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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Guest Of The Grunges
Reviewed: 06/20/2015
Time For Some Grunge Ball Z!
Yeah; I'm bored today after a disappointing E3 (and that was mostly due to the last five minutes of it when the whole thing fell apart as the DME was fine otherwise.) and once again; we have a terroristic plot to kill people someone hates with a passion on the news once again. Thank goodness; I'm ranting on Teddy Ruxpin this week because if I was watching TaleSpin and doing transcripts, I would have rage the size of Nega Duck. Although even Disney thinks having guns in a church scene is too offensive, so at least it's not as rage inducing as last time with the theater. Anyhow; we continue our quest to find Princess Aruzia as Teddy and company once again never learn to stop trespassing and unintentionally destroying veggies as they meet a lavander yeti with a blubbering problem and a bunch of creatures who love dancing and eating soup laced with steroids basically. Yeah; this sounds like fun. But will they screw this one up too?! So let's rant on shall we...?
Opening Moment #1: We have the recap of the previous episode. Nothing to see here; let's move on. That means: Teddy didn't lie nor say anything we didn't know. That's good actually.
We begin this one with a pan shot west with a jungle in the foreground; along with that airship drone hum with fireworks. So Gimmick is sitting in the airship reading the phony map like an idiot. Of course Gimmick has no idea where they are. Teddy claims that they are making good time. Wait; so Teddy knows where they are going now? I realize that there is one fan who has given the gimmick of ESP to Teddy (which would lop off this logic break); but it's not in evidence in this series. Grubby of course points out the obvious because it's all Tweeg's fault. Yes and no. Gimmick being an idiot in giving the real map to LB while not looking is at fault here. The phony map is all on Tweeg's fault though. Arin acts as if he never met this Tweeg before. Geez; is everyone this sheltered in this series? Something hit me while thinking about this episode before I started ranting: Name one area where there is more than two spieces in the same area. Sure; the Grunges have two types, but they are still Grunges. Illiops are all in Rillonia (with one exception; but only in an area away from civilization). The woodsprites and elves live together, the Perloon and Illipers do live together in Nogbert (save Newton of course), the Fobs are separate and so on. The only place where there are more than two spieces is MAVO; who are supposed to be the monster heels in this show. There is a lot of segergration in this series. TaleSpin also has this problem to a certain extent with the Thembrians and Louie's being monkeys for the most part; but Cape Suzette certainly doesn't have this problem and many of the denizens are babyfaces. The Iron Vulture has multiple spieces. There are a number of areas, even in stereotypical areas that have more than two spieces living in it (Actually; Ducktales is basically the same four spieces over and over again: ducks, dognoses, pigs and assorted birds.). It's just something that bothered me just the other day. Gimmick claims that Tweeg is evil. Really? Do you have any citations to prove that Tweeg is really decidely evil? I don't see any to prove that. Wacky alchemist? Yeah? Evil? Not so much.
So Grubby is octopeding the propeller (that came off weird) and it's so hard that he needs a drink of water. Gimmick goes to the water barrel to get some; but only one drop falls from the tap. Yeah; now it's bad as Teddy gets off the educational line of the episode; which is no one can last long without water. That's fair; more so since they are still in the desert while saying this. While the maximum has been between 8-10 days; it is usually averaged around three days before you die. However; since this is a desert, it could be hours. So I'm perfectly fine with this. So Arin offers to take over the propeller and give Grubby a blue telescope. Grubby accepts and looks in it doing a eastern pan shot; as he finds a waterfall; but as most telescope spots are, he overshoots his target before finding it again. So the airship lands as we pan over to a closer shot and there is a furry yeti like creature in shadow sitting in front of the waterfall. Then as the airship lands in an open field; we cut to the front of the waterfall and see a lavander yeti with a pink beard and mustache, pink body and pink hands sitting in front of the waterfall scratching his ears; making these really silly sounds. Then he walks over and drinks from the waterfall with his back turned. He also has this sound that goes "BALOOGILOOOO" or something. It's really hard to pinpoint this sound, but this lavander yeti usually does it when he stutters or shakes his head. He dances around and drinks the water again which simply cuts away to the trio hiding behind some jungle leaves. I should note that there is a rainbow like color on the waterfall as Grubby asks what kind of beast is that? Gimmick doesn't know and it looks dangerous. Cue Molly Cunningham from Mommy For A Day: Boy, are you dumb! Does THAT look dangerous?! Come on! Grubby wants to get rid of it; so Teddy and company walk in with a pail as the lavander yeti is sitting down and then when he opens his eyes, he is terrified now. Teddy tries to ask for water and it is so much fear that the yeti no sells and stomps his foot into the river causing water to splash right into the babyfaces. About time someone did that to Teddy.
So Grubby tries the jerk approach of obtaining water and that makes the yeti angry; which causes Grubby to stammer and weasel his way out of this. Lobster courage, that's in Grubby's DNA. Grubby then points out that they need the water in order to rescue Princess Aurzia, which the yeti blows him off and tells them to scram. Then he turns around and then asks if he said princess. Grubby says yes and explains that she's lost; and then Arin points out that she was kidnapped. Wait; what? Who kidnapped Princess Azuria? Now granted, as we find out in the next episode; she was in fact kidnapped. But if she was lost; then (1) that is a BS&P practice to say that she's dead, when she is clearly not and (2.) How does Arin know that she was kidnapped and how does he know who kidnapped her? This makes no sense at all. Nevertheless; this white lie is enough to get the lavander yeti really mad because why would anyone want to kidnap a princess? Probably because the booker is sexist, lazy or both in real life. In storyline, whomever kidnapped them is sexist, lazy, wants a ransom to terrorize a kingdom or all the above. He punches out an edge of the river edge while doing the "BALOOOGILOOO" sound. Arin then admits that he has no idea who kidnapped her. Again; if you don't know who kidnapped her; then how do you know she was kidnapped in the first place? You haven't presented any evidence that suggests that she was kidnapped? You cannot say that she's gone missing and he wants to find her? I mean; would this yeti's reaction be different if you said that she's missing? The yeti lavander snowbeast of doom tells us that they need to go see the wizard. Oh lovely; Teddy Ruxpin is now going to see the wonderful wizard of...something. It's not Oz; that's for sure. So Grubby's the lion, Arin the tinman, Gimmick is the scarecrow and Teddy is Dorothy only male. Who plays Toto then? Who plays the Wicked Witch Of The West? Who knows?! Who cares?! Anyhow; the lavander yeti is jumping up and down as he wants to join them to see the wizard. Teddy takes a bucket and gets a bucketful; and that's that. Can you spot the major logic break of this decision? More on that another Father's Day special down the road.
Anyhow; we head back to the airship as the lavander yeti is standing in the airship as Gimmick is yelling at Grubby to shovel more fuel because they aren't getting anywhere. Yes folks; this snowbeast is so fat that the airship cannot take off. For some reason; the writers were able to keep this straight throughout the series because I don't recall this snowbeast ever being in the airship and the airship successfully taking off. It takes off about six feet in the air; but Grubby cannot stuff anymore coal in the furance, so the airship falls down and it's wheels look like they are literally made of rubber. Lovely! Gimmick proclaims that it's no use. Geez; this is awfully convenient that this airship cannot take off with a 500 lb snowbeast (and five guys); but a 500 lb. bear in a SeaDuck (with at least three to five people) could easily takeoff and land. I'm not buying this stuff. The yeti proclaims that he can take a hint and walks off as Arin asks about finding the princess without him. You mean the wizard, Prince?! Anyhow; this yeti offers to walk instead, but Grubby wants to fly there and meet the yeti later. That failed and everyone follows the snow beast into what the yeti calls: The Jungle With No Name. Yeah; it's kind of like having a wrestling gimmick called Untitled or The Man With No Face. Hmmm; who would be stupid enough to call himself that? I cannot put my "Beefcake" on who it might be. Cut to in the jungle as LB is pulling the wagon with Tweeg in the wagon as LB annoys Tweeg with the "Are we there yet?" spot. LB calls him Twas which brings the number of names of Tweeg to seven now. So Tweeg blows him off for getting his name wrong and spells it again; so LB responds by saying big deal; only he spells it Deed. Wow; that's a similar spelling to the DED spelling Tweeg did in "Father's Day". So they argue about getting lost as Tweeg accuses LB of getting lost and LB blames Tweeg for being a bad driver basically. Tweeg claims that he has his hands full reading this map. Sadly; his has his brain on empty. That's what LB should have said. Tweeg says that he'll run barefoot in all that treasure and LB is disgusted and gives up his share to Tweeg; which Tweeg cheers victory.
Because you see; Tweeg is already barefoot as it is (and so is LB for that matter) so it's just a ploy by Tweeg to get LB to give up his share of the gold. Classic slimey heel stuff! I love it! Now all we need is him to whine and all the bases are covered for Darkwing Duck to steal and turn it babyface. The road is bumpy as the wheels hit the rocks causing Tweeg to do some bumping for fun; as Tweeg proclaims that finding help is so hard these days that he almost wants to push the wagon himself. Almost. So LB snags a conveniently placed treebranch and it springs back; catches Tweeg in the chest and he flies off the wagon and bounces down the hill to fetch a pail of buttermilk nuts to make gold nuts out of them. Tweeg changes from barefoot to warlock shoes inbetween shots as LB taunts Tweeg as he lands face first and somehow twisted his body to take it as if he bounced into the opposite direction. That might be a logic break; but it sure heck was funny. That mud looks more transparent than it appears in real life. LB finally cracks a joke and actually gets his name right before laughing like Vinny. So we fade to black six and a half minutes in; and then return with a pan shot in the most open spaced jungle I have ever seen. More like the Jungle With No Folige. So they walk in the jungle and in the bushes there are eyes watching Grubby's legs for no reason. This is enough for Grubby to claim that someone is watching him. Oh come on Grubby! It's the Fobs. Who else that size could hide in those bushes? Even Teddy thinks Grubby has lost it; so we know who is the paranoid one here. Gimmick calls it a figment of his imagination; and then we see two Fuzz's hop out and the purple one has the glassy. And two Fobs (one orange and one small green one) teleport into the same shot for no reason as the yeti points out that they are in fact Fobs. Note that neither Teddy nor Grubby point out that they saw them earlier in the episode; so even Teddy has the memory of an exec. No wonder he keeps a diary. So Teddy asks about the wonderful wizard of...I guess Grundo; but that is pushing it at this point.
I discover that the purple Fob's name is Fred as the Fobs call the babyfaces brave for going through the jungle which is the only way the lavander yeti knows how. More Fobs enter as the babyfaces are strong, brave, foolish and dumb in that order. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. The little green Fob even asks if they are heroes. Ummm, not yet little one. Teddy agrees with me and everyone calls them humble; which is in fact true. The orange Fob nuzzles the little green Fob because it's a signal to inform him to leave now. The Fobs all leave calling them brave, dumb and foolish. Well; most of them are foolish and brave; while the yeti is brave, strong and dumb. So the babyfaces walk away dumbfounded and we scene change to a close up shot of a tree with three jungle flowers. Now even Teddy is questioning the wisdom of calling this The Jungle With No Name; so even he knows this sounds stupid. I betcha Teddy would also say that Texas is a strange place; but get sued for gimmick infringement by Erica from Sakura Wars. Gimmick claims as they are walking in the jungle; that the Fobs were committing hyperbole in their warnings. Ummm, no; Gimmick. That would be implying that the Fobs were trying to warn them. This sounds to me like they were voicing what the critics of this show were saying more than anything else; but BS&P had to dumb it down in order for the Fobs to not bury the show. Grubby claims that he hasn't seen anything that he was afraid of. This is the same Grubby who was scared of the Fobs at the beginning of this arc. Anyhow; three Grunges appear before them. One of them has red hair that looks like a dog's tail and one is wearing a chain necklace with the most fake gold coin I have ever seen. So the yellow hair leader of the Grunges, local 1 is not happy because Teddy and Grubby are standing on their veggies. So yes; Teddy and Grubby have unintentionally vandalized a garden. Is this merely another attempt to show that the storybook Teddy and this one is not the same? Anyhow; Gimmick thought they were weeds and the leader blows it off and then proceeds to pull some washed out greens and eats them.
See; this was the best harvest in years until these babyfaces squashed them. So what is next for Teddy Ruxpin? Killing Quellor? Of course not. That would be too Ken Izzy of him to do so. Gimmick apologizes and I hope he tries that in court too. One of the Grunges (I have no idea who is voicing who because none of them have been addressed by name. Oh; but the purple Fob's name is Fred.) claims that the snowbeast killed two arces and the yeti instantly apologizes. Now; didn't we do this angle last episode and it it just made enemies out of the Mud Bulps? The red dog tailed hair Grunge calls Teddy Fuzz Face and of course Teddy introduces himself and everyone else in the room. The red haired dood calls him Teddy Dustpan and a lolipop; so I'm guessing this Grunge is friends with LB. Well; considering how Worlds Of Wonder went out of business, calling him the metaphoric version of sucker is quite accurate. The Grunges laugh (which is a metaphor for everyone who doesn't buy Teddy's idealogy) and asks why they are trespassing on Grunge terrority (yeah; the second time they have done that, three if you include Gimmick) as Teddy proclaims that they are here to see the wizard of Grundo. Grubby chimes in and this leads to the Grunge calling him a potato bug; which doesn't amuse Grubby. Remember in "The Day Teddy Met Grubby" and Teddy calls Grubby a potato bug; Grubby was much more gravely offended by this slur.
Gimmick assures him that he's not a potato bug; and declares him an Octopede. Now; if I was a Grunge, I would say "Don't you mean Hexapede? It has six legs." That would be funny. However; the Grunges respond by saying that Grubby can do four times more damage than the rest of them. HAHA! Grubby of course does his stupid lift every appendage in the air and falls on his underside spot of course. Teddy offers to pay for the damage; but the Grunge laugh at him because Teddy has nothing they want anyway. HA! So Arin steps in and offers to give the Grunges a reward after Princess Aruiza is found and points out that Arin is the son of King Nogburt. This is enough for the Grunges to reconsider as they grab Arin and do the football victory spot as the guise of this is that the Grunges are taking him back to the village for lunch and they are taking no for an answer. I betcha they wouldn't take it as a question either. They carry Prince Arin away chanting as the Grunges have no clue who Prince Arin is; but they don't care. However; they clearly know who King Nogburt is. How sheltered is Prince Arin? The rest of the babyfaces are as dumbfounded as I am; albeit for different reasons. Boy; the music in this glitched out as well as we end the segment almost 11 minutes in. Well; this episode is animated better, but the shot continuity still is bad. However; now the real fun is going to begin, because...
After the commercial break; we head to the village of the Grunges Local 1 which has a lot of grass huts on the ground in front of trees. In comes the Grunges, who have gotten tired of carrying Prince Arin around. How disappointing? I wanted to see them carry him all the way to the village, because it was hilarious. This bookers have no idea what they are doing. The rest of the babyfaces follow as we exchange notes on the situation as the other native Grunges look on looking as confused as I am. See; Gimmick is talking like a science guy with no street smarts whatsoever, so the Grunges are just confused at what he is saying. What a shock that is?! Teddy finally asks if this is where they live and the leader of the Grunges basically sums this up for me. Yeah; Gimmick has no life. Cut to a shot of a crimson red haired Grunge wearing green shorts and a brown vest dumping veggies into a box which is next to a cauldron on a campfire. The leader explains that they are celebrating the harvest of their veggie crop that the babyfaces trampled on earlier. The red tailed hair dude with a gold button on his red tunic says that this is to honor Prince Arin as the Grunges chant his name as Arin is more interested in the mission to find the wonderful wizard of Grundo. Gimmick sees Arin as not accepting a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak. Occam's Razor: We need to rest at some time as the yeti goes over and slides down against a tree to rest. It's also been ten minutes without knowing who this yeti's name is. Grubby wants food and Teddy thinks this is an acceptable way of showing gratitude. Arin accepts; but the Gruffi pose says that he's not happy to do this. I realize this is because he's worried about his sister and rightfully so; but his Gruffi pose comes off as "those chaps are hardly friendly Teddy. They treated me like some football player. I don't see Larson & Gary." So we pan over to a chef Grunge with a white hat and a yellow apron, looking as goofy as everyone else. He stirs the cauldron as the leader tells them that they have five more guests, so more extra veggies are needed. The village chef acts like a cranky old man as he goes through the veggies in the box.
The leader tells everyone not to mind him because he get steamed due to the side effects of a soup called Grunge Gumbo. Teddy notices the chef putting in dashes of some spice from a bag and asks what is that. Animation logic break: In the far shot; we only see the bag for Vitamin Z; but on the closeup shot, out of nowhere there is an orange and yellow bag containing Vitamin X and Y. They are his secret to the Gumbo: some X, some Y and a little Vitamin Z. Also a break; the far shot the bag didn't have a hole in it; while the closeup shot does and Vitamin Z pours into the soup. Now watch as we get the Teddy Ruxpin method of showing why the dose is the poison is accurate. The leader wants just a pinch because Vitamin Z is very powerful. Grubby suggests adding roots; and the chef blows him off because he is an artist see; so Grubby does the Gruffi pose and blows him off as a snob. Yes he is; but he's an honest snob. So the leader stirs the cauldron as the gumbo sparkles. Is that a good sign or a bad sign? I don't know! Anyhow; the leader takes a spoonful and offers it to Grubby. Grubby decides to accept and tastes the soup. His voice gets deeper and the spoon is crushed like nothing. Grubby likes the soup and would like some more; but the leader suggests that he doesn't because too much can be dangerous. So Teddy asks when the celebration was going to start. Wait; I thought it already did?! The chef of course is cranky because he wants to be right now since the soup is getting cold. Never mind that the soup is over a campfire and the soup is boiling hot. What a stupid line?! So the leader goes to the center as the Grunges are all out and the leader addresses the Grunges and let the music begin. So the Grunges all run in and they DANCE, DANCE, DANCE TO THEIR DOOM! HEEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm... Okay; I'm done. Yes; there is a music video called the Grunge. Remember Psy's Gangnam Style of dancing? Well; this is where he stole it basically. Thankfully for him; the seven year gimmick rule expired a long time ago; so he's safe.
There is also a lot of butt touching in this one too. And we accuse Breadwinners of this nonsense? Wait; Teddy and Grubby somehow know this song despite the fact that they haven't met a Grunge until this episode. There are Grundo's version of squirrels in the jungle branches as several Grunges are pulling the lavander yeti from his resting place. They dance with him; cut to the worse handclaps ever. Again; how does Teddy and Grubby know the song if they never saw a Grunge? This is where an explaination would be great here because the Grunges should be singing the song only. A red haired and yellow hair Grunge mug for the camera about a dozen times during this song. This is a fun dance song that is so dated that only Psy could save it now. Oh wait...Some Grunge in a green tunic has bagpipes; but there is no bagpipe sound in this musical piece. Why? I don't know. One of the brown haired Grunge has a double French horn which his head is used to play it literally. This goes on forever as Grubby is clapping and moving well; as Grubby proclaims that he usually has eight left feet (even though he only has six of them). So Grubby bounces around as the Grunges are somehow impressed by this and then we get a massive logic break: Prince Arin is standing exactly 10 feet away from the cauldron doing nothing but showing disdain for everything. Geez; what a party pooper?! Worse; didn't he walk away stage left? Because we never see him until right now after he walked off. What a stupid logic break and the only reason they did it is because Arin has to be there so Grubby trips and bonks into Arin and Arin flies right into the Grunge Gumbo cauldron of doom. Arin also kills the campfire to boot on the resounding splash too. Everyone gasps in horror. I agree with them; that bump was bad. THAT WAS WEAK! THAT WAS WEAK! THAT WAS WEAK! The chef is horrified as Arin pops up and gets out of the cauldron looking very grumpy despite the fact that he is saying that he feels wonderful. Again; the lines are not matching up with the artwork. Who is booking this? It cannot be Ken Frosse because he would have noticed this and corrected it.
Arin jumps off the rim of the cauldron as he lands on his feet and acts like a bobblehead doll, sort of. Teddy proclaims that he is growing literally ten seconds BEFORE he actually starts growing. UH OH! Oh; here we go, now this arc's business has started to pick up. Arin turns around and has this evil look on his face, and he starts growing like anyone moving in the Ted E. Bear specials; only this at least seems to have in betweeners. He basically grows about as tall and big as a yeti, while gaining this armor that makes him look like a reject knight monster from Dragon Quest 1. Well, look on the little bright side, at least he didn't grow into Lips from Dragon Quest V, that would have been awful and Arin would probably have hated life. Dragon Quest Arin walks as the leader tells the chef that he put too much Vitamin Z in the Gumbo. Geez; you THINK?! DQ Arin goes over as the yeti is surprised by this and he gets grabbed into the air as the leader claims that the soup makes you meaner. No?! Really?! Then after 14 minutes out of all this; the yeti finally says his full name: The Wooly Whatsit. Yeah; the writers introduced him at the falls; but conveniently forgotten to have him say his name there and it took fourteen minutes before he actually said his name. Granted; in Plunder and Lightning, we didn't know Kit's name until about 10 minutes into that story, but it was supposed to be a surprise when Baloo and Kit formally introduced themselves. And they were in a hurry. Wooly should have introduced himself right at the moment Princess Aruzia was mentioned. DUMB! So Arin gorilla press slams Wolly onto the cauldron and the soup sprays around. I guess you have to drink it in order to get the full effect. Apparently; skin penertration doesn't cut it. The chef is angry; and no one cares as Teddy asks what is wrong with him, and so Arin grabs Teddy and flings him away. That is so funny on so many levels as Teddy crashes into one of the grass huts. At least that bump was better than the one Arin took into the soup. Arin then goes after Grubby as Wooly manages to walk and goes to a tree to dislodge the cauldron from his rear end. Okay.
Then Wooly runs in from behind to grab Arin while claiming that he might hurt someone. Might?! Arin grabs Wooly and gorilla press slams him into another grass house in which the Grunges all run out in time before they get crushed. Odd since I thought all of them were out of the grass houses. DQ Arin stalks Wooly with his sword which seems like it is suffering from shrinkage issues. Somehow; Wooly manages to dodge the sword blow and teleport to about thirty feet behind him. Wooly then gets chased by DQ Arin. Then we get another laughable logic break: DQ Arin is shown on closeup shots to cutting down three trees. However; on the next shot, only one of them comes down and there are three additional wooden stumps with no downed trees to follow. That is bad continuity there guys! So DQ Arin runs and cuts down another tree causing a repeat shot of the Grunges bailing out of the grass house and this one gets crushed by the downed tree. Everyone is horrifed as we cut to Wooly hiding behind a tree proclaiming that he doesn't know if he can stop him to Teddy. DQ Arin cuts down the tree and then Wooly dodges the sword and bails stage northwest. So he runs off and suddenly; the leader is about to run in as Arin is distracted as Wooly knocks the sword out of his hands and it flies and almost stabs a Grunge in the head before landing on the wall of a grass hut which cut a rope. That rope went nowhere as then suddenly, Wooly and DQ Arin lock up in the center of the village. So even in cartoons; a weapon's match always ends in a straight up wrestling match. I am watching Impact! Wooly loses the round and gets shoved down onto the ground and somehow this causes the grass roofs to bounce up and down. I agree with the faces here; that is a horrifying example of not making any sense. So Wooly gets up and pushes DQ Arin right into the palm tree and then slips and falls when he walks backwards. This causes coconuts to fall and bonk Arin on the head a couple of times. Gimmick then like an idiot runs in and demands a stop to this mindless violence; like a priest! If you don't know what happens next, you have no business reading this rant.
Yeah; Gimmick gets tossed like a bad wrestler and he bonks into the Grunge leader in the process and almost loses his glasses in the process. The leader is not amused. Wooly pops up and gets tackled by DQ Arin as the leader somehow gets up and proclaims that Arin and Wooly will no longer be invited to anymore parties after this debacle. Teddy calls this awful as this is going to take an extremely long time since the soup has yet to wear off. So Wooly and DQ Arin roll like a bunch of logs towards the cliff (Yes; this village is next to a lake, why do you ask?) as this lake is about 500 feet below the cliff. Everyone panics in horror as we pan up to see Wooly grabbing onto some weeds on the cliff while DQ Arin is holding onto Wooly's body. Laughable logic break: Wooly is holding onto both weeds; but the roots Arin was holding are pulled and that's enough for both of them to free fall into the lake with a resounding splash. This fight was great; but darn, it had logic holes in them. The trio runs down to the shore line calling for Arin and Wooly. Wooly pops up and he's perfectly fine as he goes into the water and manages to grab Arin who is officially back to normal. This implies that water causes the effects to wear off; kind of like water diluting a strong solution. This makes sense actually; and that Arin was wearing iron armor; water is a weakness to it since it would rust. Again; this angle was great, it just had a lot of logic breaks that dragged it down. Arin feels strange as if it was like he was on some adventure. No, not really. So Gimmick invokes the punchline of the entire thing; treating it like a joke and everyone laughs. LAME! Fade to black and we head inside the house of the leader of the Grunges as they are at a table with Arin, Gimmick, and Teddy. The leader points out the locations to the Wizard's Fortress; on the phony map! I would figure that the leader would just give directions, but nope.Hilarious coloring mistake: Arin's hair is bleach blond even though Arin is clearly supposed to be a ginger and have red hair. Arin and Wooly shake hands and make up. After all that; my heart melted anyway.
Arin offers to have King Nogburt pay for the damages caused during the celebration and the leader is fine with that; but still isn't so happy because his chef is even angerier than any of the Grunges in the village. Good point; after all, the soup got ruined. We pan to the door; and doesn't the door window look familar? Huh, The six glass segments look similar to the crystals actually. The door opens and in comes Grubby asking about soup. In comes the chef with the cauldron with one tooth as he puts the soup down onto the table. If you cannot guess what is this soup...you guessed it. So Teddy asks if he helped the chef; and Grubby says yeah. There is an auible uh-oh in the background as the babyfaces are not happy about this. The leader doesn't seem to care as Grubby dips "Roasted Root Gumbo" (which is basically green pea soup) into the bowl. I find it amusing that Wooly doesn't like the soup despite not being told what root stew actually is. Yeah; the writers don't have good story editors. Anyhow; the leader doesn't seem to mind, but since he doesn't taste it we never know if he liked it or not; so there is still no pay off to the root stew angle. The leader does ask if he makes them big and strong. Grunge Gumbo: A soup approved by Larson & Gary. Har har! Grubby says that he hopes not and they all laugh it up. This is not as lame as the last laugh joke; but it's still pretty lame on it's own; as this ends the episode at 19:10. This was a stupidified mess again with logic breaks and dumb booking; but the entire Wooly/Arin fight was great in spite of it. At least it had intensity and heat; but the logic was all over the place. Still the best episode of the arc so far; at *** 1/2 (70%). So the next episode has Teddy and company seeing the "wizard", the "wonderful wizard" of Grundo. Scare quotes intentional. Teddy then kills the fortress angle dead by just calling it the "Wizard's House". Great job in burying the "Wizard" before he had a chance to bury himself there Ruxpin! Obvious lie: Teddy claims that Aruzia is locked up in a dungeon, even though the footage shows that she is in a bird cage. And Wooly has changed colors to what he will look like in the series from now on. Lovely!
THE REVIEW LINE
Another episode done; another mess. The plot itself is not really a big issue here; and quite frankly, the story is good. The problem is that the continuity of the story is just awful. The artwork's great; but the animation is horrible and there are way too many logic breaks in this to be acceptable. I want to love this story; but it gets messed up at every turn because no one thinks anything through in this series. Sure; there are lame jokes, but that's the least of this episode's problems. What saved it was the Iron Warrior/Wooly Whatisit fight, which had the heat, it just looked dumber than the Ernie/Peter Griffin fight in Family Guy. Sure, BS&P had it's fist in the pie, but it's Ken Frosse's characters; what can you do? Again; the Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin should be remade and remade soon. Despite all the horror stories about the doll; the actual world is great and the characters are in fact very good. It's just this version is messed up because it was made in Canada and Canada is not rich enough to make Disney-like visuals and logic. Which a epic world like Grundo should have. Overall; this is the best episode so far; but almost all that is on Wooly and Arin's fight. Next up; we finally get to the meat of the actual arc as we discover that all this talk about saving Princess Aruzia before going to the Hard To Find City means absolutely nothing now. We're off to see the "wizard", the "wonderful wizard" of Grundo. Hopefully; the mess will not be so messy. So....
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.