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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Harvest Feast
Reviewed: 09/24/2016
The Feast Before Certain Main Event Doom!
Well; as it says in the episode title; King Nogburt is having a feast, Beanly is being Beanly, Tweeg is being Tweeg and selling fake rainmakers; plus Teddy and company finally solve the mystery of the drought of Nogburt kingdom that has been lying as a dead end angle for months on end. So yeah; a lot gets resolved over the next twenty minutes. So; let's rant on shall we...?
We begin this one with a sky shot northeast pan towards Nogburt Castle and then head to a disolate field with green grass and dead tree. Gimmick is examinating the dead plants with a magnifying glass and then we pan over to Teddy, Grubby, Arin, Aruzia and King Nogburt are exchanging notes and basically recapping the situation with the drought. Bascially; there isn't much food for the harvest feast, but there's lots of peanuts to go around, due to the success of the peanut crop and it's ability to sip water, rather than chug it like so much other crops. Gimmick is puzzled by the calculations because Grundo has gotten seven percent more precipation than normal. Of course; he talks like a scientist and confuses Grubby, so Teddy basically states that it rained a lot. Aruzia claims that more than one royal picnic was cancelled due to this. Arin points out that the water streams are reduced to trikles and Gimmick deduces a hunch that someone is stealing the water. So we head into the city of Nogburt with the denizens going about their business and exchanging notes with other Nogburt denizens. Old Beanly is on the case again as a horse and carriage nearly runs him over and causes him to do the whirlwind spot; making him fall on his rear end as three letters go flying. Scene change to Beanly walking on a dirt path and he's confused so much that he doesn't WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE~! Uh-oh! That's Leota's tree! You do not dare mess with Leota's tree; nothing good comes out of it. Oh and speaking of Leota, out she comes demanding answers to this outrage. Beanly is having trouble with the invitations because gravity loves messing with him; so Leota decides to help...by finding her own invitation on the ground. Beanly picks up the remaining invitations and the Wooly Whatsit's invitation drops on the ground. Guess who Beanly is looking for? Of course, no one knows what Beanly is talking about, including Leota; who is the closest of friends with Wooly. You would think that saying "whosit" would have jogged Leota's memory banks; but it didn't. Beanly leaves as Wooly's invitation is on the ground. It's time to retire him; but I repeat myself.
Scene change to the montage of Old Beanly visiting various places to give invitations as the Wizard Of WeeGee, various Fobs on tree branches (logic break: The two fobs were yellow and purple; and then three fobs hop on his shoulders with one pink, one orange and one green (I'm guessing it's Fuzz) fob.) and then the Jungle Grunges (I discover that the woman with orange hair who answers the door is named Sreena). The Sreena one has Beanly wiping his forehead in relief, as if he thought Sreena was going to kill him and put him in the stew. Scene change back to the city of Nogburt as Beanly proclaims that this is all of them, although he wanted to find the whatsit fellow. Scene change to a sky shot of Gimmick's house as Wooly has arrived looking in through the door and knocking on said door. Wooly has a basket of invitations for Wooly's harvest fest and smashes the letter through the mail slot of Gimmick's door; which Wooly apologizes for. Heh heh. So we get a montage of Wooly walking around and noticing no one is there to accept the invitations, so he will just leave them there. Wooly throws the basket away as he bails to cook the feast and that is that. Of course! Scene change to the city square as two Illiper kids are playing ball in the background with a white ball while Beanly is sleeping on the job and on the bench. Pan shot east to more denizens and in comes the medicine wagon with Tweeg dressed up as Uncle Arnie...AGAIN! Tweeg stops near a tree as Tweeg laments about fortunes and Illipers being saps. Tweeg claims that haven't seen water since...LB said that it was his last pay cheque. HAHA! Tweeg tells LB to shut up and he'll get paid when Tweeg gets paid. Sounds reasonable to me. Wink! LB tells him not to hold his breath as we scene change to the back of the wagon as Tweeg is assembling showerheads because his scheme of the day is to sell rain makers. I guess it's a slightly better concept than praying for it. So LB and his gang of bounders are holding water buckets with their mouths as they bail with them. Tweeg opens his medicine wagon and brings out the most ugliest, stupid rainmaking machine ever made. Okay; I'm praying for rain now. DUMB!
Tweeg calls the Nogburtians, Nogburtnicks as he addresses the crowd and does the hard sell on his own rainmaking machine as LB in a tree yells "and no refunds" as the denizens are getting impatient. This is not going to end well for everyone involved. Plus; in storyline, it has rained more than last year, by seven percent no less. So, this invention is stupid from the get go. So Tweeg yells at them to be quiet and hold their buffets for crying out loud. So Tweeg wants to focus as he is about the pull the lever (WRONG LEVER~!); but LB of course jumps the gun and spills water out of the bucket onto the stage, causing the denizens to be shocked and appalled. It missed Tweeg sadly, so Tweeg pulls the lever (WRONG LEVER~!) on three, and the other bounders in the tree sprays rain water on the crowd; causing the crowd to pop. Tweeg cackles, twirls his mustache like a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villian~ and that is that. Sky shot of Nogburt Castle near the moat as Teddy, Grubby, Arin, Aruzia, Eunice, King Nogburt and Queen Lillabert are present. I guess Gimmick is inside the Subwater Boat, because they are exchanging notes on it. Teddy is also showing off the diving suit and there is Gimmick appearing out of nowhere. That new teleporting device Gimmick made is awesome. So Gimmick offers King Nogburt a ride in the Subwater Boat and Nogburt agrees to it because he's the king. Eunice waves at Gimmick; surprised no one has shipped her with Gimmick yet, since this show seems to be doing it already. Gimmick goes into the submarine and closes the port hole. Scene change to underwater inside the moat and it feels like underwater in Leakee Lake. There are some fish and the Subwater Boat arrives. Nogbert explains that the moat is muddy, which at least justifies why they haven't been using it as drinking water at least. No filteration system has been invented yet. Get on the case, Gimmick; after you get on Nogburts case for pushing that lever (WRONG LEVER!~) and doing the loop-de-loop for only 15 pieces of copper! And then pushes a button that makes the submarine race into a conveniently placed cave. So we head inside the submarine as Nogburt is surprised about the length of the moat; but Gimmick is drawing on a piece of paper and realizing that the cave is heading outside the actual moat, but Gimmick has zero clue where they are right now. Jump cut to a water to sky shot of the rest of the babyfaces being worried as Teddy puts on the diving suit and agrees to take a look inside the moat.
He puts on the helmet and walks into the moat, landing on the underwater ground. He turns to his right to notice the cave as the four fish inside the moat cut him off and these fish can talk. Teddy is actually asking the fish if they have seen anything; and the fish claim that the Subwater Boat is a big ugly fish monster that ate two people and went into the tunnel Teddy noticed. Teddy realizes what is going on and returns to the surface as he informs everyone of what is going on; and would return to the tunnel, but his hose isn't long enough. Eunice panics right on cue and Arin feels distaught; but Aruzia ain't going to quit like that, because she has a plan. Apparently; the moat in the back, despite clearly showing no such thing during this show, has an area where hallow reeds are growing near the moat. We see Eunice, Aruzia and Lillabert gathering them like firewood, while Grubby is stirring a cauldron and making his imfamous Root Stew (the secret weapon in making Teddy Ruxpin lie) to create the seal, and this plan will make sure Teddy has an airhose that reaches the ends of Grundo, if needed. Teddy dives into the water. So yeah; the babyfaces are creating an airhose made of reeds, huzzah! Scene change to Teddy underwater asking for the fish to help him, assuring them that it is not a fish monster, and they relucently agree to it. Scene change to further into the tunnel as we play sad music heading into the cockpit because they are hopelessly lost as Gimmick thinks this is an impossible ancient plumbing system. Nogburt goes on a sad rant about being a failure as a king and Gimmick tells him that he's wrong and has been a good king. Considering that they have had a drought and it took months before Gimmick noticed something didn't wash, methinks Nogburt is not good at this ruler thing. Of course; Gimmick is just slightly slower into wallying into dispair over not seeing Eunice again, like Nogburt not seeing his subjects (outside of Gimmick of course) and they are doomed, DOOMED they say. And how long will they float along this tunnel? FOREVER~! The Subwater Boat rides stage right to end the segment nine minutes in.
After the commercial break; we suddenly appear in a cave with a lake as the Subwater Boat pops up from the water. The port hole door opens and out comes Gimmick and Nogburt as Gimmick looks like a kid in a candy store, a bull in a china shop, a...Oh no; I'm not going there. There is a giant machine with pipes and grears next to the wall as Nogburt notices that this is bigger than the banquet hall inside his castle. We hear a door opening as Gimmick and Nogburt hide behind a rock. Now take a guess who comes into the cave? It's the Gutangs~! Four of them; with three of them holding giant wrenches. The wrench less Gutang orders them to seal the canals, to make sure no water gets by Nogburt anymore, as the Gutangs are twisting the wrenches to the gears and pipes as one of them comments that Nogburt will die like a weed now. Considering that they have lived on peanut for many months and the rainfall has been seven percent higher than normal, methinks there is a few fatal flaws in your Krackpotkin Plan there, you green monkeys! Oh; and when it's weak enough, they will attack as they finish wreching the pipes, they march away stage left. Nogburt is angry; but thankfully, Gimmick talks him out of chasing them because that will do him no good. So Gimmick examines the out of nowhere control panel while Nogburt walks in the same direction as the Gutangs were. Wanna bet he didn't listen to Gimmick and they get caught by the Gutangs?! Gimmick notices that there is lock with a slot for the crystal, which the fourth crystal inside the Subwater Boat, as Nogburt agrees to fetch it right away. Ummm; Nogburt is headed left instead of south, so he's going to get caught by the Gutangs. Gimmick deduces that this panel will open the suisgate, and then turns around and out of nowhere is two Gutangs and one golden plate tipped spear towards the face. Nogburt is pushed towards Gimmick by another Gutang with a spear literally seconds later as we pan west to the water near the Subwater Boat as a purple fish looks on and then dives underwater. See; I told you Nogburt was trying to chase after them, because he's the king darnit!
Scene change to outside the property of the Wooly Whatsit's residence as we head in the house as Wooly is at the stove, tasting his handiwork, hoping everyone shows up for his feast. Spoiler alert: They do, but not in the way you think they do. Wooly proclaims that there is nothing else going on around these parts. Spoiler alert: He's wrong. Scene change back to the Water Duct Cave of doom as Gimmick and Nogburt are tied up and sitting down. I just love how the Gutangs don't even realize that they have the king of all of Grundo to use as a barginning chip; and they act like he's a guy cosplaying one. That is just too funny, and a bad sign for Nogburt's reign in general. Pan west to the Gutangs playing cards on a gear table as we jump cut to the water, and the pink fish rises up with Teddy. Teddy thanks the fish and simply swims over to the cave and walks up. Teddy doesn't even bother to practice the fine art of not being seen as the Gutangs look to the right with spears ready; and then they get scared and run stage left like they saw a sea monster. Teddy unties Newton and Nogburt as Gimmick thanks Teddy for finding them. Sadly; we get a logic break as the airhose has been cut to nothing, despite no signs of that happening at any point during this storyline. Nogburt shows off the fourth crystal, so he didn't chase the Gutangs after all. All right. Gimmick is so happy as he puts the crystal into the lock while Nogburt wants him to hurry. The pipes burst as Teddy insists that they run, and Nogburt and Gimmick get back into the Subwater Boat in time. Teddy is about to get in; but a giant wave rolls into the area. Despite Teddy having enough time to get in and close the port hole, he chooses to close the port hole cover first and then take the burnt of the giant wave getting swamped in the process, as his airhose is still cut off. He also forgot to tie it up to keep as much air as possible inside the helmet, so that was stupid of him. So we head back to the shoreline of the moat as Grubby is holding onto the hose of hallow reeds and suddenly, water gushes out of it. Lillbert and Eunice hold each other and then hear strange noises. Well; that explains why the fish thought it was a fish monster then!
Anyhow; the Subwater Boat rises up and Gimmick and Nogburt come out; looking fine. Gimmick asks where Teddy is and we see Teddy on top of the water and he appears to be dead. Grubby panics and dives into the water, swims towards the suit and drags it back to shore. Scene change and Teddy recovers; everyone is relieved; just deflating any suspense we could have had in this scene. So yes; drowning an Illiop does not work. I should have realized this during the Death Of Innocence arc; but this one is more obvious. Anyhow; since Teddy is fine now, the day is saved and the kingdom is no longer dry as a bone anymore. Speaking of dry; let's return to the Medicine Wagon with Tweeg and the bounders fooling the denizens of Dumbert some more as LB claims that he keeps missing Twize; even though he's pouring in the general direction where he can hit Tweeg... Oh wait; never mind. The denizens are buying it, hook, line and sinker of course. Apparently; in Nogburt, they do use dollar bills instead of gold, silver and copper. I wonder what the exchange rate is for dollar bills. Everyone is loving it...until a black haired Illiper in overalls, blue shirt and red hat turns around. He invokes the pointy finger of death on the fountain as the fountain is spitting up water. Uh-oh! I just wish it sprayed some water on Old Beanly and he no sells; just to complete the payoff that the poor old postman has no clue. Everyone turns around and cheers; saying to heck with the rainmaker and runs off stage left. Tweeg protests this outrage and calls them bumpkins and they are going to be sorry. LB's friend proclaims that he has a lot of water left in his bucket and asks what to do with you. LB calls Tweeg Twink and Tweep; and tells his friend not to be greedy...in splooshing Tweeg on the head with water. HAHA! Poor Tweeg; he always fails at life. He's as unlucky as the real Donald Duck. Cue Vinny laugh as we scene change to the sky shot of Nogburt's kingdom and head inside the banquet hall as everyone from the series who is not an evildoer is inside exchanging pleasure thoughts and shooting the breeze. It's much easier to point out who's not here than here though...
Leota wheels in Cemore's wheelchair as they are talking about feeding everyone as Old Beanly is in front of the double door with the trumpeters on each side. Beanly is still the most absent minded man in the entire room because they are on private property, and they aren't supposed to be here. Cemore states the obvious and Beanly is still confused and deserved to be laughed out of his job. Beanly tells them to have a good time as we get the horn flourish and the double doors open to reveal King Nogburt, Queen Lillibert, Prince Arin, Princess Aruzia, Teddy, Grubby, Gimmick and Eunice; as the king addresses the crowd as the crowd pops for the babyfaces. The queen informs them that this year's harvest feast will only be with peanuts, but next year will be completely different. Everyone cheers anyway as Gimmick notices someone missing. Kathy? Amanda? Nope; the Wooly Whatsit, because Old Beanly is one of the stupidest postal workers in the history of animation. Teddy is surprised by this as Grubby thinks he wasn't invited; and Nogburt shoots that down at once. Nogburt goes to Beanly and finally he gets it! He's getting fired after this feast, I'm certain of it. So Teddy tells everyone to prepare the feast while he, Grubby and Gimmick fetch Wooly. Grubby offers Aruzia a ride, while Gimmick offers Eunice one, although that one sounds a lot dirter than he had intended it to be. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge! So we head to the airship in the sky already as the babyfaces exchange notes on the situation. Teddy wants to go a bit faster and Gimmick has a solution: Use the pink portion of the old air bag as a sail for more speed as the babyfaces bring it out and we go a bit faster. Scene change to inside Wooly's house and there is a lot of food on the table for him; but no one has come. Wooly is sitting down feeling really glum and is crying; when suddenly the door opens seconds after wiping his tears off his eyes, and it's Princess Aruzia, Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick at the door. Wooly is so happy to see them as we exchange notes on the situation and Wooly feels a little embarrassed; along with the babyfaces for not getting his invitations.
Wooly wonders what to do with all the food Grubby loves; and Teddy makes the obvious suggestion: Bring it to the feast. Of course! So we scene change back into the air with Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick along with Wooly and all of their food. So much food that we don't see Aruzia nor Eunice anywhere. Wooly is loving it because the payoff to all this is that Wooly finally got to ride on the airship for the first time, due to the improved strength of the airbag. Scene change to inside the royal banquet hall as everyone is sitting down at the giant table after a long sequence of food waiters bringing in platters of food. There is a lot of food to eat, a lot of shooting the breeze in a G-rated way, and a lot of people from the series. A lot of spirited stuff according to the king and queen as one of the Jungle Grunges throws a califlower spring into the mouth of the chief of the Jungle Grunges. Prince Arin stands up and is trying to break this up; but I cannot take anything he says seriously with all that food flying around him. Arin just simply gives up after that. HAHA! So Teddy decides to break it up by having a toast with grape juice and a song; because that's what Teddy Ruxpin does best. You know; there's something about this that makes me sad in hindsight: They are having this feast and the song is beautiful and all. However; this was the last episode for about 90% of the characters before the Hate Plague Arc. Those 90% have zero idea of the future that holds for them, as it is certain doom of hating each other, partially caused by Teddy Ruxpin and the Hermit who hasn't been talked about or mentioned since the Making Up For Lost Time arc which occured after the Death Of Innocence arc. This is kind of tragic, actually. Another note: I just realize that this was the show's answer to Thanksgiving Day. I mention this because in the airdate order; this aired after the Halloween episode which was the first episode of the Holidays arc. In the USA; this is fine. Not so much in Canada, since Thanksgiving comes before Halloween, so it would make more sense to air this two part episode before the Halloween one. I love this song; but the context makes it sort of sad. Everyone sings, except for Beanly who is sleeping on the job again. Grubby loves roots and putting facts into the song. Thanks for this song, it's really good. We finish the song we a zoom out shot of Nogburt Castle to end the episode at 19:16. This was a fine episode was a fantastic song at the end, and that's all it needed. The payoffs came too late; but what can this creative team do in an episodic environment? *** 3/4 (75%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this episode was certainly a pretty good one, although like so many others, the animation errors are pretty obvious. At least it felt like they have been getting better at continuity and it certainly delivered in this episode. While it was too late for many of the payoffs; many of the payoffs on their own were really good and there was some funny stuff along the way. Tweeg/LB selling rainmakers was great as usual, because Tweeg gets hookwinked by Teddy without either one of them knowing it and I thought the feast was a great Thanksgiving tribute with the final song sang by Teddy and company. Sure; in hindsight, this was tragic considering what is to come about five episodes from now, but on it's own, it was great. Beanly is still an idiot as usual and the Gimmick/Eunice thing is subtle amusement for me. Overall; a pretty good episode all things considered. At least Nogburt is smarter than Dumbwin, I guess. Wow; this might be one the shortest episodes I have ranted on too. So...
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.