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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Up For Air
Reviewed: 02/19/2019
MAVO Is Almiost Literally Gasping For It!
So, we now continue to make up for lost time as Teddy is searching for the Hermit for real, while Quellor is ordering Drudge and Dredge to find the crystal and destroy the Illiop, Ruxpin at all costs. How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens with a telescope shot of Leekee Lake as Teddy sees no heels and therefore it's safe as he is on the Airship and it's time to land on the shore because Teddy is ready to solve the mystery of the diving costume and already has the pre-notion that it belongs to the Hermit. To be fair; in storyline, it does belong to the Hermit, but only the audience is supposed to know. Grubby thinks this is a bad thing; since the stories paint the Hermit as a monster heel; even though Teddy's interactions to him are that he's a babyface. Gimmick asks why would he be a heel if he keeps running away; so Gimmick has no idea what a cowardly heel is. Which is hilarious considering that his neighbour Tweeg is one of them. The AirShip lands above the area as Teddy puts the diving costume in the out of nowhere basket as Teddy calls Gimmick out (in his own way of course) on claiming that the Hermit is harmless. Gimmick than claims that he has been wrong before. Yeah; like when you said there was no such thing as elves nor woodsprites. I realize that this is character development, but still. Teddy wants to return the costume to Hermit as Grubby brings out the rope ladder and hopes to catch him doing stuff. But he'll run away if you do that and Teddy needs Hermit to stand still to ask him those tough questions. Bad idea, bad, bad, bad! Teddy claims he'll be fine as we head to Hermit's Island as the stone skull statue is flashing lights, so you know the Hermit is up to something. Then we fade cut with space sounds (in a show where space is not even a concept to this show's world in general) in a dark space with the Hermit looking towards the hard camera. He pulls at his robe to reveal himself and then we discover that Teddy was daydreaming and Grubby has to wake him up. That was odd. Grubby is not thrilled about Teddy adventuring because it gets them in hot water up to their necks. Teddy claims that he's fine and climbs down the ladder telling Gimmick that he'll be gone for a couple of days and he asks him if he can work out the details of the Black Box which is on the floor of the Airship, for no reason. Fuzz comes out of nowhere to chime his two cents in, for no reason. Gimmick takes the basket and lowers it down to Teddy as he'll meet him in a few days and be aware of any threats to his well-being. Be careful, in short! Teddy claims that he will, which is the universal sign that Teddy is in grave danger now. Teddy waves goodbye as he takes the costume from the basket and the Airship bails.
Meanwhile; we pan over to a cliff as Quellor is on top of a rock ordering his fiends to bring out Dredge from the sink cart. And the Troll Nephews are united for the first time fully in this series. Drudge wants Quellor to lend a hand and this gravely offends Quellor; because monster heels don't lend a hand; they lend a foot in the backside! Quellor demands to know who would ever suggest a thing and the Troll Nephews point fingers at each other. In this case, the accusation lead to three confessions! Quellor orders them to keep hauling and they sell while complaining, Quellor wants Drudge to get the Black Box for him because the monsters are turning on him; even though it was Drudge who asked for a hand. Drudge wanted to speed up finding the Black Box and Quellor refused. And everyone wonders why Quellor is a horrible leader?! So, yeah; that was dumb and it just buries MAVO further now. Scene change to the shot of Hermit's island as Teddy simply walks to the shore outside the island with the pipe tied up to prevent air leakage. Teddy takes the helmet off and checks the area; but there is a clear sand trap covered in sticks and he nearly falls into it. So, we know the Hermit likes Team Rocket traps of pits. Luckly, Teddy climbs out without incident and notices a cave. Teddy pushes the vines at the entrance and notices a small cave with a camp fire that is still smoking a bit, so the campfire was put out recently. Teddy then deduces that this campfire was part of the science in making the flashing light eyes from the night before. Scene change to outside as Teddy puts the helmet back on and walks back in the water, proclaiming that he's about to get to the bottom of this mystery. Who does Teddy think he is, Freddy Jones? Scene change to the cliff as Quellor kicks the sink cart and it rolls down the hill to fetch a pail of Black Boxes; which are no where to be found. Somehow; this cart doesn't flip over and Dredge falls in the water. Instead it causes the Troll Nephews to crash off-screen into each other and the sink cart just lands against the rocks. In real life; Dredge is in the water already. Drudge walks over to Quellor as Quellor tells Drudge to give Quellor's orders to Dredge. However, since Drudge is a total moron with Dumptruck's brain, he bothers Quellor with the details and then gets confused when Quellor gives him the actual orders. Sadly; Quellor is no Don Karnage, so Quellor looks like a bigger idiot and it buries him further as a leader.
Drudge's reaction was to sit on the bottom of the lake and box with someone. Somehow; Dredge will likely be doing just that, since that someone is the Illiop, Ruxpin. Quellor has to talk down at him -- like most cartoons in the 1980's -- and then kicks Drudge in the backside and Drudge rolls down the hill. Quellor yells out his orders and he's angry that he had to stoop to the morality of 1980's cartoons in order to get his point across. At least they are heels; so this is perfectly okay. If it were babyfaces, children would change the channel in droves. Drudge salutes him and calls Quellor a Surpeme Whatsit. Good thing Wooly didn't hear that, because that was a felonous insult. Drudge knocks on the sink cart and Dredge wakes up and wraps Drudge in it's tentacles, looking annoyed. Join the club, Dredge! Drudge explains the orders to Dredge and is still confused and I wish Drudge would say "and if you see someone interfering with you; box them!"; but he didn't. Dredge sells it and Drudge wants to get this show on the road. Now; the way they set up the scene; I thought they would tip over the sink cart and Dredge would fall in the drink. That would have been the heelish thing to do. Nope! We scene change to the Troll Nephews lowering the sink cart into the water with a wooden stick and a rope. That is a BS&P moment of I ever saw one! Why would the heels care about Dredge's well being? They are monster heels! Sludge and Trudge are pulling the rope; while Drudge does nothing but order, so I guess he's the leader of the Troll Nephews. Sludge and Trudge are blowing him off for this as then Teddy Ruxpin pops up from the water about fifty feet away and notices MAVO right away. Considering how dumb this organization has turned out to be, I don't see them as any threat now. Teddy bails into the sea and hides behind a rock. Dredge swims and notices the pipeline and bubbles. Oh my jonas! A MAVO member blew someone cover instantly. Dredge is the best monster in the entire group. Make him Surpeme Oppressor now! Teddy panics and bails via the turtle he rode on a few episodes ago. Dredge is loving every moment of this as he chases Teddy around and Teddy is pleading with the turtle to break science and reason as Teddy notices the Eclipse.
Teddy swims and hides in the Eclipse as Dredge makes the error of pushing his tentacles through the window holes (which looked like they had glass in them on one shot and none on the next shot. BS&P decision perchance?!); which allows Teddy to tie the tentacles up. Sadly; it's not as funny as Kit tying Dumptruck to the props in A Bad Reflection On You Part 2; but hey, it was effective either way. Teddy bails as Dredge calls Teddy a wise guy and within seconds break free. Sigh. Dredge chases Teddy and uses the tentacles to snag Teddy's ankle and then snag the helmet. Teddy unpops the helmet and breaks free as Dredge proclaims that he's slippery; but that makes him easier to swallow. Word. The chase continues as Teddy pops to the surface, basically right in front of Quellor and the Troll Nephews, since the Troll Nephews are cheering on Dredge to kill the Illiop, Ruxpin. Teddy dives into the water, Dredge misses the crushing tentacle move. Teddy swims down and finds a cave. Teddy enters the cave, Dredge follows him and Dredge notices Teddy looking like he's on drugs, or something as Dredge calls him a shrimp and loves seafood to end the segment eight and a half minutes in. This was mostly fine.
After the commercial break; we continue with the scene as Teddy looks up and notices that the ceiling contains some space to come up for air. Hence, the episode title, which is kind of clever actually. Teddy swims up and pops from the water and then out of nowhere proclaims that this is what the fourth crystal does, it gives him oxygen. WHAT?! We have not seen, nor heard ONCE about the crystals outside of the Black Box until now and there was no evidence Teddy was using one of the crystals to save himself. That was completely random and nonsense. Dredge is trying to pull him down by the ankles with the tentacles and all hope for Teddy seemed lost...and then we faintly hear sparking sounds as Dredge's body let's go and looks limp. Then we see the Hermit in a second diving costume with a cattle prod shocking Dredge, while not touching him three times, but that is still enough to force Dredge to bail. Dredge thinks Drudge is a liar about underwater hazards as Hermit motions to Teddy to follow him and Teddy complies as the Hermit pops the helmet from his head and gives it to Teddy; which kind of kills the suspense and logic since TEDDY's the one with the fourth crystal and thus doesn't really need the helmet. They swim over to the entrance to an airlock area. Hermit takes the air hose and puts it into the lock to open the door; then they swim inside. Hermit then proceeds to use the wheel on the wall inside to pump the water and nearly drowns in the process as Teddy has to swim up with him in order to give him air, and the water drains out. Yeah; maybe Hermit should have worn the helmet after all. Teddy takes the helmet off and they meet and greet. They walk into the next room and literally exchange notes about the place. The cattle prod is called "Stingers", but most of them don't work anymore, which is funny in hindsight. See, all the Hermit remembers is that he found this area and not built it a long time ago, and doesn't remember much of anything otherwise. This proves to be the first visages of who the Hermit's real self is. Considering that up to this point, Ilana and Teddy were the only two Illiops ever shown, it was pretty clear who the Hermit really was, especially since the Hermit was playing a bigger role later on. Teddy grabs a shovel and it crumbles into sawdust in front of his feet. Hermit tells him nicely to not touch anything else, and it's sound advice as the two babyfaces walk up a spiral stone staircase.
Hermit opens a trapdoor and they are on the other side of Hermit's island now. The grassy side of said island. Hermit proclaims that he will make a fire and then we scene change back to basically the shoreline as the fire is made and both Illiops are sitting on logs. The tea kettle and metal cups are all ready to go as it's question peroid, Illiop style~! So, Hermit finally confesses that he is the one who saved Teddy's life, but doesn't remember who he is. However; Hermit may not have a name, but he is an Illiop and an Illiop is my best friend. And yes; this is a segueway to the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM. I'm fine with this; they did make it more than halfway through an episode without a song, so it was high time they sang one to waste time. Oh; and this song was made up by Grubby. Really?! I didn't know Grubby was a musician?! I should note that it takes a ton of talent to be singing the entire song by yourself, since Teddy and Hermit share the same voice actor without having the voices being mixed up. This sounds like Grubby is some tryant and Illiops have no agency; which is clearly bogus. It's amazing that somehow the Hermit remembers the second part of the song, despite this being his first meeting with it. Logic break everyone! Apparently; Hermit went fishing judging by the hanging fish in the background. And in another shot; it moves to next to the left log of doom. The song then end with two brown stylized birds flying away as the Hermit understands and then asks if Teddy is hungry. Teddy claims that he is; but his supplies were left at the shoreline of the lake. The Hermit has a plan to solve this; because he's an Illiop, you see. So, we scene change to Hermit making oatmeal and putting it into the bowl. Teddy eats it and likes it. Hermit asks if Teddy wants to see more wonders at the bottom of Leekee Lake and Teddy loves to, but there is the concern of Dredge to worry about. Hermit tells him not to worry because the Stinger is with him, so eat Brother Illiop. He's not your brother, but he might be your son. *RIMSHOT*. So, scene change to underwater near the Eclipse as Dredge is looking around and has found nothing...AND THE ROCK SAYS NOTHING! Cut back to Quellor and the Troll Nephews at the cliff as Quellor is impatient and Drudge has no idea why this is taking so long. Maybe it's because you are the worst organization in the world. Heck; even the Gutangs still look like a threat at this point.
Drudge thinks that he met someone down there, which is completely true and it's Teddy Ruxpin, the guy MAVO hates because GOUL gaslit them into hating them by claiming that the Illiop spells doom to them, even though Teddy didn't even know them until Tweeg stole the crystals from him. Quellor then claims that Dredge really turned on them and kept the Black Box for himself. Drudge claims that this would never happen because Dredge is too stupid. As opposed to Tweeg?! Oh; just wait until Tweeg has the Black Box, and then you will be sorry, Quellor. And truer words would never be spoken! Quellor then threatens to send Drudge into the water if Dredge fails; and Drudge is calling for Dredge to succeed. HA! Scene change to Dredge in the foreground noticing Teddy and the Hermit (along with THE STINGER~! I was hoping the thing would talk and be voiced by Steve Borden, just to see if anyone would get the reference.) swimming towards a submarine buried in the sand. This is the official debut of the Subwater Boat, although it is currently unnamed at this time. Hermit and Teddy pull the airpipes from the diving costumes and open the hatch. Dredge is suddenly smart enough to grab THE STINGER~ from behind and commit to an ambush! Wow; Dredge is the smartest guy in this episode thus far. However; he does a really stupid thing: Teddy and Hermit dive into the submarine and seal the hatch behind them, just in time before Dredge invokes the THE STINGER~ on the hatch and apparently; it deflects and shocks Dredge instead. Oh well; the heel is supposed to be stupid in the end, so I'm fine with this. Dredge stops selling and swears revenge on them as Hermit releases the airlock and drains the water from the airlock area. Teddy watches Dredge banging on the submarine for a while and then goes into the next room with the Hermit and puts his helmet down on a bench next to the Hermit's helmet. The two Illiops then examine the control panel. More banging from Dredge as Hermit has no idea what the functions on the control panel do. But wait; Teddy notices a crystal slot and brings out the fourth crystal (which is triple in size) and places it in the slot. It glows and it fits perfectly...the signal for Dredge to rock the Subwater Boat~! Of course! Dredge then throws the boat and it slides on the ground for a while as Teddy pushes a lever (CLEVER CLOGS~!) and he has no idea what he just did.
He wishes he would Edmond Elephant as Dredge swims in and spreads himself on the windshield of the submarine. Okay; Dredge is now just plain creepy. Hermit doesn't know what to do as Teddy decides to push the red button of doom and of course, this causes Dredge to be shocked and this somehow makes him let go in midair and then bail out stage left. Oooookkkkaaaayyyy. Geez; in a way, I can see why the Illiops were doom. They have a love for cattle prods and shock sticks, and electricity in general. And Teddy and Hermit; Illiops who are supposed to be the bastions of kindness and fair play, laugh at Dredge's expense. What a bunch of jerks?! Sorry Quellor; acting like Rebecca Cunningham three years before she existed isn't going to help you get your heat back. Quellor thinks Dredge has met his match in those murky depths and he's right; and now Drudge is denying it. HA! Drudge thinks Dredge has nerves of steel and out comes Dredge who has nerves of water as he flies into the sink cart proclaiming that he has basically given up. He splashes Sludge and Trudge in the process as Quellor gleefully blows off these nerves of anything. HA! At least Dredge had better success one on two advantage babyfaces, then Quellor had seven on one advantage heels. Drudge calls it nerves of alumminum foil as we jump cut to underwater with the submarine working and riding underwater for a while. Jump cut to Hermit wanting full speed ahead and still calls him a brother. Again; he's not your brother, but he might be your son. *RIMSHOT* Cut to outside as Teddy pulls the lever (CLEVER CLOGS~!) and the submarine rides away stage right. Jump cut back to the cliff with Quellor demanding the Black Box right now and wants Dredge to go back in there and get it. Why? He checked, it's not there, it's obvious! It's not Dredge's fault that the trio already has the Black Box long before you did an official search two episodes ago. Dredge basically tells him to do it yourself and in a way, Dredge has a point because considering what happens one or two episodes from now: Do you want ANYONE to touch the Black Box and risk losing your position as Surpeme Oppressor?! Also; had you kept the Black Box in your throne room, you wouldn't have lost it in the first place; you stupid idiot! Quellor gets splooshed and Drudge calls him a tempomental guy. No crud, Sherlock Drudge! Then we get the stupid continuity break: Quellor is ordering his monsters to go into the water on his command to get the Black Box back and the monsters sell it. Okay, fine; even though why would you trust them to give you the Black Box back. The submarine comes up and is in direct sight of the monsters. The monsters completely ignore it and run towards the area where the submarine would be in the water. Then the submarine teleports far left and then sinks back into the water as Quellor is threatening Drudge for being an idiot to end the episode at 19:12. Dredge didn't care about it either. What a shocker?! Other than that; this was a really good episode and it managed to be entertaining inspite of the lack of Tweeg/LB. **** (80%). Wow; this arc is in fact better than the Death of Innocence arc. No joking on that either.
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this might be one of the few episodes that was legit good and didn't require a comedy Tweeg/LB segment. I think it's because they focused on Teddy relationship with the Hermit and this aspect of the show is booked really well and they are really starting to build it up towards the payoff that the Hermit is Teddy's father. There's enough of a tease that there's something about the Hermit; but not enough to fully give it away. I mean; sure we have only seen three Illiops in this show; but that doesn't mean the Hermit is Teddy's dad. Also; Dredge is really awesome as a henchmen. He has a heelish personality and he had more success putting Teddy and the Hermit in danger by himself compared to eight or more guys from MAVO! He looked like a great heel and yes, he lost but he was supposed to lose in the end. However; the babyfaces defeated him and it wasn't like it's Dredge's fault that the Black Box is no longer on the ship. There were a few continuity errors and a really out of nowhere moment where Teddy just proclaimed that he knew what the fourth crystal does, despite not seeing the crystal until he used it to turn on the Subwater Boat which debuted here. Overall; outside of a few logic breaks, this was a really fun and really good episode. I kind of love this arc more than the Death of Innocence arc, because the Hermit/Teddy interactions have been great and they have focused on it. Plus; the best Fuzz episode ever with Tweeg and LB is a bonus. So, next up is The Black Box and The Hard to Find City as the final two episodes in this arc as Gimmick and Grubby discover that the Black Box contains a movie of Teddy as a child running to his mother for no reason. Or is there?! Tweeg steals the Black Box and simply walks into MAVO and dreams will come true! And finally; Tweeg becomes a brainless dolt for real! Yes, all of this happens in the next two episodes of Teddy Ruxpin! So...
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.