Return to 50 Webs
Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The webmaster has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.
Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the webmaster and no one else. The webmaster has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.
The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: The Hard To Find City
Reviewed: 02/24/2019
Becomes The Final Resting Place of Tweeg's Brain.
Well; now that Tweeg is Surpeme Oppressor of MAVO, it's time for Tweeg to show his true leadership and mess up everything while Teddy and company somehow return to the Hard To Find City. I think the great streak of good fortune for this arc is coming to an end, and since this is the last episode of the arc, it's probably a good thing. How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens with the Subwater Boat underwater with fish swimming. Gimmick, Teddy and Grubby are inside as Gimmick cannot help but rifle off science terms which I'm certain few great scientists actually use. Grubby loves to call it a steering wheel and everyone laughs. So, Grubby asks about how Teddy could handle such a complex piece of machinery and Teddy states that the Hermit helped him. He also shows off the fourth crystal, which also seems to operate machines in addition to giving oxygen. Well; they had to give a secondary attribute to the crystal since 99% of the crystals usefulness is when you have no air to breathe. So, Teddy gives a flashback to his fight with Dredge earlier in the arc and this is enough for Gimmick and Grubby to completely believe the story that the Hermit helped him. I should note that the flashback was almost perfect with the episode in question, although there was a different animation scene of Teddy looking like he drowned and it was probably done to make us believe that the scene where Teddy looked like he was on drugs was a troll move by the animators. Whatever, no one is fooled. Grubby and Gimmick have their flashback and it's much better animated and drawn than the actual scene, although they made the mistake of not showing the crystal being cracked. In fact, the entire Teddy/Ilana sequence is animated almost the same (they ended the flashback before Teddy and Ilana could wave to the hard camera); but the background is even more lush and detailed, and Ilana face is more expressive for some reason. So, the flashbacks were done by a different animation team and it's both a huge improvement in quality and a huge downgrade in continuity. So, Gimmick surprised to see an Airlock underwater and Teddy points it out to him. We also see the Vegetable Garden underwater and then Teddy finds the cave of doom and decides to explore it, which causes Grubby to say "For once, please say let's go home" and Teddy giggles. So, we head up to the cliff with Drudge and the sink cart with Dredge inside of it. Wow; I didn't expect Dredge to be back for one more appearance. The pully system is there as Drudge is pleading for Dredge to stop being afraid and go into the water. So, the guise of this is that Tweeg wants them to salvage the Eclipse and if they fail, he'll use the Black Box on everyone, including Dredge. That is enough for Dredge to jump into the water with the grappling hook in tow as Drudge calls him slow on the uptake.
So, we head to MAVO Headquarters as Tweeg is on the throne complaining about the lack of green colors in this place. So, MAVO Headquarters is going to be the Green House. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Miss Maggotheart doesn't care at all about the fact that she's basically being punished for her actions and agrees with Tweeg. She truly has no scruples whatsoever. LB calls the shade of color, seasick and Tweeg blows him off. LB is fanning Tweeg with a green colored fanner by the way. I wish Tweeg had said: I command you to fan me faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! in the Queen of England's voice and then steps on LB's foot for good measure. And LB completely no sells it anyway as Tweeg relaxes and then we get the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM to waste time. I will admit that seeing Elinore being forced to bow down to Tweeg would be MANY BUYS~! Tweeg is at his most vaingloriously ugly self here, as the mirror of vanity is involved and since the mirror doesn't break in the presence of Tweeg's face, Tweeg throws the mirror down and it shatters on-screen. HAHA! Tweeg even insults Gimmick with the FAKE DISGUISE OF GIMMICK and then LB is forced to wear it proud; which LB is not. The song finally ends and Tweeg sits down. Tweeg wants more statues of him; but Maggotheart has bad news because the sack of dues has only one moth in it. Tweeg is disgusted with this; and even more when Maggotheart is the reasonable one in selling some of the treasure. This is like replaying a Republican in the White House now. Oh wait...In comes Sludge with the morning newspaper and Tweeg slaps it away, so Miss Maggotheart reads it, and then Tweeg steals it away and she apologizes for it. Tweeg does not forgive her and then gets the TOING OF BLOODY CLAIRTY and has a Krackpotkin plan to end all Krackpotkin plans; because this is JACK W. TWEEG we are talking about. And then Tweeg gets cut off before he can reveal it because Sludge notices that the Gutang Ambassodor is here and Tweeg blows him off for bad timing. GA asks what is Tweeg's Krackpotkin Plan and Tweeg basically decides to raise the price of the newspaper called "True Villainery" from five pieces of copper a copy to 300 pieces of gold a copy. HAHA! Tweeg is truly a villain's capitalist and GA coughs in disbelief. What did he expect? All heels have no scruples; so why is he surprised? If you have scruples, you are merely a jerk.
Tweeg comes down and says that this means war on the Gutangs; and he orders Sludge to throw the GA in the dungeon to boot! Now; if you recall in the Death of Innocence arc, Quellor had stated that he wanted to destroy the Gutangs for making him pay a ripoff price just to get the Eclipse built. So, Tweeg basically is doing exactly what Quellor had wanted originally, but got sidetracked by a higher calling. Just when you thought you couldn't bury Quellor anymore, Tweeg finds a way. GA is pushed out of the throne room as Maggotheart asks what is next and she's loving it anyway. Stockholm Syndrome much there, Maggotheart? Tweeg then declares that he is going to invade the Hard To Find City. LB is not quite amused by this. Scene change to the cliff with the MAVO members pulling up Dredge and the Eclipse with it. Monsters cheer, scene change to LB at the throne room shining coins by blowing air on them. Tweeg is looking into the mirror and like most scoiopaths, only cares about how he looks despite LB telling him that it's a fight, not a fashion show. So, Tweeg is basically a chicken hawk; only at least he is willing to go into battle, but still do nothing...AND THE ROCK SAYS NOTHING in the process. LB has had enough and thinks this war is a dumb idea. Careful LB; that is not only treason, it'll turn you babyface and there's no turning back from that. Tweeg blows him off and threatens to throw LB in the dungeon with Quellor and proclaims that he will not listen to LB's stupid advice. LB bails saying "Of course not, you can follow your own stupid advice." Scene change to the dungeon with Quellor pacing around and a bat lands on Quellor's shoulder. Quellor calls him Stool Pigeon and SP tells him that Tweeg has emptied the vault and declare war on the Gutangs. That second one gives Quellor a spliting headache as he confesses that MAVO was lying and cheating the Gutangs to make them their friends; and Tweeg just took the vinegar right out of that. OUCH! Quellor might as well say: "Can I get any more buried deep within the Grundo soil?!" Answer: You're almost there, Quellor. Head to the hanger with MAVO members preparing the giant slingshots and catapults as Tweeg demonstrates that he knows less than nothing about being in a wrestling match, let alone a legit war. So, Tweeg decides to show how stupid he is by pushing the green button on one of the catapults and he and LB almost get murdered legit with a rock. That looked ugly.
The spot almost looks like LB and Tweeg were going to flee the scene; but instead they both get hit anyway. In comes Iggly with good news about the Eclipse and then he takes a bump off the Eclipse front, which was much safer than the rock bump Tweeg and LB took. In comes the Eclipse as Tweeg doesn't like how it looks and wants the thing repaired for the afternoon, so he can test drive it. Outside of the afternoon part; this is reasonable. The monsters complain and LB points it out to Tweeg that tomorrow would be better, and Tweeg is angry. He brings out the Black Box and the monsters panic and start repairing the Airship. Wow; Quellor was a nice guy compared to Tweeg. Tweeg then calls LB a turncoat and I was thinking, why not throw him in the dungeon, now?! Anyhow; Tweeg wants LB to polish the Eclipse with his tongue (lick the slime off the Eclipse). LB points out that a general doesn't ask anything he wouldn't do. Tweeg agrees; because he's ORDERING LB to do it. HAHA! LB sells it and lands on the front wheel and licks the ship, saying that he could get used to this stuff. And people accuse modern cartoons of this gross stuff? This ends the segment 11 1/4 minutes in. I am going to be so sad when Tweeg loses this war hands down; because MAVO is actually a bigger threat with Tweeg at the helm than Quellor. No wonder MAVO turned on Quellor again in the Hate Plague Arc.
After the commercial break; we head back to MAVO Headquarters as LB is in the dungeon hallway with the blue/green troll guarding the cells. LB asks for the keys and tells the troll that Tweeg wants him and the troll sells and gives LB the keys. Once the troll is out of sight and out of mind; LB goes over to Quellor's cell and asks him for a favor. Quellor is a little surprised by this and this is the first time we see the GA in the dungeon. I guess he was thrown in before Quellor got the information from Stool Pigeon. LB gives Quellor an offer he cannot refuse; which is easy because Quellor is willing to give him anything at this point. LB likes the offers -- including Thursday's off --; but he just wants to be Quellor's right hand bounder, despite having no hands. Quellor accepts the deal cart-blanche and wants the keys, LB throws the keys to Quellor. Quellor opens the door and tells GA that they have work to do. GA agrees as Quellor calls for Stool Pigeon again and SA flies in and lands on Quellor's shoulder. Quellor gives him the instructions to fly to the Hard To Find City and Stool Pigeon flies into the hard camera and this is a segueway scene changer to a cave filled with water as we notice the Subwater Boat. Head inside the submarine with Gimmick with a clipboard claiming that his calculations are that they will leave the cave in five seconds. He slowly counts down and at one; the Subwater Boat takes a MAN-SIZED bump into something and this causes the trio to take the whiplash bumps in the process. Gimmick decides to go top side to look around; so, Teddy gives him a flashlight (which is still called a lantern for some reason) for added clairty. Gimmick opens the hatch and turns on the flashlight to look around. Teddy asks if he sees anything and Gimmick notices a hallowed chamber. Teddy then asks if there is a way out; and Gimmick doesn't really know. Teddy climbs out of the submarine and then notices a door with a crystal hole on the front and wants Gimmick to go back, and Gimmick confuses the context of Teddy's words, before Teddy adds more details to the statement. Grubby follows Teddy as Teddy puts the crystal into the slot and it glows; causing a portion of a stone door to crumble and open to reveal a staircase. Teddy wants to see where it leads and Grubby's not thrilled about it. So, Teddy thinks that there is food up there and Grubby accepts the deal and we head up the stairs as Gimmick is complaining now. This goes on forever.
Grubby sniffs the air and it's fresh air as they are at the top with another door containing a crystal slot. Teddy puts the crystal in the slot and it appears that it was supposed to be at an angle; but it cuts off anyway. Something tells me something was edited out in second run syndication. It might explain why every episode is two minutes shorter than a TaleSpin episode. The episodes seems to be all 21 minutes long; but they cut two minutes out for commercials, next episode previews and the Protect Yourself segment. I'm guessing that they couldn't find the original masters and this is what we saw on DVD. Teddy opens the door and they are in the mess hall and this causes Grubby to go bonkers like Monty on cheese whiz. Teddy has to cover Grubby's mouth to get him to whisper yell. Teddy decides to eat later and look outside to see if there is any danger. So, Teddy and company walk outside and Teddy realizes that they are in the Hard To Find City for the first time since the very first arc. However; something is very wrong here as the Gutangs are nowhere to be seen. Gimmick thinks they are sleeping; but cannot simply say sleep. Teddy thinks it's possible; but he needs a place to stay, just in case. Grubby suggests the Pavillion; which was where the original six crystals were. Teddy calls this a good idea and Gimmick wants more info on the crystals anyway. So, the trio walks around the Hard To Find City as there are more than a dozen jump cuts in a minute. The only thing of note was one scene where Teddy is posing similar to the poorly drawn stone statue of an Illiop. The trio finally makes it into the Pavillion as Gimmick proclaims that it's just like they left it. Minus the crystals of course. We go to the pedestal as Teddy puts the crystals back (although only two of these are shown) and Teddy uses the medallion to flash a light; which shows that the middle of the pedestal is where the seventh crystal would be, so the seventh crystal also was in the same city. So, then the sound of an airship is heard and this is bad because that means the Eclipse is here. Strangely; Teddy puts the crystals in a bag instead of back in the Crystal Belt. I don't know why as the trio runs out and we have trouble brewing. Gimmick cannot believe that TWEEG is commanding the Eclipse (called the pirate ship now); and the trio bails away from the hard camera. The Eclipse lands and Tweeg addresses his lackluster crew as he proclaims that the skies have darken at his command. Uh-oh! He's done.
And in the skies comes the entire Gutang Flying Machine Air Force~! IT'S AN AMBUSH~! Everyone hides and runs away right on cue as Tweeg hides, just to bury MAVO deeper into the ground. The trio of babyfaces bail towards the mess room as two Gutang machines fly around the Eclipse and then in comes Quellor landing his flying machine. He calls out Tweeg and calls him a snivering worm as Tweeg is in shock that Quellor has escaped. Out comes LB confessing his actions and Tweeg is shocked and appalled; asking why LB would turn on him. LB basically had enough of his failures and this angers Tweeg so much that he's going to use the Black Box on them. LB tells him to fire away, if he can use it. Quellor asks if he can use it and LB says no. I would be careful; his hit rate against MAVO is much higher than his hit rate against babyfaces. Ask Miss Maggotheart about it. So, Quellor dares Tweeg to fire away with the Black Box. Now; if I was booking this; I would have Quellor steal the Black Box while Tweeg figures out how to work it, roll on the ground, use the Black Box and zap Tweeg with it, which makes Tweeg lose his brain function and Tweeg becomes a vegetable for the next four or five episodes. That way; Quellor gets some of his heat back as a heel. Nope! Tweeg opens the box, pushes the button and zaps himself into a vegetable, just like that. Yes, Tweeg basically beat himself, despite being the biggest threat out there. This does nothing for Quellor at all. Now Quellor has less heat than he started before he lost the Black Box. Just so pathetic. On the other hand; this scene is still important because Quellor just basically told us what the seventh crystal does and it basically confirms that the memories inside the Black Box belong to an Illiop. And since there are only three Illiops in this show so far, one of them is very close to the Ruxpin Family. Hmmmmmmm...I wonder who it could be?! So, some good came out of this and Tweeg was great in his role, so hey, I loved it. In comes the Gutangs with spears to inform Quellor that Teddy is here. Whoops; so much for Teddy's plan. Quellor orders them to go find them and captured them again. Gutangs sell and knock Tweeg around like a rag doll. So, the Gutangs find the babyfaces and it's the Scooby Doo Chase Sequence The Ruxpin Edition; but they reach a dead end, and now the characters have no problem using the word dead. Fools! Gutangs have them cornered it seems...
Then we get another wacky continuity error: Remember Teddy put the crystals in a bag earlier? Now; the crystals are in the Crystal Belt for absolutely no good reason now. I mention this because Teddy takes out the third crystal from his crystal belt. So, Gimmick brings out the cup holder and flashlight as Teddy flashes Grubby and Gimmick with the beam of the third crystal to invoke the clear status with a thud that sounds like a monster dying from Bahamut Lagoon. Teddy also gets flashed and the objects used to make this happen disappear with it. In another timing error: The Gutangs arrive within seconds after this; so they would have seen Teddy disappear, but act like they haven't seen them at all. Happens a lot in cartoons actually. Quellor orders them to find them anyway as the whole place is now surrounded by Gutangs after being empty beforehand. Jump cut to inside the mess room as Grubby finally has something to eat after all this. It's an apple as the door opens; and of course the crystal slot in the back of the door is gone. Wow; what a mess of continuity errors in the last minute of this. I knew the show would flop down once Tweeg lost his Surpeme Oppressor title back to Quellor. Grubby hoo-hoo's as the door closes in such a fake manner to end the episode at 19:42. The ending was kind of a mess animation wise; but the episode was still great all thanks to Tweeg just laying the petty tryant on so thick that it turned everyone babyface in the end. Sadly; that finish was really dumb, so **** (80%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this arc ends on a mostly high note and in my opinion, the best arc of the series to date! Seriously, I mean it too! Tweeg was in a zone here and I felt really bad that they had to book a finish where Tweeg has to beat himself because Quellor has to be Surpeme Oppressor again and this does nothing to get Quellor's heat back as a villain. At least for Quellor, it gets better for him, but he's done as a creditable heel and a babyface turn would have been a better bet. Granted, LB pretty much does the turn, but he wasn't really much of a heel to begin with. The Gutangs are still the best group of the show heel wise as Teddy needed crystal power to save himself from them; although the timing was off in that sequence and made the Gutangs look stupid. Maggotheart and Iggly did a great job of selling how threatening Tweeg was and we also got a cameo from Dredge for one last time. The rest of the episode was good for the most part and we got some recaps in order to inform people just tuning in what happened because it was 1987 and streaming was not a thing and VCR's were limited at best. Overall; this has been the best arc, although this episode would have been better if they booked a different finish and let Quellor beat Tweeg without making Tweeg look like an idiot. It's not like him declaring war on the Gutangs didn't do him in already. So that is it for the "Make Up For Lost Time" and this is a prime example of why comedy and adventure always beat out pathos and drama. Pathos requires the audience to work on empathy and it's so much better if this is done with real human beings instead of paper cutouts because it's necessary for humanity to flourish. Adventure and comedy -- while required humanity on some level -- don't need to work on the empathy that much in order to make it work. It's okay to let the audience think, as long as you don't force it on others. It also doesn't help that TaleSpin has colored my views on this show because the feels of TaleSpin still affect me long after TaleSpin was no longer a big deal. The feels of Teddy Ruxpin are gone from me now. So, next time on Teddy Ruxpin, I'll be working on what some have called the worst arc of the series which is the Ying Zoo arc, mostly due to the Octopede Sailors episode in which Grubby's past is revealed for the first time, including his hatred of water. Then it's the Hate Plague arc as Quellor gets turned on again because MAVO realizes, Quellor is a total idiot and Tweeg was more effective than he ever was. Plus; the Hermit finally meets the trio and pretty much causes Teddy to lose the crystals outright to MAVO. If Teddy had the Black Box crystal with him; I would have said: "Teddy, go home!". So...
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.