Return to 50 Webs
Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The webmaster has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.
Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the webmaster and no one else. The webmaster has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.
The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Winter Adventure
Reviewed: 12/18/2016
Snowflakes Are Falling & Quellor's Got a Winter Headache!
Well; we finally made it to the actual Christmas episode (okay; it's the Winter Season in Grundo; but who cares at this point?) as the trio gives presents to themselves and everyone the animators could animate in Grundo as Tweeg gets kidnapped by Quellor's goons in order to find the gold recipe; because they submit to the world of woo and quackery. Also; LB forsakes Tweeg again; because Tweeg is a terrible boss, you see. In other words; it's just another day in Grundo, only with more snow and veiled Christmas references. Yeah. So let's rant on shall we...?
We begin this one in Gimmick Valley as it continues to snow hard as we head inside Gimmick's living room to see the trio holding themsleves on the counch shivering. Yip; it's so cold that they forgot to light up the fireplace as Teddy thinks winter is here as he goes over to the window and looks out. Wow; this was pretty insulting. So the shivering is not an indication that it's winter?! Grubby notices it is snowing and opens the door proclaiming that he wants to go outside and play. Yes; the guys who were shivering has completely stop selling it. Lovely. Gimmick asks if Grubby wants to do this before breakfest and Grubby at first says yeah; and then stammers like an idiot. Grubby calls the choice unfair; and so he decides to have breakfast first as Teddy giggles at that. So we head to the throne room of MAVO (I believe that this is only the second or third time I have ranted on Quellor in this show. Yeah; I have been avoiding him like a hate plague) with Quellor sitting on the throne talking to Sludge, Drudge and Trudge, also known as the Troll Nephews~! Quellor basically tells them to kidnap Tweeg in order to make sure Tweeg's quackery works (I mean; is there any other way to explain it?) even though it's a horrible thought to do so and then asks for questions. The troll nephews cut promos about the sky being blue, water being wet as Quellor yells at them and tell them to get the heck out of his throne room right now. The troll nephews run out of the throne room and slam the door shut as Quellor has a headache and sits back down complaining about the nephews messing with his head, or something. Yeah; it seems Quellor in later shows was more concerned about getting gold than getting the crystals back. That plays into the Hate Plague arc actually. So we head into the snowy valley with the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM (of course!) barely a minute in. So the guise of this is that the trio is making a snowman. Which looks clearly like a Snow Grunge. Grubby clearly thinks this is a waste of time; so he makes a snowball and it's time for the most pointless snowball fight in history. Friends don't let friends have snowball fights. (Kit: You speak from experience, I see. Gregory: Yip; a near broken nose from an iceball when I was a teenager, too.) Jump cut to the trio sliding down a hill in a toboggan as they bump into the conveniently placed rock covered in snow and go flying and land on the snow next to the Snow Grunge.
So the song ends as Teddy's right foot change literally frame by frame. I didn't know singing could easily screw up color stylists. Teddy then asks Grubby about the winters in Rillionia as Grubby does remember this. Teddy explains that on special days, they give gifts to each other in a show of friendship and good will. In our world; it's called various things like Christmas and the Winter Solace. For me; it's "THREE WEEKS OFF~!" Grubby of course loves it because of all the sweets as Gimmick calls this a great idea and walks back to the house; proclaiming that Grundo should start stealing...ERRR...I mean, allowing this custom to exist. I'm shocked that this doesn't happen in Grundo. Gee; Rillionia gets all the good stuff from this show. Grubby just likes sweets and Teddy calls this a great idea. Scene changer ensues as we head to the side part of Gimmick's house as Tweeg appears in the foreground. Tweeg calls the trio; boobs as he goes over to the window wading in hip deep snow with no sandals whatsoever. So we see the trio cooking and baking as Tweeg notices flour, eggs and panics on the buttermilk part. Because you see; Tweeg believes that Occam's Razor is a razor owned by a jambroni named Occam; not an analogy of "the simplest explaination is often the correct one.". In this case; we know the trio is making sweets. To Tweeg; they figured out his gold formula and thus have subverted his dreams of becoming the biggest heel in Grundo. Tweeg wades away accusing LB of betraying him; because Occam's Razor would say even if it favored Tweeg; is that Tweeg was stupid enough to tell the trio himself about it and Tweeg's memories are much more shot than mine. Tweeg jumps over the snow hill in the foreground as he calls himself Jack Dubaya Tweeg in the same manner as George Dubaya Bush. Ponder that for a moment and despair. So we head to Tweeg's Tower and inside as LB and his two male Bounder buddies are sleeping in front of the hot stove dreaming semi-pleasure thoughts. I say semi-pleasure because not all of them are babyface-type pleasure thoughts; but it's not as bad as Sid The Vicious Shrew's "pleasure" thoughts. A lot of bell music in the background as the door slams open and here comes panting Tweeg in a huff. LB calls it cold and Tweeg blows him off. Tweeg asks what LB has to say for himself as LB wishes that he was taller because the snow is awfully deep. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments.
Tweeg blows him off for that and grabs LB to look him square in the eye as the second bounder (the one with no hair in his eyes) proclaims that this makes one of us. LB asks which scheme is this and calls him Tweep as Tweeg gets in his face and accuses him of selling the formula to the babyfaces. LB asks if Tweeg is out of his groud as Tweeg drops him, does the Gruffi pose and basically fires him as his assistant; and tells the other bounders to scram. The bounders call him a highly emotional man; thus TaleSpin steals another promo from this show, stolen by Shere Khan in Plunder and Lightning. LB gets the message and tells Tweeg to call him when the crack in his brain is fixed as the bounders leave. One of them runs complete with Hanna Barbara looping and sound effects to boot! Tweeg blows them off because his cracked brain theory must be true to hire LB and company. Tweeg proclaims that the bounders will never work for him again. 2:1 odds that this lasts about fifteen minutes as we cut to the front of the steps of Tweeg Tower as LB proclaims that this isn't all bad. Cue Vinny laugh as the bounders bounce off stage right as we see the Troll Nephews arrive out of nowhere. They talk about Tweeg living cheap as they walk up the steps and that is that. Scene change to inside Gimmick's house as Newton is knitting blue mittens. He has done four mittens and there are four to go; so Grubby's feet are hands today; unlike the last episode in which they were treated as feet. Cut to downstairs on the sofa as Teddy is making either earmuffs or headphones and puts them on his ears. Cut to the bedroom as Grubby is sewing up a lime green jacket. Wait; I thought he was the candy guy in this outfit? That makes no sense. He puts the jacket in a box and is sitting right on Gimmick's bed. Why?! Why not?! Grubby takes out a tag and writes to Teddy from Grubby, happy holidays. Darn; even this show is far ahead of the curve when it comes to inclusive. So; more gift wrapping from Teddy downstairs as we head to the window as the Bounders look on. So we head back to Tweeg's Tower as the Troll Nephews tie up Tweeg who is sitting on a chair whining and protesting this outrage. The blue troll tells him to shut up or he'll stuff a gag in his mouth. The orange goblin points out the obvious dumb move there for us and so the blue troll wants to blindfold him instead. Orange goblin calls it better and no, I'm not talking about Hulk Hogan here.
Tweeg ramps up his ability to whine and try to bargin his way out of this and the ladies room. At least I'm using the word properly this time around, unlike a certain episode of Chargeman Ken. Wink! Wink! Nudge! Nudge! The orange goblin realizes that they will make no scratch from Quellor. Tweeg offers to give them half of the gold they make; and the orange goblin blows it off, because lying is Quellor's job you see. Oh, snap! So the orange goblin breaks a china bowl shelf in half and somehow; the china bowls do not fall out of it. Ummm; try harder, you orange goblin! Orange goblin shakes dishes out and shatters them making everyone cringe as orange goblin throws the cupboards away behind his back, like someone tossing salt over his shoulder for good luck. That amused me and made me cringe as the same time. Green troll of doom throws away books from a book shelf and this makes Tweeg cross and the music simply dies as Tweeg turns around and takes a book right in the kisser. HA! Green troll (I'm sorry, I have no idea who's Sludge, Drudge and Trudge in this outfit. At least Huey, Dewey and Louie have names that make sense with their look.) reads book; which should be a riot, but Dumptruck reading a book is funnier actually. Green troll rips book. What a censorship troll this piece of work is?! I finally figure out that the blue troll's name is Sludge. Now that I think about it; if you take the first letter in their names and arrange them properly; it would spell, STD. Lovely! So Drudge (I'm guessing he's the green troll and the orange goblin is Trudge now) found the book for the gold formula and throws it away. Sludge grabs it and wonders about it; so the troll nephews agree to make a batch from the recipe. Sludge (The Mad Dog of this outfit) reads the book as Trudge opens the door on the wooden stove and breaks the door and the rocket part of the oven. Terrible bush league moment: Trudge asks if Sludge needs the door or the pipes and "or the pipes" part is literally moved where Trudge is not talking and Sludge is now talking as he says "You know something..." And this is not a Youtube error because when Tweeg is groaning; the promo matches the mouthflaps exactly as it should. This is Z-grade bush league on the timing crew here. Tweeg asks for a blindfold as Sludge finally addresses the green troll as Drudge, so Trudge is the orange goblin. I'm glad this episode did this because I couldn't figure that out until now.
So Drudge looks around for the mixing spoon as Drudge looks in a red vase and finds nothing. Drudge throws the vase out the window and it shatters right on LB's head. The trolls bicker, Tweeg whines, LB laughs, I drink. Okay; I made up that last one. Drudge is holding a pipe flooding with water as LB asks about the new staff. Tweeg pleads to LB to untie him; but LB no sells because Tweeg doesn't want him back, you see. Tweeg whines like a baby and pleads for mercy as LB bails and hops down the steps in response proclaiming that Tweeg knows how to get into trouble. So we scene change to Gimmick's house again as we see Teddy and Grubby unwrapping gifts on the sofa. Gimmick comes in wearing his earmuffs and a green fur coat. He tells Teddy and Grubby that he's leaving the house for a few moments and orders them to stay away from that conveniently placed closet. Grubby and Teddy "agree" to it as Gimmick comments about the cold and opens the door. He walks out saying goodbye and closes the door. He's acting like he's foresaking them; rather than just going out to get something. Grubby looks at the door and gets the TOING sound and wants to look in the closet now. That took exactly three seconds...AND THE ROCK MEANS THREE SECONDS! Teddy calls this unfair to Gimmick. Wouldn't it be unfair (and bigoted) to whatever is inside the closet? Teddy tells Grubby to basically not look anywhere and Grubby starts singing the snowflakes song again and then simply hums the tune for a while. And that ends the segment almost ten minutes in, believe it or not. Geez; so we aren't going to get the payoff to the thing in the closet now? Nothing really offensive or bad outside of some bush league logic breaks; but this has been the most boring Christmas episode I have ever reviewed.
After the commercial break; we see LB, Buffy and the two male Bounders outside in front of Gimmick's house. So Gimmick went out the back door? He must've because how could he not notice them otherwise?! The hair covering eyes bounder proclaims that he might not have been the best boss they ever had; but he was the only boss they ever had. Perfectly true, in this case. LB sums up Tweeg's screwing up skill in a nutshell as Buffy calls him rotton, rain or shine. True! One of the male bounders talks about Tweeg missing payments as LB has an idea and they proceed to whisper and whisper yell at the same time. Then the front door opens and out comes Gimmick with a gift as he tells Teddy and Grubby to start loading up the airship as Teddy and Grubby walk out of the house with gifts and stuff. So yes; there is zero payoff to the closet thing. DUMB! Grubby has a cookie jar of cookies and is eating the profits. He is basically an insect version of Baloo now as the trio gets on the airship and Teddy kindly tells Grubby to stop eating. Now the animators have settled on Teddy's feet being white; but I have no confidence in them keeping this straight. Grubby states that this is the first time the airship flew through the snow before. Okay; this episode was supposed to air BEFORE Wooly & The Giant Snowzos now; due to that comment. I note this because the syndication package in Canada once aired Teddy's Birthday right in the middle of the Ying Zoo arc; and my reaction was "What the heck?!" even back then as a child. This one is a lot more subtle than Teddy's Birthday, but it does demonstrate how stupid episodic thinking can be. Gimmick states that everything is fine and the airship raises up into the sky. As this happens, LB and the bounders open the door (with their feet of course) as LB does the Vinny laugh because he has a Krackpotkin Plan. Scene change to the airship high in the sky as we fly over Rainbow Falls; and apparently; the painted water doesn't freeze at all. Teddy waves at three Fobs as it lands. We meet and greet as Teddy and company come out with gifts as Grubby does his huuhuu promo eleven minutes in. So we exchange pleasure thoughts and gifts for a while because it's a Rillonia tradition, you see. The fobs thank them and we scene change to above Wooly's house complete with wintery folk guitar music as Teddy points to Wooly's house. TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM ensues. Yeah; it's a Christmas episode, so at least it works here.
Apparently; Wooly is pink for this episode as Teddy walks over, and knocks on the door as we present gifts. At least Teddy knows everyone here and thus he's not trying to play secret Santa here. Judging by the color stylists used in this episode when the airship takes off again; this episode might have been animated by a different studio as well. Yes; I'm trying to avoid calling this as Leota gets her gift from the trio; which is as small as a box for a diamond ring. Leota shakes the gift box and then goes over and kisses Gimmick on the cheek. Thankfully; the singing prevent Teddy from laughing at his expense, so that is a win, I guess...Oh wait; he and Grubby laugh anyway. The Jungle Grunges also get gifts on the next scene changer. Jump cut to the Jungle Grunges waving at the airship as it sails away. We go to the Non-American commercial break and return as the snow has stopped falling a long time ago as we see the airship flying in the sky. We are over Gimmick's house as the house is lit up which confuses the trio. So we head back in the living room as the bounders have completed sewing up a clone like doll that looks similar to Tweeg. Umm; I think the footwear is going to give away the facade there fellows since it's wearing black shoes for no reason. The bounders aren't sure this is going to work and LB proclaims dramatically that it's Tweeg's only hope. How fitting that the Tweeg doll has more sense than the real thing. Huuhuu! So we cut to outside as the airship has already landed and the babyfaces all walk towards the house. LB notices Teddy is coming as the bounder slip on Tweeg's black robe and they all drag the dummy Tweeg (which has more smarts than the real thing) and go through the back door. Teddy opens the door and looks inside; but there is no one there of course as Teddy notices the side door is open in the background, despite the bounders walking stage right away from the door. DUMB! So we head to Tweeg Tower again as the wind blows and the Troll Nephews are asleep on the job again. Tweeg is still tied up and of course he's not wearing any footwear, just to make the heel look even more stupid before they can be stupid. LB makes it to the door as Tweeg is biting on rope; struggling. LB calls him Tweef about three times and out loud; which the Troll Nephews completely no sell. Tweeg points out that wrecking his joint was the cause of their inability to hear anything. What a dumb copout excuse that is?!
LB proclaims that he's here to rescue him and Tweeg of course blows him off as LB calls him out for being snippy to him and teases leaving. This causes Tweeg to apologize and would kiss his butt if LB had one. I guess his tail will have to do in this situation. LB asks of Tweeg is honest about this. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Why would you ask him that?! Tweeg pleads as the bounders re-enter and we scene change as Dummy Tweeg is tied up and placed on the chair. Sadly; the real thing is untied now. POW! OUCH! Ummmm...LB asks what Tweeze thinks of this and Tweeg admires his dummy. More like enives it; but you would never know, given Tweeg's acting skills. Tweeg of course asks how LB figured this out and it wasn't from memory, it was from a picture in Gimmick's dictonary under the word "dummy". What a jerk Gimmick is?! Tweeg groans, shakes his head and we fade to black as we head to morning with the Troll Nephews sleeping still. I'm guessing that Tweeg has a recipe for Seanut Butter Coffee in that magical book of nonsense too. Which means; there is one recipe in that book that is not quackery nor woo. Somehow; there is an out of nowhere alarm clock on the coals ringing like crazy. Somehow; Sludge smashes the alarm clock in spite of the noise. So alarm clock trumps talking in terms of waking them up. Okay; good to know. So the Troll Nephews grab Tweeg by the ankles (which seems to be a trait of these three; since they already did this to Quellor in an early episode, too) and drag him down the steps proclaiming that Tweeg is going to hate the torment of Quellor, more or less. Scene change to sunrise at Gimmick's valley as the trio are in the living room of the house opening up gifts like children on Christmas morning. Grubby gets four pairs of mittens; even though in the previous episode, he was wearing boots. So yes; this show is confused over weither Grubby's six feet are actually hands and this episode is treating them like hands. So we get to see Gimmick open presents now and the present from Teddy contains a scarf, earmuffs and a goofy green fur hat matching his coat. Gimmick thanks him for the gift as he opens Grubby's gift which contains a heavy iron monkey wrench. Are you sure this is a gift; or Grubby pulling a prank? Gimmick thanks him anyway and Grubby's mouth is agape with excitement. So Teddy goes last and opens his gift from Gimmick to reveal a red bird music box. A turn key bird chirping musical box as Teddy puts it on the table and winds it up as it plays a really bad whistle like tune. Teddy thanks Gimmick anyway.
Before Teddy can open Grubby's gift; there is a knock on the door. Gimmick goes over to answer the door and it's Wooly with a huge load of presents in his hands. Pan down to the fobs with shopping bags of gifts on their tails. Well; they are babyfaces who got gifts; so the payoff makes complete sense here. Again; my only complaint of this is that this episode is so boring that I cannot emotionally engauge in this moment. I'm so used to A Jolly Molly Christmas being the standard that cannot be topped that I just cannot get into the spirit of the moment here. I just cannot. Of course; this show has raisin muffins instead of Grundoberry motifs like the last episode. Leota flutters in with her gifts to the trio. The Jungle Grunges also enter inside as Gimmick finally closes the door and we sing the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM again about this little gift. We sing, we shake hands, I skip through most of this because nothing of note happens; until we head over to Tweeg Tower on the telescope with Tweeg as he asks LB what that racket down there is. LB gleefully retorts that one for me and calls Tweeg, Twetch. Tweeg wants to shoot his cannon at the house again, and LB asks why. Tweeg: Because we cannot let anyone get away with being THAT happy. 2016 Me: Because this episode is so boring, only Tweeg failing at life can save it. Although Tweeg's answer is a valid heelish answer, so there you go. Tweeg grabs a barrel of gunpowder (which is green slime for some reason) and loads it in the cannon. Tweeg grabs the cannonball which is conveniently placed in LB's mouth. Tweeg puts the cannonball in the cannon and strikes the match on the cannon (Toon Disney would cut this out in TaleSpin) and lights the fuse. So Tweeg covers his ears and the cannon fires as we hear explosions. Cut to inside Gimmick's house as everyone panics, but Gimmick and Teddy assure everyone that Tweeg is firing his cannon again and his hit rate is lower than my sex life. Only with Tweeg's cannon can there be a negative percentage of a hit rate. Then we get rumbling; as everyone panics again; because even though the cannon has a zero percent hit rate; it has a one hundred percent rate of causing an avalanche. Of course! So Tweeg looks up and the entire Tweeg Tower area gets buried in snow. Yee-haw. Tweeg pop up from the snow tomb and shakes the snow about. Suddenly; the airship is already in the sky as a picnic basket is lowered down by rope by Teddy Ruxpin. Considering that Teddy's Illiop persona is that he is a bear in real life; that was amusing enough to me. There is raisin muffins and hot chocolate in the basket as Gimmick mocks him that it would warm up his personality. That's a bad idea, Newton Gimmick. Tweeg failing at life is much less dangerous than Tweeg actually being a threatening wacky alchemist.
Grubby offers Tweeg a snow shovel and it sticks in front of Tweeg as the snow begins up again. Teddy coils the rope on Tweeg as the airship flies away as Grubby waves at Tweeg and will see him again next spring. I don't think Grubby ever interacted with Tweeg after this episode, actually. So we head inside Tweeg Tower as Tweeg is doing the Wuzzles throwaway spot in the corner of his house. He brings out brushes and little tiny hats in a box as he thanks the bounders for rescuing him. He gives them as Christmas presents to the boys. Awwww! My heart melted! LB calls him Tweef again as the bounders wish him a happy winter season to Tweeg. Tweeg is shocked because they got his name right this time. Again; this would have been a big deal if they didn't screw this up by saying his name right once in almost every episode Tweeg was in. Stupid! LB calls this the nicest day Tweeg ever had and Tweeg chuckles over it...and then blows it off proclaiming that tomorrow they go back being nasty heels again. Well; most of them anyway. Tweeg is more of the lines of being a heel who fails at life. LB agrees to that as he throws the toothbrush away saying this babyface attitude could make him gag. Now; normally, this should have ended the episode, but we have to pay off the dummy angle. So we head back to MAVO Headquarters at Quellor's throne room as the Troll Nephews have a present for their ghastiness. Quellor walks down the steps of his throne room and rips open the presents; basically shredding the dummy to shreds. Quellor is shocked and appalled as he points out that they gave him a dummy. Sludge of course points out the obvious for me as Quellor throws the dummy as it bounces off the trolls. Drunge then realizes that it really is merely a dummy and not the real "dummy". Sludge stammers like an idiot with his hand in the cookie jar as they admit that there isn't much difference. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Quellor just wants the formula and of course Trudge used it to wrap the gift with after about thirty seconds of stalling. Quellor is ticked off and the urge to erase memories is rising. Although with those three; there isn't much to erase. So the trolls pick up the pieces to glue together as Quellor turns around and sits back on the throne as we discover that Quellor once had a mother who told him to collect stamps or bottlecaps or Grungeball cards instead of dummies. He also steals Tweeg's whining promo to boot as we pan out to outside of MAVO to end the episode at 19:42. Outside of some really bad screwups; this was your typical Teddy Ruxpin episode where the Tweeg segments were amusing; but the rest of it was forgettable. ** 1/2 (50%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Listen; I do like Christmas specials; and this was all right as one, but it was so boring for the most part that I didn't care about it. I had no emotional attachment to it and it felt like I and this episode was going through the motions. So much so; that I was begging for Tweeg to fire off his cannon off at the end and actually hitting something. Sure; the avalanche thing is close enough, but Tweeg fails at life and he's hilarious when that happens, so there you go. There was really bush league sound editing and animation timing issues in a few places; but for the most part, this was as average and inoffensive as a winter season episode as you are going to get. Quellor whining in the end made him look weaker; but that is going to lead to him getting outsed as MAVO leader very soon as demonstrated in the next episode "Teddy's Quest". Overall; this was a boring batch of episodes. Wooly & The Giant Snowzos was the better episode of the two, mostly for Gimmick getting punked out by the female Snowzo; but otherwise, it was fine. Next year; I'll be working on a more interesting arc of episodes featuring Wooly and a lot of episodic episodes involving sign language, elves and woodsprites. However; that isn't until the Father's Day Specials. That is all the rants for 2016 actually; as I'm getting ready for Goof Troop next year in January. It's real nice to come back to ranting on new shows after spending 2015 and 2016 finishing up the 25Years Of Spin; and it's time to move on with Goof Troop, Mighty Hercules, Fish Hooks and Kick Buttowski again. So...
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.