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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Sign Of A Friend
Reviewed: 06/02/2016
American Sign Language; Here I Come!
Oh yes, this episode just had to come and quite frankly, this was the prototype for every pre-school show you ever saw as the plot is such: Grubby eats toxic plant, and loses his voice, he cannot speak. But the day will be saved thanks to the power of not being ableist and understanding the power of non-verbal cues and communication. Wow; that plotline is loaded for a pre-school show; but there is Tweeg trying to take candy from a baby. That alone makes this a compelling episode even if are an ableist. So, yeah; there is something for everyone in this episode. So, how does this episode far? Let's rant on shall we...?
We begin this one with a shot of Gimmick's house and Tweeg's tower in the back as we do a martial arts zoom in with the white letter episode title. Jump cut to Tweeg inside the tower checking for dust on a wooden table with his finger. He yells at LB...AGAIN...and LB comes down the steps holding a featherduster in his mouth and wearing an apron. So yes folks; there was no conclusion to the Tweeg/Maggotheart meeting whatsoever in the last episode; so the segment was designed to waste four minutes because the entire Wooly segment ran short. LB calls him Twiz as Tweeg blows him off for doing nothing...and probably liking it too. LB calls him Twink because he got what he paid for, as we cue the Vinny laugh. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Tweeg calls him a simpleton (speaking of projection...) and demands that LB start dusting. LB gleefully decides to stick it to him and featherdust Tweeg into dust and sneezing. LB bails as Tweeg sneezes; which causes Tweeg to take a wacky bump into the desk and drop on his seat on the floor. Tweeg gets up and orders him to dust the intentional objects, not him. LB is hiding behind a small table and sarcastically gets it now; as Tweeg goes over to the scroll of paper attached to a wooden paper towel ring. So yes; he was forced to write the deeds now and show it to the world. Or at least Maggotheart, which I guess was his punishment for stealing her wheel caps in the last episode. Tweeg notices something on the check list; which is to master a mass weapon of destruction. Geez; if George W. Bush wanted to find weapons of mass destruction, this would be a much more believable place to look for them than Iraq. Tweeg gleefully walks out as he proclaims himself the master of the cannon; which LB blows off as claiming to be a bounder who is an expert in juggling. Somehow; I can believe LB as a master juggler; I cannot believe Tweeg can master not brushing his teeth after dinner. So they make it to the cannon as LB is confused. Tweeg wants to do target practice in the valley and in more insulting way, he declares that it's all very simple. He is basically pre-Scott Hudson in WCW. He orders LB to bring the cannon down to ground level, and LB rightfully protests this outrage. Tweeg don't care as he goes inside and wants lots and lots of cannon balls. This is like Abyss in TNA with tacks and glass; only cannon balls are much bigger. Tweeg would be an avid gun collector in real life. Shudder!
LB bounces away claiming he should have called in sick today. I would have quit and found a doctor at this point, because Tweeg has flipped his lid. So we head to the Leota tree school with another class in session. Wooly is reading from his giant green book while the elves and wood sprites look on. Wooly is reading like a smart guy as Boggly Woods is mentioned again. Slobber stammer ensues and Leota approves of it. The reading and the stammer of course as they have the students back to their normal selves; but there was almost no animation when they put their arms in the air. The animators just don't care. It's like Go Ken Izzy, Go Ken Izzy, Go! POW! OUCH! Ummm... Seymour is given props by Wooly; he is the elf in the wheelchair by the way. By the way; in the next shot when we introduce the red cap wood sprite with a red vest, and red elf shoes; in the foreground, there is a clone of Leota sitting at a desk almost three minutes into the video I just watched! Her name is Katie or Katy (I'm going with Katy; since Katie Dodd is already taken) as she is basically a deaf mute and does American Sign Language. I don't have any evidence that this was done before; but it would be the first time a cartoon introduced this concept into storyline and the first time in entertainment since the C-grade movie Deafula that I actually saw. I will say this about Deafula: They tired, oh gosh, they tired. It wasn't because it was a bad idea. It was because they overdid it and while it's a massive step up from Z-grade movies, it wasn't really funny nor scary; although the child sucking the dog's blood and looking into the hard camera did cause nightmares for me afterwards. So I would say it was a step below B-movie quality. This episode is a massive improvement from that movie; just in the first scene with Kathy alone. Mostly because it's a hybrid of talking and sign language. I should note that Kathy's sign language gimmick includes making gentle bell noises. I think the next cartoon to use a deaf mute was Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers and that one was edited out due to the character being way too close to infringing on the Harpo/Groucho trademark. I mention this because copyright makes more sense than offense; because Kathy was never edited out in re-runs; so no one thought she was an offensive character. Leota understands sign language; which is much more believable than hearing grunts and stuff; and having everyone understand them for no reason. See Koi from Fish Hooks.
Wooly is understandably confused by this as Seymour explains that she talks with her hands. I shouldn't make this joke; but I'm going to: She is the master of talking to the hand! Wooly is still confused as we scene change to a far shot of Gimmick Valley with the tower in the background. We pan west to see LB sitting on a wooden box with Tweeg manning the cannon; which just sounds so wrong for some reason. Tweeg is looking at a target propped against a giant rock and Tweeg is certain of all this. Yeah; I'm so confident that this is going to work. Not. Tweeg examines the fuse while calling LB a doughboy. I see the wooden box was open on the close up shot as Tweeg loads the cannon with a cannon ball and uses the cannon buffer stick of doom before bailing stage right. Tweeg is of course cutting his usual cocky promo about being King of Grundo as LB is not buying this stuff at all. He calls him Twank and Tweeg blows him off while striking the match on his horn. Disney would never allow that to happen on TaleSpin, no way Jose~! Tweeg lights the fuse, covers his ears and proclaims that his name is Tweeg. Of course; the cannon backfires, bonks into Tweeg and Tweeg goes flying in an impossible example of fuzzy cartoon logic. Tweeg is laid out on his back at the side of the cannon. Except the animators intended him to be in front of the cannon as the cannon drops down and fires the cannon ball as it lands and nearly kills Tweeg's left ear in the process. LB loves it and we cue the Vinny laugh as we head back to Leota's tree school as we do actual addition and Wooly seriously thinks that he's a guest box in Hollywood Squares because he answers that it's a whole forest. HAHA! Everyone laughs, and it was funny as Leota admits that this was right in it's own way; but still not the answer she wanted. Kathy brings out a victory sign and Leota translates it as two hundred trees. Ummm; I am no expert on ASL; but I'm certain two hundred involves more than just doing the peace sign. Wooly is impressed by this answer and Seymour is still a statue here as we return to the valley for more Epic Failure Tweeg Cannon Action~! This should have been the entire episode and I assure you it would be *****. But it isn't, so there you go. So LB moves the target closer to the cannon as LB suggest hitting something else. Sadly; LB doesn't say "like your head"; because that would be hilarious, even when it isn't 99.9% of the time. That is how dumb Tweeg is.
LB stands on the rock; which is a tell tale sign that Tweeg is going to fail before he even checks the cannon. You don't stand just behind the target and not know that Tweeg is going to fail again. Tweeg strikes the match and lights the fuse as LB proves that this will fail; because he's taunting Tweeg, a mean-spirited version of Sakura and Segata's infamous love fest during the Sakura Wars 2 commercial. So yeah; the cannon goes up about twenty degrees and fires the cannon ball into the air. And where it lands, only Tweeg would care. The cannon ball lands ten feet away from LB and makes a bump with cheese and bacon into the ground. This causes Tweeg to break down and sob like a baby; and I laughed. Even LB is groaning in sympathy pain as he almost feels sorry for him and then moves the target and places it about five feet from the mouth of the cannon. Because goodness know this is going to be enough to break the targets. Charlie Brown only misses footballs because of Lucy. Tweeg misses targets because he fails at life. LB claims that he cannot miss now and Tweeg stops crying and cannot believe LB is trying to help. No; he wants you to stop crying and do something right. Ah, close enough, am I right? Then out of nowhere, the winds pick up to gale force winds with leaves flying as Tweeg accuses LB of tricking him. Which I would not be surprised if he did. LB insists that he is not tricking him and he is late for lunch. Tweeg decides to buy LB's reasoning as he will blow the target to smithereens. Well; why is he bothering when he is already there. LB gets in front of the target and taunts him, again. Yup; he's tricking him, what a shock?! The target is fluttering as Tweeg loads the cannon and light the fuse on a cannon. Somehow; this is a slightly better idea than going to Rillionia in a hurricane as LB finally taunts Tweeg and hides behind the target, claiming that he'll never live it down if the boys found out he was nice to Tweeg. Oh; just wait until the Hate plague arc when you were nice to an Illiop. That'll make them disown you faster than being nice to Tweet. The target flies away and the cannon fires; the cannon ball deflects off the rock. Meaning; if it wasn't for the wind, he would have hit the target full bore. Yeah; this is the nature version of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown and like an idiot, Tweeg just stands there and the cannon ball bounces off his right foot and we do the foot grabbing spot. That selling was funny and LB's laugh made it even more so. Heh.
So we head into Boggly Woods as Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick are walking in said woods. Gimmick takes some red leaves and uses the magnifying glass, and pronounces some sciencey sounding words that I cannot make out; the guise of this is that it can make red dye. So Teddy and Grubby are looking around because this is a nature hike. Grubby grabs some orange bulbed weeds as Teddy comments about the color of Gimmick's table cloth. Grubby is licking his chops as Gimmick pulls some pink flowered weeds and smells them; as this is zonitastifini; which is in this world a spice. Don't worry Grubby, I'm as confused as you are. Now just eat the orange bulbed weeds so the main angle of this story can begin, please. Oh; and apparently, the spice is used in soups, which Grubby loves. So Grubby finally eats the orange berries right in front of Gimmick as Gimmick claims that they are low on the spice; and now Gimmick is confused. Some scientist Newton Gimmick is?! This is what happens when you try to be original and you end up acting like an idiot. Science is wonderful; but the pronouncation of names of stuff is just beyond the pale absurd and all it does is scare people. Gimmick wants some help picking "Soup Weed"; which he could have just said that. Or is that scarier than the "scientific" name? Apparently so; knowing many lawn owners who hate weeds in general. Teddy agrees to help as he comes over and finds more orange bulbed weeds as Grubby is still able to speak. Gimmick claims that this plant is a strange plant with a strange name: The shush bush. Ummm; that's sounds like an item version of the Silence spell from Final Fantasy and Grubby thinks the name's funny and it tastes good. This causes Gimmick to instantly panic and it's way too late since he ate the plant about sixty seconds ago. Grubby holds his stomach as Gimmick claims that it sometimes causes paralysis of the laranax mechinism. And you thought Gorilla Mansoon was absurd with his attempts to sound like a scientist in wrestling?! Gimmick; Gorilla called and this is his message! So yes; this plant is like the Silence spell as Grubby blows him off nicely and then gets cut off. And this is not a sound editing mistake; this is an actual angle. Yes folks; Grubby has lost his voice. Boy; it's working so well, Grubby has lost his balance and falls down. Wow; that plant is much stronger than the babyfaces are making it out to be. I wonder if it's a side effect of eating it whole.
Grubby is trying to do actual sign language and he's actually doing a decent job as I understood his hand motions being how long. This is where knowing non-verbal cues are so important and what happens when Gimmick and Teddy don't understand them, because Gimmick is misreading Grubby's hands. Grubby is simply asking "How long will he lose his voice?" and his hand motions do make sense with what he said. However; Gimmick thinks Grubby is using his hands in the sign of wanting to play an accordian. Grubby is shaking his head, no and Teddy thinks he needs a bucket of water; so Teddy is even WORSE at reading non-verbal cues. Grubby covers his ears as this is the first mention of Grungeball in the series. And yes; we will find out about that sport later. It's basically baseball with no rules. So Teddy suggests giving Grubby a pencil and paper to write down what he is asking, because these two goofballs do not know anything about non-verbal cues. This is funny in a way; but tragic in another sense because we aren't supposed to laugh at Grubby's plight since he lost his darn voice, but Gimmick and Teddy are just making it worse with unintentional comedy. So Gimmick brings out a pencil and paper and Grubby gets them. He writes down the message, "How long?". Of course; he says it like a human being does, but forgets to add "...he is without a voice..." to that message because Gimmick mistranslates it as "how long is the accordian?" I think I'm slightly more flustered than Grubby is right now as Teddy finally gets the message and Gimmick sounds like a cartoon doctor who has to tell the patient that he has six months to live. Only Gimmick claims that it's know to last one hour to ten years. So yeah; at least this show is defining the definition of "The dose makes the poison". However; if this lasts up to ten years, this would be perfect for Darkwing Duck to have. Then I'll never have to hear his promos again. I listen to him every day and he gives me diarrhea! BLAM! Hee hee! Missed again Drake! You are not...POW! OUCH! Ummmm...Out of nowhere comes Leota; which Teddy gleefully points out. We exchange notes on the situation and Leota informs Grubby to not eat stuff he doesn't know. That's a fine sentiment; but nowadays, it seems that you don't eat stuff if you cannot pronounce it, as if knowing what the substance means absolutely nothing. Teddy admits that it's too difficult to write things down and Grubby nods.
Everyone feels glum as Leota likes the writing idea; but she has a better idea: Talk with the hands. In other words; sign language. So we get a huge demonstration on the basics of sign language and it's really nice to see something like this because it plays into the storyline and it's a payoff to the main angle of Grubby losing his voice. Although this would have been better if Grubby couldn't do it as well as he did before Leota showed up. This is the sort of thing that you would see in pre-school shows until the end of time; it always gets sympathy and empathy heat and even when it's not done well, it's resistant to criticism since there is a risk of punching down on deaf people. I say this because Leota uses the term at least three times during this sequence. It's much easier to see what Leota and the babyfaces did than it is to explain it in full here; so the guise of this is the first basic sentence was what would become Teddy's catchphrase throughout the series: "It's nice to meet you." They giggle afterwards and we do a TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM. Now; I know this is kind of stupid because Grubby cannot sing; but he's not deaf. He can hear Teddy and Gimmick saying stuff (otherwise, he would have a confused look on his face, rather than a flustered one) so he can hear the song at least. This is Leota's crowning moment of awesome without question; even better than telling Gimmick off about the existence of elves and wood sprites. Yes; they did a full song and we end the segment nearly twelve and a half minutes in. That was a great segment and everything is paid off now.
After the commercial break; we head back into the woods with Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick sitting down as they exchange notes with Leota on her understanding sign language as they want to arrange a meeting with Katy; but Teddy concerned about introducing themselves and Leota introduces the concept of finger spelling. So not only does this show explain how sign language works; it even explains how to use it to say pronouns that don't fit the language. Leota even points out that there is a way to say the name; through sign language trademarking; as Leota demonstrates when she spells G with her hand over her head, as Gimmick's signature. I should note that despite being awesome, Teddy Ruxpin feet syndrome is literally happening whenever they show a far shot of Teddy sitting as this scene is going on. Grubby gets the "G" on his tummy and Teddy giggles at his expense. So, Teddy gets a T on his heart because he's a true friend and they all agree to make a surprise appearance at the tree school and that is that. That was a neat segment; but we need some real laffs; so we head back into the tower as Tweeg is wearing a cyan blue sweater and has a clipboard as he is going to steal candy from a baby complete with baby bonnett, candy and a baby. Oh wait; we are going to do a cosplay of stealing candy from a baby. Take one guess who plays the baby. Go ahead, guess; it's too shocking. SURPRISE! IT'S ANTONIO INOKI~! POW! OUCH! Ummmm...I betcha LB wishes it was him. LB has a sucker in his mouth in a baby carriage blowing this thing off. Apparently; there is a Villain Tech college in Grundo; which is hilarious in itself, but somehow Tweeg attended it. I would love to know what Tweeg was studying there at the time, that could fill a thirteen episode arc by itself. Oh; and LB doesn't do windows; so it's clearly an Apple fanboy. The referee I believe is the bounder with hair over his eyes as Tweeg wants to do some practice for that demerit badge as Shady Bounder calls LB cute and LB threatens to stuff the horn into his brain, basically. Tweeg thankfully reveals that Shady Bounder's name is Hugo (who doesn't have hair over his eyes by the way; so that's a mistake on my part) and we get on the mark, ready, steady, GO! Tweeg does the most awkward Scooby Doo start run sequence ever as he pops the sucker from LB's mouth with ease and pants. Hugo proclaims that Tweeg stole the sucker in six seconds. It's actually five seconds, so close enough.
Tweeg calls it not bad; but he wants to go for the world record. Hugo hops onto a table and checks the MAVO record books. We discover that Hargo Farsman holds the world record at 3.5 seconds at the World Indoor Track at the All MAVO Games in 1985 basically. LB has had enough of this stupid stuff; but gets cut off as Tweeg inserts the sucker into LB's mouth again. Tweeg was insulted by the wings on his feet remark, I'm certain of that now. So we restart the race; only we forego the starting thing, and Tweeg tries to grab the sucker, but LB hangs onto the sucker this time. I don't know why; since this only serves to prologue HIS agony. Tweeg protests this outrage while pulling on the sucker handle as LB basically is like "oh, to heck with this" and unpops the sucker as Tweeg goes flying...There was a stone wall to the back of him in one shot; but on the closeup; he clearly falls out the window. Thirteen minutes of great animation has turned to garbage in the last three minutes or so. LB proclaims that Tweeg got the black and blue; not the gold and he and Hugo laugh at his expense. It was funny enough at least. So we head to Gimmick's house and head to the sofa inside as we look inside a sign language book with Teddy, Grubby, Gimmick and Leota of course. Teddy thanks her for the book as Grubby is getting the hand of it as his feet are considered hands for this episode as Grubby signs that he's hungry and wants to eat as everyone laughs, even though it probably was serious. So then we head inside a tree with Tweeg and LB in the branches as apparently, they found a victim to steal from. So in comes an elf in a green tunic and green cap with brown elf shoes and green long johns carrying a sucker that is almost as big as his head. Tweeg is loving this as LB looks and doesn't like it because here comes Wooly. If you cannot guess the sequence right now, you shouldn't be in the cartoon business, ever. Tweeg is in the starting position as he is cutting his cocky promo; but LB is trying to tell him that Wooly is coming, which Tweeg blows off. Tweeg does most of the ready, steady, GO and rushes and steals the sucker easily. Oh my goodness; he really broke the record in real time! Sadly; he must show proof of that sucker as the elf protest this outrage. Tweeg of course, doesn't look where he is going and bonks into Wooly and his evil deed is an epic fail! Tweeg is so going to be killed here; if Wooly wasn't so kind.
Wooly is reading him the riot act and I'm sorry; I cannot take this seriously even if I tried. LB hops in and apologizes on his behalf because he was supposed to pick on someone a lot smaller. That's the funniest non-opology I have ever heard as Wooly gives the elf back his sucker. Apparently; Tweeg was absent on the day those "stealing is illegal" lessons were taught. The elf leaves and Wooly doesn't know weither to be mad or not. Tweeg suggests no and LB basically tells Wooly to make up his own mind and bounces away stage left, leaving Tweeze hanging. HAHA! Tweeg invokes the HANDS OF GOD to shove Wooly and runs after LB protesting this outrage stage left and that is that. That was a funny segment and a half as we fade to black and return with Leota at the school treehouse as she introduces the babyfaces to the class because they might not know their names. So Wooly has never told them this? Anyhow; Wooly helps Seymour down to ground level as everyone else flies down and Grubby is doing more sign language as Seymour sign is a C with waves. So his name is spelled Cemore? I think. Shouldn't it be an S on waves. Teddy signs back as Kathy sign is the peace sign as Leota explains that everyone has a signature; except for Wooly it appears. Leota admits that is this a terrible oversight (along with the fact that Wooly cannot do sign language to save his life) so Katy suggest the letter W held over the open hand; because as Teddy explains that the open hand means that he's so helpful. Wooly does the sign; everyone cheers and Grubby is impressed, and yes; he finally is speaking again much to the shock of Teddy. Well this is good, since it gives us an indication of the dose it took to cause that. I'll remember that when I figure out how much to use in Drake Mallard's coffee. BLAM! Hee hee! POW! OUCH! Ummm...I really made him angry now. Anyhow; this leads to everyone talking about non-verbal cues as being a sign of a friend and they sing a song based on it. There is a lot of dancing, but it's basically wasting two minutes in what they already said in ten seconds. It was okay; it was pointless. However; the non-verbal cue thing was great and it explains the importance of it a lot effectively than I could. This is the sort of thing not done well in cartoons, because it's all about fart jokes and little else, and it makes everything nonsensical.
When I was reviewing one of the Kick Buttowski episodes in Spanish without subtitles (it was the first five minutes of it; but my point stands), even though I had zero clue what exactly was going on, I still understood it enough to know enough of what was going on because they did non-verbal cues that explained it to me a lot clearer than the dialogue ever could. I was able to figure out that Kendell was threatening to ban Kick from doing extreme sports if she becomes school president from this; even though I couldn't understand more than ten words of Spanish. I tried to watch the Swedish version of He's Bonkers and 90% of the time, I couldn't figure out what was going on, even with non-verbal cues, because they were done so poorly. One of the reasons why most people want less talking and more non-verbal cues is because it eliminates the barrier of misunderstandings. Granted; it doesn't eliminate the barrier of offense as there are non-verbal cues that are considered offensive in other countries (middle finger, I'm looking at you!), but the good outweigh the bad here. If you have just talking; if you don't speak English (or the language in question, it doesn't matter), without the non-veral cues, chances are you will not know what is going on. This gives no incentive to continue watching, and it gives no incentive to learn how to understand their language. This is why this episode was so great, even if the ending is pointless singing which the episode ends at 19:12. Animation flaws aside; this episode was really great. It had sign language that was done right, the setup worked; it had Tweeg stealing cnady from a baby and funny stuff from everyone involved. What more could you want from this?! Better animation maybe; but it's Canada and they are not rich. Best episode of the series thus far, at **** 1/2 (90%). And they didn't need Miss Maggotheart to carry this one, this time around.
THE REVIEW LINE
This is officially my new favorite episode of the series, without fail. I kind of liked it when I was a kid; but I love it even more as an adult. The setup for this was wonderful as they didn't do sign language as a throwaway spot (like later in this arc; although it wasn't all that much of a throwaway since it played into the climax of said episode) as it played into the main plot of Grubby being an idiot and losing his voice. The animation was really good until the second half; and then it picked up again in the third act as they did a great job in paying off the sign language angle about as well as they could have given the episodic nature. Sadly; I don't think we saw Katy again after Wooly graduates; but she was cool as a deaf mute. She was awesome and giving her gentle bell sounds really helped her character. I actually was rooting for the babyfaces through this and it felt noble and well done. The Tweeg/LB segments were uber funny as the stealing candy from a baby was over the top with Tweeg actually showing signs that he can be a good villain, if Wooly wasn't around. He broke the world record (I think); but still failed in the act, somehow. This could only be done by Jack W. Tweeg, no one else could be this absurd in failing in life. Overall; this was a wonderful episode and probably the best episode of the series thus far. Next up is One More Spot which features another character designed just for this arc. Sadly; it's not as memorable as Grubby's romance when they did this angle in the second arc, but who knows? So...
Thumbs way up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.