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Peppa Pig Tales #3 Rant

Reviewed: 01/17/2023

Old School Peppa Pig Is Back! Sort of Part Thrice!

Well, since Peppa Pig the series has been slowing down and there's only four episode left in the pot, I was going to resume TaleSpin work this year. An easy series that gives me great joy in terms of mockery and enjoyment. There is still lots let to do before I can finally wrap that show up? Sadly, TaleSpin has been delayed until at least 2023, because my second love and enjoyment decided to really run interference on me. How so you ask? Welcome to the Rant Shack: Peppa Pig Tales! And after the very first episode, I cannot resist and I'm going to rant on these "shorts" because Baby Alexander is back and creating a lot more questions than answers. Peppa Pig Tales is a series of short 3-3 1/2 minute episodes (Literally up to 75% of an average "Peppasode".) of Peppa Pig doing stuff without the original voices or creators with most of the "filler" cut out. That's basically it. It is awkward listening to this when you are so used to seeing the show, however; it is basically the same in term of premise. So, I'll be doing eight episodes per block like I always do until this series gets sick and tired of this and goes back to the actual Peppa Pig series which has reached eight series up to this point. How do these episodes fare? Let's rant on shall we..?!

New Year's Resolution and Vending Machine is written by Tod Gidman, with head writer being Ryan Denham for all episodes involved. Christmas Tree and Back To School is written by Ryan Denham. New Year's Eve and Fruit & Veg Scavenger Hunt is written by Bita Joudaki. Snow Monster and Backwards Day is written by Jessica Silcock and Naomi Smith. The animation and production is for EOne Entertainment (who published DVD's for WWE in the past in Canadian markets), done by Lil CritterWorkshop in Malaysia, although the company has invested in a studio in the UK recently. According to the link I provided: LCW launched in Malaysia in 2015 and has produced two 2D-animated comedy series, Hogie the Globehopper (52 x 11 minutes) in 2016 and Buck & Buddy (60 x six minutes) in 2020. After debuting in Malaysia, Hogie was picked up by Netflix in 2017, where it airs globally, and it has since sold to linear broadcasters Discovery Kids MENA and CITV in the UK. The prodco’s first CG-animated show Billy Fei and the Cloud Trials (26 x 22 minutes) is an action-adventure series for children ages six to 10 and is co-produced by fellow Malaysian animation studio Scribble Studios. The two companies received an undisclosed amount from Epic Games’ US$100 million MegaGrant program to fund the project last year.

Christmas Tree: We start with another Christmas episode! MAKE IT STOP~! Okay, this looks like the last one, so let's get this over with. Short opens with Daddy Pig dragging a tree and trying to push it up onto the roof of the car, struggling and blushing. Now, I would expect this to be a big effort regardless, but Peppa is "helping" a tiny little bit...and by that I mean Peppa is being a troll and hanging onto the trunk of the tree, giggling. This ends with Daddy Pig putting the tree on top of the roof of the car and Peppa is now stuck on the top of the roof of said car. Oh, and now Daddy Pig cannot find Peppa, so Peppa snorts to get his attention. They laugh, it was sort of funny as Mummy Pig and George arrive out of the tree lot with a box of Christmas decorations. George has a brown bird ornament which is surprising. What? No dinesaur ornament? That's sad, everyone. Everyone cheers and gets into the car as off-screen, Daddy Pig remembers to tie the tree down onto the roof of the car. Peppa waves goodbye to Miss Rabbit in her usual booth because of course she has multiple gimmicks. The car drives west onto the clear boring road while the family sings Jingle Bells to waste time. Then we have a massive problem: There is a conveniently placed tunnel where it's clear the tree cannot fit with the car, but Daddy Pig decides to go slowly and hope the snow is only snow. Nope, they go slowly and the car is now stuck, because the tree is too big to fit. Daddy Pig backs up the car and decides to go the long way home as at least two branches have no needles now. So, they take the exit and go the long way west singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and they go into a giant forest of trees that only exists to make the road bumpy and fail to extend in either direction. It's like someone planted trees decades ago on the sides of the road and just left it there. Peppa isn't liking this bumpy road, but when George giggles, Peppa giggles with him. That was funny! Sadly, the tree is tearing apart as Daddy Pig tries to go left to a no trees road, and the wind is worse here and the Christmas tree has only needles at the bottom of the stem as the car arrives at the little house on the hill. Everyone gets out as Daddy Pig stands the tree, and the last two needle branches fall down and the tree is bare. Everything is lost...but Peppa has an idea: Just decorate the tree anyway and put it outside. That's exactly what they do, without any heistation. The real brown birds come in and decide to perch onto the tree as the family decides "Why not?" and goes inside AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark). More birds perch, it snows and we end the episode at 3:06 with Father Christmas on his sleigh hoing. A fun episode with some funny spots. *** (60%).

Snow Monster: We begin this one with Peppa running in the snow snorting. Peppa and Pedro F'N Pony are being chased by Suzy throwing snow balls at them. It is snowing as Daddy Pig is finished making three snowmen, with green, blue and yellow colors. Suzy throws the snow ball, it misses Peppa, and hits the trunk of a conveniently placed tree, and the snow on the tree buries Peppa. Geez, Suzy; stop turning the knife on Peppa. Typical Suzy, she's Peppa's best friend and just keeps burying her. Peppa pops from the carnage, and it's cold. The kids throw snow balls at each other, then ride a sledge downhill burying themselves into a conveniently placed snowbank which somehow doesn't bury Daddy Pig. Daddy Pig has snow on his cheek as Peppa pops from the carnage, and it's cold. Daddy Pig wants Peppa to come inside because if she doesn't, she'll turn into a snow monster. The fact that Daddy Pig is acting dead serious throughout the whole thing makes this even funnier and only buries Mummy Pig's acting even further in Monkey Has A Cough. Peppa Pig is totally no selling this, she is clearly not buying what Daddy Pig is selling, because she can read that Daddy Pig is just acting. The kids are clearly not buying this and want five more minutes, which in Peppa Pig's time would be less than thirty seconds. Daddy Pig decides to let them have five more minutes and the kids bust out of the carnage and Daddy Pig gets more snow and laughter. Next segment: kids make snow angels for a while. They make a giant snowball and then throw snow balls at each other for a while, all while Daddy Pig bails stage right. Suzy taunts Peppa and Peppa creates a bigger snow ball. Peppa throws the snow ball, it misses Suzy and smacks into the wall of the house on the hill next to the door where Daddy Pig is about to open the door. Daddy Pig panics and then the snow on the roof drops and buries Daddy Pig into the Snow Monster from Sun, Sea & Snow! HAHA! About time they brought this back, it was funny the first time. Daddy lost his glasses and is now stalking towards the kids as the kids all stop throwing and panic because Daddy Pig was "right" all along. What makes this funnier is: Daddy Pig asks for his glasses, so the kids already know it's Daddy Pig doing his snowman routine from Sun, Sea & Snow, so they bail smiling and laughing while trying to do a hilariously bad attempt at selling it like a horror movie. This was so great, and I was laughing my ass off.

The kids all hide behind the three conveniently placed snowmen, whom the kids can barely contain their laughter. One carrot falls off the snowman's nose and Daddy Snow Monster manages to tumble two snowmen without causing any damage to them whatsoever. This look almost as fake as Daddy Pig's dive in Swimming. The kids all bail as Daddy Pig speaks and the kids stop their hilariously fake selling of fear and act like they were surprised that it was Daddy Pig and not a snow monster. They clean off Daddy Pig's face to reveal him. Pedro points out the obvious to us as the kids decide to go in to warm up Daddy Pig. Daddy Pig wants to find his glasses on the way, so Suzy fishes them out of the snow angel and gives them to Daddy Pig. Daddy Pig thanks Suzy Sheep as they head inside the house to the stairs and Daddy Pig shakes the snow off of him like a dog and the kids get snow for their bad selling and trouble. The kids and Daddy head into the sitting room on the chairs for some hot chocolate and marshmellows. They blow the cups and drink up as Daddy Pig's marshmellows make up a white mustache on his face. HAHA! Daddy proclaims that even snow monsters love hot chocolate as everyone laughs to end the episode at 3:06. The best Peppa Pig Tales episode so far. Everything clicked here and Daddy Pig did a better job making the kids look like hilariously bad actors in the process. **** 3/4 (95%).

New Year's Eve: Short opens with Daddy Pig in the sitting room decorating and blowing up balloons. He blushes on the lime green one and let's it fly around the room. George is playing on the couch with a balloon while Peppa is running around. She also jumps up and down only once. Damn, we were so close to Series 1 Peppa Pig there for a second. The guests have arrived with Mummy Pig as the balloon finally runs out of air and drops. Guest: Mummy Elephant in a rare appearance, Suzy Sheep, Danny Dog, Emily Elephant (sadly at the 13 second mark, the green out of air balloon acts like a penis on Emily's dress) and Edmond Elephant. Please, let him be an actual smart-ass like Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, that's all I ask. Apparently, Peppa is allowed to stay up at midnight, while Edmond is taking a nap so he can be fresh when the fireworks start. Problem: This assures Edmond will be up all night and probably being a clever clogs. George is almost asleep, so Daddy Pig scoops up George and follows Mummy Elephant and Edmond upstairs to take their naps. Mummy asks if Peppa wants a nap, Peppa no sells because she's going to stay up until midnight like normal kids do. 2:1 odds they all fall asleep and miss midnight. The kids all decide to go into Peppa's room. Wait, George's room is in Peppa's room; so the kids are playing building blocks and we hear snoring. I thought that we would see Edmond and George asleep in their bunk bed. Nope! We pan over, Peppa is already fast asleep. HAHA! Speaking of sleep, she make an L out of "Z" blocks. That was funny. Someone must have donated all those Z blocks because it's a logic break otherwise. Emily yells at Peppa which wakes up Peppa and Peppa denies falling asleep. HA! Danny Dog realizes that they are screwed, because sleep is going to happen to all of them before midnight, mark my words! So, they decide to play "Jump"; which is basically make funny faces and loud noises to keep them awake. This is a fools errand. Next up, Danny suggest Hide and Seek and Danny will be the seeker. 2:1 odds he falls asleep. The other kids all giggle and bail to hide while Danny closes his eyes and counts to three. Danny opens his eyes and looks around and finds Emily Elephant sleeping in a tomb of plush dolls. Okay, that was better than Danny sleeping on his feet counting. Danny shouts "Found You!" and Emily arises from the carnage, causing the monkey plush doll to fall onto Danny's head. They giggle, I giggle.

Suzy Sheep is sleeping underneath a conveniently placed rug. HA! Danny yells "Found You!" and Suzy wakes up. Suzy completely denies that she was sleepy. Yeah, sure; Suzy. Danny and Suzy giggle as Danny is in the right location because Peppa is hiding behind a red lampshade. Despite the rest of her body clearly shown, Danny cannot find this naughty piggie. He only finds her when Peppa starts snoring again. Danny finds her, yells and this turns on the lamp since Peppa's arm hit THE SWITCH~! Peppa is groggy and in denial of her sleeping, so the kids have a sitting confernece on the rug as we get cameos of Teddy, Mr. Dinesaur, and a couple of mice plushies. So, the kids all decide to get something to eat, which is a nice way of saying that they are going to raid the fridge. We have food and they are so full, even though all of them are fruits and vegetables. I betcha they got their SEVEN~ in this one snack alone. The food made them even sleepier as Emily nods off to sleep and Peppa is dangerously close to joining her. Peppa nods off to sleep with Suzy and Danny sleeping on the floor. Suzy didn't even have the decency to finish her banana before nodding off. Ironically, in comes George and Edmond to yell at them and they all wake up again as Danny know has cherries on the head. I guess having the banana land on his head was too disgusting, even for this show. Oh, and it's actually close to midnight now so, everyone gets their winter clothes on and head outside counting down as Doctor Elephant joins the countdown. The countdown goes to zero, fireworks shoot out and Happy New Year to end the episode at 3:15. The psychology of this episode was glorious, and Edmond is still a clever clogs. *** 3/4 (75%).

New Year's Resolution: Short opens with Peppa playing hopstoch on the playground while Emily Elephant bounces on Pedro's orange riding ball. Also present are Danny Dog, Candy Cat, and Suzy Sheep. We finally have an official name for the ball: Space Hopper. Thank you, narrator, I have been up all night for the last five years wondering what the name of that ride was. Emily hops to a sandpit as Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig and George arrive as well. The kids wonder why Emily is doing this and Emily claims that this is her new years resolution. Emily explains that it's a challenge to do for a whole year and Emily has decided to bounce on a space hopper for the year. Peppa actually pronounces resolution correctly despite being a bit awkward and the kids decide to do this challenge for 2023. Danny Dog breaks the ice and my brain by claiming that he is going to score a gazillion soccer balls into the net. Geez, he just set himself up for failure there. That's toxic masculinity since the number is not falseable. A million goals would be at least a falseable goal. A really bad goal; but still a goal (2740 goals a day?! 114 goals an hour?! Come on, Danny!). Danny kicks balls into a conveniently placed net as Peppa, Candy and Suzy bail stage left. Suzy then disappoints me that saying that her resolution is to talk in gibberish basically, and she does. Too easy of a goal. Suzy should have said "I'm going to chop the tree down, for real!" The greatest moment in Suzy's career and BS&P won't let her say it anymore. That's a real conspiracy! Suzy bails to bounce around talking nonsense as Candy Cat's new years resolution is to growl like a tiger. Candy Cat's roar is almost as bad as Mummy Mouse trying to sound scary, Peppa is not in the mood to bury her for that bad roar. Candy bails chasing an out of nowhere butterfly for a while. Peppa ponders this over, still breaking in the word resolution and decides that she'll jump up and down in muddy puddles. DING! Aren't resolutions suppose to be something you don't usually do on a regular basis?! Peppa bails to look for a muddy puddle as Danny Dog is kicking soccer balls into the net and keeps restarting his count after six. So, Danny cannot count properly. Gigi appears and disappears in like two seconds, so what was the point of her appearance here? Danny is blown up to boot as Emily bounces in on the Space Hopper and Candy's roar is so bad that it still manages to force Emily off the Space Hopper and lands on her ass on the ground.

Peppa is on the swings swinging and looking for that elusive muddy puddle of doom. Emily chases the Space Hopper bouncing stage left. Peppa looks behind a tree, still cannot find that damn muddy puddle. Peppa walks around in a disorganization fashion for a while and then asks Suzy for help, Suzy cannot help her find the muddy puddle. Danny apparently he stopped selling being blown up. Suzy then speaks gibberish again while dancing as Candy Cat is roaring, Emily is still chasing the Space Hopper and Danny Dog is still blown up, so his selling is as bad as his impossible resolution. Daddy Pig, Mummy Pig, and George arrive as Mummy Pig is giggling at their expense and Danny Dog channels Malkimum by calling resolutions "reservations". It's much funnier here than when Malkimum does it. He also speaks in internet speak with the elevenly twelve line. Peppa explains her situation and the adults giggle because they are doing it all wrong. You see, New Years Resolutions are about helping people do stuff, like helping with the wash, or tidying up rooms and other stuff. Danny sits on his ass and is relieved because scoring an impossible amount of goals is impossible, and doing chores is much easier. HAHA! The episode then ends with Gigi Gazelle outclassing Danny Dog with her soccer ball kicks into the net while saying "speak for yourself" at 3:04. Everyone was laughing after this, it was funny. *** 1/2 (70%).

Back To School: Short opens with Mummy Pig entering Peppa's room declaring that it's time to go back to playgroup and Peppa appears wearing a Santa outfit. Because even though these Christmas episodes are over, Peppa just has to troll the audience somehow. Mummy Pig's acting has gotten better since Monkey Has A Cough, so that's a huge win, I think. Mummy Pig peels off the clothes because it's not right for playgroup. Considering that Pedro F'N Pony once wore a superhero outfit on Gym Day, "Press X For Doubt". Even though Mummy Pig at least once this world to move on from all of this Christmas stuff like most everyone else. Mummy Pig proclaims that playgroup can be fun and tells her to pack her backpack and change her boots to shoes even though Mummy Pig didn't say that, Peppa took the boots off anyway. Jump cut to the sitting room as Peppa is literally dragging her backpack and Daddy Pig is on the couch noticing this. Daddy Pig decides to help and...Here's my bad analogy of the following spot: There is a video of the Phillie Phanatic trying to do weight lifting and cannot lift the weights to save his life, and the PP is huge. Then a 12 year old (doesn't matter the gender) who is thin and small, would lift the barbells with ease (because the barbells are filled with air and the PP is basically letting the kid win) causing PP to do the exact same spot Dr. Wily does in Mega Man after he's defeated at the end of every game. Here, Daddy Pig manages to lift the backpack with ease, but is still blushing because it's still too heavy puts it down on the table, because it's not filled with air. Basically, Peppa filled up the backpack with Christmas decorations designed to give Daddy Pig a Christmas hernina. It turns out that it only has an owl decoration which doesn't have to be a Christmas theme, so why not? There is tinsel and candy canes. Wow, my bad analogy wasn't as far off base than when I typed it. Oh, and there is some brussel sprouts. None of these would have been enough to make it that heavy. Can you not bury Daddy Pig any further than you already have, show?! Even worse, he puts in a banana, crayons and a book (featuring a character from Ben & Holly's Magical Kingdom) from Santa which Peppa likes; and he handles it with ease. Does that owl weigh 100 pounds or something?! So, Mummy Pig and George with his backpack join them and head outside as Peppa sees the sledge and wants to ride. Mummy Pig no sell because almost all the snow has melted.

The snowman is literally gone from smiling to frowning at this point, in which Daddy Pig points out the obvious here. So, the car it is and Peppa is not amused, so Daddy Pig has to reassure her that playgroup can be just as fun. Everyone hops into the car and heads to playgroup with the magical tactic known as a jump cut to the family already inside the school house on the hill. Gigi Gazelle is here along with Suzy Sheep impersonating a doctor...AGAIN! There is a spotty ball present along with Freddy Fox and Pedro Pony. The kids start exchanging ideas, which include dressing up (so ditching the Santa outfit was a bad idea after all? Peppa staring a hole in Mummy Pig commencing...), reading books which Peppa shows off her book from Santa, and in Freddy Fox's case: riding scooters. Well, that last one was really out of left field even for this show. Peppa Pig finally concedes that playgroup is as fun as Christmas, and actually more so because you'll do it five days a week for 50 weeks compared to Christmas where you do it maximum four weeks at most. The kids take their scooter and leads them outside with Peppa wearing the crown. The narrator says it all to end the episode at 3:07. Just your average Peppasode epiosode. ** 1/2 (50%).

Fruit and Veg(etable) Scavenger Hunt: Short opens with Peppa running in the garden in her yellow boots with a basket near the white house on the hill. There must have been some rain the last day or so to make the ground that muddy. Peppa pops one head of lettuce from the top left side of the garden as George and Grandpa Pig join in with boots on. Normally, I would go into the usual spiel of calling the final spot now; but they already did the spot, sort of. The narrator proclaims that the purpose of this episode is to find fruits and veggies for Granny Pig. Grandpa Pig has a list and apparently, it's filled with questions. Food product #1: What fruit is available in red or green? 2:1 odds it's apples; which is sort of wrong because apples can be in multiple different types of colors, including yellow. You can also have red and green cherries as well, so this muddies up the question straight away. George realizes the answer is apples and goes to the two apples trees right away. Peppa is cross at George for wanting to eat instead of looking for answers. Somethings never change. An apple comes down and it falls down on the ground in a position where it should have hit one of them on the head. This is clearly BS&P stepping in since there was an episode of this very show in an earlier season where Peppa got hit on the head with a ball due to George having the hiccups and the hiccups screwed up his aim. Peppa finds the conveniently placed apple despite there being two apples in the background, which were written out by teleport. What, no green apple? Colourist!! Food product #2: What veggie is orange, long and crunchy? Answer: Carrot and this find is more obvious because the carrots are to the left of George and the orange is clearly shown. Peppa remembers that Rebecca brings carrots to playgroup, so the gimmick of her loving carrots is still around, only more subtle. Peppa then walks around the tree behind the carrot patch and then demands to know where the carrot trees are. HAHA! So, the right patch of leaves was clearly a decoy, or the next product on the list. Either way, Grandpa Pig says that not everything grows on trees, (Granny: Especially, money! Grandpa: I didn't say money doesn't grow on trees.) sometimes it grows on the ground. George notices the biggest carrot in the patch and of course it takes THREE pig furries to pull it out of the ground. George has the giant carrot, the rest sit on their asses literally. HA!

Food Product #3: A veggie that looks like small trees. Answer: Broccoli. In Japan, the typical kid actually likes broccoli and apparently, doesn't like green peppers. This actually makes Sora's character for the English dub from Digimon make sense, although again, it may or may not be what she likes in the original. I don't know enough of the original version to make that call. However, Sora loving broccoli would not be out of place in Japan at all. However, enough of another show; the funniest moment of the episode is upon us as Peppa and George search around and then give up by sitting right on top of the broccoli. HAHA! They did spot it by looking down and then got off so Grandpa Pig could use the safety scissors (which are ironically not safe for children) to snip the broccoli and put it in the basket. Now, there is Food Production #4 and the last one: Oranges. Was Granny Pig trolling us all along? Figures, knowing this family. Grandpa Pig is confused because he doesn't grow orange, so the hunt is on anyway. George finds a potted plant with an orange pot near a lake with various plants, but still no dice to be had. Peppa and George walk some more and they find a pumpkin, which is close but no orange so to speak. They all give up and guess who comes in with a basket filled with oranges, come on guess, it's too shocking. SURPRISE! IT'S OKAY, BOOMER! POW! OUCH! Ummmmm...Again, my comment is accurate so you look like a fool because it's Granny Pig admitting that she bought them from the supermarket. In other words, the list was really a shopping list and they wasted all this time in the garden finding stuff and Grandpa Pig forgot what the list actually was. That was funny, actually as everyone laughs to end the episode at 3:02. Funny finish to a fine episode. *** 1/4 (65%).

Vending Machine: Short opens with Peppa Pig racing a shopping cart in the supermarket with George on it holding some greens and there is a green bag in said cart. The cart is stopped at the check-out so Daddy Pig can put a second green bag of stuff into the cart; and we race on stage left. Peppa is saying goodbye to the shop; when suddenly she sees a vending machine and calls it a robot. Daddy Pig has to correct her because it's a vending machine. Peppa still calls it a robot as Mummy Pig explains how a vending machine works, and agrees to buy something from it, as long as each family member gets only one thing. Peppa goes first with the coin and apparently, this robot vending machine has a slide panel to choose the item and then you push the button, so this vending machine is way ahead of it's time compared to the vending machines in Nova Scotia. Peppa chooses a box drink of orange juice, puts a straw in it and drinks. George is next and wants some dinosaur biscuits and Daddy Pig helps George with the slide panel as George puts the coin in. George pushes the button, gets the dinosaur biscuits and his pronouncation is now "dine-e-saur". He still has trouble pronouncing the "o" in dinosaur. Daddy Pig is next and he wants a can of soda, so he does the usual routine and the orange soda can comes down and lands on a shelf inside the vending machine. When he's not dumb, he has the same bad luck as Donald Duck now. I can guess the finish before it even happens: Daddy Pig shakes the vending machine, which is in fact dangerously dumb on his part, and all the items falls into the bin where you get the item after buying it; except for the can of soda. Mummy Pig decides to buy a sandwich, since the soda is in front of it; and does. Problem is, the sandwich lands perfect; but the drink is in front of the pineapple. Yes, there is fresh produce in the vending machine, why do you ask?! Mummy Pig's otherwise brilliant plan has backfired. Daddy Pig then inserts more coins and continues to fail to get this can of soda to fall into the bin, but everything else falls in kind. Okay, that is still dumb; but far less dangerous, so okay then. Finally, the soda falls down where it should be and Daddy Pig picks it up. It's grape soda and Daddy Pig does the dumbest thing possible: Open it at normal speed instead of opening it up slowly because it's so fizzy that it splashes literally into his kisser. HAHA! Daddy Pig wants something else, but no dice because the vending machine is empty with spiderwebs. Time goes by so quickly in this show as Peppa shows off all the items they bought and they all laugh to end the episode at 3:03. This reminds me of "The Long Flight Home" TaleSpin comic book story where Baloo is trying to win a model airplane at the fair, and failing so badly that he ended up buying the airplane model for Kit anyway. It was funny then, it's funny now. *** 1/2 (70%).

Backwards Day: Short opens with Peppa Pig and Suzy Sheep taking back bumps in the sitting room while wearing boots on their hands, backwards baseball caps and stylized glasses at the back of their heads to really jackhammer the point that this is backwards day, with no build to it either. I'm surprised because this kind of episode would be perfect as a full episode on the main show. Sadly, they kind of ruin it by not being barefoot during this. Mummy and Daddy Pig enter the room as the two kids wave goodbye and walk backwards, this legit confuses the adults. It would have been funnier if they were on it right away and trying to act confused; but no, they were legit confused. Daddy Pig literally checked his glasses, so you cannot say that it's worked confusion. Peppa bumps into Mummy Pig backwards for fun as Daddy Pig asks why they are doing this nonsense. Peppa and Suzy explain the obvious to us, everything is fine as Mummy Pig tells them to have fun and Suzy say "no, we won't". Keep in mind, there is no trolling being done here because the rules of Backwards Day is you say and do the opposite, so saying "no, we won't" is funny because it's the opposite of what they normally say. Oh, and they trip backwards off-screen and there is an off-screen bump, in a show where Peppa took on-screen bumps on a pumpkin and tripped on the floor and teased a broken arm in that Christmas episode that was Harley Bird's final voice acting role as Peppa Pig. The kids head outside as the kids chase each other backwards. Somehow, Peppa was able to tag Suzy. If that's the case; then shouldn't the victim chaser be the tagger?! So, if there are ten kids, the tagger would be the tagge and therefore there are NINE kids against one. Sure, it's punching down; but in the game of Backwards Day, it makes perfect sense. The narrator calls it difficult to play games backwards, I call it funny. Peppa trips on a rock and lands on her ass on-screen (so much for BS&P RULEZ~!) and Suzy buries herself into a conveniently placed pile of leaves backwards. Sadly, they had to break the rules of the day to get Suzy out of the leaf tomb. Suzy suggests playing this game in the park and they chase each other backwards on the sidewalk while Daddy Pig is reading a newspaper on the bench. Normally, if he wanted to read something in this day, he would read it backwards. The problem is: In order to make this work, Daddy Pig has to read stuff properly since his gimmick is that he reads maps upside down anyway. There is a trash bin to his right.

The kids continue their game as they pass Mr. Bull, and then Mr. Bull decides to run backwards to make small talk with the kids. I laughed and I laughedf and I laughed some more. Mr. Bull jogs past them backwards and wants to do backwards drill since he is now going to observe this holiday. Also funny. Not funny: 24 episodes in and not once have we seen Penny Polar Bear nor the two mommies. Mandy Mouse hasn't been in many episodes either. Jump cut to near a tree with Danny Dog and Captain Dog having a picnic and I'm dreading that this show is willing to let them feed the ducks. Mr. Bull runs in backwards, steps onto a picnic basket and the picnic basket is stuck on the foot. Mr. Bull apologizes as the Dog family has blank stares at him, like they are ready to murder Mr. Bull into hamburger. Jump cut to the kids on the swings and Peppa Pig realizes that there is no difference doing it backwards. HAHA! The roundabout requires them to throw their boots away to turn the roundabout and anything in the circle kinda kills the logic of being backwards. Backwards frisbee on the other paw can be done backwards, but throwing it is much easier than it is to catch it backwards, as the frisbee lands in the bushes. Daddy Pig comes in and asks if they want ice-cream and the kids screw up the response because in backwards day, "yes" means "no" and "no" means "yes". Before anyone gets any ideas: They are following the rules of their own game that they consented on, so it's not like my rant on Baloo's attitude with Broadcast Sally in The Time Bandit. So, the kids and Daddy Pig head to Miss Rabbit ice-cream bicycle as the kids are walking backwards and Miss Rabbit is the only one who is self-aware of this right from the very start. I told you Miss Rabbit is capable of burying everyone, as I said in Naughty Tortoise. Miss Rabbit takes one step backwards, but has to turn around forward to give them the ice-cream. Peppa gets chocolate and Suzy gets strawberry. Peppa decides to eat the ice-cream upside down and the chocolate scoop lands on her dress. HA! Miss Rabbit states that upside down is not quite backwards day. Well, the gimmick is that it's the opposite, so it's totally like that. Peppa then decides that this day is over and has the second ice cream from Miss Rabbit as all gimmicks are turned around to end the episode at 3:06. I said this early in the episode and I love it still because this should have been a full episode done at Playgroup. I can imagine the chaos of this with Gigi Gazelle right about now. **** 1/4 (85%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well, we are now 24 episodes in (almost half of a full series in the main show); and it has been exactly as I predicted: A fun show that I actually enjoy. No real bad episodes, and Snow Monster was legit best of Peppa Pig material right there, all due to Daddy Pig's snowman routine. I never gave it the proper credit it deserved in Sun, Sea & Snow and I'm glad they brought it back and worked spots around it to make it a totally awesome experience. Backwards Day is another episode that they could have made into a full episode on the main show and still be awesome. Yes, they would need a little more filler, but the premise was on point, although the kids had to break logic in certain spots to make it work better. New Year's Eve was also really great and Vending Machine's finish was great in that they found a way to do the "get everything" spot without doing the most dangerous obvious thing. Sometimes BS&P can be a good thing, and this was a demonstration of it. Maybe an unintentional nod to Baloo trying to win a model airplane in "The Long Flight Home", too. So...

Thumbs way up for Snow Monster and Backwards Day; thumbs in the middle for everything else, and I'll see you all next time.

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