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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: In The Fortress Of The Wizard
Reviewed: 06/21/2015
Which Lasts About Seven Minutes Flat!
So after a logic breaking, but awesome fight with Prince Arin and the Wooly Whatisit; it's time to get back on track and find Princess Aruzia as the heroes are now going to see the "wizard", the "wonderful wizard" of Grundo in order to gain leads; and this'll lead to a inconvenient truth that all angles must meet at one dead on point. Meanwhile; Tweeg and LB are still bickering at each other. So, will the wizard help Teddy? Where is Princess Aruzia? Will we know what a "whatisit" is? Will Grubby ever figure out that no one likes his root stew? Will Tweeg ever get laid? Will LB ever get paid? Will I get a refund for the DME? Will anyone care if I do or not? Do I even care? Will I stop asking so many questions? Will I care to stop? So let's rant on shall we...?
Opening Moment #1: Recap of the previous episode. I should note that Teddy completely ignored the fact that they stomped on veggies and forgot to mention that the Grunges did in fact show the location of the "wizard"; the "wonderful wizard" of Grundo.
We begin this one with Wooly's theme music and it just occured to me: when we first saw Wooly and he was lavander in color and now is walking looking totally pink in this episode: he was humming his own theme song. Hilariously bad humming by the way. That amused me. I had an idea in my mind for the Fortress Of The Wizard in that the Fortress Of The Wizard was like a video game only the players are real and there would be various traps like in Frogger and such other games; and once they defeat all the traps, they would get to see the "wizard", the "wonderful wizard" of Grundo. That would make for a great story worthy of the episode title and waste some time while keeping the children's attention and not get boring. Here the babyfaces have made it to the "fortress of the wizard" of Grundo; and it looks like a house in Nogburt Castle with windows straight from Rilliona. Not much of a fortress if you ask me. There are also wooden signs; one of them reads ABC. So this "wizard" of Grundo is a preschooler. That also amused me. They walk up to the large doors (with a smaller door in the large door of course. Oh; and all the signs are blank now. I just thought of something and there is a story to this I would like to share now (from IMDB): An episode depicting Tweeg, L.B. and piles of old books was in pre-production at Atkinson Film Arts in Ottawa around Christmas 1986, with scripts trickling slowly into the layout and posing departments. Some bored posers began putting silly and risque titles to the books, expecting they would be deleted later, when the scenes were animated in Korea. A month hence, the Korean rushes returned to Ottawa and the scenes were screened to the sponsors. To everyone's shock and to Atkinson's chagrin, it was clear these inappropriate book titles remained until this point of the product. Korean animators could not understand English and didn't realize these titles were meant as a temporary joke. Atkinson's ate the cost of repairing the scenes, yet portions of the bogus titles remain in the final cut.
So I thought about Al Khan's words about editing out signs and it just occured to me that Al Khan probably said "kids don't read" as an excuse. I think Al Khan wanted the signs edited because he thinks the Japanese language all translates to sexually suggestive language, and we cannot have any of that like what happened in 1987. Occam's Razor suggests that the editing was done because Al Khan is an idiot; but I think he's also a bigot too. Considering where much of 4Kids' animation comes from, this shouldn't shock anyone. Wooly claims that he's friendly; but when Arin knocks on the door, the "wizard" sounds mean which Grubby has to point out. Teddy's mouth seems to be gone too as Arin asks for help as the door opens and the white haired white mustache/beard old man (who has stolen Mickey Mouse's Fantasia outfit and then repainted it blue with white stars) opens the door and asks about a princess. Oh wait; Teddy got his mouth back. That's a relief. Wait; how does everyone know that Aruzia has been kidnapped when there is no evidence that she was kidnapped? I realize that in the end, she was in fact kidnapped; but we aren't supppose to know that until the babyfaces actually see the wizard. The "wizard" blows it off because you see, poor princesses are not worth his time and he slams the door on them. Outside of Newton Gimmick and the Fobs; every single group of people is hostile to the babyfaces, even though in this case; Teddy and company did nothing wrong (unless you count Teddy's really poor choice of words (no pun intended)). This is the animated edition of Lufia GBC where everyone Wain meets for the first time, calls him stupid. So Gimmick points out that she's a rich, unfortune princess and that's enough for this "wizard" to reconsider. However; he doesn't want to waste time. They are making zero effort in trying to hide this guy as a knockoff of the Wizard of Oz; even stealing the promo about a horse with a different color. Guys; that promo was a set up to the joke of a horse changing colors on the fly in the movie. Anyhow; Arin bribes him with a handful of coins and the "wizard" accepts as he lets, Arin, Gimmick, Grubby and Teddy in...
However; Wooly tries to follow, but; the "wizard" slams the door in his face after being repulsed by his presence. So he is repulsed by a snowbeast who is purple in color; but is okay with a potato bug like creature with six legs and a living teddy bear? What a homophonic bigot?! By the way; the bump Wooly took on the nose missed by six inches; but he oversells it and falls on his rear end. Back inside, the wizard has the Gruffi pose on full blast as Gimmick protests this outrage. The wizard is confused as he asks "what is a whatsit?" Answer: He's a Snowzo actually; but that is much later in the series. The wizard still no sells the deal because he'll get fur all over his stuff. So why are you letting Teddy Ruxpin in then? He's has fur too you know. Teddy goes over to Wooly and tells him to wait outside; which Wooly is fine with. Teddy closes the door and we're inside the house which one of the glass windows is shaped like a Rupee from Legend Of Zelda. There is also a red sign that reads "PAC READ"; there are bells, and there are stands for soft drinks and fruits. Even though the stand clearly contains cotton candy and popcorn. In fact; Grubby clearly points out that it's popcorn. So; why does it say fruits? They make it to the table (which clearly looks like a gamblers' table) and the "wizard" tells them to wait a moment and shop for stuff as he goes through a doorway covered by a red curtain. More evidence that he comes off as the lowest rent wizard of OZ. So he goes into his private room as there are reels of film on the table and a jury rigged radio painted pink and red. He looks like a cross between an elf and a Illiper now that I think about it. He uses the microphone and calls for someone named Louie. We go outside and pan over as we see a helicopter bicycle come out with Louie pedaling it. Anyhow; the guise of this was that Louie return to the house at once and Louie says under; and the wizard treats him like a heel henchman. So wait; Wiz is a heel?! I can understand him being a tweener; but this makes no sense. Anyhow; the helicopter bicycle lands and Louie walks into the room; and places a large golden projecter on a table in front of a mirror. Yip; very low rent wizard of Oz.
So Louie asks who these customers are and the "wizard" calls them lively. Okay. Anyhow; the "wizard" wants footage of a lost princess and Louie asks what she looks like which prompts "wizard" to approximate that she looks like her brother. Louie looks through the curtain and realizes that they are the same people who he filmed in the Mud Bulp prison. Yeah; actually continuity in this series. About time too. The "wizard" wants him to find footage of a princess and Louie admits that he has evidence of Princess Aruzia being kidnapped by the Gutangs. See; now at this point, the kidnapping angle becomes apporos because Louie has evidence that a kidnapping has taken place even though we haven't seen it yet. The problem is; everyone else is acting like she was kidnapped even though Occam's Razor would suggest that she is merely lost until evidence shows that she was kidnapped. Heck; she could even be dead for all we knew. Everyone in this story has overplayed the kidnapping angle and we're supposed to be shocked that there is evidence even though everyone acts like it was a foregone conclusion. This is so stupid. Louie finds a reel of film and is about to put it in the projector as the "wizard" walks out and sees Grubby and Teddy in the popcorn area; with one glass. Wiz motions them over to the gambling table as Grubby brings in a small bag of popcorn with him. Everyone sits down as Grubby asks what those letters are. Laughable because there are clearly no letters shown on the gambling table. Neither are there numbers or symbols. You couldn't redub that line or remove it guys? DUMB! Arin wants to hurry and Wiz blows him off because patience is a viture. This is the same guy who hates wasting time when he was introduced. The middle of the gambling wheel table shows three "demons" and one of them is holding a pearl in between his groin. Yeah. Grubby gulps because the spirits are scary; but Gimmick tells him not to worry. Now that I think about it; the table is an upside down recycled chandelier since there is a gold plated tree branch like structure with a red light bulb on it. And the table is made of stained glass. This is pretty creative, all things considered.
I also notice that at one point; Gimmick's hand is much bigger than his head. Ah; the pitfalls of hard drawn television animation! No wonder Flash became so popular. Grubby finally sits down (and a chair magically appears out of nowhere) as he is going to cover his eyes while watching. Wiz states that he needs silence to prepare the spirits and wants them to concerate; which Gimmick hums, causing Wiz to blow him off. So then we make contact (allegedly) and both of Wiz's hands are bigger than his head. Wiz has a control panel underneath the table as he puts on the brakes and out comes a tambronie and a drum. Apparently; in Grubby's tiny little mind, that means Princess Aruzia joined a band of gyspes and then joined the army. None of this makes any sense; and more so, haven't we already pounded the point home that she was kidnapped? Grubby is supposed to be the dumb guy of the trio and yet, he's the only one who is following Occam's Razor properly. Wiz tells him to shut up basically and is about to get a call from the mystical messenger. Of course; this is a collect call so Arin has to pay more gold coins to Wiz before continuing. Cleo has nothing on this low rent wizard of OZ, let me tell you. Wiz calls for the mystic messenger and this causes the golden metal part of the orange lightbulb to move as it hits various spots; which I discover that it does contain letters. So Grubby was right all along! Why didn't they show a shot of this when Grubby commented on it? At least that would have cleared up why I was confused. The thing is spelling out a word and it spells G-U-T-A-N-G-S. Yeah. The Wiz then comes out and basically confesses that Aruzia has been kidnapped by the "Flying Gutangs"; which Grubby confuses with a circus act. Wiz explains that the Gutangs are at the Trecherous Mountains in the Hard To Find City. Oh; that is so awfully convenient of them to write that! Also Arin claims that Aruzia is afraid of heights. I have seen Aruzia several times in this series for ranting purpose, there is no indication that she has this phobia. So; either she got over it, or it's a throwaway line that means nothing.
Grubby of course blows his cover about the treasure and Wiz hears it and Grubby recoils and denies it like a heel. Even though everyone heard it; Wiz continues on as Arin has to paid him more gold coins for access to the MAGICAL EYE OF DOOM. So we see the magical eye which is basically a two way mirror. Louie is at the projector on the other side and he turns it on just as Wiz is doing his usual dumb stuff. It's clear Teddy has never seen a projector nor has Gimmick because both of them would have noticed that this was a movie and not magic. Why? There was a countdown to this magic. So we go to the two way mirror and I just realize that if the writers had a clue; Wiz would have called this "Both Ways Mirror". We see a pan shot up the mountain; and then see a landing strip on top with a building in the background. The place looks a lot more lush in color than the Hard To Find City actually looks like; so no one knows what it's doing. We see the Gutangs land on the strip in their flying machines; and then cut to a close up shot of the building, which looks bigger than it should be. We see the Gutangs with Aruzia tied up and it's like what happened to the orphans in Chargeman Ken; only this was animated badly and their backs are to the hard camera. This animation was choppy and it looked goofy. The next shot of them entering the building is a lot better and animated well, so what was the point of the back shot. The suspense was killed a long time ago. The Wiz's narration is so phony and contrived by the way. This is the one time where silence would have helped. If they must talk; only have Arin respond pointing that the girl tied up is in fact, Princess Aruzia. I should note that I think feminist groups complained about this because once this arc was completed, when she returned; she was a very different Aruzia and could easily defend herself. And I say thank you for that. Arin proclaims that she's in danger and wants to know where she is; and Wiz was going to give this advice for free; but, if you recall; Grubby is eating popcorn which we never saw him pay for. So Arin has to pay Wiz one last time before Wiz basically tells him to go northeast where the crow and Grubby wants to trade the airship for a crow, which Teddy righfully blows off and Grubby calls it a joke. Not funny. And that ends the scene that took almost seven and a half minutes with a fade to black. Yeah.
We return back at the airship as the babyfaces except Wooly are in the airship and I should also note that Wooly somehow opened a window during the last scene and saw what happened to Princess Aruzia, so there you go. Teddy and company say goodbye to Wooly as they are going to the Hard To Find City and Wooly tells them to be careful. We see the tow lines removed and it's full speed on the furance with the coal shoveling that Teddy is doing now. The airship is raised up into the air as everyone waves goodbye and Wooly tells them to take care of the princess. I should also note that Gimmick claims that they have tricks up their sleeves to take on those tough customers (Wooly's words for the Gutangs, not Gimmick's) and Grubby simply acts all confused. Cut to a far shot of the actual Hard To Find City, which appears to be simply a large rock like pedestal with the ruins on top, and there is no folige anywhere in the city except way below. So we pan down to the road for the next Tweeg and LB segment as Tweeg is ordering LB around pushing the wagon from behind. LB calls him Twick (#8 name for Tweeg now) and claims that he's bottom heavy; which Tweeg responds by claiming that it's where his brains are. LB accuses Tweeg of hitting below the belt and I agree because you see, Tweeg was implying that LB's butt is where his brain is. Stay classy, Jack, stay classy! LB calls him Tweeze (#9) and Tweeg's left eye looks crossed in the opposite direction as his left eye because returning to normal. Tweeg blows LB off for not calling him Tweeg. Sadly; Tweeg lets go and LB cannot pull the wagon anymore as the wagon drives backwards down the hill and bonks into Tweeg; who thankfully grabs the back of the wagon because if he didn't, that bump would have been the weakest one yet. They hilariously repeat the footage twice with the shot of them going down the hill, then a side shot as they go off the cliff shaped into a ramp. They fly into the air and then bounce off the ground as the barrel comes off. Tweeg somehow jumps away before the wagon crashes into a tree causing LB to whiplash himself into a concussion. That was nasty.
However; in a miracle that no one can explain, Tweeg's wagon does not break this time. I AM THE WAGON~! Tweeg blows LB off for being stupid; and we get a logic break: LB's counter is that he remembered to land on something soft, like Tweeg's head. The problem is; LB was no where near Tweeg in any part during this sequence. LB must have meant his own head because that would make sense with what he saw. LB does the Vinny laugh and these writers have no idea how to write a show that makes sense with what we saw. So the wheels of the wagon come off and finally the wagon slowly breaks as Tweeg continues to blow LB off as we see the airship in the background. Tweeg thinks the babyfaces are already there; but LB makes it clear that they are not. However; LB also calls Tweeg, Tweek (#10). I wonder if LB was the editor of the newspaper that called Kit Cloudkicker - Kit Clownkicker? Tweeg gets all emotional on LB (seriously; Tweeg sounds like he's ready to cry now) as LB is trying to explain to him that Gimmick hasn't made it yet. I don't recall LB having any fur, so his fur off my nose comment makes no sense. So Tweeg finally turns around and sees the airship flying and then it starts to land for no reason. LB is wondering why and Tweeg thinks it's to get supplies, so he's going to do something about it as LB calls him Twerk (#11). Yes; the same name for that racial/sexually charged dance from the 1980's that Miley Cryus revived from the grave and then it got over for Breadwinners to steal. Seriously. So; they are going to screw them over while wearing disguises and that ends the segment 11 minutes in. Yes; we spent seven minutes setting this up; just accept it.
After the commercial break; we return near a small river with a log bridge as we pan over to the airship as Grubby is making root stew once again. Only this time; this root stew is actually going to mean something other than trying to make Teddy Ruxpin into a habitual liar. Gimmick is finding firewood as it's for the airship to allow them to float over the Trecherous Mountains. So if coal is not enough to get up there; then how can firewood make it float higher? Is there something in the wood that makes the airship float better? If so; then why not bring Wooly back as backup? I'm asking too many questions here; but Gimmick never explained why this firewood would be any worse than coal. At least explain that they ran out of coal; that would make this stop make sense. Meanwhile; Teddy and Arin are making slingshots. I'm not surprised with Arin making them; but Teddy Ruxpin? The personification of non-violence is using a violent weapon like a sling shot. Granted; it's not a gun by any means; but those thing can cause a lot of damage if you aim properly. Teddy asks about the root stew and Grubby is stirring the pot as then Grubby states that he thought for a moment that Teddy didn't like the root stew. UH OH! I think Grubby has figured it out that this Illiop is a lying little Illiop. Teddy stammers like a kid who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and claims that he likes it. Grubby accepts it at face value. DARN IT! They tease the payoff and then not go for it. No one doubts that Grubby can make root stew for an army either. Scene changer of doom ensues and we pan over to a field with a barrel and the CHEST OF DEMONS as Tweeg is looking for disguises. LB calls him Tweeze for the second time in this episode alone and gets blown off once again. LB: No wonder you can't find a disguise, "dis skies" is up there! HAHA! Tweeg throws a blue coat on top of him and blows him off because Tweeg cannot take a joke. In fact; he cannot really take anything other than a verbal beating. Tweeg explains the point of disguises and LB's response is asking if he has a nice guy disguise. HAHA! Tweeg of course blows him off as LB flings the coat away with his horn.
So Tweeg finds his robe containing a pink apron in the front; which LB calls a raggy dress. Oh, snap! Tweeg is angry at him for that one because it has sentimental value from his grandmother. I'm glad they didn't redub this from from him saying grandmother, to him saying "his mommy" because if he did, this hilarious tear-jerk would be so funny, I would be shooting milk out of my nose. Seriously. However; we discover that the redub would make no sense anyway because Tweeg got it on her deathbed. Yeah; this show actually indicates that people can die in this show. I realize we knew this during the Captured arc, but why not? LB apologizes for being so insensetive. Actually; I should be the one to apologize for laughing so hard at this spot; but this show is fiction, so people would think I've lost it if I did. Sorry, Jack. So the plan is to disguise themselves as a woman and her pet and hope to bum a ride on the airship to the Hard To Find City. That is straight and to the point; but this is Tweeg we are talking, so I put nothing past these writers. Scene changer of doom ensues and we see Tweeg come wearing basically a romancized version of Ellinore, if she looked like Illana Ruxpin in Tweeg's outfit. Only the golden knitting needle in the hair gives it away. So Tweeg does this cash loan promo on LB and LB is repulsed; but comes back with the line that Tweek (2nd time in the episode he has said that) hasn't paid him since Grundo's Groundhog Day. What was the point of adding "Grundo" to that? The Grundo celebrations are the same as the Christian American ones. Tweeg blows him off of course; but not for the same reason I would have blown him off. Tweeg calls himself Tweek and LB recoils and applauds him; but cannot clap his hands because he has none. Tweeg opens the oversized picnic basket (of course) and wants LB to hop in; and LB wants a good reason to. Tweeg basically says that it's a direct order and that's enough for LB to hop into the picnic basket. Whatever. So we scene change back to the airship with the babyfaces about to launch as Tweeg and his giant sized picnic basket arrive.
They are stopped by the massive force of Tweeg's mommy voice as LB continues to mock Tweeg in the basket confusing distress with this dress causing Tweeg to almost blow his cover. Tweeg closes the basket and calls LB a dummy. I don't blame him; LB almost buried Tweeg's disguising powers before he could get it over. Gimmick blesses buttons when Teddy points out that it's an old lady. That's really stupid. The back of Teddy's head is getting an attack from the giant hair strand of doom. Tweeg is now wearing sandals instead of the warlock shoes now and I have given up on the writers keeping anyone's feet straight, except for Grubby's. And apparently; he is supposed to be a cross between a Grunge and a troll; but has green Illiop feet for some reason. LB calls him Tweezle and keeps ruining the entire scheme. For once LB; shut the heck up! Arin and company explain that this mission is very dangerous and top secret. So Grubby is about to spill the details; so Teddy shuts Grubby up and his hair goes blond and suffers from MS Paint bleed. At least it isn't as bad as Chargeman Ken's. Tweeg's crying is hideously hilarious; except that he's supposed to be the heel, so it's much, much funnier than it should be. Anyway; the excuse is that Tweeg is going to see her granddaughter and the picnic basket is a load of goodies. If this daughter of (his) hers is ill; is it really a good idea to be feeding her goodies? If she had radiation treatments for lukimea, then this actually makes sense all things considered. For everything else; not so much.
Gimmick decides to welcome her aboard and Tweeg is so happy that he almost trips getting into the airship. Teddy proclaims that Gimmick knows how to cheer up ladies. Considering Gimmick's age; I would suggest that it's very easy for him to do that. Scene change as we fly around and it's only purpose was to show that the Hard To Find City looks nothing like it does when we first saw Aruzia being led in by the Gutangs. So the airship lands after a while; and Tweeg walks off waving goodbye. Grubby then notices that her huge picnic basket is still in the airship as Grubby informs Tweeg that. Tweeg whistles and this causes the basket to bounces out of the airship. As this is going on and everyone's confused, the real map falls out. Why didn't Tweeg just grab the picnic basket and leave? Is he that lazy? Of course he is. Tweeg giggles and claims that her daughter loves frog legs. Of course! Never mind that in order to have edible frog legs; the frogs have to be dissected and the legs would be...ummm...dead?! Gimmick is of course an idiot and waves goodbye anyway. So Tweeg and the basket containing LB run away stage north as Teddy calls this all very strange. Arin doesn't care because there is Aruzia to find still. That ends the segment 16 and a half minutes in. No one noticed the map falling in this sequence? DUMB! This was mostly Tweeg and LB insulting each other and there's nothing wrong with that.
After the commercial break; we get a far shot of the Hard To Find City AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) and we get some really interesting music to go along with this. We go to a ruined building shot from the sky and then a shot of the Gutangs marching against a brick background; and they are now singing their theme song. They climb up stairs; they wave their spears and sing about making everyone pay with messing with them. Cut to a shot of two bat mice looking on looking at each other bored. The running gag for this segment is one of the Gutangs cannot get into formation and keeps falling on it's face trying to keep up. Someone brings out the chains and that leads nowhere. More guarding, singing and marching. Hilariously the reverse shot darkens their masks and the way their spears are pointed in the direction of their tails makes it look like they have piranha plants on their tails. Which would be awesome by the way. So here comes the babyfaces from the shadow and at this point; you would expect them to practice the fine art of not being seen right? Well; not exactly. All four babyfaces scatter in different directions after we get shots of the Gutangs guarding. So Prince Arin taunts a Gutang from behind as he brings out his sword. The Gutang charges and Arin trips up the Gutang and it goes flying and he falls flat on his face; just like that. Gimmick and Teddy are above two Gutangs as Teddy pushes a concerte planter with plants and that MURDERS both Gutangs. The problem with this is three fold: (1) They are wearing masks made of bronze and a planter shouldn't cause the Gutangs to be concussed. (2) Of all people who are committing violence, the last person doing this should be Teddy Ruxpin. So Grubby hides in the shadows and grabs a dumb Gutang into the alley; and we don't see it. However; he basically beat the stew out of that one. Scene change as Arin puts on the Gutang mask; so yes, this is the same thing I saw in The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink. Only at least; this four babyface are more convincing as Gutangs. No one buys Baloo as a pgymy.
So everyone walks together in their disguises. The animators went 17 minutes without screwing up Teddy's feet by the way, which is a new record for this show. So one of the Gutangs has it's back turned the whole time as they enter the building as described in the magical eye. The problem is; #1: the surroundings are different from the eye and #2: Why bother with the disguises if the Gutangs cannot even notice you? So they enter the building and then we jump cut to them going down the steps. Pan over to Arin looking from the hallway as Gimmick is questioning Arin about this being the right building; and Arin is using his instincts. Sadly; while his instincts are correct, he should have used them to make sure none of the babyfaces were clumsy to bonk into each other and fall on their faces on the floor. It would have spared us seeing Teddy's feet use the TMS style used in Gummi Bears. Come to think about it; the Gutangs look like a green version of the Grunges in many ways. So we head to the room where the bird cage is and it's guarded by two Gutangs. Arin invokes the pointy finger on them and the dreaded hair of death returns to crack on Arin. Teddy claims that he sees the family resemblence and Grubby cracks a tasteless joke about them meeting each other in a prison cell. Stay classy Grubby! Cut to a shot of Aruzia inside the bird cage as Gimmick wonders how to subdue this Gutangs. Why are you asking this now? You four goofballs beat up FOUR Gutangs about sixty seconds ago to get those disguises! Arin tells them to watch this and he simply walks in and orders them to leave. The Gutangs no sell and taunt him; so they know that this Gutang is not a Gutang. Arin does the double coconut on them and despite having masks; they oversell it as if they have a concussion and triple vision (guys; double vision means you see four Arins, not three. Okay?), even though Arin gave them the lightest shot possible. The Gutangs fall on their backs, knocked out (I think) as Arin gets to the cage and cuts the lock off of it.
You know; if I was booking this, Arin would open the door, and just before he starts saying that he's prince Arin, Aruzia whacks him in the nuts and tries to run off before turning around and realizing that it's Arin. That would have been funny. No; Arin reveals himself and Aruzia is so happy that they hug. Awwww; my heart melted. Introductions galore and Grubby's face is ugly as Tweeg's without the nose. So we exchange notes as Teddy pulls on of the Gutangs off-camera and returns with the Gutang mask because you see, we cannot allow the viewer to see who these mystical creatures look like without the mask. Was there any angle planned for such a thing and it just didn't happen? Aruzia thanks everyone and calls the mask horrible, causing the gang to laugh again. Yeah; another lame joke to end the episode at 19:11. So they do the final episode preview of this arc and really if you think about it, that is really the only episode that matters now. At least this is the episode where the Gutangs get their heat back at least. The episode was better animated; but once again, it was completely drawn out and it took forever to setup. There was the usual stupid stuff; but LB and Tweeg have found their groove now and that helps the rating of this a lot. *** (60%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; we got another mess of an episode done. Once again; the animation is a mess and the shot continuity is a problem in a "different planets" sort of way. The storyline is fine and while the story was setup like it should be; the pace of it was far too slow and sluggish. It shouldn't take seven minutes to set up the wizard segment; what could have been done in three minutes. It doesn't help when the artwork doesn't match up with the dialogue or the shots; but the Hard To Find City part at the end was done really well. The Gutangs got buried; but not enough that they cannot easily get their heat back, which they will next episode. Tweeg and LB are turning the corner from just being heels to being the stars of this show; although their breakthrough moment was with the giant strawberry in The Faded Fobs. Yeah; that took a good seven minutes in it's own right, but at least that entertained me. There were a lot of logic breaks and I cannot buy Teddy Ruxpin beating up a Gutang with a planter. Bad Illiop! BAD! BAD! BAD! Overall; just another middling episode, but now we got all the angles paid off now except for the only one that actually means anything: Finding the crystals; which is the final episode of this arc. So....
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.