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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: The Day Teddy Met Grubby
Reviewed: 06/15/2014
The Day I Met A Major Angle!
Well; our second episode for the Father's Day Specials is more setup of the Nogburt/Gutang stuff as we finally find out how Grubby and Teddy met which is the main reason to watch this episode in spite of the fact that the preview in the last episode completely ignored the whole thing. So how does this episode measure up? So let's rant on shall we...?
We begin this one with a far shot of Nogburt Castle as we pan over to the royal stables with some decent background music. Or that is supposed to be such; but as we see Teddy and Grubby sitting in front of the haystacks; they are really listening to Arin and Aruzia are playing instruments. Aruzia is playing a recorder while Arin is playing a lute which we will see again soon enough. The music is played; Teddy likes it as Arin and Aruzia are practicing for the royal banquet. Wait; wasn't it called a royal feast in the last episode? Anyway; can you see the major continuity error here? If not; here's the short version of it: In the last episode, Teddy, Grubby, Gimmick, Arin and Aruzia were in the barn and they were supposed to leave to get ready for the royal feast which excites Grubby. So you would assume that the feast will officially start at the beginning of the next episode, right? Well; now we're still around the stables and Gimmick has left for some reason. This makes no sense to what happened at the finish of the last episode. It's continuity holes like these that bother me and hurt the reputation of this series, but maybe I shouldn't be shocked considering the episodic nature of North American cartoons. Apparently; many people confuse American exceptionalism with American laziness; I don't know. Anyway; this song is supposed to be a tribute to the guests of honor which flatters Teddy, and then Grubby offers to play with Aruzia; which Aruzia accepts. Arin and Aruzia reveal the names of their instruments; but Grubby has some instruments in mind as he brings out an ocarina made from an ear of corn (Take THAT Bo Gregory!) and a one string harp made from a wooden bucket, broom handle and washboard rasp. Yeah; he's a redneck octopede. Strangely; I would think that they would make more of this by having the family being a southern style family (which would actually explain Grubby's sexist comment about Aruzia on the last episode); but, the family Grubby has is pretty generic and bland, outside of the fact that they have a lot of kids.
Arin asked what they are called and Grubby proclaims that he just plays them. Hoho indeed! So we play as they demonstrate what is called a remix version of the same song; with Teddy providing handclaps. Funny how legacy companies were encouraging this kind of behavior in their shows; but then when people get inspired to do them for real; the companies scream and yell that they are committing copyright infringement. Then they are suddenly surprised when old farts take that otherwise mundame behavior and stretching it out to blaming real life violence on what they saw on television that day. So Grubby takes the ocarina out of his mouth and gives it to Teddy since five instruments are better than two see. That logic makes no sense; since more instruments do not make a better remix. It's how you use them that counts. Yes; Teddy plays the ocarina which has already been used by Grubby and he doesn't bother to wipe off the mouthpiece. We play some more and then zoom out to see the "He's NOT A Gutang; HONEST!" court jester watching from the haystacks with his back looking straight at the hard camera. So here we have another example of where they are just stretching out a scene and making it go far too long: The court jester looks at Teddy and Grubby playing; then looks at Arin and Aruzia playing. Then he runs in and rolls around having a great time with the babyfaces. If I was remaking this; I would simply have him bail and go into the stables because it's not like the babyfaces are smart enough to notice that the green legs clearly give him away that he's a Gutang. So Teddy is trying way too hard playing with the ear of corn ocarina as the court jester backflips towards the stables which looks really cool. This scene I would have kept. So we see the court jester practice the fine art of not being seen -- which is pointless at this point, because no one is smart enough to realize the obvious here -- and he enters the stables. Speaking of continuity errors; when we entered the stables the first time in the last episode; they were pratically empty with the exception of the brown goat licking Grubby; and a rooster. Here; it's packed with two dozen animals. That makes no sense!
So the court jester sneaks up from behind (speaking of bad shot continuity) and scares the animals one by one as they all run out of the barn. A note: the horses look similar to the ones used in the carriage scene in The Journey Home I should note. The black sheep also get involved. Every animal looks slightly anthroed while being mostly animal. So they run out of the stables in a disorganized fashion, which is Peter Griffin's main gimmick in Family Guy as Arin is shocked and appalled by this madness. The FPS shot of the animals running towards them is extremely laughable because it's clear that they filmed this while zooming in the background; forgetting that the zoom in made the backgrounds completely blurry so we cannot even see Grubby at all during that shot. This is actually worse than the shot continuity in On The Beaches. Grubby backs off and bails as he hilariously calls the horned goat a big fellow despite the fact that Grubby is much bigger than this billy goat. Do I sense lobster courage coming out of this Octopede?! Then we see the laughable spot from the preview in which the billy goat gores Grubby in the rear end and it missed by at least eight inches; and it's clearly shown on the video as Grubby sells it like a champ. Grubby goes head first into a haystack and gets stuck while Arin just stands there calling for Grubby. So Grubby instantly stops selling; pops his head out of the haystacks and exits stage right. So we cut to Arin managing to tame a Grundo style horse; and calm it down. Grubby runs in to tell us that they didn't all get away. Ummm; yeah that was pointless as Arin wants Grubby to help him catch the ones that did before they overwhelm the kingdom. Grubby agrees to because he needs the exercise; which somehow, he looks in decent shape. So we cut to a road with Aruzia and Teddy sitting on a fence near said road. The animals come rushing in and for some strange reason are now running in an organized manner. Aruzia asks if he can ride them which Teddy claims that he thinks so.
Aruzia then stands onto the wooden fence (with Teddy following of course; which is cute) and then they both jump onto horse with Teddy going to the lead; and Aruzia taking the second horse in the back farther to the left. Teddy asks what happens next and Aruzia tells him to NOT fall off. So Teddy calls this a great idea; and sits in a position with his feet up (which have gone from white soles to brown in between episodes; which is better shot continuity than in the Reunion Arc at least) which is probably the most OBVIOUS way of falling off. Umm; yeah. So we have the sky shot of the front of the castle as half of the animals go straight which leads away from the castle; while the other half runs straight towards the guards at the castle bridge. Apparently; they have doubled the guard since the last episode as Aruzia yells at them to watch out and they wake up, panic and jump into the moat in that order. The animals run past them as the guard pop up from the moat wondering what is going on here. So we head into the banquet hall as there is a large T-Shaped table covered in a white cloth with candlesticks, a golden tray and much of the table has been set up. So we pan left to see only one arranger and one chef in the room. Now; it has been almost 22 minutes since this story arc has started and I know I missed this in the previous rant: Where in the world was King Nogburt and Queen Lillibert been? They didn't appear with Arin and Aruzla in the first episode of this story, so now we know that they were in the royal hall coordinating the feast because they are royality of action; instead of inaction like the stereotype. Then what happens next is absolutely awesome: We get the floor shot of the animals coming in and only the horse's hooves are shown and animated in such a way that the sound effect implies that they are making an earthquake; which there is no earthquake. Nogburt does the TOING sound as he panics as the animals head into the royal hall; as one of the elive like Illipers panics; managing to jump about four feet in the air before bailing. Apparently; during the confusion, Nogburt and Lillabert manage to jump about ten feet in the air and hang from the chandelier. HA!
So somehow, Aruzia, Teddy and the animal all jump over the base of the table as Aruzia and Teddy wave hello and goodbye to the good king and queen. Then the animals land on the floor and leave through the hallway; and somehow the animation made us believe that they simply went out the exact same door they came in. Also; somehow, the animals did exactly ZERO damage whatsoever to the banquet hall which actually makes the King & Queen's reaction to this make sense. Lillabert asks if that was Princess Aruzia; which Nogburt claims that indeed it is. Lillabert wishes that they would play outside with the animals as she just smiles wide, and Nogburt chuckles with her about the old times that this happened, implying that they did the exact same thing with their parents. Only it was on purpose! They could have been crushed to death by these stampeding animals; and yet, this was NOTHING to them. I was disturbed! It gets even more amazing later on as we scene change to inside Eunice's medical lab with her and Newton Gimmick at a table exchanging notes and pleasure thoughts. Apparently; they act as if they are siblings, which leads me to believe that they are of the same family; but Gimmick acts as if she was merely a childhood friend because he mentions that the ground shook when she first met them. Then we get rumbling which Gimmick panics as it's happening away, only literally now. So the animals all stampede in with Teddy yelling at Gimmick and Eunice to bail; which they bail underneath a table. The animals stampede out and despite shaking and rattling; there is absolutely ZERO damage whatsoever. Then Gimmick and Eunice get up; and they laugh at the fact that they almost got crushed by stampeding animals. HA HA! So back into the hallway as Teddy asks how are they going to get the animals back to the stable as Aruzia states that they'll hang a left at the next corridor and go through the royal hall again. You can tell where this is going now as we cut to Nogbert standing on the T-Table asking if she needs any help coming down and Lillabert tells him to stand back so she doesn't land on him.
So then the stampeding animals rush in from the western part as Nogbert hears the sounds and tells Lillabert to stay hanging around up there as the animals come in through the correct door this time as Nogbert jumps stage left off-screen as Lillabert simply tells Aruzia to play with the animals outside; which Aruzia sezs "yes, mother" with glee as they go out of the hallway stage right. So then we head outside with Arin chasing a rooster which was later lifted for Kit to do in Destiny Rides Again. How much did TaleSpin steal from this show? He chases it southwest as we pan over to Grubby Vs. the brown billy goat of death. This is an absolute mismatch in favor of Grubby; but Teddy's idealism has rendered Grubby into a coward because he bails stage right; until he is cornered by the wooden fence. Even though the wooden fence barely reaches Grubby's shoulders, Grubby has to act like he cannot get away despite having an escape route directly to his left and his right. Grubby brings out the fists claiming that he can take him on; and then he shakes like a leaf. Geez; I didn't think Grubby would have lobster courage. To be fair; this is still more believable than Dave The Barbarian hiding behind a puppy. So Grubby is shaking as the brown goat stops selling and just walks over and as Grubby is covering his eyes in total fear; the brown goat comes over and licks Grubby in the face; which means the brown goat has a spring loaded neck. Grubby then surrenders as he got licked after all. Heh. So we cut back to Arin looking for that rooster which is sitting on top of his hat. How in the world does that work? You have to be a moron to let that happen to you and not realize where it is. Even Kit Cloudkicker was more self aware than this. Grubby giggles and comes over and takes the rooster off the hat as Arin finally realizes where it was. Then Grubby drops the rooster as the stampeding animals run out of the castle; in the messiest animation sequence you will ever see and the barn doors are already open and they rush into the barn; which somehow causes the animals to stop and act like nothing had happened.
So Teddy enjoyed that ride (oh why not? No one is angry that everyone nearly got crushed to death as a result. And you thought Phineas was happy all the time?!) as both babyfaces dismount. Grubby and Arin join in as they exchange notes as Grubby blames the court jester for doing it; which Arin thinks it's a good point as he will speak of the matter with him. I wish someone would speak to the denizens of Dumburt that the court jester is not doing this for the benefit of the kingdom; but merely doing it so the Gutangs could kidnap Aruzia again. Anyhow; the babyfaces all agree to leave and find the stray animals that did not go into the castle on the first run, as we scene change to the babyfaces on the road as Arin proclaims that this is the last of them; which Teddy points out that they look calm. We pan over to over the hill and see only four animals grazing in the grass. So we start walking for a while as Aruzia talks about how Grubby is a great farm hand which is hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Grubby sees licking as liking as they all go to the horses and feel their snouts. Grubby of course gets the female brown horse because we just have to set up some goofy comedy spots for him later on. So Teddy thanks them for inviting them to Nogburt; which Arin proclaims that it's their pleasure. Then we hear some male voice yelling for help as the babyface realize that something is wrong. So we head to a farm as Prince Arin has now dressed up like a old farmer! Okay; it's a guy who looks like Prince Arin wearing red sleeves on that blue sweater with blue overalls; pleading for mercy because someone is taking all their food. His family is standing behind him with the wife wearing a SWANK green dress with a patch on the skirt. That looked cool as we get a ground to sky shot (a poor one of that) of the green legged monkey wearing a full armored helmet mask welding a spear; blowing him off because they are the monster heels see.
The babyfaces all make it to the stone fence which they notice about three or four Gutang flying machines which look like vanilla cloth covered planes with propellors on. In a show where you have good talent; this was have been good, but I don't trust Shin Won to do anything right here. So they yell out in unison that they are the Gutangs which did annoy me as Arin wants to get those suckers right now. They all get on their horses and then Grubby points out a flaw in Arin's little idea: They have no way to fight back since they have no root stew like the last time (the end of the first story arc); which is a problem for them. So as the Gutangs start to load food into the airplanes; which they hear rumbling and here comes the babyfaces rushing in on horseback. Well; three of the four babyfaces anyway as Grubby is looking like he is in the Calgary Stampede because he has to provide comedy relief to a serious situation. So the Gutangs (who have four airplanes and spears) who should be able to take them on; all bail into their airplanes and fly off. Hilariously; the animation starts with them being at least 100 feet away from the babyfaces (which Arin and Teddy pump their fist in victory; which is not a victory since most of the food was already loaded anyway) and then about three seconds later; they are literally behind the tailsections of the flying machines and there is only two of them now. Then we zoom into Grubby entering the area still looking like a dork on horseback as the babyface do a turnaround; as does the flying machines in the air which there are four of them now. It is safe to say that the animation crew of this episode has no sense of shot continuity which is sad given the last episode was pretty solid in that department. So Grubby comes in and the horse stops on a dime and Grubby waves to them. He doesn't fall off and take a bump; but it's enough for Teddy, the personficiation of kindness and friendship to laugh at his expense. This would have worked if Grubby had actually taken the bump off the horse in the first place; which is not excusable since Grubby oversold a bump that missed by eight inches.
So we scene change to the farmer and his family putting oranges back in the baskets as the babyfaces walk in asking if they are all right. The farmer thanks them and then sees Arin and Aruzia and then bows before them. Force of habit I guess; because Aruzia tells them that the formalities aren't needed in these hard times. So we exchange notes for a while longer because the Gutangs have reduced themselves to being thieves while stealing food from people during a drought. Considering that there are three baskets of oranges present; I'm guessing this drought is very selective. The farmer and his wife hold hands as Arin thanks them because they are the backbone of the kingdom in difficult times. So we then fade to black and return on the road as the babyfaces are walking their horses while exchanging notes. There's not much to say here as the guise of the conversation is that the drought has gotten worse (and has the background animation at times; as it looks really blurry); and Gutang raids are on the rise. This sounds awfully counterproductive to me as we hear farmers asking for more help; but the guards of the court cannot be everywhere at once. Aruzia also points out that the raids are really selective, as they attack an undefended sector similar to the farm over there. It seems to Aruzia that they know what is going on and Arin thinks that there is a spy in the mists. NO?! REALLY?! I mean; the spy looks like an awful fool to boot too! So we see them walking the animals towards the castle and that ends the segment 10 and 3/4 minutes in. The creditability streak of this animation team continues without fail as a good portion of these scenes would be laughed off as Z-Grade level stuff even in 1990! The storyline is still great even though they took forever to set up.
After the commercial break; we go to a sky shot of the hallway leading in front of the doors (which I suspect is the entrance to the royal banquet hall) as Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick are standing on the podium on the left side; with Arin in the middle facing the king as Aruzia is standing behind Lillabert (sort of) and with Nogburt. So we get the formalities out of the way as Lillabert and Nogburt thank the babyfaces for rescuing the kids and Grubby shrugs it off as nothing. Teddy states that he would help a friend in need regardless of the situation, as Nogburt and Teddy shake hands and that is that. So we scene change to a shot of a trumpter blowing his horn wearing all lavender; which is impressive. I'm personally glad that it feels cool to see men wearing pink shirts again. I just wish the bigots were a lot more subtle in their hate of that; but they are idiot bigots; what can you do? So we slowly zoom in towards the T-Table as everyone is sitting down except for Nogburt who addressed the crowd which is only about ten Illipers; plus Eunice, the trio and the royal family. Huh. Interesting that he calls the Gutangs evil; but doesn't call the Mud Bulps evil. So all the heroes get spotlights for no reason as they are introduced. Gimmick gets first billing; which I think Eunice was the one who asked for it; which they are sitting together, and we get back to back scene changers for no reason at all. You couldn't just cut to them? Why didn't you spend more time fixing the animation errors instead of overkilling scenes? So Lillabert proclaims to let the feast begin and before the chefs come out; I figured that this was a jerk move to have the feast in the first place in the mists of this drought. However; when the chefs start opening the platters and dishing out the food; everyone got three peas and a potato out of the deal. So this feast is mostly a social talking event with little refreshment; which is funny considering that they had a cake made in the last episode. I made the cake was a work as well. Grubby is not impressed with this as Teddy reminds him of the storyline. Then we cut to Eunice and Gimmick as the little brown goat who licked Grubby's face earlier is seated in Gimmick's lap, for no reason at all.
It only serves for Gimmick to do his "heavens to Grundo" catchphrase which is basically the "OH MY GOD" promo from Gizmoduck. Gimmick addresses it as a baby guloot; which I guess is the booking name for these spieces; which would have been great if they had explains who the animals are beforehand. Bad, bad form there guys! Eunice chuckles a bit on this as she thought he was wearing fuzzy slippers; which did make me laugh. So we cut to Grubby coming in with a bag of roots (potatoes if you will) and he is going to show the chefs how to make root stew; which Lillabert has to act as if she thinks this is a compelling dish; even though her non-verbal cues indicates that she isn't too thrilled of the prospect. So the bag is on the table as Grubby sits down with Teddy and Grubby claims that the roots are the root of his friendship; and for fans of the Storybook Adventures; we all know where this is going now as Lillabert asks about the friendship between Grubby and Teddy. Teddy states that it started a long time ago in his hometown of Rillonia as Nogburt cuts him off and addresses the crowd to inform them that it's storytime with Teddy Ruxpin. Grubby is amazed that he is called brave and noble which is hilarious considering what the backstory of this friendship as Teddy stands up with the crowd (which is still about ten of time) clapping and cheering. One of them looks exactly like Ken Frosse; and I mention this because the running joke was that Newton Gimmick was modeled to look like Ken Frosse; a joke which Ken has denied for years. Thanks to visual evidence in this scene; he does have a point. The spotlight is on Teddy and I'm guessing that this is the commercial break for Non-American audiences because we fade to black with a sound effect that indicates the end of the segment. So we return with a whiplash like pan shot towards a far shot of Teddy in the spotlight. Teddy explains that this occurred in his home town with his family in which his mother was teaching him how to grow a garden. And WE HIT THE FLASHBACK~!
Now we get a pan shot from the back of Teddy's house (this is actually the first time in the series we have seen the house outside of the opening) to a bridge to a barren garden as Teddy and Illana are kneeling down on the ground in front of the rows of dirt; all ready to be planted so to speak. Okay; a couple things: I LOVE THIS ANGLE ALREADY! Why? Because Illana Ruxpin is here and she's always awesome (although I pefer her look in the Storyboard Remake which made Teddy Ruxpin wear actual blue pants and a red shirt instead of the shirt shorts with almond apron that was known in the original) and this is her first official appearance in the animated series (she did appear in the Jim Henson Productions version at the beginning). Sadly; we will never seen her again until the Reunion Arc in present form; although she is shown a few times in her decade past look. I mention this because: Teddy claims that this is long ago; but Teddy looks exactly as he was in the present. He is supposed to be 15 years old; and would be 16 about 2/3's into the series when we had the special birthday episode which looks like they could have released it shortly after the first Grunge Ball game. This was not a long time ago; unless you live in 1995! So I'm guessing that this was up to a year before Teddy started his adventure in Grundo. So Illana is basically showing Teddy how to plant potatoes because apparently; digging a hole, putting a potato in and covering it with dirt is a complicated process. I like this woman; seriously I do. And Michelle Barron is demonstrating yet again that she can outclass the professionals like Will Ryan. Think about that and despair. This brand seriously needs a remake; I don't care what Ken Frosse or Damon or Jason thinks! Phil Barron is trying to make his voice sound higher in order to make Teddy sound like a 12 year old; but it's not working as he calls this easy. Of course it is as Illana stands up; squeezes Teddy's cheek and leaves. That was great. So we get a jump cut of Teddy wiping his forehead from the sun while appearing to not plant anything at all. Then we get a shot BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as he stands in front of the rows staring.
Now; the funny part is: Teddy Ruxpin is monologing here and he states that he spent most of the afternoon planting potatoes; and only the first row was done. Wait; it took ten seconds to do the spot, so how come it took him the entire afternoon to plant one little row? Unless he started very late; I call slacker on this! So the sun sets (which is surprisely well done considering the crack animation team working here) and we fade to black. We return and...If this were done today, there would be a long sequence where we hear Ilana calling for Teddy from his room, Teddy would come out to the garden and then we see that the potatoes were dug up and stolen. Here; they simply cut to them at the garden already and the two Illiops stare at the hard camera before being shocked and appalled. So we scene change to a shot of Teddy underneath a tree planting a potato as we get a classic Z-Grade moment because the lip synch is off here. I originally thought that when Teddy was saying "It'll take most of the day to plant new ones"; I thought this was from Teddy's narration in the present, but Teddy's mouth appears to move as if he actually said this in the past. And the mouthflaps are way off here in that regard. Then we scene change and we return with exactly the same shot, only Illana is standing on the ground while Teddy's in the tree setting up the net with bells attached to them. Insert Ding-Dong joke here. Here; Teddy is clearly narrating this because Teddy's mouth doesn't move at all during this and Teddy gives the OK sign. I would have Illana come in with the net beforehand to set up the next scene; but what do I know...because we return to reality (no, not really) as Grubby cuts him off nicely which completely gives away who the potato thief is. So Grubby wants to tell his side of the story as he admits that he was digging for roots from the night before as Teddy has to help in saying nocturnal; which is basically carny talk for deflecting the fact that Grubby was stealing stuff from Teddy; which is dumb because Teddy already explained that the trap was set up to catch a potato thief. Apparently; Octopedes act like night owls at times, which is wonky booking by the way.
Now remember when Grubby was going to tell his side of the story. Suddenly; Teddy continues the story as if nothing had happened as we hit the flashback with no indication of a flashback. So we head to the garden AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as Grubby arrives with a bag and a lantern as he is acting like himself. He kneels down and digs in the exact same spot (which indicates that they used the same artwork as in the morning shot; only it's at night) grabbing nice round roots according to him. Yeah; Grubby is dumb and confused about growing them in straight lines, since anyone with a brain could figure out that it's someone's garden. Grubby is carrying them across the garden towards the tree; and we get one of those moments which makes me laugh: Grubby has a lantern with him and somehow he cannot see the rope anchored down on the ground. Grubby snags the rope with his feet (or hands depending on what school of Octopede you believe in) and doesn't faceplant in a spot that should result in such, but it's enough to net him and he is struggling despite the fact that the net is not tied down at all. None of this makes any sense; but it gets funnier. As we cut to a shot of the house which the lights are already on for some odd reason; as we cut to a closeup of Teddy running to the window yelling that he thinks the potato thief has been caught. So they lie in wait for the thief because it's clear Teddy is not wearing his green pjs' during this (which he should be). We get the far shot from the window; and then we get a really hilarious moment as Ilana and Teddy run out to confront the potato thief. Now; Ilana Ruxpin is probably 50 years old at this point; maybe older. And yet; she does this ultra awesome full spirit while keeping her dress up from tripping on it, and somehow she manages to run at the same speed as Teddy and not get tired. And her glasses seem to be lower than usual. How can you not like this woman?! Oh; the sun is appearing to rise as well.
Ilana cautions Teddy to be careful because they don't know who it is as Teddy calls him a giant potato bug. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Even better; Grubby was deeply offended by this racial slur. The Illiops are shocked and confused as Grubby claims that he's me and he's a Octopede; which prompts Ilana to want to get the net off of him because this potato bug can clearly talk; so Teddy lifts the net off of Grubby; thus demonstrating that this net was no threat to him. Ilana asks for a name and the Potato Bug..ERRR..I mean; Octopede addresses himself as Grubby as he apologizes for stealing the potatoes; and even offers to help Teddy replant them; which Ilana is happy to hear as she looks at the sky and notices that it's daylight as she offers Grubby something to eat; and Grubby accepts the offer. They walk back to the house as Grubby asks what they are having and Ilana offers potato pancakes; which all three babyfaces chuckle at. This was really great; although it would have been even better if the animation was up to 1990 levels and maybe they could explain how Grubby got to Rillonia in the first place. Either way; this was a great angle. So we fade to black and return as a good chunk of the garden has been planted as we see Grubby repeat the steps it takes to plant potatoes. Teddy is helping of course because he's Teddy as Grubby is having way too much fun at this as he asks about potatoes growing and Teddy points out that they will grow into lots of potatoes. So Grubby asks if they will bury other food and Teddy nods yes as they will grow lots of vegatables as most start out as little seeds. Grubby asks if he can help and Teddy states that he can which leads to the "Dig" Song; which is absolutely pointless at this point since the angle has already been paid off. This song feels like a redneck country song as the animators cannot decide if it's night or day in a few of the shots.
We get the slowest juggling of potatoes from Teddy with another blurry background. We get vegatables popping up out of nowhere; which is the best animation in the episode by far. Grubby is on the wagon pushed by Teddy and as Grubby is holding the cauliflower it is nighttime. So we repeat the chorus with the exact same animation as before; and then Teddy and Grubby dance around each other; which ends the song as they are doing this in real life on the table. This was a great ending to a pointless song that was horribly animated. Teddy and Grubby sweated on that one as the crowd pops loudly for this; and it still looks messed up. So we see a far shot from the doors as the court jester (who is not a Gutang, honest!) closes the door; and practices the fine art of not being seen by walking down the dark hallway and out of the royal hall. He walks up the steps and heads to a tower with a lantern; complete with whacky 1980's saxophone music playing in the background. He lights a match (which would be edited on Toon Disney) and lights the lamp which contains a shield in the front which opens and closes to create signals. That was pretty neat as we discover that The Hard To Find City is about 10 KM due north of Nogburt Castle. As noted; the Gutangs still have complete control of the ruined city at this point as two Gutangs are exchanging notes near the cliff as they are waiting for a signal; which they actually see. I should say this: No wonder Aruzia was easily kidnapped by these monkeys. This is the signal for the ambush attack on Nogburt castle as all the heels scramble into their flying machines and start flying away; and the animation when they go into the sky looked so plastic as it was three planes in sequence flying over and over again like HB recycled animation. So we head back to the banquet hall as Teddy finally ends his story about his friendship as it has been growing ever since; like the potatoes as Grubby would chime in. Teddy goes on about being happy when Grubby is around which makes Grubby blush. I cannot argue with that overwhelming logic there Theodore.
So in comes one of the chefs carrying a cauldron of root stew into the banquet hall; and this is the perfect way to test the friendship considering the fact that as I mentioned before; this is the secret weapon in making Teddy Ruxpin lie. The chef shows Nogburt the cauldron and Nogburt asks what is this as Grubby points out that it's root stew; and offers the king to have some. Nogburt decides not to and he sounds like Tweeg now that I think about it. Speaking of Tweeg; we have gone nearly the entire episode without seeing him. This is why editing out some of these segments would have been a good thing since we can simply add Tweeg/LB to show that they are still in the castle; and those segments are usually the funniest parts of the show anyway. Thye chef asks Grubby if he likes this stuff as we see Grubby has already poured out a bowl for himself; and gleefully answers the question for me as the chef counters proclaiming that he thought that they were creating glue. Which makes perfect sense because at the end of the first story arc; they used the root stew to patch up the balloon in the airship. So that is good sense booking. Nogburt stands up as we get another trumpet flourish as we cut to a red haired guy wearing a white apron, blue shirt and a bowtie holding a platter containing a goblet near the perfect position for the court jester (who is NOT a Gutang; honest!) to hide behind the curtain and pour some liquid from a test tube like capsule. Okay; I get the fact that you would want to poison King Nogburt, so why would you pour the liquid into the goblet AFTER you gave the signal? Why not pour the liquid into the goblet and then bail quickly to the tower to give the signal; because the entire court would be in disarray either way. It's not like the Gutangs are a million miles away from Nogburt Castle. This tells me that the Gutangs have not much confidence in this spy either; which is shocking considering that everyone in Nogburt cannot tell that he is clearly a Gutang despite showing his green hairy legs for all to see.
So the man carries the royal goblet over to King Nogburt. Nogburt grabs the globet and preposes a toast for the trio as everyone brings out their goblets; so I assume that water is still not a problem in this country. Which begs the question: Why not use the water from the moat? I guess lack of technology is a problem for this kingdom as Nogburt drinks from the globet; and then collapses as we all expected him to; as he sells it like he is dead. Everyone panics as Lillabert, Aruzia and Arin go over to try to wake him up; which isn't going to work. Teddy and Grubby are shocked and horrified; Teddy hears buzzing and goes over to the window as he notices the Gutang flying machine in view; that ends the episode at 19:12. This was a really great episode (without Tweeg no less) marred by lousy shot continuity and animation. Some of the logic was questionable; but the Z-Grade elements were reeking in this episode. *** 3/4 (75%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this episode was fairly good, but the whacky shot continuity that plagued the Reunion arc reared it's ugly head again with lousy animation and quite a few logic breaks in the process. This is a B-story writing crew with Z-grade animation in some episodes; which is not exactly a good combination. I felt the first major segment went on way too long (in fact; it almost literally took up half of the episode); and while there was some great moments in there; it could have been trimmed down without losing anything of note. The entire Teddy/Grubby back story was good; albeit it had some lousy animation, but there were some really funny moments in that and I actually cared about the relationship; so they did manage to put it over as a giant's deal. I still think if they had trimmed some of the fat from the first segment; they could have done an even better job on the backstory because some of it seemed to be glossed over a bit. Ilana Ruxpin is still awesome as usual; and the storyline of the spy wrecking havoc on the kingdom makes sense even though he is in the worst disguise ever made and requires everyone to be dumber than the denizens of Dumbwin to pull off. Overall; this episode did rule in spite of the horrible animation that it got, but the fact that Tweeg and LB were no where to be found proves that bad writing and horrible animation is often the cause of most bad episodes in this series; not a lack of Tweeg/LB segments. So next up is Secret Of The Illiops which at least they are building up in the preview; instead of completely ignoring it like the last preview they did, in that the preview does have a build on Illiop culture. And the spots actually hit this time. So....
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.