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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Teddy & The Mudbulps!
Reviewed: 10/14/2018
Tweeg Turns On Elinore?! That's Unthinkable!
Well; it's time for more filler before the Death of Innocence arc, only this time; this story actually leads to more fleshing out. So, Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick are having problems with their friendship and decide to go to the desert to test out a new invention of Gimmick's; who is acting like a jerk now. Meanwhile; Tweeg, Elinore and LB follow them in spite of Tweeg's failure to properly gaslight and it all ends with Elinore being offered her hand in marriage to the Mud Bulp King. I am so interested in that last one. How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens at Tweeg's Tower in the morning as a grey stylized bird with purple/grey wings perches on the window sill as LB shoos the bird away on cue and the bird flies away. LB is having a private conversation which involves no-selling Tweeg's little favors. And I do mean, little. Of course, Tweeg wants LB to start a fight with the babyfaces at Gimmick's house and of course, LB no sells because LB is the one giving orders now. LB claims that Quellor's a genius; but he's not that smart. Don Karnage was stealing from LB's bag of tricks here as Tweeg goes into a tagent about them being a team; as if it's any different now even though the roles are merely reversed. Why are you all talking when Elinore NEEDS her beauty sleep?! LB claims that Tweeg is driving HIM now; and Tweeg is screaming that this is the final staw and turning into a frog face the more I see him. Thankfully -- I think -- Elinore comes in to break this one up. Elinore is really cranky today and she looks the part too as she basically yells at Tweeg and tells him to leave and not come back until he does something rotton. Tweeg protests this outrage because he didn't have breakfast yet. I don't know what Elinore said after that, because we fade to black and then return with Tweeg blowing off Elinore and everyone as he is heading to Gimmick's house. Tweeg is hiding behind a barrel and claiming that he'll start a fight between perfectly good friends that would be worse than a Gutang war. Tweeg, you don't lie good at all. How about starting a fight between perfectly good friends that would be on par with a pillow fight? That would be more reasonable, methinks. So, we head inside the bedroom upstairs with Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick pretty much talking while sleeping, especially Gimmick. Tweeg enters through the window and let me tell you: Tweeg is the worst heel in the world when it comes to practicing the fine art of not being seen. He's making way too much noise and it still goes on as the stylized bird from earlier perches on the window and cheeps. Teddy wakes up and yes, we get to see him get out of the cover and do a full strech yawn in it's entirety. Teddy tells everyone to wake up and Tweeg gets the TOING sound right away and hides underneath the sofa. And it looks like he cannot fit underneath it; but on the next scene changer from Tweeg's point of view, we see the trio's legs for a while. Grubby wants to sleep some more; but Teddy wants to go to the Great Desert. Why?
Why would they want to go there since the last time they were there, they were attacked by Mud Bulps?! It's like when there is a blizzard; if you have no reason to go anywhere, you don't go. Gimmick just wants to test out his new invention; the Portable Habitat. Grubby blows it off because it's just a tent. Furthermore; why test it in the Great Desert? Why not test it out first in Gimmick's Valley, to see if it can repel Bounders and other evildoers. Heck; there's one in your house underneath the sofa right now who would make a perfect test subject. Teddy thinks the airship bag tent is a stroke of genius and apparently, it is now Gimmick who made the Crystal Belt. I swear that I thought it was Teddy himself who made the Crystal Belt in a previous arc. This show is starting to confuse me now! So, Grubby wants to have breakfast and it's his and Gimmick's turn to make oatmeal; but Gimmick bails to work on the final touches to his new invention and Grubby is not pleased with that. Teddy puts the Crystal Belt inside his shirt and offers to help Grubby instead, since he has nothing else to do. Grubby accuses Gimmick of trying to invent stuff to get out of real work because one of the crystals said he was inventive; and Teddy is trying to say that he thinks Gimmick isn't intentionally trying to be inconsiderable. Really, Teddy? I'm not perfection city when it comes to reading the room; but even I can read the room in this one and I think Grubby has a point. The evidence is actually there. So, Grubby and Teddy go into the kitchen to make oatmeal as we get an inconsiderably long and silly sequence of Tweeg trying to practice the fine art of not being seen. Sadly; those wooly slippers are not helping him in any way. Tweeg can not gaslight to save his life and Grubby unintentionally smacks Tweeg in the face with the door. The point is: Grubby and Gimmick are in fact teasing a fight on their own without Tweeg doing a thing because Grubby thinks Gimmick is trying to get out of honest work and Gimmick cannot read the room to save his life. Gimmick comes down anyway with a golden painted ball on a device as Tweeg is literally a lamp post complete with lamp shade. I guess Gimmick believes that lamp cloaks are a thing now. Gimmick gets the TOING sound and comes back; only now Tweeg has disappeared from his position and is hanging from the ceiling fan lamp. Gimmick has also brought out his wrench of doom, just in case Grubby tries anything dumb.
So, Tweeg looks out the window and notices Teddy outside at the Airship. So, Tweeg does Kit Cloudkicker's miming of voices; only it's Teddy Ruxpin and it's a little less convincing than Kit's. Grubby and Gimmick walk out of the kitchen and out of the house. When they are out of sight; Tweeg goes into the kitchen, takes the oatmeal and pours it over Gimmick's invention. Then he makes an obvious error: Tweeg puts the wrench into Grubby's oatmeal pot. Since BOTH Grubby and Gimmick left at the same time out of the room; that means that one who staged the scene was not one of the babyfaces. Way too obvious. Let's see if Teddy notices this when they come back to the kitchen. Tweeg hears the babyfaces coming inside and goes through the window in the kitchen and closes it. Luckly for him; Gimmick doesn't suspect anyone, but Grubby as the invention is a Gyro-Destigushier or whatever it is called. So Grubby and Gimmick are arguing and have a eye contact violence contest for a while, as Teddy wants this to stop. I'm sorry; but if they don't tease knuckling up, then this is an argument between two adults who might or might not be acting like children. Let them figure it out. Teddy claims that they are acting like childishly adults, or something. Gruffi poses on full blast and Teddy asks them to work it out, and then they both stop and apologize to each other outright. Wow; that was the worst fight in history right there, folks. Tweeg cannot even gaslight properly as we head outside because Grubby is jealous of Gimmick's imagination. Gimmick claims that we all have imaginations; we just need to know when to surpress it. Okay; I made up that last part. So, we head to the Airship for the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM and this is basically to make a complete sequence of them setting up the Airship more entertaining, I guess. Oh; and to kill time of course. Gimmick's escapade and description with an air conditioning system is so absurd that I cannot describe the lyrics without laughing my rear end off. That was the best part of the song. And Gimmick saluting with a captain's hat on when inside the CHEST OF DEMONS. So, the sacks get thrown out of the Airship and they fly into the sky and that is that. Head back to Tweeg Tower as Tweeg is at his desk, protesting this outrage because Teddy Saucepan interfered with the worst fight ever. Tweeg's gaslighting couldn't light up a match.
Elinore tells him to go back and try again because the dishonor of the Tweeg name is at stake. Wait; if heeldom is your reputation; doesn't dishonoring the name turn you all babyface? Tweeg no sells because the babyfaces have all left in their Airship for the Great Desert. Elinore wants to see this; and this logically leads to Elinore looking at the telescope and noticing the Airship in the air. Elinore ponders this over and deduces that the babyfaces are trying to steal gems from some legendary gem mine. Geez; and you thought Tweeg was paranoid about people stealing his secret of making gold from buttermilk? Tweeg orders LB to load the wagon; but Elinore cuts him off and orders Tweeg to load up the wagon while she devises a Krackpotkin plan to hookwink the babyfaces. Tweeg asks why he cannot come up with a plan and Elinore gleefully retorts him while LB laughs. Scene change to ground level as LB and Elinore are already in the wagon as Elinore is watching the Airship from the telescope and then order Tweeg to mush and Tweeg sells it and pulls the wagon away, right in front of Buffy and another Bounder who clearly has Jethro's voice. Buffy addresses him as Bif as they cannot believe this and their eyes are literally lying to them because they need glasses. The bounders taunt Tweeg for a while as Tweeg is panting and pulling. Tweeg blows them all off and proclaims that he'll find the gem mine and he'll be rich and LB and Elinore don't even bother to retort him at all. That was disappointing as the segment ends almost eight and a half minutes in. This was so much better than the last episode, mostly because Tweeg is such a failure at life. Oh; and there was a lot less time filler this time around.
After the commercial break; we head to the Grand Desert as the Airship has already landed on said desert and Grubby and Teddy let down the Airship bag and it deflates because it's part of the Portable Habitant/Giant Tent thingie/thingy. Grubby now claims that Gimmick is awfully grumpy. Gimmick wants the yardarm lowered and Teddy lowers it and asks Gimmick for approval and Gimmick looks mad at him; which causes Teddy to apologize. Geez; Gimmick is such a jerk today, isn't he? I can see why Grubby isn't pleased with him today either. Grubby of course flops the tent balloon on his head and Gimmick scolds him for that; although Gimmick didn't look all that angry this time, as if he expected Grubby to mess up. Interesting. So we scene change to inside the Airship; with the air bag now as a tent and Gimmick starts cutting a promo about how awesome he is and it's clear that Grubby is in the right here. Not because Gimmick is wrong about what he is saying; but he's submitting to arrogance, which is something experts stride to avoid. Grubby then finally decides to give Gimmick the honest truth: Gimmick is arrogant and that without Leota's help, the Airship was a flop basically. And he's right and I'm glad the writers noticed this because continuity is not this show's biggest strength and it's worrisome when it's supposed to be a serial based show. Oh; and the tent is all right; but Gimmick's hit rate on inventions is only marginally better than Tweeg firing his cannon. I wish Grubby actually said what I said right there; because that would have been a great analogy. Gimmick then does the old "What have you ever invented?". Grubby: Root stew. Which is a great weapon, and a secret weapon to make even Teddy Ruxpin lie. I think Grubby has won on that count, Newton. Teddy breaks it up of course. (Audience: LET THEM FIGHT! LET THEM FIGHT! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!) Teddy points out Gimmick's obvious not nice routine and Teddy is correct here; and I'm also glad that they found a way to follow up on the previous episode and try to make something out of nothing. I would have been happier if they did it within the previous episode; but okay. This is also the point where Gimmick accuses Teddy of taking Grubby's side, which makes sense because Grubby and Teddy have been friends longer than they have been friends with Gimmick.
Teddy claims that he takes no sides. Earth to Teddy: Taking no side is taking a side. It's called being neutral, a moderator, a judge, an referee, etc. Teddy wasn't exactly thrilled with Grubby being mean either. I can understand that fully if if there no reason to be mean when he was being honest; but there are time when people don't change or even react to being merely honest; but do react when they add meaness to it. And I don't think Grubby was trying to be mean on purpose; he was trying to tell the truth and sometimes the truth can be as mean as anything on the planet. I did like this sequence of events though and again; I'm happy that they found a way to take a pointless episode and actually pay it off. This time; there are no apologies, but Gimmick sulks and decides to spend the time in the desert; and Grubby is fine with it because he gets to find food. Of course! So, the babyfaces are apparently at the edge of the desert because there are a whole lot of plants that appear in this scene that I wouldn't think would ever be grown in a desert. Grubby likes root, Gimmick like berries, Teddy likes pillows. I made up that last one, by the way. Grubby then panics because there is an entrance to the cave and he remembers that it looks like the one where the Mud Bulps captured them. Because saying kidnapped is a no-no on a children's show, you see. And if I recall the first time they met the Mud Bulps; they were swallowed up by an earthquake and the babyface were stealing their coal before the Mud Bulps captured them. Arrested is more like it, guys! So, it's HAPPY HOUR; but Gimmick tells them not to worry because they are so far north that Mud Bulps coming to this area is virtually impossible. Sadly; Gimmick's hit rate today is almost as bad as Tweeg's shooting his cannon because out comes the Mud Bulps with clubs doing their usual grunts. The trio do the most boring reaction to them, ever. This show needs a much better voice director as we scene change to the wagon with Elinore complaining as usual. They are near the Airship as LB comes out and notices no one is inside and he also notices the footprints. Tweeg of course, like the stupid idiot that he is, thinks the babyfaces hired FIVE people, which is funny since they only have FOUR regular friends and ONE of them doesn't walk most of the time (Leota everyone). Yup; Tweeg should stop thinking, his brain is literally steamed.
So, we scene change to the heels entering the Mud Bulp cave and then scene change to them walking inside the Mud Bulp cave. So, they walk for a while and we hear Mud Bulp noises, which LB claims it's Tweeg's stomach acting up again. Only Tweeg -- of all heels -- points out the gaffe because here come the Mud Bulps. Then one shot later; Tweeg throws a rock and the Mud Bulp whacks it like a baseball and it bounces off the walls. Believe it not; this spot actually sets up the next episode perfectly. Notice only Tweeg was the only one who ducked even though the rock hit no one at all. So, we head to the Mud Bulp throne room; so in storyline, the Mud Bulps are like the ground version of the Gutangs in that they have no loyalty to MAVO at all. Mud Bulps claim that they captured intruders and at least the intruders are heels to begin with, so this is wingnut on wingnut crime here. The king tells them to take the ugly ones away and the guards pick Tweeg and Elinore, so the King has to correct them. Then we get the most hilarious logic break ever: Tweeg is dropped while Elinore is still in grab position and the other guard grab LB by the horn. On his closeup; LB protests this outrage. Then the next shot shows LB and Tweeg grabbed and shown to the King. Wait; so you dropped Tweeg and not Elinore and then on the next shot; you grab Tweeg and LB and not drop Elinore? This sounds like a really stupid BS&P decision. Why bother touching Elinore if you aren't going to drop her anyway? So the male heels are taken to their dungeon of course as the King wants Elinore to sit beside him. Elinore no sells. Not because she is now a slave to this king; but because she doesn't want to sit in the mud. Oh; and apparently; the Mud Bulp's name is Charlie. Okay; good to know. Scene change to a Mud Bulp pushing Tweeg around in the caves and Tweeg is protesting. Then Tweeg gets shoved into a cave cell and the wooden cell doors are slam shut. LB is already in the cell by the way. Jump cut to a shot of Teddy in his own cell with Grubby and Gimmick as Teddy motions to Grubby to give him a boost and Grubby sells it. So Teddy climbs onto Grubby's back; which cannot be comfortable for either character and Teddy looks at the window to see Tweeg and LB; even calling them out. Tweeg sees Teddy and blows him off, even going as far as calling him Teddy Dustbin. Wow; when Tweeg is calling you garbage, it's time to pack it in. He also blames the babyfaces for all this.
Then Elinore is pushed into Tweeg's cell while she is protesting this outrage as she will see the MAVO Ambassador for this. I don't think this went anywhere, unlike the baseball spot earlier. Elinore is not all right because she's screaming. Nope; she's in championship season form today. Oh; and Charlie wants to marry Elinore and make her Queen of the Mud Bulps; which she clearly refuses. I don't blame her; that last marriage with Elroy was a disaster on all fronts. The last thing we need is a Troll/Mud Bulp hybrid running around; but I can see this happening in the reboot right now. So, after some compelling conversation about beauty, curses and skin care jokes; Elinore puts her robe on a rock and then lays down on a stone slab and goes to sleep; because she needs her rest. I don't blame her; this plan has completely gone to mud right now. So, Tweeg gets inspired about Charlie wanting a wife and Tweeg is going to give him one as we scene change to Tweeg dressing up like Elinore now. And doing a poor job of it as well. I see he got rid of the fuzzy slippers as he goes to the cell door and blows off Elinore and LB for being incompentent. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Projection much there, Tweet?! So, Tweeg does his sweet talking routine and it's pretty effective as he manages to convince the guard to see Charlie and we scene change to Charlie and Tweet having such a lovely conversation together. Awww! My heart melted. I should note that the throne room has two CHEST OF DEMONS filled with sparkling gold and treasure. So, Tweet offers a deal: She'll marry him if he lets Tweeg and LB go with as many gems as they could carry and Charlie accepts the terms carte-blanche. That's right folks; Tweeg just threw Elinore into a non-censual marriage to save himself. The ultimate disgusting "You love to hate him" heel move on his part. And unlike previous heel attempts; this one actually works! Well; for a while anyway...So we head back to Tweeg's cell as he is all fresh up for dumping Elinore as Elinore wakes up from her beauty sleep. She scratches herself and proclaims that she'll find a way to get out of this as Tweeg does the worst whisper yell of all time claiming that she is in for a surprise. Scene change to the Mud Bulp guards opening the cell door and they let Tweeg and LB out. Elinore is relieved and tries to get out; but the Mud Bulps grab her and take her away after showing off the CHEST OF DEMONS with the gems.
Tweeg waves goodbye to Elinore and offers to get her a wedding present; just to rub the salt deep into the wound. Elinore is angry and protesting this outrage...and then like the scoiopath that she is, praises Tweeg for doing something truly deplorable. Okay; this is officially better than the MAVO trial in Uncle Grubby because for once, Tweeg actually got away with it. For now anyway; but still, this is a guy who fails completely at life and is pathetic while doing it. This is the first evil deed that didn't go wrong at all. And besides; Elinore is a horrible mother anyway, and besides, Charlie is a much better partner than Elroy could ever be for her anyway. Tweeg celebrates like he just won the Wrestlemania main event and did three bad deeds. Sadly; the cheating the old lady wasn't originally on the checklist, but now it is because LB actually praises him and calls him Tweedge. Tweeg grabs the CHEST OF DEMONS and asks for assistance; which I thought LB would say no, but they cut back to Teddy's cell before that happens. Sight. So, it's now raining in the cell; and this is not a sight gag of Kit having to take Rebecca's crying in I Only have Ice For You. A rainstorm that Gimmick predicted, too. Wow; just wow. So, a lot of rain falls with that beautiful music and Grubby's feet are getting muddy and Teddy now has a plan of his own: smear mud on himself. Grubby sells it, however thinks that his mother would not approve. Sadly; we are running short, so we have to scene change to the babyfaces being completely covered in mud and Grubby making fun of Teddy for being a baby Mud Bulp; but Teddy claims that this is the idea. So, he goes to the cell door and calls out the Mud Bulp guards and this sounds so not convincing. Still; the Mud Bulps are almost as dumb as the Gutangs and notices that they are stupid Mud Bulps in prison and got "outsmarted" by the babyfaces. The Mud Bulp guards let them out and the babyfaces run out of the cave. Luckly for the Mud Bulps; they decided to help those three "trapped guards" because they went outside and the rain is still falling; which causes the mud to wipe off the babyfaces. So the Mud Bulps notice right away and chase after them as we get the Scooby Doo Chase Sequence the Mud Bulp edition in the rainy desert. So much wrong with this; especially since the rain would have washed the mud off the Mud Bulps. I guess that mud is really caked in by some sort of magic spell.
However; we all know what happens next: The rain stops, the clouds break up and the sun comes out and blinds the Mud Bulps; forcing them to run back into the cave and that is that. So we scene change back to the Airship as Gimmick is working the stove now as Grubby is pumping and handling the propellor. So, the Airship flies into the air after the balloon is fully inflated as they exchange notes as they thank Teddy for the plan. Gimmick apologizes for being a jerk even though we clearly have the footage that he never put the wrench in the oatmeal as Grubby apologizes for calling Gimmick messy even though he never called him that once in the episode, since Gimmick was the one who called Grubby messy. Grubby called him arrogant, which was perfectly true. Wow; what a way to mess up the ending there at 19:11?! That's the second time they have messed up the ending with logic breaks. Despite that; this episode was much better, mostly because they only focused on two plotthreads, and fleshed them out more than enough to make it not pad the running time. Yes; they sang, but that is normal in a Teddy Ruxpin episode. At least they didn't sing three times in one episode for no reason. *** 3/4 (75%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I have to say that this episode is a far bigger improvement than The Crystal Book episode ever was. There are many reasons for this: 1. This was a lot more focused as an episode, instead of a bunch of setups that lead nowhere for the most part. Although the words on crystals did setup Gimmick's submission to arrogance quite nicely here and while the fight was downright non-existent, Grubby's zinger on Gimmick was fantastic because he was right about the Airship. Teddy's breaking up fights makes him look silly; even if they are neccessary. And they messed up the ending for the second episode in a row as none of the things they said is what happened. The misadventures with the Mud Bulps was actually great, mostly due to Tweeg actually being a monster heel by jettisoning Elinore, even though it creates a huge risk of turning Tweeg babyface by proxy. Elinore and LB were their usual smooth selves and the Mud Bulps at least acted like heels; instead of guys who were just defending their territory, like in the first arc. The animation was also really good and the continuity was almost good as well. I rarely made mention of it here; although the throne room scene with the captured heels was a hilarious logic break. Overall; a really good episode and I actually enjoyed Tweeg's moment more than the entire MAVO trial. Sadly; Tweeg's moment will not last because next up is Tweeg being stupid, but it leads to the debut of Grunge Ball, Belly Bombs and Mud Bulps overcoming their main weakness. So...
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.