finish this episode off.

Oh, and the kids watch Duggee and Peggee swing on the tree set like a bunch of love birds. Then we get the Carmen Sandiego chase sequence, only the evil dragon is chasing the knights. HAHA! At least, the running happy and laughing spot makes sense here because it's only Duggee and Peggee playing a cardboard dragon. We have a BBQ in progress with hamburgers, hotdogs and club sandwiches, with water and soda. We end with the sun setting on the beach as everyone is eating and sitting down. Peggee calls this a perfect ending to the day as they watch the sun setting. Duggee woofs in agreement as the narrator asks if it's lovely that the Squirrels and Hummingbirds are friends now to Duggee. Duggee then bails on all fours and returns with the Making Friends Badge as they all get the badge. All the kids cheer as all the parents from both troops arrive in their vehicles. Chad does the same pogostick move Tag does in his victory cheer. Rochelle just cheers. Rochelle's parent arrives in a Jeep, Chad and Mary have open roof cars, Finbar has a breakdown truck (thus is Granddad Dog basically), and Otzi drives a pink scooter and Otzi's guardian is wearing a red doo-rag. Strangely, none of the Hummingbirds have a parent of a different spieces. Everyone does the DUGGEE HUG~! I do mean everyone, including Peggee from behind. HAHA! Duggee hug. The kids all bail giggling as they show off the badges to their parents. The parents hug the kids in stereo as we never see Mary's guardian face of course. Somehow, that wheelchair is so light, Rochelle still gets hugged both times. SUZY SHEEP~?! The kids and parent leave stage left in their vehicles as the scout leaders wave goodbye. Peggee is still hugging Duggee as he is waving goodbye. Geez, Peggee ask him for his hand in marriage then! The narrator asks if this was fun Duggee finally realizes Peggee is hugging him, teases it being creepy and then laughs with the narrator to end the episode at 6:45. Yes, Hey Duggee did have a marriage wedding in this show. However, it wasn't between Duggee and Peggee. This was a fine episode with a great finish. However, don't expect the troops to meet again for a long time and that makes me sad. *** 1/2 (70%).

Opening Moment #3: This opening features Tag building a giant LEGO head of Duggee. The title card is a circular badge which the trim is a life preserver motif with a river boat on water against a sky background.

The River Badge: Short opens in the clubhouse with the Squirrels cosplaying a tea party with a plush polar bear and a plush penguin. Delta Frog makes another appearance on a top shelf as the narrator wonders what Duggee has planned for them today. Everyone drops their stuff and bounces stage left giggling. Cut in Duggee is some semi-shaded office dressing up like some sort of cross between a post officer and a train conductor as he is semi-looking at a map on the wall. The Squirrels bounce in asking Duggee what he is doing. Duggee woofs that he has a parcel to deliver to some cave marked X on a blue road according to Tag. The narrator corrects him because it's actually a river as Betty claims that this is bad because Duggee cannot swim that far. By the way, the hat is only there so that Duggee can point to it to reveal his River Badge. They are taking a boat as everyone cheers except Happy. Then Happy catches himself and cheers because he loves water and there is water in a river. He lusts for dem waters! To be fair, lusting for water is probably one thing I don't mind people doing actually. Stylized scene changer ensues featuring the boat wheel spinning and stopping only to show Duggee's mug. We head to the docks as the Squirrels are in a tugboat as the narrator asks if Duggee is all set. Duggee woofs "yes", blows the foghorn and we are off. Then we discover that it was ROLY, who blew the foghorn. HAHA! The narrator kindly tells him not to do it again, and we are offiically off, and then off-screen, Roly blows the foghorn...AGAIN! HAHA! The kids blow him off for it and we set sail on the river channel. Tag wave hello to the Delta Chickens, Duggee sails the ship, Betty is in the cabin putting a map on the table to literally check coordinates on a single river run, that was funny. Norrie is checking the safety preservers and Roly is teasing to do it thrice and it would sure be nice. Sadly, Duggee pipes up and Roly cannot do it. Happy has eyes on dem water! Tag wave hello to a deer and the deer says "hello, sweetheart". Okay, I admit that I did chuckle even if it came off creepy on the deer's part. Oh, TAG; just grow up already! Duggee continues to sail, Betty continues to work on her map skills to be a navigator like Kit Cloudkicker was, Happy continues to lust for water and Roly continues to tease giving me what I desire the most. Roly then decides to pull his lifejacket and it blows up. By the way, once again, the adults do not wear them like in Peppa Pig. More leisure stuff as Tag waves to a green snake not named Jake. Duggee is literally drinking and sailing! Only it's tea so it doesn't count. Sailing while distracted does count though.

Norrie has rope on the hooks for more safety and Happy is enjoying the lust of water. Someone give Happy a glass of water, I think he's thristy. Roly then looks up and then off-screen, finally blows the foghorn to scare the birds out of the trees. Of course! What a fool I am?! To think that he could ever keep his bloodlust for them birds in check! That's a fools errand! The birds fly away and the kids blow off Roly screaming louder than Roly ever has. Norrie goes into the cabin to get a status report from Betty on the river ride, on a river that has no forks in it. The map indicated by the X's by Betty indicates that they need to turn one more corner and they will reach the X cave. Betty is pissed off at Happy's love for water. Oh sod off, Betty! Happy loves water, he ain't bugging you for it! Then Happy discovers a navy blue bull which he calls a Water Buffalo~! HAHA! You see, Happy wasn't just saying water for the sake of it. Happy was the front watcher while Tag was watching the back for hazards on the river! They were merely observing and relaying back to Duggee! Betty is our GEEK OF THE WEEK~! Duggee realizes this and dodges it like a video game. Yes, it literally looks like an 1980's dodging action arcade game now, without a scoreboard. Oh, hello Katrina as Roly screams flimingo in a horrible disregard of a person's name. Roly is such a bigot! Next dodge, a duckbill platypus wearing a baseball cap. Must be Perry's best friend. Or not. More dodging is making Gregory Weagle something something. The fish act like in Centipede I should note. The eels all dance to this music and are sparkling with stars. Why?! I don't know! Since they couldn't top that last one in absurdity, we are in the clear and press on. Narrator wants a status and Happy says "water" and the narrator kindly blows him off. Then Happy says "fall" because it's time to do the waterfall spot. Of course, the narrator has to share with Betty in GEEK OF THE WEEK~ honors now! The narrator panics, Duggee panic and they bounce down the waterfall. Yes, I mean "bounce" because the waterfall is literally a three step staircase! This actually makes it less safe, not more safe; and damages the equipment more, not less! Happy is so happy as it's BEFORE HAPPY HOUR and Tag is calling this fun while Duggee looks like he wants to be somewhere else. Then we get some palette swaps of Delta Frog ribbiting in the tugboat for a while as it's AFTER HAPPY HOUR within seconds. SUZY SHEEP~?! That waterfall brought some out of nowhere guests today, huh. Happy loves it and Betty is confused because there are so many of them. Duggee woofs that he is very close to their destination which is the cave marked with an X.

The tugboat bumps into the brown path because they are at the dock area. Now the babyfaces want Roly to blow dem horn! Roly gleefully runs into the wheel room and blows the horn. Out pops from the ground is a Hippie Rabbit with a green shirt and a camera asking for a parcel as the kids bounce out. The Hippie Rabbit tells them to be careful because it's slippie-dippie and Duggee somehow off-screen slips and falls into the river. He pops from the water tomb with a frog on his head, of course. We then get the slow march towards the cave which has a lot of palette swap Delta Frogs and a polar bear's mouth as the entrance to the cave. Various 3D shots of the area ensue, as they went from mid 1980's arcade gaming to late 1990's 3D gaming. The kids say "hello" and we get a circle fade in to reveal...the leader of this cult is Chew-Chew the panda from the "Get Well Soon Badge". The kids bounce in with Roly holding the parcel as Chew-Chew is having tea as we get some meditating music while she opens the parcel to reveal a biscuit tin with goodies inside. I've seen these before, they are decent enough to eat. Lots of stars ensue as Chew-Chew is so overdramatic and the kids are in awe. Apparently, she ran out of treats and accuses the frogs of eating all her treats. The whistling by the frogs seems to add credence to this theory. However, since one of the guard is a Hippie Rabbit, I would say it's his fault and he's gaslighting the frogs as well. All the heroes get to eat biscuits as the narrator asks if the kids have done well today. The ground is covers in cake sprinkles for no reason as Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the River Badge. It must be in his back pockets, no way he swam all the way back to the barn to get them. Here come the parents in their water vehicles, which Betty's dad doesn't have to change. Time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. Lot of sprinkles in the background for that hug, too! The kids bail stage left and present the badges to their parents. The parents hug the kids and then leave in their water vehicles. Duggee and Chew-Chew wave goodbye as Chew-Chew offers Duggee another biscuit. However, the rainbow Delta Frog eats it and Chew Chew is angry to end the episode at 6:45. Fun little episode for the most part. Although, put a pin on this episode because in a future badge episode, this episode will be revisited in a certain way. *** 1/2 (70%).

Opening Moment #4: This opening features Norrie painting the birdhouse as per a previous episode. The title card is a rainbow trim circular badge with our gaslighting zen character: The Hippie Rabbit floating on air doing poses againest a green backgrouind.

The Yoga Badge: Short opens outside as Duggee is painting a rocking chair in his painting gear while the Delta Chickens are sunbathing and one sheep is sleeping. The blue bird on top of the barn is watching on and it flies around landing on the sheep's back. Apparently, it likes the sheep's snoring, or something. The Delta Chickens are reading a magazine, drinking soda and listening to music on the radio during their sunbathing. Cut to worm enjoying a book, while looking like a redneck. HAHA! Somehow, this does not compute. Ironically, the cover features the enemy of worms in real life, a yellow chick. Also, there is a pitcher of lemonade with a cup on the ground. We cut to Duggee painting a chair arm yellow as the narrator calls this a peaceful day. Uh-oh! The narrator is daring death to befall on this lively calm setting. Calm is a much better word than peace at this point. Then the kids inside the clubhouse yell "Squirrel Time!" and bust out of the castle of building blocks as they are basically doing the same spotfest the Chick in the end did in a previous episode. Except, they do not destroy anything in the clubhouse except just wake up and disturbing the calmness of the scene. The only thing they destory is a chair, and somehow that improved the chair despite making a mess out of Duggee and themselves. Basically, they want to know what Duggee is doing over and over again. Duggee is flabbergasted by this moment and the narrator tells them that they can help Duggee. However, they must calm down first and the kids proclaims that they cannot calm down right now. Duggee then has a plan as he starts meditating as his pose makes two brown duck shapes I should note. The narrator calls this plan a good idea as Duggee extends his arms out as the badge is clearly on the inside of his left arm. Yup, they are going to do some yoga, you see. Duggee does a pose to show off his badge and of course it shows one of the Hippie Rabbits, the gaslighters of this damnable show. This might be legit brainwashing here. Okay, yoga is not brainwashing; I'm talking about the Hippie Rabbits doing it, not yoga itself. The kids yell in unison to break Duggee and then we get the badge scene change of a blooming red flower with Duggee's face on it with calming music playing in the background. The badge becomes a sun as we jump cut to outside as we have everyone in their exercise gear and the goofiest yoga mats I have ever seen. Roly looks like Rambo at this point.

We start with the fold legs pose as everyone sits down on their ass and tries to fold their legs. Roly, the loudest one in the room, gets it perfectly and is shhing Betty for being too loud. That is awesome! Betty's have a lot of trouble folding her tentacle legs and she's appalled by Roly. Duggee then puts his hands on his knees, which is called the Lotus Position. Happy asks if that is it and the narrator says no. They have a lot to learn. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Duggee then lies on his belly and pants like a dog. I don't think the panting part is a part of yoga, Duggee. Now, you are just showing off. Then push up with your hands as this is the Cobra Position, which is basically pushing up forever doing a push-up in exercises. The kids do okay as Tag is exchanging notes on snakes doing yoga. Oh, TAG! The snake that is not Jake says "yes", which is now more hilarious in hindsight since Jake Roberts did work out with Diamond Dallas Page called DDP Yoga. Sadly, his health has gotten worse since 2014, but it probably added years to his life. Weither that was a good or bad thing is debatable, sadly. The snake not named Jake proclaims on this wacky space background proclaiming that a lot of yoga is based on nature. That's true. More poses like the Mountain Pose, the Dolphin Pose (complete with Spongebob Squarepants censor bleep, which is the sound of a dolphin), the Eagle Pose. Apparently, Norrie claims to get it, I don't think she actually does. Norrie sees a tree waving in the wind and does a pose simulating that on her own terms. It's actually known as the Swaying Palm Tree Pose (Tiryana Tadasana), which is a variation of the original Tree Pose, which Duggee hasn't even shown yet. The kids are following her lead as the narrator doesn't know that one. Wait, you don't know the Tree Pose?! Duggee earning this badge is now officially sus. Then Happy notices a grasshopper inflating a toy bicycle and does the Grasshopper Pose. No, it's not the real one though. He calls it the Bendy Bug Pose though as the kids all follow his lead and enjoy it. Duggee's attempt at it is hideously hilarious. HAHA! I love this and then here comes the gaslighting Hippie Rabbits to ruin this fun episode, in their flowa powa hippie bus! They love Duggee struggling I should note. Oh sod off, you gaslighting wabbits! Then the Hippie Rabbit are playing their as CBC Kids has captioned: Indian Classical Music Playing! Which makes sense since the original Yoga is from ancient India.

Modern Yoga in modern cultures tend to be closer to Hatha Yoga, or Force Yoga in Sankrit. The music playing is distracting me because outside of some words and a white crane doing it's pose cawking, there's literally nothing to work with here. Betty gets inspired and does the Crane Pose, which she calls the balancing bird pose. The Hippie Rabbits calls it cool and don't say "man" here, because they know Betty's a woman. The kids follow their lead as Duggee is literally struggling so much that the narrator has to remind Duggee to breathe. Enid sleepwalks in a turnaround on the ground as Roly gets inspired and somehow screeches out the stretchy cat pose. The kids follow Roly's lead complete with meows abound. The Hippie Rabbit love it just to gaslight me into thinking that somehow this is not unbearable torture on Duggee! Cut to a fox anthro with a green headband and green/white striped shirt with an alarm clock waking up and stretching and apparently, this music makes him flop back on a conveniently place pile of hay. The fox snores and Tag gets inspired as he flops down and snores. HAHA! This is called the Floppy Fox Pose. Duggee is happy that Tag has unintentionally ended the torture the kids and the gaslighting wabbits did to him as butterflies fly around over the rainbow while the narrator says it all. Duggee is ready to "paint" the chair as we get a really wacky colorful sequence of a scene changer into the chair being painted like it was for the Hippie Rabbits as the Hippie Rabbits are praising the Squirrels for their poses. The animals are happy as it ends with Duggee dropping down and sitting in the colorful rocking chair. The narrator asks about the kids doing well today as the kids get the same space background the snake got to earn their badge. The Squirrels flash their new gang signs as the parents arrive in their vehicles. Time for the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. By the way, Duggee has completely stop selling his painful poses completely now. The kids giggle and stop selling their drug induced calmness in the process while showing off their Yoga Badges. The parents hug in unison and leave with the kids in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun and Duggee does the Lotus Pose while in the Float status as the Hippie Rabbits call it cool to end the episode at 6:45. He keeps this pose as we play what is basically the rainbow version of ending to Doctor Who during the 1980's. Fun episode with minimal skullduggery from the gaslighting wabbits. *** 1/2 (70%).

Opening Moment #5: This opening features Tag as per "The River Badge" episode. The title card is a rectangle badge with red/pink trim featuring various stuff to collect against a colored checkered background.

The Collecting Badge: Short opens in the clubhouse as the Squirrels are doing their normal thing: Betty is reading a book, Norrie is on her typewriter, Happy is building, Roly is spinning a top and Tag is playing park the car. The narrator greets the Squirrels because he wonders what Duggee is going to do today. The kids bounce off stage left giggling as Duggee is dusting his cupboard of collectables with a four color featherduster. There is a tennis ball, snowglobe magnifying glass with red trim and a rubix cube on top of the shelves. The kids ask Duggee what he is doing as the white cat thing in the shelves is waving to the hard camera. That amused me. The narrator translates that he is now tidying up the biscuit tins. I say that because "rearranging" sounds wrong here as the Squirrels are in awe of this. Happy wants a cookie/biscuit, that was funny because the tins do not contain biscuits/cookies anyway. You see, he collects the tins and I can relate to this because my father has a similar collection in the rec room next to my bedroom where I am typing this rant as I type! Norrie is confused by this, which is understandable since that would be a real waste of tin to just collect it and not put any goodies in them. The narrator talks about other stuff like buttons and stamps. One of them is basically Duggee's infamous "It's a bunny!" art, that was funny. Four of the stamps feature the same picture, only in different colors. Then there is clockwork toy frogs, the bottom right one hops away on cue as they are on the table while the kids are amused. Finally, Duggee shows off his badge while making "ding" sounds with his fingers. Also funny and also, both fingers show off his Collecting Badge, because that is this episode of course. Talk about jackhammering the point home there, show. The kids ask if they can collect things, Duggee woofs "yes" and the kids bail stage right. Despite a scene changer flourish music in the background, we just jump cut to Duggee putting his collectables in cardboard boxes. Then Tag runs in and proclaims that he has zero clue what to collect.

The narrator proclaims that the greatest thing about collecting is that it can literally be anything. Apparently, that applies to stolen stuff, too. I realize that nuance in a pre-school show is asking for trouble. However, for goodness sakes, so is stealing. The boxes of stuff was just a plot device to demonstrate what Tag can collect. I guess there's no robust things on the collectables either. Or just stuff that makes you happy. Sadly, Happy doesn't show up on cue here. Tag is okay with this and then we finally get a stylized scene changer featuring collectables with 3D-soft clayequse CGI models rotating. One of them is the robot Tag was playing in the opening sequence. The sliding block one is hilarious as King Tiger has the body of a snake. The Duggee face in a box springs and that was amusing. Next, head outside for the montage as Betty finds pebbles, green rectangle gemstones in the treasure cave, a frozen blue bean up a snowy peak mountain, a square rock with a magma bottom on it -- featuring a green bird in a hard hat --, and a big rock Betty can not pop from the ground. Betty pops and bumps all over the place as she has a plan after the narrator tells her that this is a bit heavy. Of course, her plan involves the army ants because of course she would call in the troops who are smaller than Roly, who can move giant boulders with ease! Betty orders the ants to march and the ants march away with the boulder stage left and the general ant is pissed off because that is his line! Betty shows off her stuff to Duggee as the general ant gets the last word in to overcompenstate. Roly decides to collect leaves for a while, as Hedgely The Heel Hedgehog is back! He does nothing of course. One giant brown leaf gets screamed off the tree by Roly, which was funny. When the loud gimmick is funny, it's funny. When it's not funny, it's painfully unfunny! The brown flies away stage left and Roly runs stage left in a panic. The brown leaf lands on the table as Roly is now happy running in. HAHA! Of course, the leaves all scatter when Roly screams "LEAVES~!" Also funny. He needs to reel this in, but the writers are finding ways to make this gimmick work. Roly just realizes that he screwed himself and runs after the leaves. Betcha he'll never learn from this mistake in future episodes.

Since Happy's gimmick is that he loves water, you can predict his collection and where he is without me saying it. He is collecting seashells on the sea shore while a seagull with glasses and Donald Duck's hat watches on. One of the striped blue snails tells Happy that his shell is still his property. However, a snail named Pablo has vacated his shell next door. What a scumbag this snail is?! Happy thanks the scumbag and then throws the scumbag into the puddle. HAHA! Then Happy turns heel himself and steals the pink snail shell. We return to the workshop as Happy shows off his seashells from the seashore and that is that. Duggee claps like ROB from Smash Bros and Happy thanks him. Cut to a tree with a blue bird perched on a branch, it's one of those red berry/red apple trees, I think. Enid pops up and Enid is bloodlusting for the bird! Okay, that sort of came off wrong and I'm certain Roly is not going to like this competition, especially since Roly does this gimmick better than Enid! The blue bird screams and a blue feather flies down towards Norrie and Norrie collects it without a care about them birds. Even when Norrie is a nice person, she somehow has to be a Peppa Pig-equse troll. She even thanks the bird as the bird is being chased by Enid. I sobbed with laughter! This show sure showed Peppa Pig! Anyhow, Norrie collects feathers from toucan and from Whoooo, which kills my theory that the "Funny Faces Badge" was not released because of possible racism involving the totem pole, since the totem pole is clearly shown here and it's a CBC Kids video! Oh, Mawk has returned from his winter vacation to allow Norrie to take a white feather! I believe this is the first episode for rant purposes of the Funky Chicken, who is Richard Simmons combined with a giant chicken basically. Basically, the opposite of Hennie, only Funky Chicken is also in decent shape for his size. Funky Chicken dances and clucks as Norrie returns to the workshop with the feathers to show off. Delta Frog is on the shelf for no reason other than to be seen as per his contract. Roly returns with his collection of leaves as the narrator is marking out for their collections, before Tag has even started because he is literally having weightlifting issues. Even Duggee is appalled at the narrator for this gaffe. In comes Tag and I expected him to having nothing. Nope. Tag actually collected: a red balloon, a skipping rope, a recyclable water bottle, a lolly stick and a brown cushion.

The problem is that the collecting is now over and everyone should earn the badge because the stips is that it can be anything. This would be fine if we didn't have 90 seconds left in the episode before getting the badge! This is so stupid. Tag explains why he collected them and everyone is confused. Duggee at least understands it and allows it. Hey, I cannot complain, Tag's collection is interesting at least. This leads to dream balloons of the times Tag was using these things. Like Tag playing with the balloon with Roly. Or that time when Tag trips on his shoelaces and Betty would tie the shoelaces to demonstrate their friendship. Okay, this is not stupid because this is actually great. The other kids collected items with no other meaning to them, while Tag collected stuff that not only made him happy, but told a story about his friendships with his friends. It's actually a really selfless act on Tag's part and it meant something in storyline. I thought they would Cartoon Duck Syndrome this episode and they actually created an awesome finish! Happy gives Tag some water to drink from a bottle of water and that cures Tag's hicupping. Happy also hiccups and giggles in response, which is great. The lolly stick reminds Norrie that Tag also didn't feel well and was in bed, which is a sort of follow up to the Squirrels wishing Norrie to get well soon. Only it's a colorful ice lolly this time. Apparently, it cured his sore throat. Roly is still confused because there is a sixth collectable which is the brown carpet. Notice that it's in the same color style as Duggee, so you know where this is going because it reminds Tag of the Duggee Hug as Tag hugs it! AWESOME~! Duggee is emotional during this as the Squirrels love it. The narrator thankfully asks if the Squirrels did well today before Duggee bursts into tears in an emotional meltdown. Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the badge. Here come the parents in their vehicles, because it's time for the real DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail stage left to present the badges to their parents and it's hugs in stereo. The kids and parent leave in their vehicles as the narrator asks if this was fun. Duggee woofs and dances with the Funky Chicken to end the episode at 6:45. The music continues through the credits as the scumbag snail is named Mollusc. This was a really fun episode with an awesome finish and a fun little ending. Tag really earned his wings in this one. **** 1/4 (85%).

Opening Moment #6: This opening features Roly playing Hide & Seek with the kids hiding in the tree. The narrator asks if they had fun today. The kids say yes and they start climbing down the tree and run stage left. They show off footage of the kids doing stuff in Brady Brunch-equse style and then the kids are happy and laughing while running through the meadows. Roly is about to land on his head in the trampoline spot and then we go to a slightly changed version of Duggee's entrance as there are no parents present in their vehicles. The kids run into the clubhouse and land on the sofa to do the title screen as Duggee pops up out of nowhere. It's not as great as the milkman opening sequence though. The title card is in darkness as the badge is a spotlight motif with a duck shadow puppet wearing a hat.

The Shadow Badge: Short opens outside of the barn during HAPPY HOUR with various animals doing their thing as the Squrriels are yawning on the sofa inside. HAHA! Duggee has left as well, just to make the kids look like complete geeks. They are waiting for their parents, you see. Enid is sleeping as the narrator decides to make some small talk with the kids for awhile. The narrator proclaims that the parents are arriving soon to pick up the kids as then we get a hilariously stupid moment: The slow driving turtle is drving on the boring road ahead of the parents in their vehicles with horns honking. There is one major problem with this: In the opening sequence, there are THREE LANES of traffic. How can there be ONE LANE of traffic in this one?! HOW?! PEPPA PIG~?! Back to the clubhouse as the narrator is exchanging notes on their day while the kids talk about their fun day. Then suddenly, we have a power cut because of course we do. Does this mean Norrie has to be a fake news reporter?! It's the cartoon eyes in pitch darkness angle as Duggee arrives and turns on the lantern. Wait, shouldn't the narrator not be talking since his microphone would be cut, too?! Even though there is a power cut, Duggee can teleport five torches for the kids to use since Norrie can't see. SUZY SHEEP~?! The kids grab the torches and they automatically turn them on. Okay, that came off wrong. By the way, Duggee is the power company basically, and can restore power by himself with talent and time. Duggee bails to check the source of the power cut as we get a stylized scene changer of day transforming into night, which the sun and the moon have Duggee's face on it. We return with the kids all playing with the torches for a while. Roly is an on/off type of guy, I wonder why. Tag calls them brilliant as Betty gives the spider another appearance for fun. Delta Frog gets it's contractual appearance as well. Then it's funny faces this one, only no one bawls their eyes out. Disappointing since they did the boring road traffic jam spot from Peppa Pig earlier in the episode. Duggee is clicking the light switch on/off, probably to make sure he didn't turn off the main power fusebox unintentionally. The kids hum for a while, Duggee holds a light bulb and replaces the ceiling lamp. Still no go. More exposing the business with Tag and Enid. Someone tells them to watch out as Enid wakes up and they think there is a monster in the mists. Enid's shadow, everyone.

Enid turns around and doesn't care as the kids gasp in horror that the shadow is going to eat Enid. Yup, this episode combines Peppa Pig's "The Power Cut" with Peppa Pig's "Shadows". Duggee tells them not to worry as the narrator explains that it's Enid's shadow. The kids are confused as Duggee demonstrates his shadow with the lantern and then points to his chest to show off his Shadow Badge. By the way, CBC Captions has lost track of who is who since it was Roly saying "birds!" when Duggee did the bird puppet spot, not Norrie. Also, Tag said doggie, not Betty when Duggee does the dog panting shadow spot. Then a duck quacking to show off the badge as the kids want a go with this. And now, the power is back on. The narrator proclaims that he fixed it and then the power is cut again. This show is turning into my spirit animal at this point. Duggee groans and the kids all cheer! HAHA! Just turn off the lights, what does it matter if the power is cut or not?! Next badge scene changer has eyes in pitch darkness as the lightbulb with Duggee's face on it. This would have been funnier if the bulb blew seconds later. Now we set up a stool (NOT THAT ONE!) with the torch placed on two books on top. Why?! Why not?! I don't know why they bothered with the books since removing them would have given the kids enough arm reach to do the spots. Norrie goes first, it's a snail. Wiggle! Wiggle! Tag is next with two fingers to create rabbit ears remembering to do the Hippie Rabbit catchphrase. Damn, the poor brainwashing of these kids by those gaslighting wabbits! Betty is next and wobbles her tentacle to create a snake. Or a wiggly worm, same gimmick. Duggee then finds the giant fuse box during this and woofs. Roly uses his arm to create a nose for Ethel the Elephant, since the birds have already been taken. Bigot. Roly's trumpet spot is horrible by the way. Happy does pecking sound better than Roly's trumpet, as it's a beautiful swan. Nah, that sounds like a woodpecker. Then a bunch of clouds come in and and Betty thinks he's a magician. Happy claims that he had nothing to do with this. $20 Duggee's doing the clouds. Oh wait, it's the sheep who somehow got into the clubhouse, for no reason. Somehow, they managed to get a second stool and a third book to step on. SUZY SHEEP~?! The sheep bleat as Tag asks if they want to do shadow. Oh, TAG~! They just did exactly that! Then all the animals somehow come into the clubhouse including Ethel the Elephant. Roly might want to go outside before this turns ugly now. The narrator proclaims that everyone want to make shadows and the kids all cheer.

Then we HIT THE MONTAGE as now items are being used to create more shadow animals. None of them are really special, although the style of the montage is great though. The best one was the deltas and bees creating a snow globe of winter time. Ethel is now using Roly to munch a berry tree Norrie is holding up and now the power is back on. Okay, earth to everyone: Switch the lights off because we have about fifty seconds left in the episode before the badge is earned. The kids groan anyway, and then literally seconds later, the power is cut again! Then we do James Bond 007 shadow spots with animals and items, no blood obviously. The last thirty seconds reverses the colors and we sequences of shadows and light, it looks fine to me. The best one is Tag driving a car! That was funny because Tag always takes public transportation. Roly runs behind the car, that was funny because he screams birds in response. Then he gets chased by a big blue bird. HAHA! Okay, this is growing on me. Chinese New Year dragon who is scared of it's own pyro. Everyone is cheering, while Duggee is the only one who is legit pissed off. HAHA! He barks like nobody's business and that's enough to turn the power back on anyway. The narrator still praises this anyway and Duggee's reaction is "you know that bullshit, narrator." The animals and kid all groan still not getting that they can just switch the lights off with the light switch! The narrator praises the puppet show as the kids admit that this is right. Duggee bails on all fours and returns with the Shadow Badge. The kids all cheer as somehow the Naughty Monkey appears behind the window outside. In comes the parents in their vehicles still only taking one lane anyway! DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. CBC Captions think the narrator is showing affection when it was Duggee. Sigh. The kids bail to show their badges to their parents in three lanes this time! The parents hug in stereo and leave with the kids in their vehicles, in three lanes now! The narrator praises Duggee for fixing the lights and then power gets cut again as we zoom to the barn where there is an power switch outside being turned on and off by Naughty Monkey. Of course it had to be him, since he was outside the barn the entire time! Naughty Monkey finally stops and dances as Duggee is shocked and appalled to end the episode at 6:45. Slow start to this one with a really good finish by the end. That Naughty Monkey needs to get his comeupperance for all this fake news it's peddling right now! *** 3/4 (75%).

Opening Moment #7: This opening features Roly being seduced by a wind pinwheel machine with Duggee's model cranking the pinwheel. That was funny! The title card is a curtain background with a stamp like circus motif of stars and balloons of Norrie and one of the Hippie Rabbits. Of course! We have to gaslight everyone to think that they are the stars of the show and not the kids, whom aren't rabbits at all!

The Theatre Badge: Short opens in the boring woods as Duggee and the kids head west on a hike. Duggee is wearing a leaf baseball cap as the narrator asks what they are doing when it's clear even the kids know what they are doing. It should be "where are you going?" as Norrie explains what they are doing to educate the dumb narrator. Ladybird bounces in as bird are singing on a branch in a tree as Roly points out that the animals are arguing, invoking the pointy finger of death as the kids and Duggee are shocked and appalled because we have a mouse with a red nose that looks like a crimson red button was attached to the stem of the nose. The mouse is wearing all black with a black beret and a red hankerchef is arguing with a brown squirrel who looks like he's coming from a Richard Simmons exercise class, with blue glasses and a green hat with a yellow star on the front. Both of them are arguing about how to present a theatre show and the argument is like Jim Cornette arguing with Kevin Dunn in WWE with Jim Cornette being the mouse and Kevin Dunn playing the role as the squirrel. Jim Cornette wanted wrestling to be art (actually sport, but it's more or less the same argument), and Kevin Dunn hates that and wants it to be entertaining. I could have said Vince Russo. However, I wanted to keep you all on your toes since Kevin Dunn was basically a better Vince Russo anyway. The mouse is Tino The Mouse, and the beaver is Eugene. The kids and Duggee meet and greet Tino and Eugene. This is officially the first episode for rant purposes featuring Tino The Mouse as a character since he debuted in Series One and Eugene I do believe is the same for rant purposes. Eugene and Tino argue some more as Eugene seems to be a bit afraid of Tino since he stammers when he points out that Tino's art is boring. Well, that's not very nice Eugene. More arguing and we discover that they have not even built the set for the theatre show yet. Jim Cornette and Kevin Dunn would have been appalled by this. Even if you have a difference in what your show should be, a wrestling ring is a wrestling ring. Build the stage first and then work your ideas from there. It's so simple and these two cannot do that right! That's even worse than Vince Russo! Also, the players haven't even learned their lines, because they have no script either! Cameos: Chew-Chew, King Tiger, Naughty Monkey, Hedgely The Hedgehog, a Delta Chicken, a blue bird, two penguins, a gorilla and a deranged furry that may or may not be Doctor Frog's long lost cousin. Oops, almost forgot Katrina, who is probably the main event star on this show since she knows how to act. Eugene calls this a disaster and Tino blows him off for being over-dramatic, despite being more over-dramatic than Eugene. An accusation being a confession if I ever saw one. Eugene even call his ass out on it! Okay, this could be fun.

Betty and Tag pretty much sum up the whole thing and they are kids. Tino and Eugene act like manchildren for a while as Duggee decides to help because he points to his chest to reveal his "Theatre Badge". Eugune and Tino notice and are in awe...and then they argue some more about what show to put on. Fire these two assholes and just have Duggee do whatever he wants, at least he has the expertise to go over their heads. Tag and Norrie suggest the play be about getting on and then start getting along. I know Norrie said "getting on" again, but getting along makes more sense. Norrie wants them to stop arguing and do it both ways. Eugene and Tino then stop selling and agree to the terms complete with yellow background with their mugs on screen. By the way, on the next shot featuring King Tiger and the players, two more Delta Chickens, a furry who is literally dressed up as a clown without makeup and a canary wearing pink are teleported on stage. SUZY SHEEP~?! This leads to a 1900's scene changer with the words "Act Two" on it. Wait a second?! What happened to "Act One"?! SUZY SHEEP~?! Then we HIT THE MONTAGE~! We set up the theatre play as the Delta Chickens are carrying an endless ladder and Duggee looks at the hard camera the same way he did during the end of "The Maze Badge". Ethel the Elephant has joined in to paint the space background while Tag and Happy places stars on Ethel's back. Norrie and Katerina are doing leg poses on a table. Gorilla with the poop like mohawk is placing logs on the ground while Betty is putting down sitting pillows. Buggee is being coached and complaining about her size by/to Eugene. Eugene disagrees and gives her a blond wig that is much bigger than her entire body. More setups as Tino is coaching the Naughty Monkey and the Naughty Monkey proves Tino wrong as usual. Hopping sequence occurs with Eugene, Delta Chicken, Buggee, Hedgely The Hedghog (whom is covered with gemstones), and the deranged furry just walking like an idiot. More setting up as Tag is the coordinator with five minutes to go. Betty and Chew Chew put on makeup. Wait, without makeup, Chew-Chew doesn't have a face?! Huge and creepy, if true. This scene is noted for the picture of King Tiger on the wall which is a tease for the marriage angle yet to come. More painting the backgrounds from the kids. Roly is most the funniest and worst promo cutter of a show ad I have ever heard. Oh, and it works as the denizens come out of the forrest to give Delta Frog it's contracted appearance. Yes, there is literally a male pig in a white shirt and tiny red hat on the scene, why do you ask?! Somehow, a Delta Chicken appears despite appearing on stage earlier in the episode. SUZY SHEEP~?! Ah, there's out gaslighting zen Hippie Rabbit for his contracted appearance.

Next spot is all the denizens go to the booth with Betty being the ticket master of the outfit. Now there are two Delta Chickens, two Hippie Rabbits, and the Old Deers. Among others of course. Duggee, Eugene and Tino look through the curtains as Duggee is shocked, Tino is just there and Eugene proclaims that this place is sold out. The crowd is somewhat packed as the one-eyed green alien, and there are now three Hippie Rabbits. Oh, hello Johnny and the Naughty Mice! Enid and Ladybird also show up, the rest I personally don't care about because it's time for the show to start. Tag proclaims that this is final call as we cut to Duggee, Tino and Eugene as Tino is as ready as he can be. Which probably means they are not ready as we begin "Act Three". Did the creators forget to put "Act One" beforehand, or did they lose that shot in development?! Next up, we have the ants dressed up doing the musical portion of the play. Tag and Betty open the curtain and we begin the show! The show opens with Naughty Monkey, one of the peguins, the makeupless clown and the canary dressed up like mimes. This is going to be a trainwreck, I just know it. I can predict the finish here: The whole thing is a trainwreck of a disaster, Tino gets mad at Eugene, but the crowd does the Road Warriors style pop and then they make up. In come the wig freaks bouncing and showing off for awhile. Lots of romance music playing in the background. Yes, the "boy meets girl" sequence is Buggee and The Naughty Monkey. I laughed at that, the first thing I laughed in this episode. In comes Chew-Chew and King Tiger to deny Buggee her love to Naughty Monkey. Considering who Naughty Monkey is, I'm siding with Chew-Chew here. I'm against arranged marriages, but this love for Naughty Monkey is a bad idea when Naughty Monkey probably cannot tell the difference between love and lust. King Tiger's excuse for this is that Naughty Mouse is too expressive for her. Now that is bullshit, considering King Tiger is showing more expression than Naughty Monkey is in this scene. What a hypocrite?! Naughty Monkey bounces in, but is cut off by Katerina and Mohawk Gorilla as they disapprove this love. So, basically they are doing Romero & Juilet, only no one is allowed to do a work double death scene. The Naughty Monkey looks into the hard and bawls his eyes out! I wondered who would play the role of George Pig in this show when he bawled his eyes out. The crowd is dead by the way as Buggee wants a chance and Chew-Chew opera acting is hideously hilarious. Gorilla and Chew-Chew point in opposite directions and the two "lovers" bounce away in opposite directions.

Tag calls for the crescent moon as we go to the night fall since it's not AFTER HAPPY HOUR in Duggee's world. The Naughty Monkey is on a tree branch on the left, and Buggee is on a deck on the right side. More opera singing as Chew-Chew and her train arrive to ruin the entire thing with her bad opera singing and invasion of privacy! At least the mimes are being subtle about it. They are better parents who raised a piece of shit while Buggee's parents are terrible furry beings who raised a decent bug with insecurities like everyone actually. Everyone turns around and they get angry. The crowd is still dead as we proceed to do a dance number that is so absurd that it takes place on the streets of an apartment building with blood on the ladders with a basketball backboard. Yes, this was the new scene. Okay, this is getting better after a otherwise boring episode so far. They are supposed to be "fake fighting", with no connecting contact on each other and then the two groups change their minds and start getting along after all. They all speak the same language of friends. No, you all speak and emote in British English. That's okay though, you became friends in the end, so that's fine. Spotlight color changes as Naughty Monkey and Buggee join in the dance and are "true lovers" now. The show ends with the entire troupe singing badly as a red heart is hanging from the ceiling against a cyan blue background with purple bricks. The curtain closes and I must say, this was the best thing in the episode and it was a fun trainwreck. I would cheer this. The crowd is still dead for five seconds and then they give the Road Warrior pop. Personally, I would have changed this to the crowd being dead, Eugene and Tino are yelling at each other and then the crowd pops. That way, Eugene and Tino realize that their play worked and then they get along for real. That would be more natural. Here, it's just merely fine. Besides, Eugene and Tino get their flowers and proclaims that the crowd loves it anyway. At least with my idea, they would lop off logic break. Tino and Eugene thank the Squirrels as everyone is cheering while the kids run in happy and giggling. The narrator asks if the Squirrels have done well today. Duggee is wearing the same colored beret as Tino, but wears tan and beig colors. Duggee uses the pully to show off the giant badge. The kids giggle and do a classy bow as the parents arrive in their vehicles, setting up the DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail stage left to present the badges to their parents. The parents hug their kids and then leave in their vehicles stage left. The narrator asks if this was fun. Duggee is about to woof and then gets cut off by the Fin scene changer to end the episode at 6:45. The style continues with classical music into the credit, which also affects Duggee and the doghouse. This was a boring episode that really picked it up at the climax, turning into a decent episode in the end. ** 1/2 (50%).

Opening Moment #8: This opening features Happy balancing fruit on the table. The title card is a circular badge with purple trim and a yellow background featuring Oscar's brain thinking. Or maybe not Oscar's brain from Fish Hooks.

The Memory Badge: Short opens with Happy drawing and coloring a bowl of fruit on an easel complete with a stool (NOT THAT ONE!) and a bowl of fruit as scale. Norrie is painting a red bird on an easel, Tag is doing an object college, Roly is painting with potatos as stamper and Betty is drawing herself with chalk. The narrator asks what they are doing as Betty says it all. Duggee woofs as he has a tray of drinks ready while Delta Frog and Enid make their contracted appearances. The narrator asks if the kids want a drink. Everyone says "yes", except for Happy who says it in a lisp. Because you see, Happy has conveniently lost a tooth. The other kids are shocked and appalled by this as Happy remembers to say please while slobbering. Betty points out the obvious to us as Happy is confused because now they cannot find it. We do a Brady-Bunch-equse sequence of the kids looking for the tooth behind a block castle, a door, Enid and the CHEST OF DEMONS. It's not there, of course. Roly is wearing Enid on his head and Enid is not amused. I was expecting Enid to scratch Roly good, but BS&P RULEZ~ so it doesn't happen. Happy then proclaims that if he doesn't find the tooth, he cannot leave it under the pillow for the tooth fairy, you see. Cue horror music as the kids are appalled by this. This is overdramatic and still more subtle than Infantable Teen Titans Go Fish~! Duggee woofs that it must have fallen out earlier and the narrator asks what Happy was doing. Happy is pondering this over as Betty proclaims that Happy is terrible at remembering things. Then we get a flashback of Happy's house outside with Happy's mother at the car. Happy comes out of the house wearing swimming gear and Happy's mum has to remind him that he's not going to swimming lesson. Happy then bounces back into the house and returns literally wearing pink underwear. That was funny actually. Happy's mum had to remind him in a certain way that he's getting warmer. Happy bounces back in the house and gets his jeans on and comes back. Mum is amused in a certain way. We return to reality (no, not really) as the narrator proclaims that Duggee is good at remembering things and this causes Duggee to ponder thing over. HAHA! The narrator just twisting the knife in Duggee's back, methinks. Then Duggee remembers and points to his chest to reveal his "Memory Badge". Duggee is our GEEK OF THE WEEK~! Duggee woofs a complete sentence and the narrator proclaims that if they remember all the things they did together, they might have Happy remember where he lost his tooth.

Betty is drawing on her chalkboard with green chalk Happy as she recalls having spaghetti together. Now the purple chalk is gone despite Betty using it to draw herself earlier. SUZY SHEEP~?! Also, Happy and Betty did the same spot Lady & The Tramp did, except they didn't kiss for obvious reasons. Next up, they were making music with a trumpet and a saxophone. Both are wearing berets and the blue chalk is present despite no blue chalk stick present on the board. They play the worst jazz you ever heard in your life as everything is totally off-key and it sounds like well timed noise. The music notes are green and purple. Happy then bails to the music book stand and rattles the trumpet because he deduces that the tooth must be in the trumpet. This is Forensic Files, only no one died, no crime was committed and the only thing missing was a tooth. Sadly, the tooth is not in the trumpet. The narrator tells him not to be discouraged as Norrie remembers that Happy and Norrie were painting pictures on an easel. Norrie painted a sky with a red bird, who looks like it came out of an Angry Birds movie that was bootlegged. Then I realize that the painting was merely a setup and artistic analogy for Norrie and Happy eating toast and crumbs fell on the ground for the red bird to peak. They were under trees containing birds on branches and Norrie decides to bail with Happy agreeing that this is a bad place to eat toast. The deducation here is that eating toast made Happy's tooth pop out. The water color painting was amusing I should note. The kids deduce that Happy had all of his teeth then because he wasn't talking with a lisp then as he is now. Hey, that's logical and made sense. Happy seems to be on the right track now. Next is Roly and they were jumping up and down in puddles which Roly demonstrates with his pictures. This has been an average episode at best, but the painting style by the Squirrels are the best thing about this. Apparently, some dinosaurs come out of nowhere, so Roly is now that aspect of George Pig's characters. I love both shows, but come on now! The dinosaurs do the same thing as the kids and the splat sound is putting a smile on my face. Roly is carrying this episode now. Since there is no tooth in the puddle, it's not there so says the narrator. The same narrator who thought being muddy was believable, but the dinosaur thing was sus. In this show?! Get out of town, and retire as a sea captain dog, narrator! Norrie asks what was next and Tag reveals his college because they made a pirate ship, thus being the pirate aspect of Danny Dog's character.

Tag and Happy in the picture are cosplaying sailing the seas. How many?! Does it matter?! Unmmm...nope. Then they face a "sea monster", which I bet is the Doctor Who-equse Snake not named Jake. The kids and the ship bounce stage left and the seamonster just wants a hug. Okay, this was funny. What a bunch of geeks, all of them!! Even Duggee cannot believe this, neither can I. Tag checks the ship and it's the smallest pirate ship of all time, it's not there. Happy is not thrilled by this as he starts pondering this over while the narrator calls this tricky, which is carny talk for "We're out of leads and the trail of the missing tooth has gone cold." Everyone is shocked and appalled because Happy is remembering something, like this is the first time Happy has ever done that. Happy remembers that Duggee said, "drawing time" and Happy does his drawing. Okay, logic break: The finish is that Happy remembers eating the apple because his stomach is growling and the tooth is in the bowl. Okay, that itself makes sense. However, the bowl of apples on the stool has the same amount of apples in both scenes involving. There should be two apples from the start and then increase to three apples during the drawing. The problem is that there are three apples at the beginning of the scene! That makes no sense....Oh wait, when Happy finds the tooth, it's in the bitten apple he ate and then he just turned the apple upside down and put it back in the basket to make sure no one saw it. Okay, logic break lopped off! The kids state the obvious as everyone is happy that Happy can give his tooth to a characters that likely exists in Duggee's world, but not the real world. Duggee then gets on all fours and then returns with the Memory Badge. The kids all cheer as the parents arrive in their vehicles. DUGGEE HUG~! Duggee hug. The kids bail stage left and present the badges to their parents. Happy also presents his tooth to his mom and my heart melted. The parents hug the kids and then leave with their kids in their vehicles. The narrator asks if this was fun and starts forgetting names left and right. I should have seen this coming when the narrator forgot to praise the Squirrels for earning the badge. Somehow the kids yell "Duggee" to correct him and Duggee is happy to end the episode at 6:45. The ending credits feature the doghouse and Duggee using the kids' style drawing and coloring. This was an average episode that got a lot of help from the drawings from the kids. In particular: Tag's pirate ship moment. *** 1/4 (65%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well, this was mostly a set of middling episodes in this one. The Collecting Badge was the best of the lot since Tag's collection was based on his love for his friends doing stuff with him over some random generic collecting like the others were doing. It made his collection feel like he cared about them and I respect him for that at least. The Shadow Badge was almost a great one had it got off to a better start and didn't have the obvious logic break of a one lane highway in a show where three lanes were the norm for the opening. I found the Theatre Badge kind of boring and I was expecting a very chaotic Romeo & Juilet story and it barely delivered on that front. I was expecting so much more from the actual play and the setup was going through the motions. I had the same problem with The Memory Badge where it was boring and then it picked up when Tag and Happy were talking about their pirate ship cosplaying. It seems that a lot of the episodes in this one were filler and the last two could have easily been thumbs down episodes. Overall, there was nothing horrible nor offensive about any of the episodes. However, the last two could have been so much more. So...

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

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