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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Teddy's Quest
Reviewed: 07/20/2019
To Be Friends With Lead Bounder!
Well; it's time to finally bring the beginning of the end of the Teddy Ruxpin: Storybook series and dive into the real meat of this show; which is the real main event doom. Now, Teddy Ruxpin's life could not be in more danger and also the crystals in general as Teddy decides to return to see the Hermit and Quellor gets betrayed...AGAIN~! How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens in Gimmick Valley as a major blizzard is in progress! So, we pan towards Gimmick's house and to a darkened living room as Grubby is talking about accounting for all the winter celebration presents given. However; Teddy states that there is one more person left to give presents to: The Hermit. The Hermit; to which Teddy has not interacted with since about four arcs ago! Heck, even the discovery in the Ying Zoo is not evidence of the Hermit...yet. Teddy was also knitting red gloves, red scarf and a red hat, and thinks of him as Santa Claus apparently. Gimmick and Grubby want to help Teddy with this, including loading up the Airship as Teddy puts on his full green furcoat, green winter suit furpants and worker snow boots on. Teddy no sells the help because the Hermit is so shy and Grubby has the Gruffi pose on full blast. I smell jealousy, even though when this series is over, Grubby's jealousy is totally not justified and even Teddy points out that Grubby is still his friend. Then we get a whiplashing jump cut where the mature lighting is gone and Teddy is now near the stairs as Grubby approaches him. Grubby motions Teddy over to the front window and wipes the fog off to show that there is a blizzard out there! Gimmick gives Teddy a backpack filled with supplies and even offers to put the present in the backpack and Gimmick calls it a backpack. I mention this because Grubby tries to sound sciency and fails badly. Teddy states that he'll be all right and back within a few days. Teddy walks out and through the snow as we head to Tweeg Tower as the Bounders are going on strike! With LB as the union leader of all Bounders. Their spelling on the protest signs still need work though. They are called the Grundo Union Of Bounders Local 1; which amused me. They want their back pay; or no fire today. That turns them babyface by default as we jump cut to Tweeg's room as Tweeg is wearing a red blanket over his nightgown, sitting on the bed shivering like it's freezing out there. Oh wait...Tweeg goes upstairs and is screaming at this protest and LB smiles and greets him. HAHA! I mention this because he showed no sarcasm in his voice whatsoever.
And then shows it asking if they woke him. Cue Vinny laugh, cue my laugh. HAHA! Tweeg goes over to the fireplace and is shivering while talking; which is a bad sign for Tweeg right off the bat. So, Tweeg goes to the window as the Bounders chant some more and blow off Tweeg's usual excuses because Tweeg has no money since the buttermilk into gold formula was a pure quack recipe if anyone saw one. LB abides by the law of supply and demand: They demand what Tweeg should be supplying: Money. Tweeg tries to pen a letter to Elinore to get another loan; but the ink well is frozen and it's useless anyway because Elinore would just tell him to get lost anyway. Even BUFFY is pleading for LB to do something because she is freezing and LB agrees with her. Remind me never to vote for LB in the next Grundo Election; he is horrible as a leader becuase he is going to see Elinore for the loan in a blizzard! Tweeg is all for it and then demands a fire be made right now; which in the next scene, it is made. Wow; that has to be the most gentlest union busting of all time, and it is with heels no less. So, Tweeg is warming himself to the cozy fire while we get a shot of the window outside in the middle of a blizzard as Buffy and LB exchange notes. LB assures her that he'll be all right and he'll return in a couple of days. Buffy says goodbye with tears in her eyes, an indication of certain death to come with LB. Scene change to MAVO Headquarters as we head to Quellor's throne room with Quellor grabbing the dummy of Tweeg and basically dressing down the Troll Nephews for their stupid antics. He basically threatens to wipe their memories with the Black Box if they failed him one more time. Oh; and he didn't say dummy in a literal context either. The Troll Nephews bail out as Quellor throws the dummy at the floor and then Quellor comes down and admits that the dummy does look reasonably close to Tweeg. Head outside the throne room as the Troll Nephews shoot out like Quellor had kicked them out of the room, even though he was nowhere near them. That was funny! The Great Understander of Legends is there not amused as Sludge warns GUOL about Quellor's touchy.
Okay, that was more disturbing than me and Sludge has intended. The Troll Nephews bail as GUOL heads into the throne room and is demanding answers to the ultimate outrage: Why haven't you got Teddy Ruxpin and the crystals yet. Good answer: Because there is a blizzard out there! Better answer: Maybe the Illiops are not threats and you have been gaslighting us! Quellor's answer: I'm patient and have a plan. Quellor's answer is closer to the good answer. GUOL is outraged and bops the Tweeg dummy away as she looks panicky, a sure sign that the gaslighting is not taking effect in Quellor anymore. She also claims that if the Surpeme Oppressor is a fraud (or Fob; which is hardly the case anyway), then someone else must do the job and even Quellor points out that it's not in the MAVO bylaws; and even GUOL admits as much. You can tell munity is about to happen soon; and it's all because Quellor is being reasonable here. I mean, there is a BLIZZARD OUT THERE~! Speaking of blizzards, scene change to Teddy in Mesley Meadows and hopes to get to Rainbow Falls before dark to find some shelter behind the rocks. So, Teddy gets the cancer music; while LB's bounding about the same area they give him the comic music, making his trek to Elinore into a joke. I don't know why...oh wait, LB gets snow dunked on. That's why they used that music. LB shakes off the snow and proclaims that he is against voluteerism from here on out. LB hops stage left as we head to the laundry room with the Troll Nephews and GUOL. Oh darn, I just remembered (Never view episodes out of order again): At the end of the Pumpkins On Parade: The Mud Bulps went after GUOL and the Troll Nephews; and they all return without any explaination as to how they escaped them. Shaking my head. GUOL claims that they have nothing to lose and the Troll Nephews all claim that they do, except Trudge, who has no idea what they are talking about. Of course! It's their heads. Actually; it's their memories; but no one cares about their memories anyway. GUOL wants them to help her get rid of Quellor so she can be Surpeme Oppressor over Quellor.
So, the Troll Nephews talk about the Black Box for a while as GUOL claims that he hides it, probably because he doesn't want anything to steal it again no doubt. Oh; and if Quellor finds out about this plan; they are done for as GUOL puts out the candlelight; which is amusing considering the amount of gaslighting she has done in order to get the monsters to go through with their hatered of Teddy Ruxpin and Illiops in general. Sludge has their word on this and the other Troll Nephews try to shut him up and that is messed up badly. Scene change back to Gimmick and Grubby in Gimmick's house looking out the window as the storm clouds are apporching and Gimmick hopes Teddy will turn back, which isn't happening. It's also getting dark; although it was already like this before Teddy left. So, we fade to black (I'm guessing this was the first commercial break) and head back with comic music as Teddy is wading through the snow. Jump cut to LB bouncing through the snow complaining as he then notices some footprints in the show. The only other thing of note was a stylized squirrel bailing from a frozen log stage right. Teddy is wading through more snow and suddenly a gust of wind hits him, he loses his balance and rolls down the hill in a giant snowball that had literally zero suspense or danger to it. I club BS&P! Teddy pops from the snow ball and continues walking as we see in the foreground, an elf elder woman looking on from the window of her treehouse. She addresses someone named Zeb as an elf elder man is blowing her off as a traveller is none of their business, addressing her as Maple. I could make all the Dirty Dutch Mantel jokes about Zeb all I want to; but this episode has been really boring thus far and these two aren't going to save it. Maple is concerned about this safety and Zeb closes the window and says no on this. Zeb walks down the steps and their last names might as well be Coulter. Maple claims that no one deserves to be out in a blizzard. I agree, except; Teddy did this on his own, he was not forced into this. That should be Zeb's answer; but he's complaining about Teddy taking up too much space, wood and food. I'm with Maple on this one.
So, Maple blows him off and is getting way too emotional to cook anything, let alone Zeb's favorite dessert: Corn pie. And I thought Mummy Rabbit had strange tastes?! Zeb just got his just desserts and decides to let Teddy into the treehouse. Rescuing him? Considering that Teddy appears to be all right, I hardly consider this a rescue. So, the couple put their winter clothes on off-screen and head outside as a blue stylized owl swoops down and let's the couple to ride on it's back. Zeb makes some owl sounds and the owl flies into the sky, complete with the woodsprite music as they manages to find Teddy and Zeb and Maple offer Teddy a place to stay out of the blizzard, but Teddy is trying to say that he has a gift to give to someone; which Zeb cuts him off and wants to leave because it's evidence that Teddy is fine; but Maple scolds him for that. Zeb recoils and decides to let him stay basically calling Teddy a beast. What a jerk Zeb is?! Teddy relucently accepts and we fade to black once again. So, somehow; Teddy was able to get into Maple's treehouse without any indication of how he did it. Maple and Teddy are near the cozy fire as Teddy is sitting down. Maple offers Teddy some pineneedle tea and Teddy kindly accepts and thanks them both as Zeb blows it off because Maple blackmailed him. He's not wrong; and quite frankly there was no indication that Teddy was going to accept the first time, even if it would have been a stupid thing to do considering the blizzard. I then discover that it's Acorn Pie not Corn Pie Zeb likes, which is even less strange in hindsight. Maple tells Teddy not to mind Zeb the sourpuss, grouchy gus. We do formal introductions for a while as the stylized owl is Owler which is above Teddy's head. Zeb of course is a bigot because Teddy cannot speak owl and Maple blows him off for having manners; causing Zeb to teach him how to do the owl chant. Teddy does the owl chant and the owl hoots "Your welcome back", as Maple points out. Zed has the Gruffi pose on full blast, calling Teddy decent for a beginner. What a jerk?!
Scene change to MAVO Headquarters as Quellor is walking in the hallway with the Black Box and heads into the throne room and closes the door. Then he comes out and walks away without the Black Box. The Troll Nephews were hiding behind an area away from Quellor and notices this change right away with Trudge acting like an idiot again. So, Quellor's shadow walks stage left, with the Troll Nephews following him in shadows, even though Trudge is confused and has to be forced to follow as a result. Quellor enters the War Room and in the middle of the War Room where Quellor usually stands in is GUOL greeting him, claiming that she was waiting for him to come out. So, it's clearly a setup as Sludge and Drudge tackle Quellor from behind and drop him to his belly as GUOL proclaims that Quellor has skirted him duties long enough and declares herself the Surpeme Oppressor and Quellor must go to the dungeon. They then stand Quellor up as Sludge taunts him. Quellor then punches Sludge and throws Drudge over GUOL's head declaring that they are all going to the Ying Zoo for this treasonous action. Now, If I were Quellor; I would bail, go to the throne room and get the Black Box, return and threaten to zap everyone involved. That was get all of Quellor's heat back. Nope; he squares off with Trudge. Now; since BS&P cannot allow shots to the face, Quellor has to punch Trudge in the belly; which is completely covered in iron armor and Quellor basically breaks his hand in the process. They should have just turned Quellor babyface here and be done with, but clear heels and clear babyfaces are the rule in this show; which is hilarious considering LB is going to turn babyface later on in this very episode! So, then we proceed to have the worst FCC FRIENDLY CLOUDDUST FIGHT OF DEATH, where there is no dustclouds, nor punches thrown to justify it. I cannot describe it, it is hideously hilarious. GUOL -- the gaslighting corwardly heel that she is -- loves it when it's 3-1. Except there are no babyfaces involved, because one is a heel. No surprise that there was absolutely no heat to this. The Troll Nephews bring out the club, sword and spiked mace for fun.
Quellor dodges and then has a Krackpotkin plan on Trudge as Quellor yells at him to look the other way and Trudge sells it. Quellor runs near Trudge like a stupid idiot and the club nails him in the back and Quellor gets knocked out! Quellor deserves to never be Surpeme Oppressor again after that debacle, most so when Trudge even apologizes for it. Trudge asks if they can stop whisper yelling. Me: Yes! So, we head to the dungeon as Quellor is knocked out in a prison cell while Sludge and GUOL exchange notes on the future of MAVO. Since we should all know GUOL's motives are at this point (Illiops must be destroyed and the crystals must be had); we can end the segment 14 and a half minutes in. The other big mistake: Why didn't Trudge go into the throne room and look for the Black Box and then come back, because if they had booked it like that; then Quellor would have looked less stupid than he already does?! That is just bad booking and this episode has also fallen off of a cliff. It's also really boring outside of a couple LB/Tweeg interactions, too.
After the commercial break; we head back to LB being buried in snow complaining as usual. LB is clearly hopping around the Elf village as he slides down towards a clear frozen lake to which LB refers to as a river. LB hops on the lake still wondering where the river is and then suddenly, the ice literally breaks into millions of pieces. Wow, Grundo is much warmer than I thought in winter. I would have thought the blizzard alone would have froze the lake completely. LB is forced into the icy water and he's death, done, toe-tagged because there is no one to save him, because he's a heel. But wait...Scene change back to Zed and Maple's residence as Zed hates the Elf village because there is no much noise and Hurley-Burley. I guess he's talking about the Wooly Whatsit being around for school days. Maple is a city elf, so I'm guessing that this is a meaner version of Country Mouse and City Mouse. Zeb loves open spaces to see who is coming and that's why they stay here. Back to the river as LB is like a buoy and he is going to die soon at this rate. LB dives and loses his scarf in the process before resurfacing as he wishes he had arms and knew how to use them. Since no religion can be involved; he confesses his love to Buffy and admits that he was a horrible heel who forgot to take a bath and regrets taking one now. He rolls in the water and almost drowns himself in the process as he apologizes for forgetting his mother's birthday and has forgotton it now. Considering how horrible his mother is; it is for the best. He claims that he has had his ups and down; but did it his way and shouts it so loud; before sinking into the water and losing his winter cap; that somehow, Teddy, Zeb and Maple can hear it in the living room. Zeb thinks it's the wind and Teddy thinks it's someone and that voice sounds like LB. So, we head outside the tree house as Teddy is in his winter clothes again with the backpack as he calls out for LB in the snow. He walks and calls out for LB; and then notices LB's horn in the icy water in the river. Teddy almost slips and bounces into the river like an idiot; but recoils and finds a rope in his backpack.
Teddy then invokes the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE and snags LB's horn. Teddy pulls LB out of the lake and then performs CPR on LB; which causes water and a fish to flop from his mouth, all the way into the lake. Owler arrives with Zeb and Maple in tow as LB notices Teddy and calls him Teddy Fishfin. HAHA! Teddy can only smile as this would prove to be the beginning of LB's babyface turn and his short relationship with Teddy Ruxpin. I don't think Gimmick is going to like this considering the first arc where LB was terrorizing Teddy when he arrived. What a difference 55 episodes make?! Maple insists that LB stay at the treehouse to warm up and Maple has all the justification in the world to request this; even though Zeb is like "not another one". So, we head to the treehouse living room as Teddy introduces LB to Maple and Zed as LB is amused and covered with a green blanket. Zeb asks if Teddy has a habit of having guests show up for no reason. Answer: Yup. So, after nearly eighteen minutes of no singing, Maple finally sings the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM called Unexpected Guests. Apparently, they are the best kind of guests. Before the absess: Yup; after the absess: NO! That's all you need to know. It also doesn't help that I'm distracted today because Ducktales 2019 has confirmed that Kit Cloudkicker and Molly Cunningham as adults are coming to the show and judging by the trailer (where someone yells Kit's name near the end of it), it might be in Season 2 instead of Season 3. We'll see; but I'm looking forward to seeing who is going to voice who and seeing how adult Kit and adult Molly act afterwards. I actually accept this a lot more than them being kids because (a.) if they were kids, it would look completely out of place since Ducktales 2019 is in the present, while Kit and Molly as kids was roughly 1937 (I guess bears live longer and age a lot less) and (b.) Kit and Molly are adults, so a lot would have happened where any personality changes would make a lot more sense than if they were 12 and six years old.
Yes, they are not the same; but Kit and Molly are adults so they could never be the same and this makes me enjoy their presence a lot more than if they stayed as kids and their personalities were changed on a whim. If anyone wants to complain about the designs; start with the Rhinokey and Butterbear Wuzzles designs the team showed at San Diego Comic Con. Those realistic designs were stupid. Zeb drinks coffee Maple pours out from the kettle. LB bouncing the blanket and making bouncy sounds is the highlight of the song, which is fitting because LB is the only one who has entertained me, even if his last will and testement moment was extremely tasteless and that's not even his fault. Zeb hates water in his tea; and it's from the winter clothes of the Hermit. What did you expect, actual continuity in this show?! Surely you jest! Zeb also gets one on the nose and twitches; and that one amuses Maple. Zeb and Maple go to the cupboard and Maples opens them and this was to set up the fact that her cupboards are bare (despite not being shown) and faints. That one amused Zeb, although that was much harder to tell. More singing as they come together and we circle fade out to end the episode at 19:10 with Zeb breaking the fourth wall in the only funny thing Zeb has ever done in the show. LB was the star of this episode without question; but the episode was downright boring for the most part and Quellor is buried deep within the earth now that he has been betrayed. Call it ** (40%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this was not a good start to Certain Main Event Doom, that is for sure. It wasn't horrible, it was just boring with LB managing to carry this episode to something other than a DUD. The storylines make sense as GUOL finally turns on Quellor for real; although Quellor has lost all of his heat and is the stupidest leader ever, even failing at the simplest "look the other way" deception spot on one of the most brainless piles of mayhem ever. I cannot understand why they didn't turn Quellor babyface as well, given that they were willing to turn LB babyface. LB was awesome in this show; although he makes a poor leader of a union. You know you are terrible at being a union leader when BUFFY is the one union busting you. Zeb and Maple are perfectly fine as a couple; but really not much else as Owler was the more compelling character of that group. Overall, a below average episode. Next up: Teddy locates the Hermit and MAVO takes over Grundo...AGAIN! So...
Thumbs barely down for this episode and I'll see you all next time.