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Puffed Rangers
Reviewed: 07/18/2010
Truth, Justice & The Stereotypical Way!
Well; here's another episode that Disney decided to put through the shredder after the first syndication run and unlike Dirty Rotten Diapers; it was due to the offensive content of Asian Stereotypes. The funniest thing about this is that BS&P didn't bother to redub or edit similar content in To The Rescue Part 2; nor did they touch Lost Horizons later on (although that episode would be blackballed for 18 months and then reinstated on Toon Disney and later was uncut for DVD release). I guess they realized the damage to their reputation was already done. So how did this episode fare? Let's rant on and find out shall we...?!
This episode is written by Mark Edens (UH OH!). 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.
We begin this one with the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM as we zoom in and cut to inside the trees as a pulley rope containing a box of cereal is hoisted up and then we suddenly cut to the living room as Monty is telling another BS story to his victims Chip and Gadget. Zipper is more interested in Dale's weird animation (somehow; this looks like something Jade Animation would do in All's Whale although the sequence looks clearly done by WD-Japan and maybe a Hanho Heung Up Company Limited entry.) and cereal pulling it seems. Cannot say I blame him considering the last episode rant. Gadget asks if it made the Cobra angry. Does it really matter which Cobra was angry Gadget love? All of them would hate Monty's BS stories just the same. Dale struggles with the box of cereal as Monty does absolutely nothing but continue the BS story about something I stopped caring about a long time ago. It ends with the cobra getting squashed by the tire and Gadget asks the faithful question: Were you scared the most there? Monty then has to admit that there was something worse. Odds are that it's cats. Because with Monty around; it's always the cats that scare him the most. Sadly; I don't care because seeing Dale drop through the tiny hole (Geez; he wonders why he was having trouble getting the box in?) and takes some wussy bumps off the pulley and dives into the box of cereal.
The other Rangers slide down the tree and Chip knocks on cereal, natch. Monty then flips the box over and Dale slides on the rice cereal pile and eats one. Yeap; he's perfectly fine Chip. Even more so if you just bonk him on the head too. Dale proclaims that it's good in the box too and there's a free prize inside (containing a red truck on the box for a nice touch) as Dale starts heaving rice particles right at the Rangers. Sadly; it's mostly Chip and Gadget getting them because because Monty deserves all of it. Dale goes to bottom and finds nothing....AND THE ROCK SEZS NOTHING. Dale proclaims that he's been robbed (failing to check the inside of the box of course) as the Rangers are entombed in rice. Except for Zipper who is munching on a rice cereal particle just for my amusement. Gadget pops up and proclaims that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If Rebecca had said it; it would make perfect sense; but not in Gadget's case as Dale blows her off because the cereal makers are engaging in false advertising. When Dale is the moral one; this episode is in trouble. Dale storms away stage right to the supermarket because he wants what's coming. Like any clerk is going to take Dale seriously kicking anyone's ass. Chip and company realize that this could end ugly and follow him.
So we head to the supermarket on the scene changer and we see a store clerk (with a black mustache and green apron) stamping some boxes in a box on a tray. We pan southwest to see Dale storming in with a purpose as Chip is forced to grab Dale away as a boy with brown shorts and yellow cheese shirt with red shoes is whining (Corey Burton) about wanting some Puffy Wuffies because they didn't contain a free prize inside either. Then his mother (Tress MacNeille wearing all green) blows him off because he still hasn't eaten the last box of cereal. The kid whines about eating them and the mother pulls him away stage right. Gadget points out that something is amiss as Dale wants to investigate. We then return to the grocer who is voiced by Robert Ito (Huh?) and normally I would do a tribute here; but since he's going to be in the Lost Horizons re-rant for TaleSpin; I won't reveal his credits in this episode. And he panics because he then sees an entire mess of cereal on the floor as the Rangers throw box after box away realizing that there is no free prize inside.
Dale calls the cereal boxers a bunch of cheats; but Chip thinks someone is stealing the cars as Gadget proclaims that thousands of kids would be disappointed which is funny considering that she was the one who stated that no one should get a free lunch. Chip climbs down the pile because it's a job for the Rescue Rangers and the grocer finally realizes who they are and chases them with the STAMP OF DEATH. He manages to back them against the wall and everyone scatters but Monty; but the stamp misses by about a foot; or in this case, Monty's foot. Monty bails as the sale is on the floor and then stops because he wants to kiss the grocer's ass. His odds are only slightly better than Dale's; but I can at least take him seriously as Zipper notices that grocer outmatches Monty; so he does his ten seconds of work for the episode by grabbing a banana and popping it and then drops the banana peel on the floor next to Monty and of course the grocer steps on it and slips and drops with a MAN-SIZED bump stage left off-screen. Well; that one was more believable than most spots like it so I'll live. Monty thanks Zipper for giving the evil grocer the slip because if he didn't then he would have to hurt him. The Rangers all bail with the box stage left as the grocer pops up from the cereal tomb and has a bite proclaiming that they are good right out of the box. Whatever turns you on I guess.
So we go to the scene changer of doom and to the docks as we zoom in and cut to a sign that says Chow Imports. UH OH! I'm guessing this is the start of the problems for this episode. I'm ranting on the Toon Disney cut which is the second run syndication with violence cuts; and therefore it's a completely re-dubbed episode. Sadly; they didn't reanimate nor blackball the episode which would have made more sense. We then see the Ranger make it to the door as Chip explains that this is where Puffy Wuffies are made according to the box and a good place as any to start. Then the garage doors open (made of glass?) and a red car nearly runs over the Rangers as they are forced to bail, natch. Chip nearly gets run over by a tire (thus paying off Monty's joke about a tire squashing a snake) and Dale notices that it's a Japanese made model car that is inside Puffy Wuffies. Monty thinks that they let the air out of the tires when they put the cars in. So we get the squeeze play spot with the garage doors and we are inside the storage hold. We pan over to a pile of Puffy Wuffies as we see a Japanese man in a aqua green suit and black shoes with glasses on dumping Puffy Wuffies in a pile. He opens the next box and dumps more Puffy Wuffies and discovers a matching color car as he calls it a surprise in every box as he giggles.
He then goes over to a sewer grate and places the green car onto it. The guy's name is Tommy Chow (I believe his first run name was Fu Manchow who is voiced by Anderson Wong who was only around for four roles besides this show: A Pup Named Scooby Doo, The Real Ghostbusters as Chicoloni, Postsworth & Co., and the movie Ferngully: The Last Rainforest as Rock. Needless to say; this is his only DTVA appearance.) and he calls out to his American nephew (I believe his Chinese or Korean nephew in the first run) Hu Yu (Jim Cummings) as he is a fat guy wearing all blue and in stereotypical Hong Kong-ish/Chinese gear. Funny how they re-dubbed the episode; but didn't reanimate Hu Yu to make him look American instead of being a Chinese stereotype. This might have worked in the 1930's with TaleSpin; but it is trouble even in 1990. Tommy wants Hu Yu to put the cereal back into the box and Hu Yu bails into the room to get a spoon. Chip deduces that they are taking the cars out of the cereal and Dale is not amused and runs in because he's a pissed off chipmunk stereotype. Chip runs after him along with the other Rangers as we cut back to Tommy pulling a rope (WRONG ROPE!) and we just add water. Dale and company drop onto the sewer grate in perfect position for the drowning water to create the whirlpool effect and drive the Rangers to hang on via a human ladder chain spot. Monty calls this another invention down the drain. Something tells me that line was re-dubbed because it isn't funny either.
So we cut back to the model car and it turns into a big car. Sorry; but I don't see how cool it is to turn little cars into big cars. Of course this gives Henry The Inkara something to steal in Mommy For A Day. Cue stereotype giggle as we cut to the sewer grate as everyone helps Monty up. Monty wants answers to this as Chip wants to get to the bottom of this and considering that he points at the grate; that is something I do not personally want to know. So we cut back to Tommy as Hu Yu walks in with a parcel. Tommy opens it and it reveal a....fortune cookie?! Now why wasn't this reanimated or re-dubbed into something non racist?! Tommy opens the fortune cookie and it claims: This re-dubbed episode is more racist than it was when it first aired. Okay it doesn't say anything as it's a message from DA Boss who is Chow Ming (some RR sites have him as Chow Li) as he orders Hu Yu and Tommy to drop everything including the shovel (so much for the spoon reference.) and leave at once. Hu Yu was shoveling cereal into a box by the way as they fit into the green car (with Hu Yu looking like a cartoon cube) as Tommy cracks his knuckles to annoy me. He also crumbles the message that way and it lands on Chip's head just as Chip wants to know what that message was about. Dale proclaims that Chip was using his head and Chip finally bonks him on the head for it. HAHA!
That's the first funny spot of the episode nearly six minutes in. I'm suspecting a very long episode here. I'm suspecting C&D argument #5676 to ensue; but we cut to the green car starting it's engine and driving away as the chipmunks look on in disbelief. Damn you Edens; throw me a bone or something. Gadget grabs the crumbled paper and opens it. The fortune cookie actually states that they will take a long ocean voyage as Monty asks where. Gadget deduces that the parcel address is from headquarters in Hong Kong. Monty panics as the actual location is on Cat street which of course implies that the place is full of cats. I see Hong Kong has good tastes after all. Gadget then does her usual Gadget Trick of Doom to bring out a blue pencil (the same one used to redub this episode. How symbolic is that?!) She writes Return to Sender because that will allow them to mail themselves back to Hong Kong as Monty stammers and basically begs for mercy because there are cats in Hong Kong. I just love it when Monty squirms like that and I hope this happens for the rest of the episode because so far this episode is dull and boring. Monty calls this a violation of postal regulations and Gadget gleefully calls Monty out on being afraid of Hong Kong. Monty blows her off and stammers while doing it. HAHA! He makes excuses about food; so Dale runs in with a box of Puffy Wuffies and trips on the fortune paper and causes another wave of cereal to engulf the babyfaces. HAHA! The babyfaces pop from the carnage and give Dale the mean stare as Dale can only shrug his shoulders.
So we go to the scene changer as a white airplane touches down on a runway which the pavement looks like cheap cardboard. We then cut to the airport outside as the parcel with Return to Sender on it is on the conveyer belt and we cut to inside as the Rangers are dining on Puffy Wuffies of course. Except for Chip as Dale proclaims that this is the only way to travel which makes sense if you are a rodent. That leads to some bumping as we see the truck use some nasty spring action to load the boxes into a Asian Stereotype sailboat. This is the reason why re-dubbing the episode makes zero sense: The visual stereotypes are still there in full bloom for everyone to see. Even more obvious: The Chinese soundtrack is still intact as we see Monty using a straw as a periscope and protests because they are being treated like junk mail. Oh sod off you Aussie Stereotype! It's not that bad as Gadget gleefully blows him off for missing an adventure. Monty proclaims that he would rather miss it if it means he gets his birthday back. So we go to another scene changer as we get a shot of the city of Hong Kong and then zoom into the mountain where Chow Import's Headquarters are. I swear to god that this angle was recycled for Feats of Clay. We then see a post man trying to look like a normal American postman; but the man keeps making him look like a stereotype. And he looks more like a stereotype when we see his face on the side shot as he approaches the doors and pushes the parcel through the door; and then does the LEAD GRIP KUNG FU ACTION KICK OF DOOM to stuff it into the house. Because all Hong Kong Postman know Kung Fu see. Again; as I said, redubbing the episode only made the episode less funny; but not less RACIST! We then see Hu Yu arrive as he proclaims to the boss that a package has arrived.
So we head inside the lab as Tommy and Chow Li (voiced by Robert Ito) who is the short stereotype wearing an all red suit and has the same greasy hair minus glasses as Tommy Chow are going gaga over their new laser gun. And I betcha they built it by themselves without a whiny dork to do it too; because as the stereotype goes; Asians are computer geniuses. Chow Li's face looks Japanese by the way; and he speaks in Broken English still and he has a cat which looks like a remodel from the Lady & The Tramp movie; or in To The Rescue Part Two. See; Chow Li is smuggling cars into America because he wants to avoid those nasty import fees and tariffs too. I know how you feel dear sir; those fees are a bitch to pay. Hu Yu enters in with the cereal parcel of doom and Chow gets pissed off because he was explaining his evil plot to Tommy Chow and he grabs onto Tommy's tie for good measure. Now why not re-dub THAT line guys?! That reeks of making them stereotypical Asian heels there guys. Hu Yu apologizes for it because he got a package today and the stereotype cat sniffs at it. Chow Li tells him to get lost and put the package on the desk and Hu Yu bows and sells it. Hu Yu puts the package on the conveniently placed table and walks away stage right.
That allows the cat to jump onto the table and sniff the package some more. We then cut to Li noticing Tommy on the floor on his back with his glasses torn up a bit as he wants to fire Hu Yu and then proceeds to go to the control panel to explain his addition to the INKARA MACHINE OF DOOM as he has problems pulling the red lever (WRONG LEVER!) but does as we get a sequence of yellow lighting in the machine (that P&L syndication had cut due to time) and the yellow laser nails the red car and it turns big. See; Li believes that Americans love cars; but hate the environment, having cash and parking spaces. Tommy questions about the car shrinking while wet and Li blows him off because they will never be in a washing machine. Li has never heard of that invention called an automated car wash in his life. We then cut to the Rangers inside as Chip calls this crime bigger than he thought it would be. Monty peeps through the straw periscope and sees the last thing he wants to see which is that damn stereotypical Chinese cat. Geez; Monty is swearing in DUBBED AUSSIE STYLE in almost every sentence thus far. The cat takes the parcel and shakes it as the Rangers are not feeling what being a sock in a washing machine feels like. The cat puts it down and makes the parcel his new scratching post. Tommy notices the cat being stupid as Li takes the package and claims that the cat is wanting some kitty treat made from an ancient birds nest as the Rangers panic because Li is about to open the package for the prize inside and that ends the segment nine and a half minutes in. Well; this is better than Zipper Come Home thus far; but it's just as dull and the only notable thing is the stereotyping that the redub failed to take out.
After the commercial break; we find out that the cat's name is Genghis Khan as Li rubs his finger underneath the chin of Khan on the table. Dale wonders what is good to eat and Gadget gleefully corrects him as we cut back to Li magically growing his small finger a claw like finger nail (Okay; this is getting silly now) and he cuts the string holding the package. It goes through the package and poke Monty right in the belly. HAHA! That's the second good spot of the episode by the way. Li cuts the package with his fingernail as Chip has an idea as he finds some Made In Hong Kong stickers (Ooops there heels!) and tells the Rangers to tie them to their necks. Li opens the package and we see the Rangers acting like dolls. HEE HEE! Li thinks that they are for the toy department and they are stuffed toys. He grabs Dale and squeezes him like a toy. HAHA! Li thinks these toys are not cute (BOO! HISS!) and wants the art department fired as he plops Dale back into the cereal box. He places the box on the table; so Khan gets his perverted paws on Gadget and there is nothing...Oh wait; Li chokes Khan by the neck and blows him off. I see even Li knows about gimmick infringement. HAHA! Khan plops Gadget back into the box of course and then Li takes the Puffy Wuffies from inside the box and stuffs Khan's face with it. I hope those aren't chocolate stuffed Wuffies or Khan is going to need a stomach pump before this episode is over. Khan gets dropped on his seat as Tommy places Li on his feet and tells Tommy to take the box to the toy department and that ends the Youtube video at 10:22.
After the Youtube break; we head to the toy factory as they are making stuffed bears. Now why hasn't How It's Made made a segment out of this yet?! We cut down to the conveyer belt with wooden blocks as Hu Yu empties the box of fake stuffed Rangers onto it and walks away. We get a long sequence of train engine making from wood with two knives and automation as Gadget points out. The Rangers bail stage right to dodge the kindling knives and they jump onto the army solider figure conveyer belt to waste more time. That leads to everyone going into the packing machine and some bad screaming and warnings from Zipper which end up with the Rangers standing like soldiers wearing solider gear (and using weapons that would be black balled from American Toy Stores. A white shirted blue pan fat guy grabs the Ranger Soldiers and puts them into a red storage truck as he calls for Fred to drive away as he closes the storage truck back and the truck drives away from the steel gate and onto the road. The red truck drives into town as we cut to the storage trunk and see Dale using his dagger rifle to cut a hole into the plastic covering and allowing the Solider Rangers to walk out. I still cannot take Dale seriously in that outfit either.
Gadget comes out with the bazooka as Dale plays around wanting a few good chipmunks. Chip runs in and bonks Dale on the helmet and oversells the pain and suffering of breaking his hand. TOTAL MARKUP CITY FOR THAT SPOT! It's about damn time Dale found the counter to that one. Too bad he'll probably lose it in the end. Dale giggles like a chipmunk on that one as Monty tries the door; but it's stuck, DUH! Monty does like this because he doesn't have to go to Catstreet and deal with that evil racist cat. Gadget notices the bazooka and thinks that will work; but Monty believes that it's a waste of time. Having Monty around is a waste of time too. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm...Gadget actually fires her bazooka (!!!) and it causes a hole in the door about a foot wide. Gadget gets off the first golly of the episode after 11 and a half minutes of golly free action. Yeap; life like indeed as a smear to prevent kids from playing toys (funny since you have to sell those toys to get back the investment made on the free television series). We see the Rangers jumping out of the truck onto the road. It's now BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as Chip somehow went from his fedora hat to wearing the army hat and makeup. Chip wants to sneak back in AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) and Monty doesn't like that one bit because he hates Catstreet see. All the Rangers except for Monty exit stage left as Monty stammers like a scalded mouse. HAHA!
So we head inside the real China Town as the Rangers have ditched the army gear and go down the stone steps as Gadget wonders if Monty is all right. Yes Gadget love; he's all right. He just has a phobia to cats which is normal for an Aussie Stereotype such as himself. Monty stammers and suffers some more for my pleasure and then sees a picture of two evil cats on a sign and then runs away like a scalded mouse. HAHA! Gadget calls it a galloping influenza. Ah; no Gadget love, Monty is scared to death about cats unless it involves Mr. Fat. Dale wants to go after him; but Chip doesn't have any time and the other Rangers exit stage left as Gadget thinks he's scared to go into Catstreet. NO?! REALLY?! Dale thinks he's just playing around as we see some shifty blue cats eyes in the shadows that disappear and then we cut to an alleyway as a cat uses his tail to nail a bong hammer right onto the gong and Gadget wonders what was that. Chip thinks it's a dinner bell; which would be accurate if he wasn't in Hong Kong. Something tells me that line was re-dubbed too.
Dale wonders what is for dinner as we see them near the conveniently placed basket as a cat wearing a stereotypical hat who looks like an adult version of Boots pop from the basket and is joined by more cats in offensive hats. The Rangers back up and bail which leads to the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE OFFENSIVE STEREOTYPICAL CATS EDITION~! They manage to get to Chow Imports' headquarters as Chip orders everyone to go into the mail slot; but Dale tries a headbutt ; but misses the mail slot by about a foot. Great bump from Dale there as Dale rubs his head. Chip and Gadget gather their bearings and Zipper flies through the mail slot. Chip wants a rope as the cats with offensive hats slowly stalk the Rangers. We then cut to inside with Zipper as he looks around the place. Zipper finds what appears to be a dog collar (the fact that it's attached to the cat's neck adds more evidence to that theory) and throws it through the mail slot. The Rangers climb up and go into the mail slot as the cats all bump into the door with decent bumps to the face. Dale breathes a sigh of relief and hopes to never see another cat again; and thus shimmies over to butt faces with the Tramp Cat. HAHA! Everyone wishes for high gear reverse as Zipper takes the collar as the Rangers drop to the ground and Zipper ties the cat's mouth up. The Ranger bail and climb up the desk using the telephone wires as the cat tries to untie itself and bite again. Chip wants to hide inside the Chinese Cage and they do as the cat approaches the desk.
So we cut to the Rangers inside what Gadget discovers is a cricket cage. She knows this because there is a Chinese cricket chirping and sleeping. Gadget wants the cricket to shut up; but the Chinese cricket no sells it as we see the cat leaping up onto the desk. The cat sees the cricket cage and thus before it can get any good; we go to the scene changer to a Cantonese restaurant complete with Chinese Dragon drawing and the whole setting feels like a Hollywood back lot. We then pan southeast to a makeshift opening as the rodents get a Pekinese restaurant. We cut to inside as we now see dogs in offensive hats eating bones inside as Monty sits down at the bar and sulks as usual. The Chinese purple fan above acts like air conditioning as Monty drinks from a bar glass. He wants some more cheese sauce from the bartender who is a shaggy dog with a rope on his tail and looks like an Asian Stereotype which is par for the course in this episode. He pours cheese sauce into the glass and gives it to Monty as he calls Monty out on his mouse problems. I'm guessing either Anderson Wong or Robert Ito here as Monty blows the Sauce Keeper off because Monty NEVER has problems. Geez; he is in complete denial and in more ways than one.
The barkeep reminds him that he has been hitting the cheese sauce hard which is codeword meaning that he is drinking a lot of cheese flavored alcohol tonight. Don't you just love it when the offensive Asian stereotype seems more enlightened about the situation than the Aussie Stereotype is? Monty admits that he's basically scared of going into Catstreet due to an incident that happened years ago. The barkeep proclaims that he should get back up; but Monty blows him off because he's not on a bicycle and he's scared. And he's swearing like an Outback Sailor to boot. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! The barkeep relates his uncle saying that only fear itself is for he to fear and Monty blows him off and the barkeep yells him off because Monty is a coward. Nice to see a stereotype tell Monty off on television eh?! Monty drops on his ass and gets off the first too right of the episode nearly 15 minutes in. Monty just walks away stage left in sorrow as we cut back to the desk as the cat stalks and circles the cricket cage of doom. The cat picks up the cage and the cricket jumps out of the air holes just as the cat opens the cage. We see the Rangers piled in a corner as we cut to an FPS shot of the cat pushing his paw towards them and that ends the segment nearly 15 and a half minutes in.
After the commercial break; we continue with more forced paw action from the cat as Chip wants a police dog and sadly Plato is retired as the cat misses grabbing them as the chipmunks embrace. That looks mighty awkward for some reason. Gadget orders Zipper to find Monty as Zipper salutes her and flies out of the cricket cage through the holes as the cat plays around with the cage for fun. The cat finally grabs the Rangers as Zipper flies through the mail slot just in time for the Rangers to yell hurry to him. Zipper flies around town and through Catstreet as he flies past Monty drooping and sulking as Monty asks Zipper if he's going somewhere. Zipper gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY and notices Monty and they play Zipper mime for a while before Monty stammers again hoping for someone else. Heh. Zipper calls him out and Monty finally realizes that he must go through Catstreet because then he cannot be Super Mouse see. So he goes back into the bar and steals the purple fan the dog barkeep tied a rope to and snaps the rope and causes the dog to take a wussy bump onto the floor.
So we go down CatStreet Alley (basically it's like Cat Alley; only in Hong Kong I guess) as it is way too quiet to be healthy for Monty. Judging by Monty; at least he gets it as they go down the stone steps and we continue on walking. Monty decides to try his luck and they run. That of course leads to the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE STEREOTYPE ON STEREOTYPE EDITION~! We get pouncing, eating Chinese Boots (EWWWWWW!) and missing as Monty is liking this; until the gong cat gives Monty the chance to gong himself. HAHA! Monty gets dizzy as Zipper panics while the cats surround him; so Monty counters with opening his only fan which happens to have a pit bull dog on it. Now of course you would think that cats were smarter not to fall for such an obvious trick; but Monty is Super Mouse and so the cats sell and scatter in various directions. Monty calls them scared cats (HA!) as the sewer hole opens and there are three sets of cat eyes peeping at them as Zipper notices them and tries to plead to Monty to run; but Monty doesn't sell...for about three seconds as the three remaining cats (the smart ones) surround Monty with their “cat jack” as the American cat with hat on demonstrates. Monty gets cat jacked and he flies into the air proclaiming that it's much worse than he remembered. Geez; I wonder why you Aussie Stereotype.....and where Monty lands; I hope it's in some cat's mouth for dinner. I check the Youtube video.....Almost; as one cat gets squashed by Chinese Garfield Cat; but the Dog Fan of Doom gives him a hand glider to use. So close Edens, so close and yet so far. That leads to the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE DOG FAN EDITION~!
So we return to the office as the cat pours soy sauce all over the Rangers stuffed in a bowl of rice. Chip pleads for the cat not to eat them because they are out of season. If only Chip, if only. The cat no sells as he has his chop sticks set to profits and plucks Chip from the bowl. Well; that makes sense since Chip is the least over guy of the trio in the bowl right now. Chip is screwed as Gadget declares that Monty didn't make it in time as Monty flies in through the mail slot with Zipper and Monty blows her off and stuffs his only real fan right in the cat's mouth as the cat takes a decent off-screen bump. I just knew Monty would show disrespect to the only fan who loved him. Let that be fair warning to the fans of the Jonas Brothers; it will happen to you because love sure damn hurts. Everyone bails as the cat shreds the only fan of Monty's and trashes the desk some more for fun as he tries to go into the car storage area; but smashes into the glass door. I know this because it makes a glass crack spot in the car when the cat hits it's head. OUCH! That is going to leave a mark. On the stereotypical cat.
The cat slams the glass doors open as I discover that this is the show room for Chow Imports as we see the Rangers in the back of the trunk of a car doing the human ladder chain spot for my amusement. That leads to Gadget and Monty exchanging words on what is more troublesome and they slam the glass trunk which allows the cat to become like a bug on my freaking windshield (God bless Kenny Blankenship!). He slides down in the convenient place of the tailpipe as Hu Yu starts the engines on the car which is blue now and the cat gets smoked! HAHA! Man; Hu Yu lost some weight to fit into that car somehow. So we drive around the cargo hold to waste some more time and he knocks over some boxes for fun and lost profits. He drives it over to the area where the laser beam is as we meet Tommy and Li Chow once again. We then cut to the Rangers in the trunk as Gadget proclaims that something big is going to happen. Well; that pretty much gives away the finish in advance doesn't it?!
So we head to the control panel as Hu Yu is using himself as a stepping stone for Li to pull on the levers (WRONG LEVERS!) while Tommy does absolutely nothing....AND THE ROCK SEZS NOTHING! The laser beams shoot out pink laser (WHAT THE HELL? They were YELLOW when we first saw them using the laser earlier) as the cat goes to the trunk of the car and the car enlarges and we see the first big logic break of the episode as the blue regular car turns into a red hot rod. WHAT THE HELL WERE THE ANIMATORS SMOKING THERE?! The trunk opens and now the Rangers are much bigger than said cat; so the cat bails stage right. The Rangers get out of the trunk and wonder if anything has changed. The Rangers turn around and we pan west to discover that the Rangers are about the same size as the human heels. Monty likes this sizing up and rubs his fist; but Zipper won't let him. Good; even Zipper realizes the damage this Aussie Stereotype has made in this series. Naturally, Tommy and Li hide behind the big, fat dumb muscle Hu Yu (RACIST COWARDS!) and Hu must deal with Z-Grade sized Zipper now.
Sadly; Hu tries to run away so Zipper kicks him right in the ass to assist him. HAHA! Everyone gets into the car with Li driving, Tommy being the front seat driver and Hu Yu being the back seat driver of course. Tommy wants him to put the Pedal To The Metal (So they are already advertising for the upcoming Roger Rabbit short I see.) as we cut to Gadget at the control panel as she invokes the levers (WRONG LEVERS!) and invokes the pink laser beam of doom which shrinks the car and the heels. The car drives away and comes face to face with the cat that is bigger than a house. And the Asian accent is obvious here as Li tries to drive away; but is forced to go high gear reverse. That leads to the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE HOUSE CAT EDITION~! They go out of sight and out of mind as Gadget turns the laser onto itself and it shrinks. Oookkkkkayyyyyy. Chip then asks how they are getting home and Dale proclaims that they will mail themselves in a box of Puffy Wuffies; which of course is too small for them right now as Dale demonstrates. Gadget proclaims that they will need to shrink themselves to normal size; so Monty invokes the pail of water on the Rangers and they shrink. The Ranger tell Monty that he would have to do it to himself as well; but Monty doesn't want to because he has some unfinished business to take care with. And if you cannot tell what happens next; you have no business reading this rant.
So we go back to Catstreet as the cats are sleeping and the gong bongs and of course it's Monty using the Cat Gonger as a beating stick. Now this is taking Super Mouse to it's vast extremes as the cats wake up; go over to see Gong Cat walk out with ringing of the head and Monty steps up; rolls up his sleeves, we get the off-screen fight as Monty squashes all the cats in short order and causes chaos and destruction of bagpipes I do believe. Damn; even Chinese Boots doesn't get spared as he does a Christian Prayer on-screen before Monty grabs him by the tail and brings him back off-screen. I would have loved this scene a lot more if Monty was a wimp Aussie Stereotype; but they didn't write him as such during the series; so there you go. Monty naturally walks out without a scratch as we head to Junior's house as Junior is happy to get a new box of Puffy Wuffies to eat. We head inside the dining room as Junior (with dorky haircut) pour the box into the cereal bowl and then pours some brown sugar over them as we see the Rangers pop up from the bowl and walk away with the boy looking confused. By the way; you can clearly tell it's the re-dub because Monty originally was supposed to say that they traveled all the way from China and not 15th class like he states here. Dale's rant on the cereal is downright hilarious as he tells Junior he can keep the toy surprise too. Junior calls out to mother about the strangeness of the cereal and the mother blows him off. Junior just shrugs his shoulders and pours milk on the cereal with the red toy car inside and we go off-screen to see the mother in full profile with puffy blond hair doing laundry as the car destroys the table and she goes inside as Junior whines in front of the big ass toy car because he wanted a decoder ring and that ends the episode at 21:16. I'm guessing that the heels were wiped clean from the final scene since it's the same red car that was shrunk by the Rangers. Solid storyline; but it wasn't funny and it didn't wipe the stereotypes away as most of them were visually there for all to see. At least the Monty/Cat angle was amusing and when that carries an episode; that's a bad sign. Call it ** (40%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; the infamous episode is in the books and it might be even less enlightening than the original syndication run. Here's the obvious problem with the re-dubbing of this episode: None of the scenes were reanimated to get rid of the Asian Stereotypes that sometimes makes an episode more offense than the dialog. For all the name changes and dialog changes; most of the heels are still Asian Stereotypes (Hu Yu the most so; Tommy the least) and much of the scenes still reek of the stereotypes. I don't understand why they didn't just blackball the episode and then reinstate it on DVD like I saw with Lost Horizon which in my view is probably the most racist of them all (and that one had a classy first half and then once Baloo came back; the Chinese Pandas invaded Cape Suzette and committed terror that would have made this episode blush) and even worse; was a much better episode as well (in spite of the WildCat teleportating scene). Otherwise; the episode was solid with only one gaping logic break near the finish and a decent ending. Plus the Monty/Cat battles were good enough and the rest was pretty boring and dull. I'm sure the original run was more funny; but I'm not sure if it would have helped the episode's quality much to get it over ****. Next up is the grand finale with three episodes remaining; A Fly In The Ointment, A Chorus Crime and They Shoot Dogs, Don't They? One Zipper focus episode, One Monty focused episode and Two episodes featuring Norton and two featuring a new character; Canina LeFur. Oh goody! So......
Thumbs down for this episode and I'll see you next time.