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The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink Re-Rant

Reviewed: 05/18/2010
Additional Commentary: 09/16/2021

Rebecca Haters Are In Their Dream World!

Original Airdate: 05/26/1990 (Disney Channel); 10/08/1990 (Syndication); Episode #25 (Volume #1, Disc #3); Episode #7 (Production Order).

The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink Notes
The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink Transcript

(2015 Gregory Weagle Says: I never truly understood why people think Rebecca is a total jerk because it's not like Baloo is any better in that department. Baloo comes off as difficult to work with as much as Rebecca does and Rebecca at least is trying to do her job. However; this episode was repeated in repeats for so long after it debuted because apparently, people thought it was funny to see Rebecca act like a psychopath. It wasn't. It only served to bring the worst out of Rebecca and turn her into just another stereotypical woman in a company that could ill afford anymore of them. Libby Hinson couldn't come fast enough for my liking.) After five straight thumbs up episodes (not including the three I gave for the multi-parters); I'm now staring at the defacto worst episode of the entire Disney Channel episode previews. I suspect that the streak will end here and in a way, it is due to the writer seeing Rebecca as a stereotypical jerk. (Making her look desperate would have been fine if she was justified in her behavior. She wasn't in this case. Speaking of streaks, this is the first episode where no guns were pulled out. YAY! It's a special day! ) While the previous episodes had her attitude somewhat justified (Kit's foolishness and being mother of Molly Cunningham, Baloo being irresponsible to the law and the business etc.); this episode throws the formula out the window and gives Rebecca at her lowest point. I'll explain more as we go on. (Here's the plot for this episode: Rebecca has a money making scheme to sell truffles after a previous business plan backfires; so she chooses a pig over a pantoon and goes to the Island Of Zibaldo to find truffles; only to find pgymites. Of course.) So let's rant on shall we...?!

This episode is written by Jermey Cushner. The story is edited by Mark Zaslove. So blame Jermey for the episode ultimately turning out the way it was. The animation is done by Wang Films animation. This will be the last animation supplemental until September. (Wang Films/Cuckoo Nest Studios was Sunwoo with motifs and different problems. Namely, logic breaks, shadowing animation done for cost cutting and having dozens of scene changers in a scene that you shouldn't have scene changers. Plus; the name...I don't need to explain that one. Say what you want about Sunwoo and their hilarious spot blowing; but at least the blandness works wonders for a show that is supposed to be grounded in reality.)

We begin this one near the coast of a barren wasteland (I'll give Jermey credit for at least not starting at Higher...For...Hire; as there is no STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM in this one and it has birds animated and even a lizard in the foreground swimming.) as Baloo (with an arrow in this pilot's cap) and Rebecca (in a safari outfit carrying white feathers) run away from billy goat anthros (wearing red capes and hats ) riding on ostriches. Wow; this episode is getting off to a thrilling, but wacky start at least. Amazing enough; when Rebecca states that she's running; Disney Captions thinks it's KIT saying it. (This seems to be a running joke for this episode and Volume one of the DVD set in general. One I don't find funny at all.) The feathers fly and the dust and wind whips around good. The running sequences are still pretty good as the arrows are being slinged. At least Cushner has enough sense to do an actual threatening scene in the first two minutes of an episode. (The problem with Cushner here is his attitude towards Rebecca and not his writing in general. He's merely average in terms of writing, however; there are far too many of those even in 1990.) Baloo jumps onto the rocks and into the water as he swims with Rebecca in tow towards the SeaDuck. Baloo throws Rebecca as Rebecca shouts that she's inning. HA! Rebecca does a cute spot of grabbing one of the feathers in mid-air before Baloo forces her back and slams the door. About ten arrows fire on the right side of the SeaDuck about ten seconds too late. Lousy shooters these Satan Ostrich Riders are. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POKE! OUCH! Ummm...Stupid arrow. (Well; that was different at least 2010 me.) Baloo starts the engines in rapid fire as Rebecca flys at him to fly and Baloo yells back that he's trying. The engines smoke a bit on the sequence; but they catch and we see the SeaDuck bounce on the water before going into the air (Wang somehow still keeps the CONTINUITY straight here.).

One of the ostrich anthro riders invokes the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE to the right floater of the Seaduck (It's underneath the wing and it's red for those who don't understand where I'm pointing at.) and tries to pull on it; but screams and gets pulled himself. See; flying metal bird trumps flying devil ostrich rider. It's not so hard (The ostrich rider is voiced by Frank Welker, DUH!) as he lets go about five seconds later and screams "A-GO!" before slamming into the water below. (I think he screamed "YABOOO!" when I was doing the transcripts, so I probably paid less attention to the show back in 2010.) So we head to the SeaDuck as the floater lets go a bit more and we head into the cockpit as Rebecca counts the feathers and she only got fourteen of them despite needing two thousand to make a fortune selling them. Now Baloo is pissed off (and in this case; rightfully so) for nearly getting their asses (or tails; same thing) tattooed for just fourteen of them. Notice how Baloo is mad; he addresses her as Rebecca instead of Becky? (Yeah; it's kind of evidence that Baloo is serious about Rebecca's stupid idea being so stupid. When he says "Becky"; it's in a dismissive non-serious tone most of the time, while he says Rebecca and is actually taking her seriously. I never noticed that until I actually did transcripts of this show recently and it shows. Oh man, it shows.) Baloo pulls out the arrow as he blows her her money making ideas. Considering what happened in Time Waits For No Bear and beyond; I'd say that Rebecca is the reasonable one of the outfit here Pop-A-Bear. (Not really. Rebecca making a deal with Trader Moe was not a good example of Rebecca being reasonable 2010 Me! Granted; Baloo's scheme was even more absurd than Rebecca making a deal with a gangster like Trader Moe, but still.) Rebecca calls herself an entrepreneur with good money making sense as Baloo pulls out another arrow and calls her money making schemes ineffective and nonsense.

Baloo is clearly forgetting I Only Have Ice For You already. (It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck says Baloo is full of it. A Touch of Glass was not nonsense nor even ineffective; Baloo's implying that Rebecca was gullible which is classic blaming the victim for professional criminals taking her money and the SeaDuck itself.) So this makes Rebecca's attitude here slightly more justified than I originally thought. Still not enough for the unjustified attitude she cops later on though. Baloo was trying to warn her about the nomads; but Rebecca knew better see. Rebecca proclaims that she knows business and the art of supply, demand, cause and effect. She calls herself tenacious and clear headed. I agree with her most of the time; but not in this episode as you will see. (I think Jeremy just simply looked at the summary of what Rebecca was thought to be and based all of it off of that and it turned Rebecca into a one dimensional character no one wanted.) Baloo calls Rebecca stubborn and pigheaded that won't admit that she was wrong. Except, Rebecca already admitted that she was wrong in three episodes that I ranted on already; and Rebecca was in the right in Time Waits For No Bear. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: On the other hand, it does make the whole thing as circular angle with no progression as the late Christopher Barat had pointed out to me.) Baloo is the wrong person to be telling her this even if he is in the right here. This kind of reduces the jerkiness of Rebecca right there. (Yeah. Again; sexism.) Rebecca gleefully blows him off for me because she isn't wrong. Okay; now she's copping the attitude barely three minutes in at last. (Okay; this is where the old boys club was right on Rebecca because she's pretending that I Only Have Ice For You, A Touch Of Glass and It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck never existed, even though all those episode were produced and aired BEFORE this one.) Oh boy; this is going to make the rest of the episode tough to watch. See, she has another Krackpotkin Plan to make millions of that MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH.

Baloo blows her off because the pontoon (The floater I mentioned earlier - Disney Caption calls it a patonooise for no reason even if it is supposed to be pontonoosie.) is full of arrows and the SeaDuck will be lucky to get back in one piece from the feathers idea. So we return to Cape Suzette on a ground shot and see a blimp and a yellow plane spiraling down as we head to the sky shot of the docks of Higher...For...Hire as we see Wildcat working on the SeaDuck as he is supposed to be. We go to a close up shot of WildCat's toolbox as he takes out an eggbeater and uses it to remove the arrows. HAHA! He removes one and drops backwards into the harbour with a splash. HAHA! Now that's the spirit WildCat! Fix that plane the Gadget Hackwrench way. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (Too bad WildCat is friends with Clementine and Gadget is in another series, because those two together would be a compelling ship let me tell ya. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I'm more surprised Tumblr hasn't done a crack ship of these two characters to be honest with you all.)) WildCat pops up and calls it an arrow for sure as Baloo asked for the status of the SeaDuck.WildCat proclaims that the SeaDuck has a whole bunch of them. HAHA! Baloo is a little peeved on that one as Kit enters the scene. WildCat pushes on the pontoon as it is clearly broken off and WildCat proclaims that the SeaDuck will need a new one. WildCat gets onto the docks with help as Baloo proclaims that they are grounded without a new one. Baloo then notices on the far pan shot of Rebecca Cunningham coming towards the office with the paper bag as Baloo thinks he knows how to get one. Rebecca opens the door and walks inside and closes it in Baloo's face. I know this because Baloo opens the door about two seconds later and has a pontoon to pick with her. The door closes in Kit's face and so Kit has to open the door himself as Rebecca sets the paper bag down because she wants to see Baloo anyway. (Kit should be used to doors slamming in his face by now. At least he can take solace that Clark The Cub got his revenge and the Chicago won it's World Series at last.)

(2020 Gregory Weagle: Clark The Cub was the new mascot announced by the Chicago Cubs basically to entertain the kids and promote the ball club for outside functions. This really didn't go over well with the fans because it was seen as an excuse to not spend the money on trying to win the World Series, even though a large portion of the audiences were in fact kids. Also, someone thought it was so funny to draw a penis on the bearcub, because punching down on kids, even bearcubs is cool, I guess. Now that Clark got the last laugh (and by extension, Kit Cloudkicker since Clark is basically a clone of Kit anyway) , the idiots can all die mad after making fools and pedos out of themselves.)

(I should also note that Rebecca's attitude in the comics wasn't all that much better. Witness "Little Plane Of Horrors" where she goes from too difficult to too docile and then swing inbetween for the rest. I swear Jeremy Cushner was giving advice to whomever wrote that comic book.) Baloo wants money on the pontoon; but Rebecca completely ignores him and shows him a giant brown mushroom. Ummm; yeah. And she calls him buster and do you get the feeling that feminist groups did US a favor of complaining here? (I don't recall those groups complaining about this show; but then again, there is no record of them complaining, so who knows. Maybe 2010 Me was talking about them complaining in general; which I would thank them for that.) Baloo flicks the mushroom and calls it a used golf balls. Rebecca calls it mushroom delicacies known as a truffle. Now a lot of people thought that the writers didn't do the research since a truffle is a chocolate confection; but the North American Truffling Society exists and the research confirms that there is such a thing as a truffle in the mushroom/fungi family which is as good a mushroom as any. So the writers DID do the research and they are less ignorant than you. (Except for the fact that Jeremy makes Rebecca way too difficult here.) Baloo eats one and it tastes not bad at all according to Baloo and could use some salt as we see Rebecca reading a map and hearding them. That leads to Rebecca taking down Baloo to the ground and pulling on his shirt. Yeap; she finally went from zero to bitch and it took about four minutes of screen time to do it. (1995 Dave Brown Says: STOP USING THAT WORD!) And to think that Queenie took just under thirty seconds to do the same. Rebecca rings the shirt because that truffle cost fifty dollars (and that's each I might add, not just that one) and Baloo is shocked as Kit gleefully invokes this gem of a line:

Kit: Boy; that's putting her money where your mouth is.

HAHA! I hope Kit stays throughout the episode and doesn't get written out halfway through (Feminine Air; I'm looking at you sir! (Thankfully; he doesn't get written out and actually does some spots with Hogzilla later on.)) as we cut back to Rebecca on Baloo's back using her hand in Baloo's mouth to try to get the truffle out of his system. Baloo calls her crazy and if you want to see the Rebecca being a bitch; this episode is doing a fantastic job of painting her as such. (Please heed Dave Brown's words for once in your life 2010 Me!) It is also making her look like a psychopath after merely showing her as a jerk earlier in the episode. It feels extremely jarring, Jeremy. Save the psycho act for just BEFORE Rebecca gets into real trouble; then it would make more sense. Here; it makes her look really weak willed from the very start and makes her look REALLY STUPID from the very start. (TESTIFY~!) Baloo drops her on her ass and wants the moola for the pontoona; but Rebecca refuses because she wants to buy a pig instead as Baloo and Kit are shocked to hear THAT one. So we head to the farm known as Hayseeds-R-Us (A pun on Toys-R-Us. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Which most of the new audience probably doesn't get anymore since Toys-R-Us has gone into bankrupt hell so to speak.)). We know this because the white sign with red letters state as much. There is mooing and clucking all about as we pan south on a sky shot to see Baloo and Rebecca enter the place as Rebecca states that one needs a specially trained pig to sniff out truffles. (I will say this: Rebecca is not against getting a pet as demonstrated with the Chippet incident in "Little Plane Of Horrors" as I mentioned earlier.) Baloo and Rebecca go to the fence were we see some award quality pig hunters (all cute and pink) walking around inside looking cute as Baloo pesters her about the pontoon and then he questions Rebecca's type to being around pigs. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Projection much there Pop-A-Bear?! Just because Rebecca's attitude is unjustified in this episode doesn't make your attitude much better either. (Indeed 2010 Me; indeed.)

Rebecca gleefully gives him the eye contact violence for me on that one and pops down as Baloo blows her off for insulting him. Say, WHAT?! You are the one who insulted her Pop-A-Bear; not the other way around. (That's true and Rebecca's eye contact violence was a non-verbal cue of her pointing out how sexist Baloo was there.) Rebecca has her purse (same one she often uses) as she calls the pigs adorable and a truffle finding juggernaut. She even pets one as Baloo proclaims that there are more important thing they should be buying, like a pontoon. Baloo invokes the Gruffi pose to annoy me as we cut to a hippo salesman with a blue striped shirt and red tie looking quite greasy as he asks if he heard someone say buying with buying in scare quotes of course. And when he slides over to Baloo; he's wearing dark navy blue overalls with a pocket (which proves that no one is buying the "no pants=easier to animate" bullcrap either. (It's more complex than that; but seriously, no one is buying that it's more expensive to draw trousers. More so when most of the females wear them.). He also has the most obvious painted on mustache in history as he smiles as Rebecca is interested in hunting truffles. The salesman rubs his hands as he explains that the miniature Babaroosas (Disney Captions screws up here since it should be Babirusa which is in the pig family, Babaroosa is closer to Operation Babarossa which was the code name for Nazi Germany invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. UGH! Why does Disney Caption test me so? (And Godwin the subtitles.)) can smell out a truffle from over a mile away. The salesman is voiced by Jack Angel. Jack also has a number of future roles in TaleSpin; such as Detective Thursday and the High Marshall. Baloo mocks that one so Rebecca gives Baloo an elbow to the ribs and Baloo oversells it. That is one devastating elbow there Miz Cunningham as we go to the hippo salesman (I guess his real name is Hay Seeds; but that would be too corny even for this show.) beside the cinema stage with a rope as he pulls on the rope; which raises the red/orange curtain to reveal the pigs going around in a circle as they are pedigreed and papered from only the finest bloodlines. I'm sure 4Kids would have changed blood line to something absurd if they got their hands on this show. ("plasma lines" is NO BUYS~! No matter what June from Project X Zone 2 says.)

We get a back shot of the pig dancing around in a circle smiling as Rebecca asks how many it will cost. The salesman proclaims that it will cost three thousand dollars a pop. Rebecca is shocked about these "outrageous prices" (In a show where being outrageous is a gimmick and even an episode title.) as Baloo blows the salesman off and calls them underfed pieces of bacon. This is the eaxct moment where the salesman panics because Baloo said the "B" word. Yeah; I'm as confused as you are since if he said bitch or bastard; Disney would have censored Ed Gilbert a long time ago. (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh boy! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry; but you seriously need to see Plunder and Lightning again 2010 me!) Baloo repeats the word bacon and everyone scatters except for Rebecca and Baloo. As we go to the boarded out pig house (A version of a doghouse which I'm sure PETA would have a fit over if Orac didn't point out that the pig inside is NOT cute and cuddly.) as it bounces stage left and breaks as we get the PLOT DEVICE OF DOOM known as Hogzilla; aka THE HOG FROM HELL. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Even funnier, the character designer for Hogzilla literally call the hog that as it's clearly written on the character sheet for Hogzilla during the production stage. I'm surprised that hell is not allowed, but fucking somehow passed censors.) Now I know that Godzilla was from 1954 and all; but considering that TaleSpin's world is basically a combination of 1920's to the 1960's type of world; Hogzilla is not out of place to be called as such. It's like Cowabunga in that it sounds out of place; but it started around the same time as Godzilla in the 1950's so it isn't out of place for this show. (I just don't like Kit Cloudkicker saying it because Kit is supposed to be cool in his own way instead of being just another surfer dude.) The world of TaleSpin is that some aspects happened sooner in the real world than others and vice versa. If Godzilla took place in 1987; then I would have a different answer for you.

Of course, all hell breaks loose as Baloo and Rebecca get knocked off like feathers (that was pretty weak ass as a bump there Wang Films) and Hogzilla destroys the lot like a Tazamanian Devil (Note the whirlwind spot he creates out of thin air.). We cut to behind a destroyed tractor as the salesman is behind it and sings the Rock-a-bye Baby poem and that is enough for Hogzilla to stop and nod off to sleep. Okay; this is pretty funny as a plot device to have a pig that is a badass. Which partially explains why this episode wasn't total crap last time. Nice MAN-SIZED bumps too as we see the carnage as Hogzilla is squashing Baloo's head. HAHA! Rebecca is in the cargo box of sales I guess. (I think that is where the fertilizer is stored and if so; it's a payoff from A Touch Of Glass. Sadly; her head doesn't come in contact with it.) The hippo salesman goes over to Rebecca and helps her out and shows her Hogzilla (Frank Welker, DUH!) for less money. Rebecca isn't so sure as Baloo calls Hogzilla a smelly monster. That'll teach him to mess with Hogzilla. Which explains why the salesman isn't planning to sue him in the future. The salesman rolls Hogzilla off of Baloo like a rolling pin (HA!) as it's the bigger the pig, the bigger the truffle (And the louder it oinks since it's the name of the episode see.) and Baloo's head is flatter than my sex life. Oh; and Hogzilla will only cost five hundred dollars. Baloo blows off the idea and Hogzilla as Rebecca calls him out for bad-mouthing her truffle idea because it's wonderful. Of course, that's the same response people give to Sara Parlin in praise and we all know how that one worked out. (There is a lot of background talking that Disney Captions missed here if anyone noticed in the transcript of this episode. This happens a lot even in the next two volumes of the series.) The hippo salesman drops the price to four hundred dollars as Baloo calls it perfectly pigheaded and that is the running joke for the episode as we will see. (Pigheaded means stubborn which would apply to Kit more than Rebecca in that regard.)

Salesman drops it to three hundred dollars as Rebecca decides to prove it to him as she opens her purse and it has gone from blue to purple now. She gives the salesman $250.23 and the salesman agrees to it which shows that he wanted to get rid of Hogzilla at any price due to costing HIM a fortune to keep him. (Mostly in damages and probably because not even the company's insurance covers Hogzilla.) The salesman gives Rebecca the rope and runs away stage right as Baloo continue to tell her that they need the new pontoon. Rebecca proclaims that once the truffles are found; she'll buy a hundred pontoons without realizing that they need one NOW to fly over to DO the idea. Why must Rebecca be SO stupid in this episode? (Because Jeremy Cushner doesn't think about consequences. He just wants his paycheque.) It's one thing to be a jerk; but to be stupid beyond the pale is too much even for me and we STILL haven't gotten to the low point of Rebecca yet. So Baloo goes over and whispers to Hogzilla and speaks the FCC FORBIDDEN WORD OF THE DAY (You know it's "bacon". If only it was Beggin Strips; so we all know it's not really bacon.) and Hogzilla wakes up and goes mad. All hell breaks loose as Hogzilla runs away with Rebecca skiing behind him as Baloo walks away from the camera with a glorified shot of his ass (EEWWWWW!) as he calls it a great idea. So, we return to the far shot of Higher...For...Hire (Another reason I like TaleSpin: The STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM happens seven minutes into the episode.) as WildCat and Kit's shadow are fixing the SeaDuck as Kit hears Rebecca scream and WildCat hears the snorting and thinks Rebecca has a cold. HAHA! If only WildCat, if only. Then we see from the back of the docks Hogzilla arrive with Rebecca in tow as she screams for someone to stop that damn pig. That is the usual grade-S acting from Sally Struthers (well; at least someone is enjoying playing this role. (No one can accuse Sally Struthers of not selling anything like a giant's deal, no matter how stupid it is. She's that damn good at it too.)

Hogzilla turns around on a dime about six inches from the dock edge, turns around; allowing the rope to completely come off and Rebecca gets dropped right into the harbour. HAHA! Baloo walks to the edge and calls it dandy. He then mocks Rebecca if she needs any help as Rebecca pops up and she swims fine as she blows Baloo off on that one. Nice that she can say thank you; but Baloo cannot say please. (Because Rebecca is refined and Baloo's a slob in terms of characters even if they share a lot of the same flaws.) We then cut to WildCat crawling on the docks with the wrench as Hogzilla gets evil on WildCat's orange lunch pail and opens it to eat his tuna fish sandwich (Which uses a whole fish, head and all. Wow.). WildCat asks Baloo about the new pontoon as Hogzilla eats the lunchpail to boot as Baloo uses Hogzilla as a visual aid to answer his question. WildCat is gleeful about Hogzilla and asks if pontoons are made of pigs. BWHAHAHAHA! The amazing part is; that little question actually plays into the finish later on. (I'll give Jeremy this; he did set this finish about as well as he could under his watch. Too bad it still doesn't take out the bad taste of psycho Rebecca out of my mouth.) Hogzilla eats the wrench in response with a metal clang as we cut to Kit helping Rebecca out of the harbour and asking her to be more careful. He asks if that pig didn't stop. Rebecca squeezes the water from her clothes and that perm of hers is gone as Rebecca calls Hogzilla a means to a fortune. Baloo leans on Hogzilla as Wildcat tries to get the wrench out of it's mouth as Baloo mocks Rebecca's plan because she doesn't know if the monster likes truffles. (Don't worry Baloo; it likes them. It really likes them...and everything else.) It does like everything else though as Rebecca invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on Baloo (and considering how wet she is now; that is trouble) and she's prove this animal is a good investment even if it kills her.

Yes folks; she DOES say kill here. You can't say kill in a children's show, Miss Cunningham! (Yeah; because saying that word causes people to die instantly. Oh wait, it doesn't. But, the Moral Guardian said...Oh wait; it's all about them. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: In most cases, yes; but there are some whom actually are honest and fair.)) She even kicks Hogzilla right in the ass to boot! Frustration much there Miss Cunningham? (I realize that the use of the word is in jest here; but still, there is a reasonable chance that she is literally going to get killed as we see later on. Not that it matters since DTVA wasn't afraid of using the word freely. I think most 1990's kids (and most of them watched shows from 4Kids Entertainment and Saban which is mostly dubs which were netuered to the point of being for toddlers actually) are surprised mainly because most of the entertainment they watched was free of such things and then they thought that this was federal regulations (when it was clearly not); when it's clearly company BS&P because they thought removing this stuff would keep the moral guardians at bay. It fails because the kids aren't stupid and the guardians don't like competition (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: While some moral guardians are really good people, most of them don't really care about good morals as long as it fits "their morals", which usually means "God's morals"; which are so bad that no morals are better. Naunce also applies to MG's as well.).) So we head inside the office of Higher...For...Hire as Hogzilla completely devours the wastepaper basket. Yeah; I know he's a one joke gimmick, I get it. So we see Rebecca with her bag of truffles (Which went from brown to white now; although Rebecca could have transferred them to another bag to keep Baloo away in between scenes; so no logic break or color mistake there.) as she shows Hogzilla a truffle and Hogzilla slobbers as he backs Rebecca up.

Kit comes up from behind with the blindfold and puts it over Hogzilla's eyes. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Like a former heel air pirate. Oh, wait...) Kit wonders if this is such a good idea and Rebecca blows him off for being a doubting Thomases. What?! Kit only asked if it was a good idea; you don't have to get all pissy about it, Miss Cunningham. Baloo mocks Rebecca's answer on that one as he is sitting ON the desk. Man; that is one tough desk. Rebecca then decides to play the whole "which hand is the truffle in" spot. It's in the left hand of course as Hogzilla bites in the general direction and Rebecca is forced to tug her hand away. The animation makes it seem that Hogzilla was nowhere near the hands at all; but that is negated as Hogzilla jumps on Rebecca Cunningham and eats from her left hand which has the truffle. So, the possible mistake doesn't happen anyway. Good decision there guys. Baloo just sits on the desk looking bored as Kit runs in with the RIC FLAIR BROOMSTICK OF DOOM. Normally; this would be a good thing in DTVA as Kit whacks Hogzilla with the broom (while Rebecca tries some French and fails at it); but Hogzilla counters by eating the broom. I knew that only TaleSpin were avert and subvert all elements of DTVA. (Although in Last Horizons; that decision to subvert the Pandas was bad. Very, very bad.) Hogzilla eats the broomstick as Baloo calls Hogzilla all stomach and Kit calls it an eating machine. Rebecca doesn't care which as she orders Baloo to load the pig into the plane and they are going on a truffle hunt. Baloo jumps down from the desk and puts on his pilot's cap as he protests the outrage of putting Hogzilla in his beautiful Seaduck. (Yeah; because somehow Rebecca is not the owner of the SeaDuck; even though Plunder and Lightning proves that it is.) Rebecca does the Gruffi pose (and yes; the door opens the same way as usual) and asks why not.

Baloo proclaims that it's messy, loud, obnoxious, ugly and basically projects himself as smelly. (Just smelly 2010 me? Baloo is accusing Hogzilla of being Johnny Ass...I mean, Johnny Test?! Riiiigggghhhtttt.) Kit of course has the honor of dealing with the pig which is really sad considering how important Kit was in getting this show green lighted in the first place. (If it wasn't Hogzilla; Kit snuggling with a small pig is many buys! Ask Mabel from Gravity Falls about it.) Rebecca gleefully reminds him of his projection and it is HER SeaDuck by the way as she storms off. Well; she might be unjustified, but she is right about the SeaDuck being her plane at least as Baloo calls her out for calling him messy. WHAT?! She only called you out on your projection Baloo. It's things like that which make believe that treehouse syndrome exists. It's the only way to justify making Rebecca look like a heel in the eyes of the fans. Sadly; Jermey is infected with it in this episode. We see Rebecca walk out and blow off Baloo again because she wants to take off sometime this year. (When even Rebecca thinks this segment is going on too long, you know Cushner's writing is not good.) Baloo mimics Rebecca sarcastically (A trait we would see with Baloo mocking Ace London in Mach One For The Gipper.) as he and Kit walk out of the office and Baloo yells at her to hold the bacon. However; since this is the FCC FORBIDDEN WORD OF THE DAY; we hear Hogzilla trash the entire office inside as Rebecca screams and run into the office. (Should have said "Beggin Strips" because then you know it's not bacon.) Baloo and Kit slowly walk in enjoying every moment of Rebecca unintentionally playing horsey with the pig as the whole office gets destroyed by Hogzilla. We get to SEE half of it at least as Baloo yawns and hugs Kit right in front of him which Kit's face shows that he wasn't expecting it. Baloo feels a song coming on; so he sings the Rock-A-Bye Baby promo (The one that puts Hogzilla to sleep; this time called "Hoggie" according to Von Bruinwald the XIII.).

Kit tells Baloo not to fool around as Rebecca apparently got thrown off of Hogzilla before he sings. Hogzilla oversells it and sleeps. Rebecca is behind the overturned desk as Kit is impressed and hope it works on his English teacher. HAHA! Now THAT is foreshadowing since Kit's English teacher appears in this series in the episode Vowel Play. (Actually in syndication; this episode airs after Vowel Play; which actually works even better in hindsight. Too bad I would have completely edited this scene out and replace it with a scene later on to lop off a major logic break.) Rebecca runs in mad and does the one of these days promos as Baloo calls her jealous because he has a way with animals. He does have a point there madam. (No he doesn't.) We get the scene changer and we see the SeaDuck flying in the air (and the arrows and pontoon are STILL instact from the previous scene) at last. You know; as much as I like Hogzilla, it took way too long for the gang to get to this point as we have already surpassed the ten and a half minute mark of this cartoon and the commercial break hasn't happened yet. We head to the cockpit and Wang Films has done a terrible job with the cockpit background inside as it blends in with the glass window; even some of the control panels are glass while Hogzilla eats the controls on the shot. (Someone on TVTropes claimed that Rebecca's nipple was exposed during this; but I saw the footage and it was a coloring mistake. Probably came from the same people who thought the hula girl was completely topless too. Nope; it wasn't.) Thankfully; we go with the inside shot and the cockpit looks like it should be. That is logic break number one for the episode believe it or not. Cushner's problem is not with logic; it's with stupid lines and contrived character motives. (This episode looks rushed; even by TaleSpin's already rushed standards.) Kit enters from behind with the orange life preserver (Which is funny considering how Rebecca and Baloo are like one to Kit as some fanfics like to protray him.) as Kit manages to keep him away; and then Hogzilla chews on the life preserver.

We cut back to Rebecca (in her safari outfit again) as she mocks Baloo for losing his way with animals. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: HA! Kit's the one with the love of animals gimmick; even as an adult. Baloo doesn't like animals to begin with despite being a chimera version of one. What cruel irony that is?!) Baloo is trying to fix the wiring as Baloo growls at her back as he has had enough of her stupid ideas. We see Kit's back against the wall with Hogzilla eating the life preserver. Of course, Hogzilla sees more wiring which Kit is protecting and eats that as well. It starts short circuiting the plane and yellow sparks fly. Baloo wants no part of the four legged garbage disposal and it's either it or him. (That is daring Rebecca to fire you Pop-A-Bear!) Rebecca chooses Baloo to go; but before she can dump him (As revenge for the Disney Channel promo before this series aired on such. Quite frankly; Baloo deserved it too.) the plane finally loses the pontoon (Kudos to Jermey for not forgetting that at least. Hey; he actually remembered the whole damaged pontoon thing from start to finish and actually set up the finish perfectly.) and the SeaDuck goes into a tailspin (BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!) as Baloo screams in the transmitter for a mayday as a pontoonless plane with pig is going down into the clouds and that ends the segment nearly eleven and a half minutes. Man; the setup to now is too slow (Ten and a half minutes before they go into the air for the truffle hunt. Really? Even worse; the actual hunt doesn't start until fifteen minutes in. So Cushner's pacing is terrible here.) and the buildup for Rebecca's attitude is out of place in spots. On the other hand; the story is actually quite solid and there are quite a bit of funny moments thanks to Kit and Hogzilla. And since both Kit and Hogzilla are here; the episode will at least be a fun one even if it grinds my gears in the way Cushner is treating Rebecca. (Yeah; pretty much what you said. Considering that there was at least a minute of footage that could have been cut and what is to come, someone priorities weren't straight enough.)

After the commercial break; we see the SeaDuck take it's tailspin dive as we see Kit, Rebecca and Hogzilla pinball in the back to somewhat wussy bumps. Baloo gets the SeaDuck balanced using the number two engine. Kit manages to get to the navigational seat as he states that he doesn't know if they are going to make it. Baloo wants to make it so he can MURDER Hogzilla and make him into scalded pig. Or as they say: ham. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THUD! OUCH! Ummmm..My head! He also slaps Hogzilla back as he tries to mug for the camera as we get more shots of the SeaDuck as it sprials down towards the island and manages to land on the water and spins around like a top as the number one engine (The left one which is weird since the number two engine is the one with the broken pontoon.) goes dead; but Baloo manages to land next to the dock unharmed. Baloo puts his hands behind his head and calls it a perfect 360 point landing (and somehow he did and then some, so no 180 degree criticism here.) as Kit pants and proclaims that he now knows how it feels like when a sock is in a washing machine which is funny considering that he almost never wears any. (At least the washing machine existed before this show's timeline; so it's perfectly fine. Although Kit is going to wish he wore footwear after Polly Wants A Treasure.) We then see Rebecca near the door doing her best face plant impression as she crawls up and proclaims that it was much worse than that. Hogzilla then goes over to Baloo and muzzles his nose onto Baloo as Baloo blows him off for getting really stuffy in the SeaDuck. Baloo opens the door on the right side as we go out and man; the water effects sparkle a little too much for my liking as Baloo complains about the damage to the SeaDuck caused mostly by Hogzilla. He blows off Rebecca for buying a pig instead of a pontoon as Rebecca and Kit struggle to get Hogzilla out of the SeaDuck. Rebecca calls this a little bit of bad luck and I guess so since death doesn't seem to faze her or anyone in this show. Okay; just Rebecca in this episode.

Hogzilla takes a bump onto the docks in response as Baloo checks the damage. Rebecca states that the plane will be fixed with the money they make. (The obvious question is how? How do tow planes work in this show? Seriously; I would like to know. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I believe this was addressed in The Old Man & The SeaDuck.)) Rebecca walks Hogzilla towards a sign signing about truffles and all that MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH. Baloo is not pleased as she accuses Rebecca of having truffles on the brain. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: If the shoe fits...even if you don't wear any.) Then we hear Rebecca gasp badly as Baloo and Kit run towards her and they notice a wooden white cloth sign in Flintstone's style with black letters saying that there is absolutely no pigs past this point. Kit reads it as Baloo calls it great while Hogzilla is actually eating the wooden post of the right side of the sign. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Hogzilla has to be a rib on the concept of characters chewing up scencery, because Hogzilla is literally doing just that in this show.) Baloo pulls on the rope as he states that "no pigs mean no pigs" as he wants to swap Hogzilla for a pontoon; but Hogzilla pulls him down and Baloo lands flat on his belly again. Rebecca looks defeated at last....for only about three seconds as she has come too far (Man that sounded a little forced to me, Sally. Usually Sally's acting is great; but this is one of those exceptions.) and she has a Krackpotkin plan in mind. She pulls Hogzilla away stage right as Baloo hates that look in her eyes when that happens. So we go to the scene changer as we get a shot of the jungle with the words Zibaldo craved into blood red wood (At least it looks like real paint and not pre-school paint like in The Wuzzles. Like I said; I love colors, just don't make it look like a pre-school show when your doing a show for everyone.)

(2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I think this is one of the handful of times that I have criticized the colors on that show. I mean; if you are drawing actual toys, I can fully see the need for bright colors for storyline purposes, otherwise, just color them enough so that they are believable. But seriously; I don't really have a beef with bright colors at all. Some critics seem to whine about it, which makes me wonder if they have a condition that makes their eyes sensetive to bright colors, like bright lights. In that case, you probably want to see a doctor about it and avoid such shows, even more so when there are far bigger issues than the vomit inducing colors.). It's clear that Zibaldo is the canon name instead of Zivaldo which appears later on in the episode The Incredible Shrinking Molly. So we fans got it wrong all along. We pan left to behind the bushes as we see Kit pop up and then we cut over to the border crossing complete with stop sign and a hyena border crossing guard (in border crossing gear) playing with a yo-yo in front of the barrier. Since he is an honest guard; it's not stealing from The Wuzzles. On the other hand; it's an officer of authority so we all know he's going to fall for this in a stupid like fashion. So we pan left to see Baloo pushing a baby stroller (old fashion one) with Rebecca and Kit in tow. If you cannot guess who plays the baby in this one; you have no business reading this rant. The crossing guard walks up with the clipboard and you can clearly tell that he's voiced by Pat Fraley (The Krang voice from 1987 TMNT gives him away sort of.) as he sounds like a carnival barker and welcomes them to Zibaldo. (This is not the first time nor the last time they used the Zibaldo motif name as Time Waits For No Bear's clock tower was called Zibaldo Clock Tower in the pre-production materials.) Sadly; Disney Captions gets it right and doesn't screw up the name. That is going to make us fans look bad here. (Sadly; this is going to end with Stormy Weather folks. And it's going to end in such an ugly fashion, too.)

Rebecca proclaims that her family (with Baloo coughing to imply that it's a lie; but we all know that it's perfectly true) is here for a picnic as Rebecca isn't happy about Baloo's implication. The guard loves babies and tries to tickle the cloth; but gets his finger bitten (And seeds come popping out from the mouth which is downright weird. I wonder if it was a weird way of spitting blood like they do in anime?) and he sells a bruised red finger as it is pulsing and swollen. (The seeds were brown as if he got the sh*t coming out of his ears. That might be worse than spitting blood in fact.) He licks the finger and he's not pleased as he uncovers the cloth and it's Hogzilla in a diaper and pink hat complete with sucker which would have been a logic break in any other universe; but it's Hogzilla and his mouth is wider than the sucker so it works here. And that pig has some decent teeth there. Hogzilla eats the soother of course and burps as the hyena guard gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY (Didn't he get the DTVA memo that he is supposed to be fooled here? (Nope.)) on the pig thing (Hogzilla being a baby is actually a lot more amusing than Scrooge being one in Super Ducktales I should note.) and Baloo claims that it takes after Rebecca. OUCH! That's going to leave a mark. On Baloo's sexist conscience. The guard doesn't allow pigs in the jungle as you would think that they would be BUSTED as Hogzilla eats the clipboard and almost his arm in the process. The guard is not fooled as it looks like a pig and smells like a pig to him; but here comes Kit to do the end around to end all end arounds:

Kit: Well; if it looks like a pig, sounds like a pig and smells like a pig....it can't be a pig right?
Zibaldo Island Guard: Why not?
Kit: Because pigs aren't allowed in this jungle.

Oh my goodness; that was too funny that only THE MIRACLE WORKER could pull it off and the guard tips his hat and lets them pass. I told you Kit is more than just a mere daredevil; he IS the devil. POW! OUCH! Hey... (Wow; this guard is a new kind of stupid in that he no sold the adults but bought a child (who thinks he's a small adult) carte blanche. Remember when this spot was special and wasn't nearly as overused like it is now?! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: This guard is probably the same kind of person who believes COVID-19 is a hoax and a mask would suffocate him despite decades and decades of surgeons wearing masks and not dropping dead from them.)) Sadly; Hogzilla eats the guard's hat during the exiting stage right and the guard notices it gone. He gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY within ten seconds. The babyfaces run away and get through the gate without further incident as the guard stands before the barrier and warns them that pigs aren't allowed because of pygmies. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: While TaleSpin's handling of women was really good, their handling of other countries and cultures was not nearly as good as you'll see in this episode and Last Horizons.) He decides to blows them off and forget about it because they will die Darwinism deaths anyway. So he causally stands there and plays with his yo-yo. (What a lazy guard this guy is?! Although, kudos to him for not being fooled by the adults even if a child outwitted him. I wish other DTVA authority figures were only this stupid.) So now we get the scene changer as we head inside the jungle as we get a phoneix like bird flying around and then we pan down towards Rebecca and Hogzilla on the ground as they mimic sniffing the ground (Now in all honesty; this is a bear trait so it makes perfect sense for Rebecca to do this to show that she isn't just a crazy human in a fursuit.). Yes my friends; the truffle hunt has FINALLY started nearly 14 and a half minutes in. (Again; Cushner's pacing is terrible here. You need to start the actual hunt near the end of the first act; if not, at the absolute beginning of the second act.)

Baloo proclaims to Kit that Rebecca is the stubbornest person he has ever seen as Kit is sitting on a rock. Sorry; I disagree with him as Kit is the real stubborn one of this outfit. (Yeah; but at least Kit's stubborness is born out of the fact that he has trust issues after being on the run and being a former Air Pirate. I don't think Rebecca has that excuse going for her, although people treating her as less than a person certainly would make anyone stubborn as well. ) Baloo does the Gruffi pose as well to annoy me as Rebecca tells Mr. Pig to sniff out the truffles and Rebecca does some snorting of the ground to force the point. Rebecca is not being a jerk; she's being psycho. (She is supposed to be a desparate woman in the series; but not to this point of desparation where she looks less human. Not a good look; most so if you are a male writer.) Rebecca pulls on the rope and Rebecca notices that Hogzilla is on the scent already and that leads to Rebecca losing her safari hat and more pig skiing stage right. Kit runs after her as Baloo follows because in his own words; someone has to save her from herself. (I wish someone did the same thing to Michael Eisner; than we wouldn't have to point and laugh at Eisner's attempts to FUD Warner Brothers in 1990.) So we get another scene changer as we go further into the forest like jungle as we get the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE HOGZILLA EDITION~! Baloo and Kit run into the darkness and we hear Baloo asking who turned out the lights. Okay; this is really pointless as they run over into the light as Rebecca is asking where Baloo and Kit are. We then cut to Rebecca clearly in the trees as Kit is proclaiming that they are down here to Rebecca. Rebecca asks where Hogzilla is and Baloo answers that it was with her. Then we see Hogzilla on a tree branch about six feet above Rebecca and it's clearly not enough to support his own weight and it breaks allowing Rebecca (Who has the rope with her the entire time. Idiot!) to freefall with Hogzilla straight down.

Rebecca literally lands on her back with a MAN-SIZED bump with Hogzilla looking like he crushed Rebecca's leg. OUCH! I betcha Rebecca won't sell that injury either which is fine since after seeing Peter Griffin sell the leg badly in Family Guy; we are better off with the no sell. (I have seen Peter Griffin selling an ankle injury before. It makes me pine for the days when Peter's laugh and crying were the exact same sound.) We get the ground shot as Baloo tells her to admit that this was a stupid idea. Kit is in horror since Rebecca's legs could be broken since Hogzilla is right on TOP of them! Rebecca appears to be finally admitting defeat; but a lion roars and Hogzilla panics as Baloo proclaims that it sounded like a lion. Rebecca pleads with him that it was only Hogzilla pretending to be a lion (by having a roaring stomach which is quite plausible considering who Hogzilla has been) and her hope chest is gone as the lion shows up roaring. So much for that idea Miss Cunningham. Everyone backs up as Baloo does the nice kitty spot I hate so much and then offers Hogzilla to the lion. I don't care if Rebecca is being a bitch; you don't give up the most over character in the episode, you sick fatass bastard. POW! OUCH! Ummm.. (Thank you Dave Brown for intervening on my behalf. We don't need all that toxic language around. (2020 Gregory Weagle: Yes, I once said that Hogzilla was better than Kit Cloudkicker here. It's rare; but it happens more often than you would think it would. About Dave Brown: He was interviewing Scott Bowden on USWA and Scott decided to piss off Dave (who I think is still alive even today) by saying the word "retard" to see if Dave would cut him off. "Quit using this word!" was one of the last responses. Surprisely, Scott got cut off because Scott said that Randy Hales was the illegitimate son of Eddie Marlin. So, Dave wasn't all that offended by the word since he could have cut him off after the first one instead of Scott saying it like five or six times.))

Rebecca gets on his case about it (Which is fine since they need Hogzilla later on anyway and Hogzilla is over as well as a one joke character can be at the very least.); but sadly she still going on about being rich. Baloo reminds her about being dead broke and dead rich (death references #2 and #3 for the episode) as he offers the pig again. The lion pounces down from the cliff and everyone scatters in different directions. Baloo and Kit stage right; Rebecca and Hogzilla stage left I do believe. So we cut to Rebecca contiuing the belly sliding routine with Hogzilla while singing. Ummm; it only works if you say the FORBIDDEN FCC WORD OF THE DAY, Miss Cunningham; since he's scared, not enraged. There is a difference as one is unintentional (scared) and one is intentional (enraged) and it STILL WORKS; but not before Rebecca gets muddy and takes the chest right in Hogzilla's ass. Now that shot at 16:20 is worthy of being in the Agnoy Booth. (And the fact that the mud on Rebecca vanishes within ten seconds after she hit the mud puddle.) Of course on the pan shot we see some truffles as Hogzilla dozes off asleep. Rebecca calls Hogzilla a dumb pig and tries to kick Hogzilla in the ass; but Hogzilla moves and Rebecca cloudkicker kick kicks air and she lands flat on her back and ass. I think Hogzilla showed you who the smart one is in this outfit, Miss Cunningham. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: That's not saying much at all 2010 me.) Sadly; Baloo isn't here to mock her. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Probably for the best since she does sort of get the last laugh, and we need Baloo to save her later instead of Kit because Baloo has to screw that rescue up.) She gets up and sobs...badly as she grabs a truffle conveniently placed beside her and sniffs it. She then stops crying and realizes that she has hit the motherlode of truffles. IT'S A MIRACLE! KISS HER AND MY ASS BALOO VON BRUINWELD XIII! HER PLAN WORKED! (2020 Gregory Weagle Say: It sure did, for about a minute anyway since there is one tiny fatal flaw in a plan Rebecca didn't expect...)

Sadly; the pig eats the truffle and Rebecca goes psycho on Hogzilla's mouth to get it back as Rebecca's attitude just keeps dragging down the episode. At least here; the psychopath Rebecca makes sense as she threatens to MURDER Hogzilla if he doesn't find another truffle. The pig squeals and she sees the motherlode of truffles right in front of her. Victory indeed! (Again; like Bubsy with his catchphrase, her desperation is apporos now since she is almost at her wit's end concerning this hunt, but she was hypershooting on it so much beforehand that it makes her look like a character designed by sexist men. Again; Libby Hinson cannot come to this show fast enough.) She then slides safe into the truffles and grabs as many as she can muster as she sees the big ass turffle and pulls it out. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: She is literally singing a parody to "We're In The Money" at this point.) She is so happy that she forgets to look where she's pulling and pulls out a small gator wearing native gear. Something tells me this is the pygmites and it's ugly and pretty stereotypical too. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Again, when it comes to indigenious people, TaleSpin doesn't handle this well at all.) They also have melon spears (At least the pointy ends are sharp.) as at least ten of then surround Rebecca and Hogzilla. Rebecca asks if they want a truffle and that ends the segment nearly 17 and a half minutes in. (Actually; the truffle hunt was fine, but again it looked completely rushed due to the fact that they spent 11 minutes setting it up instead of six or seven minutes. Watch now as those attempts to set it up like a 1936 movie (which at least is apporos since the show takes place in 1936) bite this episode in the ass now. I still don't understand why Rebecca has to look really desparate here because up next is a scene where the whole thing is apporos.)

After the commercial break; we get a shot of the Pgymites's statue of their deity AFTER HAPPY HOUR (After dark; which makes sense since the previous scene appeared that the sun was setting. Very symbolic I might add.) as torches surround the statue. We pan northeast towards the village as the pgymites continue to chant (Oooga-chaka (It's still sounds racist to me.)) as we pan to the gate with the ten pgymites coming in with Hogzilla and Rebecca with their limbs tied to stakes like a bunch of rump roasts ready to be placed on a roaring fire. We get some more shots of the pygmites as a kid pygmite with a fork and knife (Huh? These pygmites seem to be somewhat civilized. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: If this was an attempt to humanize the group, it failed.)) as Rebecca pleads for mercy because they are pgymites and pygmites like pigs, not people. They no sell of course as we get some really good shots of the statue and Rebecca struggling in her bonds as she pleads for Baloo to come. (This is similar to what happened to Professor Peabody in Astro Boy 1980; only I don't believe Telefilm Canada kept that scene. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Not that I could check since most of the Telefilm Canada footage has since been destroyed. It's in the non-Telefilm Canada versions though.)) Sadly; Baloo is rather busy right now as the lion is chasing Baloo and Kit through the jungle on the scene changer. We pan up a tree to see Baloo and Kit hanging onto a tree branch as Kit questions Baloo about a book stating that lion cannot climb trees. See what happens when you read the LIBERIAL RED BOOKS OF LIES THE KIDS EDITION~?! POW! OUCH! Ummm..I mean the Junior Woodchuck Guide Book. POW! OUCH! Ummm... Baloo proclaims that he cannot help if the lion reads from the same book as the lion climbs up. (Actually; lions can legit climb trees, but it's only for good reasons.) Baloo dodges the lion claw as Baloo sees a vine and calls Kit a minor. That's the first time I have ever heard anyone say that. Oh wait; Adventures in Squirrel Sitting did that with Mr. Fat, my mistake. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: It might be fat shaming, but Fat Cat was his name and he was called Mr. Fat in the pilot episode.)

See, Baloo saw this once in a movie and it must have been a silent movie too. So Baloo grabs Kit and swings complete with Tarzan yell; but the vine snaps (NOT THIS SPOT AGAIN! Get use to it; that spot appears A LOT in this series. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: This also comes back in The Lost Cargo Of Kit Cloudkicker, for old times sake.)) and they crash with a MAN-SIZED bump off screen with leaves flying. We then see Kit on top of the leaves as he asks if that was in the movie as Kit is now on top stepping on Baloo's head when he pops up punch drunk. HEE HEE! The lion roars and both bears exit stage right complete with Hanna Barbara looping and running sound effects. If only this was Sunwoo animating, then you know what that means. Since it's not, let's move on. (Kit actually kicks Baloo in the head about a half dozen times before running off; and causing more stars for Baloo. None of this was flash/impact star edited of course, outside of Baloo seeing stars. I also see Sam Horta Editorial is doing the sound effects here.) So we head back to the statue of the pygmite god as the Oooga-Chaka chants continue on the sky shot as two pygmites are on top with Rebecca and Hogzilla (Hogzilla is tied by his hoof on one shot by the way.) They are both dumped into the stew pot below like they were on a demented slide (Hogzilla's ropes dissolved on the next shot and Rebecca's bump off was off-screen.). Rebecca pops up as her perm is gone again as she tries to blow off the pygmites for being sod-offs. Rebecca just called them sods; which is a English swear word by the way. (Sod is actually not a swear word per se; but British slang for contempable or obnoxious; although it can be used to say "F**k off!" in that context. Like I say many times now. Mr. Bean has that effect on me.) Disney Captions tries to hide the swear word by claiming she said sawed off; but the fact that one of the pygmites stuffs a truffle in her mouth speaks otherwise. (Yes; but the way she said it indicates that she was calling them obnoxious. That's not a swear word in that context.)

Not a surprise since Rebecca has such a foul mouth at times. (2020 Gregory Says: Really?! Just wait until Plunder and Lightning when Baloo gets away with one moment even Donald Duck got censored over.) Rebecca unpops the truffle from her mouth and throws it behind her back as Hogzilla munches on it as usual. Rebecca waxes about finding truffles and finally admits that it was a stupid idea as Hogzilla snorts and Rebecca blows him off as rubbing it in. One of the pygmites comes in and invokes salt and pepper shakers (Seriously!) for extra flavor as she gets a little stubborn. No Rebecca; stubborness is not your problem. (Yeah; that's Kit's problem.) Being a psycho is the worst. Also of note: While I'm listening to Rebecca proclaim that she'll never be stubborn again and panicking about a next time as one of the pygmites is threatening to start a fire; I notice an obvious logic break in this whole ordeal: Why didn't she just say "bacon" and end this damn episode?! If she did that when she got the truffles; she would have not only have this scene not happen, but Rebecca would have outwitted Baloo completely. This is why I club treehouse syndrome: Because it makes Rebecca look incredibly stupid in the process. All so we can get in a moral that doesn't quite work with Miss Cunningham here. (Yeah; and this would have been a problem even if this script wasn't rushed because this is the main point of the storyline.) Of course it's the kid pygmite doing it and he gets his ass booted out of here. (The kid pygmite is really awesome here and the adults are fuddy duddys for not allowing him to make a fire like a cave man would.) We head to the wooden table as they set the table complete with bowls, cups and a vase of flowers. I'm starting to not like this episode anymore now that I realized how idoitic Rebecca has become. Then the two pygmites shake hands and the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE latches onto them and they go sailing behind the wall.

We get some whacking off-screen (complete with leaves) as we head behind the wall to see Baloo and Kit dressed up as the worst pygmites in history while the pygmites are hanging and tied upside down. (Kit's outfit is no more absurd than the one he wore in Seeds Of Victory; so methinks 2010 me complains too much.) Kit even points out the obvious problem with the pygmy pin-up for Baloo: He's just TOO BIG! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Some new fans were surprised about how messed up it is for Kit to know what a pin-up is. This show hasn't gotten started yet in the mess up department because the Thembrians debut in the very next episode rant actually!) Baloo tells Kit not to sweat it because no one will notice. We get a shot of Rebecca covering her eyes from the shadows as the chanting stops as we cut to two pygmites noticing Baloo and Kit causually walking in and Baloo asks if he might have this dance. As you clearly see; the pygmites are so stupid, Drake Mallard and Jamalaya Jake are owed an apology; except for the poor kid pygmy since it is not expected to know any better. (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) Baloo does a whirlwind spot and man; the artwork on Baloo is just plain weird and we dance with pygmites as the new chant is Dube-Dube-Do-Ba. Baloo tells the wallflowers not to be shy and they all stampede for the big one as the kid pygmite even speaks some English. Wow. Kit smiles at him because he is a kid and he's the SMART one. Which isn't saying much at all. (Michael Eisner, yeah; but Kit? Screw you! The kid pgymy is like Kit in being the people person, crazy and smart one all wrapped up in one and then Flanderized to prefection. KP is awesome! I need a drink...of soda water. AGAIN!) Baloo leads the dance as one of the pygmites is punch drunk and it's "Oooga-Chaka Oomph Ba" as one of the pygmites on the log bongos slaps to the beat. The kid pygmy tries to interject some art and class with the triangle (SHOOT ME NOW PLEASE! (Sorry; I don't own a gun and having one would kill the special day for me.)); but he gets slapped away stage right.

We cut to a sky shot of the shadows being stupid and dancing while we see Rebecca and Hogzilla still in the stew pot and then pan over to the actual dancing as Kit practices the fine art of not being seen (As he is the only one who is of reasonable height compared to the pygmites.) Kit whisper yells to Rebecca and Rebecca notices him and Baloo almost blowing their cover right there. Kit whispers to Rebecca to be quiet and Hogzilla bounces on the ground with a PIG-SIZED bump which should be the blowing of cover right there. Kit wants to leave; but Rebecca goes back to the stew pot to at least get something out of the investment; but the cover is officially blown and the spears are pointed. Yeap; they were playing along with Baloo all this time. I guess the weight had something to do with it after all. (Baloo is ten times the average height of a pgymite. They would have to have half of Fanboy & Chum Chum's combined IQ in order to fall for this completely.) Baloo chuckles one more time (HA!) and then gets pushed along side Rebecca as he blows her off for the stupidity. For once I agree with him. (I disagree. The pgymites did the old time tradition of playing along because it was clear they knew Baloo was in the disguise and they decided to give Baloo enough rope to hang himself. That said; Rebecca was being really stupid regardless, just not for blowing their cover.) Rebecca has another Krackpotkin plan as Baloo thinks she wants to sell them kitchen stuff (which they already have. (Yeah; that was a dumb thing to say.)). However; Rebecca wants to use the pig as Hogzilla gets a little annoyed about it. So we get a countdown and the babyfaces invoke the FCC FORBIDDEN WORD OF THE DAY. Oh, that was not contrived in the very least; no siree. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: The countdown was contrived and pointless in an episode that was already rushed; not the yelling of bacon, which was their only way out of booking the characters into a corner.)

Well; Kit doesn't yell bacon at least (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: The countdown was the issue, not the yelling of the word, so Alan Roberts seemed to have missed his cue here.) as Hogzilla goes wild and all hell breaks loose as even the pygmites aren't immune to the WRATH OF HOGZILLA. Everyone scatters; kid pygmy channels Bugs Bunny and dig a hole to bury himself and we get pygmites getting thrown into the air and falling on the far shots. It ends with the gang (Minus Hogzilla- remember that one.) escaping from the gate as we pan up to the moon shot. See; had they...oh never mind; let's just end this episode. (Yeah; you already explained it. As the escaping the lion; this is what happens when you spend 12 minutes setting up a hunt that should have taken half that time. At least the "Rebecca forgets the word" part can be justified because Baloo wasn't there until later on.) We head to morning as the cowardly border crossing guard arrives (Who is officially smarter than everyone in this episode. Except for Kit of course.) and punches himself into work complete with black lunchbox. I will be SHOCKED if Hogzilla doesn't eat that lunchpail before this episode ends. Sadly it won't happen as the babyfaces (now that should have been a logic break; but it is morning, so it's merely a time constraint. (And to a certain extent can be blamed for taking 12 minutes building up the episode instead of six-nine minutes like it should be.)) bowl the guard over yelling as he eats dirt. HAHA! The guard tries to get up as he demands where they are running; but the pygmites run him over and the kid pygmite finally gets a lick in by bopping the guard good on the back of the head. HEE HEE! So we continue on with the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE PYGMITE EDITION~ as Baloo decides to make it to the SeaDuck (Disney Caption screws up mightly as that call it a deck. UGH!).

They actually make it to the docks; but Kit points out that the SeaDuck is still broken from the missing pontoon from earlier which maintains CONTINUITY throughout the whole thing. (Unlike the moment where Kit switches legs to tow the rope in Stormy Weather, although they spliced far shot footage in there to make it less noticable.) Kit wonders what they can do as Baloo tells them they must think of something quick as the pygmites stampede onto the dock and then we go to the scene changer and....WHAT THE HELL?! The SeaDuck is in the air and everyone is all right?! Now I see where everyone think TaleSpin sucks. It was the same episode where they got the idea Rebecca was a horrible slumlord too. Now, the lion plot hole I can tolerate because of time constrints and even Rebecca being stupid in not using Hogzilla to her advantage earlier; but there is simply no excuse for this episode to finish in Z-Grade fashion. And you can tell from the scene changer that it is possible that there were plans to actually do a scene; but Disney cut it at the last minute. (Next time; cut out the second rampage of Hogzilla at least. Although, that would cut out Kit's English teacher comment.) In all fairness through; it is still a lot better than Dances With Bigfoot in that Baloo didn't do the stupid jello lava spot nor the Pygmites having their own airplane to follow them. So I really shouldn't complain much. (That's perfectly true; but the scene only requires about ten seconds of the babyface looking at Hogzilla and then do the scene changer.) Anyhow we head into the cockpit as Rebecca apologizes for being stubborn. She should also apologize for being psycho and being REALLY STUPID too. Kit and Baloo chuckle about Rebecca being such a pighead. HAR HAR! She did handle a pig; so it makes perfect sense even if it's a borderline sexist joke. (Pighead is not a sexist joke per se; it just means being stubborn. It's just that it seems to only apply to Rebecca that makes it so.)

Rebecca admits that it was pretty funny and decides to get a refund on the pig. Baloo is okay with it; but it's a shame to give up the pig now as the background in the cockpit still looks terrible; but not half as bad as the first time as the plane flies down and we see Hogzilla tied to the pontoon having the time of his life. Okay; that was funny, but man they could have built it up better. Maybe giving the buildup to the truffle hunt for FOURTEEN minutes was not a good thing after all eh Jermey?! The SeaDuck flies away from the camera and we circle fade out to end the episode at 21:20. Okay episode that turned out very good at first (with a few Wang Films mistakes sprinkled in); but man the last five minutes of it was terrible and it was clearly rushed as the build to the truffle hunt took way too long. The problem with Rebecca wasn't being a jerk; it was being really stupid in the process and that left three plot holes in the episode. Hogzilla and the pygmites carried the whole episode literally. On the other hand; the story itself was really fine; the bumps were fine, Baloo was on his best behavior despite the contrived lines and besides the plot holes; it made sense. Just a note: R.J. Williams did not voice this episode despite some notes claiming that he did. (I think it was the late Christopher Barat's notes that made that claim.) It was Alan Roberts all the way. (I'm dropping the rating to ** 1/2 (50%) mostly because it was way too rushed and they could have edited out some of the time wasting spots in order to give us an conclusion to the "Baloo/Kit escape the lion" angle which we never see the lion again. Even a minute edited out of the buildup would have been enough. Still; Hogzilla is awesome and the Kid Pgymite needs to learn more English so he can get a big contract to be Kit's buddy. As for the R.J. Williams credit addition that didn't happen: I think someone confused this episode with A Bad Reflection On You because both Alan Roberts and R.J. Williams voiced that episode.)

THE REVIEW LINE

Well; the streak of thumbs up episode ends with a thud at four (seven if you include the multi-parters I re-ranted on earlier) and in hindsight; it really shouldn't have been that way. Now, as much as the build up for the 14 minutes or so to the truffle hunt was actually well done; it took way too long and it focused too much on Rebecca acting like a psycho. To be honest; Rebecca acting like a jerk in an unjustified way wasn't really that big of a problem as much as her acting really stupid. (Although as I said before; Sally Struthers is a great actress that she can sell anything like a giant's deal at this point.) When she finally found the truffles and the pygmites attacked; guess who was with her? Hogzilla. And she already knows that the word bacon triggers Hogzilla into a frenzy, so why didn't she just use the word and get out of an obvious jam? It was just a way to force the moral of the story of Rebecca isn't always right which had been done for three episodes already. Why not write it so that Baloo and Kit get kidnapped and Rebecca saves the day to prove that she is right? Oh wait; already done in Time Waits For No Bear; but at least it would get Baloo to admit that maybe Rebecca can redeem herself. (And the fact that Jeremy Cushner is not a very good writer and Libby Hinson was a breath of fresh air to the DTVA staff.)

Instead; it basically led to a scene which was fine if Baloo and Kit were the ones captured and Rebecca saved the day (for Kit's sake obviously); only it backfires and then have the lion appear to wreck havoc and close one plot hole while Rebecca maintains her heat (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Also, then say bacon and Hogzilla counters the lion and all three escape. Yeah.). Also; had the creators shorten some of the scenes (which look fine; but are pointless.) they would have had a proper finish with Hogzilla even if it was simple as Baloo and Rebecca looking at Hogzilla before the scene changer. Hogzilla was a riot as I expected him to be and the Pygmites were all right. (The kid pgymy needs to be Kit's buddy, NOW! That is many buys!) Kit was Kit and Baloo was Baloo and WildCat is WildCat. Add on a few logic breaks (mostly the plot holes) and some problems animating with Wang Films (Certainly no Jolly Molly Christmas which was their best work ever.) and it was a solid story on paper; but the moral of “Rebecca isn't always right” dragged down the episode big time. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Most so when they did this angle three times already.) If they wrote it as “Rebecca can be right” then this episode could have been a **** easily. So next up; it's The Idol Rich and Stormy Weather to end the Disney Channel previews. The Idol Rich introduces the world Colonel Spigot and Dunder; while Stormy Weather is the episode that started Kit's character in earnest and in the end of the series; it would changed Walt Disney Television Animation forever. (No kidding!) So...

Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you next time.

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