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 webpage 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.
Pie In The Sky
Reviewed: 06/20/2010
...And Tasty in Monty's Belly!
Well; it's all downhill from there as we start on the slope and work from there. I have nothing more to say. Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Sindy McKay (!!!) and Larry Swerdlove. Sadly; I have no animation studio; nor a story editor; but the directors were Bob Zamboni and John Kimball. You'll just have to bear with me on this one; no pun intended. Sindy wrote episodes for Taz-Mania, Yo-Yogi, Muppet Babies, Cro, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (!!!), Big Bag, Clifford The Big Red Dog, Sitting Ducks, and Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. Rescue Rangers is her only DTVA appearance (both in writing and voice “acting”). Global Wonders: Mexico is her most recent credit. Larry has similar credits to Sindy in many ways; but Winnie The Pooh was his DTVA debut. He also did Stories from My Childhood, Robocop: Alpha Commando, Mummies Alive, Extreme Ghostbusters, The Twisted Tales of Felix The Cat, The Pink Panther (1993 edition), The Shakeboard Kid, and at least four Bratz products (three video games, one video). He also did Butt-Ugly Martians (UGH!), Mother Goose & Grim and The New Woody Woodpecker Show.
We begin this one in the tree branches in the park over a creek as we zoom out to see Monty and the Rescue Rangers hiking (and in Zipper's case, flying) and we get a logic break right from the start as Monty was holding the butter knife on the first shot and when we see after the jogger's legs past and make it to the brick wall; Gadget is now holding the knife. Jeepers, Creepers indeed!! Dale gives Monty the grappling hook and Monty swings it with reckless abandon as Dale is forced to duck. The hook grabs onto the top and everyone climbs up. Gadget fires her plunger gun to a tree and everyone climbs down with Chip last of course. Then we jump cut to Monty cutting branches with the butter knife. Will someone please think of the children plants?! Monty claims that they are getting close as Dale ushers everyone to follow. That leads to Monty noticing the most troublesome thing in existence: An orange Frisbee is stuck in a tree! BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah; we spent nearly a full minute on an orange Frisbee. How drole?!
Monty goes all Bonzai on us as Chip does me proud by blowing it off and throwing an acorn at it bringing the Frisbee down to ground level. When the Frisbee comes down, a dog with a brown spot on it's left eye comes and licks Chip's back and bowls him over and grabs the Frisbee. He walks off with the up yours attitude and Monty calls him a sweet little fellow. Chip gleefully blows him off because he hates little cases as much as Kit hates the little people holding him down; no matter how big they are. Dale crawls in the perfect position and proclaims that he has a big case in mind: The German Shepherd that lost his accent. HAHA! I betcha Chip bonks him on the head for that one. I check the Youtube video...Damn; I'm so good. Chip storms off much to the shock of the rest of the Rangers as Dale asks if that was a yes. Ummm; no Dale.
So we go to the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM as we zoom in and go to a pan shot of the tree branch as a brown bird lands on the branch as Chip wants to save the whales from extinction. Sorry Chip; that's Kit's story you are stealing in All's Whale That Ends Whale. Gadget gleefully ignores him since she's doing a mod work on the Ranger Wing installing a golden watch redesigned as a gyro compass. Ah; I see Baloo got advice from Gadget in Barely Alive. Chip storms off stage left as Monty is under the hood being a fasto as always. POW! OUCH! Ummmm.... The robin flies over to the angry Chip and addresses himself as Midge (Tress MacNeille of course) and wants directions to some place I cannot pronounce. I think it's Capistrano; although it's TV.com so take it with a grain of salt. Midge explains to the Rangers who walk in (except for Chip who got too distracted and fell through DA HOLE....SLURP!) that he's a swallow and that he usually follows the herd. However; this year he cannot find anyone to follow and needs help as he sheds tears. Gadget tells him not to worry about it and that they will help him. Well; except for Chip, he's in BIGGIE mood this episode. Chip pops out of the hole and be blows off the entire thing and invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on Midge to force the point. Okay; Chip is being a total jackass now.
Sure; I know this is a small thing; but the whole point of the team is to HELP small animals. So if that means using a delivery service as a means; I say take the case. It's still bigger than the frisbee case; that's for sure. And hasn't Chip been through about 20+ cases like this earlier?! Methinks Chip is compensating for some shortcomings; one of them seems to be a lack of dick for Gadget. POW! BONK! OUCH! OUCH! Ummmm..Midge gets dropped on his ass and everyone sobs badly. Oh please guys! I know Chip is a total jerkass; but your acting of tears sucks crap. I'm sorry folks; I want to help Midge, but I think punching Chip in the face would be a better bet. It's not like Dale didn't do it to Chip once in an episode. Dale actually comes in and notices everyone and then starts crying and does a million times better at selling it! How about that?! Dale asks why everyone is crying and Chip lies that they are tears of joy because he decides to take the case anyway. So they were crying badly on purpose?! Okay; I guess that works, but it makes Chip look weak. Midge gets up with glee and hugs Chip much to his disdain as we pan north as Gadget asks where all the rest of the birds are?
So we head to WELL AFTER HAPPY HOUR (sunrise) in the desert as we pan right to a big statue of an old, plump lady with a ladle in the air and a pie. Ummm; yeah. The sun rises and the cock crows as Disney Captions would say if they got their perverted paws on this episode and put it on DVD. We then get a long sequence of mirrors rising from the sand (!!!) as they shine on the lady statue and we see her in full living color (while still being a statue). We then head inside to the eyes of the lady statue which is central control as the old lady dressed up in pink (while still looking exactly like the statue) singing the 420 Blackbirds Baked In A Pie poem. She finally addresses herself as Ma Sweeney. Oh boy; that voice sounds so familiar too because Ma Sweeney is voiced by Ruth Buzzi and she has done over 100 productions in her career (not including 53 in comedy shows and 3 soundtrack roles); but I knew her from the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. She has been in a couple of Disney feature movies (The AristoCats, It's Tough to Be A Bird etc.) and has been a regular performer as a comic. She started with the Gary Moore show in 1964 and even appeared on You Can't Do That On Television (as Whatever Turns You On). She started in voice acting in 1983 with The Chipmunks. Rescue Rangers is her DTVA debut and she did Darkwing Duck as Dottie Debson. Ruth also appeared on Sesame Street as Suzie or Ruthie depending on what mood the writers were in during production. The upcoming City of Shoulders and Noses is her most recent credit.
Her most notable routine: She whines, the person zings her, she unloads on zinger victim with a purse. Rinse, lather, repeat. We cut to a screen with lots of pink buttons as she turns them on and sees blackbirds flying in the distance in the skies. She pushes the buttons and apparently I was wrong as the statue is holding a fork that emits magnetic waves which causes the blackbirds to become confused and they spiral down into a tailspin (BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!) as the pie crust opens and the bird flies into it and the pie crust closes down on them. Okkkkkkaaaayyyy; I don't see how this is plausible unless the magnet causes confusion in birds. Maybe someone who has expertise in this can enlighten me on the subject. Ma proclaims that she will be more popular than Betty Butterling some day. Ummm; yeah, she's nuts and speaks to herself. That's not heelish; that's me. Logic break I noticed: The statue uses a fork; but the real one uses a wooden ladle. Somehow I see that as a BS&P decision. Ma wants to be rich of course and who really doesn't?!
…..And here comes a boy who looks like the giant from the Mickey Mouse shorts; only reduced to seven feet tall and looks like a fat kid with blue striped shirt, blue shorts and red shoes. He corrects her (Not a smart move) and he's Todd (Frank Welker – In a rare appearance for this series which is surprising all things considered) and Ma blows her off and whacks Todd with the wooden ladle. Memo to BS&P: What is the difference between a fork and a ladle? It's a violent shot all the same. Todd rubs his head as Ma storms off and wants more birds to do away with. So we head outside again and head into the skies with the Ranger Wing and Midge. Chip is not amused by this flight and Dale decides to rub it in with metaphors that I doubt Dale would even understand. Gadget's gyro compass goes off the scale (it's a freaking watch for goodness sakes) and she claims that they should be landing in Capistrano any minute now. So she land on the desert near the CACTUS JACKS OF DOOM and dust flies up and everyone coughs on the landing. Must be the needle annoying the gyro compass. They take the worst bump in the series into a cattle head skull and everyone bumps off more so Zipper and Monty. The Rangers realize that they aren't even there. Funny logic break: Dale asks about where are the palm trees and yet there are two palm trees clearly in the scene even though it's a desert. What is wrong with the animators today?!
Chip blows this off as a delay like the jerk that he is as Midge is on the rear end of the Ranger Wing looking around. He notices a flock of blackbirds flying in the sky in V-formation and he follows it to ask for further information. Chip rests back in the Ranger Wing and proclaims that the case is solved. So Gadget steals Chip's hat and blows him off. What the hell is wrong with BS&P?! Dale bonked him on the head before; why can't Gadget?! Chip gets his hat forced down his head as Chip agrees relucently that the case isn't over and orders Zipper to do his ten seconds of work. Or something like that. Zipper sells and flies off as the MAGNET FORK OF CONFUSION starts up again on the next shot of the Ma Sweeney statue. The birds and Zipper get confused and spiral down in stiffer formation this time and the sequence ends with the birds landing in the pie and the pie crust lid shuts up. Zipper however; escapes easily and shakes off the cobwebs. Well; that makes sense since the pie crust has large holes in it. I guess the birds are knocked out since the holes would be big enough for them to escape anyway. Zipper flies away to warn the others of course....
So we head into central control as Ma pushes the lever (WRONG LEVER!) back to normal and wants answers to who turned it up all the way. Oh; geez who could it be? I mean unless Ma has shot memories and did it herself; I'm guessing it's Todd since he's the only other heel in the entire statue at this point. Naturally; Todd walks in, scares her and admits his guilt because he caught lots of birdies this time. Todd jokes like an idiot giving Ma enough time to gain a wooden step ladder and her ladle and of course she whacks him with it. Damn; she should just whack him with the step ladder. That would make him sell better and make Ma closer to the Ruth character in the Dean Martin Roasts. Ma explains after her usual scolding that she built a solar magnet and that turning it up too high blows their cover see. Man; she could have explained it in five seconds and it took about a minute. Todd protects his red head from further ladle violence. Oh and Todd actually has dandruff in his hands as he talks about the north pole. Ummm; yeah.
So we head back in the skies as the Ranger Wing flies into the air and if Chip complains; I don't really care. Zipper is with them as Monty and Dale are on look off looking for Midge. Zipper is sure and they land the Ranger Wing near the mirrors as the dust engulfs the Ranger Wing again. We then see Dale running around to waste more time for no good reason whatsoever. He then sees one of the mirrors and of course Dale cannot resist making funny faces at them. I call that spot thirty seconds before it happened I should note. The usual mirror spots occur and Dale's body breaks up in the mirror image in several of the poses. Oy vey there guys. Gadget walks in and realizes that they are solar generated mirrors and gets the educational promo of the day on the mirror pan. Gadget wonders what the purpose is and the Ranger hear some noises and Monty hyper references Alfred Hitchcock! Does the Aussie Stereotype have no shame?! Well; at least it wasn't nearly as insulting as referencing Ghandi in Dirty Rotten Diapers. They run towards the statue of course....
So we cut to a cell bar window as Monty is stuck trying to act like Kit. Oh wait; Kit doesn't exist for another couple of months, my mistake. Dale comes over and struggles to pull Monty out; but does and they go head over heels like a wheel and drops onto the floor with wussy bumps. Monty swears in DUBBED AUSSIE STYLE (crikey!) as we pan over to the stacks of pie plates and flour (no porno flour this time; at least in theory) as we are in a huge bakery. Chip mocks it as saving a cake as Midge's voice beckons weakly. The Rangers hear it though as everyone runs and Monty stops to look around. Why? So he can bring in the next cast of characters silly. Monty stammers and panics badly as the Rangers hear some grinding of some sort. We then get a pan shot of the blackbirds in the cage. That's not what causes Monty to stammers; its because there are two cats guarding them. Oh; yeah, I see Monty has relapsed back into his old “I'm afraid of cats” character angle. Well; it's like me with dogs. And the cats wake up as Jack and Nicolas (Jim Cummings) notice the Rangers snooping in.
Well; Nicolas is as Jack is blowing him off because it's probably Ma feeding them fried birds. They hate birds as Jack notices his claws and wants a fat mouse to eat. And he's saying it right in front of Monty. I am so loving this; even I know that it's not going to happen, but I WANT it to happen. Gadget and Zipper push the hapless Monty away as they have to save Midge. Monty is too scared of the cat's eyes; but Gadget forces him to focus on the cage with Midge in it and look into those eyes. Oh swell; I was enjoying Chip being the piss ant. Like I said before; the writers need to stop trying to get Monty over. Monty recoils and charges in as Chip proclaims that they need to get this rescue over with; but then he notices Dale isn't around. Naturally; Dale continues to bring on the stupid but funny as he's making funny faces with the pie tins. Don't you just love it when Dale carries an episode when Gadget won't? Chip comes over and that leads to C&D Argument #1966. That sadly ends with Dale looking good in silver as the SHADOW OF DOOM arises and Jack and Nicolas back up the chipmunks. Jack wants chipmunk sandwiches and tries the claw swipe; but the Rangers dodge and that ends the segment nearly 11 minutes in. Average episode thus far...
After the Youtube break; we cut to the cage with Midge in it as Monty pulls on the cage bars with Gadget watching him and Zipper watching for interlopers. Monty breaks through the bars easily as he wonders if it was Dale's plan to keep the cats busy as Gadget is merely hoping it was a plan. Short answer Gadget love: It wasn't. Not even Dale can pull of a perfect plan like that. That leads to Chip & Dale running on the conveyer belt; which allows Dale to stop and take a powder. Ummm; yeah. That leads to Chip going back to Dale; and Dale finally catching himself as we see the oven with Jack and Nicolas standing side to side on wooden stools (NOT THOSE ONES!). Dale and Chip run stage left as Jack (or Nicolas, whatever) pulls the magically out of nowhere placed lever (WRONG LEVER!) and the conveyer belt goes faster as the chipmunks get pulled stage right. Jack and Nicolas gets their chops licked and paws up and we fade to black for a commercial break. We return with Jack (Or Nicolas) near the oven loving this as we continue with the hamster running Rangers as Dale has a MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN and proclaims that they should run the other way. Chip calls it the dumbest idea ever, and decides to try it in which Dale calls him nuts.
Chip tells Dale to follow his lead and they run in the opposite direction; jump up and avoid the cats easily; swing around a small pipe and nail the PORNO FLOUR OF DOOM (like I said; at least in theory guys). The cat try to go for the kill again; but Ma's voice beckons and since Ruth is voicing this is not good for them. Jack (or Nicolas) push the lever (WRONG LEVER!) and jump down towards Ma and have a cuddle fest with her near the stacks of pie plates. Ah; I see Todd is with him for more whacking that is sure to follow. Ma talks about birdies as Dale gets Chip down as Chip blows this off as for the birds...and then catches himself and realizes Midge is in legit danger as he gets dropped with a decent bump off-screen. That leads to cutting back for more antics with Ma and Todd as she orders Todd to invoke the Chicken Pot Pie Machine as Todd pushes the lever (WRONG LEVER!) on the suction device which acts like a vacuum cleaner on the cages as everyone flies away including the mice, Zipper (I think) and Midge. Now this episode really sucks. HAHA!
Ron Sparks: It sucks more than Sean Desmond.
Oh wait; Monty, Gadget and Midge hang on as Zipper flies away for more dirty work. We head to the conveyer belt as Todd and Ma prepare the pie plates for more pies and Todd whacking. At least I'm praying for that last part to happen. Todd tries to zing her because they are not chickens but birdies. Ma sadly recoils on whacking him (BOO! HISS!) and corrects him because chickens cost that MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH! In other words; she's from Detroit. Apparently; the mice and Midge get sucked in and spit into a pie plate Ma is setting and more blackbirds get into other pie plates as well. Ma and Todd go to the wooden double doors as Ma proclaims that she will be rich as she opens it and walks out; remembering to slam the door right in Todd's nose. HAHA! She's Ruth Buzzi's mother. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WHACK! OUCH! Ummm... Todd holds his nose in pain of course. We cut to the conveyer belt as Monty tries to leave; but the spout from above sprays pie crust dough on top of the pie plate; trapping our heroes. Well; heroes and Monty anyway. Monty struggles and swears in DUBBED AUSSIE STYLE (crikey!) as the mice and Midge struggle some more still. So we head back to ground level as Chip and Dale are looking around. Geez; that segue looked awkward for some reason.
And then Zipper arrives and we get another big logic break: When we saw Chip & Dale first here; they were on ground level near the pie plates; now when Zipper arrives, they are still in front of the cage about a cage or two up. How is TaleSpin a rush job again?! Chip and Dale follow Zipper and get down to the conveyer belt on floor level and Chip comments on not be cherry pies. No kidding as more blackbirds get drowned by pie crust batter. Chip sees a way up as he tells Zipper to do more work as Zipper flies up and grabs the dough from the dispenser and brings it down. Man; that dough is getting drier by the way. And shouldn't it be slightly yellow in appearance?! Chip then feeds the pastry into the machine to gum it up just after we get a recycled shot of the mice and Midge struggling (Nice try Monty in the change of dialog foleyed in. Your mouth wasn't moving properly.). The long sequence stops and I'm certain that several pies with birds have been roasted to a crisp by now. So much for being Rescue Rangers.
So we cut back to Jack and Nicolas (The gray one is Nicolas and the brown one is Jack, I think) hearing something and walking as more crows crowing. They then become SHOCKED and APPALLED as they see on the cut back Chip and Dale freeing the babyfaces from the pie crust. They decide to free the others as Monty wipes his hands clean of the whole thing. Chip and Dale uncrust the rest of the blackbirds as Jack and Nicolas hate the WRAITH OF MA...and here she comes as we get another logic break: Shouldn't the double doors lead towards the stairs to central control and not outside?! Anyhow Ma gets upset; so Todd tries to help her by grabbing two blackbirds in flight. He gets punished with some pecking and let's go easily. Well; that was a waste of time. Ma tries to grab one; but she loses easily and the blackbirds fly away into the sunset. Ma panics because they will not be able to get the shipment on time. Todd has a MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN: Turn up the magnet and re-attract them.
Ma thinks about hitting him with the ladle; but BS&P has clearly stepped in at this point as she asks nicely about what he told Todd to do. Todd thinks about it and says not to do it and earns a pet on the head. I club BS&P! The Rangers hide behind a door frame as Gadget gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY on the situation. Gadget finally gets the first golly of the episode after almost 15 minutes of golly free action. Gadget claims that the magnet was responsible for causing the Ranger Wing off course. Actually; it was the gyro compass; not the plane itself that was off-course. Now it's time to find that magnet as the Rangers try to leave; but Chip notices Midge prying his hat out of the grinding wheel (which has no dough in it now for another logic break) and Midge pulls it out and bounces into Chip with no bump present. Sigh. Midge gives the hat back and Chip feels happy for it. Well; I guess piss ant Chip wasn't so popular after all.
So we go to the scene changer as the Ranger Wing flies around the area as Gadget looks for the magnet with the rest of the Rangers; but the gyro compass is still going haywire for some reason. So we head back to central control as we see Todd playing with the machinery he shouldn't be playing with in the first place as he wants more birdies. He looks like a 15 year old with the IQ of a five year old at this point. So we repeat the mirror sequence the short edition as they shine light on the statue and that turns on the magnet again. That leads to the Ranger Wing becoming unstable as it goes into a tailspin (BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!) as Todd goes all giddy on us before catching himself and turning the magnet off just as the Rangers are sticking to the fork. Sadly; Monty is still not done as he swears in DUBBED AUSSIE STYLE (crikey for the third time in this episode alone). AHHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmmm. The Ranger Wing goes into another tailspin (BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!) and everyone screams which ends the segment nearly sixteen minutes in.
After the commercial break; we go to a glorified shot of the Ma's statue belly as the Ranger Wing spirals out of control and smashes into a cart filled with sack of flour (thankfully no porno is involved here either). Everyone pops up all decked out in white and naturally Dale believes that everyone's dead. If this means Monty is legit dead; then good. Sadly; he's not so the pain of the Aussie Stereotype must continue. And I betcha Chip bonks him on the head for that one too. I check the Youtube video.....Damn; I'm good and he gets whacked on his face too and loses his flour to boot. Dale still hugs Chip after the blowoff as everyone cleans off the flour lest Dale continues to bring the funny. I see that they have been warned about NO WORKRATE FOR DALE policy Chip has enforced. Gadget then notices the mirrors and has a MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN in mind: push the mirrors all the way up to capture the high sun enough to cause the magnet to catch an airplane. Monty calls it a bonzer idea and seriously; does anyone outside of Steve Irwin say that in the land down under?! Dale then notices the porno (UH OH!) on the flour..
Oh wait; it's Jack and Nicolas coming out for some fresh air, my mistake. See; they aren't going to hurt them; but bite their heads off. BS&P is so whack with the avoidance of death as the Rangers dive to escape naturally. We then see Jack (or Nicolas; I lost track already) stuff his hands down the porno flour as Chip tells Gadget and Zipper to follow him while Monty gets to distract the cats. Oh goody; I see Chip has the same tastes I do. Monty stammers over that one. Oh sod off and like it you Aussie Stereotype! Monty dodges the claws as Chip tells Monty to do it for Midge and to feed Gregory's sadistic behavior. Or not. Dale jumps on Monty's back to avoid the scratch attack on the porno flour as Monty isn't exactly thrilled with this. Chip, Gadget and Zipper run away from the cart of porno flour as Jack (or Nicolas) finally catches Monty and Dale. YES! YES! MURDER THE AUSSIE STEREOTYPE~! BUT PLEASE LET DALE GO~! PLEASE! Monty drops though (along with Dale) as the cats call him cheese breath. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Monty and Dale run away stage left and the cats follow of course.
So we head back inside central control as Ma is sitting down in her chair with the wooden ladle. Sadly; Todd isn't around for another round of whacking. She mangles the Blackbird song again as we pan southeast to see Midge, Gadget, Zipper and Chip hiding next to a big purple lever (WRONG LEVER!) in front of them. Gadget notices the control panel where Ma is sitting with her back to them and Chip wants the wooden ladle. So Midge finally shows some balls and flies away as Chip cannot grab Midge in time to stop her. Midge starts annoying Ma and that's enough to cause the ladle to fall onto the ground allowing Gadget and Chip to grab it on the rebound. Midge gets chased by Ma as Chip and Gadget use a salt shaker and ladle as a see saw and Gadget is pushed up to the double lever (WRONG LEVER) and struggles to push it down. That leads to the scene changer as the cats play Seek and Go Hide with Monty and Dale. Monty is hiding behind one of the mirrors of course like the coward that he truly is. And then shows it even more by sneaking up from behind and kicking Jack (Or Nicolas) right in the ass and then bailing stage left.
Jack (or Nicolas) is pissed and starts the chase up again. I don't care what Ranger fans think; Monty is still a damn coward. And yes; he certainly has a death wish there my feline friend (or fiend). We then cut to a shot of a mirror image of Monty displaying his usual lobster courage complete with Scrappy Doo promo. Jeepers; give Monty no clothes, make him a puppy and lose the Aussie accent and he's Scrappy Doo's son. And naturally Jack (or Nicolas) falls for it and whacks into the mirror and slides down. We cut to Dale behind a mirror giggling on that one as Nicolas (or Jack) runs in and Dale dodges allowing Nicolas (or Jack) to smack into a mirror and get knocked silly. Dale loves the mirrors and the Aussie Stereotype blows them off because it gives him a six inch waist. So mirrors are worse than television in gaining pounds after all. Good to know as Todd is outside looking for something like the idiot that he is. Todd notices the rodents in the mirror and brings out the slingshot and slingshots rocks into them shattering the mirror. Geez; with this guy; it brings seven years of GOOD luck to him. How sad.....
So we return to the control panel as Chip is now helping Gadget with the double lever (WRONG LEVER!) and it goes down; but nothing happens as Gadget notices that too many mirrors are broken. Dale and Monty dodge more rocks from Todd as Chip wants to find more mirrors. Somehow; I smell Deux Ex Machina commencing here as Dale and Monty pant against a brick wall. Todd hears some noises coming from the bakery as we see Zipper, Chip and Gadget pull down some pie plate which can reflect sunlight. Okay; this looks a wee bit implausible for my liking. That allows Ma to shriek badly and Midge to fly outside and Ma to slip on pie plates and slide around and bounce into Todd off-screen with no bump again. Sigh. A pie plate slides like a Frisbee and reflects light as the mirrors that aren't shattered get lit up as well. Gadget sees her plan start to work so the babyfaces throw more pie plates allowing the heels to be bopped with several of them. Heh.
The pie plates on the sky shot light up and hit the statue allowing the electro-magnet to work as we cut to a jumbo jet flying north. Okay; he's the obvious problem with this episode: How in the hell CAN YOU MISS THAT FATASS STATUE?! POW! OUCH! Ummmm...I mean; if you have a statue in the middle of a desert that looks like something from the 1950's; you know something must be up. The waves catch on the jumbo jet as we go into the cockpit for some dialog with the pilot (Frank Welker again). Nothing of note is said and the jumbo jet takes a nosedive on the next shot. Oh lord; is Disney going to stoop to this low or what?! Oh wait; it flies down towards the road as we see a female sheriff (Tress MacNeille) on a transmitter calling the police on some odd activity in the desert near the Sweeney factory and she's going to check it out. Man; how stupid can you be not to notice something odd there?
We cut back to Chip throwing the last pie plate as Ma is on bottom and yelling at Todd to stop the machine. Todd runs and does the dumbest thing ever; unleashes his slingshot on the Rangers. Why?! Because the slingshot part is made of metal and he of course gets dragged up and gets stuck on the fork. Ma's gold plated bracelets gets caught in the waves and she gets pulled up into the fork magnet along with five pie plates and the cats. That leads to Todd zinging Ma good and Todd thinks he's safe from a Ruth Buzzi bashing on the head. So Ma becomes resourceful and kicks Todd in the ass. HAHA! Even disabled; she can still kick as well as she can whack. I see why they got Ruth Buzzi for the role. Ma then asks Todd the obvious: Why not let go of the slingshot? Todd of course foolishly lets go and freef all taking a sick MAN-SIZED bump off-screen as Ma zings him back. HAHA!
Yeah; Todd is such a sap. POW! OUCH! Ummmm....So we cut to seeing an airplane flying in and Todd has magically disappeared on that shot even though the Rangers are there and the landing should put Todd to their left. Wait a minute?! Is this a cheap way of saying that Todd is dead?! The police truck arrives (how convenient?) as we cut to the female officer chaining the cats together as Todd is alive, well and handcuffed. Sorry folks; this is not as nasty as when Molly was cuffed in Flight of the Snowduck. Todd continues to zing Ma with lame jokes; so Ma asks the sheriff for one last request: Bop Todd on the head and that's exactly what she does. POLICE BRUTALITY~! On a minor no less! SOMEONE CALL ED BRAYTON~! The female officer locks the door and calls this the biggest case of them all as Gadget tells Chip that he got exactly what he wanted after all as we pan southeast to the Rangers behind one of the mirrors. Chip doesn't care as he puts his hat on Midge and proclaims that the littlest one is the best one and it's time to get Midge to Capistrano and that ends the episode at 21:15 approx. Average episode with some funny stuff with Ma and Todd. I still think the plot is absurd and requires an idiot plot to pull it off though. *** ½ (70%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; it's just another average day in the life of the Rescue Rangers. Nothing more; nothing less. I still liked the banter with Todd and Ma though as Ma pretty much fitted Ruth Buzzi's comic character in real life and her cat were all right. Other than Midge's grabbing the ladle from Ma and pulling out Chip's hat; Midge wasn't much of a character. Chip sounded like a jackass for the first half; but seemly ended it after the first act and became Chip. I guess you just have to play the Monty gets over card here too. Todd is just an idiot that he almost beat the Rangers while screwing with Ma. And I found the overall plot to be a little bit absurd considering that it's a bakery in the middle of the desert. And since when is stealing blackbirds a crime? I just didn't get the arrest and the vandalism was her own doing. Logic breaks didn't help either. In other words; just another Rescue Rangers love in. Next up for the Rangers: Paris and facing Mr. Fat's brother while Dale turns heel the only way he can. So......
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you next time.