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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: The Mystery Unravels
Reviewed: 06/29/2013
As Does The Continuity.
So here we are at the final episode of the series (because we are Canada and are not rich) as we recap the entire series and see Buffy and LB on their honeymoon. So let's rant on shall we...?
We begin this one with ANOTHER major continuity error: We replay what is supposed to be the ending to the last episode; but no one in the animation department has any idea what they are doing because (a) it was nearly sunset during the ending of the last episode and it's now noon time, (b) Wooly is back to first story arc colors and (c) Tweeg doesn't call LB an ingrate. This becomes a recurring theme for this episode; so have your CUCKOO Cola drinking game handy. It's not only for bad comedy routines anymore. And LB doesn't have his suit on anymore and Buffy is not wearing her wedding gear (expect for the headdress) and her ring is gone now. And Buffy whines and cries which is really getting on my nerves; despite the fact that she has a point (no pun intended) about the present. Tweeg fires both Bounders right there as Buffy blows it off because they are rich see. Tweeg calls Buffy a horn headed harpy and she cries. I don't know what is more sexist: Buffy crying like 1950's Daisy Duck; or Tweeg calling her a harpy? LB is not happy to hear this despite not knowing what Tweeg just said as this is the end of the line for Jack as Tweeg begs for mercy and LB apparently steps on Tweeg's hand and Tweeg free falls into the water below; falling about 300 feet. Tweeg pops up and is not amused by LB's backhanded thank you for dropping by. Heh. LB tells Louie to step on it to Ying at once as Louie bicycles stage left. They just couldn't make it go to a dark shot here so that at least the scene made sense? Anyhow we go to a eastern pan shot of Teddy's house as we see all of Grubby's brothers and sisters (including Molly and Grubby himself) sitting on the sofa while the only three Illiops they could get on hand (Ricken, Ashley and Lucky) are sitting on the floor. Teddy is at the table opening the Crystal Book lock with the crystal and we resume with Wyma's written record as Teddy puts the white framed translator glass (remake name: Near Field Reader). I've already shown the first part of the translation from LB's Wedding; but there is a lot more as we go to an outside shot of Teddy's house from the sky...
Now continues the written record of Wyma the Illiper, humble scribe to the court of King Filbin, defender of the Illiper Realm. In the twentieth year of King Filbin's reign we journeyed to the Hard-to-find City seeking aid from an older civilization. A great drought had stripped our land of crops. King Filbin offered tribute and begged for help to save his subjects from starvation. We were overwhelmed by the kindness of the inhabitants of that place. They revealed to us the wonders of their city and the power of their amazing crystals. They constructed vast underground aquaducts to carry water. Our kingdom was saved by the knowledge of the Kind Ones, for that is how we called them. And when the Kind Ones ran out of farmland of their own, they did not make war upon their neighbors, but developed underwater farming techniques and grew food at the bottom of Leekee Lake. They gladly shared their surplus food with their lesser neighbors. Thus it was that the peanut and a leafy green called "Lake Lettuce" became staple food throughout Grundo. The seventh crystal made it possible for the Kind Ones to store knowledge in the Memory Library. In it the achievements of this great civilization were recorded.
And yes; there IS a flashback to that era as a female voice is now narrating the story as we head to the crystal temple with various Illipers (in Greek costumes) walking in as we see an ancient one (he's one of the Kind Ones) covered in a cloak. It's clear that the Kind Ones are Illiops (because that is their gimmick; pardon the pun) and the animators forgot to put gloves on to prevent us from noticing the brown hands they have. Grubby still thinks the "Kind One" is a Gutang even though the flashback clearly shows that it is not. So we hit the flashback again as we get more insight into the past. Now; I would explain this blow by blow; but the above bolded translation of the Crystal Book does a better job than I could. The guise of it is that the Ancients got along even more so than they do now and the Kind Ones were able to innovate a lot and share the resources. Yeah; this is way too idealistic to be believable; but since this is a work of fiction anyway, so at least I can suspend my disbelief over this contriveness. If this were live action; then there is no way I could suspend my disbelief. That is one major advantage cartoons have over live action: You can make the most idealistic and most absurd plotlines possible; and it's still more believable than doing it in live action since there is no pretense in it being real. This is also why wrestling is mocked all these years as fake. The defenders don't realize that the reason they are mocking it is not because it's fake; but it's because the business had lied FOR DECADES that wrestling was a legit sport. And who in the wrestling business finally admitted that the industry lied about it being real? Vince McMahon. Sure; he did it to weasel his way out of certain "responsibilities", however, by then most of the public had tuned into how wrestling really worked. So we head back to reality as Wyma's voice changes to Teddy's on the fly. Wyma's voice talent? I might be wrong; but it sounds like Michelle Baron to me only with a slightly lower tone. We cut over to Gimmick doing his usual "Heavens To Grundo" while holding a plate of cookies from the kitchen. Teddy sounds way too excited as this explains all the tunnels in Nogburt's Castle, Leekee Lake's tunnels and various diving suits (which look like astronaut suit).
So we pan over as Burl and Illana are basically walking around as the Octopedes all get cookies and we get the ADR loop. Molly tries to eat one; but she apparently has no teeth and has a hard time biting into one. I thought one of the Octopede kids would be concerned over this; but they seem a little chatty about getting their cookie; and they do get theirs. Now everyone wants to know the complete recap of Teddy's adventures with Grubby and Gimmick. Now; I would have started the scene right here and save all the Crystal Book stuff for later as a surprise to the viewers who didn't get to see LB's Wedding. Since I will be ranting on the entire series at a future date; I'll only be skimming over the flashbacks because none of the footage is "original" footage (although as you all see; all the scenes were animated just for this episode and watch how much they screw up basic continuity). So we start with meeting Gimmick for the first time and showing footage of the airship flying to the Hard To Find City (which was a good booking name for the first 63 episodes; and now it's silly. Remake name: HTFD at first, then Illiopolis.) as we head to the ruined crystal temple (which has some vines in front of the crystal symbol (which doesn't match the pillar's Dreamcatcher look) as we have the trio plus Arin and Aruzia looking at the crystals. Each other has a word that best describes the best of human traits: Imagination, Honesty, Trust, Bravery, Friendship and Freedom. This concept would be lifted and given to the Chosen Children in Digimon Adventure 01 (02 had it as well; only with three of the five leads having two traits) Sadly; since all the crystals are the same in physical look and shape (except for number seven which I don't believe has a trait; although I would call the trait Remembrance since it is a memory wipe/restore crystal.); I'm guessing that they are interchangeable with each crystal. So we return to reality (no, not reality) and head to Ying which is desolate with just a lot of rocks and rivers of water. We see LB and Buffy cross a boat as Buffy talks about scum water and LB being related to it. So we head to the most unwelcome sight of a hotel ever. It's next to a large stinky moat and the yellow colored goblin wearing a white suit with a green vest and pink bow tie (that is so wrong so some reason I cannot put my thumb on) is cracking about how their guests are unwelcome and asks for reservations. LB states that he has none; but he does have lots of doubts. HAHA!
The clerk proclaims that he should see his bill because that is a really big joke as they head inside. Also of note: The hotel's name is Pig Out Arms and has a human foot kicking out a pig. Ooooookkkkkaaaayyyyy. He waves goodbye as he goes into the kitchen and will only come out when he feels like it. He does some French which is pointless because there is a French language version of this show available (with a different opening) and calls them cornheads. Buffy and LB love the place because LB thinks it reminds him of Tweeg; but only slightly dumber (and he's still saying his name wrong as usual; which indicates that he's doing it as an insult.) as they sit down at the table which looks like something out of the stone age. LB wonders what Tweeg is up to as we scene change to Tweeg's tower as we see Tweeg inside with all the Bounders that were allowed to show up; sleeping in his bed. Tweeg paces around wondering how the sea shells turned into gold; so he deduces that buttermilk turns into gold so he needs buttermilk sea shells. Yeah; Tweeg is THAT clueless. I love it! Tweeg turns around and yells at the Bounders as he demands that they insult him somehow. So Tweeg gets into the brown haired Bounder's face and so the brown haired Bounder tries a riddle which is so stupid even Tweeg has enough sense to blow it off. Tweeg walks upstairs whining about those Bounders not holding a burned out candle to LB or even Buffy! Buffy? So her crying is her version of an insult? The Bounders miss LB too; albeit for a different reason I bet. So we head back to Teddy's house with a closeup shot of the first crystal in Gimmick's hand. He's sitting at the table with Burl as he explains that he used it as part of his man made sunlight machine. So we go to footage from "Take A Good Look" which is the first episode after the first story arc had run it's course. If there is one show that did the shrinking episode right; it was this show because it actually was a setup for future episodes using the Mini Sizer/Portable Reducing Machine in certain situations instead of being just a one time freak show. As good as Incredible Shrinking Molly was (most of it's problems were from the animation and continuity department); Take A Good Look was a lot better. And it was Fuzz's debut as well.
Now time for the CUCKOO drinking game to start as we take one sip for Fuzz being green instead of purple in the original episode. Although to be fair; it would have been two if they stayed with purple since Fuzz went from purple in "Take A Good Look" to green for the rest of the series. Personally; it they wanted Fuzz to be green; then they should have done The Faded Fobs a lot earlier in the series than it ultimately was. Teddy's feet are still changing from white to brown as usual. I'm beginning to think this was intentional now; because they have done it way too. We also get footage from the climax of "The Newest MAVO Member" as Teddy is narrating that they used the crystal's power to get back the crystals from MAVO while not being seen. This is perfectly fine as we see (Ashley) holding the crystal belt; which is probably the only time Teddy has allowed anyone to touch the crystal belt willfully. Some argue that she is Teddy's sister; but Teddy never states that she is. By the way; the speaking line she got is fine on it's own; but the delivery and voice is way off. It sounds like a child actor reading the line from the mirror and no effort was made to make it was sound good or memorable. She asked if all the crystals had the Mini spell; which is actually a good question because the crystal appear to be way too interchangeable with the others. Teddy states that only the first one does. The second crystal makes copies of stuff as Grubby points out his misadventure with Gimmick's multiplication table machine as we get footage from Double Grubby and then footage from "Secret Of The Illiops" and "Through Tweeg's Fingers" with the images of King Nogburt's soldiers. Then we automatically segue to footage from "The Third Crystal" which is weird as we will see in just a moment and we see Tweeg get smacked in the face of the cage door where Fuzz is kept. Tweeg gets caged and walks out with LB laughing at him. That was a week of rescues as we get footage from Leeke Lake for some strange reason because the Third Crystal aired AFTER this episode. My guess is that this was intended to air BEFORE the Captured story arc. Teddy wonders if Quellor has figured out that he doesn't have the seventh crystal anymore. So we head back to MAVO Headquarters to Quellor's throne room and yes Teddy; Quellor has found out as he realizes that if his minions find out that he doesn't have it; they'll turn on him a third time. To Quellor; why don't you just off them? You are considered a monster heel; so make like Nike and do it. He summons his three bat familiars to fly south from Bounder Pass to Rillonia and get his crystal back. The bats fly out the window and out of headquarters to end the segment ten minutes in. Not much to see here since the only angle of any consequence now is the payoff to LB/Buffy's wedding. And speaking of the honeymoon from Hades...
After the commercial break; we head back to Ying and the Pig Out Arms Hotel as we head to the most desolate river in the history as the clerk walks from the hotel to the river where LB and Buffy are relaxing under the Ying "sky"; if you can call that a sky. We get a closeup of the goblin asking how the newbies are doing as he has a newspaper in his arm for them to read; or to whack them for his own sick pleasure. I'm hoping for the later; so LB can say: "Hey; it's like those old days with Newmon Gimmick.". The goblin pushes the newspaper on his horn as Buffy is now wearing shades despite not wearing them on the far shot. LB grabs the newspaper and Buffy wants him to read the newspaper. It's called the Ying Yakker instead of the Grundo Gazette. Anyhow; in the newspaper we discover that Miss Maggothart (they already stated that in Father's Day she was still alive and one of only two MAVO members that Quellor spared. You can say the familiars were spared as well; but I don't believe they ever turned on Quellor once in the show.) cannot tolerate Tweeg not paying his back dues. Good going guys; you RUINED the entire payoff from Father's Day because we are not supposed to know why MAVO wants to off Tweeg until Miss Maggothart visits Tweeg later on which we all know she is going to. Like I said; they are writing for a pay check now since this is the final episode. Sort of like Your Baloo's In The Mail which was the final episode produced and was the worse episode of the series. LB also blows off the Yakker for claiming that Tweeg losing his mind was news. HAHA! LB is always amusing when he's smarking. So we head back to Teddy's house as Teddy sets up the fourth crystal by channeling Kit Cloudkicker's storytelling from Captains Outrageous. You know; the one involving Teddy and the squid like MAVO monster. I'm guessing it's Smudge or Drudge; who is supposed to be a friend or brother of one of the MAVO Troll Nephews. Or something which was really cool (because Teddy managed to do this while underwater and NOT wearing the helmet; thus risked drowning). So we get footage from "Up For Air" and they almost got the footage perfect for this one as we discover that the fourth crystal gives him oxygen. Also known as Oxyale from Final Fantasy I (which was released in Japan a year after this). As much as I love a good fight with an octopus; It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck just makes this look second rate now.
Speaking of logic breaks: Burl claims that it's his first appearance in this story (the point where he uses the shock stick which Reno would later steal for Final Fantasy VII) which is false because we saw him barely a minute into "To The Rescue" nursing Teddy back to health. Heck; we even saw footage of that from Father's Day. They also showed footage of father and son swimming underwater to the Subwater Boat (and yes Teddy has his helmet back on) and then we saw footage from The Harvest Feast; which is weird because by then; they had discovered what the fifth crystal does. They are going all over the place with this recap; which is like whiplash to me at least. So we head back to reality (no, not really) as Grubby is bouncing Molly into the air and then gets on all eights and walks as Molly is a horsey. HA! I mention this because this is exactly what Kit Cloudkicker did at the end of It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck. I realize that Don Rosa wrote that episode; but the spot is so obvious, minus the bounce spot. Grubby keeps making fun of Gimmick's adventure with King Nougbert because he thought Gimmick didn't want Grubby to come along for the ride. Speaking of the fifth crystal; Grubby puts Molly on the sofa as Eliza asks about the remaining crystals. Grubby explains the fifth crystal as we head to footage from "A Race To The Finish" which was the last episode in the Wizard Week story arc; to in front of the Mud Blup cave as Gimmick used the wrong crystal (he was supposed to use #3, but instead used #5. I cannot blame him. I cannot tell which crystal does which. How Teddy can figure them out is a mystery only known to him?!) and Grubby turns super slow. This was actually lifted from Faster Than A Speeding Tummi in Gummi Bears when Gruffi got the slow spell on him. Thankfully; they reversed the crystal and Grubby got the Haste spell (called Fast in earlier FF games) on as he runs away from the Mud Blups. He is still slower than Tummi was though. And we have footage from LB's wedding as Grubby manages to do a better job at bumping the glass of orange juice and spilling it. The crystal flies away and somehow goes through a closed window. Yeah; take another sip.
So we return as Teddy has gotten his crystal belt back as he brings out crystal #7 and Eliza ask what it does. Burl grabs the crystal and explains that it has the power to erase or restore memories. One thing that bothers me is that he claims that three friends helped restored his memory; despite the fact that it's really two friends and his only son Teddy. Unless he is referring to LB for giving out the final key to the puzzle; despite the fact that Burl was helping Gimmick in trying to bash LB in the head with the broom (and failing badly). Anyhow; we get the fabled scene from Father's Day and despite having usable stock footage; this was reanimated and shorten quite a bit; and the tears are now clear. We get the embrace and then we return to reality and we see Teddy, Burl and Illana embrace each other. Look; I realize that people ding shows for using stock footage; but this is a flashback. So it makes much more sense to use footage from previous episodes; instead of reanimating them because animation in North America is episodic in cultural attitudes; therefore you get easy mistakes like the cracked crystal side being used in the flashback; instead of the non cracked side. DUMB!! To say they they did not put an effort into this episode is an understatement at this point. So we go to the outside shot as one of the bat familiars (wait; I thought Quellor sent three of them) perches on a tree as Teddy proclaims that MAVO must never get the crystals and he'll do anything he can to protect them as we overlay footage from "Musical Oppressors" (best booking name ever) and for no reason; they show Quellor in prison break out and laugh at the staircase leading from the dungeon. Yeah; they completely grossed over the Hate Plague and it's effects; and they also glossed over Teddy's near death experience which were the two biggest angles in the entire show. This cannot be a BS&P issue; this has to be stupidity on the writers part. Anyhow; (Ashley) asks off-screen about who made the crystals. Teddy decides to return to the Crystal Book. Now this is where I would start the Crystal Book/Hard To Find City angle in full as we see the familiar notice the crystal on the table. So he swoops in and grabs the crystal and leaves without anyone suspecting a thing. So we get another major flashback and Wyma's translation is better than me explaining it so...
The seventh crystal made it possible for the Kind Ones to store knowledge in the Memory Library. In it the achievements of this great civilization were recorded. But desolation and despair have swept the land. The dreaded Gutang warriors have captured the Hard-to-find City. Even now the Kind Ones are escaping. Some head north; the remainder go south with Theodore the Wise, leader of the city. The seventh crystal has been stolen; the six others are already in the hands of the Gutangs, but Theodore holds the key. Without his half of the medallion, the Gutangs will never gain the power of the crystals. Now I must flee. Farewell on your southern journey, Theodore. I will always remember your words: Only the pure of spirit may find the treasure of knowledge; those words that are the heart and soul of the great Illiop civilization.
We finally get to even see Wyma in person on an ancient typewriter (Illiper wearing pink and gray) typing as we cut back to Teddy's house for no reason at all. Couldn't they have kept going in one go and just have Teddy say the line that there is just a little more left. And as I predicted; the Gutangs storm the HTFC (Illiopolis) and scare off all the ancients away as they flee to the north and a group to south led by Theodore The Wise. Huh; Theodore is the full name for...Teddy? And we get a cute spot where just as Wyma is talking; she takes her scrolls out of the typewriter and flees herself. We also get a shot of the group led by Theodore and he reveals himself as an Illiop (along with the rest). Funny how Wyma is still speaking as it was written in the book; despite the fact that she fled before she spoke about the Illiop civilization. While it isn't officially canon; it's very clear that the first half of the medallion was given to Burl Ruxpin or Illana Ruxpin, or both since it was inside the trunk inside Teddy's house as per the opening. So that would mean Theodore the Wise was Teddy's Grandfather which makes sense since they both share the same first name, Teddy gets the short name (for Junior) and Theodore gets the full version (Senior). The way I would book this if I was doing a remake was to have the Gutangs invade HTFC city; but did it under the false pretense that their friends; the monsters and vagabonds (which is why I would change the meaning of MAVO); were slaughtered by "Illiops". Thus justifying (in the poorest sense but whatever) their invasion. Theodore flees; but finds the monsters village was completely slaughtered and learns of the "Illiops" being responsible for it; causing them to flee to Rillonia to get away from the violence.
Theodore then gives birth to Burl and through a series of events locks the medallion away in a trunk for safe keeping. Burl marries Illana and gives birth to Teddy (Teddy would have two siblings; Amber: who was originally planned to be Teddy's sister, but was nixed when the fad died, and a younger son known as Cristo. It sounds familiar since it's the name Oniz Mecha gives to Kit Cloudkicker in my fanfics.). Then a tragedy occurs as Cristo "dies" due to a monster attack that was believed to be revenge for what happened in the monster village; and Theodore and Burl go to Grundo to redress the wrongs the Illiops did. However; as they go into hostile ground; The Wizard of Ying kidnaps Burl through some contrived plot device and Quellor (the only survivor of the slaughter) catches wind of it and brings Burl to MAVO. Great Understander wants to use him as a bargaining chip (which Quellor actually doesn't like) to bring the Illiops to their knees; but Theodore comes in to rescue his son . Just as Quellor is about to consider the deal to redress the wrongs (Read: admit that he saw what happened and it wasn't what the Gutangs think it was; which actually justify the Gutangs not having a lot of love to MAVO and giving MAVO the six crystals. Proud and foolish these Gutangs are); GU basically casts a spell that burns Theodore alive (which I know Forsse would reject in a second). Burl goes absolutely berserk over this and Quellor grabs him and has to calm him down, so he uses the 7th crystal to erase his memory. Anyway; this is a small sample of what I have been over thinking which is pointless since I know this show will never be rebooted. Of course I said the same thing about Thunder Cats and were proven wrong. Long story short; there are three tasks Theodore wanted to do: (1) Redress the wrongs committed by his kind (which in the end Quellor accepted mainly because he knew GU set everyone up (and the other races didn't believe Illiops were murderers anyway), (2) Get back the seven crystals (Teddy's main job as in the original) and (3) Bring Christo back home since Theodore never believed that Christo had died since his body disappeared (and he was right). So yeah. Just don't expect me to write the fanfic crossover for this because I am terrible at fanfic writing. Besides; we still have four minutes left in this series so....
We finally return as everyone is in shock over this as they deduce that the crystals were created by Illiops. I think there is a lot more to it than that; but it's not out of the realm of believability. Teddy goes to the window and looks out realizing that if there are Illiops to the north, then they might still be alive. I take issue with him saying that there were Illiops in Ying since if there were, The Wizard of Ying would have found them by now. Anyhow; we head back to Tweeg's tower as Miss Maggothart is finally here. She's the green troll wearing regal clothes and is as shill as ever. One of the best annoyances in the show and is the bane of Tweeg's existence. Even Elinore isn't as bad as Miss Maggothart. Tweeg is face first on the floor as I discover that the Troll Nephews are in the scene. So only Iggy Barnosaclum is the only one who got offed by Quellor? Oh come on! Iggy was much cooler than those three losers combined. For the sake of fans; I will not ask what they did to save their hides. Your imagination will do just fine. Anyhow; Maggothart has tolerated Tweeg not paying his dues anymore. Geez; if only the writers would have waited until NOW to reveal that little fact because then it would have some suspense and be compelling as a storyline. So Tweeg is still confused about the sea shells going from gold to buttermilk as Maggothart orders the Troll Nephews to MURDER him legit as blue troll (Sludge) orders yellow troll (And thankfully he's Trudge. The green one is Drudge by the way) to literally club Tweeg into submission; but in comes LB and Buffy as LB blows them off for making so much noise. And then we get another logic break as Maggothart greets the couple despite the fact that in Father's Day; LB was supposed to be arrested and offed by MAVO. LB has the seashell chest filled with gold coins as he puts it on the desk and Maggothart accepts without question. Tweeg gets dropped by the Troll Nephews as Maggothart writes a receipt on her clipboard (which sezs Tweeg on it for no reason) and rips it. She teases the usual spot she does when she sticks it on LB's horn; but LB blows it off. Maggothart actually puts the note on the desk and MAVO's goon squad walks off without further incident. Again; this would have been funnier and better if the writers weren't writing for a paycheck here.
Tweeg comes over and kisses LB's foot thanking him for saving him from Miss Maggothart and you know it's coming. You know LB is going to ask for payment of his fees and then get blown off by Tweeg. However; we discover that Buffy had all the gold coins spit out from her mouth (her stomach must be from Eleroo's pouch) as LB used the money Tweeg give them for the honeymoon to pay off everyone Tweeg screwed and Tweeg now has a blank slate to work with. And who is to thank for all this? Elroy Tweeg; whom is now forgotten because the writers have no idea what they are doing at this point. Tweeg asks for a small loan as we zoom out to a shot of outside the tower as LB no sells and gets his name wrong again. Tweeg blows off LB again because his name is TWEEG! And yes; we have pushed the reset button here, although LB is still friends with Teddy so it is not quite all the way. Yet. So we head back to outside Teddy's house and because this is the last episode of the series, we get one more song for old times sake. Funny how Grubby is not liking another wild goose chase despite the fact that he agreed to go with Teddy during the first story arc to Grundo. This is a perfect example of what I am talking about: Teddy is the cheerful, nice and kind babyface; while Grubby is the cynical and jaded voice of reason to Teddy's ideaology. Watch how Teddy is enjoying going on another adventure as he does the Undertaker rope walking spot on the log bridge which looks really cool; while Grubby keeps blowing it off not thrilled at this at all. Grubby has Molly with him as all the faces follow the leads. Funny how Molly gets third billing over even GIMMICK in this song despite not being able to sing. They reach the airship as Grubby sets Molly on the ground and the trio gets on the airship and prepares for takeoff. The airship flies away as Burl, Illana, (Ashley, Ricken, Lucky, Rooks, Justin, Zoe), and Eliza wave farewell as Burl's status as the fourth one is over and he has retired. It would have been lovely if Teddy asks Burl to come along; but Burl decides not to and he's retired from the adventuring business. It would be a good scene and make perfect sense. Illana is shedding tears and looks awfully happy in one of those mixed message cues I see. I don't think Illana spoke once during this episode; which is sad. Grubby admits that he hates adventuring and Gimmick calls it scientifically stimulating. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments.
Grubby complains about starting another adventure after just ending one about five episodes ago. Gimmick thinks with their discoveries will bear them fruit in this adventure. Now I would have thought that there would be a shot of Teddy with the medallion on looking on with determination; but then again, they never suspected that they do not have the seventh crystal despite Teddy's obsession with protecting the crystals and even vowing to protect them from Quellor at all costs. And yet; he allowed the crystal to be on the table just so the bat familiar could steal it back to Quellor. With that said; I did love the music and singing because Phil Baron can sing better than R.J. Williams at least. Speaking of Quellor; we head to his throne room as the bat familiar gives him the seventh crystal and puts it in the black box. Then we get the final logic break of the series and this one is bad: Quellor uses the black box and it shows earlier footage of Teddy explaining to the kids that he'll protect the crystals at all costs. This is really stupid because the only way this makes sense is if the crystal erased Teddy's memory; which I assure you it did not. Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID! Did I mention stupid? Quellor proclaims that the crystals will soon be his as we see the airship fly over MAVO outside and that is the end of the episode and the series at 19:41. There was no "Protect Yourself" segment this time around; so that explains the thirty second overrun. I swear that in the first run syndication; Grubby tickled Molly under the chin during this episode; but it's not there. Which would be the same thing Baloo did to Molly Cunningham in part two of Plunder and Lightning by the way. Personally; the final scene should have Quellor going to the window and then he hears Teddy in his mind yell: "I'll protect the crystals at any cost from the likes of you!". No using the Black Box at all here. It would get the job done and make a lot more sense than what we got here. This was the allegory of the final episodes: the ideas were sound, but the writers had no idea how to execute them properly so that the scenes made sense; along with the storyline. And this doesn't have the grace of Tweeg and LB to save them like in the wedding as everyone just shuffled along without a rhyme or reason as proven in the haphazard way they introduced the clip footage. Call it * 3/4 (35%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I did say that this episode was an exercise in how careless the producers were and it delivered and then some. It does have some good moments; and the HTFC angle was a good payoff; but the entire clip show was put in such a haphazard way; and the footage used was reanimated for that episode and most of it didn't fit the original episode. The Father's Day one is obvious that it was new animation (it was shorter and the animation clearly looked different despite the laughable attempt to be faithful). There were a lot of logic breaks in this one and they ruined the entire payoff to "MAVO offs Tweeg and LB" angle by not only giving away the angle way too soon; but also making it so Maggothart forgets that LB was supposed to be offed as well. The end song was actually great and they nailed it perfectly, but it was a bright spot in a really badly designed episode that those ideas were awesome on paper. This is what happens when you try to do a serial in a culture where episodic episodes rule the roost. Hopefully; when I rant on the next series next weekend; Gargoyles will not fall into the same trap. Overall; I wanted to like this episode, but the writers didn't care about making me care about it. Better to watch the episodes in full than watch the recap of this show through this episode. My recap makes more sense than this actually.
So that is it for The Adventure of Teddy Ruxpin as a series and as I stated before; this show had what it took to become an outstanding show on paper; even if it was done in Canada (I have more faith in Canadian television than I do with American cartoons because at least they know that there is a world outside of America and that world is better than America could ever hope for). However; the execution showed a lot of weak spots in Canadian animation that needed to be fixed if Canada was going to compete on the world stage. And those steps were taken. The Reunion Story Arc had a lot of faults; but three thumbs up and two thumbs down is not bad for a series that was on it's way out. Sure; TaleSpin is a lot better than this show, but then again, I didn't expect TaleSpin to be better until 1994. Then again; someone like Kit Cloudkicker does that to me. Again; it's not Teddy's (nor Forsse's) fault that Teddy Ruxpin's fad died down to almost nothing. It was a victim of money and the horror industries' lust to ruin childhood dreams because they think it's realistic compared to Teddy Ruxpin's belief system of kindness. Personally; Teddy Ruxpin's kindness doesn't offend me because I think he's merely naive and believes his own belief system to the point where people shun him. It's not complete bull; but it's also without naunce. At least in the storybooks. In the television series; I love this Teddy Ruxpin who can contradict himself from time and time and show that even the most kind has it's mean streak if push comes to shove. Teddy came off as more believable as a character in the series and I loved his character before the days of TaleSpin made me realize how second rate Teddy was compared to Kit. I wonder how a Kit/Teddy crossover would be treated. Can you imagine a Grubby that can actually see through the bull? Can you imagine Teddy's reaction if he ever found out that Kit was an air pirate (and remember; Teddy had to face MAVO dressed up as air pirates during the Captured story arc)? Or even as a runaway hobo? That would be MONEY! Sadly; Disney has no idea in buying the Teddy Ruxpin brand even though it would be perfect for their new Disney attitude and they can get is past BS&P easily. Oh well; c'est la vie.
I will return to this show; but if I do, it will be on a story arc to story arc basis, starting with the beginning arc and working my way down. It's much easier that way since I have to gloss over much of the footage in the clip shows since most of them are from the other episodes. I still think a serial can still be done (otherwise Pokemon would have been canceled ages ago...Damon.); but it has to be so memorable that it overrides our lust for comedy episodic shows. So yeah; I enjoyed this show and I look forward to ranting on it again in the future. So tomorrow I'm going to do Mighty Ducks: The Final Faceoff; and then take Canada Day off doing prep work for the Fall Assortment (maybe gamelists) and then go shopping on Tuesday. This will set up for next weekend which will be Gargoyles which is a much better serial (until Nelvana got it's dirty paws on it; but that's another story for another time) anyway and we turn the epic up to 11. So....
Thumbs down for this episode and I'll see you all next time.