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The Idol Rich Re-Rant
Reviewed: 05/22/2010
Additional
Commentary: 09/16/2021
Enter the Ultimate Short Joke!
Original Airdate: 06/16/1990 (Disney Channel); 09/20/1990 (Syndication); Episode #12 (Volume #1, Disc #2); Episode #9 (Production Order).
The
Idol Rich Notes
The
Idol Rich Transcript
We now debut two more main characters and do some treasure hunting complete with some actual fist connecting to body stuff to boot. (2015 Gregory Weagle Says: Anyhow; the plot of this is that Baloo and Kit go on a treasure hunt for a lost idol which is then stolen by a Russian warthog who is a midget with lots of muscle. They destroy Baloo forcing Baloo to play head games because he lost the fight against three tweeners and one sad babyface. This is also the first time that there is a hint that Baloo's real goal in life is getting back the SeaDuck from Rebecca, in which no one wanted to see happen until the end of the series where it would actually mattered the most (thus justifying the reset button and Status Quo is God tropes in a nutshell.)) Well; let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Carter Crocker, Libby Hinson and the late Bruce Talkington. The story is edited by the late Bruce Talkington. (In the first run of this episode on Disney Channel; Libby Hinson's credit was not there according to notes the late Christopher Barat (passed away three days before the announcement that Ducktales was going to be rebooted by Disney; in 2015.) provided me with. At first; this seems like an honest mistake; but upon hearing an earlier interview by Libby Hinson during the Christmas edition of DAFRadio's podcast; Libby mentioned that The Idol Rich was re-written at one point. The guise of it was that it was re-written to remove Shere Khan from the episode. Yes; the original script penciled this episode as the debut of Shere Khan. Libby didn't like Mr. Khan by the way. I have more to say about Libby from that interview, but I'll save that for Mommy For A Day. Carter also wrote three episodes of SheZow; which is a boy who becomes a girl superhero when he transforms. To be fair to the creators: I had an idea for Kit Cloudkicker to transform into Valk as a superhero form in the Aerocross fanfic series that I thankfully aborted because I suck at writing. Although I didn't write the idea as a comedy like SheZow.) The animation is done by Sunwoo animation.
We begin this one in the wrong part of Cape Suzette (Literally with fog effects and it looks like a cannery too.) as Kit goes through a dark alley with his airfoil and there is even mature shadow lighting to contrast with the blue/green lighting effects. (Again; does anyone who plays video games like a drug; ever watch cartoons as carefully as they play video games? And they wonder why no one takes them seriously anymore? Even the gamers themselves. Don't get me started on Pokemon Sun/Moon and Ash's new face. As goofy as it looks with the Z-cheeks style, the fact that people are making decisions based on this is Sonic The Hedgehog eye color level of idiocy. (2020 Gregory Says: Better goofy in the art style than creepy if they had decided not to go with the new style. It's not just for better emotive expressions either.)) Kit decides that he will forget taking shortcuts again. Then trouble brews as two bullies (Two nasty dogs and the big one is wearing a green sweater with a gang sign patch on his right shoulder. He is also wearing gray pants too. The thinner one is wearing a gray coat.) as Kit is forced to back up and run off; but a bear like bully wearing a black coat, pink shirt and jean is flipping a coin and calling Kit a shrimp. Believe it or not; these three bullies don't have names in the series; but I STILL used them for the Unforeseen Impact fanfic (Boris was the leader who was flipping the coin, Salet and Dustin would be his two minions. I don't know why I picked them, other than I remember them. I could have made original characters and it wouldn't have made a difference. Because my writing sucks.). See; there is a toll for passing through their territory and it's payday, you see. The shadow effects are great here. Kit calls him out as a big mouth and BS&P is panicking over a possible fight scene. Luckly; we cut to inside Baloo's bedroom as Kit is sitting on the chair with a black eye over his right eye and his airfoil is completely destroyed beside him. Funny how Dragon Ball Z fans whine over cutting punches to the face. (Yeah; I'm more worried about the stuff in anime that makes no sense to edit out.)
At least we get to see someone actually doing the punching and the result. It's not like anime dubs leave much to the imagination anyway. Although to be fair; at least Kit got some sort of injury here which didn't happen in Quack Pack; nor in 4Kids dubs. (Actually; that's harsh. 4Kids dubs do allow some bruising in certain situations.) Anyhow; Kit is angry and doing a full tilt Gruffi pose as Baloo asks him why he took on the Street Pirates (Or as I called them in the Unforeseen Impact fanfic: Street Pirates #1 or #2 depending on what mood I was in when completing that monster of a fic. When it takes years to write a fanfic, that's a hint that I should forsake the idea.) and thought he was smarter than they are. Here is where I started to part ways with most people on the lesson that Kit is supposed to learn because I saw some character development in this scene which can only be explained by watching Plunder and Lightning. I'll explain more as this scene progresses. Baloo fills the pack with ice cubes and puts it on Kit's head as Kit calls them nose wipes as they robbed him of his airfoil and since only Kit knows how it's used; they destroyed it (Which isn't that hard to do considering Plunder & Lightning Part Four. At least it isn't broken in five pieces this time around; so Kit has reinforced the thing since he rebuilt it.). And yes; Kit calls it an airfoil here which is the official name I called the board (An airfoil is a pitch on a propeller in prop planes. It's a really important part of what makes airplanes fly and has been used ever since it was invented. Again; this show knows how to reference itself properly with the genre. That being said; the comics always painted Kit's airfoil in different colors and I think the television series really missed the boat on this gimmick, as with the proper coloring stylist and a backstory, this would be a great hook in making Kit look cool. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: In Ducktales 2017, Kit's Airfoil is changed to Skyfoil. Why? I don't know, only Frank and Tanner know about this. )
Baloo grabs it and proclaims that it won't play the violin again (As if it could to begin with Pop-A-Bear? Really; you're only making Kit's tirade even more justified now.); but WildCat could fix it. That only just makes Kit even more angry as he throws down the icepack like a girl as they had no right to take it from him. (Again; a girl who has had enough of this BS. Play the violin? HA! That's a brutal line that only serves to make Baloo's face look more punchable.) See how Kit is acting like a child who cannot control his emotions here? This is the character development that I mentioned in a post I did when I was fisking the article "Cartoon Qualities Going Down." (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: A reminder: This episode was produced before Plunder and Lightning, so in hindsight, it's amazing that the writers were able to keep this straight. Maybe Libby Hinson was a lot more involved than I originally thought.) In fact; here's the paragraph that I wrote in terms of the Idol Rich episode and this scene in particular:
The
Idol Rich episode of TaleSpin taught several things just at the
beginning of the episode. Never take shortcuts through dark alleys
alone, never trust strangers and always try to outsmart them if
you’re out muscled. Good lessons and examples we learned from
these old cartoon shows, it is a shame that this generation is
missing out on them…
The
funny irony about all this is that I never once saw it that way. The
lesson I think I saw on the beginning of the Idol Rich was a much
deeper one and one that doesn't make sense until you watch Plunder
and Lightning before this. If someone watched TaleSpin the first
time; and the Idol Rich first, they would probably point out the same
thing he just did. However; once Plunder and Lightning is factored in
(and you understand the premise of the show); some people took away
something else from that scene. I learned that Kit's relationship
with Baloo had soften Kit up. In the next scene where Baloo lectures
a black eyed Kit with a busted airform and nurses his injuries; Baloo
asks why he took on the Street Pirates heads up and he thought he was
smarter than trying to get himself killed. Kit's reaction to that was
like a small little child. Why do I say that's deeper? Because; if
Kit were on the streets before, Kit would have done what Baloo told
him to do BEFORE this scene even happened. It showed that Kit was no
longer the same kid in Plunder and Lightning. That's called character
development and TaleSpin's main premise is character interaction. The
TaleSpin bible admits to this. This is
why showing the Disney Channel episodes first before Plunder and
Lightning made for some really interesting character development that
the creators probably never intended. But screw them; we are the
audience and we create the canon for shows anyway no matter what
experts claim otherwise. (Source: Entry
)
(Yeah; but it also as a tendency to erase stuff like Gargoyles: Goliath Chronicles. I might do some of that for Easter Sadism in 2016; since there are no new Chargeman Ken episodes being translated right now. But that could change of course. Besides, Disney owns the productions anyway, so it's at the mercy of Disney's head canon and not the original creators. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Ducktales 2017 in a nutshell, everyone.)) Baloo states the moral of the episode in that when the bad guys start using muscles; you have to start using brain power see. (Which is one of the best morals in television actually because it also is compelling television when it's written properly. It often isn't and becomes a broken Aseop.) Baloo decides to demonstrate the moral of the story by pretending to be like six guys. With that fatass; that is very plausible. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm.... (Why did you hit me? It's a perfect analogy here and it makes the whole demonstration believable.) Anyhow; Baloo does a really silly voice and steals the icepack thinking it's a hat. Now if he had stolen Kit's baseball cap; then this would have worked perfectly. As is; this is merely very good as Kit punches like a girl too which is hilarious considering what happens later on. (Kit's punches are worked here since he still made contact with Baloo's belly on the punches; because he probably didn't want to hurt Poppa Bear here. I also believe that this whole sequence is based on the Jungle Book as well. ) Baloo stops him easily and calls it pathetic because Kit is not listening. Well; you shouldn't have soften him up so much when he was a runaway orphan before he met you Poppa Bear. That's the danger in trying to teach Kit about instinct over his learned behavior of mistrust. (Yeah; an actual consequence. Why does this show get this right? More importantly; why doesn't this show get it wrong? Because this show doesn't get the fact that kids just want comedy, see.)
Baloo runs over and steps onto the conveniently placed circle pizza rug as Baloo wants him to outsmart them; and be smart, subtle and trickier than a bowl full of Jello. And that the first product placement in the series right there. Now there's an ad Bill Cosby should have tried; just for a laugh. (We accuse the modern cartoons of this pop-culture nonsense? To be fair; Jello was invented as it was named in 1897 and then sold in 1899 to be sold in 1902. So it fits here perfectly. (2020 Gregory Weagle: Bill should also not treat women like sex objects either, that might have kept him out of prison and not make him persona non grata in Hollywood. Also, does Disney+ edit out these references due to copyright issues? I don't know and I'm not subscribing to Disney+ to find out. Unless it comes to Nintendo Switch, then I'll change my mind like someone notorious to being indecisive.)) Kit scratches his head over it as he sees the trick now and Baloo calls him out to do something about it. Kit feigns that he can do nothing...AND THE ROCK SAYS NOTHING, but the police man can. Baloo turns his back on Kit like a stupid idiot and Kit yanks the rug from underneath Baloo. Since this isn't Ducktales; Baloo gets yanked off; does a backflip 180 degrees and falls on his back with a MAN-SIZED bump onto the wooden floor. HAHA! Trust me; that is no small feat of strength from Kit Cloudkicker there since Baloo weighes equal to six guys. (2020 Gregory Weagle: Kit's superhuman strength in this show is breath taking sometimes.) That bump would have broken someone's back and neck in any other universe. (It's like this spot was the opposite of the Ducktales spot: Baloo oversold the spot here; while the nephews no sold the spot in Cash As Catch Can. Hmmm; I wonder who sold the spot as if it were real and who sold it as to say "THIS IS FAKE~"?) Kit then playfully comes over and puts the icepack in his face to rub it in while catching it in midair to boot. HAHA!
Baloo swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (By George) as Kit has got the magic touch of his street smarts again. Kit helps Baloo up as he wants to show those bullies a lesson as he jumps onto his belly smiling. Baloo doesn't want to deal with those nobodies because there are more important things on the agenda. (Well; to be fair, the bullies are nameless so they were nobodies. Although it gets funnier a little later on. My fanfics made them characters. Well; my head canon anyway. ) Kit appears to know what it is; but Baloo covers his mouth before he can speak. BOO! HISS! Baloo proclaims that there is treasure in a lost idol worth millions as Kit isn't impressed because Rebecca will NEVER buy nor sell that one to her. Baloo tells Kit to leave Rebecca to him because he's got the perfect story see. Oh; this shall be fun to listen to. (Yeah; and the payoff to this is basically Rebecca letting him get enough rope to hang himself. Again. Rebecca making Baloo look like an idiot will never fail to make me laugh.) So we go to the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM (at three and a half minutes in) as Baloo starts explaining the story to Rebecca while acting like this is serious and somber. See; he has a sick aunt of his really needs his help and Rebecca asks who this aunt's name is again. Apparently; it's Milly according to the stammering Baloo. Rebecca reminds Baloo that this makes twenty-three sick aunts in the last six months. Yeap; she is not buying what Baloo is selling. (What a surprise?!) Baloo tries to end around that by claiming that the Pop's side of the family was never very healthy. Rebecca of course proclaims that she is on to him on the treasure hunting nonsense and Rebecca decides to give him some time off since he earned it. (How exactly? Character development? What's that? I can just hear John Kricfalusi say that right now.)
(I think John was perfectly fine with TaleSpin; all things considered, but I don't know. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Another one that went from mere asshole to rapists many years later.) Kricfalusi was a well meaning cartoon animator (Not anymore) who just happened to be an asshole (oh, he was far worse now that John K. got exposed). Just like Baloo in many ways. (Baloo wasn't anywhere near as bad as John.) Anyhow; this scene might be Libby Hinson's handiwork because she's much more jovial here than usual around this early stage of the show's run. Considering how angry she was in certain scenes; this was a nice change of pace either way; so Hinson's role is paying off for Rebecca character wise. And no; this doesn't bore me nor is it toning it down because if it was, then all of Rebecca's attitude in the previous episodes would have to be toned down as well and there's no indication that any of it has been touched. However; if Tim Val Hal has evidence of this tampering, then all bets are off!); So, Rebecce lets Baloo go on a treasure hunt and get it out of his system. Rebecca mocks him because when he comes back; Baloo is going to fail in the treasure hunt and she gets to say that she told him so. HA! Rebecca starts reading the newspaper as Baloo storms off because he's returning with the money to pay back the SeaDuck as that angle has started in earnest. This particular will never be paid off and quite frankly no one wants it paid off because if it is the series is OVERAH BRUTHA~! (Yeah; you wait until the end before you avoid pushing that button because if you do it before it's time to pull the trigger; then it makes no sense. I wish Fairly Oddparents would think about that since they had a great finale and then killed it by pushing the reset button just because the execs renewed the series; and thus they were forced to push it again; killing all the heat that finale had. (It involves the family finally noticing that Timmy has fairies for godparents and this happens due to Crocker turning the world into a dictatorship.))
Baloo and Kit walk out as Rebecca mocks them on carrying the loot as she giggles while reading the newspaper which is volume one of the Cape Suzette Tribute (Must be a recent newspaper. I guess Mr. Khan was forced to open up to competition by some unknown force. Who knows how at this point?!). So we get the scene changer as we pan up to see the SeaDuck in the air from the ocean as Kit is really happy to be doing this treasure hunt and that Rebecca gave them their blessings to do it too. We go to a outside window shot of the cockpit as Kit is reading the map in the navigation seat while Baloo is piloting. Kit explains that people have been looking for this lost idol for years and years. Baloo proclaims that the only reason that doohickey is still on the loose is because he never tried his luck getting it see. So; the SeaDuck dives down and lands on the docks of that "Pleasure Island On The South Seas; Louie's". Baloo on the far shot proclaims that the Sultan of Kafusalum (Which Disney Captions and fans equally got right. Don't worry; Disney Caption is destined to screw up at some point since Stormy Weather is the next episode and final Disney Channel preview episode to boot.) has offered a thirty million torbit reward for it's discovery and return to his country. The audio proclaims that it is thirteen million torbits and fans have been saying that it's thirteen million; but Baloo's accent makes it difficult to say if he is saying thirty or thirteen since they sound almost the same. (Nope; it was thirty million torbits even with the accent.) This is where speaking clearly without an accent helps here. So it's a toss up here on weither Disney Captions screwed up here. Okay; we land on the docks and they come out and Alan Roberts clearly said thirty million torbits so Disney Captions got it right and we fans had it wrong all along. I think if Jeffrey Mika was around; that piece of information would have to be changed along with the money rates. (Yup. Disney Caption got it right here. Doesn't change the ending though; only the money rate Jeffrey Mika used for TaleSpin Source.)
Kit proclaims that every treasure hunter will be after this as Baloo calls him "Kit-boy" as he thinks that there is no one awesome enough to take this job as we clearly see a gator, elephant and a big fat mole in a fur coat walking in front of Baloo past Louie's. I guess they are preparing themselves to go hunting; but I don't see them again methinks. (Eat your heart out Zootopia. Sort of.) So we head into Louie's on the far sky shot as a lot of people are at their tables and the ADR noises start again as Baloo and Kit enter the place and Kit notices the chatter and proclaims that he gives up on how many can there be as Baloo is surprised at this. HAHA! Louie waves over to Baloo (Little Baloo boy?! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm surprised Baloo would easily live that promo down.) at the island bar area (complete with glasses and white towel) as Baloo and Kit come over and Louie is cleaning alcohol shot glasses with his feet. No; I'm not kidding here. He is holding them with his feet, seriously. (No kidding indeed! Louie is in fact cleaning shot glasses; so this show isn't hiding that alcohol is served in this bar. The funniest thing about this is; a non-alcoholic juice bar would make a lot more sense since Air Taxis would be a lot more expensive than regular taxis and therefore, it would be completely unwise to serve alcohol at this place since it's an island. Although as demonstrated in "The Volcano Of Gold" comic book story; drinking alcohol does happen.) Baloo asks about the yahoos doing here as Louie proclaims that it's for the same reason he is here as he has made his place the official "Idol Hunting Headquarters" as we see various furries at the tables (I see logic break number one for the episode as the gator and the mole guy are already INSIDE the bar.). I noticed that Ace has returned from the Plunder and Lightning movie (The one who ran in to Baloo to tell him that Kit has a message for Baloo, remember?) standing around doing nothing else. Baloo calls Louie an innkeeper as that is a real comment that isn't supposed to be a real comment. (As per A Touch Of Glass.) Anyhow; Baloo asks about any information on the idol for treasure hunters and Louie has no new information other than the legend itself:
Louie L'Amour: The idol is in the land of One Thousand One Lakes; right under your nose.
Yeap; that is SO helpful, yes siree, Mr. Innkeeper. Kit has no clue about that as we get a shot of a map with a like that looks like a moose with an island (Which basically gives away where the place is by the way; but most kids will not notice anyway.) as we hear some knocking and Kit calls them out as Thembrians. At least Disney Captions gets the name right here as we see a midget blue warthog wearing red gear that makes him look like a combination of communism and fascism all in one. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: CINO (Communists In Name Only) and fascism all in one actually. Russia in a nutshell.) Now that combination would be impossible in the real world of course; but this is TaleSpin and nothing is impossible. Not even a former child terrorist being a babyface. (The joke here is that Thembrias are "Them" and Usland is "Us". This is actually a canon reference which didn't make it in the show. For some reason (like Zibaldo Clock Tower and Erwin LaFong actually. Hog From Hell would have been understandable if Baloo didn't slip a "fuck" in this show.) . Anyhow; Spigot's accent is to accent the "th" sound to a "z" sound as in Zembria.) Louie wonder what the ULTIMATE SHORT JOKE is doing here. And after watching him in action you will understand why. Following him is a fat blue warthog in the same gear looking timid and more friendly, which you will understand why later. Oh; and he also brought two warthog guards who are much bigger and meaner than the short guy is. The ULTIMATE SHORT JOKE walks to a table (Notice the amazing diverse of spieces in this series? In Ducktales; it's usually ducks, dog noses, pigs and some birds. Ducktales 2017 is an improvement, but the bears only exist because they reference The Wuzzles and TaleSpin itself. In TaleSpin; it's not uncommon to see bears, apes, dogs, cats, warthogs, a walrus, a gator, an elephant in the background and sometimes even weirder spieces. Basically; anyone they like. This is fursuit fandom heaven; which figures since Jymn Magon is a furry fan.) and the guard helps him up onto the table since the short joke is even shorter than Kit Cloudkicker is and he steps into a pineapple glass of punch. HAHA! (He's probably shorter than even Gorielli in the comic book story "A Piece O'Da Action". Wow; that has to be a slap in this poor widdle warthog's ugly kisser.) The ULTIMATE SHORT JOKE grumbles and shakes with no dice present. We cut to a shot of the map and we see him deliever this gem of a line:
Colonel Spigot: I am Colonel Spigot. Perhaps you've heard of me?
Ah; the wacky Thembrians have arrived with their short shafted second in command Colonel Spigot; living proof that you can be a communist, Nazi and all other dictators put together and made into a joke. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Spigot is the definition of a sad heel. He's been gaslit to death by his country and only incompetence has made him successful. This show was released at the time the Soviet Union was nearly dead and to be honest, even if they had changed it to a fantasy paradise, it would probably still come as a "Take That!" considering Russia is offended at any references made by Non-Russians.) Actually; scratch the Nazi part out since that was originally planned according to an interview with Laura Ann Trombley on the voice actor who did Colonel Spigot. (Originally, Danny Mann was supposed to voice Spigot and Spigot would have a German/Nazi-equse accent. And for a while; memos as far as Gruel & Unusual Punishment suggested this. However; Disney execs caught wind of this and demanded that Spigot not be a Nazi and so later on in production; the actual voice of Spigot was called in to redub all the lines Danny Mann did. If this show wasn't going to be marketed in Europe; they probably would have gotten away with the Nazi reference. On an interesting point; only Spigot has an actual accent that sounds more Russian.) Spigot is a really funny character and the whole Thembrian angle was actually quite ground breaking in a sense that Magon was poking fun at the USSR and Nazi Germany (although less so for Nazi Germany since much of the Nazi part was removed since Disney was marketing the show in Germany and Germany has a massive Anti-Nazi kick in materials in general. Which might explain why most of the Thembrian don't speak broken English like Magica does. (Sadly; a TaleSpin comic called Dogs Of War didn't get the memo.))
Which was unheard of in a Disney cartoon not intended for propoganda in World War 2 (With good reason since those cartoons were so racist that it puts the stereotypes of DTVA to shame.). The angle was so powerful that Russia actually ordered the show blacklisted when it first aired due to the angle which they felt was offensive. Ironically; the final episode of TaleSpin would actually become a part of blacklist history later on in America. Even more so; TaleSpin actually returned to Russia in full in 1997 and onward and became one of two countries where the show was a massive cult hit among fans (India I believe was the other one, and I think China will someday be number three.) in that country. It's an amazing little bit of history that usually goes unnoticed since the angle does draw up some bad memories; both in the idea (it is poking fun at the Cold War which is considered no laughing matter) and execution. (And it's all moot because Flying Dupes is officially off the black list. The only one left is the 1990 Disney Channel edition of Plunder and Lightning and it's the only one whom will never leave that list.) Anyhow; Colonel Spigot is voiced by Michael Gough (Not the Batman movie actor though (I still have the old print out copies of Laura Ann Trombley's Baloo9 website where she made that mistake actually. That Michael Gough passed away in 2011 by the way; about a year after this re-rant was written.)) So Colonel Spigot still cannot get the pineapple glass off his foot as he continues his rant because he wants to claim the idol for his mommy-land, Thembria as everyone salutes but the timid fat warthog. (Ironic; since the head of state is male.) The fat Thembrian shown who doesn't look mean would be Sgt. Dunder who is voiced by the late Lorenzo Music (Passed away in 2001). You can clearly tell Dunder is voiced by Music because he sounds exactly like Garfield/Tummi. He also got typecast in a lot of enormous roles I see too.
Cymballs clash as Spigot proclaims that everyone is wasting their time because the idol is his see. He threatens to crush anyone with his pineapple boot if anyone gets between him and his idol. Who? The idol or the High Marshall? Does it really matter? I don't think even Colonel Spigot knows the difference. HAHA! (If he thinks it's the High Marshall; then he's really a sadist in the context of not realizing that the High Marshall wants him to be shot.) Baloo gleefully blows him off for me as Louie scratches his straw hat and Colonel Spigot is angry that he heard that as Baloo is grabbed by the ankles and hung upside down by the Thembrian Guard. Colonel Spigot jumps down (And that pineapple glass is taking more of a beating than the animators who decided to create five weasels surrounding them with pilot's gear too.) and asks Baloo about hunting idols and Baloo no sells because he wants a three bean salad and only got two, you see. He is just hanging around (No kidding Pop-A-Bear?!) waiting for the other one to show up. Colonel Spigot proclaims that the WRAITH OF SPIGOT is on full force as Baloo seemly gets the under your nose part as Spigot demands to know what he said and Louie calls Colonel Spigot out as a shortstop because this is his bar and what he says counts. HOLY CRAP?! Louie just admitted that Louie's is a bar. Which means that alcohol is being served here. (By Louie's Last Stand; they were no longer calling it a bar; so someone clearly complained here. Al Khaaaaannnnn~?!) 4Kids would calls this a cafe you see; as Louie orders them to drop the bear. That is NOT a smart order there Louie as I betcha they drop Baloo on his head with a SICK MAN-SIZED bump. I check the DVD.....Damn; I'm so good. That bump was pretty sick. Not as sick as the one Baloo suffered in Polly Wants A Treasure; but close enough. He would be dead in any other universe but this one. (It's impossible to laugh at this now that I know about concussions. Seriously.)
Louie has some bouncers who look like cousins of Gorilla Goon from Time Waits For No Bear. Something tells me that they are related to Trader Moe and that is not in a good way. Baloo thanks Louie; sort of as we go to the outside shot of Louie's from above as Baloo mocks Spiggy some more with short jokes as if he is ever down his way. Kit and Baloo walk out as Colonel Spigot and Sgt. Dunder look on with Spigot having a disdain look on his move while Dunder looks timid as usual. So we head to a shot of the SeaDuck flying above the ocean BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (Sunset) and doing loop-de-loops for only fifteen cents as Kit questions Baloo's sanity over the whole thing. We then see the SeaDuck flying over a forest which looks airbrushed like happy trees with Bob Ross' painting show (Which makes this bad for Mr. Hardcore; but screw them.) as Baloo proclaims that he knows what is under his nose. EEEWWWWW! I personally do NOT want to know Pop-A-Bear. Baloo twirls the SeaDuck around as Kit asks if he knows where the idol is and Baloo tells him that he kisses a rhino that he does. EWWWWWWW! (What a bigot you are, 2010 me?!) We fly upside down (SYMBOLISM~!) as Baloo tells Kit to look at Moose Lake on the map which he does; but then Baloo corrects him and wants him to read the map right side up which makes no sense since Kit is already reading it right side up (logic break #2) as Kit turns it around and sees the mustache and the island in the middle and swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE ("By George; I think he's got it."). We then get the SeaDuck going right side up as Kit looks down and we see shots of Arthur lake (A nod to Post-Production Producer Jeffrey Arthur who did post-production for Saban dubs later on. ) and Veronica Lake (Which is based on the 1940's actress Veronica Lake and an alternative name used for a 1990's porn actress (as Veronica Sage). (Thus proving that the 1990's was not the invincible era we all think it is.)
We then see a sky shot of them nearing Moose Lake as the SeaDuck starts to spiral down as we cut to a shot of the lake which looks like something we see in the southern United States. Okay; has British Petrolum been pumping oil here or something?! (I wondered where that scene looked familiar.) Kit calls the water funny and Baloo blows him off because water is water see. He wants to land east of the nostril as Baloo lands on the water and then the SeaDuck slips and slides like a banana peel or Mr. Icy Roads depending on your poison on the sky shot. My poison is on the later. Kit yells "Land ho!" (Heh. (I have the maturity of that male radio host (B.J.) of Q104.3: "What do you want me to think? Hole! Shaft! Balls!". Why yes; they were promoting a golf chairty event and this guy cannot resist making sex jokes.)) at some more happy tree airbrushing land and that leads to the SeaDuck flying right into the air straight up like a skateboard off a ramp; or a skier off the ski jump ala one of those awesome Goofy shorts. (It's known as "The Art Of Skiing" from 1941.) The MIRACLE WORKERS CONNECTION panics like crazy; does some crazy backflips and it lands right down onto the island backwards as the SeaDuck breaks logic by getting stuck in some purple tar. Ooooookkkkkkaaaayyy. I see that this is logic break #3 for the episode. But it was a pretty neat sequence; so I'll live. (Oil is extremely sticky and slippery; so I cannot see the logic break 2010 me is trying to point out.) We head into the cockpit as Baloo proclaims that they would land west of the nostril this time. I guess the west side is the sticky part and the east side is the slippery part of the oil. Interesting contrast by the writers there. We head outside with a far shot of the SeaDuck and then a right pan shot of Kit and Baloo rowing on oily sludge (helpfully pointed out by Kit) and struggling to do even that. They row to the actual island as Baloo tells him to keep paddling and once they make it to the island; they are on easy street.
So we head to a sky shot with the birds flying (Why is every scene in TaleSpin start with good pointless animation? (Because they hate "Exec Science"; that's why.)) as we pan down to see Kit and Baloo in the jungle and Kit blows off Baloo for this being easy street. Baloo counters with him buying a highway to play with once they get the idol. Considering that Kit is insane sometimes; he might just do that just to see Rebecca and Baloo's reaction. (No need to see the reaction since the reaction during the Cloudkicker Dive Of Doom in Stormy Weather is good enough for a read.) Then they fall over and slide down a muddy slide (As Sunwoo is screwing up the feet slightly as the claws aren't completely drawn on Baloo's feet at least.) That leads to them taking some weak bumps onto the ground below next to the FIREY LAKE FROM HELL. Baloo is on his face; Kit is on his belly as Baloo pants proclaiming that they made it and it should be right under the nose. Kit then goes over to the lake of goo and puts his finger close to a bubble and Baloo is forced to grab Kit away because the bubble bursts into flames. Yeap; we have TaleSpin's version of hell: a goo like lake of fire. (In the "Volcano Of Gold" comic book; Bobbi referenced hell as "lake of fire" twice in that story. I wouldn't be shocked if the original French version was in fact "hell".) Kit thanks Baloo for preventing him from winning the Darwin Award for 1990 (One of the few stupid moments for Kit in general in this series. At least in the televised version, Kit was really smart and many of the comics had him that way. Except for the Super Baloo comics where Kit was reckless and couldn't do multiplication tables. Oh; and you mean 1937's Darwin Award since that's when this took place in storyline. Yes, it's official canon.) as Baloo warns him to never trust a bubble he doesn't blow himself. Oh boy; they ARE foreshadowing Kit's past in this episode, too. (The television series did their damnest to avoid Kit's past like the plague because they felt that continuity meant poorer ratings in reruns. Never mind that Pokemon has been doing the continuity thing for decades with no signs of poorer ratings in reruns. Maybe it's because kids don't care about continuity to hate it and change the channel. You would thinks execs would take the hint; but paranoia and money marks are really stupid. Drake Mallard would hang his head in shame seeing this. The comics embraced continuity (despite making a mess of it) and I ended up getting a lot of backstory out of it.)
It's idol catching time as Baloo wants to find the oversized paperweight and get the hell out of here. We get a far shot and then we zoom into the spooky woods in shadows as we cut to a near shot of the COFFIN OF DEVILS as Kit asked if the coffin is booby-trapped. Baloo asks if a bear sleep in the woods as he pries the coffin open with a stick and lifts it into the LAKE OF FLAMING HELL as it flames up just for my amusement. He doesn't burn Baloo to ashes though. Nor does the idol sadly. Baloo and Kit turn around as we see the idol itself and man; it's almost as ugly as the imp from Gummi Bears. Almost. Thankfully; this idol doesn't come to life. Baloo causally grabs the idol which is attached to a rope and we hear some clanging and we get some Gummi Bear kids complex trap setting sequence (I think this IS the idol Dukie threw out; or not. (I wonder if the Thembrians actually set this one up. Nah; probably not since that would make Dunder's comment in act II not make sense.)) which leads to a cannon ball dropping on Baloo's head and there is zero bump; but it nails him flush on the top of his head as Baloo screams badly and goes punch drunk as Kit pulls Baloo away as the cage drops onto the ground. (Geez; more concussion city to cringe over.) Something tells me this trap was NOT set by the person who was protecting this idol. (No; it was. Again, if it was the case, then Dunder's line in the next act makes no sense.) Baloo cheers for victory as no two people deserve it more. And here comes the ULTIMATE SHORT JOKE and his posse with torches proclaiming that it's true and so sad that they won't be able to keep it either. (Geez; to give Dunder the second banana honor sounds like a backhanded compliment from the Colonel Spigot.) Colonel Spigot laughs and that ends the segment 10 and a half minutes in. Pretty good episode thus far. (Yeah; there is nothing really bad about Sunwoo's animation and not a lot of logic breaks. Sunwoo is bland; but they get the job done; which is fine in this show because the animation is not the main event, it's the characters and their interactions to one another.)
After the commercial break; we get a shot of the gooey LAKE OF FLAMING HELL as the Thembrian guards pull up Baloo and Kit inside the cage (Thus adding evidence to my theory that Colonel Spigot was the one who set the trap.) as Baloo blows off Spigot for jitterbugging in and stealing the idol. Spigot blows him off because might is right see and he has the might. That is so George W. Bush of you Spiggy. No wonder America looks like Thembria now. I'm begging to see why some in the cold war didn't warm up to this angle. Kit asks how Spigot knew where they were and Colonel Spigot proclaims that he examine the clues and his scintillating intellect deciphered where the idol was. In other words; he followed them naturally. Thank you Dunder for pointing it out as Colonel Spigot takes off his hat and slaps Dunder with it. Dunder apologizes to Spigot for talking and probably breathing too. See; if you talk and breathe in the presence of a Thembrian; YOU CAN BE SHOT! That is a proper gag I use with the Thembrians when they appear on screen for obvious reasons later on. (The best damn running gag in this show actually. Now that I think about it; maybe Dunder meant that they followed them and went on the opposite side of the island knowing Baloo and Kit were coming and they set the trap. Damn; I didn't think this all the way through and it makes sense now. They are a trigger happy bunch of bastards; let me tell ye.) Thembrian Guard #1 taps Spigot on the shoulder and points to the bubble on the lake as Spigot decides to leave and taunt his victory at Louie's on the way home just to rub it into Pop-A-Bear. Or make Baloo into a hypocrite as we will see later on. Baloo proclaims that he should wait until he gets his hands on him as Spigot shows his sweet side as he would love to finish this delightful conversation; but he hates the smell of scorched fur see. The Thembrians leaves as the bubble inflates some more; but it doesn't burst into flames.
We get a shot of the bubble underneath the cage blowing up (logic break #4 since the bubble was far away from the cage) as Kit asks for a knife; but Baloo only has a shoulderblade to give him. So Kit decides it is time to do some work as he pushes himself through the wooden cage (A trait Kit has in several episodes and then the heels solved that problem in Citizen Khan of all episodes.) as Baloo calls him out for rocking the boat. Kit pushes through with great effort (I love this spot) as Kit is now riding the cage from the outside as Baloo praises him for it. Kit then swings the cage ala Steiner and Marcus in Final Fantasy IX. Kit swings more violently towards the rose thorn tree branch; but he cannot reach it by himself. So Baloo grabs him by the sides and they swings longer and harder and Kit grabs the thorn covered tree branch (Which has got to be hell on Kit's hands considering that it's got a lot of thorns on it.). Why do I get the feeling that this is all about someone getting their homoerotic bodies all hot and bothered? (Bigots? In that case...yup. What a shocker?!) Kit hangs on for dear life as his hands are nearly slipping; but the rope burns off as the bubble finally pops and Baloo swings over and takes a really nasty bump onto the ground which destroys the cage while Kit continues to hang on the tree. Kit swings back and drops to the ground landing on his feet next to Baloo who is sitting on his ass. Kit asks if he is all right Baloo thanks Kit for using his head; but blows him off for not using HIS own head more gently. HAHA! I hope he never does as Baloo gets up and wants to get that idol back and they walk stage right. (Remember that Kit used his brains to get out of this death trap because it comes full circle later on.) So we head to that "Pleasure Island On The South Seas, Louie's" DURING HAPPY HOUR (at dark) as we hear Colonel Spigot calling himself irrepressible as he lies about how he got the idol back like George Bush Senior on drugs. (How fitting that this aired after George HW Bush's debut on Cartoon All Stars To The Rescue too. Although we all have seen his son on drugs; so I shudder to think.)
We head inside as Spigot is on the table with Dunder, Louie, the guards and the gator and elephant among the observers from earlier. (Oh; and if you look closely, the bully with the coin from the first scene is in the bar as well, albeit with his back facing the hard camera.) Spigot uses big words just to make the connection between the Republicans and himself more complete. Louie looks bored as he sips some of that WE KNOW IT'S ALCOHOL BUT WE'RE NOT TELLING DRINK OF DOOM from the pineapple glass as he asks about the reward while speaking in the POP CULTURE TALK OF DOOM as Spigot proclaims that this achievement was for the glory of Thembria as he is going to basically steal it like a good Nazi...ERRRR...I mean, communist would and display it as a trophy to his greatness. In other words; he basically stole it and this justifies whatever force Baloo and Kit need to get it back for the good will of the Sultan. (Which is how you build babyfaces and heels. It's amazing how well this show figures this one out. Even when they are making babyfaces look like heels on purposes to create a compelling story and generate actual heat.) And here come Baloo and Kit entering Louie's as Baloo proclaims that the trophy is returning to his own hands. Spigot proclaims that he found it and Baloo blows him off because he stole it. Baloo is right here since Spigot has zero plans to give the idol back to the Sultan. That little detail Spigot said earlier in this scene gives that little fact away that Spigot is the heel here. Spigot slaps his hand away and admits that Baloo was holding it; but he was no match for Spigot because might makes right see. Baloo tells him that the right he should be worried about is his fists. (Both of them of course.) He wants Spigot to give back the idol or there will be trouble. (Sadly for Baloo; Spigot is going to make trouble and make it double now. See, Baloo can easily take Spigot; it's his backup that is the problem. Even if Dunder is a pushover in storyline.)
Spigot chooses trouble of course as we go off-screen to a shot of Kit as Baloo gets MURDERED by the Spigot Guards and then gets thrown OVER Kit's head as Baloo yells out of the bar. Excellent MAN-SIZED bump off-screen from Baloo of course as this is becoming a little too realistic for my liking here. Kit goes over and tries to stop Baloo; but Baloo gently shoves him aside because he has munchkins to mush. Can you smell the hypocrisy out of Baloo; or do I have to spell it out for ya? (Baloo using violence over brains after telling Kit that using your head is the only way to beat a musclehead brute?! That's hogwash 2010 me! That implies Baloo is a massive hypocrite and that he's a scumbag. Oh wait...) Baloo goes in as Kit covers his eyes and Baloo gets MURDERED and thrown out back first this time with another MAN-SIZED bump. Baloo waltzs in selling injuries as Kit tries to stop Baloo because they are too big. Don't you just love it when the moral makes the teller look like a hypocrite?! That's something else I learned from this episode by the way. Don't worry; Baloo will figure it out soon enough. (Yeah; after getting mauled and squashed like a bug in Spigot's soup for the next four or five scenes or so.) Let's just enjoy the next round as Baloo motions to Kit to step aside because they are bigger and they punch harder as we see Louie and his bouncers as Louie asks if Baloo wants backup (and considering that there are two gorillas that are as big as he is.... (Actually; they were the ones who pressured the Thembrian guards to let go of Baloo earlier in the episode. Baloo looks so stupid here because he has backup and refuses to go along with it. Toxic manliness in a nutshell everyone.)); but Baloo refuses. Man; you know Baloo is a literal glutten for punishment that even dubs look like they are just writing themselves. The horror continues for them as Baloo gets MURDERED again as Louie gets off this gem of a line:
Louie: What Baloo needs between him and them is about three inches of concrete.
I cannot argue with that overwhelming logic there Louie. (And seeing the goons in Time Waits For No Bear and Idiots Aboard!; three inches of concrete is not going to protect Pop-A-Bear. Only him ending his hypocriticial actions will stop this stupid, pointless struggle.) That leads to the table shot as Baloo's head is lying in a soup bowl as Spigot is still on the table and he outclasses everyone in this episode with this line:
Colonel Spigot: Gentlemen, there's a flyboy in my soup!
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Rhinokey seriously needs to see this show for better jokes and punchlines. Then he won't have to depend on laughing after every joke to sound funny. (Why? That would kill the point of having him as cannon fodder for my rants. No, just no.) Kit walks out towards the docks on the next shot just as Baloo gets MURDERED and thrown out through the wall:
Joey Styles: We just fixed that wall!
Consider that the events take place after Plunder and Lightning and you'll understand why that joke really works here. Baloo rolls like a bowling ball; but doesn't strike pins or anything. So we go to the scene changer as Baloo and Kit are on top of the roof near a solar pane-like window as he opens the window and Baloo proclaims that they will never expect an air raid. Baloo jumps in and he gets the SHOYUKEN OF DEATH (Off-screen sadly; which is for the best in case Capcom gets pissy about copyright infringement or something. Which is hilarious considering Capcom was creating DTVA games for the NES, including one for this very show.) and Baloo goes flying into the air through the window and where he lands; do we really care? Baloo destroys the window, of course. So we go to another scene changer as we go to the entrance as Baloo storm in mad as hell as it is no more Mr. Nice Guy. If you cannot guess what happens to him next; you have no business reading this rant. So we go to the scene changer towards the docks as Kit is sitting on the edge fishing (Even he knows this is not working and is just waiting for Baloo to get so tired that it will be much easier for him to stop Baloo and tell him to stop this nonsense.) and Baloo gets kicked out and falls into the drink with a splash. Amazingly enough; he doesn't splash Kit wet on that one.
Not a good spot from Sunwoo (Baloo splashed well away from Kit; so it makes sense 2010 me.) as we go to another scene changer with a side shot of the docks. Baloo is wet and walking with a (very weak) purpose as Kit is now restraining him trying to push him back. Baloo tells Kit to give him a minute and he'll get it right this time (Disney Captions screws up because Baloo said Kit in the audio and not kid. Disney Captions seems to do that a lot.). This time; Kit stays on him reminding him that he is outgunned, out maned and out muscled. He also tells him to use his head. Alan Roberts actually calls him Poppa Bear for the second time in this series. Baloo stops and asks him where he learned that and Kit gets all evil and starts shadow punching at Baloo as Baloo remembers pretty quickly and leans on Kit's head as Baloo proclaims that it's time to stop driving himself crazy and start driving Spigot crazy. Kit then does one of those spots that makes me love this character and I'll let the dialog and his actions speak for themselves:
Kit: By George! (Kit then delivers one of the best (left handed) punches I have ever witnessed right in the midsection of Baloo. HAHA! And that was on-screen and really good one too!) I think Spigot's gonna get it! (He winks on cue and that ends the segment 15 minutes in! Now THAT'S how you end a segment BRUTHA!) (Now that was a potato punch from Kit Cloudkicker after doing worked punches as to not hurt Baloo early on in the episode. That is a great example of naunce by the writers. Yes; a lot of the second act was getting out of the death trap and cartoony scenes, but it all worked out well because the moral of the story is actually going to work here in the third act.)
After the commercial break; we head to morning with a far shot of the "Pleasure Island of the South Seas, Louie's". So we go to the shot of the Thembrian flag (black with a white half circle- carried by Dunder) as we see the Thembrian Guards march ala Robin Hood (In a strange way; TaleSpin is basically a Wuzzlized version of Disney's The Jungle Book and Robin Hood. (Mostly Robin Hood.)) as the pilots look defeated including Ace. Colonel Spigot marches with them as he tells the paltry peasants to eat their hearts out. And then we see in the background shot near the plane as Baloo dressed up as the most redonkulous prophet in history as he kneels down and prays to him like a fool. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Actually, Baloo is a sloth bear from India so wearing the costume actually makes sense. Just wish it wasn't culture apporos by Disney here.) Baloo calls him a horrible shrunken piece of supernatural nastiness. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Who? Does it really matter? I can be shot just the same. Dunder calls him out on that and Baloo is referring to the idol as Baloo calls Dunder the round one. Of course in one Thanksgiving fanfic (from Dan Green I do believe.) Baloo was called "Round Bear" and Kit kept ribbing Baloo for that one. I don't think Baloo ever got over it too. (I hope he didn't because that was hilarious. Sadly; that fanfic has disappeared down the memory hole for some reason.) By the way; I know it's Baloo in disguise because the pink spotted blue patch on his ass gives him away. Spigot is too short to see it anyway. Dunder accepts it and gets the NAZI BATON OF DOOM from Spigot for his troubles right on the left leg. Dunder sells the knee properly and runs stage left. Spigot then using the riding stick on Baloo's chin and demands answers to this outrage. Baloo explains that the idol is cursed see calling him oh mighty small one. Baloo acting of all this is as redonkulous as his outfit by the way. Spigot blows him off on that one and tells Dunder (who has returned after from off-screen selling of the knee) and grabs the idol and almost drops it. HA! Baloo proclaims that unless he keeps his eye on it every moment it will drive him mad. Somehow; Baloo's routine is driving me mad, bad and crazy. (Geez; enough of the Battletoads references 2010 me.)
Dunder shakes like a little baby and sweats as Baloo backs up and wails after telling him to basically get rid of it before it is too late before running away. Spigot no sells the whole thing of course because he's mighty, brutish and short literally. Spigot calls him a fool and orders Dunder to give him back the idol while Dunder shakes the whole time. Spigot yells that he is watching you and tries to walk into the plane; but trip and takes a pratfall for his trouble with a MAN-SIZED bump. I see the workrate gods are happier than apple pie for this episode in general. Spigot sneers at the idol in disgust on the floor. So we head into the air as the "Hanging A Spigot Airplane" (If you don't get the joke; wait until Flying Dupes and you'll never wish you heard that pun ever again.). We get some close up shots of the plane with cloud effects in the background as we head inside to see the idol on glass case as Spigot proclaims that the idol will stay in that case until he ensconce it (Man; TaleSpin clearly speaks to a level around adult level if they are using those words. Ensconce means establish or settle (someone) in a comfortable, safe, or secret place.) in the National Museum of Thembria and thus continuing to justify the fact that he is like a Nazi thief. Funny how Disney tried to eliminate the Nazi themes in this character; but forgot the actions of such a character. (The real world is a terrible place. Hold me...or not.) Colonel Spigot walks to the steel chair and sits down (how cold must he truly be?) and tells Dunder to go up and make sure this is a smooth trip home. Dunder salutes him as Colonel Spigot dozes off and doesn't want to be disturbed. So we head to a sky shot of the Hanging A Spigot Airplane as the SeaDuck arrives from behind on top and we see Kit tying a rope on the front of the plane and he is wearing airplane goggles (which is a rare oocurance and someone wrote a fanfic about Kit's eyesight going because of being in the air for so long and damaging his eyes. That's why Kick Buttowski will never be Kit Cloudkicker's level at all. The fans better hope he's merely on Super Dave's level. (Kick Buttowski basically IS the 2011 version of Super Dave: The Animated Series. Only with a sidekick from Norway instead of a Japanese sidekick.)
Baloo tells him that it's time to make the curse come true. We then see Kit with the rope around his waist as he gives Baloo the thumbs up and he dives down and lands on the back of the "Hanging A Spigot Airplane". So Kit invented bungie jumping too? (In this world; yes. In the real world: Not possible until 1979. Pop culture reference! GET IT AWAY! GET IT AWAY! I can just hear the critics saying this now.) Kick has got to be abusing himself right now as Kit ties the rope around the handle bar of the back of the plane. Kit gives the thumbs up to Baloo as Baloo waves back and positions the SeaDuck so the rope isn't slack and then we see him invoke the REDNECK AUTOPILOT OF DOOM on the stick. Baloo climbs out and crawls towards the front and sees that if he missteps; he is dead. What is this no sense of danger crap I keep hearing from dumbasses who just want to see characters slaughtered like lambs?! Baloo tries to step on the rope; but his body weight of six hundred pounds allows the SeaDuck to bump right into the back of the airplane. Man; you know you are screwed life wise when you can pull the SeaDuck just by balancing yourself on a rope strand. That allows the rope to flex and Baloo bounces high into the air and takes an on-screen MAN-SIZED bump right onto the top of the plane. Eat your heart out Drake Mallard! Baloo proclaims that it's time to lay off the banana burritos (specialized by Louie of course). Kit runs to him as I laugh my ass off as usual. (If I find out on Mythbusters that this spot is not debunked; my mind would be officially blown.) Now the real silliness of the episode officially begins (just to show that this IS a cartoon after all; we don't want people to get any ideas that this can be done on live action that easily now don't we...? (Thanks to CGI; none of this matters because any production can be done in live action now regardless if it's a cartoon or not.)) as we head inside Colonel Spigot's room of doom as he is sleeping and the idol is still on glass.
So we cut to a window as Colonel Spigot is sleeping and Baloo pops from the window and we get some Spigot checking and closing as Baloo pops away spots to waste some time. This happens about eight times before Colonel Spigot starts to sweat and we get another shot of the ugly idol on glass. And no, he is not the spawn of Simon Cowell; so get over it you sick freaks! (Were you implying that the sick freaks are saying that Simon Cowell is the spawn of Satan, 2010 me?!) Colonel Spigot blows him off with a really impressive raspberry as we cut to inside the underbelly of the plane (Man; this plane is like a jet liner. Which means despite being ten years behind on skill sets; they are ten years ahead on technology already. Just like the Soviet Union. Nice one show, nice one.) as Baloo is underneath the screw leading up to the chair as Baloo invokes the wrench on it while Spigot tries to nod off to sleep on the northern pan shot. Baloo twirls the wrench and Spigot does the funniest whirlwind spot to date. HAHA! The chair rises about seven feet into the air as Spigot is punch drunk and he falls down in a heap on his face on the floor. Spigot has a confused look as he looks at the idol on glass and blows the whole thing off as redonkulous. (2016 Captain Obvious Says: That's Gregory Weagle trying out a Travelocity joke and failing badly.) Spigot goes over to the chair and pushes the red button (which seemly came out of nowhere by the way) and the panel opens on the right armrest to show us an old fashion microphone. Spigot grabs it and yells at Dunder to get in his office at once. The door from the cockpit opens and in runs Sgt. Dunder as he stands at attention and salutes. So Spigot waffles his knee again with the NAZI WHIP OF DOOM as he orders Dunder not to do whatever he is doing anymore. HAHA! (2015 Gregory Weagle Says: Yeah; I'm laughing at my Godwinning of this rant because I have no sense of shame whatsoever. I am a sadist and a slimebag after all.)
Dunder sells the knee again (properly I might add) as he proclaims that he is terribly sorry as Colonel Spigot orders him out and no more disturbances. So Dunder hops out and still continues to sell the knee on the way out. Now THAT is homing on to your craft there. So we go to the sky shot on top of the plane as Kit is opening a panel on top which leads to some wiring (and he is wearing headphones) as he connects some jacks together and gives the thumbs up to Baloo who is a nearby hatch and he pops down. Man; that hatch makes the scene closer than it should appear. Kit then mimics Colonel Spigot's voice and yells at Dunder to come here at once. If he only had the lisp; that would have been PERFECT. As it is; it's pretty damn close to Spigot's voice. We then see Dunder in the cockpit sitting down and Kit actually does the lisp after all. I take it back; it's absolutely perfect. (I'm beginning to suspect that Michael Gough was the one who did the voice mimicking Kit did here instead of Alan Roberts. If R.J. Williams was voicing Kit in this episode; all bets would have been off.) Dunder of course falls for it and runs back into the office area while the guards are piloting the plane. Dunder goes over to the sleeping Spigot (Makes me feel dirty writing that one. (How exactly 2010 me?)) and pokes on Spigot as Spigot wakes up. Dunder salutes him and asks him about something and Colonel Spigot motions him over. Dunder of course foolishly tilts his head down and manages to dodge the NAZI WHIP OF DOOM. D'OH! Colonel Spigot blows him off because he didn't call Colonel as Dunder claims someone did. Spigot is dumbfounded as he looks at the shot of the idol on glass again. Dunder asks if the nasty idol is bothering him and I say that at least Dunder knows what kind of idol it really is. (That idol looks creepy so I can understand why Dunder thinks it's bothering him.) Spigot jumps up and down and blows Dunder off because the idol is not bothering him. See; only small minds yield to superstition. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Projection much there Colonel Spigot? WHACK! OUCH! Ummm....
Spigot yells at Dunder to leave him alone and Dunder runs back into the cockpit and apologizes in the process. We get some more shots of the idol as Spigot calls the idol out because he is not frightened see. He will not succumb to it's wily, wooden ways. Yes; the idol is wooden. I'm amazed that it DIDN'T catch on fire at Moose Lake now. (Yes; that made no sense unless he's implying that the artwork is wooden. In that case; he has a point.) Spigot sits down and mocks the idol which allows Baloo to twirl the wrench again and we have another whirlwind spot which causes the chair to bounce around and throw Spigot right off and he takes an off-screen MAN-SIZED bump onto the cold metal floor. Can you say payback? I knew you could. Spigot gets up to his feet right in front close and personal with the idol on glass and Spigot finally screams for Dunder on the outside panning airplane shot. We then head into the cockpit as Spigot runs in and jumps right onto Dunder in a panic causing Dunder to fall onto his back with a decent bump. Spigot panics as he thinks the idol is finally trying to get him. Dunder asks if the idol is trying to get him and Spigot blows it off and slaps Dunder about three times in the face for it. HAHA! See; it cannot get him because it's merely a piece of wood. (Psychological warfare at it's funniest.) Dunder tries to point out what he said and Spigot slaps him AGAIN and tells him not to listen to what he said and listen to what he is saying now. That is true crazy nuttiness. Spigot even shoves Dunder into the metal floor on his back for good measure as Spigot walks back into his office as he needs a little rest and is somewhat touched by his overwhelming triumph. He proclaims that he will not be disturbed and asks if they understand. Dunder gulps as he gets the message. Okay; so we get another scene changer as we get another shot of the idol on glass as we see it and Spigot having a staring contest. Can you believe that we only have two minutes to go in this episode and there is still a lot of wackiness left to deliver?!
Colonel Spigot loses the staring contest easily and dozes off to sleep again, DUH! We then see the screws coming loose from the bottom of the chair as then we get another shot of Spigot sleeping as the shadows of Baloo and Kit (Check the height of Kit and the mass of Baloo on the shadow.) drag Colonel Spigot away into the next room (I think) as then we see Baloo and Kit sneak back holding back their giggles. Alan Roberts can not laugh to save his life, I might add which is probably one of the reasons why R.J. Williams would voice Kit later on. (And R.J. Williams' is much easier to handle, it seems.) Baloo whispers for the glue and Kit has it while he's giggling badly. Baloo grabs the glue stick and giggles back. We get a sky shot of the MIRACLE WORKERS CONNECTION giggling (and we only hear Baloo which is pretty impressive by the way). So we go to the next scene changer of doom as we see Colonel Spigot sleeping as it's clear that he's on a plane wing (Check the color of the floor. I'm not fooled guys.) as the wind causes Spigot to wake up and he screams as he looks down (and check those blood shot eyes dude) as we see a shadow of the Hanging A Spigot Airplane and then a sky shot of the plane on close up. Spigot runs off like a panic striken child and manages to do the midair run from Of Mouse & Men (from Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers) just to annoy me and then annoys me some more by crashing into the side of the plane and causing the Scooby Doo Snow Angel Spot which has no business being in this cartoon. (They did that to prove that it is a cartoon so no one would think that it would just be better that the show is in live-action instead. The irony of that is that CGI has completely mooted that point and thus a cartoon can be live-action or vice versa now. There is no difference anymore, it's all just entertainment now. It certainly simplifies things, that is for sure.) Like I said; they had to resort to this silliness as Colonel Spigot pants and wheezes a bit and then screams some more as we get the upside down room trick that we see in cartoons too many times before. To think; this episode was chugging along so well too.
Spigot runs around and runs up the walls onto the ceiling; but then freefalls due to gravity and drops on his ass with a MAN-SIZED bump off-screen. Rinse, lather, repeat about once as Spigot looks at the idol upside down (How symbolic is that considering what Baloo suffered from him earlier in the episode? So as silly as it sounds; it makes perfect sense in the context of the paid off joke.) and we get Spigot walking on his hands upside down and holding onto the lamps above. I knew they would be used somehow as Spigot finally admits that he believes in the bear-made curse (since we all know the idol is a worthless MacGruffin.) as we get more shots of the idol on glass for the last time. So Spigot opens the top of the door with a golden key (and using a wooden ladder) and grabs the idol and tells it to be gone. He throws the idol through a glass window (which shatters natch) and the idol freefalls as the SeaDuck spirals down towards it and there is Kit Cloudkicker cloudsurfing on his airfoil (Must have had a spare or something since the original was wrecked at the beginning of the episode. Or WildCat can fix it quickly after Baloo got the okay of treasure hunting from Rebecca Cunningham.) and grabs the idol for real. (This I believe was the first time Kit was actually cloudsurfing; albeit as a way to grab the idol.) Play the "TaleSpin Victory Theme" as the SeaDuck flies a bit near the "Hanging A Spigot Airplane" as Baloo thanks Spigot for changing his mind in the cockpit. The SeaDuck flies away as Baloo waves goodbye and we see Spigot near the broken window as he screams for Dunder again. And that is that as the SeaDuck flies away on the sky shot. (And now Spigot is going to go home crying to his mommy-land head of state, whom is wondering when the paperwork will finally be done to get him shot. More on that in A Spy In The Ointment.) So we head to the docks of the Island of South Seas; Louie's as we see Baloo on the telephone mocking Rebecca as Kit is on top guarding that MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH.
He is getting the SeaDuck back and she should save the I" told you so's", too. BUT WAIT....That would end the series right there before the real fun even begins as Louie is there as well. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Time to push the reset button, or in wrestling, we do the Dusty Finish~!) Baloo is coming home with a pocket full of torbits. Louie tells him that the tab comes to eight shaboozies and Baloo asks about the conversation from torbits to shaboozies. Louie invokes the exchange rate booklet and checks the rates of exchange as Baloo continues to mock Rebecca on her working for him. Can you smell the screwjob coming at six o'clock? Louie checks everything and it comes to thriteen million torbits just for the ice cream tab and gas. HAHA! In other words the remaining seventeen million torbits would come out to about sixteen dollars total. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Probably one of the best pushing of the reset button/Dusty finish ever in the series. It keeps Baloo strong while still making him look like an idiot right in front of Rebecca and keeps her strong as well. Baloo sulks in defeat and tells Rebecca that he is returning to work tomorrow as we go to a zoom out shot of the docks. Baloo gulps and asks Rebecca to reverse the charges to end the episode at 21:15. I love this episode more than the previous rant as the silliness wasn't so bad near the end (due to just two cartoon spots total) and the whole story in context to Plunder and Lightning made the character development more awesome. So close to a perfect episode; only a few minor logic breaks prevented greatness. You can clearly tell this is a second run syndication episode since Libby Hinson's name is on it when it shouldn't be in the first run episode on the Disney Channel in the credits. (I'm dropping this one to **** 1/4 (85%) because it's just simply a great episode; but nothing that we haven't seen before in DTVA outside of retroactive developments Plunder and Lightning forced upon.)
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; that previous episode darkness didn't last long as I enjoyed this debut of the ultimate short joke and his wacky friends from Thembria. It also showed the formula of TaleSpin episodes: Excellent bumps; Kit doing awesome stuff (And even taking a punch to the face and delivering an awesome punch back.); Baloo delivering a good lesson and then acting like a hypocrite and we got a really good treasure hunt in the mists of the character development as I mentioned in the rant about Kit's life being softened up since joining Baloo. Sunwoo was for the most part on their best behavior with only a few blown spots and there were a few minor logic breaks. While the finish was pretty silly; the silliness was reduced to only two cartoon spots by Spigot. As for Colonel Spigot; he got some impressive work done and made me laugh for the most part. Of course; the laughs depends on someone is offended by the whole Thembrian angle in general. (Which in Russia was a lot of people.) Rebecca was pretty good in her small role (Thank you Libby Hinson.) and I liked the screw job at the end in that it kept Baloo strong while still making him look like an idiot. So Homer Simpson like too. So we finally end the Disney Channel episodes with probably the greatest episode of the entire Disney Channel preview and the one episode that changed Disney Television Animation forever: Stormy Weather. (Oh yes siree! If anyone was pissed off of that episode; it was probably Feature.) LET THE PATHOS HIT THE FLOOR~! So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you next time.
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