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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: King Nogburt's Castle
Reviewed: 06/14/2014
A Reunion Of "Epic" Might!
Welcome everyone to the Father's Day Specials as we continue on with the Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin; a full year after debuting the Reunion Arc on the rant shack. A year has passed and Ken Frosse has since passed away (which sucks I might add; but it might actually allow the series to be remade in some form, as a slim to none of a chance as that would be). I'll be doing four episodes this time; focusing on the King Nogburt/Gutang feud. So this story arc is basically the debut of King Nogburt and his castle somewhere in Grundo as this story arc serves as a denounment of sorts since it is basically focused on Prince Arin and Princess Aruzia returning home to a number of crisises; including a drought, and a Gutang dressed up as a court jester. We will learn a lot in this arc which includes Tweeg/LB as artists, a back story to Grubby and Teddy's relationship, and some bard singing about the secret of the Illiops. It will be a fun time as we begin this arc with the introduction of Old Beanly; the mail man of Nogburt who should have been fired a long time ago. At this point; the Trio of friends have discovered what two of the six crystals actually does, and Wooly has already gone to school at Leota's tree of knowledge. Meanwhile; Tweeg has joined MAVO officially quite a while ago, but there is no sign of them in this story arc. So let's rant on shall we...?
One note before we begin this; I do have a follow up on Shin Won Animation: They started in 1978 working on Captain Future, Galaxy Express 999; then Tiger Mask Nisei in 1981 and Video Senshi Laserion in 1984 for Toei. As for their overseas work for North America; they worked on Jem & The Holograms, Transformers and G.I. Joe for Marvel/Toei between 1984-1986. They also worked on The Real Ghostbusters and The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventures in 1986, Diplodo and Dennis The Meance 2 in 1988 for DiC; followed by Lisa Gold: The Olympic Dream in 1989 for Creativity & Development (In France). They apparently changed their name to Grimi Animation. Under that name: Hellsing Ultimate in 2006 for Gonzo, Metal Fight Beyblade in 2009 for d-Rights and Codegeass R-2 for Sunrise in 2008. I have no clue what happened between 1990-2005; but I just want to pass that along to Teddy Ruxpin fans out there. Again; I'm almost dead certain there was more than one animation studio involved. Oh; and I'm not going to bother doing tributes for the writers in this story arc either. I might do that with the first story arc since it makes more sense to do so.
We begin this one with a meadow shot towards Gimmick Valley as a red bird is flying around and then it teleports right to the front porch as we see an Illiper with white hair dressed like a blue/grey version of Cristo from Dragon Quest IV. He looks like someone from The Littles; only is not little. The Illiper is sleeping of course, for no reason. The bird flies away stage left and then we cut to Teddy in green pjs waking up from his bed and then looks out the window seeing the old man; then calls for Gimmick and Grubby to wake up. So yes; they do sleep together in the same room. Apparently; the front porch is the back yard as they go to the window and Grubby points out the obvious to us. So they walk out to the back porch as Teddy and Gimmick try to nudge this old man to wake up; but no go. Gimmick wants to use science; but Grubby has the crudest method of science ever to wake him up: Simply grab the old man's ear and yell wake up into his ear. That is enough for the old man to jump up and land on Grubby's back (remember that he has six legs and walks like a centaur) and apparently; this old man was a former dragoon who is goofy at it because he's riding as if he is at the Calgary Stampede. Gimmick acts like Scooby to Teddy's Shaggy for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Lots of bounder sound effects ensue even though there are no bounders within a 100 yard radius as this goes on forever. I could easily trim about half of this opening sequence and still get the message across. It ends with the old man (who is apparently a mailman since he's carrying a leather bag with him) doing a really awful back flip off Grubby and lands with a really decent bump onto the ground. Plus several points for intensity; minus ten points for style as Grubby jumps on Teddy's back for no reason. The old man is looking around asking if it's still there and Teddy has no idea what he is talking about. The old man claims that a monster was attacking him; which prompts Teddy to claim that no one attacked him. So apparently; Grubby yelling into the old man's ear is not an attack, which in real life would be considered an attack on the eardrums. Ask Baloo about it.
So Gimmick assures him that they are among friends and Teddy introduces everyone as Grubby gets in the old man's face and then falls over Teddy's back and face plants off-screen with a non-existent bump. Grubby wants to know why he was sleeping on Gimmick's front lawn. If only Grubby wasn't so mad; this would be a reasonable question to ask as the old man stammers like a complete fool because I realize his name is Old Beanly; the postman whose gimmick is that he is forgetful. This actually plays into the storyline several times at least in this series. Beanly finally remembers that he is King Nogburt's official messenger, which begs the question: How many times did the king have to go over the messages Old Beanly had to tell so that Old Beanly did not mess up or forget? There's a drinking game to be had there folks. So Beanly states that he has an important mission which he has a hard time remembering; and then we get the "TOING" sound (apparently; there is a character on Shirt Tales who uses the exact same sound effect) almost three and a half minutes in. So in essence; Beanly has forgotten what the big message is, so Teddy offers him some breakfest to refresh his memories and Old Beanly calls it grub just to repeat what Grubby said. So we go to the far shot of the four babyfaces going inside the house as we zoom into Tweeg's tower as L.B. is looking through the telescope sitting on the head of a brown haired bounder while Buffy hops in. I discover that the brown haired bounder's name is Bif as LB tells him to hold him steady. So we get the telescope shot of the babyfaces coming around to the front yard as LB claims that he knows that old man from somewhere; which I have no idea who he is talking here since Gimmick and Old Beanly are old men. If he said: "I know that Illiper from somewhere!"; then it makes sense because I assume LB was addressing Old Beanly here. So Bif whines about being on bottom instead of looking; and LB pretty much retorts that one for me in which Buffy agrees with me.
Bif hates thinking because it gives him a horn ache. That was not funny and does that mean that a bounder's brain is in the horns? If so, then cutting off the horn would make them brain dead. I wondered why this didn't get over. LB finally tells us that it's Old Beanly; which would have been suspenseful if Old Beanly didn't say his name in the first scene! Sloppy writing there guys! So LB hops into the tower and we see Tweeg in bed with his banana yellow nightcap (which shows that Tweeg has no fashion sense; which is perfect for his character by the way) sleeping as bubbles form from Tweeg's head and they create a dream sequence as Tweeg is in MAVO doing dives and flips into the area filled with gold coins; and simply putting Uncle Scrooge to shame. Mind you; this is a year before Ducktales was even born. There are a few necklaces and emeralds (fitting since Tweeg is green to the grills so to speak) as we see a shadow of Tweeg's uber nasty mother Ellinore praising him to no end; thus proving that it's a dream. Apparently; Tweeg's dream is not only to be wicked and evil; but to rule MAVO with an golden fist all over Grundo as his regular clothes change into a purple king's robe (the same one King Nogburt wears if you recall my rant from last year) and a stereotypical crown. He then gets all evil and proclaims that he's rich as he picks up a emerald (which has grown to be as big as LB natch) and kisses it over and over again as we cut to LB coming down from the spiral staircase into the bedroom. Now; if I was remaking this; I would simply has LB going into the tower, fade to black and then start the dream. The dream goes on as Tweeg kisses an emerald over and over, and we then hear LB yelling at Tweeg to wake up and as soon as Tweeg wakes up, we see Tweeg was kissing LB all along, which he gets disgusted, throws away the bounder and spits. That's how you create comedy and heat for this duo. Here's what really happened: LB jumps on the bed telling Tweeg to wake up; and then notices the golden dream balloon. LB jumps into the dream balloon as if he has a secret power of going into people's dreams, in a spot Spongebob SquarePants would steal.
So LB hops in and blows off Ellinore which offends her; while Tweeg blows off LB for acting like a jerk (which is projection on Tweeg's part), and LB yells at him to wake up. This leads to LB sitting on the bed while Tweeg wakes up. Tweeg is angry about this as LB calls it a bad dream because his mother was in it; which Tweeg finally claims that it was a nightmare, in spite of the fact that his mother was PRAISING him the entire time. That was funny! Anyhow; LB tells Tweeg that the messager from King Nogburl (as LB would say) is visiting Gimmick; and that causes Tweeg to rush out of bed and run up the stairs. By the way; the animation team creditability streak rears it's ugly head as Tweeg would go from two toes like a Grunge and then three toes like an Illiop in between shots of this sequence. Tweeg runs out and of course has to step onto a conveniently placed cannon ball that was no where near the look off when the scene started; indicating that Buffy or Bif had planted it there for a prank. Tweeg rolls on the cannon ball; crashes through the railing and he lands into the water tank which means that he only free fell about ten feet at the most. That was lame; but LB makes it up by saying that he wants him to do it again because he missed it the first time, and then laughs like Vinny from F4W. Yeap; they intentionally set up Tweeg for that one, so the out of nowhere cannonball makes sense. So we scene change to the front porch as the babyfaces have breakfest with Old Beanly; as OB calls this hospitiable as they are having what appears to be scrambled egg yolks. So Old Beanly doesn't have the sense to say meal like a complete idiot and Gimmick repeats him while doing his stuttering; which I have pointed out is a lot less funny nowadays. Grubby asks Teddy if they are related; and it's clear that they are not, which Teddy doesn't scold him for. Remember that for later as Teddy offers Old Beanly a room for the night which sounds counterproductive to me. I would have offered him a ride back to Nogburt Castle so then we can find out what the message was directly, and then deliver the message.
So Gimmick offers Old Beanly to have dinner with them as well; and suddenly Old Beanly starts to remember as he pounds on the table; which causes the out of nowhere bowl of strawberry jam to go flying and land on Grubby's head. Apparently; dinner has something to do with this message and Beanly claims that it IS his message. I don't believe him and he of course messes up; and now Grubby is really angry, which even Teddy has to tell him to stand down on. Grubby apologizes and then asks nicely -- sort of -- about the message; so Beanly stands up and puts his hat on. The message is that King Nogburt is thanking them for rescuing Prince Arin and Princess....I got this one...Aruzia; and that Nogburt rules all of Grundo. Which begs the question: Why is he not addressing the situation concerning MAVO? Is MAVO not part of Grundo? This question cannot be answered; do not think too much. Anyhow; they are invited to King Nogburt's castle for a great feast in their honor; which the babyfaces are grateful for. Yes; this is like a WWE promo segment where it took 20 minutes to say what could have been said in thirty seconds. Only this took at least five minutes to setup. I would have trimmed half of this if I was remaking this. Teddy proclaims that Beanly remembered after all; and Beanly points to his head claiming it was there somewhere, which ends with a fanfare sound effect. And we accuse Johnny Test of this stuff? I get that Teddy Ruxpin doesn't abuse the sound effects and almost everyone is likable; including the main character, but come on! Don't deal with absolutes; you'll look like a fool. So we scene change to a far shot of the back porch as Gimmick comes out with what I thought was the Portable Reducing Machine (aka the Mini Sizer); but it's a portable version of the Duplication Machine; which indicates that in storyline, they have already found out what two of the crystal do. Oh; what a finish to the Double Grubby episode that was which was much creepier than any accusations about Teddy Ruxpin the doll and Teddy Ruxpin's ideology combined.
So Beanly cannot come because he has a message to deliever as he waves goodbye and exits stage left, not having even one click of a clue where he is going, nor whom he is delivering the letter to. Now since this entire story arc is a denounment of the very first story arc of this series; if you cannot guess who the character is that Old Beanly is supposed to deliver the message to, then you have no business reading this rant. So then we cut to Tweeg's Tower as Tweeg is looking through the telescope of doom wondering what Gimmick is up to. Everytime Tweeg does that; he seems to get more and more absurd which indicates that one of Tweeg's gimmicks is believing conspiracy theories. So Tweeg blows off LB as a hat rack; and then Tweeg has a conspiracy theory as we see the airship float up from the telescope shot. Tweeg goes into his tower telling the bounders that Gimmick, Teddy and Grubby are going to conspire with King Nogburt to steal his recipe for making gold. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I betcha his entire wardrobe is made from Grade S tinfoil; extra strength of keeping all those evil waves of "recipe stealing". LB gleefully retorts that one for me claiming that King Nogburt has REAL gold. Tweeg points out that you can never have enough gold; accusing the king of being a greedy Illiper more or less. This also has EVIL music playing in the background which accents the absurdity of his conspiracy theories very well; as Tweeg then gets inspired even more because he is going to pay King Nogburt a little visit as he laughs because you see, Nogburt has a little too much gold; therefore, he'll steal it from him. This actually ends the segment almost ten minutes in. Not much to see here as it felt dull for the most part; other than Tweeg and LB which is always pretty funny. This is a prime example of why editing is a blessing sometimes.
After the commercial break; we head in the wood with Old Beanly hiding behind some bushes and we see what appears to be a mud rock like house as we head inside as Wooly (the purple, now pink yeti like creature) is sweeping the floor inside the house. Old Beanly, being the mnisguided simpleton that he is, walks in and dust goes flying into his face causing him the sneeze. Yellow hanky comes out as he sneezes as Wooly notices him and apologizes as Wooly has this trait of shaking his head while making spitting noises, which is annoying. So Wooly apologizes him for not seeing him; which is understandable because he was sweeping dust outside and Old Beanly himself walked right into the dust on his own. So yes folks; Old Beanly actually remembered where Wooly was, so you would think that Old Beanly would just tell him the message we knew of about two minutes ago. Well... Wooly asks if he needs any help (you don't know the half of it dude?) and Beanly stammers like a complete fool; but you already knew that. Beanly wants to ask a question as Wooly claims that if they are the same as the ones in school; then he is awful in answering those. By the way; this occurs after Wooly goes to school to get an education at Leota's Elf/Wood Sprite academy. So Beanly just turns around, waves goodbye and leaves. Yeah; he basically forgot that the message was for Wooly! Beanly is about to leave; when Wooly comes out with his broom and asks him if he is looking for somebody. For someone who is not good in answering question; he sure knows how to ask them. Beanly stammers like a goofball, and then turns around and is about to deliver his entire message (the same one Teddy and Grubby got); but then like the idiot that he me, he stammers. He is warm though since he said hairy, so that is an improvement. So Beanly finally thinks it's called the Fuzzy-What-It's Name which did make me laugh; but Wooly points out that there is only the Wooly-What's It; which is him. So Beanly just turns around and leaves, apologizing for distrubing him. Yeah; apparently King Nogburt is confused by the name too; because if he wasn't, then Beanly would have remembered it and this angle would be over right now.
So we fade to black (I'm guessing that this was the commercial break for non-North American television stations) and then return to a field filled with hay and one lone tree in the background. We see a bunch of Illiper farmers piling hay as a third Illiper in a red shirt arrives on the western pan shot; as we basically have Nogburt Castle which of course is almost like Castle Dunwyn (Dumbwin for those who have read my Gummi Bear rants over the years); in that it has a moat, only with pink and dark blue roofs on the tops, four red flags and a blue one. It also appears that the entire castle is bowing into itself. Zoom in ensues and we cut to a window where a lady Illiper literally dressed up as Ilana Ruxpin with brown hair has a carpet that she wants to air out. She is clearly voiced by the same actress who voices Princess Auriza I should note as she hears that goofy drone hum that the airship does and we see the airship flying around the castle. She bails and returns with a yellow flag shouting hooray. I originally thought she was airing out the carpet outside the window near the outside part of the castle; but on the next shot, we clearly see that she is inside the castle courts. The denizens notice her doing this; and then look up as an orange haired Illiper wearing green overalls and a grey shirt yells hooray. The airship continues to circle around and about two dozen Illipers run around the castle and get on the ramparts with flags as some medival music plays in the background; which means it's time for the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM~! Apparently; this is their greeting to the heroes who rescued Prince Arin and Princess Aruzia to Nogburt Castle. This is one of those songs that requires two or three minutes to something that can be done in thirty seconds, but then again; if they don't do it, then we have a gaping hole in the episode like with half of the segments with Beanly. So yeah; I'm not impressed. The Illipers look generic; expect for one who looks like Newton Gimmick without the white mustache. And yes; the fish in the moat are singing for no reason; why do you ask? They have their own choir; and at least the shot continuity in this is pretty good. I have seen much worse in the reunion arc than in this.
So we end the song with the sky shot of the airship as Teddy is happy about this warm welcome; along with Gimmick. Then we get one of the weirdest moments as we fade to black, and then jump cut to Grubby as he is so excited for this moment that he wants to wave back and say hello to them. He's on the railing as Teddy pleas for Grubby to be careful; but Grubby's hand on one of the ropes slips and we he gets WARNERED before free falling dramatically into the moat. Gimmick cannot bare to see this as the dramatic moment is ruined by the goofy music playing (what a shock?) as Grubby pops up from the water and climbs out. Thankfully; this was from about 500 feet; because if it was the same fall Kit and Teddy suffered later on, this would completely kill the moment before it happens. At least for Teddy in this show. So the Illipers cheers on as the airship flies over the court of Nogburt's castle. Then the denizens (which look like they recycled the same 12-13 characters) come out of the castle on the bridge and they help Grubby out of the moat as one of them looks like the professor from the SNES version of Sim City. Grubby got an 8.3 on the dive in the ADR; including a triple gainer which I have no idea what they are talking about, since I do not follow diving as a sport. They put Grubby into the football victory spot as we cut to the airship landing (which we see in it's entirety) as there is a logic break in this, but I'll keep it under wraps until the Ying Zoo story arc because it ties into this. So Teddy and Grubby walk out of the airship as the denizens run in with Grubby on their shoulders and then gently put him down on the ground. Teddy and Gimmick are relieved that there was a moat there and Grubby was just glad that there was water in it. All while this 1980's sappy synizeister music is playing. So now Prince Arin runs in greeting the babyfaces with Princess Aruzia in tow as Aruzia is wearing farmer overalls. I'm fine with this because she is now tranistating from powerless princess stereotype to action girl stereotype. We discover that they are biologically son and daughter to the king and queen as the running down the stairs close up of Aruzia looks awkward.
So we exchange pleasure thoughts and greetings as Teddy seems to be teasing the handshake; but it doesn't happen. Arin then claps his hands because it's time to reveal members of the courts as we get three small chef Illipers for whom we saw during the song singing with everyone else (they also revealed a cake that looks smaller than most middling priced weddings) as they tip their chef's hat. Speaking of getting carried away; Grubby offers to show them how to make root stew and they don't sell it at all, simply walking away as if nothing had happened. Arin of course does the "must live the lie" spot; because they have no guts to tell him that his root stew is not as good as he thinks it is. Then we finally reveal Eunice the Perloon doctor that I mentioned in the reunion arc; and apparently Gimmick and Eunice have met before because they are holding hands. I'm going to take a wild guess; but I think Eunice is Gimmick's duaghter or grand daughter. Gimmick of course stammers like a complete fool (speaking of aliments; when is Eunice going to treat Old Beanly's memory problems? Because otherwise; I'm not impressed by her practice as a doctor); which Grubby points out and even Teddy cannot resist a giggle on. I don't think it's a crush as much as an unspoken reunion of sorts. So Grubby then makes a comment about her clothes which is clearly sexist; and Teddy calls him out on it. Except; he calls it impolite instead of sexist which is just wrong and it makes Teddy look like a jerk because, it's okay to be impolite sometimes, like Teddy was right now. In essence, Teddy is a hypocrite. The irony of that is; Teddy had good reason to call Grubby out on it; but he didn't go for it. Then Aruzia points out that Grubby is right about this as there is a rational explaination for this; as we HIT THE FLASHBACK~! With NO sound effects or visual effects I might add. Anyhow; we see that Nogburt Castle and surrounding farmlands around the area have suffered massive drought as about five farmers are pulling up potatoes while Aruzia monologues. Teddy is not happy to hear this and Gimmick wonders why they didn't ask for help earlier. Maybe it was a recent thing Netwon?!
So Aruzia admits that she likes doing this line of work and thinks it's better than doing stereotypical princess stuff. Of course you do Aruzia, I would too if it meant that I had some power to make a difference. Aruzia still thinks that they can help now as we hear cheering and out comes a Gutang wearing a full face green mask acting like a court jester on a unicycle. Now; you would think that the green tail and green legs would have been enough to reveal that this guy is a secret Gutang spy since he's not wearing any armor, but of course the castle of Dumburt falls for it hook, line and sinker. Geez; I wonder how the Gutangs kidnapped Aruzia in the first place? Huh. So the court jester wheels around and cuts a lame joke about Mudbulps and screwing lightbulbs. The answer is none of course because Mud Bulps don't care about being in the dark. Even though the underground caves are lit most of the time. See; they don't mind fire light; it's sun light that kills them since their eyes are weaker than ours. Arin introduces the court jester to us and Teddy claims that his spirits are up. Arin of course points out that the feast is being done in their honor because they saved the children from the Mud Bulps and Guntags which are considered evil in this world that they live in. For those who complain about Phineas being happy all the time; the same accusation can be leveled at Teddy as well. And it makes just as much sense with him than it does with Phineas. Then the Wooly-What's It is mentioned and Teddy admits that they have not seen him in a while (mostly during school. Heh heh.); as Arin points out that Beanly was supposed to deliver the invitation to him; which prompts Grubby to points out that Beanly will never find him now. What a shocker?! So after seven minutes of not seeing them; we finally scene change to the forest as LB is pulling the wagon with his mouth; which is carrying Tweeg which both are dressed like artists. Then we come to a major logic break: We hear singing in the background. Didn't they stop singing literally five minutes ago? LB does try to make up for it (with limited success) by calling King Nogburt: King Nosebleed. That made me laugh.
Tweeg than cuts his usual full of himself promo which shows how sad Drake is when he has to steal a trait from a cool heel to make himself look like a cool babyface. It is not a good long term stragedy. Tweeg is now to be addressed as Monsieur Le Tweeg. Meaning in French: Mr. The Tweeg. That was funny on so many levels that Mister T's mind is blown; which is something you don't see much if at all. LB pronounces it as Mon Sewer which he translates as Mr. Sewer; and then does the Vinny laugh. HAHA! Tweeg is flustered on cue as his ego is thrown back right in his face. Classic LB/Tweeg stuff there as we head back to the castle and run up the stairs on the ramparts into what Aruzia calls Illiper's Tower which is the highest look off in the castle. Apparently; Grubby asks about who an Illiper is as Aruzia basically retorts that one for me. Arin explains that most of the castle are Illipers with a few exceptions like Eunice who is a Perloon like Gimmick is. Apparently; they all suffer from stuttering and one of them looks like the late Ken Frosse. We look at the moat; which Arin has to remind Grubby of. Then we scene change to what is the Nogburt Royal Stables outside which looks like a really small farm as we zoom in and hear crashing. Then we head inside the stables as apparently; a rooster/chicken bird runs out of the barn because Grubby apparently leaned on the door leading to one of the stalls off-screen and it broke completely causing him to crash into the bed of hay inside. Gimmick cuts a science promo on Grubby; which earns a blowoff from Grubby because it's so obvious to everyone watching that the stalls are rotting. Nogburt has fallen on some hard times; even though, there isn't that much in the way of hard times. Royality creep strikes again as Teddy claims that it doesn't matter. If you believe in safety like you do in the Storybook Adventures; than yes, it does matter Theodore Ruxpin Junior. Remind me never to hire Teddy as a safety inspector.
See; the spirit counts in these situations which sounds a lot like magical thinking as Arin and Aruzia want to leave to prepare for the feast as we get the TOING sound from Grubby and he runs out. I should note that there is a deer/horse type creature who looks like a pup licking and cuddling with Grubby the entire time. Now what if I told you that we have a major continuity error in the mists? I'll explain that in the next rant. So we scene change to the castle bridge as Mr. Sewer...POW! OUCH! Ummmm...Monsieur Le Tweeg and Monsieur Le Laffy Bone are in front of the generic Nogburt Illiper guard who looks like a doll; pointing a spear directly at the two demanding that they state their name and business. Oh; this should be fun to mock as the guy sounds like a cross between Tweeg, Teddy and Louie for sound odd reason. Oh; apparently; he must also state if he's a babyface or a heel; or he's a bill collector. Wait; so Miss Maggotheart comes to Nogburt for dues? So WHAT?! Oh never mind as Tweeg cuts a full of himself promo as LB is now Monsieur Le Beak; which completely confuses LB. I guess he's wondering why he didn't get the Laffy Bone name as his booking name for this mission. So here is how the episode ends: Tweeg proclaims that he is here to do a painting of Princess Aruzia; which the guard points out that it was done last week. Tweeg stammers like an idiot; and then proclaims that it's Prince Arin, which the guard mouths off-screen that it was done last month. HAHA! Tweeg asks if the king needs one and the guard shakes his head no. Tweeg then completely ignores the Queen (because there is one in Nogburt) and asks if anyone needs a painting as the guard claims that there are a few rooms that need a couple coats of paint which the guard thinks an artist would never accept because it's beneath him; only Tweeg cuts him off and accepts the deal. LB is not amused as the guard lets them go into the castle. LB is confused about painting rooms; but Tweeg claims that they'll be painting the royal vault as we end the episode at 19:12. This was an okay episode; but it took forever to setup as they could have chopped off five minutes of this. At least the shot continuity and the animnation was better than the Reunion Arc, but it still feels wonky. And the finish would prove to wreck the next episode as there was a "Next Time" promo; which they focused on the Gutangs completely and completely ignored the entire segment that matters the most: Grubby meeting Teddy Ruxpin for the first time ever. Heck; it was in the title: The Day Teddy Met Grubby. Idiots! Not to mention the creditability of the animation starts to rear it's ugly head again; they showed Grubby getting head butted in the rear end by a stampeding goat/horse creature and the horns missed Grubby's rear end by 18 inches. *** (60%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this was a middling episode with some good story telling, some questionable dialog by Teddy, some really funny stuff from LB & Tweeg; mostly fine animation and the shot continuity was perfectly acceptable here. Don't expect that to last though as I mention in the next rant that I'm doing. As mentioned; this was mostly talking and setting up angles which is fine; but it went on far too long. I like action Aruzia better than princess Aruzia by the way; so her refined character changes are a big win for me. Everything else was just there; and Teddy annoyed me quite a bit in this episode as he came off as a bit of a jerk for the wrong reasons. Overall; there is not much to say about this episode, because it was mostly setup with the exception of the usual Tweeg/LB funny stuff; although I could do without seeing LB jumping into dreams anymore. That was goofy and awkward. So; next up is The Day Teddy Met Grubby which is a major one; but the previews did a horrible job setting it up because they focused on Nogburt Castle against the Gutangs; when the whole point of the next episode is setting up the flashback for when Teddy and Grubby met. This is also for rant purposes; the last time you'll hear Michael Barron as Ilana Ruxpin in any form in the series. So....
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.