20 Years Of Muddy Puddles: Peppa Pig Series Four #4

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Twenty Years Of Muddy Puddles: Peppa Pig Series Four #4 Rant

Reviewed: 05/02/2018
Additional Commentary/Edited: 08/15/2024

Daddy Pig, Meet Pool! Pool, Meet Daddy Pig!

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. Okay; we head back to Series Four as we start the next ten episodes 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.

George's Racing Car: We begin with episode #189 on the animation paper and the episode opens on the white house on the hill with Daddy Pig's car pointing at the house, which is odd considering it is usually pointing towards the bottom of the hill. We get one of the slowest zoom in shots in the show's history. (2024 Gregory Weagle Says: What was the point of that?! They could have sped it up and went inside without a jump cut, it's not like the show wanted to go back to Series One conversations since Nick Jr. has an influence on the mood of the show now.) We head to the sitting room with Daddy Pig and Grandpa Pig on the sofa with George and Peppa sitting on the floor watching auto racing, whom the racers are all potato anthros. Apparently; Daddy Pig is a Rusty Potato fan as he cheers for the #2 red car. (Rusty Wallace from NASCAR, although the cars are clearly old-school racing cars due to obvious trademark and copyright issues.) Mr. Potato is doing his running commentary as the kids are making noises. In comes Grandma Pig, who hates noise; which in a way I can relate to. (Can you imagine trying to sleep early at night when your father has to have the television on at a volume louder than my headphones ever were and you are in a room below the living room where the most sound can be heard?! Not possible to sleep!) Apparently, there are two #1 cars, but it's a moot point because Grandma Pig grabs the remote and turns off the television. (No, there wasn't. The car continuity was dead on in this scene.) Daddy Pig and Grandpa Pig protest this outrage and Grandma Pig decides to switch it back on. We see Mr. Potato calls this a great race, but doesn't have the class to tell us who at least won. (Sounds like WCW and TNA! when Vince Russo was booking, too.) Grandma Pig clicks it off and tells them to go outside and play because it's a lovely day. Everyone just frowns and walks out without further incident, because who would stand up to Grandma Pig?! Some things never change. George is inspired outside and Daddy Pig decides that they should build George a miniture racing car. Because, why not?! Of course, Daddy Pig isn't going to make it; it's Grandpa Pig. Of course!

Jump cut to the shed as we get the off-screen version of Grandpa Pig throwing out stuff like a Wuzzle. (Only we don't see Grandpa Pig at all tossing out stuff.) Grandpa finds the baby carriage and Peppa already blows this off because George isn't a baby. Funny how she cares about this now after all the trolling she has done on this subject in the past. (Especially the episode involving George being a legit baby. This is why I couldn't take "Please & Thank You" seriously at all!) Grandpa pulls the white wheels off of it and screws them to a piece of yellow plywood. A engine grinder is placed on front, which becomes the bonnet. It's a British thingie, as they say. Peppa places a seat like yellow panel on the back. Daddy Pig has the red paint and asks what George's favorite number is. George cannot say this number, but he snorts twice and that's considered his favorite number. Okay. (He's a Rusty Wallace fan, too. Nice continuity from the beginning of the episode there.) Now; of course BS&P cannot allow George to be in an actual motor car. (If this was a big kids show, all bets are off. Phineas & Ferb, everyone.) Grandpa Pig takes the pedals from a bicycle and inserts them into the car. He inserts a black steering wheel as George gets into the car and then Grandpa Pig finishes this all off by putting goggles and a blue helmet on George's head. Peppa is so happy about this and here comes Danny Dog on his bicycle, Zoe Zebra on her pedal scooter and Pedro Pony on his Bouncy Ball Horse of Doom. (It's a space hopper, although your discription of it is far more accurate.) The kids do the meet and greet. Everyone loves this idea of racing as Danny Dog wants to test his skills of racing against George Pig: Pedal Car Driver. This could be good as Peppa sighs because she has nothing to race with. (Hey, Peppa; at least you cannot lose this race since you are not in it like Danny Dog and Pedro F'N Pony are. Pedro's horse is cooked and I mean that in the kindest way possible.) But, wait; Peppa is given a giant wrench and an auto hat because she is going to be the chief mechanic. (Of course! What a fool I am?! Peppa is the star and the boss, and the mechanic is often the key to winning races. Should have seen this coming a mile away.)

I should note that when I watched this on YTV Treehouse: Someone in post-production forgot to edit out the SAP described video audio and when this episode aired; you can barely hear the woman's voice explaining the scenes when they don't talk. Really sloppy. (This also happen on the last episode I reviewed in order: The Aquarium.) Luckly; the video I'm using doesn't have this problem. Grandpa Pig explains the job and Peppa likes it because she wants it to break a lot. Geez; what a troll?! Oh; and Peppa is the flag waver for this as well, which is a clear conflict of interest. (I told you she would love this job because Peppa is the star and everyone else is a geek. Thankfully, her trolling is toned down a lot starting in Series Five.) This is a three lap race because they only have 90 seconds left in this episode. It's ready, steady, go~! George takes the lead, followed by Danny Dog, Zoe Zebra and Pedro Pony is in dead last. What a shocker?! We go around the apple tree to complete lap one with George in the lead. Out comes Grandma Pig protesting this noise pollution because she's trying to watch television. Are the walls in Grandma Pig's sitting room that thin?! COME ON, MAN~! The racers go around the Pig family as lap two ends with George in the lead. Then suddenly; one of the wheels breaks off and George is forced to stop. Surprisely; George does not bawl his eyes out when this happen. Wow; just wow. He only frowns as Peppa, Grandpa Pig and Daddy Pig all run in. Peppa takes the wheel and puts it back on as Daddy Pig screws it in place. Danny Dog, Zoe Zebra and Pedro Pony all pass him as George is now dead last. (If Peppa hadn't cut a promo and they put the wheel back, George might have still been in the lead. Peppa Pig is a troll.) However; George goes into STEAMED HAMS BEAST MODE~ and makes the super, miracle comeback and wins the race! The cheering was off the charts as Danny Dog is once again the plucky guy who cannot win. (Get used to it, your sexism was duly noted and it's punishment time.) Pedro Pony is still Pedro F'N Pony. (Clueless and has no speed.) George is so happy to win as he is called the best car racer in the world; with the greatest chief mechanic in the world. Peppa Pig, everyone. Everyone except George does the backsplash laugh to end the episode at 4:30 approx. Okay; this was an awesome episode and I always love it when poor Danny Dog just cannot even buy a break anymore. **** 1/2 (90%).

The Little Boat: Time for episode #190 as we open on the boring road with the Pig family and their car. They are going on a picnic, which Peppa loves I should note. They park the car near a post with a ringing bell on it as the picnic spot is on the opposite side of a river. Daddy Pig rings the bell and out comes on the river, Grampy Rabbit and his wooden boat that appears to be more stable than his steel fishing boat. Ponder that for a moment. The boat ports on the river bed and the kids and Mummy Pig get on board; but Daddy Pig cannot get on with the picnic basket, because there is no more room. Grampy promises to come back with Daddy Pig as he rows away stage right. Grampy sings the rowboat song of doom to waste time and apparently; you don't forget to scream when you see a crocodile. Okay; good to know. (Even funnier, this song would soon set up another adult character who is the first non-mammal anthro of the series: Mrs. Crocodile. Even makes her debut in almost the same way, minus the song if I recall. That episode is called The Zoo in Series Five, featuring one of my favorite "lack of self awareness" moments of all time from Gigi Gazelle.) They make it to the other side and everyone jumps off as we cut to Daddy Pig with the picnic basket, when suddenly the Wolf family appears. Wendy and Mrs. Wolf are allowed on the boat; but not Daddy Pig nor Mr. Wolf due to lack of room. Grampy Pig rows away as we sing more songs about creeks and wolves and screaming. (Which is ironically hilarious since it's anthromorphic wolves we are talking about here. Wendy's shriek is awesome by the way, better than Rebecca's seagull scream, that is for sure.) They make it to the other side as Wendy and Mummy Wolf get off to meet and greet Peppa, George and Mummy Pig. They joining the picnic as we head back to Daddy and Daddy Wolf exchanging notes on the situation as moral guardians panic about the implications of wolves and pig living together in perfect harmony; like cats and dogs living together. (Three Little Pigs gaslighting will do that to you.) Grampy arrives and they decide to sail Daddy Pig over to the other side; but Mr. Wolf and the picnic basket cannot get on. Then we get the most hilariously stupid decision ever: Daddy Pig and Mr. Wolf rowing the boat without Grampy Pig. Because, this means that Grampy Rabbit is on the western side of the river with the one thing they need to have the picnic: The picnic basket. (The male adults are our GEEKS OF THE WEEK~!) We get about ten seconds at the most of Daddy Pig rowing the boat and blushing the entire time, which is also hilariously stupid. (This moment was just amazing. It's Daddy Pig rowing the boat and blushing due to the effort of him rowing said boat, while Daddy Wolf is just proclaiming that he's so hungry you think Daddy Pig is actually blushing because he fears Daddy Wolf will become the Big Bad Wolf from The Three Little Pigs and try to eat him, even though BS&P isn't going to allow it. AWESOME!)

Mr. Wolf does absolutely nothing but say that he's hungry now; as if he's teasing to eat Daddy Pig because he's sweating like a hog. (This moment need an animated GIF and needs to be a meme at once! I will not stand for this disrespect of a scene! Why did you give this episode ** 3/4, former self?!) I'm shocked that Daddy Pig didn't blush when Peppa asked him about the picnic as we cut to Grampy Rabbit at the bell with the basket. I'm shocked that he hasn't eaten the swiss cheese in the basket; since loving cheese is his gimmick. Daddy Pig rows back and gets out. Daddy Pig hands the picnic basket to Grampy. Grampy gets into the boat and rows away, leaving Daddy Pig high and dry. Anyone surprised by this stupid moment say "I"? Yeah; I thought so. Grampy promises to come back and I betcha he won't because it's much funnier to screw Daddy Pig out of his lunch than to be a furry being. And the ducks arrive of course; just to annoy me some more. (Oh come on, now! They haven't been fed...Oh wait, a picnic is going to be in progress. It's been a long time since the last time they did this spot. I hope it's the last one, too; but I wouldn't hold my breath since Peppa Pig Tales violated that rule.) They also make Daddy Pig look dumber as they swim across the river to the picnic site. I should mention this now: Mrs. Wolf is voiced by Jen Pringle. (Already mentioned her, so the voice information is removed.) The ducks arrive to annoy me as everyone notices. (By the way, the basket is called a "Picnic Hamper" according to Grampy Rabbit. I'm guessing that is the British term for picnic basket.) Mummy Pig offers a plate of cheese to Grampy Rabbit and everyone sits down for the picnic, just to make Daddy Pig look even dumber than usual. They love food; including a jelly cake, strawberries and sandwiches as they all giggle; mostly at Daddy Pig's expense because he's been left out. Daddy Pig rings the bell and everyone ignores him as Peppa is feeding cake to the ducks; just to troll on Daddy Pig. (And make the animal biologists scream in sympathy and empathy for Mrs. Duck. Ah, I see why this episode got ** 3/4 then.) Mummy Pig finally ends this stupid ignoring stuff. Grampy Pig rows over to Daddy Pig, Daddy Pig hops in and is brought over to the picnic. Everyone pops as there is barely any picnic left for Daddy Pig to eat. Daddy Pig gets a plate of a half sandwich, the bottom skin of jelly cake, a strawberry and a worm from the ducks. A normal man would have been pissed off; but Daddy Pig isn't a normal man as he thanks them anyway. Everyone except the ducks do the backsplash laugh to end the episode at 4:30 approx. I'm tres disappointed that the ducks didn't do the backsplash laugh, that would have been buys. (They do make it up somewhat with the singing of "Row Your Boat" in the end credits though.) Just your average Peppa Pig love in with more feeding bad food to animals. Mrs. Duck is going to get her revenge someday for screwing up her life if this keeps up. (This was so much fun to watch on the second airing inspite of the duck feeding, so I'll be generous and go *** 3/4 (75%).)

The Sandpit: We continue on with episode #191 and the episode opens with the playground on the hill as Daddy Pig is helping Pedro F'N Pony with the roundabout. Miss Rabbit is with George and Richard Rabbit; Candy Cat is on the monkey bars with a tire swing connected to it. Zoe Zebra is on the swings, Emily Elephant finished her slide run; while Peppa Pig, Danny Dog and Suzy Sheep are playing in the sandpit. Not a sandspit. (Which is an actual theme park in Prince Edward Island (The New Burnswick version went out of business in 2008 I do believe.).) That's different and it's not a sandbox because there is no barrier around the sand. Since Peppa is the star of this show we zoom in to Peppa, Suzy and Danny giggling and making sandcastles, mostly Suzy Sheep doing it. Peppa calls the sandpit their desert island and they will live there forever. Not if the adults have anything to say about that. Suzy wants this island to be nice; so the kids in the sandpit make various sandcastles and roads. In comes George and Richard with their dinosaurs as George says his catchphrase. They growl their dinosaurs at the kids and they don't even bother to sell it. Peppa decides that dinosaurs are all right as Emily Elephant walks in asking what is going on. (Considering that Peppa was so open to this, I suspect that this deal might be extremely sus if you know what I mean.) Emily asks if there are any trees; and Peppa says: no. Emily claims that it would be nicer if the island had trees. Everyone's giddy; so George and Richard are told to look after the island while they look for trees. This is not a good idea. The older kids run stage left cosplaying driving race cars. Jump cut to Mummy Rabbit on a swing as we have conveniently placed sticks on the ground. (This is clearly ranted out of order because Mummy Rabbit has always been with the kids at the playground since Series One!) This would have mattered more if we saw both of them were in the park in the first; but there was only one. They ask about trees, Mummy Rabbit gives them three sticks which magically grow leaves on them when given to Emily Elephant and the kids drive away stage right. George and Richard of course are growling with their dinosaurs and destroying the desert island. Geez; I wonder what will happen next here?! Surprisely; the kids blame the dinosaurs instead of the kids welding the dinosaurs. Yes; even in the world of Peppa Pig, objects with no agency must learn personal responsibility. That is distressing. Anyhow; the older kids now have to redo the island as Zoe Zebra and Candy Cat come in wondering what is going on. The desert island is rebuilt and they'll live forever...again. Candy Cat suggests a lake and Danny Dog digs a hole like a real dog. HAHA!

This leads to the older kids bailing and cosplaying flying airplanes. (You missed a great attention to detail spot: Zoe Zebra stays to watch the kids so no sus moments happens from the dinosaurs. Great spot!) Jump cut to Pedro Pony is on the roundabout looking like he doesn't give a damn about anything. The sun animation in the background when the kids talk to Pedro is so basic that it had to be done on purpose. The older kids explain it all and they ask Pedro if he has any water; and Pedro proclaims that he doesn't know what they are talking about. The kids say that this is suppose to be pretend; so they need pretend water. The tiny flaw in this whole thing: If it's pretend water, why bother asking Pedro Pony?! Just pretend you already have the water and put it in the pretend lake. Easy. Yeah, Pedro decides to go to a pretend mountain to get pretend snow to get pretend water. (Pedro Pony is our GEEK OF THE WEEK~!) Which is a signal for going up and down the slide. Pedro then pretends that the sun has melted the water, and this game is so confusing; that they all give up and realize: Just use the conveniently placed out of nowhere founation Daddy Pig was drinking water out of. The kids go down the slide like Britian on International Day. Yes; that was an episode of Peppa Pig and consider this: That was before Brexit was a thing. The kids asks if they can have water -- please -- Daddy agrees to do that and pours water into the bucket. The kids all run to the sandpit; which in a shock, has not been wrecked. I guess Zoe Zebra made sure of that since she was there first. (You think, former self?!) The water is poured into the lake and then in comes Mr. Fox and Freddy Fox in their green fox truck which their business has been around since 2010! Yeah; I am ranting these episodes out of order, but it's still cute. (Also exposes the copyright year as well!) Freddy literally jumps out of the window through the truck and runs in to meet and greet. I should note that the gimmick of Mr. Fox is that he is a pawn shop owner and thus has everything. At least Mr. Fox has some talent; unlike Bonkers and his "House of Everything". Out of nowhere, someone says that it needs a flag. I assume it was Zoe Zebra saying this. (It was Zoe Zebra, former self.) Mr. Fox bails to the back of his truck and pulls out a giant storm flag. Which Suzy claims that they only need pretend flags. Mr. Fox brings out a white box with small flags sticking out of it. Peppa likes this as we jump cut to Peppa putting flags on the sandcastles and they shalt live forever on this desert island...until home time. Then everyone will stop treating this as a work and go home. Peppa snorts and then everyone does the backsplash laugh to end the episode at 4:30 approx. Somehow; during this backsplash laugh; nothing got wrecked at all. This was a fun episode and nothing else; and sometimes that works out great. *** 3/4 (75%).

Night Animals: Here is episode #192 on the animation paper as we begin this one on the white house on the hill AFTER HAPPY HOUR as the back door opens and out comes Grandpa Pig with a bucket and flashlight. The narrator explains that George and Peppa are having a sleepover at the grandparents' house tonight. Out comes Peppa and George in their pj's asking Grandpa where he's going with his boots on since it's bedtime. Grandpa Pig explains that he's collecting slugs and snails; and Grandma Pig explains that they eat up his garden. He also has his torch -- flashlight in North America --, Peppa asks if they can come and Grandpa Pig says "just this once". Peppa and George bail; and return with coats and boats on over their pjs; which the narrator explains to us. Peppa get the bucket and they all go down the hill to fetch a pail of snailslug bait. Har har. (Must be the garden version of "clickbait"! I'll get my coat...) Grandma Pig tells them not to stay too long outside as they find two snails and a slug. Peppa calls slugs yucky; so she's projecting. We jump cut to the chicken coup with four chickens which have actual names: Vanessa, Neville, Sara and Jimima. (Ah, another one I ranted out of order. Yes, they continue to identify Jimima as the brown chicken I should note. You couldn't call it Williams?! That would have been a lot less problematic.) Grandpa Pig shines the torch on them and they hop into the chicken house and Grandpa Pig closes the door. We exchange notes on why slugs and snails do not go to bed at night time and then Grandpa Pig turns around to see a red shirt fox with a mustache. This is I believe, the rant debut of Mr. Fox (voiced by the narrator); as they talk for a bit about chicken in the henhouse; and then Mr. Fox turns around and leaves without incident. That was the extent of his appearance in this episode. (Not as funny as Daddy Pig rowing the boat with Daddy Wolf in it, sadly.) Grandpa Pig checks the bucket and there is a hedgehog in it, as it ate the slugs and snails.

Yes; there is a body count even in a pre-school show, why do you ask?! (I think this is the first time something killed something else. It wasn't an anthromorphic death, but real animals dying is okay as long as it happens off-screen. This only makes you an easy target for horror flick people who have no scruples and think death and torture are fun.) The kids meet and greet and then hedgehog turns into a pin cushion; so yes, the hedgehog hates little trolls like Peppa. Oh wait; the hedgehog is merely shy, because he comes out after some prodding from Peppa. They wave goodbye to the hedgehog as it leaves as Peppa asks if there are anymore animals at night. Grandpa shines his torch upwards and we see a bunch of moths flying around for a while. Peppa is in awe of this. Grandpa Pig explains the butterflies at night and demonstrates the return and bailing of the moths via the torchlight. (Also of note, the Series One mischief music has returned after a long absense.) Peppa is given the torch to demonstrate, which I declare is animal cruelty as she and George giggle. We keep the torch off and then pan up to see a firefly, in which Peppa confuses as a shooting star. Peppa also thinks that this fly is on fire; which it is not. Grandpa claims that it's tummy that glows; which is BS&P for "ass" by the way; since the "ass" portion of the firefly is growing. Understandable since it is a pre-school show. (Ironic since in Peppa Pig Tales, you can say "bum" now, which is more or less the same as ass.) Peppa asks if there are any big animals in the garden and Grandpa says no. The tree shaking and bush shaking says otherwise as Peppa and George hide behind Grandpa. Grandpa shines the torch and it's Grandma Pig. Ah; close enough. (Hey, she's an anthromorphic pig, so former self was accurate.) It's time to say good night to the animals as everyone walks back to the house and goes inside. George and Peppa are yawning, because it's past their bedtime as everyone says their good nights off-screen since they only show the white house on the hill the entire time. (Only one room switches their lights off.) Guess they didn't have enough in the budget for a final scene here as we end the episode at 4:30 approx. (Or they ran out of time.) This was all right; but not much to see here. ** 3/4 (55%).

Flying On Holiday: (I should mention that all four episodes for this arc have the same opening, only the poorly animated sun is on the top right at the beginning of the opening theme.) We now have a huge four parter with episode #193-#196 on the animation paper as we head to the house on the hill. George and Peppa are in their bedroom, literally packing their toys into their luggage, causing Daddy Pig to run in and cut them off; telling them to just bring their most important toys. Peppa and George empty out the suitcases and only bring Teddy and Mr. Dinesaur of course. HAHA! Apparently; this is a learned behavior in this family because Mummy Pig is doing the exact same thing in her bedroom and she is steadfast in not dumping out any of it. Daddy Pig has to close the suitcase of Mummy Pig and this is a failure just waiting to happen as the door bell rings. Peppa answers it with her luggage as it's Suzy Sheep as she wants to play with Peppa. Peppa says no because she's going on holiday to somewhere where there is holidays. You cannot buy amusing circular logic like that. (Once everyone is gulity, no one is! Oh wait, once no one is gulity, everyone is! Circular logic, everyone.) Suzy is fine with this as Grandpa and Grandma Pig arrive parking on the steep side of the hill. They are here for Goldie and Peppa warns them not to feed Goldie too much while on holiday as Mummy Pig runs out and gives the goldfish bowl to Goldie. (Watch Grandpa Pig not know the definition of moderation in this four parter.) Then a black car with the name plate "Taxi" on top arrives and Mr. Bull is driving it. (Job #8.) Yes; Miss Rabbit is not the only one who has a second job. Mr. Bull parks on an even steeper side of the hill as Daddy Pig comes out and can barely carry Mummy Pig's luggage as Peppa and George's luggage has been written out by teleport. Mr. Bull grabs the luggage and struggles to get the luggage on top of the car; which sounds like a bad idea; especially where they are parked. Mummy Pig insists that this is all important as they all get in; and Mr. Bull's car is Americanized. Surprisely; nothing happens to the luggage as we reach the airport. (Even more surprising: the contiunity of the taxi is perfect here. No switching the driver happened! AWESOME!) Mr. Bull gives the luggage to Daddy Pig and wishes the Pig family good luck. Head into the airport with the denizens of this world doing stuff.

Some of the women are reading Ezza Magazine...AGAIN! (Known cameos: Mrs. Cow, Mummy Wolf, Wendy Wolf, Mummy Pony, Doctor Pony, Mr. Badger, Daddy Cat, palatte swap of Candy Cat, palette swap of Mrs. Donkey and Delphine Donkey, Doctor Elephant, Emily Elephant, Mummy Elephant, Edmond Elephant and the debut of Captain Emergency. His voice information is below, but I first thought it was originally Daddy Mole, but Daddy Mole is a post office sorter in Peppa Pig Tales!) This would be the second appearance for Mr. Badger in storyline as we see Mummy Wolf and Wendy Wolf reading magazines. The Elephant family is walking around and I see the Pony adults; but no Pedro F'N Pony. Now guess who is running the ticket counter and scale when the Pig family shows up?! Miss Rabbit in I believe this is the eighteenth job she has been doing so far. (Only eighteen former self?! I counted Job #140!) Anyhow; Daddy Pig is dragging the luggage onto the conveyer belt and it goes through a trapdoor and we hear crashing sounds off-screen. Miss Rabbit asks: "Anything valuable?" Daddy Pig: "No." (That was funny and maybe Mummy Pig should rethink the important part and consider the fragile part a lot more. CRT monitors are not as robust as you would think and more hazardous to the environment. I know this because someone thought dismantling these monitors for parts by hand without safety precautions was a swell idea. Needless to say, no one wanted to do it. I wonder why?!) Mummy Pig doesn't give two damns at all that most of her stuff was broken due to this. Oh; and the little luggage has been written in by teleport and gets to be on the plane with the kids. This leads to the x-ray machine with Mr. Rhino in a formal business suit no less. We check the luggage and have fun explaining a device that sees through luggage stuff. That is no expectation of privacy on this show. Peppa of course calls it magic and Daddy Pig doesn't correct her because that would be a fool's errand. (Why did you give this episode ** 1/2, former self?!) George loves airplanes and cosplays an airplane as Mummy Cat and Wendy Wolf get on before the Pig family. This is a scene where the animators pretty much say: "We have a deadline; just put some random characters in this scene to fill up the plane and not make it look empty." We board the airplane and the flight attendent is Miss Rabbit by the way.

I'm saddened that this show didn't play up the Miss Rabbit/Mummy Rabbit angle more because the misdirection of those two would have made some really funny scenes; even within a pre-school context. Miss Rabbit -- wearing an awesome flight outfit -- tells them to enjoy their flight. The Pig Family head into the seats; with George and Peppa taking the window seats. Yes; Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig are able to sit in their chairs without needing two, thank you. Zoom out the windows as the cockpit guy is a mole furry in a pilot's uniform, named Captain Emergency. Insert Rescue 9-1-1 joke here. Captain Emergency is voiced by Dominic Byrne and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): He joined BBC Radio 1 in 1997, and became part of the team in the zoo format Chris Moyles Show. As well as reading news, Byrne interviewed many celebrities for the breakfast show including Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Alan Sugar, David Schwimmer, Uma Thurman, Goldie Lookin' Chain, and more recently Reese Witherspoon, William Shatner, Al Gore, Richard E. Grant, Daniel Craig, Bruce Willis, Bono, Adam Clayton, Daniel Radcliffe, Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Aniston, Jedward, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John, Cameron Diaz. He also contributed to multiple features, and parody songs, some of which featured on The Parody Album released by Chris Moyles. Elsewhere for the BBC he worked as a newsreader for Fearne Cotton's show on Radio 1. From 2007 he presented the Newsbeat's Oddbox video clip show on BBC News. This was a four-minute video which looked at the week's strangest news, presented by Dominic Byrne (and Natalie Jamieson when he was away). It was available to watch at BBC Online, on the BBC Red Button and on the BBC News channel. It was announced on 6 September 2012 episode that the broadcast on the following week would be the final ever Odd Box. On 14 September 2012, The Oddbox's final episode was shown on BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat Website. In addition, Byrne presented Dragon's Den Online, the online spin-off from the Dragons' Den TV programme. In 2014, he was one of three hosts on Factomania. In December 2011 Dominic Byrne championed the song Dominick the Donkey by Italian American singer Lou Monte on The Chris Moyles Show, helping it achieve a peak chart position of number 3 on the UK Top 40 during Christmas 2011.

Byrne has worked on various voice-over projects. He provided the voice of an alien called Zorst in the CBeebies show Space Pirates, and as Captain Emergency on Peppa Pig. He does voice-overs for the entertainment channel Watch. In 2010, Byrne also narrated children's storybooks for mobile phone applications under the iStorytime brand – the titles which Byrne narrated include Invisible Alligators (written and illustrated by Hayes Roberts), Inca Dink, the Great Houndini (written, illustrated and also narrated by M. Nicole van Dam), and Olivia the Octopus (written and illustrated by Damien Clenet). On 8 March 2013, it was announced that Byrne has joined Capital FM London, to read the news on their flagship breakfast show. On 1 November 2014, Byrne accidentally announced on Twitter that he was looking for a full-time radio role. On 21 April 2015, Byrne announced on his Twitter account that he would begin reading Drivetime news bulletins on LBC radio. On 7 September 2015, Byrne announced on his Twitter account that he would be joining Chris Moyles on the new rebranded XFM, Radio X on 21 September. Dominic Byrne is part of an award-winning comedy folk band Folk Face with Comedy Dave also from The Chris Moyles Show. Yeah, that's about it. I should note that the airplane looks like a wrapper for a submarine sandwich place; only with red wings on it. We take off after Captain Emergency gets the A-okay from the passengers and we fly into the sky above the clouds after Peppa and George see clouds and rain from the windows. The sound effects sound like one of those sounds you hear from those cassette tape audio books I often read and I reviewed two of them for the TaleSpin celeberation a couple of years ago. The plane is flying above the clouds as Daddy Pig gives Peppa a hint to where they are going and it's sunny there. Peppa shrugs it off and sings on the plane about flying in the sky as this was fine. Peppa giggles as the narrator ends part one saying that everyone is going to a sunny holiday. The rest of the passengers giggle to end part one of this four part special at 4:30 approx. The ending credits is actually the same song; only with different colors and sunny vacation objects peppered -- pardon the pun -- throughout. A decent start for the most part. (This was more entertaining on the second viewing, although it's becoming more clear that the show needs a holiday. *** 1/2 (70%).)

The Holiday House: Episode opens in the sky with the airplane flying to another country as we cut to inside with Miss Rabbit informing the passengers to fasten their seatbelts since Captain Emergency is about to make an announcement as he is landing in the country of Italy. Yes folks; they did a cliffhanger in order to make the children guess where Peppa and company were going. Miss Rabbit is so shocked by this; as if she wasn't told in advance. That's kind of a troll move by the airlines there. We land after Miss Rabbit calls this nice at the Italian airport, which looks like the color scheme of the airplane. I should note: Miss Rabbit did not sit down or buckled up for the landing and she didn't move once until everyone cheered. Just turned the entire safety thing into a joke. Everyone unbuckles their seatbelts and walks off; but Peppa unintentionally leaves Teddy on the seat. Sadly; this will not be the last time she would do this in this series. I don't know if they did an episode or not; but why is Peppa so attached to Teddy; despite looking like it's on it's last legs?! Maybe I'll get an answer sooner or later on this; but for now, I'm confused. (This running gag is going to happen at least twice, maybe thrice in this four parter alone. Run Teddy, run!) We go through the airport terminal and out with Daddy Pig and Mummy Pig's suitcase on a dolly as it's time to go to the booth to get the rental car as Mr. Cervo (An adult male deer anthro with a purple shirt. A lot of men wearing purple on this show I should note. Cervo is the Italian for "Stag" or "Deer".) is at the booth. I should note that they clearly hired an Italian voice talent to do this voice because Mr. Cervo speaks Italian and of course, none of the Pig Family can understand what the hell he is saying. I think he said: "Good morning madam; how may I serve you?" in Italian. That is a very poor person's translation on my part and I didn't use Google Translate since I pretty much understood that he was greeting Mummy Pig. Needless to say; Mummy Pig doesn't speak Italian; and this is the same Mummy Pig who could speak French no problem in a previous episode involving Delphine Donkey and her family. Mr. Cervo basically says "I don't understand you."; and it's time for Daddy Pig to do the talking, because he's an expert on such things.

I would love it if Daddy Pig speaks Italian; just to pay off the French Mummy Pig angle. However, I betcha Daddy Pig will screw this up because Daddy Pig is dumb. Of course, Mr. Cervo doesn't understand English. I don't know why since he's at an airport with international flights going out of the country. He brings out a basket of eggs to prove this is just there to fill the running time. Daddy points to keys; Mr. Cervo brings out the most purplist radio he could find playing the most silliest music ever made. Then some flowers as I'm wondering: Is this guy the Italian version of Mr. Fox? Because at least Mr. Fox's store is supposed to be a all trades store. This is a car rental shop. You have one job and Mr. Cervo is screwing it up everytime. Oh; and a cyan bluebird gets involved as George makes car noises; and this is enough for Mr. Cervo to get the point. See; non-verbal cues matter. (Also, just to make Daddy Pig look like a geek. Mr. Cervo clearly said "Auto". All Daddy Pig had to say is Auto, which is basically a car. Daddy Pig once again is our GEEK OF THE WEEK~!) They get the rental keys to a aqua green car as they stuff the luggage on top of the car; with Mummy Pig continuing to insist that she needs the stuff in the car. They get in the car as Peppa is already ribbing Daddy Pig; claiming that he'll get them lost like always. Daddy Pig is certain this will not happen because the Sat Nav -- the computer navigation system's name for all you people outside of Britian -- will help them. There's one problem: The Sat Nav speaks Italian. I don't think the usual Sat Nav voice Sarah Roper did the voice here; but Sarah does work on design for this show, Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, Mr. Bean: The Animated Series, Aaagh! It's The Mr. Hell Show and The Big Knights. The World Of Peter Rabbit & Friends is her debut in 1994. She also worked on shorts like Jolly Roger and The Apartment Cat. 9 Animation Department credits, 6 Director credits, 4 Writer credits, 3 Art Department credits, 1 Actress credit and 1 Producer credit (De poetsprins) on her resume. Yes, Daddy Pig is screwed. (At least he didn't do something that was toxic like wade in concrete. Oh wait...) There is a sign with the most complex rotary you will ever see, so Daddy Pig decides to wing it. This is a fool's errand.

Mummy Pig questions this because they might drive differently in Italy. Daddy Pig of course dismisses this and he basically drives into traffic. (Speaking of toxic masculinity...) Because you see; in Italy, they drive on the same side of the road as in North America. (Even worse, Daddy Pig Daddy Pig drove the wrong way through an interchange and into traffic. This is why clear picture signs are so important. The Pig Family is completely clueless in this anyway as everyone is smiling and Daddy Pig is talking. Peppa asks why they are honking their horns and Daddy Pig is so clueless that he thinks they are waving hello. (Even more trollish, the family waves back and even Mummy Pig is joining in the fun. GEEKS OF THE WEEK~!) Traffic in the middle lane moves to each side; but this was stupid and somehow, no police officer is anywhere to stop it. We then jump cut to a boring road in Italy as the car is driving at a brisk pace and Daddy Pig is breathing a sigh of relief. Mummy Pig is loving that they are almost there and she can relax and type more encrypted stuff on her computer. Then Peppa starts to panic. (Peppa does a really funny face as Mummy Pig was talking about relaxing I should note.) Yes; she finally realizes that Teddy is still on the plane and pleads for Daddy to turn around to go back to get it. And here comes the bad episode police...sort of. It's an otter police officer on a motorcycle as Daddy Pig is forced to stop and the motorcycle cuts them off anyway. (Okay, that was just rude.) Ufficiale Iontra gets off his motorcycle and I'm guessing this is for the "Clueless Ability To Understand The Italian Rules Of The Road"; and I assure you that there is no mafia references in those rules. None whatsoever. Ufficiale Iontra and the Mr. Cervo are voiced by Frenando Tiberini and I have very little on him; other than being an additional voice in the video game Haze and Sniper Elite 3; along with Age of Heroes and Waiting At The Gate. Daddy Pig claims that if he did anything wrong; he won't do it again. In the real world; that is a confession and you pay for it. Not here! The officer goes to his belt bag and brings out Teddy; giving it to Peppa Pig. Awwwww! My heart melted. Sadly; it will melt a little less each time when this angle is repeated over and over again. (Not only that, the officer spoke English the moment he spoke. Not after speaking Italian first! Gimmick killed!)

The Pig family drives away and the cop doesn't care. Yes folks; Daddy Pig got away with law breaking! I don't know if I should blame Daddy Pig for breaking the law or the police officer not enforcing the law; or the writers for being too scared to write an angle with actual consequences attached to it. (The writers by a mile. Ficitional characters are just puppets on a string by a puppet master. Don't bring boxing gloves, bring scissors and cut their strings.) We head to the vacation home; which has it's own vineyard, flowers and a swimming pool. The swimming pool looks like a well with a yellow ladder on it. Everyone gets out as Daddy Pig walks in with the luggage and throws it on the bed. What happens next is high comedy: Mummy Pig opens the luggage and brings out a plant, her computer (which I expected), tins of food, winter clothes, the telephone, and thankfully Peppa puts a stop to it before Mummy Pig looks like she packed for World War III. (The actual war that was going on since the first homo sapien rejected reality and wanted reality dead; or the WCW Pay-Per-View?! Neither one is a good look though.) Peppa wants to call Grandma and Grandpa Pig; who have decided to stay at Peppa's house to look after Goldie as it is raining hard at the house on the hill. We head in the kitchen and Grandpa Pig is feeding Goldie fish flakes, and Goldie is now as big as my fist now. She is huge now. (Oh no, this angle. This is when the four parter fell off a cliff. Grandpa Pig is an abuser when it comes to feeding fish because it doesn't know dose is the poison is different from spieces to spieces.) Grandma Pig is questioning that this isn't enough and Grandpa claims that she'll need a pinch more. Grandma Pig's cellphone rings and she answers it . Peppa wants to speak to Goldie and suddenly; when they do the Goldie talking segment, Goldie is literally back to her original size. What a stupid logic break that was?! Peppa claims that she misses Goldie and then hangs up without even a goodbye. Now, that was rude. Peppa and George yawn as the kids are tucked into a yellow framed bunk bed with white sheets; so I should note that it is AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) in Italy now. Which is odd since it's only an hour difference between the two countries; and Peppa's home is still afternoon. We got two logic breaks within a minute. (Nah, this was a clear jump cut since when Peppa ring up Grandma Pig, it was clearly sunny in Italy and rainy in Britian at about eight am. So, it was 9 am in Italy. No logic break there.) Daddy says goodnight and we zoom out to a shot of the holiday house on the hill -- as the narrator would say -- to end part two at 4:30 approx. A funny, but sloppy episode with Daddy Pig being reckless once again. At least they didn't get lost this time. *** 1/4 (65%).

Holiday In The Sun: Episode opens on the opposite side of the holiday house on the hill as there is a sliding glass door for the back entrance and more vineyards. (Which is actually known as a villa.) Plus, the swimming pool looks more like a swimming pool now. Oh; and there is an aqua blue lawn chair on the grass; cannot forget that. The narrator explains that this is day one of the family's holiday as the sliding glass door opens. Out comes Daddy Pig stretching as he cannot see where he is going and splashes into the swimming pool. Yip; Daddy Pig is dumb and his glasses couldn't protect him. In comes a child goat with a teal dress and an adult goat with a purple suit and net. Both appear to be anthro white goats and yes, they baaa as per the gimmick of this show. (Pool, meet Daddy Pig! Daddy Pig, meet Pool! You will be friends for life soon enough!) We meet and greet as I noticed that their arms are posed similar to the T-pose in CGI models; only it's not CGI. It's cel animation. The two goats I mentioned are Signor Goat and Gabriella Goat and Gabriella Goat is voiced by Sonia Arapi and I have nothing on her. Signor Goat is voiced by Andrea Tran and I don't have anything on him either; although there is a director under that name. In comes the rest of the Pig family for more meeting and greeting. Daddy Pig is protesting the humor of this scene and he loses because he smiles. There is the greeting of animal noises from the kids and Signor asks if they need anything. Mummy Pig would like to go sight seeing and Gabriella suggests the Italian village; and so they agree to it. Daddy Pig gets out of the swimming pool and returns with teal trunks, a white spotted red shirt and a white hat with a camera around his neck. Was his old gear in his pjs before this?! That would have been really stupid. (Daddy Pig asks if he looks like a tourist, which he clearly does in stereotypical terms. Signor says he looks perfect, which is carny talk for admitting that Daddy Pig looks like a tourist. That was funny.) Yes; the car is facing the opposite side of the road; but at least it's on a flat surface now instead of the steepest part of the hill. Daddy Pig gets into the car as everyone except Signor is inside. We drive down the hill and head into the old village on the hill, complete with bell tower as we drive on the black square stone road and then stop in the village. Everyone gets out giggling.

They run to a large shop on the corner with lots of suns , postcards, plates, carpets and other such stuff. (The suns on the shop look dangerously close to hexagrams, I should note.) Gabriella explains that this shop is owned by Auntie Goat; so I assume she exchanges notes with Mr. Fox and Mr. Cervo. (I should note that Gabriella Goat has a single father dymanic as opposed to Suzy Sheep being in a single mother dymanic. Since the characters are named by the narrator in English, I won't be replacing "goat" with the Italian name "Capra".) All the suns have smiley faces as Gabriella and Peppa are exchanging notes as Peppa is looking for a postcard to give to Goldie and Gabriella suggests a postcard of nothing but the sea. Daddy Pig is questionning this selection as rubbish as a female goat in a green dress and purple eyeliner blows him off because tourists buy all this stuff. The biggest tourist of them all: Mummy Pig. Damn; she even bought a lawn gnome, just to rub it in. Daddy Pig is protesting this; so Mummy Pig points out that they sell purple suitcases as well. Auntie Goat is voiced by the same person who voices Mummy Pig. We head to the village square where there is an Italian cafe headed by a grey billy goat anthro with a white coat, white chef's hat and apron as every store has a window booth. I discover that this is Uncle Goat; voiced by the same person who voices the narrator. Uncle Goat is making pizza as Gabriella claims that it's Italian food. She's partially correct, although the history of pizza begins in antiquity, when various ancient cultures produced flatbreads with toppings. The precursor of pizza was probably the focaccia, a flat bread known to the Romans as panis focacius, to which toppings were then added. Modern pizza developed in Naples, when tomato was added to the focaccia in the late 18th century. The word pizza was first documented in AD 997 in Gaeta and successively in different parts of Central and Southern Italy. Yeah. Uncle Goat puts the pizza in the oven after Peppa does a sing song with him while adding the toppings. Let's leave the pizza to cook and go over to the table under the umbrella tree with the adults. It's time to write the postcard of doom to Goldie. Mummy Pig writes the postcard. Then Peppa posts it to the conveniently placed golden post chute and waves farewell to the postcard. (I give 2:1 odds that Peppa will be home with Goldie before the postcard arrives because the mail is slow.)

We return to the table as Uncle Goat brings out the pizza and we eat up because we all love pizza. Peppa and Teddy interact, they like it. Daddy Pig speaks his first Italian word and it was less awkward than Peppa speaking certain English words. He loved it and it will always have a special place in his tummy. That's like Ric Flair; where he greets you as someone important and then within minutes after, the thought is gone from his mind. They all leave; except for Gabriella, and of course Peppa leaves Teddy on the seat...AGAIN! Cut to the rental car on the same boring road...AGAIN! I'm not going to bother calling this because the entire commentary for this is in the previous episode. Only this time; there is a purple suitcase on top, and Peppa doesn't panic this time around. Yes; we head to the holiday house on the hill; and park on the steepest side of the hill...AGAIN! Everyone heads inside as Peppa wants to ring up Goldie; and Mummy Pig thinks this is a wonderful way to kill time. We head back to the house on the hill as it is raining hard still. I put 5:1 odds that the end of this four parter will end with the family jumping up and down in muddy puddles. This will be the best part of the whole trip and this will render the entire trip completely pointless. (Don't talk to me about a ranter's jinx...) We head in the kitchen and now Goldie is the size of my head. (It's now 4 pm on the clock in the kitchen, so roughly five pm in Italy.) Grandma Pig is still feeding it fish flakes as Grandpa Pig still thinks it's not enough. This is pet abuse now as Grandpa Pig answers his ringing cellphone and it's Peppa in her pj's with George as they exchange notes. I just love Grandpa Pig already knows Peppa sent Goldie a postcard, despite the first conversation was the last episode aired and before Peppa even bought the postcard. That is a bad logic break. (Actually, he didn't. Peppa mentions the post card to him first, so it doesn't matter. Look, I get that this show needs a break, but come on now!) Peppa yawns and says goodbye this time as she hangs up. George and Peppa are taken into their bedroom as we cut to a shot of the holiday house on the hill to end part three at 4:30 approx. Daddy and Mummy Pig are funny; but pet abuse is not. I'm just saying. (Outside of the fish abuse, this was more entertaining on the second viewing, so *** 1/2 (70%).)

The End Of The Holiday: Episode opens with the exact same thing that happened to Daddy Pig at the beginning of the last episode, only with the narrator saying that this is the last day of the holiday for Peppa Pig. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I have never seen a scene so cheap; yet so funny at the same time. I should have seen this coming the second I saw them completely recycling the "police gives Teddy back to Peppa after she lost it" scene; but I still cannot believe that they would recycle the funniest scene in the show thus far. (No lies detected. Daddy Pig is our GEEK OF THE WEEK in all four episodes now!) Daddy Pig has to be doing this on purpose for a laugh; no one can be this dumb! Also Signor and Gabriella Goat are there meeting and greeting. Daddy claims that he is swimming one last time as Peppa and the family come in with a snort from Peppa. Peppa wants this vacation to last forever; and there are some people in this world where vacations do last forever, and none of them being dead. Daddy Pig claims that they cannot last forever and it's time to meet their old friends again. Peppa agrees with the sentiment and wants to call home to talk to Goldie again. We head to the house of the hill and it's still raining hard as the writers are clearly not even trying to hide the ending to this tale. Head into the kitchen and Goldie has almost overtaken the fish bowl! I ask; how in the world did it take so little time did this fish get so big?! They have been feeding it without bathroom breaks nor breaks at all?! Grandma Pig answers the phone and she claims that Goldie has been eating well. (You don't say?! Goldie needs a stomach pump, STAT!) Peppa informs her that she is coming home soon. Peppa asks if the postcard has arrived. It hasn't; but it's coming soon according to Grandma Pig and she'll see her soon. Then the doorbell rings and outside is Suzy Sheep with an umbrella and blue boots on, just adding evidence to my bet. Grandma Pig answers the door; tells Suzy that Peppa will be home later today and Suzy misses Peppa. Cut back to the holiday house on the hill as Daddy Pig puts the red suitcase next to the purple suitcase, questioning all this stuff and Mummy Pig's answers: It's all important. Daddy Pig just accepts it and gets into the car. We wave farewell as the car drives down the hill. Signor and Gabriella wave farewell and then Gabriella notices Teddy on the grass. Yes; for the third time in four straight episodes, Peppa has dropped Teddy. This annoys me because for the third time in THREE EPISODES~! We completely recycle the Daddy Pig/Ufficiale Iontra scene on the road. Only in the opposite direction this time. I'm starting to see why critics do not like this show now. Peppa gets her Teddy back and at least the officer tells her to take better care of the bear this time around. We recycle the scene on the hill with Suzy ringing the doorbell and Grandma Pig answering it and telling her no. I just love that she already knows Peppa is flying home right now.

Cut to the submarine sandwich wrapper airplane flying high in the sky and then a closeup of Peppa singing again. (I guess the lack of music is her punishment for leaving Teddy behind thrice in three episodes!) Daddy Pig is hoping that it's sunny at home after the pigs giggle after the song. Hopes are instantly dashed as we cut back to the house and Mr. Bull brings the taxi up and parks on the steepest side of the hill. I was begging for the luggage it slide off the taxi and into some muddy puddles. No such luck. (SUZY SHEEP~?!) Everyone gets out and we head into the kitchen for the meet and greet. (Yup, they arrived before the post did! Ranter jinx indeed!) Peppa is not happy at all; because Goldie has become the size of the spotted bouncy ball we see in the show; only it's all orange. They have Donald Trumped Goldie. (Wow, that is both disgusting and true on former self's part here.) Peppa calls him out on it and Grandpa claims that Goldie was always hungry. Grandpa Pig needs more training in virtue signaling, I see. (Peppa calling out Grandpa Pig for overfeeding is very rich coming from her after losing Teddy three times in one episode!) The adults come in with various gifts, including the dreaded lawn gnome. I should note that in storyline and in at least one episode; Grandpa Pig does not like lawn gnomes. Personally; I don't hate them, I just think that their use as a plot device has had it's time and without some twist to the formula, it's time to move on. Peppa asks about the postcard and it have not arrived yet as the door bell rings. Peppa runs to answers it, assuming it's Mr. Zebra with her postcard. It's not; it's Suzy Sheep. (Also, the rain has officially stopped.) Peppa is so disappointed; but Suzy missed her anyway and Peppa smiles, glad to see her. They hug and hold hands as here comes Mr. Zebra and his post truck; and he parks on the steepest side of the hill. Mr. Zebra gives Peppa the postcard from Italy and that causes Daddy Pig to be amused since they got home faster than the post card. Peppa shows the postcard to Goldie and despite being a bloated mess of a goldfish; Goldie is happy to get it. Peppa asks if Suzy had a nice time. Suzy says "no" because it rained all the time Peppa was on holiday. Peppa loves this because we all know what this means. We do, don't we?! It mean; it's time to jump up and down in muddy puddles! DING! Everyone runs down the hill as Suzy and Peppa jump in first and get muddy; because the payoff to holiday is better than the holiday itself. Yup; the vacation was totally pointless as everyone else jumps into the muddy puddle. We do the backsplash laugh to end part four and the vacation special at 4:30 approx. Which is eighteen minutes total. (By the way, Goldie has been written out by teleport. SUZY SHEEP~?!) This was funny; but the cheap work is starting to really show when you are recycling whole scenes outright with little or no variation. Still; that beginning was molto comico though. *** 1/4 (65%).

Mirrors: Here is another series four show; which is episode #197 on the animation paper. Episode opens on the house on the hill as we zoom into a window to the bathroom as Mummy Pig is placing a mirror on the wall. (No, that is not what happened. The episode opens with a slow zoom in and then jump cut to inside the bathroom where Mummy Pig is placing a mirror on the wall.) George runs in and admires himself. Mummy Pig has to explain that it is his reflection and not a second George. George don't care as Peppa comes in and she don't care either as it's time to find some shiny things. Jump cut to inside the kitchen as Daddy Pig is eating breakfast cereal with a spoon. Peppa and George bounce in asking for shiny things to look into and he gives them two spoons to look into as we do some simple science and yes; there is an episode titled that, and that episode is the one that made me love this show for good. We see their funny faces and them upside down in the spoon. I love this: Daddy Pig explains the whole science behind this and this confuses Peppa so much that she asks: "Is it magic?" and Daddy Pig stops and says "yes". (Oh, here we go; the episode where the writers decided to troll the logic break naggers -- which I am one of them-- in trying to handwave their bad logic and make Daddy Pig look like a geek!) I couldn't help but cackle at that. I realize that this will annoy scientists; but Peppa is four years old, what can you do?! (I guess make them grow up, perchance?! Or maybe Daddy Pig should use simpler terms to make it easier to understand what he is talking about?! Either way, Daddy Pig is our GEEK OF THE WEEK~!) Door bell rings and we cut to outside as Suzy Sheep is at the door. Peppa and George comes out and show Suzy the spoon and all the "magic" tricks she can do with said spoon. Peppa claims that it's magic, because Daddy Pig said so. Hee hee! (Typical troll behavior from Peppa, as usual.) They look for more shiny things and they find a muddy puddle. However; since none of them have boots on; that means there will be no jumping up and down in them, today. BOO! HISS! They see a cloud in the reflection as Danny Dog and Pedro F'N Pony bicycle in with their helmets on. Pedro invoking Occam's Razor is comedy diamond for me. Pedro always finds a way to be both correct and completely clueless at the same time. It's amazing to me. Peppa invokes the spoon on Pedro and he loves it of course as Suzy calls it a "funny magic mirror spoon". I'm surprise no one has trademarked this yet. (All Google searches go back to this episode, so still hasn't been trademarked.) Danny suggests that there are tons of wobbly mirrors at the fair. We head to the fair on the hill as we see what appears to be a recycled shot from another episode. (Note Pedro Pony is at the hammer smash event with Mummy Pony and Mr. Bull. Yeah, the crunch is really showing in this episode and it might be time to go on holiday in real life. Also note: Daddy Pig, Peppa Pig and George are with Gigi Gazelle at the balloons. Other cameos: Captain Dog, Mr. Labo at the Helter Skelter, Doctor Elephant, Mummy Sheep, Mr. Zebra, Daddy Wolf, Wendy Wolf, Mummy Elephant, Mr. Rhino, Daddy Cat, Candy Cat, Doctor Brown Bear with Mrs. Cow (What?!), Rohan Rhino and several palette swaps of Gigi Gazelle, Mrs. Donkey, Pedro Pony with darker skin, Freddy Fox, Emily Elephant, and a few others I cannot identify.)

Then jump cut to the tent where the wobbly mirrors are as Miss Rabbit is the operator of this event. Okay. She cuts her promo and everyone runs into the tent stage left. Everyone is instantly amused by the wobbly mirrors of doom. Peppa is gyrating her body for Suzy's amusement as Daddy Pig comes in; with Peppa asking how this is done. Daddy Pig invokes his science explaination on them and this confuses both Suzy and Peppa and Suzy responds: "So; it's magic?!" and Daddy gives up and says "yes". (You deserved that one Daddy Pig. Never say Scott Hudson's "It's all very simple" when it comes to science. You will be roasted in storyline and in real life. Just saying!) That'll never get old for me. Science cannot catch a break in this show. (You wonder why I yell SUZY SHEEP~ for every logic break now? It's magic. This required Edmond Elephant, and he's not even at the fair.) Danny Dog loves his reflection in the wobbly mirrors as he has been squished while George goes to dinosaur heights. While Pedro gains a giraffe neck. Daddy Pig's mirror makes him look not fat. HAHA! Daddy Pig; you aren't the most mind blowing thing in this episode. That honor goes to Miss Rabbit; because then we see a second Miss Rabbit carrying two rabbit twins. (Rosie and Robbie - I was hoping that Rosie was the one in the blue footy pjs and Robbie in the purple footy pjs; but no luck sadly. Actually, the narrator proclaims that it's Mummy Rabbit with the twins, so it gives away the suspense of identical twins right from the start.) They are staring at her. Now; suddenly, the "Miss Rabbit taking multiple odd jobs" suddenly makes slightly more sense now. There are technically TWO Miss Rabbits; but one is the real Miss Rabbit and the other one looks like Miss Rabbit; but is her identical sister, Mummy Rabbit. This is actually brilliant and it kills the logic break of Miss Rabbit having way too many jobs to kill the believability of the angle. (No it did not, former self. The American Miss Rabbits did that in Series Seven!) Although this show did find a way to kill the believability of the angle in spite of that. More on that in "The Golden Boots". Also; it is going to confuse a lot of people in the long run asking questions like "Is this the real Miss Rabbit; or her twin sister?!". However, that is minor compared to killing the angle's believability. I have no problem with this. Miss Rabbit handles Rosie Rabbit as everyone in the tent comes out. Daddy Pig has so bought into this hook, line and sinker that he believes Mummy Rabbit holding Robbie Rabbit is an invisible mirror. This serves to show that Peppa was right about this magic, which Daddy Pig thinks it's magic. That made me laugh. Peppa blows him off as being silly because it is Mummy Rabbit and Miss Rabbit. SUCKER~! The rabbits are so modest about this since they are sisters. Balloons rise up and all the non-rabbit furries do the backsplash laugh while the rabbits all laugh -- including the baby twins -- to end the episode at 4:30 approx. This was an awesome episode: They took a simple concept, played it to the hilt and we even got actual development for the best character on the show, Miss Rabbit. This is not the best episode of the series; but it's close. **** 3/4 (95%).

Pedro Is Late: Last up is episode #198 on the animation paper as the episode opens at the school house on the hill. Everyone is about to get on Miss Rabbit's house. Oh wait; there is someone missing. I wonder who it could be?! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge! Suzy pretty much says it all because we cut to Pedro Pony in bed snoring in his pjs without his glasses. (This would be the first time we have been inside Pedro F'N Pony's house.) Mummy Pony runs in and yells at him to wake him up. Pedro is all "okay" and slowly walks out of the room and the house into Mummy Pony's car. Mummy Pony drives the car down the hill as we cut back to the bus and Miss Rabbit has had enough of this because the museum is going to close soon. Madame Gazelle gets into the bus and Miss Rabbit drives away stage right. In from the western front comes Mummy Pony and Pedro F'N Pony and Pedro just has to believe that this means they are early. Yip, Pedro Pony is clueless. Mummy Pony blows him off and then decides to try to catch up with said bus. We go onto the boring road and inside with Suzy and Peppa mocking Pedro's lack of punctionality. Then here comes Mummy Pony demanding they stop the bus right now. If I'm Miss Rabbit, I would keep going and simply make a path for Mummy Pony to follow to the museum. Therefore, they would all make it on time and Pedro can still be blown off. Nope; they stop the car and the bus and let Pedro inside to allow Pedro to apologize and Madame Gazelle to not be amused by this. (Well, it's about to get worse.) We restart the bus and literally five seconds later, Pedro needs the bathroom. As stupid as this is; it turns out the other kids need it too, so this isn't Pedro Pony's fault this time. This means Miss Rabbit has to stop at Granddad Dog's garage and we have to see the funny sort of visual of all the kids going into the smallest shop ever, which must have the smallest washroom ever. The toilet has to be a large pit toilet; there's no way a dozen kids fit in this room. Oh; and this includes Madame Gazelle by the way. (The definition of having TARDIS abilities.) Granddad does the hard sell; Miss Rabbit no sells him of course and we continue on our merry way to the musuem on the hill. Of course, Pedro is so clueless as he is looking at the petro pumps like there is a conspiracy or something; before Gazelle has to pull him back into the bus. Pedro needs to be disallowed from class trips. He wastes too much time as it is and someone has to tell him to grow up. Mr. Rabbit is closing up the museum, but the bus parks on the steepest side of the hill and everyone manages to get there just in time for Mr. Rabbit to say that while it's closing time, he can grant a quick tour. This will be the shortest class trip in history. Way to go Pedro, way to fucking go! (Pedro Pony is always a geek of the week everytime he is on screen. It's his gimmick, you see.)

Basically; we go inside as we look at the royal gowns, dinosaurs and space stuff from previous episodes, only without the mine cart ride and Pedro is of course, a clueless idiot. I did love the finish of this tour where Mr. Rabbit basically tells them that there is the greatest room of them all and it's the outside world of reality. That was funny. (Also funny, a broken vase repaired on display.) Madame Gazelle thanks him for the tour, sort of. Mr. Rabbit says goodbye and slams the door. Of course; Pedro Pony is still inside, because he is a stupid idiot. The mollusca under glass has more brain power than Pedro. Still more brain power than Donald Trump, though. Then Madame Gazelle goes back in and grabs Pedro and she is slowly looking pissed off as they head outside and of course, Miss Rabbit has jettison them. I betcha Peppa had something to do with this, the little troll! Madame Gazelle thinks I'm wrong and Miss Rabbit will turn around. Keep in mind; they jettisoned Pedro Pony early on and it took Mummy Pony and her car to stop them. Jump cut to the boring road as Miss Rabbit and company are singing the "Bing Bong Song". Yip; this was Peppa's idea. (Miss Rabbit singing the song better than Gigi Gazelle is also funny.) I disagree with the narrator. It's really that they don't care. Cut back to the museum as Mr. Rabbit has his green car out of nowhere pointing down the hill. Madame Gazelle deputizes his car because she's a teacher you see. This would have been fine, if Mr. Rabbit was allowed in the car with them. Yes; Gazelle and Pedro get in the car and drive away stage left, leaving Mr. Rabbit behind. Yes; a car jacking in a pre-school show?! Wow, just wow show. (John Enter would have blood shoot from his eyes if he ever saw this. This was a bad idea. At least let Mr. Rabbit drive the damn thing and make it an uber ride. The most pathetic carjacking ever. Gigi declares herself a teacher, the two carjackers get into the car and drive away. The most non-violent carjacking ever, which just makes this episode fall off a cliff.) Madame Gazelle apparently has been exchanging notes on shortcuts with the Pig family because they take the shortcut of doom where Pedro can say hello to the ducks. They quack and this causes a jump cut to the school house on the hill as the green car makes it to the school house; but there is no bus to be found. Gazelle gets out with Pedro and Pedro of course thinks he's early. Except this time, he is right as the bus has indeed arrived later than Pedro F'N Pony. The kids get out as Pedro blows off Peppa for being late and calls them slow coaches. Everyone except Pedro and Miss Rabbit perform the backsplash laugh to end the episode at 4:30 approx. The narrator's take on this: Everyone loves being early. And really, who can argue?! Episode was dumb, but somewhat fun. But please; no more criminal acts on this show, okay?! (Uh-oh! That promise will be broken when Daddy Pig becomes a criminal in his own right. And what did that involve? Concrete. And would you believe it wasn't Simple Science?! *** 1/4 (65%).)

THE REVIEW LINE

Well; we continue down the road with George having the race of his life for my amusement as Danny Dog and Pedro Pony just cannot buy a break on this show. Ouch! Mirrors was a great episode where they took a simple concept in mirror reflections and turned it into a classic comedy of twin magic and some really fun interactions with said reflections. Also, some funny moments with the kids just burying the poor sciency guy deep within the earth. The Sandpit was a fun romp and you need to see The Little Boat just for the scene with Daddy Pig and Daddy Wolf on a canoe. It's only ten seconds, but it was a hilarious ten seconds of fun. It might even had a chance to be a thumbs up episode if it wasn't for another feeding of the ducks. The rest were all right, but the show is showing signs of wear and tear as we are close to halfway mark of this entire show with eleven episodes left to go along with the three special episodes. The four part holiday episode arc is a prime example of this as they managed to do three running gags way too many times and only two of them were funny (Daddy Pig falling into the swimming and Mummy Pig's overloaded luggage), and it was made worse by Goldie getting overfed. So...

Thumbs up for Mirrors and George's Racing Car. Thumbs in the middle for everything else and I'll see you all next time.

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