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 web master has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.

Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the web master and no one else. The web master 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.

A Touch Of Glass Re-Rant

Reviewed: 05/09/2010
Additional Commentary: 09/12/2021

This Seems to Be A Recurring Theme for early Rebecca episodes.

Original Airdate: 05/13/1990 (Disney Channel); 10/05/1990 (Syndication); Episode #24 (Volume #1, Disc #3); Episode #4 (Production Order).

A Touch Of Glass Notes
A Touch Of Glass Transcript

Well; we begin with the debut of two elements into TaleSpin lore. The first is the DTVA debut of Louie L'Amour as a character and a debut for one of the most amazing writers in the history of DTVA. She has been a driving force in what makes TaleSpin so special to many of it's fans and this episode might just be her weakest one of the episodes that she wrote. (2015 Gregory Weagle Says: This is the first of sixteen episodes without Kit Cloudkicker making an appearance and the only one on the Disney Channel previews; which is not really surprising considering that Kit was the one that got the execs to take notice. A Fuel Dollars More as Louie's debut would make more sense; which would have Kit in it during the preview in all episodes; plus it wouldn't change the Louie/Rebecca dramatic at all since this would build up to this episode. That's just me of course. I'll explain about Kit's absence a little later on. Anyhow; the plot of this episode is: Rebecca wants to cater to rich customers at the expense of everyone else and she hates Louie L'Amour because he's a piece of matted fur. That is way too generous. Anyhow; she caters to two rich folks in which Rebecca offers to give the SeaDuck if anything happens to the bag of jewels the rich folks are carrying. This leads to complications until they make it to Louie's and then it all goes downhill from there.) Let's rant on shall we....?!

This episode is written by Libby Hinson. The story is edited by Jymn Magon. Maybe one of the four best writers I have ever seen in DTVA; Libby Hinson debuted in TaleSpin here and she would go on to write two of the three best episodes in TaleSpin (Jolly Molly Christmas and Her Chance to Dream); and she has never got to that point since. (Probably because everyone just wants comedy and she's a pathos writer. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I would walk that one back after seeing her first Goof Troop episode which I thought was awesome.)) There are hints that Libby moved on to sound; but those rumors have not been confirmed. (I'm not too sure about those rumors being false since she is married to Rick Hinson who is a well known sound editor. There is an IMDB entry for Elizabeth Hinson that does sound editing from 1998 onwards; but I'm not certain that it's the same person.) (2016 Gregory Weagle Says: I checked Youtube and I can confirm from Libby's own account that Elizabeth Hinson and Libby Hinson are the same person. Which means in additional to her writing credits as Libby Hinson, she also has at least 12 Sound Department credits and at least one voice acting/editing credit to her resume. Those credits include sound editing for the Bratz television series, Polly World, Voltron: The Third Dimension and Butt-Ugly Martians among others. Her voice acting credit is actually a student film she worked on Joy & Mr. Wrong as Libby Schmeltzer, her birth name. Here's the links for Libby's introduction video and the entire student film segment.)

Scott Wolf claimed that Libby Hinson was the master of pathos of DTVA. I say: You are damn right Mr. Wolf. The animation is done by Sun Woo animation. Get used to it; Sun Woo appears in full force this time around. (You know what; outside of their spot blowing, Sun Woo was absolutely fine animating this show. Mainly because they didn't have to do wacky cartoony spots for the most part since the show is suppose to be grounded closer to reality. Sunwoo is pretty bland true; but much more solid than say Hanho Heung-Up or Wang Films. They are also the only main studio in this series to still have no one credited at all (Hanho has John Kim and Wang Films has Bunis Yang. Jade and Tama Pro are not major studios as they worked on six episodes combined. That we know about since Walt Disney Animation (Japan) Inc. could mean anything; and after reading the interview with Catherine Winder and seeing enough anime credits from the Anime News Network to make my eyes bleed, I think WD-Japan early on (at least) was a "pre-production" studio for the studios who they would sub-contract out; and Disney didn't realize that a "Key Animator" like Tadakatsu Yoshida was in this series is not the same as being an actual animator and so the credits were a bit misleading. I realize some are going to quote some law preventing this; but Disney has screwed up credits before (see Darkwing Duck where they switched the credits for Twitching Channels and My Valentine Ghoul.), so forgive me if I'm not buying that. )

We begin this one with a left pan shot of Higher...For...Hire with a seagull screeching and a windsock fluttering which is pretty impressive for being the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM. We head inside the office as Rebecca has come out with a tray of goodies from the closet and puts it on her desk and proclaims that it is perfect. There is a knock on the door and she asks him to come in. Which turns out to be a big mistake as a stinky patched up rhino furry in blue pants, brown coat and a brown hat with red tie comes in with the biggest sack of fertilizer you will EVER SEE in a DTVA cartoon. Now I realize where Yvon of the Yukon's poo jokes come from. (You know what is funny about TaleSpin: TaleSpin started the poop jokes the moment Wildcat shook Rebecca's hand in Plunder and Lightning Part 2 after WildCat was fixing the sewer pipes and had all that poop on his hands. The difference between then and now is: No one saw this coming out of Disney and it embarrassed Rebecca in it's own way. That's what makes it funny (and the fact that WildCat is legit funny). Now; cartoons do it way too many times -- all the time to boot -- and it's no longer funny because no one is embarrassed and even when they are, we all see it coming a mile away. That's why we're better off without fart jokes until the writers realize that throwing five hundred jokes into a cartoon and expecting everyone to laugh at them is the true sign of a hack writer. David Wise got blacklisted for far less offenses than many modern cartoons. Nepotism: The secret weapon against equality and quality.) Rebecca is predictably overwhelmed by the smell of the fumes (who wouldn't be) and tells him to go away as the flies are buzzing around and most of them are shown. This really shows how absurd Darkwing Duck was in Stressed to Kill animation wise. (Geez 2010 me; that's pretty harsh. Chargeman Ken would make the fly look like a meat grinder or something.)

The rhino fertilizer salesman drops his big sack on the ground and states that he heard that she ships stuff and he has some "Grade A" fertilizer. Well; most fertilizer is made from manure and rotted corpses; so this is good enough I suppose. (Because it makes sense. See; this is where a poop joke makes perfect sense.) Rebecca walks out and shoves the rhino furry out the door with a pretty good bump on his ass outside. She's expecting important people and this is a high class operation see. The rhino guy blows her off and is taking his business elsewhere. Rebecca throws the sack out with the same bump in kind and blows him off again. She slams the door good and calls him a peasant. I see she's being a Detroit Disease manager today. Rebecca walks to her desk and here comes Baloo storming in as he blows off Rebecca for insulting poor Fred. I didn't know the salesman even HAD a name. (Tell me about it; I thought Finance Minister LaFong didn't have a first name until I saw the storyboards Tim Val Hal provided in Whistlestop Jackson, Legend. The name is Erwin by the way.) The manure salesperson known as Fred is voiced by Danny Mann and he worked on Inside Out; which is the PIXAR film where every girl has the same look more or less; while the boys have unique looks. So Vince Russo-ish of them. (Jeepers; that's nothing compared to someone trying to convince us that Sadness and Joy were terrible role models for children (because Sadness was not the fashion plate and Joy was not the sad sack was basically their argument because it didn't conform with reality. Problem is; it is often reality. You might be entitled to your own opinion. Heck; the facts might mirror your opinion; but you have no right to your own reality. Reality hates that and you'll pay the price for it.). There are a lot of reasons the Stars suck; but their beatdown on that critic is not one of those reasons.)

Rebecca then realizes who was sending the contacts and she blows him off for sending an awful man asking why that doesn't surprise her. So what is Kit's excuse then Miss Cunningham? At least poor Fred was just a salesman with bad body odour. Kit is an ex-terrorist for goodness sakes. Then again; projection is one massive weapon in TaleSpin. (Very true. It's difficult to defend either Baloo nor Rebecca because they both act like jerks when the writers feel like they must. When is this show going to learn that kids want one dimensional stereotypes because they just want comedy. It says so in my "Exec Science Handbook" and that handbook is law, see!) Baloo then invokes Iwata Successful Business Sales Law #1: You don't make money by shooing customers away. Funny how that works since in Plunder and Lightning; he couldn't get any customers to save his life since his place was messy and shooing customers away. I see the myopia has transferred to Rebecca now from Baloo. (Yup. This actually makes Rebecca look justifed once again.) Baloo's eyes were wide open on that like he was pissed off for some reason. Gilbert seems to be listening to the "don't act" part of cartoons. (Ginny McSwain when she looks up the term voice acting: It's called "voice _acting_". So act as if you are acting in a theater. Everyone else when they look like the term "voice acting": It's called "_voice_ acting" so make up a funny voice and read from the script. Geez; I don't understand how this difference leads to terrible voice acting in other shows.) Rebecca blows him off because Fred looks like a bum. So what is Kit's excuse again Rebecca?! (Please remember that Rebecca is supposed to respect Kit a lot more than Baloo in the series; because Kit is actually a responsible person with people skills.) Baloo counters with the moral of the episode nearly two minutes in which is not a good sign in most cartoons. You want to wait until fifteen minutes in before you do that.

(Actually; saying the moral two minutes into this show is a great idea since it means the show is focused on making a point. However; it has been done so many times and it's always too predictable since they drive the moral into the ground rather than tease the probability that it might be a bad moral and then show that it's a good one. That's usually why morals are considered bad and really, who can blame the poor children for thinking that?) Also, the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH will not help the moral any in this case, Pop-A-Bear. (I think the mocking word of Poppa Bear (or Papa Bear as Disney Captions puts it) explains itself nicely. Think "Build-A-Bear" and you're almost there.) Baloo then proclaims that Fred was worth $500,000. Rebecca then swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE ("Now who's full of fertilizer?" which is a nice way of saying Baloo is full of shit.) and as much as she has myopia here; I have to agree with her. Fred might be worth $100,000, but Baloo's amount is extreme hyperbole at best. (Yeah; even $250,000 is pushing it. Granted, that's a lot of scratch he is worth even on a low-balled basis, but seriously. Baloo needs to learn to actually keep his figures up to date because then Rebecca would look like the jerk that everyone thinks she is. Considering that Libby Hinson is writing this, I doubt it.) Baloo accuses her of being too hung up on appearances. HA! Now watch the hypocrisy unfold when Baloo project his own faults onto Rebecca throughout this episode. Baloo sits down and sees a large photograph of appears to be foreshadowing for Her Chance To Dream which Baloo blows off as Rebecca's gym teacher. Nah Baloo; she didn't have a gym teacher back in her schooling. That is her manicure teacher. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW!! OUCH! Ummm... (Yeah; you deserved that punch in the face for that bigoted comment there 2010 Me!)

Anyhow; Baloo then accuses her of stealing the picture of Louie. Umm; Baloo, she took it down because she OWNS the property now. And worse; you JUST notice that now?! Full of shitindeed, Miss Cunningham. Rebecca states that she was tired of looking at that crude pile of matted fur. Again; so what is Kit's excuse then? POW! OUCH! HEY...(By the way; Rebecca does have some justification for not liking Louie at this point since the comic book "Louie's Ristorante" was treated as Rebecca's first appearance at Louie's. Needless to say; she saw the chaos and hated it. So A Touch Of Glass would be Rebecca's second appearance at Louie's. Bobbi Weiss deserves as many props as Libby Hinson does, but in a different way as Bobbi actually did a great job in writing stories that explained the television series nicely. Like for example; here with why Rebecca doesn't like Louie. While the television series treated TaleSpin like an episodic series; the comics treated it like a serial series. Sadly; a combination of apathy from execs (stop if you heard this excuse before...) and the implosion of the comics (more of the former than the later in this case...) fell TaleSpin low and it's a damn shame since the comics did address many of the plots the television series was dishing out.) We then see a wastepaper basket which contains the picture of Louie with Baloo together as Baloo calls Louie his friend see. Rebecca calls him a slob and she doesn't like slobs see. So she's merely tolerating Baloo then?! Makes perfect sense to me since one of TaleSpin biggest strengths is having characters being torn betweening multiple moral decisions. (Plus; there is a certain trait of pilots being sexist douchebags. More on that in Feminine Air.) Rebecca goes to her desk and pulls from the drawers (NOT THOSE ONES!) a picture and proclaims that she's after the rich folks now. Baloo asks her how she is getting rich folks to hire them.

Interesting Moment #1: Rebecca shows the magazine to two open pages and it shows an ad of Higher For Hire: "Fly Butts (WHAT?) U.S". Can someone get a better look at this; because that doesn't sound right for some reason. U.S.: Probably means Usland although an extra L would have helped matters much. Anyhow; the ad looks really impressive with the saluting and everything. This is Kit's only appearance in the episode and he is wearing pants and apparently they did some editing to make sure he was only slightly shorter (about six inches or less) than Rebecca (Kit is usually about two feet shorter than Rebecca is.). Okay; we zoom in and it's "Fly With Us". Did I mention that the bears in the ad looked stoned on the zoom in shot? Baloo reads it as "Fly the affluent skies with Higher For Hire". He must be reading some sort of fine print that is invisible to my eyes. Otherwise; that is a logic break two and a half minutes in.

(I don't understand why Kit was not in this episode outside of the poster (it's not like Alan Roberts has done more than ten episodes of TaleSpin or anything). However; there are a number of episodes where it would be best if Kit Cloudkicker wasn't involved. Someone on TaleSpin Animation Source wrote an extensive article on how this user would book Kit in the 16 episodes that he wasn't in; forgeting a number of things: (1.) Seven of those episodes are written in such a way that with some editing in certain episodes, they could take place BEFORE Baloo met Kit. Six of those episodes would be impossible to write Kit into the script from the start and For Whom The Bell Klangs would only work if Kit was one of Klang's minions (In fact; one of the minions is Kit's size.) (2.) Kit is voiced by a real child and it's too expensive to hire a third child to do the remaining nine or so episodes where Kit could be part of the episode. There is one episode where Kit might have been planned; but wasn't. I'll explain the episode when I get to it. Anyhow for this episode; I would book Kit as the navigator and Baloo would tell him to stay in the plane to make sure nothing happens to it. Then nightfall occurs and Muffy comes out to sabotage the engine which wakes up Kit. Kit notices something is amiss and then we go off-screen to show Buffy coming up from behind (all in shadows mind you.) to whack Kit in the back of the head with a wrench to knock him out. Then they tie him up and gag him into the back where he's not found until Louie and Rebecca enter the stolen plane. Also; at the end when Buffy gets thrown into the back, we hear a loud punch sound (this would occur after Rebecca punches Muffy's lights out, but before Rebecca and Louie slap skin) and Kit comes out feeling his hand as he knocked Buffy out to get his revenge for knocking him out with the wrench earlier. Also would have been a great lead in to The Idol Rich in fact.)

Rebecca then gets all pissy for some reason and walks away as Baloo starts demanding how much did the ritzy magazine ad cost (his words; not mine). We then go over to the filing cabient of doom as Rebecca counters with Business Rule #12: "You have to spend money to make money." (And guess who stole that line to screw Kit over in Double Or Nothing? Answer: Baloo Von Bruinwald XIII.) and then she opens the bottom door and flings it to make sure that it does some MOLLY VIOLENCE (ALL HAIL!) on Baloo's knee. HAHA! Now THAT'S more like it! (ALL HAIL!) Baloo sells like mad as Rebecca puts the ad in the cabient and shuts the door stating that she spent $500 on the ad and Baloo gets on her case about it. She tells Baloo to relax (It's only a mesely $500 Baloo; get over yourself please) as the knocking on the door beckons and Rebecca finally yells at "Fred" to take his manure and go away. Sure; it isn't shit or even crap; but it's still a form of poop so I approve. (Hey; if you are going to not allow them to say crap or sh*t on national television, poop/manure works very well in a pinch. Heck; fertilizer was great here because Fred was in fact selling it.) The door opens and we get our guest couple walking in. Both are foxes wearing high class gear. The male fox is wearing a dark green sweater and red pant; while the female is wearing a blue dress. (And she looks like a douchard dog with matchstick legs that make Cruella's look beefy in comparison.) And the door opens the same way as the last episode did. The male fox apologizes because he has no manure. He holds his nose in disgust as Rebecca catches herself and meant to say instead of manure was bonjour. Sorry Miss Cunningham; but TaleSpin has two French dubs. You are not fooling anyone. (You fooled yourself there 2010 Me. There is only one French dub, Super Baloo. Looping is the same dub with a different French dubbed opening for Canadian content law reasons. Begs the question: Why doesn't this apply to the English version?)

The couple introduce themselves as Buffy and Muffy Vanderschmeer according to Disney Caption (which makes the heelish name sounds slightly less heelish since TaleSpin fans have been calling them the Vanderschemes for years. So Disney Captions is four for five in terms of coming up with better names than the fans. (That streak will come to an end with Wily Pole being Wily Paul in A Bad Reflection On You Part One.)). I should point out that Buffy seems to call Muffy Muffin here despite Baloo still calls her Muffy when he is confused by the rhyming promos. (Again; for those who complain about turd sounding names in Breadwinners, Johnny Test and Fanboy & Chum Chum , here's a prime example of this: Muffy basically is slang in the land down under for licking or smelling of a vagina. I swear that this is what The Urban Dictionary showed me. UGH! Buffy has a unisex name like Kit, although it means a white, well dressed cheerleader in the same The Urban Dictionary.) Muffy is voiced by the late Linda Gary (So among the cast so far; we have our second death along with Edmund Gilbert. Sadly; more are to come. I'm not counting the crew here.) and Buffy is voiced by Frank "2^nd Voice Overlord only to Mel Blanc" Welker. (I'm pretty sure Frank Welker has far surpassed Blanc at this point of his career and he's still going on strong. Freddy Jones is a long term character man.) Frank Welker also has the achievement of having made the most money in the movie industry, although to be fair; he was in more than double the amount of movies (90) than his competition and also being tied for most apperances in the Agony Booth with four with Frederic Downs. (I am certain he has more than 1000+ productions on his official resume and he's already surpassed the "man of 1004 holds/voices" threshold even with the low-balled figures. Frank Welker is everywhere and it's because he does animal vocals. Lots of animals.)

Buffy proclaims that he saw their ad and Rebecca blows Baloo off on that one. Baloo has zero defense for that one. Rebecca brings the duo to the desk introducing her company and name as we get a cute spot where logic break #2 occurs as we find two magically placed waste paper basket as he kicks them and the duo sit down right on cue when the baskets are under their butts. Not good logic break; good spot though. (The spot execution was great, the logic was wonky.) Rebecca asks how she can serve them and Buffy states that they need to take Muffy's grandmother diamonds to the family compound at Hyenasport (a play on Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.) Sign #1 that these people are heels: the use of the word compound (Although the kids won't get it so it's perfectly fine) and asks if it's doable. Baloo calls it a toughy while being sarcastic. Can you smell the projection coming out of Baloo; or do I have to spell it out for you? (I should note that I re-spelled toughie as toughy for a really good reason because it's the running gag for this episode.) Rebecca blows him off and offers to help them. Muffy seems pleased and her grandmother jewels are very valuable. Funny since they were supposed to be just diamonds; however, diamonds are still considered jewels, so it's all right. Muffy asks if they are insured and Baloo gets on her case on that because they are professionals see. See; this is why I side with Rebecca most of the time: Baloo just told her that she shouldn't judge a bankbook by it's cover and here's Baloo judging two rich folks for asking otherwise honest questions about the company. Remember; projection means that a person projects his faults onto others. (Yeah; and only sexism prevents idiots from connecting the dots here.) Rebecca pushes Baloo away to have a talk to him. Rebecca takes Baloo to the closet door and tells Baloo that they have no insurance and Baloo claims that they do. See, Rebecca took the $500 of insurance policy to pay for the ad. Now who would have just $500 insurance in a policy for something like a business?! (Yes folks; Rebecca Cunningham canceled the insurance claim just to pay for the ad. I don't know what Usland laws says about insurance, but in real life; I think that it might be illegal not to have insurance. I'll have to check this out to make sure.)

Now storyline wise; it makes sense since it's plausible that this is early on in the career of the company; but it's not very realistic otherwise. (Do I have to play the chimera card out again to point out that realism is out the window?) Rebecca tells Baloo to be quiet (despite Rebecca speaking up normally the whole time) and shoves him into the closet and locks the door. That is not a good mental image for anyone to have considering what today's world has become Miss Cunningham. Rebecca goes to the desk and explains that she has the latest in new fangled insurance called collateral insurance. Buffy asks how this would work and Rebecca shows them the DEED OF DEATH of the SeaDuck. They get the title to the plane when they take off; if the diamonds are delivered on time without then being stolen; Higher..For...Hire gets the title back. If they get stolen; the duo gets the title outright. (Actually; all she says is that if anything bad happens to the diamonds they get the SeaDuck outright. On time is not one of the stips.) Baloo is NOT happy with this development at all as he tries to get the door open but it's locked for some reason. That was one awesome door slamming from Miss Cunningham. The Vanderscheemers shake hands on the deal and want to leave today at around 3:30ish. Rebecca calls it fineish and shakes hands back to seal the deal and make Baloo more panicky than ever. Buffy calls this splenidish and waves goodbye as the duo walks out without further rhyming. (There was a lot of "-ish" puns in this sequence that John Enter might have a stroke over it. Or maybe not.) Rebecca turns around and sees Baloo exit by destroying the entire door in the process. (There's another one that coming out of Baloo's paycheque.) Cute bump too there as Baloo asks how she could do that to his plane. Rebecca walks up the stairs towards the bedroom area reminding Baloo that she owns the plane (Which is correct according to the end of Plunder and Lightning.) and she is willing to take risks as needed.

Baloo tries to ask if something goes wrong and she ignores him as she is going up to refresh and wants to meet back to Baloo at 3:30. She also wants Baloo to re-paint the plane and Baloo calls her mind out to lunch on that one, basically. Rebecca then realizes that paint doesn't dry fast; so she orders him to wash it at least. HAHA! She slams the bedroom door as Baloo looks like he got owned there. (He certainly did because Baloo doesn't trust Buffy and Muffy right from the start. Again; it's difficult to defend Baloo and hate Rebecca when Baloo is taking the low road instead of the high road and letting the two get under his skin. Of course, this still works because Baloo is a manchild to begin with. Just remember this old farts; Bullwinkle and Baloo have pioneered this concept for decades now. The modern writers know this even in spite of the fact that they don't know how to write these type of characters properly without looking like a hack.) So we finally get the scene changer (at nearly five and a half minutes in) as we head to the red doors side of the office as Rebecca runs out with the PICNIC BASKET OF YOGIS (Because that what all stereotypical bears do in a cartoon; grab picnic baskets from unsuspecting victims in a national park.) and makes it to the edge of the docks with her purse. And then she blows off Baloo for his shirt and looking like a slob. We see Baloo cleaning the SeaDuck countering that he is a slob. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Remember that one for another episode (My Fair Baloo everyone.) as Rebecca has the Gruffi pose on full blast and asks how he expects them to impress Muffy and Buffy. Baloo gleefully answers that one for her: he flies the plane. He throws the cloth into the bucket in a spot Sun Woo gets right. I should point out that Sun Woo got progressly worse in future series and I have a theory on this that I will share in my article on Sunwoo later on Livejournal. (Sunwoo Animation actually got a lot better later on with new technology and new committments; but the 1990's was a dark time for the studio. Which is understandable considering how green they were when they were animating for DTVA.)

Baloo proclaims that it doesn't matter how he looks as we see Buffy and Muffy walking towards Rebecca. I see Muffy has changed her belt to a more red striped buckle with a white leather strap. No logic break; just odd. (Well; when they cameod in later episodes (Spoiler Alert!) they often changed their clothes. It's a nice little touch to show that even TaleSpin characters can go with different outfit.) Muffy thinks that this will be a marvelous flight and Rebecca proclaims that they will do their best as Buffy calls this jolly good. Rebecca notices the doctor's bag Buffy is carrying and asks if the jewels are there and Buffy gets somewhat defensive about it before saying that it is (Sign #2 of them being heels.). He opens it up and we see sparkly colored diamonds with a glow trim, a trademark of Sunwoo special effects. Rebecca is in awe before the doctor's bag is closed as Buffy wants to leave into the wild blue yonder and all that stuff as he does the hur-hur laugh to annoy me. Baloo then walks up the ladder and wants the MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH. Rebecca yells at him and Baloo proclaims that they are rich and they should pay them now. So Buffy gives them a check for five hundred dollars and Baloo is left holding the picnic basket. HAHA! Baloo drops it in disgust as Baloo tells them to come aboard and hopes the trip is not too roughy and Rebecca blows him off as enoughy. She orders him to get the damn bags and has had enough of this rhyming business. Cannot say I blame her. (Which is hilarious considering what she said after she punched Muffy in the face and knocked her out cold. More on that later.) So we see Baloo on the docks grabbing the bags and blowing off Rebecca under her breath and then he throws it into the side door and we get a MAN-SIZED bump off-screen as Muffy actually gets nailed with the luggage. Again; male on female contact is allowed as long as it is off-screen according to BS&P. (Which they would violate in Vowel Play when Detective Thursday shoved a woman away on screen.)

Muffy blows him off as a dumb ox. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. And then she catches herself and talks in a more polite way. That would be an obvious sign #3 that these rich folks are fakes; but I doubt that and she doesn't want to get MURDERED by the dumb ox. POW! OUCH! Ummm... See what I mean? Baloo scratches him head over that one in disgust. So we head into the skies with lots of clouds as we see in the cockpit Baloo piloting the plane while Rebecca is making sandwiches. See; Rebecca can do female stuff too. She's no Feminazi guys. (She's not even a Feminist per se. She's just a good character and that's all that matters; as long as the writers don't make her look too weak. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Nice Godwinning the episode there 2010 me.)) Baloo proclaims that he doesn't think Muffy and Buffy are as classy as they look. I love the fog effects here the window which is a rare nice touch I don't often see in DTVA. Even the old stuff. Rebecca does some more French (au contraire) and calls him a dumb bear. HA! Rebecca calls them rich, refined and educated. Funny logic break: Rebecca is buttering bread; but we don't see the butter on them even when she places the bread onto the sandwhich pile. Rebecca even claims that they wear smart clothes too. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: There are such things as "smart clothes" in the same vein as "smart phones". It only serves to show how not smart the person using it.) Baloo tries to grab the sandwhich on the plate; but Rebecca smacks the hand away. Baloo sells it and proclaims that smart clothes do not make smart people. (That's perfectly fair; but Baloo is not the one who should be saying that.) Rebecca grabs the tray and walks to the cargo hold telling Baloo to be nice because if this works they will tell their rich friends see. (Rebecca knows Business Rule #18: Word of mouth is often free PR, costs them nothing and it pisses off the haters.)

So we see Buffy sitting in the right hand side of the seat and he wants to see the pilot and Rebecca doesn't mind at all. Of course Disney Caption left out some of Buffy's dialog as we see Buffy waltzs in and greet Baloo. Oh; this should be good. Baloo jumps into the navigational seat as Buffy (The SeaDuck Slayer - might as well put the joke in and get it over with.) wants a look see. Baloo states he's better if he doesn't and Buffy proclaims that he knows nothing about aviation; but he always wanted to dabble in it. Buffy tries to pull the lever (JESUS~!); but Baloo tries to stop him grabbing his hand. The intercom voice of Rebecca yells at Baloo to be nice. (Which is hilarious projection on Rebecca's part; but then again, Orders Of Maginatude say Baloo is the projector in this outfit.) Buffy calls this so entertaining and he wants to fly it just once in his life. We then cut to an open window as Muffy is looking out with the doctor's bag waxing to Rebecca how it is such a beautiful day. She wanted to open a window and Rebecca lets her. That allows Baloo to storm in and yell at Muffy to shut the window. Like I said earlier; it gets harder and harder to see Rebecca as a jerk after twenty years of watching this. (Much, much harder after twenty five years.) See Baloo doesn't want to risk losing the plane if the jewels somehow fall out. Rebecca pushes Baloo aside and tells him not to worry and Baloo panics because the pantywaist known as Buffy wants to fly the damn plane. Rebecca tells him to let Buffy fly the plane. What could possibly go wrong? And just as she sezs that; we fly into the air as green beach balls and bananas fly with the cargo. (A beach ball huh? Wonder if one exec saw this and thought: Let's re-release those DVD sets; but put in a beach ball instead of actual extras of the show since TaleSpin showed an actual beach ball (and we hate spending money). Like I said before; never underestimate the level of moronicness from execs.) Nice animation from Sun Woo though as we see Buffy in the cockpit at the control proclaiming that this is amusing.

We get some flying sequences as Baloo storms in and grabs Buffy and throws him onto the navigational seat. He sits in the driver's seat and Baloo blows them off for driving him nuts. As if Kit's past doesn't do that to most people Pop-A-Bear?! And just on the next shot we hear Muffy screaming that her jewels have fallen out of the plane. Well; at least we can blame Buffy for that one. Baloo panics as we see the doctor's bag falling down the skies as Baloo dives down and yells at Buffy to keep his hands to himself and Buffy rises his hands up. What?! Buffy didn't do anything really and it seems Buffy has been used to having problems with the police if you catch my drift. (Wink! Wink! Nudge! Nudge!) Baloo runs to the back of the plane and does the throw out spot in the cargo boxes ala Wuzzles as the plane goes into a dive as Baloo actually finds his pogo stick. HAHA! (Capcom Executive: I saw a pogostick from this show and Kit rode on in that Christmas episode; so let's make a game where the bonus stage is Kit bouncing on the pogostick and gaining bonus items and money. It'll sell millions. Never mind those wonky shooter mechanics or the fact Baloo shouldn't have guns on his person to begin with; this is money BABEE. Considering that the highest selling DTVA game on NES was Ducktales at 1.67 million units, TaleSpin probably did barely a million units. (2020 Gregory Weagle says: I saw Capcom's Million Unit Sellers, TaleSpin was not one of them. There is a video about the TaleSpin video game I might rant on in future, and it was as rushed as the series was. No surprise there.)) Baloo comments about it and throws it away as we continue with more diving and Wuzzles throwing until Baloo sezs "Eureka (7)" because he has found the BUTTERFLY NET OF FAIRY KILLING DEATH (See Fairly Oddparents for the precendent. It's a Federator thing, don't ask.) and runs back into the cockpit (without any logic break I might add) and jumps into the pilot's chair and turns west on the stick. The SeaDuck turns west towards the doctor's bag as Rebecca runs in and begs Baloo to pull up.

Baloo no sells because it's all or nothing on the dive shot as Baloo times his net and grabs the doctor's bag about seven feet from the water (Eureka 7 indeed!) and then hyperboles the SeaDuck into the air to easily get the doctor's bag into the plane. Buffy praises Baloo's flying skills; so Baloo rewards him by throwing the doctor's bag with a nasty bump right into the chest of Buffy. And with diamonds around; that shot had to smart. Baloo yells at him to hang onto the doctor's bag. Buffy agrees to that at least and runs back into the cargo hold as Rebecca threatens to fire him for talking to him that way; but since he saved the doctor's bag; she thanks him anyway. However; Baloo is more concerned about this being quite odd for the bag to fall at the moment the plane tipped. Rebecca thinks Baloo is accusing them of trying to lose the jewels and laughs that suggestion off. (Yeah; because Rebecca was WITH Muffy the entire time and there was NO indication that she lost the jewels on purpose. So Rebecca's reaction is justified here too.) Baloo tells the gang to get their seatbelts because they are now stopping at Louie's and Rebecca doesn't like that at all and that ends the segment nine and a half minutes in. Pretty average compared to the first two episodes I have seen thus far. (Then again; I love Kit focused episodes more than these anyway.)

After the commercial break; we head to that island in the South Seas; Louie's. (As said from the episode Ransom Of The Red Chimp.) We pan down and cut to the dock area as Baloo comes out of the Duck as he tells the airplane mechanic (A monkey wearing mostly blue with a blue bowtie and white hat – voiced by Danny Mann.) to fill the airplane with oil of course. The airplane mechanic (Called Pal by Baloo.) tips the hat as Baloo walks stage left as Buffy and Muffy come out and call the place quiant while looking at the magically appearing airplanes in the right side of the docks. (They were not there on the far shot for logic break #4 for the episode nearly ten minutes in. (Sunwoo sometimes does not know what it's doing.).) We get the pan shot of Baloo's ass as he walks towards Louie's as Rebecca steps in front of them and states that she doubt that it would be to their tastes. Muffy and Buffy have this evil look on their faces and they call the place peachy (as Muffy is pumpkin now to Buffy) and wants to go inside. The duo walk stage left as Rebecca follows because this could be fun. And now we enter Louie's as someone is having a contest to see if he can eat a bowl of food without his hands (quite frankly a lot classier than most modern cartoons in terms of grossout spots. (Mostly because they done fart jokes so much without rhyme nor reason because they think children are morons.)) and a monkey in a blue vest with striped blue shirt fighting with a bear in a Guy LaDouche shirt over a wooden chair. (Huh, he looks like the one that 90's Adventure Bear was modeled off from Pickle & Peanut. Very amusing.) The ADR loop watermelon noises are in the background (my guess is all the male voices who did this episode; or one of the story editors). Baloo and the Vanders walk in and Muffy calls this all charming. Baloo agrees with her on THAT one too. We then go to a shot of a outlook post as Louie comes out with box of lemons (to make lemonade; just like what life throws at thee) and drops them as he calls Baloo crazy. Well; Kit isn't around so Baloo will have to do. POW! OUCH! HEY...

He swings from the vine (well; his place is build around a tree) as Rebecca tells Baloo to tell Louie to mind his manners or she will break his neck. Wow; 4Kids would have that dialog changed in a heartbeat. Breaking necks is a no-no in Al Khan's world see. Even if you say that you might do so. Baloo chuckles on that one as Louie swings down onto a wooden table and it doesn't break sadly. (I AM THE TABLE~! Go watch Botchamania 275 to hear the TaleSpin theme while seeing two dudes wrestling and trying to break the broken table into atoms at the rate they were going, along with other 1980's and 1990's cartoon theme songs.) They slap skin and point at each other as Baloo is asking Louie that Rebecca has some fancy pants clients that mean a lot to Rebecca so he wants Louie to be on his best behavior. This is not going to end well for Baloo; I assure thee. Louie agrees to it and points at the duo as Baloo introduces them. Louie asks which is which. Well; Muffy is a female name; so Buffy is the fox on the left by default (since Buffy is a unisex name obviously. No wonder Louie was confused; he's pretty sexist in his own right.) . Louie introduces them and shakes with his arms and feet. Get used to it; this is the classest he gets when it comes to manner. Louie digs the chapeau and comes Buffy, Joe; which Rebecca calls Louie, Lou. (Hell of a subtle way to imply that Louie doesn't think Buffy can be a man's name. Kind of like that troll on Respectful Insolance who thinks calling a girl Chris is being in the wrong body; only Louie is a lot more subtle than this troll.) Baloo steps in saying that Louie is just being friendly. I don't think shaking someone's hand with your foot (more so Muffy's) is considered friendly nor healthy. (In real life; not very plausible. To be fair; Grubby from Teddy Ruxpin sometimes does it too.) Then Louie notices Rebecca and gets all perverty about it (Might as well do the "end in y" thing myself.) and kisses her hand. Rebecca doesn't want to stay; but Louie pulls Rebecca away to the best table in the house.

He actually reserves it for headhunters which shows just how disturbed TaleSpin writers can be. (Well; Len Smith on DAFRadio did claim that Libby Hinson had a wacky woman's prespective on life, so this must be one of those moments. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: We haven't even got a whiff of the Themebrians yet, and this show is only mildly messed up, outside of the excessive amount of firearms and deadly weapons.) We go to the scene changer as the GOOFS WITH ATTITUDE PLUS RICH FOLKS sitting down at the wooden table as Louie pours a pitcher of water into glasses. Muffy then notices that one of the forks is dirty and it looks like the peanut butter monster was eating with it too. Louie takes the fork and blows on it (while sounding like he's gagging) and wipes it on the side of his bare ass. Oh my goodness; that was sickening to watch. Not as sickening as what is in store in Pizza Pie In The Sky. (I seem to be the only critic in this world who isn't blind enough not to see this spot being done in old cartoons. Again; too many of these jokes are the problem; not the concept itself because if it was the concept itself, then shows like this would have to be condemned too.) Louie throws the forks onto the table and walks off stage left to do some business as Buffy calls him disgusting. Yeah; he could be the anthro version of Barf from You Cannot Do That On Television (I'm Canadian, and that show was the pioneer of fart jokes and grossout humor.). Muffy looks almost ready to throw up and if she watched Mr. Whiskers smelling his feet; then I concur with her. (The foot fetish is usually not funny unless it's tickling Kit's feet.) As bad as Louie gets; Mr. Whiskers is a lot worse. Baloo does the Gruffi pose and sarcastically calls them out for calling Louie too scruffy. Muffy gets up and decides to leave to get freshen up as she walks stage right and Buffy follows her since he doesn't want to leave her alone with the ruffins in this place. Rebecca then gets on Baloo's case with the shirt pulling and gets out this gem:

Rebecca: Baloo; I'm going insane and I'm taking you with me!

Baloo insists that Louie is on his best behavior. As I said; this is not going to end well for Baloo nor Louie as we cut to outside as the airplane mechance is sleeping in his lawn chair on the job as it is AFTER HAPPY HOUR (After dark) already. We then see a shadow figure sabotaging the SeaDuck's left wing and it's clear that it's Muffy (check the hat and the height; I'm not fooled guys. (This is where bad artwork actually would have come in handy as a tease.). Muffy takes out an engine part on the close shot and we then go to a far shot of Louie's as we cut back to inside at the table as Muffy returns and gasps because someone wrote something in the restroom. Sadly; we will never find out which indicates that someone wrote a swear word that will not be repeated on this show or rant (Although Baloo should know about F-bombs a little since he slipped one in Plunder and Lightning Part Four. (I'm guessing it reads "FUCK THIS SHIT!"; which is the attitude of every one in Feature when it comes to DTVA in general.)) as Rebecca asks when they would like to leave. Buffy states that he wants to go yesterday as Rebecca looks around and sees her purse is missing. That's weird because the last time we saw the purse; it was in the plane. Rebecca crawls onto the ground and panics because it's stolen and wants Baloo to do something. Baloo is confused as Buffy tells him to talk to Louie because he's unsavory and it's his place as Muffy clutches on the doctor's bag tight. Rebecca proclaims that Buffy is right and wants Baloo to confront his "friend" (Scare quotes from Rebecca, I see. Funny since Louie is supposed to be Baloo's best friend in storyline, although I guess Rebecca considered Kit to be Baloo's best friend. Huh. That kind of puts a damper on "Baloo is Kit's father" theory from a number of fans.) and Baloo decides to agree to it as we head inside Louie's office which looks cleaner than Baloo's Air Service was. HA! The word has an orange crescent moon on it as Louie is sitting down in chair with his feet on the desk humming and reading just to get Al Khan's blood pressure up.

On the close up when Baloo comes in, the moon is smaller with a weird ring around it. Louie asks what Louie can do for Baloo. Baloo slowly explains that Rebecca is bent out of shape and Louie proclaims that her shape looks straight like to old Louie. Wow; Louie shows that he hasn't lost his clear cut sexism act that's for sure. Baloo hates to ask him about the purse and Louie swings over and thinks that he stole it more or less. Baloo nods and Louie swings down to the floor and talks about being friends and best buddies for a long time. In this world; they are best buddies. In the Disney Jungle Book; they are merely there to annoy each other. Louie goes over to a picture (black & white of course) of Baloo and Louie and rubs it as he knows everyone here. They are rough around the edges and they are not crooks either. Of course Richard Nixon said he wasn't and we know how that one ended too. (Remember this for later because I'll be referring to it at the climax.) Baloo shrugs his shoulders and tells Louie to keep his eyes peeled. Louie tells him to count on it. However; Baloo notices something in the boxes and he fishes it out to reveal that it is Rebecca's purse. Louie tells him to plug his bass and states that one of the waiters must have found it. Baloo thanks him for saving his skin which is funny since I didn't see Rebecca carrying the purse inside to Louie's. (Yeah; this sounds like Louie did in fact steal it since he seemed so into it with Rebecca when he was leering at him. By the way; and granted Louie didn't go nearly as far as Sway Sway did in Love Loaf from Breadwinners when it comes to his leechery on Jenney Quackles; but still, what about calling the cops here too? I mean; he's stalking Rebecca and might be stealing her stuff. Granted, no date rape drug...ERRR...I mean love potion...ERRR...I mean love loaf was involved, but COME ON! At least don't ignore it you old farts!) Louie closes the door and tells him to dig it later. Baloo walks in and proclaims that he got the purse back and Rebecca calls him wonderful.

Baloo proclaims that it was in Louie's office and Muffy proclaims that Louie is a beastly man and he stole it. Woah there lady; that is overkill. You had me at beast. She pounds her fist as Baloo blows her off for suggesting that he stole it. You know; if Baloo would have just said that one of the waiters found it (as Louie states that is what happened) then maybe Muffy wouldn't have copped such an attitude. (Yeah; Baloo is a dumb ox, what a surprise?) Buffy wants to get the hell out since the diamonds are at risk of being stolen if they stay a moment longer. Rebecca agrees because Louie is a sleazy, low life jerk.

Rebecca Hater: BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Projection much there Miss Cunningham?! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Irony. It never dies. It just revives the zombified corpse.)

Baloo blows that one off claiming that Rebecca is no better than Louie is. I have to disagree with you on that Pop-A-Bear. Rebecca is a better executed character than Louie. Just because Louie is a former funny racial character in Jungle Book doesn't mean that he is on par with Miss Cunningham. He's also a sexist too, so that more points to Rebecca there. (TESTIFY~! Again to the people who think Miss Cunningham is a jerk: Why is she a jerk? Answer that question that makes sense! You won't because you cannot defend your attitude without letting your sexist freak flag fly! GOD!) Nice animation of the fan light by Sun Woo by the way as Rebecca blows him off and just wants to get the hell out of here. So we get some owls howling as the GOOFS WITH ATTITUDE PLUS RICH KIDS are at the SeaDuck and they notice that the monkey attendent is checking the left wing of the plane as he informs them that the plane is filled. Baloo takes this as good news and wants to leave. The gas attendent tells him the bad news (Disney Captions misses Rebecca's "what?" by the way. (Disney Caption misses dialogue a lot because they write according to a script rather than actually listening to the audio and making sure they know who is voicing who.)) that the plane is sabotaged. You know; if they have just made Muffy about one foot shorter; than the audience would have to guess who it is. Here it's too obvious. Thankfully; the mechanic was asleep the whole time and the duo didn't make it so obvious when they left so it works out in this world even if we lose some heat from what the audience saw. (In other words; it still makes sense in storyline and the characters' reactions make sense even if the audience is screaming at them. Like I said before; audiences seem to expect the characters to be able to have psychic powers even when they don't have that as a character trait. Even a small child can see through this type of thinking.)

Buffy is confused as the mechanic clarifes that a plane part is missing and Muffy calls it a plot to steal the jewels. Somehow; that "it's a plot" means a lot more NOW than it did twenty years ago. I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader. (I think 2010 me meant that it means a lot more to conspiracy theorists in poisoning the well than it did twenty year years ago. Or he's talking about a conspiracy to bury TaleSpin by Michael Eisner again. Either one makes no sense now.) The mechanic leaves proclaiming that he'll work on it and should have it ready by morning. Baloo proclaims that it means that they have to spend the night at Louie's and Rebecca isn't thrilled for THAT to happen. Muffy doesn't like it either and she faints dead away allowing Buffy to grab her in response as Baloo gleefully sums Muffy up in a nutshell:

Baloo: Wouldn't she be great to take on a camping trip?!

So we go to another scene changer as the GOOFS WITH ATTITUDE PLUS RICH KIDS are sitting down at the wooden table as Louie is happy to have them as guests tonight. Louie gets a little too close for their liking as the duo is forced to huddle together. (Again; if Sway Sway did this, critics would be screaming for the police to be called. Oh wait; Sway Sway DID act like this; only it's was much more obvious. Critics; learn some naunce like I do and maybe you'll see those classic cartoons in a much different light. Doesn't mean they automatically suck now; but logic please!) Louie proclaims that he gave them the best rooms in the place. How sweet of him. NOT! Buffy isn't amused as Louie is more interested in going Goo-Goo-Gaga over Rebecca and her perm. (Oh come on guys! Fans of Lady Gaga are shocked by that joke on her?! Lady Gaga is instant fodder for the baby noise promo I cut here! I'm fine with her music and look; but come on, the name is a joke that writes itself.) Muffy blows Louie off since he said it thirty-two times already and walks off stage right. We continue on with Louie talking about her teeth (despite not seeing any from Rebecca) as Rebecca gleefully answers that one for me and Buffy drops on his ass as Louie goes gaga over Rebecca's pearl necklace which she is magically wearing now. Oh for crying out loud guys; this isn't Piratesy Under The Seas (although this episode is a lot more interesting than that one so it balances out. (She probably decided to wear it during the dance for entertainment purposes and was in her purse the entire time. It's not a logic break at all because I think she was wearing it before Louie saw it when this scene was shown.).) It's from the South Seas as Rebecca gets pissy on Baloo again. Louie tries to chase him but Baloo stops him. See the whole point of these scenes is to make Louie look like the thief later on instead of making him look like merely a sexist pig which is his real character in this show. (Instead; Louie turned out to be a thief and a leech. More on that later.)

Louie is dropped on the seat as Louie asks if she is cold and Baloo calls her frozen like a Thembrian icebox. I think Greg Skywinds might have something to say about that Pop-A-Bear. (Picture a romancized version of me with a sword, drop about 250 pounds of weight and having a blue hue in my skin as if I was dead, only not. And looks like a cross between a polar bear and Kimba the White Lion. That's Greg Skywinds. Granted; I've lightened up a lot since writing Terror Of TerraStone, but still that character was so corny.) Louie then gets inspired as he wants to warm things up. Louie stands on the table and calls out his posse (which are cats and catettes which would have worked if they were all cats; but it doesn't here sorry (Yeah; it should be "monkey and monkettes since they are mostly monkeys anyway. I'm guessing someone thought it was too racist to say. That wouldn't surprise me.)) as he wants to dedicate the next number to a close personal friend of his. And Muffy magically returns to her seat next to Buffy. There's logic break #5 for the episode 15 minutes in. By the way; it's Rebecca Cunningham who is getting the special musical tribute to her and Louie tells the mastero to hit the music as we play some Latin dance music to waste time. I cannot tell if this music is original music from Christopher L. Stone; or stock music Disney had. If anyone knows; please e-mail and tell me as Rebecca backs up calling him Lou. So Louie grabs Rebecca's hand and they DANCE, DANCE, DANCE TO THEIR DOOM. HEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA! Or just Rebecca's doom. Same thing basically. (Huh. Doesn't this ring a bell, critics?) Rebecca protests this outrage as they go to the front stage and the dancing commences. Rebecca gets spun around like a merri-go-around as we see a monkey eating a melon with a spoon at the front table. So Rebecca grabs the melon on the fourth revolution as the song closes with a dancing flourish and I betcha Louie gets his kisser MURDERED by the melon smashed in his face. I check the DVD....Damn; I'm good.

Wussy bump by Sun Woo made up by some awesome drunk punch selling from Louie. Everyone laughs on cue as Rebecca storms off stage left and Louie chuckles claiming that she likes him. I speak for everyone here when it comes to Rebecca: Only in your bubbly little sexist world, Louie L'Amour. Then he gets knocked on his face and drops on his midsection knocked silly. HAHA! (At least Rebecca has agency, so at least she let Louie know what she thought of him even if Louie doesn't get it. I don't have any faith in Jenny Quackles having any agency whatsoever because the writers there do not care.) So we cut to outside as Rebecca storms out of Louie in disgust as she will never forgive Baloo for bringing her here. Has she ever forgiven anyone for anything? Oh wait; next episode rant, my mistake. (In the critics' mind; forgiving Kit doesn't count because Rebecca actually likes Kit. The only way this makes sense without having a sexist attitude is if Kit is a girl and a tomboy at that; even more so than Molly and Rebecca combined! Although Kit really being a girl would have been great for this show, even though it makes Kit's relationship with the pirates even more dumbfounded.) Muffy, Buffy and Baloo follow as Muffy points out that Rebecca is missing her pearl necklace.

Rebecca gasps in horror over the stealing as Buffy proclaims that someone must have taken them. Baloo gulps thinking that it might be Louie as Muffy proclaims that he was admiring them at the dance off (She says dinner; but I know what it really was.). Buffy goes over the offenses Louie did as Baloo admits that Louie was dancing with her. Buffy reminds Baloo that if the diamonds get stolen; the SeaDuck goes to them outright. That's enough for Baloo to get pissed off and he wants to handle Louie or MURDER him. Pick one; it works out just the same as we head inside the office of Louie as Louie admires the melon that MURDERED his face looking drunk. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Louie L'Amour had zero shame whatsoever in that whole scene and he's surprised that he's been painted as the thief and a pervert right now?!) The door slams open and in comes an angry Pop-A-Bear waiting. Louie asks what is the pulse and Baloo grabs him by the shirt (but not the throat sadly which is interesting since Baloo got grabbed by the throat in Time Waits For No Bear.) as he accuses Louie of trying to make him lose his plane because Louie stole the purse and the pearl necklace. Louie struggles and complains about Baloo wrinklin' the silk which just makes his guilt even more possible now. Louie claims that he stole nothing and out pops onto the ground the pearl necklace as Louie wonders how that got there acting as if he still didn't steal it. That's a non-verbal cue to the real person behind this; but Baloo doesn't care as he grabs the pearls and admits that Rebecca was right about judging books by their cover. Baloo storms out to end the segment nearly sixteen and a half minutes in. I loved that dance scene by the way. (Again; remember that Louie was caught red-handed as stealing Rebecca's pearls and pretty much can admit to stealing her purse which might have contained the pearls.)

After the commercial break; we get a close shot of the Louie's sign and then pan northeast to one of the huts (the furtherest right one) as we cut inside to a bedroom (Which looks reasonable compared to most rooms at Louie's.) as Rebecca sits down on the bed. Baloo comes walking in and throws the pearls down next to Rebecca as Baloo proclaims that he will be guarding the jewels if she needs him. He also admits that he was wrong about Louie and she was right and just walks out. Rebecca grabs the jewels and apologizes to him. Wow; even I didn't expect her to say that. (I expected her to cut a promo about being right. Libby Hinson's influence is clearly showing and GOOD FOR HER! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: She was apologizing to Baloo for Baloo realizing who Louie really was and having his feelings hurt. She didn't have to apologize for anything, but she did it anyway. This is why I tear these things apart because y'all cherry pick a scene just to make a point that can be easily contradicted by other scenes. Don't tell me how to enjoy watching these productions.) After all the nasty stuff Louie did to her; she doesn't even cut a promo on him nor Baloo. Again; if she is such a bitch, why did she respond like that despite Baloo agreeing with her now and not mock Baloo for ever believing Louie was a friend?! (Again; sexism is the only answer that makes sense.) Maybe Rebecca must have felt bad for Baloo for finding out about his friend like that. It's classy of her; not the bitch that people claim her to be. (I hate you for using that toxic language; but sadly, it was needed to make the point that Rebecca really is a good person trying to make it through a man's world.) So we head outside the hut as Baloo makes me proud by carrying an actual pistol. I'm inclined to believe that this is a flare gun from Treasure of the Golden Suns; but that is only in theory though. (Probably not unless Tokyo Movie Shinsha was responsible for animating the props for the finished episode. (I'm not talking about the prop designer who originally designed it, I'm talking about the props that were animated into the finish product.))

Baloo paces around and proclaims that he'll light Louie's life with the flare gun if he shows up. Even if it's a flare gun; it's very dangerous if used as a weapon and might be deadly and scarring. 4Kids would have turned it into a water pistol easily. (Yes they would. Of a rattle from Shaman King; or even a hammer gun. Never mind that a hammer or a rattle can still do actual damage and is much, much easier to mimic than a gun!) (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Elmer Fudd's rifle was once changed into a sickle in a modern Bugs Bunny episode; which is fine because it doesn't matter what Elmer Fudd uses. Elmer Fudd sucks as a hunter anyway.) We go to a far shot of Louie's as Baloo proclaims that people just let him down on the voiceover which for Disney Channel fans watching the preview is foreshadowing towards the pilot episode that would air on said channel in September with a more awesome character than Louie ever was. (Geez; and the poor widdle character is 12 years old too.) So we cut to outside the hut as Baloo yawns and rests on the lawnchair to nod off. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Projection much there Pop-A-Bear? Baloo dozes off to sleep with the flare gun set to profit as he tosses and turns. Then it's morning as he has the flare gun pointing in the direction of the ocean (I hope it is.) as he is still asleep on the job. Muffy screams and that allows Baloo to panic and fire the flare gun right into the ceiling and fall out of the lawn chair as she screams that her jewels are stolen. Now that is class A acting from Linda Gary there. Joan Gerber can eat her heart out on that one. (I no longer blame Joan Gerber for her bad acting. I blame the voice director for confusing the phrase "voice acting" because Joan Gerber voiced Helga in this show and Joan Gerber's acting was much, much better there. Again; Ginny McSwain puts emphasis on the word "acting" in voice acting; while everyone else assumes the "voice" part and forgets the acting part altogether. That's why cartoon acting usually sucks.)

We head inside to the rhyming couple's bedroom as Muffy continues her grade A acting as she put them next to the bed last night and now they are gone. Baloo and Rebecca panic as Baloo checks the drawers and everything; but no dice. That of course is enough to terminate the deal as Buffy and Muffy walk out as Rebecca pleads for them not to go that they will get them back and she promises. Buffy blows her off for trying to apologize as Muffy basically blows her off for trusting in her because she saw the shabby little office. And of course; they get the deed to the SeaDuck as they point their noses into the air and leave. We cut back to Baloo as he checks the light bulb and finds nothing. (Because he's a dim bulb when it comes to business sense.) And then he hears the engines begin to roar and it's the SeaDuck as Baloo panics and runs out as we see Buffy in the pilot's seat (HA!) as he forgets to untie the plane from the pier (so the plane thing might be legit with him; good continuity there) as we cut to the sand dune as Rebecca pleads for Baloo to stop; but no dice as we see the SeaDuck take off with the rope still to the pier and Baloo jumps a buoey and a motorboat (a red flag one) towards the docks and somehow; the rope unties itself from the pier (So Buffy undid it after all for logic break #6 for the episode (How in the word is THAT a logic break? Anyone can untie a rope from the pier, it's not that hard.)) as Baloo grabs the rope in time; gets pulled into the sea and gets knocked out by the ocean buoy as Baloo is gonged. HAHA! (DING~!) Baloo lets go of the rope and apparently; fat floats a lot more in this world as Baloo hasn't sank to the bottom yet. We get a shot of the SeaDuck flying into the air and out of sight into the clouds. So we cut back to the dune next to Louie's as Louie makes the biggest mistake of them all by coming out asking about the ruckus. Rebecca turns around and invokes the WRAITH OF BECKEY on him as Louie tells her to unwind. You expect her to do that Louie? You haven't convinced anyone that you aren't the thief by a long shot.

The shadow Muffy thing could have been you on walkers for goodness sakes. Rebecca accuses him of being the thief as Louie calls her cupcake claiming that the rich snobs set him up and Rebecca gets all bitchy about it. (Can you blame her? Let's be blunt: Louie STOLE Rebecca's pearl necklace and probably her purse too. He was a leech throughout this entire episode and has demonstrated that Rebecca was right all along about him. The evidence is clear. Proclaiming that they set you up isn't going to cut it in a court of law! Oh, and let's use the genderized "cupcake" insult while we are at it too, Louis!) Louie asks if she had been paid and Rebecca pulls out the yellow check and the signature and payment amount is gone. Louie calls this the invisible ink trick. Wow; in the new Disney, that element would have been forgotten. (No kidding 2010 Me?!) Rebecca drops the check as Louie calls the rhyming duo a bunch of high rolling low lives. Rebecca cannot believe this as Louie's assistant (A monkey in banana yellow shirt – Danny Mann. (I believe he is named Waldo in A Jolly Molly Christmas.)) comes out with the doctor's bag and Louie opens it. He grabs a diamond and places it on a rock. And then he uses a huge stone to shatter the diamond. Problem is; diamonds cannot shatter with regular rocks and thus the diamonds are really glass (Hence the symbolism of the title.). Which makes sense since some of the jewels are colored (Watch the glass making segments on How It's Made for a demonstration. Diamonds typically aren't colored.) as Louie's assistant hands Louie a paper as Louie explains that he did some checking during the morning. We then discover that Muffy and Buffy are really insurance fraud collectors who commit fraud in order to claim the insurance money. It's the same scheme done on senior citizens and it is not only illegal; but downright vile. A little less vile on this case; but not different at all.

The wanted poster gives them away as Rebecca admits that Baloo was right from the start as they are phonies. Then she catches herself. Personally; I don't blame Rebecca for this one since even Baloo didn't think that they were frauds. Snobby yes; odd yes, but not frauds. Even the dumb ox comment wouldn't be stereotypical in these days for a rich folk either since rich folks usually are very harsh with their words. (See Scrooge McDuck in Ducktales, it's so obvious as an example.). So they committed the perfect crime basically and they are professional criminals. (What makes this even more convincing is the fact that none of this changes the fact that Louie did in fact steal Rebecca's necklace and purse because there was no indication that Buffy and Muffy were anywhere near Louie's office to begin with. Louie's leechery cost him Baloo's friendship with him and Buffy and Muffy took advantage of that fact. This is a case of a false equalivance logical fallacy: Sure; Louie stole a necklace and a purse. Those can be replaced rather easily. Replacing the SeaDuck is much, much harder; thus making Buffy and Muffy bigger crooks than Louie. This is where nuance writing makes a big difference and Libby Hinson is a BEAST when she's on her game in that department. She gets it. Most modern writers don't because they have it drilled in their heads that kids just want comedy at all costs. Never mind that the studies are neopist focus groups in nature instead of peer-reviewed studies in science.) Rebecca wants to apologize; but Louie is more concerned with helping her. Well; it makes sense since Louie likes her anyway. We head to the beach as Rebecca and Louie climb in as Rebecca tells Louie that there is no engine to the makeshift plane. Louie tells her not to worry as Louie's Assistant arrives with the motorboat which seems to have lost it's paint job in between scenes.

He wraps the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE on the front hook of the plane and we take off with Kit's Chase #2 theme. (It's amazing how I remember the names of musical pieces like this and then confuse a Pikmin song with Electroplanken for the Smash Brothers Direct review I wrote. I'm shocked no one on Nintgen noticed this error.) The makeshift plane flies into the air (and somehow loses it's tail wing in the process) as Louie proclaims that they are alone at last as Rebecca admits that she treated him really badly while her hair whips into the air. Rebecca couldn't get past his shaggy looks and she apologizes for making Baloo look bad. Louie forgives her because after all; love means never having to say you're sorry. (No; love means that two people care about each other and you cannot force love onto the other. Why is Sway Sway bashed and Louie given a free pass? Again; nuance is your friend people!) So we cut back to the SeaDuck as Muffy laughs it up over how dumb that Rebecca dame fell for it. Buffy tipe his cap off as he calls Louie a moronic monkey and his flying has actually improved since the beginning of the episode. (Indicating that he was lying about not knowing about flying all along; which makes sense now since they are heels and lying like that is natural.) Buffy and Muffy then notice the motorboat and the makeshift plane as we get the plane chase of doom which leads to the motorboat being headed straight for a small island as the assistant yells with a raspy voice to jump. Louie tells him to wait a little further and that leads to the assistant's boat jumping the island and getting caught in between the trees. Louie's assistant tells them to go get them and Louie and Rebecca open the side door to the right and hop in while Louie loses his straw hat in the process. So now we head to the cockpit shot from the outside (fog effects again) as Buffy calls them a bunch of bozos. Your hope chest is gone you rhyming fraudsters. I would call them hucksters too; but they aren't religious so the phrase doesn't quite work here. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I got the perfect term for you 2010 me: grifter. Grifters gotta grift you know.)

Rebecca gleefully blows it off as Rebecca and Louie block the entrance. Rebecca asks Louie if they want to begin the most hilarious beat down in Disney history and Louie nods. (Word of advice: Disney fights are beyond the pale hilarious because no one can take any of these characters seriously in being badasses. I'm just saying.) So we see Rebecca blitz Muffy and pull off her wig and white hat while Buffy gets swinged around by his head and neck which has got to do some serious damage to his neck. (OUCH!) Louie then throws him into the cargo hold with a MAN-SIZED bump as Louie wipes his hands clearly on that one. (And if I was ultimately booking this; Kit punches Buffy out here and comes out into the cockpit.) Muffy then shoves Rebecca and Rebecca actually takes a really good bump into the stick as the SeaDuck takes a nosedive from the far shot. We cut back to Louie panicking along with Rebecca as Louie jumps into the seat and does a side hyperbole to avoid the jagged mountain side island. (So yes; Louie does know how to fly an airplane. What a shocker?!) He straightens out the SeaDuck on the next cockpit shot as the catfight continues off-screen. (You know I should scream at 2010 Me at this, but...) And then we get it on-screen as no punches are thrown whatsoever as it's mostly clawing. So Louie ends the stupidty by invoking the BUTTERFLY NET OF FAIRY KILLING DEATH and knocks Muffy on her ass on the floor of the plane. Louie touches the top of her head and calls her out on her horrible manners. Muffy (who is clearly a cat and looks like Proud Heart now which means Buffy is a cat by proxy. (...since a cat is involved, a cat fight does make sense here. Remember that she has looked like a dauchard dog before this. Outside of the shading, she does look like Proudheart Cat from the Nelvana version of Care Bears. Amazing that 2010 me was accurate in that regard.)) then calls Louie a sleazy, low life jerk. (Uh-oh; those was fighting words there. I can sense Rebecca's phasers being set to "kill" now...)

Rebecca has had enough of her calling the wrong person a jerk in this outfit and she MURDERS Muffy with the POWER OF THE PUNCH off-screen. (Never mind that Louie stole Rebecca's stuff and was acting like a low life jerk earlier. Again; false equalivance rules the roost here.) OUCH! Louie CRINGED on that one in sympathy pain as Muffy has a black eye and has that look of "did I just get shot or something?". Muffy is knocked out as she falls to her back and Rebecca and Louie slap skin (as in the opening) as Rebecca comments on her eye. (The punchline for this is that "Muffy needs ice on that eye because it may get a little _puffy._" That's the payoff to the running gag with the toughy/enoughy stuff.) The amazing part is that Muffy is not dead and yet there are no breathing noises nor chest pumping to indicate that she is alive! I mention this because Saban often added groaning noises in their anime dubs. (Yeah; because no noise implies that Muffy is dead. Later episodes reveal that she is not dead though. Kind of like McSweats in Pickle & Peanut actually.) So we head back to Louie's as the plane has return to it's usual position as Rebecca tells Baloo (also known as flyboy) to wake up as we get a close shot of Baloo with bandages on the top of his head as he wakes up. Rebecca asks how he is feeling and Baloo proclaims that he had the worst dream in his life. He claims that he saw these snobby people who talk funny stole his plane. I see Baloo lost about a hundred brain cells after the bell dunking spot. Rebecca tells him that he wasn't dreaming; just brain damaged. SLAP! OUCH! Ummm.... (Yeah; that was pretty ablest on 2010 Me's part.)

Rebecca proclaims that her new pal got it back for him. Louie calls him Beckey baby as Baloo is so confused that now he is dreaming at this very moment. If only Poppa Bear, if only. Rebecca proclaims that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship and Louie is giddy that he takes Rebecca, spins her around and kisses her deeply on the cheek (seriously). Even though he is no longer shaggy; he is still a sexist twit. (Might as well be accurate here.) So Rebecca unhooks herself from him and shoves him into the water good. You have no one but youself to blame for that one Louie L'Amour. (Again; Sway Sway does this and the critics will be screaming for the police to come.) Rebecca wipes the kiss from her lips and cheek as she reconsiders that friendship to end the episode at 21:22. (Rebecca did appear at Louie's in On A Wing & A Bear and Last Horizons; so Rebecca did in fact get over her outright hatred of Louie L'Amour, even if it was a tiny bit of a mellowing out.) A well written episode with a lot of funny stuff from Louie; but the writers are going to have to be careful with Rebecca that it doesn't stoop to making Rebecca look uptight for no reason at all. Six logic breaks and a few Sun Woo blown spots dragged it down though. (Libby's writing was a bit sloppy; but it was her first solo effort and the seeds of brilliance from her were showing even then. The rating says as it is though I should be generous and add 1/2* for Libby's managing to write a convincing story and making us think that Louie really did steal the jewels.) Muffy's acting was top notch though. **** (80%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well; it didn't quite hold up to the previous rant I did with this episode; but it is still a thumbs up from me. There were quite a few logic breaks that annoyed me and Sunwoo did mistime some of the spots. Plus; as much as I stated before that I don't blame Rebecca for being such a jerk, I am concerned like Chris Barat is that the writers were going to forget why Rebecca was such a great character and just simply make her so uptight to the point of not being justified at all. (Kind of like a 1990's version of Flanderization of her character actually. Thank god that didn't happen. Sometimes having writers with differing views actually makes things better. Having the same values is great; but it works at it's best when those values ARE WORTH DEFENDING! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: There are such things as shitty scruples! It's not that hard to figure out.)) Thankfully; that only really happened once in the entire series and I will be ranting on it by next week. (The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink was the episode.) Otherwise; the episode was written pretty much as good as it was going to get as the whole “Is Louie the thief?” routine actually worked since Louie acted like a jerk through most of it to make it seem convincing. (And he in fact stole Rebecca's pearl necklace which was perfect to throw Baloo and Rebecca off the scent that the heels were frauds having turd sounding names. That's great writing actually.) Even though I knew it was Muffy behind the sabotage; it was only due to height and walkers could have been used. (Again; the audience knew, but it didn't matter because no one else saw it but us. That's fine. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Remember, that TaleSpin is a story, and smart audiences understand that it is a story.)) Louie was a riot although in a new light; he looked like a sexist pig with Rebecca during the dance sequence in the second act and at the ending. And it was only fitting that Rebecca can throw a really good punch for a Disney character and then show Louie his proper place in the food chain of characters at the end as well. Baloo was basically Baloo as much as I said that Baloo also acted like a jerk and at times was much worse than Rebecca ever was. Rebecca was merely uptight while Baloo sounded absolutely paranoid. So; Libby's weakest episode is still a good one from. (Now I look forward to Mommy For A Day when Libby really shows off her wacky worldviews.) Next up is Don Rosa's second and last script to be produced for television and my favorite episode in all of TaleSpin: It Came From Beneath the SeaDuck which is Molly's DTVA debut, Kit's first focus episode and lots of chaos and mayhem from an octopus that you swear might have been reincarnated from someone's past. Tons of fun! (In a nutshell: Kit getting buried by Molly Cunnngham never fails to make me laugh because Kit acts all tough and serious and Molly puts him in his place.) So....

Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you next time.

Back to TaleSpin Rants!
Return to the Rant Shack!
Return to the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage!