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Twenty Years Of Muddy Puddles: Peppa Pig Series Four #2 Rant

Reviewed: 04/28/2018
Additional Commentary/Edited: 08/11/2024

The Return and Retirement Of Captain Daddy Dog!

Okay fans; I have now decided to rant on this series full time, because I do in fact like this show enough that I can handle the best and worst of the Pig family from Great Britian. We head back to Series Four as we start the next ten episodes of the Harley Bird era as the gloves are finally off of this show and it turns from just a normal pre-school show into a legendary pre-school show. How do these episodes fare? Let's rant on shall we..?!

All the episodes are done by Neville Astley, Mark Baker and Phil Hall. Animation is done by Astely Baker Davies animation; with the two mentioned creators and Phil Davies.

Peppa & George's Garden: Here is episode #169 on the animation paper as we open the episode on the house on the hill with Daddy Pig wearing a hat sitting on a lawn chair reading the newspaper. Which is not doing nothing...AND THE ROCKS SAYS NOTHING~! Daddy Pig still thinks that reading the newspaper is doing nothing and then he bails into the house because he wants some tea. I hope it's iced tea; hot tea doesn't sound like a good idea in this weather. In comes Grandpa Pig on a bicycle with a pail in front containing packets of seeds. Out from the front door comes Peppa and George as George is still calling him "Papa Ig" even in series four. Grandpa Pig shows off the packet of seeds as he is going to help the two kids have their own flower garden in the backyard. Grandpa Pig decides to troll Daddy Pig, by having the flower garden in the exact same spot where Daddy Pig sits around and does "nothing". (2024 Gregory Weagle Says: Hey, Daddy Pig is reading the newspaper there which is in fact doing something! Nuance is your ally.) Daddy Pig comes out seconds later with tea and he's not amused by this. Also, just to be a dick, Grandpa Pig drinks Daddy Pig's tea as well. Daddy Pig is not thrilled at all about his spot being replaced with a flower garden. If this were a vegetable garden, then Grandpa Pig's "there are more important things than chairs" would hold some merit. Unless Peppa and George are eating or making perfume from the flowers, than the chair would be more important than the flower garden. Not much more; but still. Peppa dumps seeds, which are less important than newspapers no matter what Peppa says. At least newspapers inform you, seeds just grow into flowers and there are lots of them. (This sounds like Peppa hates reporters and the media. That's one thing Peppa needs a huge correction on for everyone's sake.) George dumps exactly one sunflower seed; but the seed is big. Sunflower seeds are not as big as small eggs, show. (Peppa's flower seeds would be as big as sunflower seeds, maybe slightly bigger. That sunflower seed looks like a GMO deal created by Larson & Gary.) George don't care anyway. Grandpa Pig gives Daddy Pig sprinkling cans; and Daddy Pig decides to relent and go into the house. (Making him the geek of the week!) After he goes inside; here come the brown birds right on cue. The two birds start eating seeds. Peppa Pig tries to shoo them, but the birds turn on Peppa and no sell the deal. Out comes Daddy Pig with the watering cans. Since he's in the pose of a scarecrow, the birds panic and fly away. In other words, birds are afraid of T-poses and crucifixes. That means, a simple cross would do. Of course! Mummy Pig calls for the kids to come up for a bath. Peppa wants Daddy Pig to take over and Daddy Pig is fine with this. Grandpa Pig walks away stage right and is coming back tomorrow.

Of course; naughty cheeky Daddy Pig puts up the lawn chair and sits down doing nothing of note. Of course! The brown birds come back as Peppa notices from a window that Daddy Pig is lazy. She calls Daddy Pig out on it and Daddy Pig has to shoo the birds away and stay as a statue until the birds go to bed. Daddy Pig agrees to be like Jesus without a stick on it's back and it's now HAPPY HOUR. (Yup, GEEK OF THE WEEK~!) Daddy Pig goes into the house and that is that. Jump cut to Peppa's room as Peppa and George are sleeping in their bedroom. The morning sun arises as a cock is crowing. Peppa and George gets up, change off-screen and check. The plants are growing nicely as Grandpa Pig shows up here. Grandpa Pig then notices a snail and panics. (Written in by teleport no less! SUZY SHEEP~?!) Peppa grabs the snail, names it Barbara and wants Grandpa Pig to take care of Barbara. Grandpa Pig relucently agrees to and Grandpa Pig is saying it like he is going to kill her. That is distressing. (How?! Peppa literally tells Grandpa Pig to take Barbara to HIS garden! I wouldn't be too thrilled about accepting a snail eating plants in my garden either! Peppa Pig is a troll.) Jump cut to Mummy Pig, George Pig and Peppa Pig eating cereal at the kitchen table. The narrator informs us that it's one week narrator and sadly, the Spongebob narrator is still better at this spot. (Why didn't they do this at the end of Mummy Rabbit's bump?! One line dub change is all it needed to make it more believable.) Daddy Pig calls for Peppa and George to come out and they do. We see Peppa's flowers are blooming and the animators had to literally make the sunflower disappear in order to surprise us into believing that George's sunflower is as high as a house. Sunflowers typically are 9-12 feet; so they do grow high; but not as high as Daddy Pig's house! (Giraffe Sunflowers can grow up to 17 feet and a house can be about 18-25 feet on average! In other words, it's not as unrealistic as former self would lead you to believe.) Yes, this seed clearly came from Jack from Jack & The Beanstalk. (Or Larson & Gary. Same difference. By the way, if you count the steel rod, the sunflower comes up a little short. Yes, Peppa is trolling us again.) In comes Grandpa Pig with his shovel as he is here to grow a vegetable garden. DING! Daddy Pig has no excuses this time as Grandpa Pig trolls Daddy again! However; Daddy Pig loves potatoes and everyone does the backsplash laugh to end the episode at 4:30 approx. See, Grandpa Pig wanted to test out the soil with the flowers before digging up the vegetable garden. (Which is good use of science I should note.) By the way; it's not like the Jack & The Beanstalk jokes were of my doing, even Peppa was referencing it during this episode. Episode was cute and fun. *** 1/4 (65%).

The Flying Vet: Here is episode #170 on the animation paper as we head to the vet office on the hill to open this episode. (Context: This is the return of Doctor Hamster after Nuaghty Tortoise completely wrecked her creditibility and virtually everyone else's and this episode is basically the writers trying to reheat her as a character. Let's see if the writers mess this one up...) Zoom into Doctor Hamster's office as Peppa, George and Mummy Pig are with Doctor Hamster at the table looking at Goldie the goldfish in his bowl on said table. Goldie is getting a check-up. Goldie is fine and Tiddles is in some basket on the floor. Probably scheming the perfect timing to escape from Doctor Hamster, climb another tree and give Suzy lumberjack fetish tendencies. (You don't say?! We all know we'll see more of this later.) Phone rings and I also love that the phones in this show are rotary style despite clearly showing cellphones in other shots. (It's even funnier since a lot of land line phones are push button types, too. I guess there is a certain trademark issue with that style.) Doctor Hamster answers the phone and it's Doctor Elephant, Mrs. Elephant, Emily and Edmond in the mountains on top of a hill surrounding what appears to be a green gecko laying on his back. As if the gecko got pinned in a wrestling match. (I love to see an angle involving the gecko and Pedro F'N Pony's stick insect Stephen in a wrestling feud! I know this brand will never allow it for real, but this is one of those Youtube Poop ideas I would love to see done.) Doctor Elephant calls it a lizard, but Edmond agrees with me because he is a clever clogs. Doctor Hamster proclaims that she'll come straight away as Peppa wants to observe this. Doctor Hamster is fine with this as everyone walks out the front door. (By the way, Goldie The Goldfish doesn't come, so the pet is abandoned! What a troll?!) Peppa wonders if they are going into the ambulance and Doctor Hamster says no, because she is a flying vet and has her own aeroplane. They are clearly rebuilding Doctor Hamster after Miss Rabbit buried her creditibility deep within the earth's core in Naughty Tortoise. (Ah, you did address this former self. Thank you.)

George loves aeroplanes and probably watches TaleSpin on a regular basis, along with Thomas The Tank Engine and The Land Before Time movies. (Hey, I can believe that one former self. Sadly, this is a "we need to work it" thingie. The Zootopia creators will never admit to the TaleSpin/Police Bonkers connection either. One another note: George pronounces it as "airplane" which is the North American pronouncation of aeroplane.) Everyone gets in as the kids and Mummy Pig are in awe. The plane flies high in the sky as Doctor Hamster is the "Flying Vet". Cut back to the elephant family on the hill with the pinned lizard. The plane lands on the bottom of the hill and why no one parks their cars there is a mystery to me. (Well, there is one way to reheat yourself there, Doctor Hamster. Too bad it's not nearly enough.) Everyone comes up as the dignosis seems to be Wrestling Syndrome~! The treatment: put the gecko on it's feet; which Doctor Hamster does and the gecko is all good now. (That gecko knows how to sell a beating. Probably would have done better if it's eyes were completely closed to really sell it.) Everyone pops on cue as the cell phone rings again. Doctor Hamster answers the phone and it's Grandpa Pig on his cell phone at sea with Polly, who looks to be sea sick and the swaying is doing no one any favors here. Doctor Hamster decides to come straight away as the kids and Mummy Pig go back into the plane and they fly around the ocean. Peppa asks how they are going to land as Doctor Hamster points out that this is a seaplane and the sea is where they land. Peppa is in awe of this as the seaplane bounces on the water and lands behind Grandpa Pig's boat. (She clearly never watches TaleSpin which makes me sad since Rebecca and Molly Cunningham are two of the best characters out there and Molly loves to roast Kit Cloudkicker a lot.) Grandpa actually notices Peppa and George; which is funny considering that Granddad Dog didn't even know Danny Dog was even there in Naughty Tortoise. (He probably did and was distracted because he was as hellbent as Suzy Sheep was to chop that damn tree down!) Doctor Hamster looks at Polly for five seconds and pretty much determines that Polly is sea sick. Everyone gasps in awe; but really, even a layman would have noticed this.

Doctor Hamster wants Polly to get to dry land; which is not a bad idea; but closing your eyes and going to sleep might actually be a better treatment. In the night, or in a ship without windows, it is helpful to simply close one's eyes, or if possible, take a nap. This resolves the input conflict between the eyes and the inner ear. Napping also helps prevent psychogenic effects. (I.E. the effect of sickness being magnified by thinking about it.). They do find an island and Polly flies over, lands on the sand and is better. Yeah, that is that and Doctor Hamster gets another phone call; this time from Daddy Pig at the top floor of his office. Daddy Pig somehow has noticed three ducklings on the roof of the work building. Doctor Hamster sighs and proclaims that she'll come straight away. She's wondering; "Why not call Miss Rabbit?!". Daddy Pig would respond to that by saying; "And get wrecked, are you nuts?!" Jump cut to Doctor Hamster landing the aeroplane on the bottom of the hill near the office. Everyone gets out and goes into the office. Daddy Pig is trying to sell this as a horrible tragedy and this is not working at all. Jump cut to inside the office with Mr. Rabbit and Mummy Cat looking at Doctor Hamster walking from the elevator with the Pig family in tow. Mummy Cat explains that cheeky Mrs. Duck has laid her eggs on the roof; and they hatched into little ducklings. Peppa and Doctor Hamster head to the open window and Doctor Hamster wants someone who can make quacking noises.Peppa claims that she can do just that. Doctor Hamster tells Peppa to quack at them; because that sound will makes them follow Peppa like a Piped Piper. Peppa is quacking and leading them outside towards the duck pond where Mr. and Mrs. Duck are waiting. The ducklings all jump into the duck pond and that is that. Everyone giggles with Peppa as Doctor Hamster's cell phone rings and Doctor Hamster answers it. Peppa asks if it's another emergency and Doctor Hamster proclaims that it's Mr. Hamster and Doctor Hamster has a tea break to go to. (I don't think we ever see Mr. Hamster throughout this series, so he joins Auntie Dottie in Series Four to be a character we don't see.) Doctor Hamster bails, gets into her plane and flies away stage left as everyone laughs to end the episode at 4:30 approx. This was just okay. (This was better than I expected, but Doctor Hamster is still wrecked. Also, Goldie is still in the office! Sigh. Call it *** (60%).)

Kylie Kangaroo: Here is episode #171 on the animation paper as the episode opens on the house on the hill as a white camper drives up the western hill and parks on a slanted side of the hill; but it's not steep enough to be the steepest, so it's less annoying. Out comes three kangeroo furries as this show is starting to feel like a pre-school TaleSpin/Zootopia love in at this point. Daddy Kangeroo is wearing all green, Mummy Kangeroo is wearing a yellow dress with a pounch on it; which is kind of silly, with blue boots on and our main focus of the episode is Kylie Kangeroo, a girl kangeroo with a purple dress and blue boots. Since they are wearing boots on; you should be able to guess the final spot of the episode without me telling you. Mr. Kangeroo is voiced by Alexander Armstrong here and voiced by Tony Byrne in Series Five. Tony's resume is as follows: The Girl Who Came Late in 1992 as Auctioneer, which was a typecast role since he did the same gimmick for Heartbreak High and G.P. later on. He was a Captain in Home & Away, Cruiser Owner in Water Rats, Cop#1 in Wilfred and is also involved in the upcoming Sibling Rivalry movie. That's all. Mummy Kangeroo is voiced by Morweena Banks here and is voiced by Elise Greig in Series Five. She's the beloved of Tony Byrne and has worked on All Saints (Felicity Sanders) in 2000, then Blurred (Prono Star Voice), Cubbyhouse, The People, Mortified (Radio Caller, Dr. Speck), The Underdog's Tale (Doreen), East Of Everything (Woman Manager), Storage (Maria) and Schapelle (Airline Lawyer). That's it. Kylie Kangeroo is voiced by Macey Danger here and Finley Grieg-Byrne in Series Five. Finley's only appearance is Peppa Pig. I have zero information on Macey though. They have a son named Joey; who isn't going to be speaking on the show until Series Five. He's voiced by Jazlyn Jago and this show is his only appearance. Mr. Kangeroo rings the doorbell and the door opens to reveal Daddy Pig for the meet and greet. Apparently; they met at an airport and Daddy Pig promised they could meet again at Daddy Pig's house. Daddy Pig acts like he has no idea what Mr. Kangeroo is talking about. (Another edition of GEEK OF THE WEEK~! Although it's clearly at least seven years ago since Daddy Pig met this family since Mummy Kangeroo clearly states that Joey and Kylie were not born when Daddy Pig met the Kangeroo family.)

Mummy Kangeroo pats her pouch; so Joey is inside of it, which is sort of creepy in fact. Kylie and Peppa meet and greet and Kylie's animal noise sounds like someone clicking their tongue. Everyone has their boots on; so yeah. Joey also clicks his tongue when he's in Mummy Kangeroo's pouch. Mr. Kangeroo brings out a cooler of lemonade in cans and brings out lawn chairs for the Pig family to sit down. Well; the adults anyway. Thankfully; this is the softest lemonade ever. Daddy Pig is always hungry; so Mr. Kangeroo bails and returns with a BBQ Pit. (By the way, Mr. Kangeroo is demonstrately BIGGER than Daddy Pig, with a bigger tummy.) He turns it on as Mummy Kangeroo brings in corn on the cob and apparently in this world; the skins are yellow in color instead of light green. Daddy Pig continues his creditability streak by claiming that they should do this at home and then realizing on the zoom out shot that they are home. Daddy Pig is dumb. (Now he's the geek of the week without question.) The kids decide to run down the hill to the garden because it's time to jump up and down in muddy puddles. DING! Kylie loves jumping; but they have to find a muddy puddle and there is none in sight. Kylie wishes it would rain and Mummy Pig is all "Nooooooooooooo! Don't let it rain!". Mummy Kangeroo loves rain; but they don't get much rain back in their country. (The place is a desert, you see.) Daddy Pig is also a quack in claiming that having a BBQ makes it rain and have a hearty laugh in the process. Back to the kids as they have a jumping contest. George barely can get his feet off the ground, Peppa jumps about two feet in the air and Kylie jumps higher than Grampy Rabbit on the moon. I'm not joking about that last one either. George and Peppa are in awe as Rebecca Rabbit comes in with her boots on. We meet, greet and Rebecca's jump is about four feet in the air; but Kylie doesn't want to show off; but Peppa is the star, so thou must do what Peppa says, even when it's silly! Kylie jumps higher than the last jump. She has to be wearing springs in her boots; no way even a kangeroo jumps that high. They only jump like six feet; and that looks like fifteen! (Ummm, kangeroos can jump up to thirty feet high (and up to 40 feet horizontally, averaging at least ten feet high) and higher than Daddy Pig's house! Kylie is being modest here.)

Then Pedro F'N Pony bounces in on his basketball. (Yes, this is the official return of Pedro Pony after his display with Pedro The Cowboy, and watch the writers bury him deep within the earth straight round.) Speaking of showoffs without the two clicks in the making of a clue and he cannot even get the "space hopper" off the ground. Peppa wants Kylie to show him and this is so pointlessly mean. I mean; Pedro didn't even get off the ground with that thing! Come on, Peppa! Pedro cannot even jump higher than George on that thing; for goodness sakes. Since Peppa is the star; but thou must! Kylie jumps like seventeen feet now and Pedro is in awe. Pedro tries to act like he was tired; but no one is fooled. FINALLY; it begins to rain hard and Pedro's selling was much better than his jumping. (See, it's all Pedro's fault for making it rain with his bad hopping antics. No way it has anything to do with BBQing. No evidence whatsoever!) Mummy Pig wants to go inside; because it's raining; but the Kangeroos love rain, you see. (Daddy Pig still thinks the BBQ did it. Nah, it was Pedro Pony being a dork.) Out comes the giant blue umbrella as everyone goes under it and the kids all giggle. Everyone eats corn on the cob which has been BBQ'ed and steamed to perfection. I do take issue with "everyone loves corn on the cob" from the narrator: I don't like corn on the cob. Okay?! (Just like I don't like beans on toast former self. Joey is biting despite no corn being anywhere near him.) The rain stops after they eat; so this rain literally lasted thirty seconds. Talk about unsettled weather; a staple of the Nova Scotia living diet! (Which sadly, can causes floods in Bedford, Nova Scotia last year.) Everything is wet and muddy as everyone runs down the hill and Peppa demonstrates the fine art of jumping up and down in muddy puddles. DING! Kylie loves it and calls Peppa the best muddy puddle jumper ever. If only it were actually true. Everyone jumps up and down in muddy puddles, causing earthquakes to end the episode at 4:30 approx. (Hint: If you don't want your audience to think that an earthquake ritual is in progress: STOP SHAKING THE HARD CAMERA~!) This was fun outside of the hyerbole jumping by Kylie. Once again; Pedro Pony has been made to look like a dork for no reason. (A fun episode and a BBQ is *** 1/2 (70%).)

Captain Daddy Dog: We continue on with episode #172 and the episode opens at the blue pirate house on the hill along with a zoom in shot. We head inside Danny Dog's bedroom as there is shaking and running occuring between Peppa, George, Danny, Suzy and Emily in which a sail boat is involved. Lots of giggling ensues as Danny is the sea captain with his model boat and everyone else are pirates, the most awkward sounding pirates I have ever heard. Then they run around in a disorganized fashion; like a Family Guy cartoon. The clown trumpets sounds; which is the signal for Mr. Zebra to arrive on his yellow post truck, parking on the steepest side of the hill, yet again. Out comes Mummy Dog; and I believe this is the first time for rant purposes that she spoke. Mr. Zebra gives her a post card and leaves as the kids come out of the house. Danny asks who it is from and it's from Captain Dog; who is Danny Dog's father. As mentioned before; Daddy Dog's gimmick is that he's a sailor and he's coming home soon since he has sailed around the world. Which by the way; this an amazing feat even in 2018! No surprise; the picture of the postcard has a sailboat on the ocean. Mummy Dog calls this exciting and wonders when he'll be back. Literally one second later; we see Captain Dog with his backpack walking up the hill passing by Mr. Zebra and waving to him. Yes; the postcard came literally a minute before he arrived. Even by Peppa Pig time; the mail is the slowest thing in this world. We do the run in to meet and greet spot; and I was hoping Danny unintentionally headbutts Captain in the chest and they tumble down the hill; but BS&P isn't going to allow it, sadly. (They should have milked this to the moon with the running sequence being in slow motion with absurd cancer sounding music and Danny tackles Captain Dog down, and they laugh and hug. That would have been an awesome debut/return for Captain Dog. Sadly, they used pirate music and everything was done at regular speed. Sigh.) They hug as Danny Dog's tail is wagging so hard that it's more excited than Danny himself. (That tail's acting was amazing and it accented the reunion beautifully. I cannot stress how important this moment was for Peppa Pig in general. This was a game changer and would lead to bigger changes down the road for another family: The Sheep family.)

Mummy Dog is so happy to see him. Mummy and Daddy Dog hug as they are sweethearts. (Mummy Dog's acting was awesome here, she was geninuely excited to see Captain Dog back. Captain Dog is voiced by Alexander Armstrong I should note.) Danny asks how long this stay is going to last and Daddy Dog claims that it's forever. Because you see, he is retiring and unlike professional wrestling, a sea captain ALWAYS ADHERES to the stips! (One of my favorite angles on this show: Captain Dog trying so hard to adhere to the retirement stipulations and having a lot of caveats to keep adhering to them.) He made a fortune (YAY!) and then lost it (HAHA!). So basically, adhering to the stips is a bad idea and then remade it again! (BWHAHAHA!) The reactions to this are classic as we head inside the house with Daddy Dog putting his cap on the hook. Everyone heads to the living room as they sit down on the floor and Daddy Dog sits on the couch. Apparently; he has been sailing the seven seas for 366 days! (Hilarious since the show has been in existence for nearly eight years at this point in real time.) He sailed around a world that features no Antarctica nor Arctic. Apparently, this world is literally a circle with no sense of the world being round and no sense of gravity on the bottom half of the world. In other words; the world is round, but in this world, you can still fall off of it if you sail the bottom half of it. (Only in Peppa Pig's world can this happen. SUZY SHEEP~?!) Daddy counters this by hanging onto the wheel of morality. Geez; I thought Flat Earthers were beyond the pale ridiculous?! (Geez, the Overton Window has been tortured a lot in the past three decades or so...) Yup; he sailed upside down as we return to reality. (Are you kidding me?!) Captain Dog has presents inside his duffel bag; for everyone. Danny Dog gets bongo drums from a faraway land and they are loud and they shake the earth. After seeing this earth; pigs making earthquakes by jumping into muddy puddles sounds believable now. Danny bangs on the drum louder and Captain Dog kindly tells him to stop and Danny sells it. The rest get seashells and we do the spot about hearing the ocean with seashells. It's actually a myth; but the idea is not entirely ficitional; since it's basically known as Seashell Resonance. (Basically, any resonation hole will work out the same way.)

They should have booked Edmond for this scene and corrected Captain Dog here. That would have been a clever clogs moment for sure! Mummy Dog gets a chest of jewels and gold coins, and Mummy Dog claims that this could come in handy. Which is codeword for "paying the bills".Captain Dog relaxes and then a cock crows and it's early morning as Captain Dog walks out of the house and down the hill. Danny looks out the window as Daddy Dog checks the wind with his finger and tongue. (It took them three minutes in real time before Captain Dog teases violating his retirement stips. I'm already crying with laughter.) Danny's not buying this because of the STIPULATIONS~! Daddy admits that he misses his boat; but not the sea. That last half is bullshit; but the stips are the stips. However; Danny Dog wants to show his model boat on the television set in the living room; and shows it off to Daddy Dog. Daddy Dog is happy and Danny Dog offers Daddy to help him sail the model boat in the duck pond. All right, then. We head to the duck pond as the Pig Family, Elephant Family (minus Edmond) and the Sheep family with three boat already in the duck pond. In comes Danny Dog with his boat along with Mummy and Daddy Dog for the meet and greet. They get permission from Peppa Pig to launch the boat and then go into a long conversation as Danny is the first mate to Daddy Dog being the captain. Since it's a model boat; it doesn't violate the stipulations of his retirement; so this is perfectly okay. Danny Dog puts the boat into the water and it sails nicely. Captain Daddy Dog cuts a wicked promo as he laughs. (Even funnier, Danny Dog's tail is wagging the entire time. It is the most excited tail in the biz!) Everyone then does the backsplash laugh as the narrator proclaims that everyone loves to sail across duck ponds. This narrator is growing on me as we end the episode at 4:30 approx. I'm really digging this episode as Daddy Dog was in fact funny here and you know that he's going to violate his retirement stips at some point. (Which will be nullified by various emergency caveats. Call this one **** 3/4 (95%) mostly due to the importance of the return and this will mean the Sheep family will in Series Eight develop into the gimmick the Dog family had in the early Series.)

Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur Park: Here is episode #173 on the animation paper and we begin this one on a boring road in a bus with Miss Rabbit driving. Inside the bus; we see Daddy Pig, Suzy Sheep, Peppa Pig, George Pig, Edmond Elephant, Rebecca Rabbit, Richard Rabbit, Mummy Sheep, Mummy Pony, Danny Dog, Pedro F'N Pony, Freddy Fox, Mummy Fox, Mr. Zebra, Zoe Zebra, Wendy Wolf, Candy Cat and Granddad Dog. (No Mr. Fox?! Uh-oh! This might be a clue that Mr. Fox isn't all that faithful to his family.) The narrator explains to us as the kids are giggling; that it's Freddy Fox's birthday. (Okay, I take back what I said about there being no birthdays until Wendy Wolf in Series Five! I forgot Freddy Fox had a birthday on this very episode! Freddy Fox joins Peppa Pig, George Pig, Danny Dog, Zoe Zebra, Edmond Elephant, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig!) Surprisely; Suzy Sheep, Edmond Elephant and George Pig aren't laughing and are smiling like the adults. (Nope, all of them were giggling, it just wasn't coordinated in order to make it more varied.) Freddy Fox and Peppa Pig are sitting together, and hello Emily Elephant, missed you there for a second. Freddy has no clue where they are going; but is sure to like it anyway as the bus drives into what appears to be a dinosaur theme park. The bus stops as there is jungle music playing in the playground. Everyone gets out as we cut to a blue shirt old rabbit furry with a white beard and a green hat on. I believe this is Grampy Rabbit's debut for rant purposes, who was the original voice of Grandpa Pig before the switch over to David Graham. (Another one which I ranted out of order, I should note. Don't worry, once Series Five rolls along, most of the episode will be in their proper place.) Everyone is in awe of Grampy's over the top promo of the park. (Grampy puts a lot of oomph into the word dinosaur while cutting this promo.) George loves dinesaurs, grrrrr~! Peppa is skeptical about this park already; and Grampy admits that they are all pretend dinosaurs. Peppa breathes a sigh of relief and I wish George would bawl on cue just to make this scene really funny. (That would contradict the fact that he prefers pretend dinosaurs that aren't scary, former self.)

Edmond explains that the dinosaurs all died out sixty-five million years ago; because Edmond is a smugass...ERRR...I mean, clever clogs. (Also, I think this is the first time on this show anyone said the word "die" and it's toddler Edmond of all anthros. Ironically, saying the word extinct would be more complex and more accurate!) Besides, pretend dinosaurs can sing as three mech dinosaurs pop from a conveniently placed bush and they sing a song which I think Ross Bagdasarian Sr. would blush in embarrassment if he cared that this is gimmick infringement. Since the dinosaurs sing like chipmunks, you see. Everyone giggles; but Suzy calls these dinosaurs small. So Suzy wants them to be realistic, even though the dinosaurs are already fake. Grampy sees this as a dare and he has a real whopper of a dinosaur, as in very big. I'll believe it when I see it as we follow the footprints of the dinosaurs for a while. There are several dinosaurs in the background as the crowd is in awe of this. Daddy Pig is questioning these footprints and Grampy assures him that this is all a work; and the kids don't care either way. I would have thought the yellow pipe called a cave would have been a clue; but I guess not. So; after the not-really-a-cave cave the footprints have stopped. Suzy then notices a bunch of emerald green steps in the shape of a dinosaur's tail. Hmmm; I wonder where this is going. Freddy Fox goes up first as the kids all climb up and they notice that it's a giant slide. The kids go down the slide, then the adults soon after. Hello, Doctor Elephant and Mummy Cat; didn't see you earlier. Peppa slides down the slide last and we notice that it's a giant dinosaur slide with a large tongue for the end. Oh wait; Grampy is still left to do the slide and his sliding down is like he's calling for Tarzan: King Of The Drapes. (Ironically, Peppa is the only one who notices the dinosaur slide first and not George!) Edmond just has to be a smartass again in correcting the name of the dinosaur as an apatosaurus instead of a brontosaurus. (No lies detected.) Grampy calls him a bit of a clever clogs and Edmond says yes. (Personally, I would have changed this to Grampy gleefully accepting Edmond as a clever clog and then ignore him anyway.) Grampy don't care either way as we continue on.

It's time to find some dinosaur eggs and Peppa thinks this is bullshit because eggs are little. However, Freddy's a fox and foxes are good for hunting eggs. (Freddy pronounces foxes as foxies I should note.) Even though; this is supposed to be Freddy's focus episode anyway. (I don't think this is relevent former self. Let Freddy be Freddy, the poor kid doesn't realize that Mr. Fox doesn't really love him in storyline.) Freddy is sniffing for eggs as everyone follows him. Freddy apparently; has a really awesone nose according to the narrator. We find a giant purple egg with spots on it. Everyone is in awe as Suzy asks why the egg is so big. The adults walk in as Grampy proclaims that it's a dinosaur egg; and it's better than real because it's pretend. I wonder if his beard is pretend. (It is real, former self.) The egg cracks open by itself and a giant chocolate cake -- the same one from Polly Parrot in Series One -- comes out and we get more chipmunks singing "Happy Birthday". HAHA! (Thankfully, the copyright issue with that song has been resolved and can be used again. Ms. Pac-Man on the over paw...) Freddy is five years old; judging by the amount of candles on the cake. The birthday kid gets first dibs on the cake. Oh; and the cake is real. I was going to make a joke about Mr. Proud from The Proud Family and it ending with Daddy Pig scorched by the candle; but considering the amount of horrifying Youtube Poop videos -- also known as Elisagate to some --, I decided against it. (I don't know, the joke isn't as problematic as some of those video nasties on the internet. It can always be toned down to just Daddy Pig getting a little soot on his body.) Everyone is popping for Freddy and it's time to dance, dance, dance to their doom. HEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm...and sing. It's called the "Dinosaur Stomp", which features a lot of stomping and shaking. At least it makes sense this time, compared to all the times the Pig family makes earthquakes jumping up and down in muddy puddles. (The adults do stomp, but only when Grampy Rabbit does the double foot stomp! Otherwise, they merely dance.) Grampy Rabbit's singing is completely off-key here, even though it's his own song. Freddy calls this his best birthday ever and they all do the backsplash laugh. The Dinosaur Stomp music plays on to the end credits to end the episode at 4:30 approx. This was a really awesome episode and Grampy Rabbit was amusing in this one. **** (80%). (That's four episodes in a row for Grampy Rabbit, he's on fire!)

Bedtime Story: We move onto episode #174 on the animation paper as we head to the house on the hill AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as we zoom into Peppa's bedroom as Peppa and George are in bed listening to Daddy Pig sitting on a chair, reading the story about a prince, princess, a budgie and a frog, which all we get is the ending line to the story. Drat! Elf Ben and Princess Holly make another cameo here as Daddy Pig finishes up the story. Peppa and George are snoring in their beds and so Daddy Pig walks away, turns off the lights and says good night to his little piggies. (Creep!) Then George wakes up and cosplays Mr. Dinesaur. HAHA! This of course wakes up Peppa; because children can be extremely light sleepers and people like me; but it's due to overactive bladders and cramped calves. (Somethings never change former self.) Peppa orders him to go to sleep and George closes his eyes. Peppa goes back to sleep; and then George wakes up, and runs over to tip the basket over, and somehow George manages to shatter glass off-screen. Ah; the pitfalls of using stock sound effects instead of filming their own foley. Still too funny just the same. Peppa protests this outrage as she tucks George bad into bed and George bawls his eyes out during the transfer from the toy basket to the bed. (George squeals, but no tears come out.) Peppa decides to tell a story and this is just daring to be mocked to no end. We hit the dream sequence as we start with George skipping on the yellow dusty road with his clothes on a stick, which makes this a more exciting road than any road in this show's reality. He makes it to a forest and we cut back to Peppa telling the story some more before returning back to the story. This was dumb. Basically; Peppa's telling the Goldilocks & The Three Bears tale, complete with one giant bowl of porridge. (Oatmeal is one example of porridge, but not the only one.) Apparently; the three bears are Mr. Bear, Mrs. Bear and Belinda Bear. So, for those who wonder if Belinda is the daughter of Doctor Brown Bear, there is your evidence in the picture above the fireplace. (Actually, no. It's a generic version of the three bears...) George comes in and man, the house is small as we head back to Peppa explaining that George eat the porridge. Apparently, Belinda is two years old in this storyline. (Nope, Peppa addresses the bear in yellow as Baby Bear. This is not about the real Bear family in storyline.)

She arrives to kick George (Georgie by Peppa) out; but only because the porridge is magical and thus George grew into a giant two year old piggie and became taller than most trees. The end. Okay; I have heard worse stories than this; all of them from Knack Animation. POW! OUCH! Ummmm... (You deserved that one in the kisser, former self. Chargeman Ken was a blight on Knack's record, but they produced decent stories otherwise.) Is George tired? George: No. The stupid part of this is not that Peppa is telling a bed time story. The stupid part is that she's telling one story and stopping at random points because her motive is to get George to sleep. But; George is already onto her scheme, so her plans are totally ineffective. That's why it's stupid. We continue the story as apparently, there is treasure at the end of the world. So, Peppa is basically a flat earth believer. Someone tell her the world is a sphere, STAT~! Even funnier: the fact that Georgie in storyline can say complete sentences to a character (George Pig) in this shows' reality, who cannot speak more than two words a sentence. Georgie lets Belinda get in his hand and Georgie walks through the forrest as Peppa is milking this scene for all it's worth. In between this; George is clearly no selling this, because he knows Peppa's motive and is not buying into this for his own amusement and to make Peppa look like an idiot. Peppa adds mountains and seas; and George is so not buying this, although he sounds slightly sleepy, so this might work. Apparently; the end of the world is basically the name of an island with palm trees and a CHEST OF DEMONS containing riches. George is loving this story and grring because out of nowhere comes a giant green dragon, who looks only slightly threatening. I love that the wings are little despite being much bigger than Belinda in this scene. Even in fairytales, Peppa has to play troll. Georgie remembers to duck when the flamethrower is involved. That's what I call breathing fire by the way. Anyhow; the dragon decides to let them have the treasure, just like that. Georgie grins and this shrinks him back to normal size. Of course; this is so since the finish to this story would be Georgie and Baby Belinda Bear riding the dragon with the treasure back home. The end...and George is finally asleep. Apparently; riding on dragons bored him to sleep. Peppa then slumps to the ground and sleeps. Daddy Pig comes in and scolds Peppa for playing before tucking her back in bed. Yeah, sure. (By the way, that clock must be broken because it stayed at 7 PM the entire episode! SUZY SHEEP~?!) Daddy Pig says good night to the little piggies and we zoom out to end the episode at 4:30 approx. The story was fun. However, Peppa needs to learn to not interrupt the story in the middle just because her motive demands it to since George was not buying it at all. *** 3/4 (75%).

Lost Keys: Here is episode #175 as we open with a far shot of a huge hill with a forest, a parking lot, and Miss Rabbit's gift shop of doom. Cut to the Pig family walking up the hill with Mummy Pig holding the picnic basket. Daddy Pig is tossing his keys freely, like a reckless person on a dare. We see Miss Rabbit's gift shop booth as she thanks them for coming. It's called the "Mountain Beauty Spot" and she like to see them back soon. We make it to the parking lot as George wants the keys; but Daddy no sells because he might lose them, this causes George to bawl his eyes out. This is the point where they are booking George into a "I can get away with whatever I want by crying" character, instead of booking him crying because his feelings were merely hurt (usually by Peppa Pig). (At least here, Daddy Pig doesn't give George the keys, thus George failed to get his own way. Ironically, George might have been better off getting his own way...) Peppa defends George by claiming that Daddy Pig is playing with the car keys. (By the way, Daddy Pig's key have Mr. Potato's mug on the end.) Oh; so that what the tossing was for. I thought it was merely a dare by Miss Rabbit or something. Daddy Pig claims that he's an adult and he will not lose them and then he carelessly tosses the keys into the conveniently placed grate into the sewer below. Also, this sewer is way deep. Deeper than most water tables in the area, I can imagine. Mummy Pig packs up the back of the car and turns around. Daddy proclaims that there is some difficulty here. Peppa blurts out the entire thing; and you never seen a more blushed Daddy Pig in your life. You can tell, he really messed up here. Mummy Pig is not happy with that; but Daddy Pig isn't giving up hope yet as he brings out the shortest stick in history. This try fails of course. Daddy Pig suggests a fishing rod with a hook; and then goes over to Miss Rabbit, who was literally looking at the hard camera for her cue before Daddy Pig comes over to her booth. And wouldn't you know it; Miss Rabbit sells fishing rods, despite no lakes anywhere near these mountains. That was in fact funny. We exchange notes and Miss Rabbit declares that it's impossible to get those keys. At this point; I would call a tow truck, but no one does because Daddy Pig is going to do his damnest to prove Miss Rabbit...right. Because the fishing rod method also fails badly. Yeah. We get an explaination from Mummy Pig about drains and how they carry rainwater to the sea. Except; today, there's no rain, so the drain is dry. Daddy Pig is shocked and appalled as Miss Rabbit decides to demonstrate how deep the drain is by throwing a stone into it. Now; they are just filling up time now because even Mummy Pig thinks it's a great idea; instead of -- you know -- calling a tow truck. They count to six; so it's about 16 feet deep, I guess.

Mummy Pig wonders what to do now; and here comes Mr. Bull and his construction buddies with their construction vehicles. Including Mr. Rhino operating a crane tractor. Hmmm; I wonder what the next spot will be. George loves diggers and cranes as we meet and greet. We discover that Mr. Bull and company have a day off and they went to the Mountain Beauty Spot today. His friends call it very pretty and who are we to doubt them, huh?! Peppa and Daddy Pig ask about using the crane to get the car keys out. Mr. Bull agrees as Mr. Rhino comes in with the crane tractor. Somehow; despite the hook looking bigger than the hole itself; it still slides down the hole without any problem. And....this fails as the hook is exactly four feet short of grabbing the keys. Now; at this point, the logical finish is to call a tow truck and get a new set of keys for the car. However; this is Peppa Pig and that is so boring and stupid. Mr. Bull's plan to get the keys back is to...Dig up the entire road. Yes; that is Mr. Bull's gimmick in Series Four; and yes, they are digging up the drain near the beauty spot with the digger. (This is the moment an otherwise decent episode went off a cliff and dove straight down.) Mr. Labo sets up barricades, not unlike what happens in Nova Scotia as Mummy Cat, Candy Cat and Daddy Cat. (I corrected this description since it was confirmed that the dark furred cat was in fact Daddy Cat and is the father of Candy Cat. Then I watch again and discover that they used the light orange furred Daddy Cat for this episode! I'm deducting 1/4* just for that, unless Candy Cat has two daddies like Raven Sabrewing from Ducktales 2017. ) I shake my head in part disgust, part amusement as Mr. Bull is lowered into the hole, jumps down, grabs the keys and declares victory. No one cares about the fact that they had to disturb nature in order to get a set of car keys back. (Cameos: Doctor Brown Bear, Doctor Elephant, Emily Elephant and Edmond Elephant.) Except for Mummy Cat as the entire Beauty Spot is a giant hole in the ground; yet somehow, the gift shop of Miss Rabbit remains untouched. Miss Rabbit don't care about this assault on the Beauty Spot as it's now called "The Cave Beauty Spot". Daddy, Mummy, George and Peppa look down at the giant hole as their voices echo and Daddy Pig is blamed...ERRR..I mean; thanked for all this. Thankfully; Daddy Pig shifts the blame to Mr. Bull as he loves digging holes. Everyone loves digging holes...to bury themselves with. The characters at the hole laugh, I doubt the rest will to end the episode at 4:30 approx. (Nah, everyone giggled on the zoom out and I'm not going to do cameos for this since they are too small to see.) Well; this was one of those episodes that had a really stupid finish designed to annoy everyone. * 1/2 (30%).

George's New Dinosaur: We move on with episode #176 on the animation paper and the episode opens at the house on the hill. Out comes George from the back door with Mr. Dinesaur as he runs down the hill and plays catch with the toy. Ah; I see George is still throwing the toy over his head backwards, which always amuses me to no end. (It also sounds like a basketball and George dribbes Mr. Dinesaur like one.) The narrator claims that Mr. Dinesaur is made of plastic and is almost impossible to break. Key word, almost. I love how Mr. Dinesaur doubles as a bouncy ball. Lots of cosplaying as we jump cut to the bathroom with George taking a bath with Mr. Dinesaur and Mummy Pig is sponging them both down. George bounces the toy in the water for fun and then we jump cut to George running in his pj's to his bed. Peppa is already in bed as we discover that Mr. Dinesaur had his tail chopped off for no good reason. Peppa notices that and declares Mr. Dinesaur to be broken. Since when was Mr. Dinesaur a machine?! Yeah; it lost it's tail. However, unless the bouncy function is in the tail, then it's not broken, you troll! George looks at the end of the toy, goes "oh". The narrator says it all and George bawls his eyes out on cue. Mummy and Daddy come in to take Mr. Dinesaur away as they are surprised that this toy has lasted so long. Daddy Pig decides to get him a new toy dinosaur from Mr. Fox's shop tomorrow. We logically head to Mr. Fox's House of Everything, except unlike the Bonkers version; Mr. Fox does have some talent. There is a really ugly looking lime green colored dinosaur toy behind the window of said shop. George is sulking because he don't want a new dinosaur toy, because he knows his dinosaur toy hasn't lost it's bounce. Then George sees the dinosaur toy in the window and is in awe as he turns on Mr. Dinesaur within seconds. So much for George having any common sense; then again, he's two years old, so whatever. We head into the shop as Mr. Fox is at the counter when the Pig family comes in. Daddy Pig asks about the dinosaur in the window, Mr. Fox brings the dinosaur to George and calls it the Dino-Roar; because it's a robot dinosaur, you see. It does tricks, like walking and singing. Yeah; these new toys are sure overwrought. It's singing sucks like hell. I have zero idea who voiced Dino-Roar and I don't care who it is. Daddy Pig decides that they will take it because they are in awe of it.

Sadly; life begins to break down for the Pig family because Dino-Roar is never going to be Mr. Dinesaur since Dino-Roar is a robot and Mr. Dinesaur is a bouncy ball shaped like a dinosaur. This means George cannot bounce it in garden, because it has moving parts and would be broken otherwise. George cannot bounce it in the bath because it will short circuit and probably kill George in the process. The worst offense of Dino-Roar is that George and Peppa cannot sleep at night because the robot unintentionally turns itself on and does his sucky musical spiel which is designed to make everyone miserable. Peppa complains as Daddy Pig comes in and takes Dino-Roar away as George is now sad. And if you listen closely, you can hear Mr. Fox laughing all the way to the bank. It's morning as the sun rises and a cock is crowing. Jump cut to the garden with George sulking and Dino-Roar looking away from him as if Dino-Roar hates George. The rest of the family shows up as Daddy Pig decides to start up Dino-Roar and Dino-Roar finally dies as his batteries have run out of juice. Good; no one likes Dino-Roar anyway. Daddy Pig opens the chest and discovers that Dino-Roar requires thirteen C batteries! Seriously! Peppa claims that it's hundreds and thousands; although it might as well be anyway. Peppa picks up the batteries and discovers Mr. Dinesaur's tail is behind a bush. Peppa picks it up and blows the tail end of it, blushing in the process. Oh man; that is more disturbing than I had intended. I'm sorry. Mummy Pig points out the obvious as Mr. Dinesaur is brought in because now Daddy Pig can just mend Mr. Dinesaur. Daddy Pig will try as it takes about four attempts before the thing just locks into place. Daddy Pig called this difficult, too; so apparently more than three times equals difficult in this world. (In other words, the tail is a snap-on, without need for gule. Comical!) George is happy as Peppa shakes Mr. Dinesaur's hand and sings a song for it's big comeback. George cosplays and then everyone does the backsplash laugh to end the episode at 4:30 approx. (Which Peppa sings "Mr Dinosaur" and it's a lot better than Dino-Roar singing! How about that?! This is still no From Here To Machinery though.) While technology is all well and good; but only if it is useful. Dino-Roar didn't fill any of George's expectations as a toy and thus was declared useless. *** (60%).

Grandpa Pig's Train To The Rescue: Next up is episode #177 on the animation paper as the episode opens with Grandpa Pig in his train motif trailer with Peppa and George in the blue cart on the boring road. I'm sorry; but if you have rubber wheels and are not on tracks; it's not a miniture locomotive, nor a toy train. It's a truck with a train motif on it. Peppa sings the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM for a while. It's the train version of "The Wheels On The Bus" by the way. Jump cut to Miss Rabbit conducting the real train on the tracks as this train contains a crane with hook, a coal mining cart and a small passenger cart containing Mr. Rabbit, Mummy Cat and Mr. Rhino. Miss Rabbit notices Grandpa Pig on the road and mocks the "toy train"; which Grandpa Pig takes offense because it's a miniture locomotive, you see. I don't see that; I see a car with carts and a train motif attached to it. (Oooooo, former self with it's usual sick burn on Grandpa Pig's vehicle.) Miss Rabbit don't care as she pushes the lever (CLEVER CLOGS~!) and the train chugs away stage right. (She's so not buying what Grandpa Pig is selling on this "train" and I love it.) Peppa Pig don't care either because she just said goodbye. Peppa wants Gertude to go faster; but it cannot despite the lever using (CLEVER CLOGS~!). Back to the train as the train breaks down and stops ends on the tracks. Grandpa Pig conveniently comes in and mocks Miss Rabbit for that as Miss Rabbit proclaims that it's not funny because she has passengers to get to work. Mr. Rhino I think talks for the first time in the series. (Nah, he talked as well during the construction segments with Mr. Bull earlier in the series.) Miss Rabbit gets out and deputizes Gertude as Grandpa Pig is ejected from his "miniture locomotive" and all the other passengers get in. Yes; Peppa and George are allowed to stay on the train. Who says Miss Rabbit cannot be a troll like Peppa?! Peppa and George don't care at all. However; Grandpa can still mend the big train and Grandpa Pig is fine with this; but not fine with Mr. Rhino calling Gertude a toy train of course. (Okay, that was funny. Grandpa Pig loses his Gertude and has to mend the train and Grandpa Pig is more offended that they are making slurs over a slow moving vehicle with a train motif on it.) Miss Rabbit don't care as we push the lever (CLEVER CLOGS~!) and we head down the boring road some more. Peppa points out that this is a slow train.

We head to the next station with Mrs. Cow protesting this small toy train; and now Peppa is offended by it being called as such. Of course! Everyone giggles in response; because they know Peppa is a troll as we head off on the boring road to the conveniently placed traffic jam with Mummy Wolf being the only notable cameo. (Other Cameos: Granddad Dog, Mr. Zebra, Mummy Pony and Pedro F'N Pony.) Also before this; we get Grandpa Pig removing all the spare parts from the front of the train and commenting about it. But since Gertude is a car with a train motif; riding on the grass is easy and so we take the shortcut as Peppa nicely says "so long, suckers!" which goes down the hill, past the duck pond, up the hill -- complete with the "you can do it" promo -- and they make it to the next station where Mr. Bull is waiting. Mr. Bull coughs as he demands answers to this outrage and we just have to get Peppa into a frenzy about this being a toy train. Of course it's not a toy train, it's a car with a train motif. Of course; even most of the adults are agreeing with Peppa. Mr. Bull gets in as we jump cut back to Grandpa Pig mending the train, yee-haw. He finally mends the train and gets into the train. We head to the end of the line and it stops in a dead end. The train rides backwards coming the other way?! That sounds dangerous to me. Miss Rabbit declares this the last stop; but the slow train means that by the time they got here, it's already home time. The return trip will take ages; but no worries because here comes the big train as everyone gets on that. Miss Rabbit teases backing up the train; but Peppa tells everyone to stop because they cannot leave Gertude behind. Then why did you, George and Grandpa Pig get on the big train, for goodness sakes?! But, wait! Miss Rabbit uses the crane to put Gertude into the coal mine cart. I just knew this was going to happen as well as Miss Rabbit calling it a toy train...AGAIN! Grandpa Pig is still offended, I don't care. The train backs up and Peppa calls it the best train in the world to end the episode at 4:30 approx. Another fun episode; but come on now! Is anyone buying this being a locomotive, or a toy train for that matter?! *** 1/2 (70%).

The Pet Competition: This is episode #178 on the animation paper as the episode opens at the school house on the hill as we zoom in as this seems to be an earlier produced episode since Freddy and Wendy are not here for some reason. Madame Gazelle claps her hands and informs the students that they are having a pet competition tomorrow and the best pet wins a prize. Peppa is bringing in Goldie, Pedro F'N Pony has a stick insect, Edmond is bringing in the Gecko -- probably the same one that Doctor Hamster rescued in The Flying Vet --, Zoe is bringing in the plush monkey which Danny Dog rightfully blows off. Zoe don't care and cosplays Monkey as Madame Gazelle decides that Zoe can bring Monkey if she wants to. Yeah; because Monkey ain't winning this pet competition anyway. It's home time and we head to the house on the hill BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as we cut inside the kitchen with Peppa and Suzy at the kitchen table feeding Golide in Goldie's fish bowl. Suzy is polishing the fish bowl with a rag and her breath. The sun continues to set as Pedro is attending to his stick insect in his own room in it's glass cage. Pedro thinks he can win as we go to Emily's house with Edmond attending to his pet gecko on a table in the sitting room. Edmond is teaching it how to do a raspberry. Cut to Zoe's house and room as she's cosplaying with Monkey for a while on her bed. Pfft; whatever. Zoe basically tells Monkey not to be cheeky; which is the first time I have heard that word in this show in quite a while. (Not only that, this I believe is the first time Zoe was in her bedroom and it's a double bunk bed. Something tells me Zuzu and Zaza sleep on the bottom bunk bed.) It's morning as the pet competition has begun at the school house on the hill. Yes there are only four competitors and one of them is not a real animal. Everyone is at the tables with their animals and Danny Dog asks the obvious question: Who is the judge of this outfit?! Well; the judge is of course, Doctor Hamster because there are no other vets in this storyline. (That is a bad sign for this show. At least there are TWO doctors in this series now!) I love how Doctor Hamster has completely forgot Goldie already because she is asking her name despite tending to Goldie at least twice in this show already. DUMB! Even Peppa is calling her out on this; so you know Doctor Hamster is clueless.

Peppa explains Goldie in a nutshell and manages to do the "O face" without making any noise whatsoever. That made me laugh. Next up is Pedro's stick insect, whom he calls Stephen. (Or Steven, doesn't matter.) SSI! SSI! Apparently; Pedro loves Dungeons & Dragons, too. Not much from Pedro on the discription as we head to Edmond's pet gecko in which Edmond gives a name known as Hemidactylus Frenatus; because you know damn well that Edmond Elephant is a clever clogs. And apparently; Doctor Hamster heard the narrator because she is like "What?". Raspberries ensues. No one cares, let's bring out Zoe and Monkey cosplaying giving itself multiple concussions. Doctor Hamster wonders why it's upside down and Zoe claims that Monkey is asleep. Doctor Hamster is like; okay, let me bring out my pet, Tiddles out of nowhere. Doctor Hamster finally accepts Tiddles as a tree climber and literally two seconds later, Danny Dog cuts her off and wants a winner and all the other kids agree with Danny. (This was funny because this means Danny Dog knows that Doctor Hamster is admitting that tortoises are expert climbers and can climb trees.) Doctor Hamster is all like "Screw you rude children" and awards the prize to Tiddles! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Geez; is there anyone who hasn't caught the fever of Peppa's trolling?! Peppa calls this unfair; the same Peppa who was a judge for a dress up party and declare herself the winner. Sod off, you troll! Doctor Hamster backpedals; claiming that Tiddles won for best tortoise; so everyone wins a prize because they were best in animal spieces; including plush monkey. Zoe admits that the monkey is faker than fake news. Zoe still wins a ribbon anyway; because Doctor Hamster has no sense of shame. (There is another episode where Madame Gazelle wins her own competition and gets away with it! At least here, Doctor Hamster weaseled her way out and let everyone win.) Peppa is confused as Doctor Hamster declares that all of them are the best pets in the world. Nah; Pedro's stick insect is the best, because it's the most original pet. They are all healthy and lovely as the kids giggle to end the episode at 4:30 approx. This was all right and once again, another competition where the judge picks their own as the winner. Nepotism is alive and well in storyline and in real life. ** 3/4 (55%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well; This was a mixed bag of shorts this time around, but Captain Daddy Dog was the highlight of this series as the return of Captain Daddy Dog was great, but more so: It changed the family dymanic of the Dog family as it was the Grandfather being the father figure before this and now it's a two generational family being a nuclear family with an only son. This would open the doors for a major change in Series Eight involving another Series One original: Suzy Sheep. The Sheep Family is completely a single mom-daughter relationship. In Series Eight, Charlotte Sheep and Granny Sheep will be joining in for a three generational family dymanic! That's a huge moment for the series, although not as big as the two mummies Penny Polar Bear would have in Series Seven. However, that is still a long ways down the road. Bedtime Story was also really fun as well, since Peppa's storytelling is hilariously stupid to listen to. Lost Keys annoyed me mostly for the awful finish at the end when they had to dig up the Beauty Spot just to get some lost keys; instead of calling a tow truck like most people do. It was also the point where the flanderization of the characters was starting to take hold. Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur Park was a fun ride and really gave Freddy Fox some time in the sun over his father whom is showing signs of abandoning his son. So...

Thumbs up for Captain Daddy Dog and Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur Park; thumbs down for Lost Keys; thumbs in the middle for everything else and I'll see you all next time.

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