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Vowel Play Re-Rant

Reviewed: 09/25/2010
Additional Commentary: 09/28/2021

Or Don't Play At All!

Original Airdate: 09/19/1990 (Syndication), Episode #12 (TaleSpin DVD Volume 1, Disc 2), Episode #26 (Production Order).

Vowel Play Notes
Vowel Play Transcript

(2020 Gregory Weagle Says: That Interplay promo blast has not aged all that well in hindsight.) So, we continue on with our next episode re-rant and it's time to pay respects to the old proverb saying: "You can say it; but I bet you cannot spell it!" That sums up this episode in a nutshell and the last time I ranted on this; I was surprised that I was one of the few guys who used any of these characters for my fanfics because they were on par with Don Karnage on the heel side and Thursday made an interesting babyface authority character to say the least. (2016 Gregory Weagle Says: Video on Trial strikes again! However; it's apporos for this episode knowing how Baloo and Kit spell in this episode. Anyhow; the plot of this episode is: Rebecca gets in the sky writing business and a criminal syndicate uses them to write in code their plans to gain all the diamonds in Cape Suzette or destroy it if they refuse. However; Baloo cannot spell a lick (and neither can Kit as we'll see) and gets arrested by a detective who discovers what is really going on with a certain gangster. I'm shocked Heimlich was shuttered after this with no one writing any fanfics based on him. Weazel I think had one Gidget written fanfic in history and that's about it. Thursday is the only guy who have had more than one fanfic written with him; but most of them were written by me. Why didn't most people see something in these three characters? I don't get it. Anyhow; this episode was amazing and Disney Captions made it even more absurd with their subtitling as you'll discover if you bought the DVD's. Half of the mistakes they made, I swear were done on purpose to piss me off.) Anyhow; the question is, does this episode still hold up? Also; originally this episode was titled Vowel Language for some unknown reason. (I think that was the first run syndication episode; and then they changed it to Vowel Play. I don't know if the title was the only thing changed; but there were some moments in this episode which I swear that they made changes from the first run.) Let's rant on shall we...?!

This episode is written by Dean Stefan. The story was edited by Ken Koonce and David Weimers. The animation is done by Walt Disney Animation Japan with Tama Pro doing additional services. Think Walt Disney France in Japanese and you are almost there with the style you see in this episode. (I respectfully disagree there 2010 me. Tama Pro's role is mostly ink and paint; which explains some of the color shading choices they performed here. They also used the same animation team as Mommy For A Day as Kit looks younger than he should be in places. Huh. This is also Tama Pro's debut on TaleSpin by the way.)

We begin this one with a shot of a school and it's probably the same one Mad Dog saw too. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! But I digress. (Sure you do. Let it be known that you didn't go past one sentence without cracking the rejected Rhinokey joke.) The flag is yellow here for some odd reason. Anyhow we head into the classroom as Kit is having a hell of a time spelling spinach. Which I have zero problems spelling. I see Kit comes from the school of "You can say it; but I betcha you cannot spell it" class. Kit even spells the word "spin-ick" because he hates the leafy green vegetable. No political correctness here unlike Sora from Digimon 01 (and I betcha that was a dub only reference too). (I don't think polticial correctness had anything to do with it. The American dub just wanted a character who loved veggies. Nothing wrong with that; unless the Japanese version didn't have her loving veggies. I cannot find any evidence of the "loving veggies angle" being in the Japanese dub one way or another.) Kit's teacher (voiced by Linda Gary) who is a gray bear wearing the usual teacher's outfit is pretty upset. I should point out that she showed more compassion in thirty seconds then Miss Finster in Recess showed in the entire Recess series. Now, remember that and despair on the fact of Disney mishandling of the concept of a school show. Degrassi Junior High got it even today; why can't Recess?! The creators of Recess can tone it down, show morals and still get the series over. Why am I complaining about a show twenty years too late?! I cannot tell what the species of the background kids are and they don't speak; so don't ask me. (They are all pig furries 2010 me. Anyhow; I thought the episodes after Doctor Slicer showed that Recess can tone it down; so you must still be basing your opinion on the first season like the late Kellogg did. I can't blame you for that since the first season was horrible; but still.) Anyhow; we head to the docks of Higher...For...Hire as Kit proclaims that it took two zillion times to get that word right (Reality: just twenty times. I see Kit is really good at embellishing like even 2016 me can do from time to time.) as we go to a unique sky shot of the office.

Baloo is playing darts while Kit cannot play as he has a case of carpel tunnel syndrome on is right hand. HAHA! (How is that funny, 2010 me?!) Logic break number one for the episode ensues as we see no darts on the wall despite Baloo throwing one dart during Kit's whining. (I didn't see the break when I was transcriping. I'm sure Kit's hand was cramped and not a sign that he has the syndrome 2010 me. Again, 2010 me loves to embellish a lot more than I do now.) Baloo doesn't see the big deal with schools past nor present, getting their panties in a wad over spelling. Hmmm; did this episode somehow manifest into the group who protested the "Spelling Bee" because of the spelling of words? If so; then they clearly did not watch the rest of the episode. (Okay 2010 Me; exactly who was protesting the Spelling Bee competition during this time? I have no idea what you are talking about here. You seem to have written down an event; but don't reference it to citations so I can verify that it actually happened. You are as bad as the Stars right now. And even if this actually happened, why were they protesting?) See, in Baloo's own mind close is good enough when it comes to spelling and three darts magically appear on the dart board just to make the original logic break even worse. (No, the darts were there all the time and did not magically appeared nor disappeared. Don't worry; there are logic breaks in this episode; you'll see.) Rebecca isn't all that amused by Baloo's spelling of cat either as even Kit calls him out on his “advice” as Baloo hits the bulls-eye of the dart board for an easy fifty points. Rebecca takes the dart board down and blows Baloo off for filling Kit's head with drivel. See; proper spelling brings respect, self-esteem and most of all that MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH. Fair enough, I suppose. (She's right, of course. I mean; if it didn't, there would be no Spelling Bee competition. Which debuted in 1925 by the way.)

We see that the poster Rebecca is putting up with the darts is Sky Writing For Hire. See; Rebecca's latest money making scheme is to get into the sky writing business. Still a lot more plausible than her iceberg towing service from the very first episode of the series; but crazier than her high class idea from A Touch of Glass. (Sky writing pretty much was a commercial thing in the early 1930's which is absolutely perfect for this series in terms of Rebecca's forward thinking.) She wants to lead the way and Baloo goes all Mr. Hardcore on us because it will NEVER catch on. Remember that for The Incredible Shrinking Molly episode and you will see the definition of insanity right there. (Long story short: Baloo keeps saying that this invention will never get over and in the end; it becomes a part of life. And he keeps doing the same thing over and over again and expects a different result. Ironically; the one time he was right was in For A Fuel Dollars More and that was only because Baloo blew up his own gas station on purpose! It was never because the idea was crappy; it was because Baloo intentionally sabotaged the thing to save his friendship with Louie. Most people would curse Baloo for destroying innovation by the way.) We then see an old lady cat who looks like Mr. Fat Cat; only female and dressed all in purple as she saw the ad outside. Since she doesn't sound like June Foray; it's the late Linda Gary again. Baloo is not happy to hear that one. (Yeap; this is going to catch on Pop-A-Bear. Maybe it's time to stop saying "It'll never catch on". It's as bad of a saying as "Things cannot get any worse".) So, we head inside Cape Suzette harbor near the cliff guns on the left side as we see the SeaDuck fly around and then we head into the cockpit as Baloo blows off this silly day because it's only to sky write a happy birthday to someone. Baloo takes out the note memo and starts with H; but the wind beckons and the note flies out the window.

Advice to Pop-A-Bear: WIND UP THE DAMN WINDOWS BEFORE YOU SKY WRITE! (Okay; I'll accept you shouting this for one reason: Fridge logic. Now granted; Baloo would have still got arrested anyway at the end of this act, but still. You had three attempts where you could have closed the windows and somehow you didn't? That's stupid.) Oh; and Kit has his seatbelt on by the way. Kit then gets all sharp on Baloo's spelling without the note and Baloo states that any idiot can spell happy birthday. (Oh, watch Pop-A-Bear's spelling of this and it proves that not everyone can spell it. He can say it though...) The smoke come out the tail section of the SeaDuck (AND THAT'S BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH, MOVIE RATING AND BS&P!) and Baloo manages to get the first three letters right; but it ends up being "Hapee Burthday 2 U." HAHA! (I just love how Baloo spelt it with "pee" in happy. Remember that one for later when Baloo tries to spell "pizza" because I think the second run syndication version might be a censored version of the original episode.) Naturally we head into Rebecca's office and Rebecca invokes the WRAITH OF BECKEY on Baloo. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Projection much there Miss Cunningham? Remember YOUR writing on that sign in Time Waits For No Bear? ("Land So I Can Strangle U!" Yeah; that was projection Miss Cunningham.) Baloo states that it's the thought that counts and Rebecca blows him off because her business is dead before it starts. (Boy; she is going to wish her dream was dead after this episode, because...) Which lasts about three seconds as someone enters and it's a weasel in a green trench coat, hat and purple tie.

His name is Weazel (Disney Captions does the dumbest thing in the word by having it as "Weasel" because it plays into the joke later on. Now granted; when Baloo, Rebecca and Thursday address him, it's Weasel. However; that's like people pronounced my name as Waggle and not Wiggle; even though my name is spelt: Weagle. The Volume One DVD sets' subtitles were at time insufferable and made me want to do transcripts as a result.) and is voiced by the later David L. Lander, whom passed away recently. I told you television animation was unpredictable even when the strories become so predictable. (I have something to say concerning DAF Radio's commentary on Gargoyles and Darkwing Duck that I need to get off my chest; but I'll save it for All Whale's That Ends Whale because there is a spot in that episode that actually connects to the whole point.) So, Weazel (Sorry Disney Captions; the Z is legal in a pro noun. Now granted; the joke is that Baloo and company pronounce it as Weasel, but Weazel has it as Weazel with a z instead of a s. However...) has an important message for Baloo to sky write. Rebecca looks at Baloo and then agrees to it as Weazel gives Rebecca the memo and tells them to sky write the message at twelve noon. Rebecca reads it as "Chicken Soup". Baloo asks why this is important and Weazel stammers a bit before saying that it's to let his wife know what he wants for supper. He giggles as Rebecca states that she is sure it is important. You do not know the half of it. Rebecca proclaims that she will be on top of it and calls him a weasel. HAHA! Wezeal corrects her (Disney Captions has it as Wea-sel; which is downright silly. Yeah; they killed the joke. It's Wea-zel by the way.) and gives her some of that MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH. Rebecca closes the door and Baloo calls Weazel as shifty as a 10-speed clutch. (The analogy is that Weazel is dishonest; but a ten-speed clutch would be something from a tractor or something along those lines.)

Rebecca proclaims that he gave them money, so it's wrong to judge. HA! Rebecca orders Baloo to get "Chicken Soup" right at least and Baloo puts it into his pocket as he and Kit walk out. Sadly; the note screws him and drops onto the floor easily. So, we head into the sky as Baloo has already finished the first word chicken correctly. (Remember that for later because I'm going to refer back to it.) However; Kit calls him out as the SeaDuck spells soup; "soop". Baloo proclaims that there is a whole alphabet in alphabet soup and even Kit blows him off for spelling it wrong. Baloo seems to be worse in the spelling department than Kit is which is pretty much dead on as Rebecca is refined, Baloo is a slob and Kit is stuck right into the middle as the filling to a bear sandwich. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm... (And considering what happens in A Baloo Switcheroo; it's a literal true statement if I ever saw one.) Baloo calls himself a pilot and not a poet. So we head to a shot of a bank. I know this because the word Bank and a dollar sign are on the top in golden letters. We zoom out as the alarm bells ring and out comes two badgers (or racoons; it's hard to tell. (It's racoons.) with black masks and bulgar gear with sacks of money running into the street. I believe this is the only bank robbery in the entire series. (And an obvious Tama Pro error since one of the raccoon's mask is transparent before colored black within a few frames. So Chargeman Ken-equse of this company.) It didn't need any since pirates hijacking planes is like skyway robbery. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (That's a good one actually, 2010 me!) They look up and Crook #1 notices the message in the sky and Crook #2 (#1 is Ed Gilbert and #2 is Danny Mann.) questions the spelling as Crook #1 tells him to ignore it because the second letter of the word is important and that is H which is to drop everything and report to launch sites.

Ironically, they run stage right and still take the sacks of money with them. I guess "drop everything" means "drop the usual routine". (Pretty much so. Anyhow; there is a tiny logic break here (and this is more of a nitpick than anything else because they do it right later on); in that the second letter in the first word is part of the code. They got this right throughout the episode; except that the second letter (an "h") is not a vowel, it's a consonant. The problem with that is; the remaining messages use vowels and since the episode is entitled Vowel Play (or Vowel Language); it kind of hurts the credibility of what the episode is shooting for. It's a minor break; but it annoys me. Disney Captions annoys me more because they were horrible in this episode as well. One of the crooks says that this begins phase one. Only Disney Captions spelt it as "being" instead of begins. How do you make such an easy mistake?) Anyhow; we head to the pawn shop (note the scales on top of the building) as someone proclaims that he's a 14-carat genius. Weazel corrects him on the name and Heimlich Menudo (Perfect on Disney Captions part.) blows him off as we see a leapoard wearing a blue trenchocat with a hat and he has in a bowl of diamonds under a lamp. Yes; diamonds. (He is also wearing a diamond ring and has Mickey Mouse gloves on.) Heimlich Menudo is voiced by the late Kenneth Mars whom passed away in 2011. (So we have Ed Gilbert, Tony Jay, Lorenzo Music, Linda Gary, Ronald Feinberg, Chuck McCann, David L. Lander and now Kenneth Mars on the death list; which is at eight now.)) See, he organized all the crooks of Cape Suzette into one crime syndicate to pull off the Heimlich Maneuver (The old "stop choking method" which is ironically needed for the new Disney shows. Well, mostly just Pickle and Peanut nowadays.) and he has diamonds for his teeth too.

Wow; this guy is almost as cool as Don Karnage is. Almost. All he needs is an accent and he's got him good. (Actually; he sounds like he has a Spanish accent. Anyhow; the fact that he has diamonds for teeth makes me wonder how painful the surgery must have been to replace his pearly whites with those diamonds. That makes him look like a babyface trooper, to suffer the pain of doing that. Thankfully; Heimlich is going to be a monster heel soon enough.) Heimlich proclaims that his plan works because there is no phones (to be bugged by police), telegrams to get nor carrier pigeons to capture. It's because he has a sky writer (who is an idiot bear of course) as he grabs a diamond and taps it on the lamp before invokes the eye lens on it. Weazel gets in close to remind him that he had Baloo become their fool to work out the plan and Heimlich proclaims that he needs to be rewarded. (Wow; how generous. Even a tiny diamond worth about five hundred bucks in 2016!) So, we play the "Where's the big diamond?" game with thimbles and three diamonds; one of them is very tiny. Ah; I see Heimlich used to be in the illegal gambling business too. (Somehow; I can see dollar signs in this plotline; but of course Disney doesn't care, so hopefully Pickle & Peanut will steal the idea and do it with 90's Adventure Bear. Oh boy; I thought that character was only a throwaway spot; but he was in an entire 11 minute episode and 90's Adventure Bear ruled. Since the episode spoofs TaleSpin; I do plan to review the episode in the future, but be forewarned: My rating for it is no indication that I ever want to watch Pickle & Peanut. It makes me want to see Disney green light 90's Adventure Bear instead. I'll explain why when I review the episode. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Not only did Pickle & Peanut meet 90's Adventure Bear and messed with his mind; 90's Adventure Bear literally had episodes to himself in that show because even the creators realized that 90's Adventure Bear was far more over than Pickle & Peanut ever was. Ouch!))

Weazel ponders over this and picks the middle one; and he gets the smallest diamond of the lot. HAHA! (That game has to be rigged, there's no way a legit heel would not gimmick the thimbles in his favor.) Heimlich then flicks the diamond onto the carpet forcing Weazel to look around complaining about not having the big diamond. Heimlich gleefully answers that one for me (because he can and he loves big diamonds). Then Weazel unintentionally (Yeah, sure it was.) does a MAN-SIZED headbutt into the desk and the diamond gleefully is stuffed into Heimlich's throat and Heimlich starts choking. Okay; this isn't exactly funny; sadly Heimlich's selling is so top notch it becomes funny by sheer force of will. (Well; Heimlich's name is known for a throat surgeron who discovered the Heimlich Maneuver, which is the operation of this heel's plan. Anyhow; Menudo is actually a Mexican soup made from tripe. This is why I suggested that he has a faint Spanish accent.) Weazel still looks around not suspecting a thing as he didn't get the last part. Heimlich writes a note on the paper and shows it to Weazel saying that he's choking and Weazel thinks that it's the code for phase two. HAHA! Heimlich bounces Weazel against his chest and the diamond pops from Heimlich's mouth and Heimlich blows him off and slaps him twice to boot. (And again; no impact stars nor flashes. I assure you that if someone got kicked or punched in the neck on this show, it wouldn't be censored either.) Weazel apologizes because he was thinking too much about the plan. HA! As if Wea-sel.

Weazel: That's Wea-zel!
Gregory: Whatever.

And it's Weagle; not Wiggle; okay?! (Yeah; let's replay the Scooge/Scrooge thing from Ducktales, why don't ya? (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Disclosure: I have never nor have any interest of staring nor cameoing -- even if they pay me a million dollars to do so -- on the show "Wiggle! Wiggle! Wiggle!" from YTV Treehouse.)) Fine, let's move on as we head to a laundromat (spelled all in red) as we see a dog furry (who looks almost like a rabbit. (I swear that if he was a rabbit; that he might be the father of Judy Hopps from Zootopia. Zootopia is over one billion dollars in ticket sales and if Disney screws this up then they can "YIFF IN HELL" so to speak.) ) in detective clothes; which means that this is the beginning of our next awesome one shotter known as Detective Thursday (Jack Angel). Smell the Dragnet reference! Or maybe it's Weazel's perfume? (No; it's TaleSpin's answer to Joe Friday. I'm surprised they didn't hire John Stephenson to voice him instead of Jack Angel, since John Stephenson was narrating Dragnet during the 1960's.) Thursday takes out his cell phone transmitter (Seriously; it looks like a freakin cell phone used by Paul E. Dangerously in the late 1980's/early 1990's in AWA and WCW!) as he requests permission to enter headquarters by the front door. He is REJECTED and he must use the secret entrance. Thursday accepts the request while sighing. Wow; he must really be in the dog house now. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm... (The doghouse being the dryer inside the landromat by the way.) Thursday has a blue bowtie which just makes me take him a wee bit less seriously now. (As if having to climb into a dryer in a laundromat wasn't enough to taint the coolness factor of him. By the way; the whole laundermat thing is just so they can get a laundering joke in.) So, he walks into the laundromat and we see a woman rhino in a light green dress using the oversized industrial washing machine. Thursday goes over to her and does the old "look over there" spot. It's a flying bear and the lady no sells.

Thursday has no clue as to why that NEVER works; so he ups it up with a flying bear who juggles bowling balls. I guess defying a police officer is LEGAL in Cape Suzette. (I just love how she no sold the "flying bear" thing because Thursday is such an idiot that he doesn't realize that the main character of this show is a bear who flies. So he had to add juggling bowling balls in order to make this work since there is no known characters who do both at the same time.) That one works as the hippo (Linda Gary) runs stage right and Thursday hops into the washing machine as the hippo goes to the window to look for the stupidity. We then return to Thursday who whizzes around and goes down the spiral slide with the clothes flying. Yeah; a fake washing machine, that's drole. That allows Thursday to do the always amusing Cloudkicker Missile of Doom on the bear police officer (And it's almost as good as Kit's, almost.) and they bump off-screen with MAN-SIZED bumps. Detective Thursday is so awesome BABEE! No wonder I used him in fanfics later on. Thursday gets up with a sock in his face and addresses the officer as Girdleman. Girdleman dusts it off and asks Thursday if he would like to have his assignment (I think it's Ed Gilbert or Jack Angel but I don't have the notes to be sure.) as Thursday orders the troops to gather around. He goes over to his desk and admits that there hasn't been a major crime in days. I see a big green gator/lizard and a big pig officer join him. The gator has a brown uniform on for no reason that I can think of. Gridleman thinks this is good news and Thursday blows him off because it can only mean trouble brewing. Gridleman proclaims that their contacts would have gotten wind of a big operation. Thursday counters (And he has mostly red objects on his desk. Why? I have no idea.) that the crooks are getting orders through unusual channels. He's a brillant criminal mastermind too. (Oh; Thursday is going to love who this "criminal mastermind" is too. He'll probably never live this one down.) Speaking of brilliant; we head back to Rebecca's office and we get this gem of a sequence as Baloo isn't liking it one bit:

Rebecca: Brilliant, Baloo. Really brillant. What were two "O"'s doing in chicken soup?
Baloo: Er, the backstroke?
Rebecca: Not funny.

I beg to differ Miss Cunningham, that was funny actually. Rebecca blows him off as Baloo counters that he is not getting any complaints and Rebecca counters that she is getting no repeat business. Oh, here is Weazel coming into the office in a recycled seqeuence (although this one works out fine since Weazel hasn't changed anything) as Baloo calls her out on that one. Weazel gives the memo to Baloo and the orders are at three o'clock he is supposed to sky write "Eat at Joe's". Baloo asks if he is taking his wife out to dinner and Weazel stammers and admits that it's the reason. (which of course is a lie.) Baloo suggests that a rhyming scheme works out better and Weazel blows him off because it's "Eat at Joe's" only. Baloo proclaims that Joe went out of business last week and Weazel doesn't care and Baloo responds that his wife might. Weazel gets all pissed off and stamps on the ground that he doesn't have a wife and wants the message done right as his blue code book gets dropped out of his suit and he storms off. Baloo calls him a testy little weasel and Weasel blows him off once more as Rebecca walks out to apologize to him. Baloo notices the code book and picks it up. That would be a no-no Pop-A-Bear. (Actually; that codebook saved him from being charged with any crimes actually. Personally; I think Weazel should have said "My mother's friend is called Joe."; because that is too close to blowing your cover there, Weazel.) So we head inside the cockpit of the SeaDuck as Kit reads the note in the navigator's seat and hands the note to Baloo as Rebecca wants this one perfectly correct. (Which is meaningless in the end as we'll see in the next act.) Baloo tries to grab the note; but it flies out the window. Oh; for goodness sakes, CLOSE THAT DAMN WINDOW ALREADY~! Kit asks what Baloo is going to do now and we go outside and see the SeaDuck blowing smoke again. It gets the "Eat At" part right as we head back to the secret offices of Detective Thursday or the DOGHOUSE OF DOOM. POW! OUCH! Ummm... We see Thursday writing down on a closed red notebook (That looks like an obvious Disney Japan mistake there; unless he's writing on the cover.) as Girdleman comes in asking for a status report. Thursday is negative on the subject as the snitches cannot figure out what the crooks are up to. (Those are some defiant snitches you got there, Thursday.)

Then Thursday hears an airplane engine and looks out the window and notices the message "Eat At Joze" and it's spelt kind of funny according to Girdleman. (I wonder if it's related to "No Way Jose" in the WWE? Probably not.) Thursday deduces that the spelling is not only funny he knows Joe went out of business last week. (Joe is also the first name to Joe Friday from Dragnet by the way.) Thursday sees it as code and wants Girdleman to track down that plane. UH-OH! So, we head to behind a rock trench as Crook #1 points out that the next message is upon them. Crook #2 uses the binoculars on the message in the sky about ten miles from Cape Suzette south as Crook #2 blows off Baloo's spelling again. The second letter is important and that is "A": Launch the Heimlich Maneuver in exactly two hours. They climb down a ladder leading into a large rectangle hole as Crook #2 blows off the standards of spelling in the business. (Okay; this was hilarious that the heels are more upset at how the standards of spelling are so low in their own business. That made me laugh.) So we get another unique sky shot of the docks of Higher...For...Hire as the SeaDuck lands down perfectly and Kit opens the door to let him and Baloo out. Naturally Rebecca arrives and unleashes the WRAITH OF BECKEY on him and calls his spelling a crime. You don't know the half of it, dood. (Ah; the start of my joke about Detective Thursday being the "spelling police" on MXC fanfics I wrote. It's funny because Thursday isn't tracking down Baloo because of his bad spelling...) Baloo thinks Rebecca is making a federal case out of nothing. Oh, here comes Thursday with Girdleman asking if Baloo is the sky writing pilot. Baloo states that he is and Baloo is seriously screwed. You'll understand why as Thursday orders for Baloo's arrest and Girdleman handcuffs Baloo as Rebecca and Kit embrace (nice touch) with Rebecca in shock because she believes now that bad spelling is really a crime. No, not really. Baloo is under arrest for aiding and enbetting terrorism, Rebecca. (Indeed, as you'll see in the next act.) That officially ends the segment ten minutes in. Now the real fun part of the episode begins.

After the commercial break; we head to the laundromat as Thursday pushes a handcuff Baloo as Rebecca follows and Baloo protests this whole thing. (I wondered where Kit went during this and I got my answer later, so I'll explain it when we get to that part.) Thursday is earning his keep today; no shock there. Thursday blows him off because a laundromat is no place to air dirty laundry. Yeah sure, Thursday. (I love how Thursday is cutting this promo despite the fact that his office is underneath the laundromat. He has immunity to irony, I see.) Anyhow; Thursday gets screwed again as the rhino lady is back doing her clothes again. (Geez; how did 2010 me wager that it was always a hippo in these shots?) So he ponders and tries the flying bear that juggles and he is chewing gum at the same time. The rhino lady blows him off this time and orders him to wait for a dryer. So Thursday shows her his badge and deputizes the dryer and shoves her stage right as she shatters some glass off-screen. Yeap; in 1990, male on female violence was still allowed sort of. (Oh; watch iCarly and see woman on man violence like nothing you have ever seen; especially when Freddie is involved.) So, Baloo gets into the dryer with Thursday close behind and somehow Baloo fits. HA! So we go to the scene changer before any funny business goes on and we head inside Thursday's office as Gridleman and Rebecca watch on with Baloo sitting in a chair with a huge light. Would have been more effective if the shadows were around the light. (Yeah; here's where the mature lightning would have worked wonders, but we see none.) Thursday paces around a bit as he wants answers to the sky writing stuff and Baloo admits that he is the one they are looking for. It's been happening since third grade and her teacher claimed that he would be sorry as Thursday states that he is in it for five to ten years if he doesn't confess on who put him up to it and Baloo calls out Rebecca since it was her idea to do the sky writing, which is actually true. HAHA!

So, Thursday calls her out as the brains of the operations. Oh man; this is just too good as Baloo claims that it was his fault that those messages were spelt wrong. So Thursday calls him out on the spelling being part of the code and Baloo blows him off because he thought he was in for bad spelling. What kind of diactorship is Cape Suzette in if spelling is a capital offense? (Actually; Thursday was pointing out that he is not charged with bad spelling because it's not the bad spelling that is part of the code; but the fact that Baloo and Rebecca is writing sky messages. The bigger question should be: How does Thursday know that the sky messages are part of a bigger plot? The audience knows; but Thursday is acting like a corrupt cop who has no evidence that a syndicate is even involved with the sky writing.) Thursday calls him out for throwing him off as Rebecca claims that he is telling the truth and as evidence #1 she dares Thursday to give Baloo a spelling test. Thursday proclaims that Baloo is really asking for it now. I agree with him as we go to the scene changer and a sky shot of the Raccoon Crooks hideout as the sky writing is still in the air and we head to the sky shot as the fake grass metal doors open to the cave and we head down to see a bunch of hot air balloons with boxes carrying them as we head inside to one as Crook #1 is on the radio listening to someone with a red beeper and then taking the headphones off and going over to Crook #2 to inform him that the Heimlich Maneuver is ready to be launched. Crook #2 goes over from the table to three levers and pulls and pushes on them (JESUS~!) and the air balloons go high into the sky. The balloons fly out of the fake volcano (Heh) and then fly towards the city with balloons coming up from the watery graves. We continue the sequence near a log village which is clearly fake judging by the really light animation as the buildings come apart and there are more balloons flying.

One of them is a church too. What blastophmey?! What disgrace?! What a clever plan by Heimlich?! I'm guessing that this episode foreshadowing a much more offensive episode to come. One that got blacklisted for eighteen months. (That would be Last Horizons; which was a really racist episode when you put any thought into who the heels are in that setup.) So we get a far shot of the laundormat as a trolley rides in the background and Baloo is screaming in pain over this torture which is making Baloo spell words correctly. HAHA! So we head inside as Thursday wants him to spell pizza and Baloo spells it as P-E-E...and that crap got past the radar. HAHA! (Thank you Disney Captions!) I guess TaleSpin is the first children's show to allow the word pee. As long as you spell pee. At least Baloo has enough sense to stop before it is hammered into the ground as he needs a hint: one t, or two t's. (Here's where I believed that the original script was toned down from the final version we ultimately got: Baloo was supposed to spell "pizza". Since "pizza" has two z's; the joke would be Baloo spelling it as "P-I-S-S....one a, or two?" This would mean the first occurance of something saying piss on a Disney show, albeit in spelling form. However; this was too offensive even for BS&P (which is Jymn Magon by the way); that it was toned down to "P-E-E" even though that joke was shown during the Hapee Burthday to you segment earlier on. It's seems a bit too obvious to me.) Rebecca shows this as evidence and Thursday no sells because he could be faking. (So Thursday is a washed up professional wrestler?! Or maybe a smart mark?! I don't know.) Then we see Kit run in with Baloo's report cards and Thursday looks at it. (Yeah; so Kit was at home finding Baloo's report cards which explains why he wasn't with them when they went to the laundromat. So, how did Kit know where Thursday's office was since we have no evidence that Thursday ever told Kit where the office actually was. Somehow; I think Kit just went to the police station, asked someone where Thursday was and the officer simply pointed him to his office. In other words; Kit used the front door, which makes my claims of Thursday being in the proveral doghouse even more true.)

He blows Baloo off for having such pathetic awful grades. Baloo calls it passing recess and shows it as evidence that he's a lousy speller. Then admits that he wrote messages for Mr. Weazel. That one perks up Thursday's senses as he calls him one of the town's biggest gangsters. Baloo then shows him the blue code book and Thursday reads it. He then realizes that it's a book of secret codes and Rebecca promises to refuse to allow Weazel any more business in terms of sky writing. Thursday no sells because now that he has DA BOOK (FAIRY...Ooops! Wrong show.); Baloo is working for them now and they'll play along with Weazel's fiendish plans for now. So, we then see everyone walk out of the laundromat and the biggest shadows in history show up as Baloo takes that as an eclipse. Thursday gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY as we see a sequence of air balloons flying all over the city and then we hear Heimlich's voice as he is holding Cape Suzette hostage. We even see Buffy and Muffy Vanderscheme (I guess they had enough of crime.), along with a press dog from From Here To Machinery, a mouse with Ilana glasses on and a frog like furry in the background on some shots. We then head inside to Heimlich's office as he is on the transmitter radio as he is ordering every diamond in Cape Suzette is to be delivered to his tanker on the harbor. He is thinking WAY too small here. (At least his threats are believable as a terrorist gangster. Sure; his motive is to make a world of his own making out of diamonds and it sounds too tweenish; but at least he's using bombs and blimps made from hydrogen gas to threaten the populace. This at least gives an incentive to stop him since Heimlich is a scoiopath. Contrast that with Ally Cassandra from Bubsy, who wants a better life and merely steals a helmet. We are supposed to buy that Ally is a heel; but she acts like a tweener at best. Her motives and action give me no incentive to get the helmet back and if it wasn't for the twins being kidnapped and threatened by the henchmen -- which means the henchmen are bigger heels than the lead "heel". Not a good idea at all. -- I would be cheering Ally as a babyface. So that's why Heimlich's motives give me more incentive to see him get his ass kicked; because he's threatening the entire city with his exploding blimps. Heck; we don't have to love Cape Suzette to care about this.)

We see the golden speakers on the balloons in the closeup shot as there is more balloon flying and Heimlich threatens that he'll bomb Cape Suzette with the blimps. HOLY CRAP! Thursday blows him off because those Led Zeppelin blimps are screwed by the Morality Police blimps. Okay; I made up the Morality Police part. Take one guess what Thursday is hyper referencing here? (Led Zepplin is a 1968 British band and one of the best bands in the world. I should also note that the Hidenburg burning on film was also used in their debut album and in later mechandise. I think 2010 Me was referring to a debate Led Zepplin had with some moral police jobber; but I cannot figure out who or what the debate was about because there are no citations.) So, Heimlich screws him back by saying that they are filled with hydrogen gas and if shot down; they blow up and destroy Cape Suzette. Now you know he's serious BABEE! Ironically; the Hindenburg Disaster happened in 1937 which is the exact time period TaleSpin is supposed to be in. It was filled with hydrogen gas too although that being the cause is still inconclusive at this point. Hydrogen gas is flammable, however. Now we fade to black and we then return to the pawn shop (which seems to have lost the scales sign since we last saw it. Damn; these tiny mistakes are preventing a full monty here. (Yeah; that gaffe also annoyed me.)) as we head to Heimlich's office as he plays with his diamonds again. I see he is wearing Mickey Mouse gloves on, too. See; he goes to his blueprints and he wants to build a mansion of diamonds with a swimming pool overflowing of diamonds. I find that a little silly since it's a BIG EYESORE THAT EVERYONE WILL SEE! Then again; nuts never think things through. Heimlich proclaims that the icebox and toaster will be made of diamonds. Then the telephone rings on the desk and Weazel asks about the telephone, it will also be made of diamonds and then he finally catches himself.

Yeap; he thinks way too small and he brings a nuclear bomb (or a hydrogen bomb to be more precise) to a gun fight. (A telephone and a toaster made with diamond would be fabulous and I mean that in the nicest possible way. By the way; A Baloo Switcheroo had gunfire and we saw a Cliff Gun in this episode, so we are now at 45 for 56 episodes in the guns being pulled out now. It's so minor; but it is notable.) Weazel corrects him and Heimlich answers the phone and he is so pissed off that his diamonds shatter in his own teeth. HAHA! (This makes sense since diamonds are the only substance that can break diamonds. I'm certain that his jaw is also made of diamonds. Thus making me disturbed at the extent of the surgery required to replace the mouth in general.) He slams the phone down and proclaims that the police have ordered everyone to head inside and refuse his demands. (Here's a logic break: If the phones are bugged; why did someone call Heimlich then? Shouldn't that blow Heimlich's cover? DUMB!) Heimlich writes a note "Wait Until Dark" which is the code for the blimps to do an all out attack on Cape Suzette. Weazel does some awesome smiling and slatuing and the animation is so hilarious that Weazel actually gives the Third Reich salute in that sequence. Thank you Kit for that one too. (That would be Tom Cloudkicker from TaleSpin Source for pointing this one out for me. Yes; that is a Hitler salute if I ever saw one. I wonder if the reason why Germany has never got that episode is because Weazel did the Hitler salute? After all; in Germany, you can be fined and jailed for a Hitler salute. Is that salute so terrible that even the censors couldn't cut it out before it was shipped to Germany? Even stupider; Disney decided to seeks deferrence from adding a Nazi-equalivant character in the series (although that didn't stop them from having Colonel Spigot originally be a Nazi; nor one of the comics write a comic "The Dogs Of War" with their take on the Nazi's.); and somehow a Hitler salute passed BS&P? How can Jymn Magon sleep at night somehow? Oh; I know why. He flipflops all the time.)

We then see Weazel walking down on the docks of Higher...For...Hire as he walks over to the SeaDuck. Kit, Rebecca and Dectective Thursday hide behind the boxes. Thursday I can understand; but Kit and Rebecca? Weazel has already met them for goodness sakes. (It's not a logic break by any means; but it's just silly and odd.) We then see Baloo washing his SeaDuck with a wash broom (Which should be hint #1 that this is a trap for Weazel. Which is fine because Weazel has only met Baloo twice before this.) as he turns around and calls him a weasel. Weazel gets cranky as usual and hopefully for him this is the last time he corrects Pop-A-Bear. Weazel gives him the last message he needs to sky write and it's wait until dark. Baloo thinks that it will be hard to read; and Weazel calls him a fool. HAHA! See; the message to write is wait until dark. Weazel then basically blows his cover ("It's been unpleasent knowing you" to paraphrase Weazel.); but it doesn't matter since Weazel's cover was already blown by Baloo earlier and runs off stage right out of sight. We then see Kit, Rebecca and Thursday walk out as Thursday thanks him for the sting operation. Thursday goes to the code book as he reads that it's the code to blow up Cape Suzette. Baloo no sells that he wants to do it and Rebecca blows him off in response. So Thursday crosses out the word wait and exchanges it with weight.

Now, this sounds like a broken Aesop; but "weight" is a legit word first of all and second, the whole point is to show the consequences on spelling right? So why not show them consequences on the heels? (I think the reason why people sees this as a Broken Aesop is that "weight until dark" is spelled right; but is also wrong in the context of grammar. So in other words; they did a spelling angle at the expense of good grammar. I can see why people think that way; but, spelling was the moral issue, not grammar.) That's Thursday's plan and it's a damn good one. Baloo thinks Thursday is slipping and Thursday blows it off because weight (Remember the second letter dictates the heels' orders?!) is the code to signal the blimps to abort the mission. He orders Baloo: No spelling mistakes this time around and it has to be letter perfect and Kit is not happy to hear that. Thursday also tells them no use of the radio due to the crooks tapping into that. Rebecca decides that being a jerk is fun (Although with Baloo's missteps; can you blame her?) and so she basically throws tape, glue, staples and pins onto the note against Baloo's shirt to keep it in place. Baloo blows her off for tattooing him. HAHA! (So much for "They're not going to get us", huh?!) Thursday and Kit giggle smile in response to that one and that ends the segment 17 minutes in. (I love this episode; but a lot of the episode is plagued with animation problems and a few silly logic breaks.)

After the commercial break; we head into the sky again as the SeaDuck flies into the sky. We go into the cockpit with Kit asking about the code again. Baloo sees it and Rebecca should have pinned it upside down because now Baloo requires to take his shirt off. Ooops! Baloo does take his shirt and it goes flying out of the window. Why do you keep the window open, Pop-A-Bear?! Never mind; Baloo is too dumb not to keep the window closed. FANSERVICE! FANSERVICE! SHIELD YOUR EYES! Ummm; that would have been perverted if Cubbi hadn't done the same thing in A Gummi By Any Other Name. (Actually; Cubbi being naked was more disturbing than Baloo being naked, because he's an adult and Cubbi's a child. Okay?) Baloo cuts the gone with the wind promo as Kit asks if he remembers the code. Baloo stammers as Kit notices the blimps coming from the various shots and then Baloo remembers that it's wait until dark and starts to sky write the letter W. However; Baloo then realizes that it's another kind of wait and he is confused beyond belief. Baloo realizes that it's weight and then asks Kit to spell it and he doesn't know because Baloo told him that spelling was not important so he didn't do his homework. Nice touch of detail there Dean. (Yeah; Kit foresakes homework because Baloo told him it was not important. I just love that Kit admitted that even though in the storyline, there was no way Kit could have done his homework anyway since he was working with Baloo on the sky writing.) Now Baloo is totally screwed up as Kit can see his life flash before his eyes as Baloo gets confused with song and does the old MacDonald promo. Sorry; but Dumptruck is funnier than you Pop-A-Bear. The SeaDuck flies around and Kit shakes Baloo and then remembers the poem in school which is I before E; except after C. Baloo throws Kit into his chair and Kit pulls the lever (JESUS~! (After all my fanfic plans; that sounds way too apporos to not be funny.)) and the smoke comes flying out of the SeaDuck. It is spelled "Wieght" which we see the balloons have noticed it and Crook #2 asks Crook #1 to check the code book.

We return to the docks as Thursday is still writing on the cover of his red notepad (So it's not a coloring mistake; it's a character trait.) as the code is to attack City Hall. Well; at least that reduces the carnage a wee bit. Rebecca wonder how he got that wrong and Baloo's shirt engulfs Thursday on the way down. HAHA! We cut back to the crooks as Crook #2 call these orders are orders and proclaims wonder who said that they cannot fight city hall. Answer: EVERYBODY! (They are like the Kanyon of cartooning here.) Crook #2 rolls up his sleeves as even Heimlich isn't amused by this as he didn't give the order to focus the carnage on ONE building. We then cut into the sky as it's "Wieght Until Dark" and Kit realizes that one exception in that poem: "I before E, except after C and when sounding like A as in Neighbor or Weigh". (2020 Gregory Weagle: Naunce in a nutshell, everyone!) Baloo wonders how to make those letters return to sender as Kit kneels on his seat and grabs the airfoil from the back of his seat. Don't you just love it when the guy who screws the other guy up has a backup plan? Tama Pro's animating of Kit's feet is beautiful by the way. (And you're surprised that everyone thinks you got a foot fetish 2010 me?! Sheesh!) So we get a shot of the top of city hall as the blimps all ring around the rosy around the building. We then see Kit in the SeaDuck running out and doing his grab the tow rope and fly out of the plane sequence and then we go to the far shot and see him cloudsurfing and destroying the I and E in the message. See; this is why I love Kit, he redeems himself in these early episodes. (Yeah; because it was his attempt to be a poet that got the message wrong.) Too bad Bearly Alive is going to change the formula on that as Baloo spells it officially as weight as Rebecca pleads for Baloo to spell something right for a change from the docks below. Baloo proclaims that this should carry some weight.

We then cut back to the crooks' air blimp as Crook #1 opens the hatch from the floor and prepares to launch the bombs on city hall. (All three of them I might add. Hilarious since the bombs themselves are uber weak as we see later.) However; Crook #2 notices the new message and the codebook states that the blimps head to the ocean, drop the bombs and deflate. Who is dumb enough to write THAT into the codebook?! Seriously; I would like to know! Crook #1 calls the operation nutty. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. (Answer to the question: Weazel or Heimlich since they are the brains of the operation.) So we go to Heimlich's office with Weazel as Heimlich is pissed off with the binoculars as they have been double-crossed. No?! Really?! Check Weazel and see if he still has the codebook. He tells Weazel to launch his diamond tipped motor scooter and Weazel no sells because Heimlich called him a weasel. HAHA! So Heimlich grabs him by the coat and calls him Weazel about four times and Weazel gets the message and is dropped on his ass off-screen. So we head outside as all of the blimps fly away from Cape Suzette as we see Weazel piloting the DIAMOND MOTOR SCOOTER OF DEATH (Another helicopter; thus proving my point about Professor Buzz being an inventor with no originality whatsoever.) and Heimlich pleads for the crooks to go back; and waves. So the crooks wave back and Heimlich is PISSED. HAHA! The crooks nod and all of the blimps drop their bombs and they do little damage anyway as they fall into the drink. We then see Rebecca hugging Thursday. (can you spell "bribe date?" (Thursday didn't lay charges to begin with; so there's no point in bribing him unless you want to do a love triangle angle with Rebecca, Baloo and Thursday. Which is not going to work outside of a fanboy's twisted fantasy. And I can speak from experience when I say that, since I always loved the concept of Kit being the successor to God.))

She cannot believe Baloo spelled something right. We then see Crook #2 deflate the blimp from the back of the blimp and it goes out like a balloon and every other blimp follows suit. HAHA! That'll teach Heimlich to depend on a code book which has a "SCREW THEM UP" code in it. (I concur.) So we head to the SeaDuck (and another cute spot of Kit's feet) as Baloo wants to go home and then there is a loud crash as Heimlich uses the diamond spear on the SeaDuck's right nose. The SeaDuck dives as Heimlich blows them off and the choke is on them. (Oh my, Heimlich is choking on his comedy. See what I did there?) Kit notices that the scooter of diamond death is going to plough right into them. Baloo decides to counter with the smokescreen and it hits perfectly. We finally get a notable logic break with the smoke getting into the enclosed helicopter and the heels cough up a lung. (Yeah; that was dumb.) The SeaDuck lands on the water and bounces a bit as Heimlich makes the fatal error and pulls the flight stick with Weazel as the helicopter spirals out of control and we jump cut to Baloo coming out of the SeaDuck (naked as a jaybird) and pulling Kit out as well. Rebecca and Kit embrace again.

Thursday and Baloo shake hands as the world is right again in TaleSpin. We go to the helicopter as it spirals into the drink and the coast guard all drive in for the easy arrest. In other words; no Cinema 101 this time around. So, we cut back to the docks and Rebecca thanks Baloo and we get a pretty disturbing embrace. What a studmuffin indeed?! POW! OUCH! Ummm... (And thus the famed Joel Gerthner StudMuffin scoring system is born.) Baloo proclaims that he has to go and grabs Kit's arm. Baloo and Kit walk towards the office as it's time to do that overdue homework because when it comes to spelling, close is not good enough. It's perfectly true too. Rebecca and Thursday beam on that one as there is hope as we go to a far sky shot of the docks to end the episode at 21:20. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Sadly, they didn't apply it to basic math as we discover in Ducktales 2017 and even a French only comic story.) Maybe one of Dean Stefan's best efforts ever in DTVA. Hyperbole? By a mile yes. But exciting and fun hyperbole? You betcha life on it. Oh; and Kit's spelling does improve after this episode by the way. (I'm dropping this episode's rating to **** 1/4 (85%) for the extra logic breaks and silliness. This was a really fun episode with great new characters; but you'll never seen them again, except for Gridleman; I suppose. Welcome to Eisner thinking everyone. This is exactly what happens when your show was created as a rush job.)

THE REVIEW LINE

Yeah; this episode still holds up. (As a thumbs up episode, yes. As a near ***** episode, no.) It holds up because three one shot characters made this episode grand to watch. First; you have Heimlich Menudo who is a really good gangster with diamond teeth who had the perfect plan that went into hell because of one little error by his henchman. He was pretty much on par with Don Karnage and if he had a better accent he would have been perfect as a second foil for the TaleSpin gang. Weazel in my view is a much smarter Air Pirate and probably would have been what Kit would have become had he stayed heel with Don Karnage. He sounded smart enough; and he had the pissed off mode that made him a pretty quality heel henchman. Then, there is Detective Thursday who was one of the most colorful police officers in the series; maybe the only really awesome one. He looks like a Dragnet character; only funnier and has actual interrogation skills that make him interesting. Plus; he sounds good too. (Also; he's compentent. Much more than most police officers in DTVA. Sure; he has a bad cop side to him as seen in the interrogation scene with Baloo, but he wasn't stupid.) As for the episode itself; the storyline was pretty much dead on (although you could ding them for the Kit run in with the report card; but he probably went in the front entrance just to make Thursday look even dumber in hindsight.) and the whole idea that spelling can terrorize a city is absurd; but threatening enough to make the hyperbole sound a lot less absurd. The most important thing is that this is a really entertaining way to make a lesson effective without having it go nowhere like so many other shows do. Then the focus can shift to the entertainment of the show which is front and center. A few animation mistakes prevented the full monty (and several logic breaks also didn't help); but otherwise, this is still an awesome episode. Next up is Bearly Alive and we take a nosedive in quality from this. On the other hand; how many times can you say die? Find out... (The answer is sixteen and I have already transcribed said episode. Next up to transcribe is the final episode of Volume 1: All's Whale That Ends Whale. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Ducktales 2017 hold the new record now and that episode featured Mount Neverrest, a mountain from this very show.))

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

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