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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: One More Spot
Reviewed: 06/04/2017
...Before The Graduation Starts!
Okay; this episode is pretty much the last episodic episode in this story arc before the real angle begins. In this episode; we do an alternate retelling of the storybook series story "One More Spot" as the trio goes to a fair in the bug world and teaches a ladybug the importance of friendship over everything else. As this is going on, Tweeg is going to vandalize Gimmick's house. Yeah; this is going to be good. So, let's rant on shall we...?
We head to a plain and pan west to Gimmick's house as the episode title has a new font! In the far shot, we can see Gimmick looking out the window declaring the sun is shining brightly. Close up shot shows that both Gimmick and Teddy are looking out the window. Grubby comes in claiming that the non-serious clouds are smiling; and when we see them, they are just small clouds being animated. No smiling there, folks. Gimmick wants to go on a picnic; but he cannot resist trying to turn this into science because I was shocked that Teddy knew exactly what he said at this point. Grubby finally asks the obvious question here and Teddy claims that it comes with the idea of being a genius. Listen; I love science, but creating complicated names is one reason why a lot of people don't like science in general. So Grubby goes into the kitchen as Gimmick gets the basket and Teddy searches for the picnic blanket as Grubby wants to bring ice cream to this picnic. Gimmick proclaims that the ice cream will melt; which dates the show since today's picnics can easily bring ice cream due to technological advances in coolers. Grubby brings out a bowl of vanilla ice cream and eats it right now. So we head to the airship as Grubby is onboard finishing his ice cream while Gimmick is shoveling coal into a furnance. Oh wait; he's eating donuts. That makes no sense! The payoff was that Grubby finishes eating ice cream. This is a mistake DTVA would have easily corrected. They do cover their logic break somewhat with Gimmick pointing out that he just had ice cream and Grubby making a joke about donuts melting on the way. Teddy giggles as he boards the ship as Gimmick calls for liftoff. As this is going on, we pan southeast to LB watches on and points out the obvious to us. That was pointless as the airship lifts off with Gimmick doing his usual liftoff spiel. LB bounces to Tweeg Tower to tattle on Tweeg; which he gets his right name yet again. He wants some...He should have said "MAVO points" here; but he said "Brownie points", which doesn't make sense with the storyline. So we head to a meadow with the airship already landed and the air is out of the balloon. Pan over to the babyfaces on the grass with the blanket over that having a picnic. They comment about how Boggly Woods is perfect as Grubby takes an apple out of a bowl. Suddenly; the bowl literally has legs and walks away stage right. This makes Grubby not eat the apple as Gimmick notices their food is walking away. HA!
Teddy asks how this could have happened and Gimmick has several reasons. Gimmick calls it gravatational misalignment; as Grubby notices insects and nicely blows it off. Grubby notices the spots and Teddy deduces that they are ladybugs. They are the most blandish ladybugs I have ever seen and they wear human sneakers for some reason. This is more absurd than ninjas wearing sneakers during Ricky The Dragon Steamboat's training for life itself. Grubby is not impressed with them stealing their food and calls it not lady like. We cut to a red/pink ladybug with brown hair and brown shoes with green trim socks as she gives the bugs marching orders and this logically leads to Teddy Ruxpin singing. The music is straight out of a circus as I'm pretty sure that they will steal your food, not eat it right there. If Teddy is supposed to be a nice person; wouldn't saying "scram" or "beat it" kind of kill the gimmick? I should note that the ladybug has the exact same voice as Leota as she jumps on Teddy's nose and blows him off claiming that it's not the trio's food; but theirs. Some things never change in this show. I mean; Wooly was hostile, Wee Gee was hostile, the jungle Grunges were hostile and now this ladybug is being hostile. Teddy shows the area to prove how wrong she is and seconds later, she realized that she messed up badly. The lady ladybug orders everyone to gently put the food down and they sell while groaning. I should note that the next shot of the commanding ladybug does some saluting and telling them to be at ease; the face is way off model. Teddy allows the ladybug to jump down onto the table cloth as we find out that her name is Amanda. Amanda is sulking as she proclaims that at the rate this is going, she'll never get a new spot. So; the angle is that Amanda was taking the food to give, as a good deed, to the bugs at the Bug Fair in order to earn one more spot on her back. Apparently; five spots on her back is not enough for her to command respect. If she has six; that commands respect, even though her troops seem to obey her and respect her irregardless. So what is the consequence here? I don't see it and it makes Amanda look like a petty thief. The Bug Fair is basically a carnival with bugs as the buyers and shakers. So yeah; this is an ancient prototype to episodes like Pupu Goodtimes Pupu Goodtimes from Fish Hooks for episode.
Then a blond haired ladybug with a freakish hairstyle informs us that the main event is the Annual Spot Award for the ladybugs who done really good deeds during the year. The trio try to make it sound important; but it's not working. Besides; Amanda must perform the deeds herself. Good thing she was stopped from stealing the trio's food; that would have really killed her chances of winning the award right there. Amanda does offer Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick to come to the fair and Teddy proclaims that they would love to. Amanda loves this; and I'm waiting for some bug to point out that this is an awful, no good, very bad idea because you see, the trio is way too big to even set foot in the Bug Fair, let alone enjoy it. And it's Amanda who points the big problem out. Grubby is confused by this, which he shouldn't because it's obvious what the problem is. By the way; the trio is on their hands and knees all the time as Teddy claims that they have a solution to this big problem and now Gimmick is confused. Teddy is the only one who knows what is going on here. Either everyone except Teddy is an idiot today, or Teddy is a god. Teddy points out that they'll use the portable reducing machine. Sadly; it's not the pocket reducing machine, that would have been better. So we scene change to Gimmick setting up the machine on a tripod. It's double the size of the Nintendo Gamecube and a lot more brownish in color. Gimmick waves as we see Grubby and Teddy posing, and Teddy is being really cocky during this. Gimmick pushes the red button and runs to meet the other two males as the MINI BEAM OF DOOM nails them and shrinks them into the size of ladybugs as Amanda is shocked by this. So the babyfaces walk towards the picnic blanket as we repeat the stips for doing good deeds again between a conversation with Grubby and Amanda again. Grubby, Gimmick and Teddy attempt to grab the strawberries; but they cannot lift them. Because you see, the portable reducing machine also reduces strength. Kind of like the Mini spell, actually. Oh and the strawberries are the Gundleberries mentioned a few times in this series. Sadly; this show cannot keep this straight. Amanda decides to school them as she motions to her troops and they lift the berries and walk away with them.
You know; the stips are that Amanda have to carry the stuff by herself and her troops. Why not just give permission to Amanda to bring the food to the fair? You don't have to lift a finger, she adheres to the stips and she gets the spot on her own. Easy as pie actually. I just this way over complicating things. So we head to Tweeg Tower (that first segment took nearly eight minutes to set up) as Tweeg is near the cannon and LB calls him Tweep; as in creep. Tweeg is tinkering with what appears to be a cross between a vacuum cleaner and a garden hose with a funnel attached to the end. Sorry; but the Ron Sparks joke is not allowed in this cartoon. LB makes me proud by pointing out that when Tweeg doesn't want anyone to know about what he is doing, it's a sign that he is going to do something REALLY STUPID. Tweeg is a prototype Darkwing Duck, only Darkwing is a babyface and Tweeg is a heel. Tweeg calls him out on it and asks where the babyfaces are and LB claims that they went for a picnic and acted disgusted by this act. Tweeg loves this as he brings out a white scroll of paper because it's time to do MAVO Evil Deed Number #111: Senseless vandalism. Now that's a real heel move and an actual crime! So the device is the ancient version of a spray can as Tweeg wants to paint his name on Gimmick's cottage as LB giggles as he gets the senseless part of it now. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge! Tweeg calls the device the Automatic Vandalism Sprayer or AVS. LB asks if he's sure it works and calls him Twink again. Tweeg claims that it does as he has a propped up piece of clay ready to demonstrate as Tweeg grabs the nozzle and kicks the AVS and manages to spray his name in red letters, so I'm assuming he just wrote his name in Gimmick's own blood. Okay, maybe not. I'm shocked he manages to do this without moving the nozzle in any direction. Tweeg proves that this work and LB questions him inventing it. HAHA! Because you see, Tweeg fails at life, so it's surprising when he invented something. Besides; if he's a heel, you don't invent, you steal. Tweeg claims that LB is living on borrowed time; which means: Is Tweeg going to turn on LB and kill him? Because borrowed time is an expression for death. LB proclaims that he's living on borrowed money since he usually doesn't get paid. Yeah; I'll bet. Scene change to the Bug Fair; which is basically every fair you ever saw, except it has a bug motif. I wonder if The Buzz On Maggie had a bug fair of their own?
I haven't watched enough of that show to get a read on that issue. In comes the babyfaces who are impressed by this as two bugs come in and greet Amanda as Amanda introduces the babyfaces and informs them that they have given them the food to share with them. Everyone whistles and cheers for them; so yes, size does matter; only it's in the opposite direction. I'm only going over the bugs that matter and I'm pretty sure this line shot's continuity is all over the place because this show is terrible at crowd shots, continuity wise. Jump cut to Samson Strongbug which is a green giant (for a bug) with a curly mustache, teeth and wears a blue one strap singlet which is partially torn. Grubby points out that he has only six legs; which is dumb because Grubby actually has six legs, albeit he also has two arms. This is the Twig Lifting competition as he lifts the 712 gram twig with ease. I would have loved to see him PUT OUT THE TWEEG as a payoff; but it doesn't happen sadly. Another reason I would love to see this show remade. It's free heat, cost them about a minute's worth of airtime and it's hilarious. Everyone cheers and claps on cue as Gimmick claims that he thought it was impossible. This is the same guy who proclaimed that there is no such thing as elves and woodsprites. This guy is supposed to be a genius; but has no concept of insect biology? Some genius. Gimmick; there is a difference between being naturally scientific and being naturally curious. The later doesn't make you a genius; but that is what you really are. Amanda has more to show as they bail stage right; leading to a scene changer and we see Grubby drinking out of a flower with a straw as he calls it a Nector pop. He loves it of course as we head to a large platform with a green bug guarding them. Amanda wants to try out a ride called the Bumper Blossom as we scene change again to a sky shot as Teddy and Amanda go sit in the red flower as Gimmick and Grubby sit in the lavander flower. A note: When the petal doors close; the colors are exactly the opposite of the other. I don't know if that's a logic break or a color stylist choice. I hope it's the later. Jump cut to the ride operator in the red cap as they need to fasten their seatbelts and hold on tight. I should note; there was no indication of seatbelts in the thing; so this was added as a safety promo. That annoys me. So the bug pushes the lever (WRONG LEVER~!) and it's PUT OUT THE TRIO; sort of. The flowers bump into each other...
...and we scene change to everyone getting off the ride and surprisely; no one sells dizziness as Teddy asks Amanda where to next and we quickly scene change to the Acorn rollercoaster as Grubby and Teddy get into the acorn car. It's basically a roller coaster with vines as a track and an acorn as a cart. Apparently; the same ride operator as before is pulling the lever (WRONG LEVER~!) for this one; so this is a recycled shot. Why doesn't that surprise me? Grubby's lobster courage is showing, but it's too late. So they coast on the rollercoaster for a while; and neither one can sell this like this was a scary ride. The screaming was really contrived. I guess I'm so used to seeing R.J. Williams and modern cartoons in America that this sounds so fake in hindsight. So we scene change as the babyfaces walk into a field of mushroom as there is even a bug circus going on. Jump cut to an Amanda clone with a different face with a berry as she gives it to Grubby and suddenly, he can lift it no problem. So yeah; he's learning. I get that this is character development, but this looks premature to me. So we head to the circus grounds and jump cut to the ring master complete with orange suit, yellow bowtie and blue vest with a blue/orange top hat on addressing the crowd. He also has the highest pitch voice ever, and sounds like a Z-grade Mickey Mouse, or more accurately, an adult Newton Two-Two from The Mighty Hercules. We then pan up for the Amazing Beetle Brothers doing the highwire with twigs. None of them look like beetles. So they do the human ladder chain spot, and then the backflip onto the twig and then juggle white balls. None of it look like they were in the air; it looked like something done on the ground. Everyone pops for it anyway; Teddy's clapping was horribly animated here. Scene change to the ringmaster looking around as he introduces the fireflies as we do the Fire Drill spot as they simulate a burning tower apartment with a guy who is selling the help thing a lot better than most babyfaces in this show. So ironically; the fireflies are firefighters as they bring out the torn up safety net; which has been banned in real life for killing and injuring too many people. I should note that the firefly with four arms screaming for help is wearing the goofiest orange pants and green bowtie he could find. He has blond curly hair and his skin and mouth look dangerously close to a legit blackface. This clearly would be redesigned if this show was remade.
So he jumps and the fireflies instantly turn on him and bail stage right; but the bug flaps his wings anyway and lands on the net safely. Everyone claps and cheers for that as we jump cut to Amanda and Teddy clapping and then back to the ringmaster who talks like Gimmick ("for your editification" is what he said) as we get the swing like tarzan trapeez act with the bugs; no one got killed there. Jump cut to the ringmaster as he informs all of us that it's time for the Annual Spot Award or ASA. And now Amanda is not liking this bug fair anymore because she doesn't stand a chance of winning. You know; why should anyone care about this contest when Amanda has no known conflict with anyone in this contest?! Because if she had an actual rival; then there is a conflict for me to care about. And yes; you can have a friendly rivalry as a conflict and make both of them babyfaces, if you book it well. Teddy basically kills the angle dead (and why shouldn't he? There's no conflict anyway.) by claiming that they will still be friends if she doesn't win. That's good because no one cares about this contest anyway, except for Amanda; and it makes Amanda look like a whining wimp anyway. Amanda thanks them and there is always next year as she sighs to end the segment nearly twelve and a half minutes in.
After the commercial break; we head back to Gimmick's house as Tweeg is with the AVS and LB as he calls this the perfect scheme. Yeah; I'll bet. Tweeg proclaims that absent-minded Newton Gimmick will be the disgrace of the neighbourhood; which is funny considering that the population of Gimmick Valley is five, which includes Teddy and Grubby. LB giggles because it means Tweeg has had that title long enough. Tweeg pours grey paint into the nozzle back of the AVS and proclaims that this needs a lot of pressure to get it right. Geez; that shouldn't be hard, considering the pressure of being a MAVO member. So LB has to pump the thing while Tweeg holds the nozzle. LB pumps in such a light way that nothing comes out, earning a blow off from Tweeg. Tweeg order LB to really puts some bouncing into it and LB sells as Tweeg is loving it. Tweeg points out the switch on the front of the nozzle and once he flicks it open, the house will be vandalized good. So he flicks it open and only a few drops fall out. Uh-oh! Remember what I always say about Tweeg failing at life? Well; here we go as Tweeg yells at LB to go faster and LB thinks the handle is jammed. Tweeg blows him off and demands more pressure as the only thing jammed is the horn in LB's head. LB bounces a lot more now; but no luck as we head back to the fair on stage as a French Artist Bug (the only one not wearing shoes by the way) is painting a spot on the curly blond haired ladybug from earlier as the babyfaces in the crowd sigh as Amanda will have to win another year and Grubby really shouldn't joke about this. Trumpet flourish ensues from three purple bugs as a green grasshopper colored bug is on stage with a peach flower megaphone in his right hand addresses the crowd and guess what happens? Yip; since she made three new friends by herself and was nice to them, and it all happened before the contest ended (which was the instant they started painting the spots); she wins THREE spots; bringing her total to eight. Perfect! Everyone pops as Amanda and the babyfaces all walk on stage as Amanda takes the really awkward peach flower megaphone and thanks everyone. However; she also proclaims that being friends is more important than even gaining spots and walks off stage to meet with the trio. Then we sing the "Good Deeds" song as the blond haired ant gets a spot using a colored paint that is different from the rest of her spots. Not a good choice of color by the stylist there.
Lots of walking, singing and bugs helping one another. They end the song by pointing towards the hard camera and it's yet another song that lasted a minute to summarize what was said in thirty seconds. In other words; they did it to fill time. Back to Gimmick's house and the further adventures of Tweeg failing at life as usual. He's now holding the nozzle at his face and if anyone has watched, oh, I say, ten episodes; you should figure out where this is going now. Okay; this is even better: LB complains that the handle is jammed and not going down. Tweeg shoves LB aside and jumps on it barefoot. The handle finally goes down and the AVS completely explodes and somehow; LB and Tweeg are covered in brown feeces like paint (a logic break since it was grey when it was poured in); but the entire house of Gimmick's is untouched. Come on! I have watched enough Forsenic Files to know that is scientifically impossible for this to happen and not one drop was on Gimmick's house. LB claims that he had his eyes closed, so cue Vinny laugh as Tweeg fails at life, yet again. It never gets old as we head back in front of the Spot Awards Stage as we get an earthquake as Teddy wants some ideas. Okay; here's an odd moment: When Teddy was cutting his promo, after he stopped speaking; there was five seconds of his mouth moving slightly, but no word were coming out. Was Teddy suppose to stutter there and someone got offended and had that changed? Because if you are going to change that; you should edit out the mouth flaps where there is no sound as all. That is just weird. Gimmick actually uses Occam's Razor here; but sadly, it's a hit and miss in a cartoon so the earthquake stops and Gimmick proclaims that they have nothing to fear. So Wooly's arm appears as he grabs the babyfaces and puts them into a conveniently held bottle. Want to rephrase that notion, Newton? The selling of fear and screaming here is terrible as Teddy is stammering over his words in fear, it wasn't good. We head to Leota's school tree as Wooly has now put the babyfaces into a tiny cage (despite the fact that the camera shooting had them looking as big as the elves and woodsprites) that is as small as the desk. This makes no sense porportion wise. So, Cemore and the elves peek into the cage as Wooly claims that it was from Misly Meadows as his slobber causes strong winds, forcing the caged heroes to hang on for dear life in a cage.
By the way; Amanda had five spots earlier on and now has four spots as one of the elves calls Grubby a potato bug; which of course Grubby is gravely offended by this racial slur. Cemore is interested in Gimmick as Leota comes in from the air and wants answers to this. Wooly claims that he brought bugs to school as Leota wanted as he does the slobber and we get the heroes hanging on for dear life again. Leota is not fooled because someone has invented Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick bugs. Wait; so an octopede is not part of the bug family? The irony of the potato bug thing is that Grubby loves root veggies and potatoes are a root vegetable. So calling him a potato bug isn't all that inaccurate. So we exchange notes and Wooly feels so bad after being called out by Grubby. Wooly made a mistake; as we all do from time to time. We simply own up to it and try to never do it again. Anyhow; everyone kisses and makes up as Leota explains that Wooly is trying to figure out who he is; an angle that would not be paid off until the end of the Holidays arc. Leota suggests trying to figure out what he is not; which explains why this took forever to figure out. Wooly goes from smallest to largest of course; the elves cheer; and yes, the shot continuity is awful here as the crowds literally change in every possible way. Shot continuity in crowd shots is an absolute trainwreck in this show and it really shows in the last couple of minutes. So we don't open the cage; but the babyfaces are out (which shouldn't have been hard since they would literally walk out since the space in between the bars was enough to walk through without a problem. The trio and Amanda jump into Wooly's hand as he offers to lead them back to the bug fair and we do a Chargeman Ken-equse scene changer and return to Gimmick Valley as the portable reducing machine is on tripod and it shoots the GIANT BEAM OF DOOM and the babyfaces are back to their regular selves. Amanda is on the ground as she jumps into Teddy's hand and Teddy thanks her for the great day as a red lipped bug and the blond haired ladybug arrive because they have a plan. Amanda jumps down and they have a whisper conference; which ends with the bugs agreeing to be part of Wooly's study on bugs as Wooly agrees to it. The bugs call this ten good deeds today and they cannot wait until next year as they'll gain ten new spots. Wooly is confused and everyone laughs to end the episode at 19:10. They were laughing at Wooly's reaction; not the promo itself by the way. This was a fun mess of an episode; due to the animation mistakes and some really silly booking. *** 1/4 (65%).
THE REVIEW LINE
What more can I say? This was a decent storybook episode with bad animaton and a always funny Tweeg segment. Tweeg vandalizing the house is many buys; although it would have been even funnier if the payoff was him getting put out by Samson Strongbug (the only named bug outside of Amanda) and the paint somehow landed on Miss Maggotheart. Still; this was funny and the main story was pretty good outside of the usual inability to keep the shot continuity straight in crowd shots as it was so painfully clear at the end of the episode with the elves and woodsprites. Overall; this was a decent episode. Next up is the main event arc of Wooly and the little guys putting on a show and getting ready for graduation; only for Tweeg to interfere and make the elves and woodsprites turn on each other! I hope you are all ready for that. So...
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.