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The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin: Musicial Oppressors
Reviewed: 08/04/2019
Best Bad Episode Title Ever!
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. So, finally; GUOL and MAVO have finally got the crystals as the Hermit is chained up in Elinore's house and Teddy is in the dungeon with Quellor; sadly not in the same cell with Quellor, which would have been something to watch. Now, we get the aftermath and watch the slow crumbling of MAVO and Grundo as GUOL unleashes the dreaded Hate Plague that I have been talking about since the beginning of the MAVO arcs. How does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...?
Episode opens in the dungeon at Quellor's rat bats swoop down in shadows and Quellor has two requests: Lots of rope and finally, for the first time ever, they are finally going to reveal who the dreaded Drool Beast is! Wow, that alone might save this episode from DUD bordering on negative stars. Quellor's planning to escape from the dungeon, you see. The bats fly through the cell windows and you can see the business exposed as they used a background in which has a different shade of color shaped to the hole that will be made in the cell wall when the Drool beast comes to crumble the cell, leading to an obvious major continuity error. Also, all the snow is gone from the previous episode, so what?! Quellor then goes to his cell door and starts taunting Teddy claiming that soon, MAVO will have all the crystals, even though MAVO ALREADY HAS THE CRYSTALS~! Thankfully, Teddy points out his gaffe and then makes a mistake of his own, claiming that it's sunny outside, despite being always dark around MAVO Headquarters. Is everyone being hit with the stupid stick, or something?! Quellor of course is so happy about this despite the fact that MAVO turned on him several episodes ago. The Stockholm Syndrome is thick in these MAVO parts. I would add that Teddy has his regular clothes on, but he probably took them off after the episode ended since it's no longer winter. Somehow. By the way, at least two of the pirates who were arrested by Miss Maggotheart were sent to the dungeon, except one of them is not the grey troll who was guarding Gimmik's house in the last episode. Iggly is now sharing a cell with some purple troll with a long nose in which I have never seen before. More of the MAVO peanut gallary comes forth towards their cell doors as none of them really messed up in the previous episode, so; what?! Quellor is continuing to taunt Teddy as Teddy is now angry because evil hasn't won yet and Quellor cannot do evil. He doesn't have to anymore, since GUOL is the one who wanted you in prison in the first place, Teddy. GUOL's the one pulling off evil and she might as well succeed since they are playing from your work together playbook, Ruxpin. Joke's on you. #RebootMightBeBetter. So, time for the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM to waste time about being prisoners of their own ambition. This was done just because someone thought a Teddy/Quellor duet would make some money. If only they were in the same cell though...
The dreaded dancing hair strand makes it's return for two seconds before disappearing and I doubt Quellor can do evil properly to be cruel to his grandmother. More dancing hair as this is basically a contrast between how kind Teddy is and how cruel Quellor is on their days off. I just love how they are singing this song when the episode's title is Musicial Oppressors. If you want to keep the stips; then have them start singing and then ten seconds in, GUOL runs in and silences them! That would make more sense, but seeing how the production team is making mistakes left and right in the first two minutes of this episode already, why am I not surprised? Meanwhile, the underlings in a prison cell notice the keys hung on the wall and they have a Krackpotkin Plan. Funny how they are the only ones who actually care about getting out of this dark and damp place while Quellor and Teddy are competing to see who will fold their tent first on good vs. evil. Oh, and MAVO's crack sercuity forgot to notice that there was a spear in the underlings prison cell. Sadly, they tied the purple troll to the spear and yank him through the prison cell bars and he bumps hard. OUCH! They poke the spear on the wall for a while and then they poke the middle of the keys, but unintentionally bump the lit candle and the lit candle hits the wooden shaft of the spear, setting it on fire. CARELESS TROLL ON FIRE~! So much for that plan, so I see why the security team failed to get the spear. That fire was so stubborn that the purple troll literally put his foot in his mouth to put out the fire. HAHA! The song itself was blah, but those underlings kept the whole situation entertaining and believe me, they need as much as they can get. So, we head back to the war room as GUOL is in the pully chair and has already put five of the six crystals in the slots on the wall. GUOL is grandstanding like crazy for a while and they shouldn't have panned out because Iggly and multiple other trolls from the previous scene have teleported to the war room out of prison. WHAT?! Also, in one shot; the crystal appears to be already inserted, despite not being in GUOL's hand the entire time. Plus, I love the contradiction of GUOL saying that doom and gloom will engulf the land, so it's basically them getting to rule the world and not the Illiops; despite the Illiops having more important things to do. I also see GUOL giggles like Newton Gimmick as the monsters all climb the window to get their first shot at doom and gloom.
Another continuity shot error: GUOL says to behold their destiny and the crystal slot is missing; but returns on the far shot when she inserts the crystal in the slot. It's all over and there is nothing...AND THE ROCK SAYS NOTHING! Oh wait, there is a white bird being stern to her babies on a nest; but that's normal. So, the monsters are not amused and they walk out proclaiming that GUOL is out to lunch as usual. GUOL pleads for them to come back, but no dice. So, after all that bravado, MAVO still look like a stupid organization. What a shocker?! I doubt they are in the wrong place, too as GUOL cannot understand it. So, we head back to the Airship with Grubby, Wooly and Gimmick wondering how Teddy is. He's fine, outside the of fact that he's in the MAVO dungeon and lost the crystals to GUOL. Basically, they are worried about him because he should have been back hours ago. Scene change to the front door of MAVO headquarters as every monster across the land has arrived and Tweeg is reading them the riot act in his first job as keeper of the gate and he cannot keep the gate as he is instantly overwhelmed. LB hops in as I should note that despite not seeing Ying again, Fred Cubed is back as a cameo if you look hard enough during the sweeping eastern pan of the monsters lined up across the bridge. Basically, the yellow troll from the last episode was using an illegal hamster trap device as a car. Don't ask me; I didn't write the MAVO rulebook. LB asks Tweeze how he likes the job and Tweeg hates it and threatens to be Supreme Oppressor again if he only knew where the Black Box is. After some waxing dramatics, in which LB blows him off for, he informs Tweeg that he found the Black Box while he was dusting back in the Ying Zoo arc. Tweeg is surprised and then kicks LB in the rear and orders him to get the Black Box. LB sells it, because why not. After all, LB cannot turn babyface anyway, or that violate the MG code. Never violate the MG code, even if the code changes. Scene change to the war room as Guol is scratching her finger on a book which looks similar to the Crystal Book. There is nothing in it that can save her now and she's pooped. This organization is weak I tell ya! And then we get an out of nowhere lamp post which contains the slot for the seventh crystal in the Black Box. Dancing hair sighting! GUOL realizes this and heads to the throne room.
Problem is, LB has already made it and pushes the button to reveal the Black Box inside the throne chair. LB hooks the Black Box and does the Vinny laugh for fun as he hops out of the throne room. Scene change to the hallway as LB is hopping with Black Box in tow and is cut off by three MAVO members who are cracking jokes about the Gutangs, that were not funny and could be considered racist to the Gutangs to boot. LB is asking them to move and the yellow troll shakes in fear as LB has the Black Box and is therefore the Supreme Oppressor of MAVO as they do the football victory spot on him. So, despite having no scruples, they are still acting like the MAVO bylaws mean anything at this point, considering GUOL became SO without the Black Box, thus violating the bylaws. LB is loving this because they are serious...seriously dumb. Cue Vinny laugh and we head back to the prison cells as Iggly is literally saying that monsters have rights...the right to have slime once a month and Quellor waves it off like Iggly is whining like a baby; because MAVO has no scruples and too many scruples at the same time. By the way, remember earlier when Tweeg was fat shaming the giant sized blue monster earlier? Well; here he comes towards the dungeon wall with the rat bats and yes, that monster Tweeg was fat shaming is none other than the dreaded Droolbeast that I have been waiting for 64 episodes now (for rant purposes, 58 episodes in storyline) and yes, the poor beast lives up to his name by drooling like Mankind put the mandable claw on him and the poor guy put millions of Seltzer tablets in his mouth beforehand. And he licks Quellor in the process as the bats flee in a panic! Okay, that was the best part of the episode right there, folks! It's all off the cliff from here. So, they tie the rope around the Droolbeast's neck (!!!) and the prison bars on the window. Quellor must be free to do evil things, even though the hate plague hasn't even happened yet. One of the bats taunts the Droolbeast and he is angry and tries to run and grab him. This causes the entire wall to crumble and pieces of it bonk into the back of the Droolbeast as he goes flying. So, despite clearly showing that it was Quellor's cell that blown open, Iggly walks out of the wall and Quellor is now in the other cell. WHAT THE HECK?!
Even Quellor is calling them fools; although he should be yelling at the animators! You did a misdirection spot and forgot who was who in the cells that you had to teleport Iggly and Quellor into opposite cells to make this work?! Quellor is demanding Iggly to release him and Quellor is screaming at him to heck with the rules and get him out of here. Because Iggly is the only MAVO Member who has too many scruples, despite being a heel. Anyhow; the two MAVO guards who sent Tweeg to the dungeon many moons ago go over to the cell with the broken wall and notice Iggly is out; but then they just shrug him off because they take Teddy out of his cell because he's going to meet LB, the new Supreme Oppressor and this causes a lot of pain in Quellor's head. Well, maybe if you kept the Black Box in your cloak at all times like Tweeg did, I would have taken you a lot more seriously as a monster villain. Oh, and Iggly turns on Quellor, claiming that he must report to the new Supreme Oppressors because Iggly is the only monster who has scruples and this really gets Quellor angry because he is supposed to be Supreme Oppressor. Nope! At least back when GUOL took over, she didn't have the Black Box and so you had an argument against her; but you have nothing with LB since he got the Black Box now. Furthermore, this is payback for making LB your slave in the Ying Zoo arc as well. So, let's head to the throne room as LB is sitting on the throne, wearing Quellor's hood, just to rub it in Quellor's face even more. Tweeg pushes past two monsters demanding answers to this outrage. To be fair to Tweeg, LB probably was going to give Tweeg the Black Box, but the monsters found out about it. Tweeg demands LB forfeit the SO job; so Trudge grabs him by the neck and that paralyzes him. Trudge asks what to do with Tweeg and LB decides to let him go back to gatekeeping and Tweeg whines because he fails at life...AGAIN! Trudge and Sludge walk out and sadly, there was no followup on Sludge getting 1000 pieces of gold for capturing Teddy Ruxpin. Oh, and dock him a year's pay. So, Tweeg is gone and in comes the guards with Teddy Ruxpin. Tweeg threatens to tell Elinore on LB; which would be a riot to see. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Sludge invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on Teddy's chest and taunts him because Teddy is really going to get it as you can tell that the gaslighting is fully taking effect. Teddy is like "really"? LB is the SO and I just helped him from death three episodes ago! That ends the segment ten and a half minutes in.
After the commercial break; we have the Teddy is on trial segment as Sludge, Drudge, two monsters and two MAVO guards as Teddy is standing facing LB who is sitting on the throne. More dancing hair as Sludge wants to make him into Illiop Stew and LB no sells, because LB doesn't hate Teddy, you see. The monster talk among themselves and they have a brilliant idea: Zap Teddy with the Black Box and sell him to the Ying Zoo, giving MAVO what it always wanted and giving Ying what he always wanted. No zero sum needed, except for Teddy losing his mind of course. LB demands silence and since he's the Supreme Oppressor, he'll make the final decision. And then LB gets the FLASHBACK OF DOOM as we replay LB being saved by Teddy in Teddy's Quest only shorter and in silence. We then return to reality (no, not really) as LB stammers and then finally decides...to let Teddy go. The monsters are shocked and appalled by this. By the way; the MAVO motto is "Every good deed must be punished". That amused me. LB threatens the Black Box to anyone who disgrees. Teddy thanks LB for the good deed and LB tells him not to mention it because reputation, you see. Teddy gets it and is escorted out of the throne room by Sludge. LB's final babyface act on this show would prove to be the most important thing in the entire arc as you'll see later. So, GUOL was hiding behind the double doors and then walks in and goes into melodramatics that LB is the true SO and darkness has fallen across the land despite being false, and the monsters still fall for it! Even the Gutangs would have noticed that this was bunk. LB also notices and hops to the window to see the arrest of his greatness as GUOL practices the fine art of not being seen and grabs the seventh crystal. Despite all the dumb mistakes she has made, she still manages to get all the crystals, as LB notices that he was had and they turn around and notice GUOL at the throne room. Instead of suspecting that she's up to something after clearly saying that she was mistaken, they all shrug their shoulders and bail. Head to the war room as Trudge is at the pully chair and pulling up GUOL, who is sitting in the chair, still wailing about the prophecy. She also gets bumped for good measure and then takes out of the seventh crystal and places it in the slot, cracked side down. Hindsight 20/20; I wonder what would happened, if the non-cracked side was down? We'll never know as the crystal finally glows.
The glow is enough to blind Trudge and he let's go of the rope and GUOL comes down and crashes onto the floor. GUOL gets up and observes the crystal beaming into the other crystals on the wall and then outside it shoot a blue beam cannon into the air and nails a storm cloud; causing a tornado that is probably EF5 or higher and then the clouds start killing off plants in the small area. Cut back to the crystals as the seventh crystal and the crystal shine; but stop shooting beams at each other and the cannon outside ends it's shooting. We then gets rumbling and then lots of lightening bolts. Ooookkkkaaaayyyy, there's nothing of note about this, outside of the killing of plants as Trudge asks how she do that and GUOL is just there wondering why Trudge ever asked that question. So GUOL doesn't even understand how any of this works. Cut back to the Airship as we get a lot of high winds as Gimmick has no idea what is going on and Wooly of all people is saying that everyone is getting sick. Not sick, Wooly, mean and nasty is more like that. Cut back to Quellor's cell as Quellor looks out the prison window and Quellor is loving this because, according to him, he feels stronger. In fact, he's so strong, he manages to break down his own prison door with his bare hands. Two MAVO members and two MAVO guards run down to stop him; so Quellor throws the prison door and it bonks into the heels and impacts them into the wall with ease. There was a lot of bouncy physics in that scene. Quellor laughs like a maniac and runs out of the dungeon area and we get a long sequence of him running out of MAVO with absolutely no resistence whatsoever. Boy; I would have loved to see him punch Tweeg in the face on the way out, that would have been money. Sadly, no one is shown during the escape, not even Tweeg. We now have thunderclaps and hurricane force winds outside as they literally teleport Quellor from the front door to the edge of the western pan shot. Quellor then looks around and then finds a cave. He runs into the cave as we jump cut to Teddy walking slowly into the storm wondering what is going on. He then overhears the two MAVO members arguing about who leads and who doesn't. Teddy still sees them as a threat because even though LB is SO and doesn't hate Teddy, the other monsters do, so Teddy runs into the cave Quellor found and almost falls off the conveniently placed cliff.
Teddy hides behind a rock as the two monsters walk past not suspecting a thing. They also clearly indicate that they are after Quellor, but to Teddy it doesn't matter at this point. Now, personally; I would have had Teddy not hide in the cave and just go back to the Airship; while the monsters find Quellor in the cave, beats them up and throws them over the cliff to get his heat back. I would save Quellor/Teddy for later and make it the last arc and make it an epic fight. Nope! Quellor grabs a stone spike from the ceiling, whacks the stone rock Teddy was hiding, causing Teddy to bounce backwards and almost falls over the cliff. Quellor demands Teddy to surrender and we now have to do the worst thing possible: Teddy now has to fight Quellor, one-on-one with no one to help either competitor. Normally; I wouldn't like Teddy's chances here; but....If this was a movie like the Rainbow Brite movie: Teddy get a lucky kick into the back of Quellor, Quellor flies off the cliff, and falls into the abyss and we never see him again for the rest of the movie. And personally, that would be for the best because Quellor has nothing left and past the Incompentence Horizon a long time ago. The problem is; the storyline has to allow Quellor to live on and regain MAVO despite the fact that GUOL is much more effective running MAVO than Quellor, Heck, Tweeg and LB run MAVO better than Quellor does and LB let the one guy the monsters hated the most because GUOL gaslit them into that. However; Teddy cannot lose nor die here because he has to get the crystals back in order to set up the Reunion arc with the Hermit. So, in essence, here's what happens: Quellor basically blurts out to Teddy what is happening and basically reveals that the hate plague turns babyfaces into monster heels. Teddy blows him off and bails as Quellor swings the spike and Teddy tumbles like a rock towards a stone wall, which the bump would have likely caused serious injury and/or death. Quellor then stabs the spike, misses Teddy, hits the wall and brings down conveniently placed rocks and buries Quellor into a stone tomb and Teddy escapes just like that. It took thirty seconds and only two shots -- all done by Quellor mind you -- to defeat Quellor. If that wasn't a complete burial of Quellor, I don't know what is. Quellor pops up from the carnage and points out that Teddy's friends are going to turn on him soon enough. He sounds so desperate now that he knows he's done as a heel. So, we head back to the ship as Gimmick senses something evil. Wooly wants to find Teddy; and then Grubby basically turns on Teddy calling him bossy. Gimmick blows Teddy off and wants to work on his invention and Wooly cannot believe this as he wants to save Teddy, but he cannot do it himself; so he sits down and sleeps in front of the Airship to end the episode at 19:12. Wow; this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but this episode was a total mess and now everyone is starting to go down the tubes quality wise. ** (40%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I was expecting a negative star episode, but the good news is, it wasn't that at all. The storyline was actually fine, although seeing Quellor just get buried literally was a punchline for his entire run as Supreme Oppressor of MAVO. I also have a feeling that LB's decision to let Teddy go is going to bite MAVO in the rear end soon enough; even though Teddy's friends are now heels basically. I'm kind of disappointed of this hate plague: I was hoping that the babyfaces except for Teddy would turn into violent monsters out to kill Illiops since the whole point of GUOL's gaslighting was to destroy Illiops because they thought Illiops were a grave threat to them. Instead, it just makes them mean, which they have shown a few times in this show without the hate plague. That kind of ruins the effect for me. There were continuity errors all over the place: Winter's gone, the teleport of Quellor and Iggly just to do a joke and make Quellor look even worse, Iggly teleporting out of prison and into the war room, and the entire Quellor/Teddy fight was so bad as well. The good stuff: We finally have a pay off of the dreaded Drool Beast angle that I have been waiting for since I first ranted on this show (Father's Day). GUOL at least still looks compentent despite her mistakes early on and the Prisoner singing duet with Teddy and Quellor while the monster try to get out of jail and fail. And of course, Tweeg being Tweeg. Overall; a below average episode that was a mess which sadly didn't pay off the best bad episode title in history. So, 64 episodes are down for rant purposes. Next up is probably the biggest mistake MAVO will ever make. They now have the crystals. They have incentive to wipe out the Illiops once and for all. They could easily invade Rillonia without inteference because of the hate plague. So, what do they do in the next episode: Have a MAVO costume ball! WHAT?! So...
Thumbs down for this episode and I'll see you all next time.