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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: The Journey Home
Reviewed: 06/22/2013
Just What It Says.
Well; after a pretty emotional back story of Burl (and Tweeg since bringing the funny like he always does; we finally get to the real reunion as Teddy is heading back home while Tweeg is training with Elroy; and LB finally shows a bit of respect to Tweeg. So let's rant on shall we? Now there will be no credits for this one since they all use the exact same ED credits anyway (although; the first six to 12 episodes might be an exception, but whatever).
We begin this one with a far shot of Gimmick's house as there is such a breeze that the leaves are flying around in the foreground. We pan over to the air ship (with the ultimate makeshift balloon) as the babyfaces are preparing the ship to return to Rillonia. Burl is just spacing out at the front of the ship wonder what the village looks like after ten years of being missing. Speaking of missing; some sense here: that breeze looks like another major wind storm (from Octopede Sailors) and they are treating it like another windy day. That is just not smart as they rise anchor and the airship flies into the air after a long sequence. Scene changer as we pan over to an ocean with storm clouds approaching. We pan over as the surf grunges are surfing the waves as per their gimmick (no pun intended). Strangely; they all have the same character, but also look completely different. We get some surfing spots to amuse me as we then pan to the shore as Buffy is calling this romantic on the shore with LB and Tweeg who is wearing SWANK purple splashed swimming trunks and blue sandals. The animators could never get Tweeg's feet right either because half of the time; he wears sandals and the other half he does not. Not as logic breaking as Teddy's but still. Did I mention that the surf grunges have their own theme music and it's playing right now? Did I mention that it is good music?
Anyhow; Tweeg hates all that romance stuff and calls it disgusting. LB counters that "THAT" is the yuckiest thing he has ever seen. Great spot: The waves come in just as LB sezs that and we go to a closeup shot of Tweeg's face as he looks down and then a shot of Tweeg's legs and we see a green slug like creature who looks like a dummied out monster from Dragon Quest 1. Would you be shocked if I told you Tweeg oversells this? He plops into the drink and LB does the Vinny laugh to amuse me. And then Tweeg gets swamped by Elroy on his surfboard as he is still wearing his sandals. That cannot be safe by any means. Elroy encourages Tweeg to get into the action as LB is basically laughing him off again. So we get attempt #1 as Elroy surfs the waves and Tweeg tries to get the surfboard in; but he gets swamped and goes face down on the sand. Even funnier; Buffy and LB walk by and do not suspect a thing. HAHA! That's actually funnier than half of LB's witty retorts actually. So we go for attempt #2 as Elroy surfs the top of the wave; while Tweeg cuts through the wave and loses his balance. Cheap animation trick: Tweeg whirls around in the whirlpool on the closeup shot. I know a lot of animation buffs hate me saying this but; don't these guys know the meaning of the phrase "cheap but effective". Tweeg bounces off the wave in hilarious fashion and takes a bump right into the sandcastle that the green shirted/yellow apron grunge was building. Needless to say; the grunge is not amused as the castle is destroyed of course. Even funnier: NO bump sound which actually makes sense here. Elroy wants Tweeg to check out his moves and Elroy cuts through the waves and does a decent handstand. I see Kit Cloudkicker was taking notes on this since about half of Elroy's moves were stolen for Stormy Weather and Kit made them a hundred times better. Then again; Elory is a water surfer. Kit is a cloud surfer and thousands of feet in the air. Another example of TaleSpin making Teddy Ruxpin look second rate; and through no fault of the show itself. Tweeg calls this impossible as one of the female Grunges (I'm guessing it's Jody; my memories of this show are pretty shot so it's hard to tell who is who without wikipedia) tells Tweeg that he should see his good moves. That is not going to inspire Tweeg in anyway dudette. Anyhow; there is more surfing from Elroy as he calls for Tweeg and Tweeg proclaims in a matter that indicates that he's not happy to be doing this; that he's coming.
So we scene change to the middle of the ocean as once again, we have the exact same thing that happened in Octopede Sailors, only with no Subwater Boat to back them up as everyone is holding on. You would think by now that the trio would realize that flying an airship in the middle of a wind storm is a BAD idea?! Anyhow; Grubby sees his pot of root stew (the secret weapon that makes Teddy Ruxpin lie I might add) zooming on the floor of the airship. After the first story arc; I can see why he brings it on retainer, but there is a logic break with this because Grubby's stew goes overboard off-screen despite Grubby pointing it out. Gimmick points out that the main front sail is starting to break as Teddy and Burl pull on the ropes with the least amount of effort possible; but the sail breaks on the right rope (which is Teddy's) and Teddy just oversells and he goes overboard. Yeah. Now witness the animator's lack of continuity again: brown feet on the overboard shot; and then we see Teddy hanging onto the wheels on the pan shot south east to the water below and his feet are TMS like now. Gimmick's swear is "heavens to Grundo" indicating that Grundo might be an anthromorphic god in this world. Might. Burl does manage to grab Teddy's hand while Grubby assists by grabbing Burl's ankles. The big wave arrives and splashes all the babyfaces; but it leads nowhere since they got Teddy back on board. Note that when Teddy finally gets back on board; he thanks Grubby, but not Burl as well. That came off as Teddy caring more about Grubby than his dad which is silly because the storyline was more focused on Teddy's love for his father. Then we get one of those "did not do the research" moments in history as Gimmick points to something and the babyfaces all see a waterspout. Memo to Grubby: It's might look like a tornado; but it's actually a waterspout. The babyfaces cannot stand to watch as they go into the waterspout and we fade to black...So we go into the eye of the waterspout as Burl is on his rear end and we get the standard "where are we" spot as we see international objects flying around including a flying fish which Grubby points out (first "huhu" of the episode) and if this was a joke; it isn't funny. Grubby then manages to grab the pot of root stew and offers the trio to have some. Teddy no sells the deal (still living out the lie that you like the stew eh?) as they asks where they will land once they wait out the storm and Gimmick uses the power of science words to tell us that he doesn't know. Burl has no clue what he is talking about. What a shock?! And we fade to black again...
So we return as Jody (I'm guessing here) is noticing that the waves are getting more dangerous and there is a storm brewing somewhere. Tweeg takes this as a good thing as all the grunges and bounders are at the shoreline. Elroy proclaims that this is a perfect time to show off; thus giving Kit something else to steal for Stormy Weather. The orange haired punk like Grunge (I only have one male Grunge name so I'm guessing he's Jethro) thinks this is too dangerous. If Kit Cloudkicker knew what he was doing; then Elroy should be able to do this with ease. Have some faith Jethro. So Elroy runs into the ocean and swims out as Jethro calls him crazy as Tweeg. That's crazy?! Kit nearly getting shot in the head in Plunder and Lightning was crazy (so much so Disney cut the shot when it was released in syndies; it was in the Disney Channel.) man. So we see Elroy showing off (first pose was modified in Stormy Weather as Kit turned his back with his foot on the tow rope. Baloo was ticked off seeing that. Elroy does one up Kit in one spot which is to push the surfboard into the water and stand on the edge of the board. This leads to some funny banter from LB and Tweeg...
LB: Your
daddy-o is real good. how come you can't do anything right?
Tweeg:
I take after my mommy.
I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. And Elroy jumps off the surfboard and it goes into the air with him and he lands on the sand with a perfect dismount and a degree of difficulty of 9.9. That looked really cool; but Kit's was better in Stormy Weather since he free fell off of Dan Dawson's white plane ; did some flips in mid-air; brought out the airfoil; got on it and spiraled down to the water and then surfed a bit on the harbor and then did the jump managing to land and grab the airfoil at the same time perfectly; a degree of difficulty of 10. We pan west as the Grunges pop for it and Tweeg really praises his dad so much he wants LB to give a hand. LB didn't think it was all that funny at all since Bounders have no hands. Tweeg is loving this even though he hasn't proven himself...yet. So we scene change as the waterspout finally spits out the air ship and it is heading for an island. Since this is episode 62; it pretty much gives away where they are now. Gimmick talks more science which Grubby translates as Gimmick having zero clue where they are. However; Burl has an idea as we land with a MAN-SIZED bump onto the ground. And somehow; that changes the background completely as a well springs out of nowhere and no one sold the bump either. We are in a middle of a meadow (this is where a flashback of young Teddy running to his mother would have been perfect for this scene; but it doesn't happen) as Grubby and Burl walk off the ship and Burl welcomes us to Rillonia. Yeap; they are home. Burl knows this because he is picking the exact same flowers on the ground in the first thirty seconds of the flashback from Father's Day. He calls them Rillonia Rosadalias. And yes; this little gesture will actually be paid off later in this episode. Apparently; they fixed the sails while in the waterspout since the rope is back to normal while Teddy is pulling the sails up. He asks for a couple of hands from Grubby and Grubby offers to give all eight as he is eating from his pot of root stew despite the fact that we never saw him take the pot with him when he left the airship. Grubby claims that he earned it (not really; although I guess hanging onto Burl's ankles counts for something) and that actually ends the segment almost eight minutes in.
After the commercial break; we return to wave city on Ben's Beach (you thought I forgot where Tweeg was didn't ya?) with a far west pan shot of the Grunges (and one half troll/half Grunge, with two Bounders) as Elroy is having his pep talk to Tweeg about these dream waves and such. Buffy wants him to be a crazy dreamer. LB: More like a crazy schemer. If you ever want to see pre-CM Punk pipe bombs; call LB. Anyhow; Tweeg doesn't look all that thrilled as Tweeg is pulled by his arm. Elroy proclaims that he was born to surf. Tweeg: Mommy said that I was born to be miserable. LB: Oh; that too. Jethro and Jody get their contracted lines in as Jethro is the only one who addresses him by Tweeg's first name. So Elroy pulls Tweeg towards the water and we get another scene changer as we pan east to the ocean as both Tweeg and Elroy are kneeling on their boards and we get the next big wave as Elroy yells at him to paddle. And by Tweeg's reaction; he didn't have to ask twice. Elroy wants him to do something simple enough and Tweeg allows himself to get to the top of the wave as he has a 1 1/2 inch start. Tweeg simply rides the wave out on the FPS shot which zooms out from Tweeg's perspective as we cut to LB on the shoreline proclaiming that this is the first time Tweeg did something right. And history is made because LB actually said his name right! Now if only he can get Teddy's last name right. And he takes the wave in the kisser of course as Tweeg floats over him and lands on the sand. Tweeg thanks LB for once which sadly doesn't turn him babyface. So we finally scene change to the outskirts of Rillonia as the airship is above a farm (which Burl points out as Abber Despin. I think that is what he said. I have no subtitle track for this video either unlike Fanboy & Chum Chum.) as Gimmick notices that they are above a community event taking place in the middle of the village which appears to be the town square as we pan west and we see at least eight Illiops pointing in awe (I was hoping one of them said "oh my god" like Don Karnage did on the ADR loop; but it's "oh my goodness".).
The scaling here is bad as the animators in this arc could never get the heights of the Illiops correctly. The two on the bottom left look like little kids here; but later on, at least one of them is similar in height to the adults. The one with the orange hair looks like Jethro with a yellow shirt and brown pants (remake booking name: Brandon) is an adult here; but in the next episode; he looks like a kid in one of the shots. The female blond Illiop with the green shorts and green shirt (remake booking name: Ashley; her character would be loosely based on a character of the same name from Wario Ware. She even had her own theme song on Super Smash Brothers Brawl; both in English and Japanese.) got more episode appearance than the character this episode is focusing on! Illiop.org claims her name is Eliza; but that doesn't sound right as you will see in the next episode rant I do. There is a green jacket, red shirt wearing Illiop with actual hair (remake booking name: Luxo. I don't know; it sounds cool.) and apparently almost all the Illiops here have hair. The one with the white blob of hair in the middle of his head wearing the red shorts and light blue shirt is the focal character of this shot has excellent vision because he thinks that Teddy Ruxpin is on the ship. Teddy waves to the Illiops as Burl cannot believe that he's home.
And the writers finally made a way to make this thing sound so epic because we sing the song Home. This is actually easy to call because the airship simply hovers around where we get shots of Teddy and Burl singing together again which is amazing in itself considering who voices who in this show. This is "Home Is Where The Heart Is" level of awesome here. On cue: Teddy sings about rainbows and there is a rainbow in the sky. I don't know if it's the fact that the sound is in stereo here; but I recall the first time I saw this that the airship was doing it's really low hum (Something that bugs me more now that I have heard views on how the sounds of the Iron Vulture were used (which uses an actual train chugging sound; and sometimes sonar ping sound in Captains Outrageous) and it distracted from the song. It's not present here and good for the sound people too. We also find out that Teddy would sit and dream on the tube tire tied with rope and hanging from a tree. Sadly; the low hum appears right as the airship is coming in for a landing as we pan down to the house that we saw in the opening of this series (right at the very beginning of the opening actually)with the hallowed out half log bridge which looks really cool. Teddy and Burl walk off the airship once it's lands on the ground (there is a water well and a picnic table at the back of the house) as the two Illiops finish the song right at the front door. And now the animator almost got Teddy right this time. So they open the door and look inside and there is no one there complete with the Canadian version of the "wah-wah-wah" sound. Both Illiops look worried now (it's difficult for me to buy that Illana has passed away here; but they are teasing it in a subtle way here.); and here comes the light blue shirt Illiop doing a full on run and his feet don't even leave the ground. He clearly knows that it's Teddy and we meet and greet with the closeup handshake which this show loves to do. The problem I have with Teddy's greeting new characters that it's the exact same greeting with no variation. "It's nice to meet you" is the phrase they used (even done in sign language); and while it's good for Teddy's character, it is so overused that by the time the series is over, most people feel really annoyed by it. Look; it's a great gesture; but it makes you sound monotonous. Try "a pleasure to meet you" or "I'm honored to meet you", something along those lines. None of them are mean, and all of them work within the context of the greeting. And in a big and really pleasant surprise; they actually greet that doesn't use the catchphrase here. I love that.
So Teddy finally gives the Illiop a name which is Digger (Ducktales used Digger's booking name as a heel henchman in Back In The Outback) and wonders what happened to his mother. Digger explains that Teddy has gone just in time because there is a huge celebration planned for later in the day which Illana is going to. Grubby and Gimmick come in as Digger explains that Illana is going to unveil a statue of her beloved and Teddy's long lost father. Now how convenient is that? That's so Backyardigans convenient (fitting since Backyardigans is almost 100% inspired by this show; and actually better than this show) that if Kit Cloudkicker was in the same area he would say: "Did you hear that Burl? It's your _birthday_ today!!" Now that would have been hilarious and a perfect way to introduce Burl to Digger. Instead; Teddy decides to introduce his friends to Digger. Now here's an odd moment for me: Teddy is a really nice guy and probably has known Digger for a long time since the storyline indicates that they were childhood friends with no explanation; but who cares? They live in the same village and Teddy is nice, so it makes perfect sense. What doesn't make sense: Teddy introduces Grubby here despite the fact that Grubby had been staying with Teddy once Grubby got caught in the net in the flashback to "The Day Teddy Met Grubby". You know; Grubby steals potatoes from Illana's garden during the night? So if Teddy is friends with Digger; then Digger should at least know Grubby already and doesn't require an introduction. Gimmick is perfectly understandable for obvious reasons; but introducing Grubby again seems rather contrived. And Teddy finally introduces Burl Ruxpin and Digger is amazed and they do a handshake as Burl's expression seems to be annoyance. Now maybe this is my childhood talking; but I always thought Digger was more hyper back when I was a kid. I mean; he is so excited and such to see Teddy again. I would have loved it if Digger went too far and Teddy had to calm him down too.
Now Digger is supposed to be voiced by Terrence Scammell and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): Terrence Scammell (born January 10, 1958) is an award-winning Canadian voice director and voice actor living in Montreal, Quebec. In a career that has spanned some 25 years, Scammell has worked on hundreds of series, live-action films, documentaries and video games for PBS, the BBC, Syfy, Teletoon, Ubisoft and numerous production companies around the world. Scammell is known throughout the industry for his vocal versatility and professionalism. He received an ACTRA award for voicing the iconic character of Darph Bobo[1] on Tripping the Rift,[2] and his directing work has been nominated for prestigious awards in North America,[3] Europe[4] and the U.K.[5] He is married to writer and blogger Sheila Singhal and divides his time between Montreal and Ottawa. He is a member of ACTRA and the Canadian Actors' Equity Association unions.[6]. For the past 20 years, Scammell has been directing voices for animated television series, specials and feature films, as well as documentaries. As an animation voice director, he has worked on over 50 television series in Montreal, Vancouver, New York and Los Angeles. In addition, he has directed more than a dozen television specials and feature films for production houses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe. His directing work includes the popular animated series Tripping the Rift,[7] starring Tony Shaloub, Stephen Root and Carmen Electra, for the Syfy Channel; the Emmy-winning children’s classic, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat for PBS Kids;[8] the BAFTA-nominated series Rotten Ralph for the BBC;[5] and the animated feature Pinocchio 3000 starring Whoopi Goldberg, Howie Mandel and Malcolm McDowell, which won Spain’s Goya Award for Best Animated Feature in 2005.[9] In the documentary field, Scammell was the voice director[10] for the 90-minute PBS feature Six Days in June, and the 10-part CBC series, Arctic Territory, among others.
He is also a dubbing director, and has directed the dubbing of numerous foreign-language feature films and television series, both live action and animation. He started as Lt. Martin in The Young Rebels in 1970. He also performed the opening to Yaraki in 2005 and the television movie David Copperfield in 1993; did casting for The Boy (yes; there was a cartoon in Canada called that and I have seen it.); was an opaquer for The Velveteen Rabbit and was voice director for over 50 shows including Woofy, Dragon Hunter, Tripping The Rift, and Martin Morning. He is also Emperor Fred in Samurai Pizza Cats. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is his most recent credit. He has 78 credits on IMDB; but it's clear from Wikipedia that he did FAR MORE than that.
I say "supposed to be" (the source is from the Teddy Ruxpin On-Line website) because I have seen this episode quite a few times and Digger sounds like Teddy himself. Now I have two theories on this. Number one: Maybe the website got the voice actor's name wrong and it's really Phil Baron. It's hard to tell because when it comes to Canadian talent, I'm not as tuned in to the voices as I do in the US. I could tell a voice done by someone like Jim Cummings or even R.J. Williams. Here; it's a lot more difficult for me). Although I can sometimes tell which characters Sonja Ball is voicing so maybe there is something else to it. There's also another reason; but that is the next rant. Anyhow; the second theory I have is (and this is going to shock Teddy Ruxpin fans in general); I don't think Phil Baron voiced Teddy. I think Terrence voiced Teddy. There's no doubt Phil did Burl's voice because you can clearly tell the difference; but when you compare Digger's voice to Teddy's voice; it appears to be exactly the same. In fact; this might explain how Teddy and Burl can sing at the same time actually. However; this is pure speculation on my part, so there you go. Terrence also voices Louie according to Wikipedia. Although Digger does manage to stammer about the statue's unveiling. Digger offers Burl to come to the town square; but Burl has other ideas and wants Teddy and Grubby to go with Digger to the square. Teddy seems a little worried about this; but Burl assures him that he'll be there and acts all cool. But he wants them not to say a word about him returning home. Gimmick is about to leave; but Burl wants him to do a favor for him. Gimmick accepts and Burl wants to use the Portable Reducing Machine. Darn; I wish he didn't blurt it out because that just gives away the entire plan in advance. I hate it when children's cartoon make it way too obvious.
So we scene change back to Ben's Beach as it is hot and sunny outside. We see Tweeg on the surfboard being balanced by two surf grunges: Jethro and some other Grunge with glasses on. Tweeg is handling this well and it's time for the simulations to end and Tweeg is ready to hang ten. So we scene change to the ocean as we surf again and Tweeg is breaking into the wave while flinging his arms around a bit. However; he manages to cut above the wave and move as Elroy is right behind him giving him praise. LB has no clue what it means for the barrels and Jody is zero help on this. Yeah Jody; it's surfing speak; but what does it mean in English? Because the only barrel roll that means anything is when Slippy tells you to do a barrel roll in Starfox. Tweeg is loving every minute of this now as we scene change back to a far shot of the village of Rillonia as we pan west to see Grubby, Teddy and Digger walking as the animators once again cannot maintain continuity with Digger's feet this time (brown first; then white on the next far shot). Digger explains that the town decided to make a monument to Burl who was a great explorer which is kind of silly now that Teddy has far surpassed him in that department. Digger is just so excited that he is stammering to get the words out; that they forget that a carriage is arriving and the driver gives absolutely no warning despite clearly seeing the three. The babyfaces notice it though and bail to the bushes; with Teddy and Digger literally jumping six feet over the bushes like they are diving into a pool. That was pretty neat.
So the carriage passes by and Teddy pops from the bushes to notice that an old lady with the stereotype gray hairstyle; green dress and pink apron watching from the back and she thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her because she swore she just saw Teddy in the bushes. Teddy addresses her as her mother which means she's Illana Ruxpin. Illana Ruxpin is voiced by Phil Baron's wife Michelle Baron. Interesting choice because she seems to outclass almost everyone here. This is Illana's first official appearance in her present form; outside of the "Day Teddy Met Grubby" flashback by the way. The carriage makes it to the village square as there are Illiops everywhere. The orange haired one looks more adult than he did earlier. So the carriage stops in the middle of the road and the side doors open to reveal Illana Ruxpin coming out. She looks to her right and notices Teddy is home and safe. They run to each other and twirl around as they hug each other. Then she notices Grubby and she's happy to see him. I once thought that she forgot to say "again" here, but she clearly knows it's Grubby since she addressed him by name. Makes more sense than Teddy reintroducing Grubby to Digger. Illana then does one of my favorite spots that makes Teddy look like a hypocrite: She casually goes over and then kisses Grubby on the right cheek. And it's a good one too. Grubby blushing is awful here as he is melting again. And Teddy Ruxpin; the personification of kindness and niceness laughs at his expense. I hope Burl didn't see that kiss; the last thing he needs is alienation of affection here (most so when at the end of Father's Day; he was unsure that Illana would even forgive her).
Then Gimmick comes in with the portable reducing machine here which is just too obvious here. I would cover it with a blanket beforehand. Teddy introduces Illana to Newton Gimmick as they shake hands on the closeup and greet. Illana is just outclassing the professionals here and she's not even trying. I love her voice; she sounds like a character voice and not a old lady stereotype for once (See Foray, June). Her character design would be ribbed on in The Time Bandit in TaleSpin where Rebecca was about to get shot by a firing squad. This is quite the day for her as her son is back home just in time for his father's celebration. Speaking of Burl; Teddy whispers to Gimmick about him and Gimmick assures him that he'll see him soon enough. I would be annoyed at this since Illana could probably hear it; but I have seen in in cartoons that are even better than this show, so I'm over it. So we pan over to the platform in front of a house as an Illiop in a black suit and blue tie with glasses appear on stage with what appears to be a statue in a cover. He addresses the crowd as today will be known as Burl Ruxpin Day on the sign. And on the closeup shot; the statue is now shorter than the guy on stage. He offers the floor to Illana Ruxpin as Illana has Teddy by the arm and they walk together on stage. All this needed was Grubby whistling behind him and that would make my life complete. So Illana and Teddy make it on stage and Illana address the Illiop as the mayor of Rillonia; and then addresses the crowd to inform that her son Teddy has return home for this special day. That just reeks of overkill since most of the Illiops pretty much noticed from the start when she shook hands with Gimmick.
The crowd pops as the mayor welcomes Teddy and takes the floor as he wants to talk about Burl Ruxpin as Illana goes to the cover and takes it off from the bottom and we do a pan shot up and it's clear it's really Burl Ruxpin because they didn't even make the effort to make it like he was out of stone. Now originally I thought that Gimmick and Burl informed the mayor about his return and set this up; but...I'll get to it in a second. So the mayor is addressing the crowd on how Burl as Digger looks like he's daydreaming in the background as we pan over to Illana inspecting the statue. And speaking of non-verbal cues; it's obvious that Illana realizes that she's being set up here..and she's clearly playing along with this "rib" because she notices her favorite flowers being shown in Burl's hand right away. She knows it has to be her beloved even before she notices that he's very dusty. Teddy is close to giggling at this point as Illana has a white cloth and she dusts Burl's nose (more evidence that she is in on the "rib") and Burl finally does the really slow sneeze allowing Michelle Baron's full range of shock and gulping all at the same time. Now the mayor turns around and acts all shocked; implying that he had no clue this was going to happen. Which begs the question of how Gimmick got Burl on the stage in the first place. None of this makes any sense! Anyway; Burl offers her the flowers and proclaims that he is home and Illana is estatic and they hug for real. Outside of that logic break; a perfect way to reunite the family. I wouldn't change most of this for the remake (most involve Grubby whistling). Gimmick and Grubby are misty eyed as we get the road warrior type pop.
Teddy joins in as they wave to the crowd and then Burl and Teddy wink at each other; Illana's expression reads "I'm already onto you two.". And then we sing "Together Again" and this one is a lot more memorable than the last one because it basically a setup for them to leave the stage and buying some kites; and flying them. It's BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) and the last closing shot is them flying the kites down the road; which I do believe is the last shot of the French Quebec version of the opening of this show. Yeah; I know that there will be questions about the believability of this since Burl disappeared without a trace, but we already heard the back story of Burl's life and it would only make Illana look like a jerk anyway when she is not. In any sane universe; that is the last shot of the series as they walk off into the sunset; but it's not. We scene change to a closeup shot of Gimmick's apron as he takes the small statue of Burl (the one originally planned mind you which makes the logic break more glaring) and places it on the ground and then uses the Portable Reducing Machine (Mini Sizer) which surprises the crowd as he pushes the green button (labeled big) and it shoots the blue beam and the statue is revealed for real and it makes it even more obvious that Illana knew it was Burl because the stone statue (she had to see the statue beforehand) shows a middle age Burl holding a scroll. Yeap; she noticed. The crowd pops for Gimmick anyway and Grubby proclaims that Gimmick surely knows how to deliver. Second huhu of the episode from him.
So we head to Ben's beach near sunset as we get more surfing from dad and his son as Tweeg is finally getting the moves down really well. Elroy and Tweeg do the human ladder spot for fun and Tweeg does a flip on the surfboard with Elroy approving everything. Tweeg proclaims that he was born to surf and that ends the scene. Geez; that was quick because we scene change back to the airship as Gimmick and Grubby are waving goodbye to Teddy. Gimmick I can understand; but Grubby? Wasn't Grubby living with Teddy 18 months ago? Anyhow; Teddy, Burl and Illana go into the house and then Teddy motions them to stop because he is going to invite them in because there is a lot of explaining to do to Illana about these last 18 months or so. Gimmick and Grubby walk into the house and that ends the episode at 19:12. So there was no second commercial break there? Despite some nonsense and poor animation continuity; this was the perfect way to end the show; but Atkison didn't think so because there are still three episodes left and one is basically a clip show. And it gets a lot messier from here on out. **** 1/2 (90%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; we are nearing the halfway point of this arc and this episode was better than the last one. It's not without it's problems though as there were some glaring breaks in logic (how did Gimmick get Burl past the mayor without the mayor noticing) and animation mistakes. Illana Ruxpin is a GODDESS and I'm not committing hyperbole here. She was MONEY in this episode despite only being on screen for five minutes and only doing a few spots. I still there her younger hairstyle turned silver should have been used; but everything else about her I like a lot. The reunion was as good as it was going to get and we got quite a few teases (including a possible second death in all that too). Tweeg was Tweeg; although LB didn't really bring the goods in witty retorts this time. Overall; a really great episode and my favorite episode in the series. Sadly; the episode quality is going to tumble a lot now since the big payoff has already occurred and the denounement is not executed well at all. Although the first half of On The Beaches is actually good; but that was the lowest point of the series animation wise and then the show falls apart from there. However; at least the payoff to this episode delivered so I won't complain much. So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.