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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Win One For The Twipper
Reviewed: 10/20/2018
Baseball, Belly Bombs & Octopede Pitchers?! That's Unsolvable!
Well; it's time to get to the meat of Tweeg's redempation angle as Tweeg decides to bet his won "gems" from the Mud Bulps on a game of baseball. Not any ordinary game of baseball; Grunge Ball. And the opposition is a team of Grunges assembled by Gimmick with the stake being the deed to Gimmick's house which could be muddied up by a Mud Bulp King and the worst mother in the world, Elinore. OUCH! How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens with a sky shot of the river and then the forest. Then we pan south to a baseball field with the Surf Grunges playing a game of baseball. This sounds random and out of nowhere; but this actually goes somewhere. None of the characters are animated, except for the pitcher who throws a pitch to a surf Grunge with shades on top of his forehead. I think the original idea was to have the game literally on a beach; like in beach vollyball, but BS&P stepped in and thouight it was too dangerous. Too bad; because that would have been more fitting. Beach Baseball would have been a better name. So, the Grunge hits the ball to the left side, Jethro catches it, throws to Jenna Lee for the force out on first and then throws it to second as Ginnie is lying down on the job; but still grabs the ball and tags the dark skinned Grunge with a yellow shirt, purple sleeves and red hair on the nose for the easy out. There is Ginnie's greatest moment in this series right there. So we scene change to a mountain road as Tweeg is pulling and LB is having to hear him complain about it. The animation is so stupid as the wagon is literally bouncing up and down, despite the road being no where in comparsion to the wagon. Modern audience would point to that and say "THAT WAS FAKE!". So, Tweeg recaps all the evil things he did...and turning on Elinore as LB checks the checklist and admits that Tweeg actually did his job for a change; but there still is a long way to go, so let's scene change back to the baseball game as I have now determined that the teams of Team Surf Grunges Vs. Team Jungle Grunges. Or maybe not because when Jethro hits a ball deep to left field, Jody (I have long past given up on who is who now, since this show didn't care about making it clear who is who on this show) is running and doing a poor job of it as Jethro has clearly hit a home run and the ball somehow managed to be hit so hard that the ball is sticking into LB's horn. Jody then runs in, grabs LB and throws him. That's like dwarf tossing you know...Jody! Jethro is rounding third and coming home as LB says hello on the way in and then gets lawn darted right in the middle of home plate complete with dust as Jethro touched home plate at the exact same time. Now; they proceed to do a joke about who's safe and who's out.
Now; in the real game of baseball, since Jethro was the only base runner, Jethro would have to be tagged out. Tagging the bag is not enough; so Jethro is correct when he says he's safe. LB counters that he's out by a mile; but he's a heel, so him saying that is normal. The others cannot decide, so they call Jethro both safe and out. Wait; how do you score that? I guess you give him the run and add one out to the inning, but that would have worked better if Jethro was tagged out at the same time as touching the plate, which didn't happen. Jethro is safe and no out should have been recorded. It's clear now that Joe West and all the umpires in the MLB came from the Surf Grunges School of Umpiring. Jethro pulls out LB as LB tells him to hold at third. So he cannot score? In come Tweeg with the wagon and the Grunges greet him and pretty much unintentionally mock him in that order. The Grunges ask if they want to play and Tweeg asks if he can cheat and of course, there's no cheating in this baseball game. Ironic considering what the rules of this game are in Grunge world. Tweeg no sells the deal because baseball is so boring if you cannot cheat, well to him anyway. The Grunges then ignore him and get into position as Tweeg gets inspired and LB doesn't like it one bit. This leads to the CHILD CORRUPTING BALLOON OF DOOM and it shows the replay from the last episode of the Mud Bulp hitting a rock with his club and causes a bounce effect off the walls. So, Tweeg claims that this Krackpotkin plan is fool proof and LB gleefully retorts that one for me. Tweeg proclaims that he needs three things: a team of Mud Bulps, a stake to bet the gems from the CHEST OF DEMONS and a sucker. And lo and behold, the Airship has just arrived and lands. I should note that Tweeg also says that his prayers are answered before bailing stage left. So, the Airship lands and the trio walks out as Teddy finally calls the baseball game, Grunge Ball; to which Gimmick claims that it's Grundo's National Past Time. Which apparently; only Grunges play. Grubby is more interested in eating a bunch of plants which look similar to the Cattail I often see in marshes. Gimmick panics and yells at Grubby to not eat it and Grubby stops before he eats it. Gimmick inspects the plant and says a BS science name before calling it a belly bomb; a plant that is so serious that it causes an acute stomach ache. Grubby then asks if they taste good; completely burying the plant which earns a blow off from Teddy.
So, the Grunges notice them and offer the babyfaces a spot in playing Grunge Ball with them as Grubby calls the team The Grunge All-Stars, which is funny considering that Jethro has no idea what "play ball" means. Ginnie was the one who offered the babyfaces the chance to play ball anyway. Scene change to we continue the baseball game and we pan over to see Gimmick swinging a bat in the batter's circle, but then the serious music starts playing because in comes Tweeg disguised as Gimmick. Seriously; he looks almost exactly like Gimmick. How low on the diginity scale is Tweeg on now that he has to cosplay his own enemy, just to make his Krackpotkin plan work?! Literally; outside of the purple robe, he's dressed exactly like Newton Gimmick. Worse; Gimmick is going to fall for it, showing how low Gimmick is on the clue scale. Now; here's a mistake by the writers: Tweeg calls himself Winston Tweeter. This would be fine if the episode was called "Win One For The Tweeter". It should be Winston Twipper. I guess it was too much of a mouth full; even for Tweeg's voice actor. How disappointing that is?! Gimmick has not heard of this guy; although he looks familar enough. Winston proclaims that he is only known by the best and calls Gimmick an rookie inventor. In the science world; that is verbal fighting words. So, the wager is this: A no holds barred game of Grunge Ball; where both sides invent equipment from their inventor and play each other with said equipment. If Gimmick wins; Gimmick gets the CHEST OF DEMONS. If Winston wins; he gets the deed to Gimmick's house, which Winston had to mention to Gimmick because Gimmick didn't know if he had anything that could compare to Winston's offer. So, the power of toxic peer pressure has created a huge stake againest Gimmick once again! Which to me; that means Gimmick, Teddy and Grubby would pretty much have to leave Gimmick Valley forever; unless Gimmick also has to be Tweeg's slave. Geez; this means the stakes are very high beyond belief now; and there's no room for error. Winston forcefully shake hands on the deal, because this deal was made with false pretenses, of course! Winston leaves laughing and it takes ten seconds and a TOING! sound from Gimmick before he finally realizes that he's officially doomed now. Heavens to Grundo, indeed! And of course, Gimmick cannot help but stammer like a stupid idiot. Geez; Tweeg is becoming compentent now and that scares me.
Scene changer of doom ensues as we head to the middle of field as Gimmick and the babyfaces exchange notes on the situation. A grave situation to say the least. The Grunges call this intense and Genna Lee proclaims that the Grunges All-Stars will be Gimmick's team; because, we're such great friends and all. Sounds reasonable to me. I mean; there's no way Winston can win with the best baseball team in all of Grundo. A team that knows what the game of Grunge Ball is. I mean; it says "Grunge" on the marquee; doesn't it?! Gimmick is happy and promises to build the best Grunge Ball equipment ever, because there it's no equipment barred. So, in this game, as long as you don't admit that you want to cheat, you can cheat like nuts and it's all legal. It makes no sense, but Grunge Ball is so much better than Blasto Baseball from Quack Pack. Evidence #1: No racism at all, anyone can play and not be insulted. Evidence #2: The rules are much clearer in Grunge Ball. Evidence #3: Grunge Ball has a song for it. Evidence #4: No such thing as an equipment violation. Grunge Ball might be better than real baseball and this TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM doesn't lie. Wink! Wink! Nudge! Nudge! So, the prototype equipment has a bunch of malfunctions at the junctions as Gimmick gets glove whacked on the head as a result. There is a target nailed to a bat for some reason. Grubby manages to explode a bat on a wicked fast ball. If I were a Grunge, I would be begging for Grubby to be my starting pitcher and he would be the first player to be amidextorous, and be a starter and reliever without wasting an extra pitcher. Oh; and despite the bad animation, the bat was also on fire. Apparently; it beats vollyball and football, too. Geez; Grunge Ball is already better than regular baseball and no one in the real world has attempted to experiment on this? This whole song was a setup for Jethro to hit that big home run and he does as everyone cheers. Everyone seems to be doing the worst jumping jacks of all time as Jenna Lee, Jody and Jethro #2 all mug for the camera. So we jump cut to Tweeg trying to open the lock to the CHEST OF DEMONS, not working. LB wants to know what this Krackpotkin plan is and Tweeg states that they go to the Mud Bulp cave and get the Mud Bulp king to assemble the Mud Bulps as an unbeatable team. Sounds like a sharp idea, am I right?
Scene changer ensues and we head to the cell where Elinore is as Tweeg and LB are thrown in the cell...AGAIN! Tweeg's face is literally inches away from Elinore and Tweeg is doomed, doomed I say! Elinore of course is reading the riot act on him because he turned on her in the last episode. Considering that she also praised Tweeg for stooping so low to begin with; it's no surprise that she has negative scruples. At least Tweeg has a sense of self-preservation, like that means anything. So, Elinore of course refused to marry the Mud Bulp king and it appears that she did it because (a) she belongs to no one and (b) Tweeg tricked her; so marrying him would have given Tweeg exactly what he wanted. Plan dead as a doornail, and it's time for Tweeg to kneel down and beg for mercy. Mercy? From Elinore? Surely you jest. Why not ask your father about...Oh wait; he's gone...until the Reunion arc anyway. Elinore no sells and then Tweeg offers half of the winnings for the bet and Elinore instantly changes her mind and decides to marry the Mud Bulp king anyway. Because as a monster heel; principals mean nothing when you can have half of your son's own money. Tweeg don't care because this helps him get back at Gimmick, so I assume she gets half of Gimmick's house, too. LB then remembers that Mud Bulps are afraid of sunlight, and in baseball, rain postpones games; so unless Tweeg is hoping for a cloudy day, he's doomed from the start. But wait! Tweeg brings out a pair of sunglasses (which the lens should be dark; but the animation has always been off base in this show in term of color styling, so whatever) and that problem has been taken care of. This might be the closest thing to Tweeg being actually dangerous, until he tries to take over MAVO two arcs from now. Tweeg laughs and calls himself brilliant to end the segment nearly ten minutes in. Animation problems aside; this has been one of the best first segments in the series as they have setup everything nicely and is laser focused for a change instead of doing plots to kill time. And Tweeg for once doesn't look like a bumbling fool and it was Elinore's stubborness that has made things sort of go awry for Tweeg thus far. If only every episode looked like this; but episodic culture will do that for you.
After the commercial break; we head back with a sky shot of the baseball field which looks like something the Jungle Grunges made. There is a PA announcer box overlooking from the top of the batting area as we get the most akwardly animated newspaper swirl of all time, with Louie being the announcer and basically trying to sell the game and the newspaper of course. Louie also annoys me by saying "extry" instead of "extra". I don't know if it's a trademark/copyright issue or whatever, but it's not amusing to me either way. Literally; every stock character is here as we get a really bad decision of making every non-Grunge have white skin and most of the Grunges have dark to black skin. Never a good idea for a crowd shot. We head to the press box as Louie is both the announcer and the cameraman...at the same time. So, Louie motions to the field and introduces Winston's team which is the Mud Bulp Mashers, whom are Mud Bulps who wear shades, which is the only new equipment they got, and it turns them babyface, even though they are heels. The crowd is already booing them out of the building, but Winston don't care, because he loves being booed. Tweeg would make a perfect Donald Trump supporter, and maybe even be Donald Trump himself. There is exactly one Mud Bulp in the audience cheering; so yes, there are only about 25 Mud Bulps in all of Grundo. Talk about a invisible minority here! Louie then introduces the Grunge All-Stars as Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick are the coaches and basically coming dangerously close to violating NBC's trademark PSA logo with the red/orange rainbow yellow star design on their t-shirts and hat. Crowd cheers, except for the Mud Bulps, who grumble. Pan up above the Mud Bulp dugout as a throne has been created for the king and Elinore to watch the game. Well; it couldn't have happened to a nicer couple, methinks. Apparently; cozing up with Elinore is equal to sex before marriage in Elinore's eyes, so that is out. I don't blame her. Mud is slippery; you know. Jump cut to inside the Mud Bulp dugout with LB being the acting coach, which actually makes sense since he's Tweeg's supervisor. LB does the most accurate and most awesome reverse psychology pep talk in history and this inspires the Mud Bulps so much that they are giddy and Winston does the backhanded compliment thank you to LB. Oh; and guess who the umpire is for this game. Come on, guess; it's too shocking...
SURPRISE! It's ANTONIO INOKI~! POW! OUCH! Ummmm...It's the Wizard of Grundo. You might as well have Joe West umpiring; he probably would do a slightly better job at this; since there are basically no rules to follow. Expect telling anyone you want to cheat; then that is an automatic ejection. The wizard wants a clean game and lots of fun. He's half right on this; but that half is going to be fun to mock. Speaking of mocking; Gimmick mocks the Mud Bulp bat design and Winston laughs Gimmick off for being an idiot, as usual. So, we begin the game proper with Jethro as thankfully, the targets are off and Jethro hit the ball so hard; it literally goes through the Mud Bulp hand, because he's made of mud. Har har. That's an easy inside the park home run and it's 1-0. This game is going to be a squash, I just know it. The wood sprites are putting up the paper for the scoreboard, in case no one noticed. So, basically; the Mud Bulps cannot score any runs in the top of the first and this is the bottom of the first inning too. Why wear the uniforms if there is no equipment violation rule in this game? Why not just wear your street clothes? So, I'm guessing that it's the top of the second as the Grunges scored fourteen runs in the bottom of the first as the Mud Bulps are batting in the top of the second. So, the Mud Bulp comes up to the plate after some disturbing stretching moves. Then he hits the ball and it goes into deep center for a home run; but since in Grunge Ball, there is no automatic home run rule since there are no fences, the Mud Bulp still has to touch all four bases to score a run. So the Mud Bulp runs to first base and kidnaps Ginnie for no reason whatsoever. Tweeg is not amused by this and runs in as the Mud Bulp shows off his prize to the Mud Bulp king and Tweeg screams at him to stop taking prisoners and run like the wind...a diamond wind to be precise. Mud Bulp drops Ginnie like a bad habit and runs the bases; as the center fielder finds the ball, I believe he's Jethro #2 and throws it back into the outfield and changes into pink fur when throwing it. It only the animation continuity wasn't such hot garbage....Jody grabs the ball on the throw and throws it to Jethro #1 and Jethro even remembers to tag the Mud Bulp out as the wizard does the most boring and most dramatic version of calling a player out in history. The babyface dugout cheers as Winston paces around, looking worried since he will lose all his gems and look bad in the face of MAVO.
Wait; isn't that the point of heeldom?! LB suggests leaving the country, what good that will do as Tweeg notices a marsh containing the already setup Belly Bombs and this gives Tweeg another Krackpotkin Plan as the Mud Bulps are being squashed into muddy puddles by the Grunges. Behind the bleachers; all the male Bounders show up wearing boxes containing hot dogs; execpt the susuages are the estabished object of doom, of course. Tweeg is peeling the Belly Bombs and putting them in hot dog buns and man, this might work actually. Sadly; the ends of the Belly Bombs were not sliced off, so this is going to be exposed anyway. So the Bounders hop in (without sound effects) with the Belly Bomb Hotdogs and they are free due to the "kindness" of the Mashers. That right away would be a red flag; but the babyfaces are so dumb that they grab the hot dogs anyway. Teddy is so pleased of this kindness. What an idiot?! However; cynical Grubby pours mustard on it and notices right away that they are Belly Bombs. Too bad, he's about fifteen seconds too late since all the ball players took one bite and by storyline, that's all it takes for the consequences to arise. Teddy doesn't notice and luckly; none of the non-players ate the poisoned dogs. So, we scene change to various footage of the Grunges looking rather ill and unable to play. Pfft; Michael Jordon would laugh this out of the building. What wimps?! I would think that the pain would eliminate the surfer lingo; but it doesn't. The pain is so bad; even relief pitcher Jody cannot provide relief at all. So, the Mud Bulps make the superhero comeback and come back from a 37-0 defict to lead 40-37. Wow; the writers must have invented a time machine and took notes from the Toronto/Boston NHL playoff series back in 2013. I mean; Toronto was down three games to one; but came back and lead 4-1 with ten minutes to go in the third period! No way the Grunges come back; just like Boston would NEVER come back with three straight goals in the third period, am I right? Oh; the Grunges have left the field and they are teasing that the game ends with Winston winning by forfeit. Now; I would be happy if the three Grunges were actually selling their injuries; but they don't when the heels and the umpire come up as Elinore demands Gimmick forfeit and hand over the deed to the home. I can only imagine how muddy Gimmick's house would be if Gimmick forks over the deed. It's all over for the babyfaces....
But wait?! Teddy asks the umpire if subsitutions are allowed (and in baseball, they are allowed within the spirit of the rules. Yeah; there are limits; but they are allowed.) and Tweeg proclaims that they are not; but Wizard cuts him off because he's the official of this game and subs are officially allowed. I'm not surprised at all; as long as you don't say you cheated, it's no holds barred. So, Teddy, Grubby, Gimmick and various others enter into the game as Grubby is the relief pitcher and Teddy is the catcher. Uh-oh! I hope Maple Leafs fans don't watch this show; because this looks awfully familar now. So, Grubby pitches the ball after literally building the animation with head shakes and the Mud Bulp hits it deep in center field towards Gimmick and Louie states that Gimmick will NEVER catch the ball; but Gimmick uses the GLOVE EXTENDER OF DOOM to catch the ball. Remember; there is no equipment violation rule in this game and inventing your own equipment is well within the rules agreed by both sides. So, no one is actually cheating here. Then we get the greatest and most impossible moment in this episode: Grubby throwing three straight fastballs at the same time, because he's an Octopede and has two extra sets of arms. The Mud Bulp just got frozen with three straight strikes for the easy out, caught looking. That was awesome! Hey; it's not anymore unfair than being out of the batter's box and delaying the game; so the pitcher throws an easy fastball for a strike when the batter is out of the batter's box. It's perfectly legal in MLB. Even more logic breaking; somehow the balls disappear literally in Teddy's glove. So, no balls were dropped and the Mud Bulp cannot run to first base since none of them dropped. Although I doubt the Mud Bulp would know that, either. So, we scene change to the bottom of the ninth and it's tied at 40, so we never got the build to it nor saw how the babyfaces came back. Time constraints really do damage, don't they?! So, up next is the most unlikely batter of all time, Leota the Woodsprite. Just out of nowhere. We never saw her until now. Sure; the woodsprites were at the event doing the scoring, but Leota was literally written in via teleport to be a pinch hitter. It's things like this that make these 1980's cartoon look bad. No one thinks things through. Even more logic breaking; Gimmick gives her the overloaded bat and Leota can somehow grab it without struggling at all.
I was half expecting Leota to hit it out of the park; so I was somewhat relieved when she merely did a check swing bunt that lands literally in front of the Mud Bulp pitcher as Teddy yells at her to run; but Grubby thinks that's dumb, so stop cheating, let's fly instead. Leota sells and flies around and she's the fastest base flier in the game as she touches the first three bases without much incident since even if the Mud Bulp catches it, she is able to touch the base before the Mud Bulp can even touch the ball, let alone tag her out. Credit to Leota for staying within the baseline during this entire sequence as the catcher realizes that if he doesn't run in, Leota is going to score easily. This leads to the pickle play; which is the worst pulled off pickle play in history as the Mud Bulps have a meeting of the minds -- and it wasn't at the Gatorade fountain -- without touching Leota at all and Leota was able to do this without going out of the baseline. It would have helped even more if the animators had shown the baseline instead of showing all grass; but that's not Leota's fault. Leota touches home plate for the most absurd inside the park homerun in history; so yes, the game started and ended on an inside the park homerun; to give Team Grunges the win 41-40. Tweeg was so close; but Teddy's noticing of the rules of baseball won out in the end. So, Gimmick's house has been saved from mud spray and Elinore's presence as the crowd cheers in the most animated spot of the entire episode. Winston is not amused and bails from the back of the dugout as everyone is happy and the Grunges have for the most part stop selling their stomach aches; so these Belly Bombs aren't even effective stomach ache inducing weapons. You cannot keep a good Grunge down; but you cannot tell me those Belly Bombs were effective. And speaking of writing characters in via teleport; Wooly comes out of nowhere and he has Winston Twipper as the fact that Tweeg's wagon is in the same area when Wooly catches him; there's no need for Tweeg to blow his cover anymore. So close and yet so far. I don't know why everyone is shocked; since LB was clearly with Winston the entire time and it's not like Winston was fooling anyone anyway. So, Tweeg is forced to pay up the CHEST OF DEMONS from the wagon and gives it to the babyfaces. In comes a Mud Bulp with LB as LB informs Tweeg that Elinore would like to see him and Wooly -- the kindest babyface in the land, besides Teddy -- gives Tweeg up. What a heel, eh?!
Mud Bulp grabs Tweeg and puts him in his arm pit as Tweeg asks the Mud Bulp to open the CHEST OF DEMONS and even Gimmick thinks it's a good idea. So, Muddy (so says LB) drops Tweeg and bashes the lock open as the CHEST OF DEMONS reveals a box of coal. Tweeg protests this outrage because it was supposed to be gems; but Muddy don't care because the bright colored gems are ugly. What cruel irony?! Tweeg laughs in Gimmick's face and leaves with the Mud Bulp telling him to enjoy the chest of coal. Scene change to the Air Ship as the CHEST OF DEMONS is loaded up because Tweeg is a stupid idiot. Because you see, coal is what powers the Air Ship; so this is all the treasure they need. So, then we get a stupid moment as Jethro shows the overloaded bat and asks what the gadgets on the equipment do and Gimmick claims that they do nothing at all. Wait; so explain the stretch glove you used in the game YOU just played Gimmick?! That was a dumb thing to say. Gimmick claims that they give confidence, to a team that lacks none. Darn; this was another stupid ending in a series of them and it was done to laugh at it! DUMB! This ends the episode at 19:11. Minus the shaky climax and bad ending; this episode was one of the best episodes in the series. Tweeg looks like a threat for a change and still manage to fail at life without doing it himself for a change. And Grungeball is the best fake sport ever now! **** 1/4 (85%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; we got our fourth straight episode where they couldn't finish an episode without messing it up as the ending was a bad joke of an otherwise great finish and a out of teleporting in out of nowhere without any indication that they were even there until we actually saw them appear. Leota handling an overloaded bat violated the laws of cartoon physics; although the booking there was really good. There were a few logic breaks and the animation was wonky as ever; but overall, this episode was actually really great. The babyfaces for once, looked like great compentent babyfaces and not annoying and just there to kill time anymore. This felt like a real episode with stakes, given lots of time to flesh out and it was executed surprisely well given the limitations the animation company had. Tweeg pretty much had his best showing as a villain up to this point and he looked like a threat that was messed up by Elinore and others. Heck; he really did look like a smart person and one who knew how to play a heel instead of the bumbling fool that he has been playing so far. Sadly; this is the peak of his villainery as he is back to being a bumbling fool in the final episode of this arc where he is returning to MAVO to be a member; by stealing "The Crystal Book". Allegedly. Although this was a really fun episode; the next one is where everything in Teddy's world completely changes. Stuff is about to get serious now as Tweeg stole a book about Fobs thinking it was the Crystal Book and Teddy's salt crystal plan is finallly going to fail and we are about to see the first vesitages of the Great Understander of Legend's gaslighting in full effect as Teddy's cover is blown and the Quellor/Teddy feud begins in earnest. So...
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.