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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: The Third Crystal
Reviewed: 02/17/2019
If Only The Heat Of MAVO Didn't Disappear.
So, after that "awesome" denounament of Teddy and company getting the crystal back; it has been three straight arcs of not solving the mystery of the purpose of the crystals, so it's time to make up for lost time. Teddy and company today are discovering what Crystal #3 does, while Tweeg has kidnapped Fuzz for reasons! Meanwhile; Quellor is looking weak and the Troll Nephews have left to go see Dredge in his first appearance. How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens with a shot of the ground from the air as we pan over to Teddy and Grubby carrying baskets of Grundleberries. I think; this show has a difficult time keeping that straight; like Grubby having hands or feet. Teddy's feet are a changing again as we make it to Gimmick's house for the first time since the middle of the final episode of the Tweeg Redempation Arc. Six and a half episodes everyone! Then Teddy and Grubby hear a buzzing laser sound and then rush into the house calling for Gimmick. Gimmick acts all shameful and proclaims that the crystals have been stolen. This causes Teddy to gasp; but he asks if all of the were stolen; and the trio heads upstairs as only one crystal is left on the table; besides the Black Box. This confirms that MAVO didn't steal it; because even MAVO wouldn't be stupid enough to leave TWO crystals on the table. Maybe Tweeg stole them; since you cannot put anything past Tweeg to steal them for his amusement. Gimmick blames himself for the mess; and he is to blame for this, only not in the way anyone thinks. Teddy of course forgives him anyway as Grubby slides down the stair railing and wants to think it over for lunch. I skipped most of the promos here; because they are basically talking about the previous episode. Teddy blows Grubby off for being a jerk and then asks about Fuzz and no one knows where he is. Gimmick smells a conspiracy (which means Tweeg is the prime suspect; which sounds reasonable actually); while Grubby smells for Fuzz's scent; but gets Grundleberries instead. Teddy then claims MAVO stole the crystals and kidnapped Fuzz; which makes no sense since they didn't take the Black Box, nor the crystal on the table. So, that was a stupid thing to say. When Grubby realizes the hole in that accusation; your accusation is false. Grubby sits down on the sofa as Teddy wants Gimmick to start at the beginning and think from beginning to end. Of course; Gimmick goes back to starting Grammar School; because this is what happens when your instructions have no nuance. Teddy of course has to add on the instructions after that. Nunace is your ally; join it and you'll be better off because of it.
Okay; Gimmick proclaims that he put the six crystals down on the table and took one of them. He places it on the copper holder. He shines a flashlight on the crystal and fires a beam, which causes Grubby to duck, and the fireplace starts to disappear as Grubby is trying to get Gimmick's attention. Gimmick is nicely telling him to buzz off because he's doing an experiment. Sadly; Gimmick is nowhere near wading in concrete to make this spot funny. Grubby then informs them that the fireplace disappeared; causing Teddy to be so shocked that the TOING sound is played on cue. Gimmick proclaims that this is scientifically impossible. Keep in mind; in real life, this is true. But this world the characters are in is not real life, and Gimmick has also accused elves, woodsprites and various other things of not existing, even though in the world the characters are in, clearly shows that they exist. Gimmick is all confused about his fireplace disappearing. Teddy suggests reversing the crystal in the copper holder and repeat the flashlight spot. Gimmick complies and shines the crystal with the flashlight and the beam hits the area and the fireplace returns to normal. Teddy deduces that the crystals are not missing and were on the table all along as Grubby walks upstairs looking confused. Teddy also deduces that the crystal in the copper holder is the third crystal and it's job is to make things invisible. Gimmick decides to shine the beam on the table; and sure enough the remaining five crystals are on the table and that is that. However; Fuzz is missing so, the search is already on seconds later, without enough time to let this discovery sink in. So, as we search, it's time for the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM as even Fuzz gets his own tribute song. They are treating this as Fuzz ran off on his own, because he was abandoned since the final episode of the Tweeg Redempation arc which contained a book called, "All About Fobs". There is a lot of walking and finding nothing as we finish the song; and Grubby gives up without a warning. Gimmick thinks Fuzz can hide well; but Teddy wants to go outside. So, they head outside and there is no Fuzz anywhere; but Grubby does notice a notice on a pillar.
Grubby takes the note and it states that Tweeg has taken Fuzz and orders the trio to leave Gimmick Valley by morning; or you will never see Fuzz again. And only a scummy heel would ever sign the note as "Your friend". What a troll Tweeg is?! Oh wait; he's only half that. Teddy is now angry about this kidnapping as we scene change to Tweeg Tower before Teddy says something he might regret. Then we get a hilariously awesome segment as Tweeg and LB are trying to torture Fuzz, who is tied up in a chair by a belt. I was disappointed it wasn't Teddy's crystal belt. Tweeg is being the most arrogant, glorious jerk he can be and Fuzz just keeps no selling everything. Tweeg threaten to arm twist Fuzz and LB gleefully retorts that one for me. Try some tail twisting, or foot twisting, or tickle him for goodness sakes! Tweeg is bad at this torment the cute character stuff; but at least he's hilariously bad. Which only serves to bury MAVO even more now. Why are there three colored rocks on the floor?! Oh; and the name is Tweeg, which will soon be MUDD if Tweeg doesn't explain how he got back to Tweeg Tower in the first place. Wait; that's not what LB said. Besides; it's simple: Quellor and MAVO think Tweeg and LB are dead and thus Tweeg and LB swam to the other side of Leekee Lake and then walked back home. Cinema 101 everyone. Wait; why would Tweeg and LB want to get back into the good graces of MAVO? Because, Elinore? We haven't seen nor heard of Elinore since Quellor met Teddy for the first time for real? And why should she care? If Tweeg's dead, she has an excuse to stop giving him payments. I can understand staying out of the MAVO dungeon; but tormenting Fuzz is not the way to do it. Tweeg of course wants to be Surpeme Oppressor which will never happen in a million years....Or will it?! Stay tuned! Tweeg then unbuckles the belt and grabs Fuzz by the throat with two fingers. Okay; now Tweeg is being serious here. Hey; if anyone knows about choking, it's Tweeg. Memo to LB: You can have that one for free. Tweeg taunts Fuzz; Fuzz nearly blinds him with a raspberry and LB wishes he were somewhere else and wants Tweeg to quit it.
Because apparently, even LB thinks this is straight up punching down bullydom! Isn't that what horrible heels do?! Tweeg throws Fuzz into the cage and locks the door. He orders Fuzz to respect him, and this leads to a massive continuity error; but it's so funny that I going to let it slide: The three colored rocks are in fact one cannon ball that reads "Return To Tweeg" as Tweeg steps on the cannon ball and does a million moves with it as he rolls out of Tweeg Tower and someone doesn't bump into anything. This causes Fuzz to laugh out loud as LB shakes his head in frustration while Tweeg swears revenge on Fuzz! HAHA! Okay; this so far is a much better episode than the last one. Scene change to Gimmick's house as Gimmick is teasing leaving the valley forever because Tweeg kidnapped Fuzz. Gimmick is packing a suitcase as Grubby wants to go to Tweeg and punch him in the face. Ah; so Grubby thinks Tweeg is a Nazi?! If only that was true and even Teddy realizes this, so that plan is out, as enjoyable as Gimmick thinks it is. Wow; I didn't think Gimmick as a sadist. Teddy then ponders over his option and notices Crystal #3 and has a plan. Hmmm; I wonder what that plan could be? Scene change to MAVO Headquarters as Maggotheart is furious because the MAVO members are not paying their bills because Quellor has lost the Black Box and GOUL proclaims that Quellor is losing his authority over MAVO. Quellor wants the Black Box and orders Iggly to find Drudge (The green troll section of the Troll Nephews). Iggly runs out and notices Drudge sleeping on the job, like a good dumb heel would. Iggly yells at Drudge and Drudge wakes up as Iggly tells Drudge to meet with Quellor. Drudge sells and runs towards the war room. Quellor's orders are for Drudge to lead an expediation to Ying to find Dredge (as mention in the previous episode) and get the Black Box back so Quellor can destroyed the Illiop, Ruxpin and his friends. That ends the segment 11 minutes in. Much better episode this far...
After the commercial break; we head back to Tweeg Tower with LB gleefully blowing off Tweeg for failing at life as usual. And Fuzz agrees with LB, so Tweeg was right about LB and Fuzz being a couple. Tweeg tells Fuzz to shut up; I don't expect Fuzz to. Fuzz claims that Tweeg is not scary. Word infinity! They both retort each other and LB calls them a bunch of kids and Tweeg has no problem proving LB's point about Tweeg being a manchild at least. That was funny. LB is loving Fuzz's retorts because Fuzz is such a pest to annoy Tweeg like this. Also funny. Even funnier; Fuzz is now speaking exactly like LB; even down to saying his name wrong. AWESOME! This is psychological warfare at it's best; and it allows LB to rest for a while. LB is just loving this and then the door opens and here comes the Invisible Trio to ruin a perfectly fun verbal jousting match! Darn it! LB jumps up into the air and hangs his tail on the chandelier as Tweeg closes the door and blows LB off for not properly closing the door. LB drops down and proclaims that he was saying the same thing about Tweeg's mouth. Of course! Tweeg is not amused as he walks off and the door opens again and Tweeg accuses LB of messing with his mind and LB's double negative does not help his case in any way. Tweeg closes the door -- AGAIN! -- and goes back to Fuzz and then out of nowhere, the cage door opens and whacks Tweeg in the face and knocks him down on his back. There's a lot of use of the word Twick here as Tweeg sees stars and LB sees a flying Fob. Darn, gravity is on holiday again. LB and Tweeg are confused and are not liking this at all as Fuzz taunts them for being afraid of a little Fob. Tweeg is accusing LB of more shennigans and LB blows that off because he's scared too. Does LB honestly think Occam Razor can save him?! This is a cartoon after all. Then we hear Gimmick, Teddy and Grubby sound like ghosts as one of them slams the cage on Tweeg's head. It was probably Grubby, knowing that he wanted to punch Tweeg in the face earlier. The cage door breaks and lands on the floor; and that's enough for Tweeg and LB to run out of Tweeg Tower and out of sight. Yup!
Jump cut back into Tweeg's Tower as the trio is laughing and having a good time with the cage door and Fuzz flying around; as they all celebrate like they just won the Wrestlemania main event. Fuzz is now on the edge of the cauldron as he thanks the trio for rescuing him as Fuzz apparently was in on this conspiracy. So, the trio grabs Fuzz as they are going to tell Fuzz how they are invisible and Fuzz is enjoying this. So, we head to some swamp filled with a giant snake. We pan northeast to see Drudge at the shoreline with various MAVO members, probably the only ones still loyal to Quellor at this point. Drudge is calling for Dredge and there is no response. Drudge turns around and proclaims that he is not home and they will come back later. Then, two tentacles pop up from the water and all the MAVO members bail; except for one who is hiding behind a conveniently placed cart with a steel sink on top. Drudge is confused about this hatred of the lagoon and one of the monsters is pointing out how disgusting the tentacles are, which Drudge mistakes for the lagoon. The two tentacles hit Drudge's ankles and Drudge turns around and sees nothing; gets more confused. He accuses the member of lacking sleep and then Drudge finally gets tied up by the tentacles and here comes the ugliest octopus I have ever seen. Dredge, everyone. Dredge is not thrilled to see Dredge, so there is a family feud among them. Drudge wants to end this feud as Dredge claims that Drudge ate his coloring book, because all villains are so petty in their grudges. Drudge offers him three green slime treats as a peace offering and Dredge eats them; and then he no sells the favor before even hearing the details. And does so by throwing Drudge into the sink cart. I love this Dredge, he's the perfect hated heel. Drudge then brings up Aunt Smudge; yes, they have an aunt named Smudge. Whom we will never see in this show ever. Drudge threatens to tattle tale on Dredge for being a meanie; and that's enough for Dredge to give up and accept the terms. Geez; what a rotton heel Drudge is?! No wonder he, Sludge and Trudge were promoted to second heel group in command of MAVO.
So, Dredge jumps into the sink car, splashes water on Drudge and Drudge's response to this is to say that families are a beautiful thing. Until they are used as saying "Kill the gays"! Then they are ugly and should die a horrible death. So, we head back to Gimmick's house as the door opens and in comes the trio as Gimmick is wondering where he left the third crystal. It was left on the coffee table and it already says "Trust" on it. Huh. Grubby takes an apple from the basket and starts eating it because he is too good looking to be invisible. Yeah; I'll bet! Gimmick uses the flashlight on the crystal and he thinks he's got it. Uh-oh! That's usually not good. And the trio is flashed and appears; although Grubby looks awkward here judging by the artwork. Teddy grabs Fuzz as they recap Take A Good Look and Double Grubby and Fuzz claims that the Invisible Crystal is the best. Hey; Fuzz got to make Tweeg look worse than he already was and even got LB to like him, after all the time LB hated Fobs; Fuzz was the one who made LB mellow out on them. GREAT! There is character development in this LB fellow. Plus; it's perfect for Halloween too. Grubby continues his creditibility streak of making a joke that makes no sense no matter what culture it is from. Something to do with disappearing and pencils. So, onto the second TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM and this is basically "Now You See It, Now You Don't"; a song about finding missing things, which is basically the object song they sang about Fuzz, despite the song being radically different in every single way. Gimmick cannot find his watering hose and cannot water his lawn as Fuzz wonders why it's so hard to keep things where they are. This inspires Gimmick in the balloon of child corrupting of doom to create a robot that does all the work. Of course! Next Teddy and Grubby literally bump their rear ends together looking for something while singing. That was something else. Fuzz is playing and pulling on the boots, the same ones the trio was looking in during the first song, which is a great attention to detail there. Gimmick has lost his monkey wrench and his hammer, apparently Teddy and Grubby stole them.
At least the monkey wrench, as Gimmick doesn't know what to do and that ends the song. Scene change to the Drudge team as Drudge and Purple Goblin Member are exchanging notes on the situation while Dredge is sitting in the sink enjoying himself. Apparently; the Uncle is named Grudge and the PGM asks if Dredge has a sister and they all laugh as we pan up to the sky. Scene change to Tweeg Tower AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as Tweeg and LB are hiding in the bushes. I just love the sad music being played here when the comedy music should be played, considering how weak these two heels are. LB asks if it is safe to go back in now. Tweeg isn't sure and tells LB to find out himself. LB protests this obvious unfairness and Tweeg claims that he's bigger than LB, richer than LB and smarter than LB. Not one did he say; more afraid than LB. LB gleefully retorts that one for me as Tweeg now claims that he is soaking in nature and picks a flower to smell, just to jackhammer the point home that he's afraid. LB tells him to soak his head and admit that he's scared and Tweeg blows it off like a toxic macho man would. And then we hear a stylized owl perched on the tree hoot and this scares Tweeg and Tweeg lands on top of LB; which should be impossible to do and LB gleefully summarizes this whole thing for me. HAHA! The owl hoots some more and that ends the episode at 19:12. Yup; when Tweeg and LB are back, the episode quality rises a lot. Fuzz VS. Tweeg in a war of messing of the minds is many buys! This was Fuzz's best performance ever and they are actually building up Dredge well actually. Oh, and the third crystal was shown. **** 1/4 (85%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this was a much better episode than the last time because the Tweeg/LB segment was awesome! Tweeg finally did some evil stuff with kidnapping Fuzz and despite pulling that one off better than MAVO ever could, he still failed at tormenting Fuzz. To the point that LB was mellowing out on his most hated spieces. Outside of one really stupid moment from Teddy; finding the third crystal was good. The payoff to Fuzz being rescued was funny as well, although Gimmick losing his tools was much funnier in hindsight. There were the usual color styling errors; but this show cannot help that and Dredge is also pretty good, although Maggotheart is still the best villain of MAVO by a country mile now. Grubby needs to work on his jokes; they are not catching fire so to speak. Overall; this was a very good episode and a fun one to boot! So, the next episode is Up For Air as Teddy discovers the fourth crystal on his own without Gimmick's help and faces Dredge for real! Oh; and we are close to Teddy and the Hermit having a longer meeting than the last time as well. So...
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.