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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: To The Rescue
Reviewed: 02/09/2019
Of Teddy's Innocence Being Shattered.
Well; now we get to the aftermath of Teddy's near-death experience and the slow build to the babyface comeback as Teddy's friends now have found out MAVO's evil decision and it's time to counter. Meanwhile; Teddy is being nursed back to health by an Illiop who is old and Teddy nor the Illiop have no idea who the old Illiop is. How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens in the sky as Teddy free-falls into the river which is raging like mad. Why did they use a comedy song instead of using the danger song for the first thirty seconds of the episode? I don't think falling into the river after walking the plank is funny. Anyhow; Teddy almost sinks to the bottom and then pops up, struggling like crazy, but it's no good. Teddy tries to grab onto the rock; but cannot and is swept away as we do a fade jump cut to Teddy in the woods lying in a sleeping bed sounding like he had just woke from a bad nightmare. Only; this was no nightmare, because it was real in storyline. Teddy's sight returns as his head is propped by a rolled up blanket and we see a light brown Illiop -- a sign that he's very old -- wearing a hooded brown robe telling Teddy to take it easy. Teddy exhales, closes his eyes and goes to sleep. Jump cut to the same wooded area in full profile AFTER HAPPY HOUR (Read: after dark) as the old Illiop is kneeling and doing the Gruffi pose in front of a bonfire that he for sure started; albeit not seen earlier. Teddy tosses and wakes up again; only for the old Illiop to lightly touch Teddy's head and Teddy goes back to sleep. The old Illiop puts more wood on the fire (which came out of nowhere) and reveals his full face. It's the Hermit for those of you who have been following this rants out of order. Even then, I had a pretty good idea who it was since Illana and Teddy were the only Illiops shown at this point, although the real exposed moment came during the Ying Zoo arc. So, we fade to black and return to Leota's tree school as Leota is in deep reading and research. I know this because she's wearing glasses during this. In comes Wooly being Wooly as Leota is strartled and Wooly hides behind the tree and apologizes. Basically; they exchange notes on the Gutangs being here a good two episodes too late and now Wooly was the one to find out about Gimmick's house being ransacked. They wonder if Teddy, Grubby and Gimmick were kidnapped by the Gutangs. Answer: No. Gimmick and Grubby were kidnapped by a much worse organization and Teddy is clinging onto life support at this point. However; they want to make sure the evidence checks out; so they will see the Wizard of WeeGee for help. Oh sure, why not? The Wizard needs some money towards his new theme park in the Ying Zoo arc. Leota isn't so happy about the Wizard, but they are out of leads; what can you do?
So, we head to MAVO Headquarters and into the dungeon as Grubby and Gimmick are hung by their wrists. And in Grubby's case, it's times four! So yes; the feet are hands in this episode. I guess Grubby was being Gosalyn today; in the worst moment ever! Quellor and Miss Maggotheart (Where were you last episode?! Taking a smoke break?) are trying to extract information. Quellor is horrible at it; but Miss Maggotheart seems to have Grubby backed up on it. Grubby and Gimmick don't know where the crystals are after acting like they know and won't tell. If I were Quellor; I would try to drive a wedge and say that Teddy intentionally jumped off the ship and didn't tell them where the crystals are to save his selfish hide. And then do an angle where Grubby and Gimmick are questionning this friendship until Teddy recovers and comes back to save them. That would make Quellor a real slimy dishonest heel. It doesn't happen as Quellor and Miss Maggotheart leave as Maggotheart of course is playing up the wanting to torture these two up nicely. So we cut to a close up of the door leading to the dungeon and then zoom out as Quellor and Maggotheart walk up the stairs while closing the cell door off-screen. Grubby and Gimmick talk for a while and they decide to take up the mantle Teddy took up before his demise, and loosen the ropes to escape. Jump cut back to the Hermit AFTER HAPPY HOUR putting more wood on the fire. Maybe the scene with Wooly and Leota should have taken place at night as well; to maintain continuity throughout this sequence. Teddy is talking in his sleep; having a real nightmare and then sleeps again. The Hermit notices; but nothing else comes out of it. Fade to black and we head to Nogburt Castle with Aruzia having a wonderful time since it's a lovely day outside. She looks up and then notices that the Airship has arrived for no reason. Aruzia runs back into the castle to find Arin. Arin and Aruzia notice the ship; but it's not flying quite right and it drops like a stone and crashes into a hayloft near the Nogburt Stables. Scene changer of doom ensues as Arin and Aruzia inspect the Airship as it's full of hay everywhere. Arin thinks something is a miss considering how skillful they are in flying it. I wish he was there when Teddy and Grubby alone tried to fly the ship. Anyhow; the Anythings are now international objects and they have zero problems speaking; so maybe they were told that Arin and Aruzia are okay?
Arin -- the redhaired doofus -- brings out his sword and calls the Anythings cowards. That was awfully cowardly of you, Prince Arin. Arin is confused or all this as the Anythings are messing with his mind. Even more so: Arin sits on a barrel and the barrel claims that Arin is sitting right on it's head. Arin panics and hides behind Princess Aruzia. This is the low point in Arin's career on this show. Aruzia knocks on wood and the barrel changes into That. Apparently; punching them tickles Anythings. Okay; good to know. The Anythings transform into their Popple-equse forms and ask for help to save their friends. And really, the Anything couldn't have picked better allies than Arin and Aruzia. Well; maybe Wooly and Leota would be very close in that area. Anyhow; Arin wants answers to this outrage as the Anythings introduce themselves, Aruzia thinks they are harmless enough. So, we go into the explination of doom, starting with the Grunge Gumbo (although the Anythings teases doing the 20 minute WWE promo; and then cuts it down to seven minutes; which we only hear about thirty seconds of it). So, the story ends after a scene changer and The Other really sells Teddy's death good, the only one who looks like it's in mourning. Sadly; The Other didn't say die; although Teddy's not really dead anyway, so why bother skirting it? Anyhow; the Airship's hull was damaged in the fall; so Arin and Aruzia offer to help the Anythings repair the Airship and devise a plan to recuse the babyfaces. The Anythings cheer on cue and we head back to the camp with the Hermit making tea with a metal tea cup and tea spout. He gives some of it to Teddy, who is awake, but looks ill. Teddy coughs and we do introductions. The hermit is merely "A friend" and Teddy says his name and falls asleep again. The Hermit is in deep thought over this and that ends the segment seven and a half minutes in. So far, so good; although the emotion is just not there due to BS&P.
After the commercial break; we head to the Wizard with Wooly and Leota and because we need to do a song in the middle of the most traumatic arc in the entire series, we do a praise song for the most uncaring guy who isn't a heel of all time. Wooly's singing is so awkward when he cannot do his speech ticks during a song. Of course; we have to be reminded that the Wizard is not wise, even though no one outside of Louie knows the Wizard's tricks. There is also redone footage from the first arc for a flashback, which wasn't neccessary at all. I should note that in order to see from there to the land of Ying; the official Grundo Map would have to have the Wizard of WeeGee placed move to the left most portion of the map because he would miss Nogburt Castle, the Mushroom Forest (which would be just south of Nogburt Castle; so the Anythings were not far away from home actually) and the Great Desert. So, we end the song and head to the Wizard Of Wee Gee's place (which clearly has signs telling them to get lost; so he's a "Get off my lawn, kids!" type of guy and he can go pleasure himself!) and then we get the best part of this episode. Leota wants Wooly to knock on the door, Wooly punches the door and manage to squash Wee Gee with the door. This was so fabulously good! I was laughing my head off seeing this. I need an animated GIF of Wooly punching the door and squashing Wee Gee with it. Bonus point for shattering a vase on the way down and Leota and Wooly entering and not suspecting a thing. Even more point for Wooly stepping on the door and squashing the Wizard of Wee Gee. Wee Gee is not dead and the TOING sound of panic races on Wooly. Wooly grabs the door and apologizes as Wee Gee states that he should be sorry. Not for squashing him into a pancake with the door and breaking said door; but for destroying a pricless antique vase from the land of Ying. I hope it was from his brother; so I can get a cheapshot in. Wee Gee has the Gruffi pose on as Wooly explains the situation and Leota tries to explain that this is all unintentional. Wee Gee is not amused and decides to close the shop for repairs; and Wooly states that the trio is missing and Wee Gee --- the greedy money grubber that he is --- asks if there is a reward. Of course! Leota offers to pay him handsomely if he could find them and Wee Gee lets them into the fortune telling room on the condition that they do not touch anything else.
Oh; and Wee Gee is confused about being inside, too. Jump cut to the film editing room as a bell rings on the wall and Louie is sitting down with his feet up, reading the Grundo Gazette. Which I bet, he is the writer, editor and delivery Grunge all in one! The most notable thing is the wall where there is a wanted poster for some clown dude and another picture that looks like Mickey Mouse! Judging by the scribbes on the wall; this looks like one of those scenes that wasn't cleaned up after the animation is done. Go back to Wee Gee, Leota and Wooly basically repeating themselves from the previous scene and this was done to signal Louie to get the projector started. Wooly, Leota and Wee Gee sit down for the Magic Eye session as Wooly is giddy about this. And it just occured to me; didn't Wee Gee ban Wooly from the building because he was hairy? So, there was no followup to that or as to why Wee Gee suddenly doesn't mind Wooly being inside his building. Leota looks into the mirror and thinks this isn't scientific; which is hilarious because Wee Gee IS using the science of video tape to create the images in the Magic Eye. Wee Gee's "magic" works; it's just not magic, you see. Wee Gee calls it wizardry; which I guess is his way of calling it science. Leota flies over to Wooly and sits on his shoulder. Wee Gee does his chanting that he sees and knows all; because he's not Dale and uses his braking system underneath to prove that this is all done with science, and not magic. Man; the cup in the middle of that table looks like someone stuffed plastic toys into it as we jump cut back to Louie turning on the projector proclaiming that they are going to like this. That's an obvious lie. So, we basically see edited footage -- mostly to cover up the errors from the previous episode-- but they sort of messed that up by having the Eclipse be lower than the Airship in one scene. Teddy falls and Leota does the best sell job ever of losing her best friend ever, making her the second one to actually sell the death properly. Wooly's selling was also wonderful; so, yes; these two major friends put the thing over like a giant's deal; which would have been even better if the audience didn't already know Teddy was not dead. The Wizard actually sounded ashamed for once and then Wooly and Leota stop mourning and smile. Oh TAG! I would have at least try to find him and give Teddy a proper burial if he died, which he didn't. Leota pays Wizards with the smallest gold coins she has. HAHA!
The Wizard is not amused as Wooly wants to leave; but Leota cuts him off because she wants to buy 127 pieces of cotton candy. You see; Wee Gee's Magic Eye is not bringing him any profits. But; when you care about money; why not?! Leota tells Wooly to put the cotton candy in a bag and Wizard is begging that there are no woodsprite coins being used; but Leota tells him that they are elf coins. Of course! So, Leota and Wooly head outside as Wooly loves cotton candy. However; Leota states that it's not for eating, it's for her plan, you see. Wooly is confused. So, we head to the Hermit camp AFTER HAPPY HOUR as Teddy is tossing and turning; and somehow his necklace from the first arc appears on his neck. Wait a second?! If MAVO had frisked him in the previous episode; why didn't they find that and stole it at least? That is really stupid. The Hermit reads it out loud and very slowly. Hermit puts the necklace back and then goes back to tending the camp fire and that ends the segment fourteen minutes in. This aftermatch seems a lot more muted than I previously thought it was. Maybe it's bad acting, or even bad booking, but I would think that Grubby would be crying up a storm since he was the closest to Teddy Ruxpin than any of the other friends Teddy has; and it's Leota and The Other or all friends being the most sad that he's gone. Just weird.
After the commercial break; we return to MAVO Headquarters and are using the awe music instead of MAVO's doom music! So, Grubby and Gimmick are exchanging notes as Gimmick is testing the cell door, but no luck. Gimmick notices the dirt floor and Grubby proclaims that he has the way out: Tunnel digging. He even claims that it works on Mud Bulps. I don't recall them ever doing that in either arc the Mud Bulps were in, so was there a third episode involving them being captured by Mud Bulps that didn't air?! Scene change as DA....HOLE (SLURP!) has been made and anyone who has watched two shows with the prison digging spot should be able to figure out what happens here without me telling you. The only thing amusing about this is Grubby using at least four plates to do the digging, at the same time. Oh; and the plates shatter when Grubby throws them over his shoulder. Grubby is blinded by mud; and that might be a relief because Gimmick pops up from the hole and the monsters already surround him. Scene change to the sky as the Airship has been repaired and Arin and Aruzia are flying the Airship better than Grubby and Teddy did in Anything In The Soup! HAHA! Aruzia is on propeller as Arin finally have his secret plan to rescue the babyfaces and the Anythings are the heroes that are going to do it. Considering that MAVO cannot handle these creatures; this is a sound plan on Arin's part. Scene change back to the dungeon as Quellor blows off Gimmick and Grubby for trying to escape and demands the crystals again. The babyfaces no sell; and Quellor basically states that they have sealed their fate and he leaves with Sludge. Not only that; this is the first time Sludge has ever been addressed by name in this entire series, after being on-screen since The Mushroom Forest. The cell door is slammed as Gimmick thinks Quellor is upset with them. You don't say?! Grubby don't care about that bully; oh wait, he does because Grubby has lobster courage. So, Quellor and Sludge walk through the hallway as Sludge wants to spear them to death; but Quellor no-sells because Sludge is needed elsewhere. Quellor decides that he's going to make Grubby and Gimmick work in the Ying Mine; which is basically the same punishment as the Mud Bulps in the first arc.
I would have changed this to: "If they don't know where the crystals are; then they will soon not know anything." That would be a great line and a great tease of the next episode when the Black Box makes it's debut. I'm surprised the writers didn't do that tease. Oh; and Quellor tells Sludge to standby on the Eclipse until when the Airship shows up again, because he still thinks Teddy hid the crystals on the Airship. Quellor doesn't suspect a thing. Scene change to inside the cell as Grubby's stomach is growling and he cannot tell if he's hungry or scared. Gimmick has the same problem; only he's scared. And after 17 and a half minutes of sadness and stupidity; we finally come to the Tweeg/LB segment as Iggly brings them in to swab the prison floors. So, mopping and scrubbing occurs for about thirty seconds with Iggly doing the military chant as Gimmick and Grubby are shocked to see Tweeg here; and Grubby finally cracks a joke and blows off Tweeg for being noisy. Tweeg and LB do not speak at all here as Iggly does all the talking and they are now told to go to the west wing. Gimmick says "Bless my soul" here in a surprise religious reference here as Tweeg slams the mop end on LB's head before Iggly, Tweeg, and LB walk away stage left. That was the most pointless Tweeg/LB segment ever. One insult spot and that was it. So, we end the segment with Grubby and Gimmick sighing and wanting so bad for Teddy to be alive; but he'll be alive in their memories as we cut back to the shot of MAVO Headquarters. Fade to black; as we head back to the camp with the Hermit feeding Teddy soup as the Hermit promos are getting slower and more awkward. Then he hears Wooly and Leota coming towards him and he bails instantly. Leota still won't tell Wooly what the plan is as they walk inside the campsite and are both shocked as Teddy is alive and that ends the episode at 19:12. This was not really all that sad, since the closest friends didn't really show that much emotion and everything was toned down. Listen; it's okay to say dead because he's not dead. They don't know Teddy survived the fall. Otherwise; this was a solid episode. *** 1/4 (65%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I will say that this episode was solid as the animation was all right and the angles were for the most part fine. Although; I would have liked it a lot better if the babyfaces would have sold the "death" of Teddy Ruxpin much better; particually Grubby, who is supposed to be the closest to Teddy Ruxpin in terms of best friends. I realize that the 1980's had a "never say die" attitude; but saying that he's gone pretty much exposed the business. We know Teddy is not dead, even if he was hanging on for dear life in a sense. However; the Hermit's debut was booked perfectly and I cannot complain about it one bit. Despite being around for six minutes top and did very little, he made it work out well. I would have also liked this episode better if there weren't so many dead end stuff that was put there. Oh; and Wooly squashing Wee Gee was glorious and deserves an animated GIF. It was the best part of the show; mostly because the writers didn't even bother to do a decent Tweeg/LB segment which had one insult spot by Tweeg and zero talking from either heel. Overall; this was a good episode; but it could have been so much better. Next up is Escape From MAVO as MAVO gets defeated by...wait for it...popcorn! Yeah. So...
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.