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A Star Is Torn Re-Rant
Reviewed: 10/19/2010
Additional
Commentary: 10/06/2021
Take Two: And Roll The 1930 Camera! And Interact!
Original Airdate: 10/04/1990 (Syndication), Episode #23 (TaleSpin Volume 1 DVD, Disc 3), Episode #17 (Production Order).
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Star Is Torn Notes
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Star Is Torn Transcript
Ah! Here we go with another major important episode as Baloo and the gang go to TaleSpin's version of Hollywood: Starywood. (2016 Gregory Weagle Says: It's an important episode in the context of paying off the whole inspiration of the series being from 1930's seiral pulp productions and Howard Hawks films. Sadly; a parody character of Howard was never found in the episode to the best of my knowledge and most of the stars were basically inspired by mainstream 1920's and 1930's stars. It still works; but it feels like Dev Ross (the writer of this episode) could have gone much further and given us Starrywood cast and crew members that are much closer to the ones TaleSpin was supposed to be shooting for in this series.) This is also the only appearance of Gadget's own Tress MacNeille and Tress seems to be doing her three trademark voices for this one too. (Her three trademark voices at the time are: Lady Bane, Babs Bunny and Gadget Hackwrench. She now has a fourth and fifth voice: Chip and Daisy Duck. (Which she has taken over from Kath Soucie. More on her in "Citizen Khan".) All of the first three voices are in full force here.) It's also where all the TaleSpin fan boys can see the beginnings of the Baloo/Rebecca relationship come to bloom despite every effort by Magon to prevent such a thing from happening. (Here is the plot of the episode: Baloo saves an actress from certain injury and/or death; and gets a job being a stunt pilot in a major motion picture in Starrywood. Actress tries to butt into the Baloo/Rebecca relationship causing Rebecca to be jealous; and look even more so when she discovers that a bunch of incidents are occuring in the studios. Plus; you won't believe who is causing them and why. Anyhow; the theme of this story is friendship and how it works. Sadly; Rebecca was more of a terror in this episode than usual.) Is it worth the hype? Let's rant on and find out shall we...?
This episode is written by Dev Ross. The story was edited by Mark Zaslove. The animation is done by Walt Disney Animation of Japan (Inc.) with additional services by Hanho Heung-Up Company Limited.
We begin this one in the city of Cape Suzette AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as we pan down to a fancy resturant as Rebecca comes out in her purple dress and it's WRAITH OF BECKEY time on Baloo (wearing a brown coat and a football helmet. Well; that helmet is embarassing enough for me.). Rebecca gets on Baloo's case for turning the dinner into a football game and not calling her Rebecca. She then smiles and admits that she did like the look of Mr. McFibble's face when Baloo tackled him into the caivar. Huh?! Character development?! In a children's show?! Nah...I must be seeing things. (She must have a personal grudge against Mr. McFibble. Of course; I would have one if I had a last name like that. Although calling him Mr. McFumble would have been funnier.) Rebecca giggles at her egg joke and somehow Rhinokey must be fuming over getting out-joked by Rebecca Freaking Cunningham. (This joke actually works because she basically says that McFibble had egg on his face; which caivar is basically fish eggs. It works as a joke.) We have the far shot as we see Baloo and Rebecca walking stage right talking about admitting their friendship. Somehow; I think it's a LOT more than just being FRIENDS. Wink! Wink! Nudge! Nudge! Rebecca then states that it's Becky now. Wow. Can you hear the wedding bells ring; or do I have to spell it out for ye? (Yeah; what is this plutonic relationship everyone thinks is a great idea; more so when the same people wanting that in the same breath are saying that Baloo and Rebecca should get married. Brendala; I'm looking at you here. Don't get me wrong; them having a plutonic relationship is actually great and I have no problem with them keeping it as such. However; let them be a family by heart, too. Let Kit have the dream he always wanted so badly...) Baloo talks about friendship and then runs off allowing Rebecca to do the whirlwind spot.
I thought that spot was retired with Butterbear's woody voice? Never mind... (Animated spots never retire; they just get used in better spots when needs because in the world of children's cartoons, it's okay to do cliches because most children do not know that they are cliches in the first place. You can point out that the spot has been done before; and it's okay to do the spot again if it's nearly as good or better. You don't lower your standards doing that.) We then see Baloo running towards a crowd of movie producers and talent as Baloo notices that they are shooting a movie in the distance. (Geez; that friendship didn't last long.) Baloo walks through a crowd claiming to be a medic just to annoy the pig lady. (I think that is the full extent of that character's appearance in this show. It's a shame because they have all these incidental characters with no names doing almost nothing that look like they could easily be one shotters in this episode. Once again; TaleSpin is supposed be a sandbox you would want to play in and you would think that someone could find something for these characters, but no. Don Karnage was too over to overuse.) We then cut to a platypus furry with the red megaphone who steals it from the seagull furry with a blue Donald Duck suit and red French cap as he yells for quiet on the set. (Believe it or not; both of these two have an actual booking name and the platypus furry has a great nod as well. Also of note; I wonder if Phineas & Ferb decided on a platypus furry watching this show. I hope so; that would be hilarious.) The cameraman is an elephant furry (Pat Fraley) and then we get a glorified shot of a steel pole and a pair of awesome blond legs and sequin black gown as we get action with the Act I, Scene XVII clipboard. (Sadly; the joke doesn't work because there are only 13 scenes in the episode. So it should be Act I Scene XIII. Sorry, Dev Ross; better luck next time. Oh wait; you only wrote one episode for this series. Sorry about that.)
We pan up to see a cat furry with blue eyes, blond hair and a sloppy pink breastplace humming a tune. Baloo gets all charmed as he ruins the singing and addresses her as Kitten Caboodle (According to Disney Captions; I had it as Kaboodle. Both names work by the way.). Kitten Kaboodle is voiced by Tress MacNeillie. (It is really sad that some jackass fan of Babs Bunny was stalking her during a convention many years ago that ultimately caused people to tell the furry fandom to "yiff in hell" so to speak (Although I think Bubsy did a lot more damage to furry fandom than this jackass loser fan ever did); because Tress MacNeillie is really a talented voice talent and above all; Tress is a nice person. I don't blame her for being very private with her life; and quite frankly, I don't blame her at all for furry fandom going into hell due to a scoiopathic stalker. Yes; the world got it wrong about furry fandom in general, but that is par for the course when it comes to assigning blame on something other than the stalker himself. (See the aftermath of every school shooting in America for instance.) Thanks to Zootopia making $884 million as of this writing; the furry fandom can sleep at night now and it makes opening up to your prefences a lot easier in the long run.) Do I see a black furry with brown hair and glasses in the background? I cannot tell his spieces; but he's new to me. Baloo pulls on his blue tie which comes out of nowhere and goes about the same place. (Nope; the tie was there the whole time. Baloo pulls on his tie, so what? He's awkward because he's in Kitten's presence and he's trying his damnest to not mark out on her.) Kitten continues to sing and walk while the director looks on as Baloo makes funny faces while the pig lady makes angry faces at Baloo's disgusting salavating. We go to the closeup of Kitten and by Disney standards; she is SEXY BABEE~! Which means classy by any other measure; thank you very much.
Kitten then hears some creaking, then points up as the lights are collapsing and she pretty much gives away the plot in advance as another accident. (She does give the plot away; but she didn't give away who was behind the light free falling towards her; which would have been worse. In fact; this led me to believe that either CV or Montgomery were behind the incidents, which later on proved that it wasn't the case. I just wished that they redubed her line to "Oh, no! The light is falling!" in that singing voice; that would have been better and wouldn't give away the main plot of the episode.) Kitten is in her Lady Bane voice and wow; Tress sounds better when she's told she has to act! (Basically she's humming a tune in this scene while walking around.) Baloo runs in of course (I see in the background the Thembrian announcer from Time Bandit, Professor O'Bowens from A Baloo Switcheroo, Amelia "GOD I HATE THAT NAME" Airhead, a walrus furry, and even Teddy from A Baloo Switcheroo. Not the one from his own show of the same name of course. (I still love that rib on Teddy Ruxpin for some reason. Anyhow; Amelia would change her last name to Bearhart in Bygones I do believe, which is a vast improvement despite being a rooster. Airhead is bad in the sense of "That's Launchpad's gimmick!"; but at least she wasn't called Amelia Cockhead or Cocksucker; that would have been really scandalous. I mean; she's a rooster furry.) and embraces Kitten while the searchlight bonks him on the head with a surprisely good bump. Baloo sees stars of course and not just the movie ones. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! BONK! OUCH! Ummmm...Now I'm seeing stars and none of them are movie ones. (Concussions are not funny; get over yourself.) Baloo spins around and drops on his ass with a weak bump as Kitten declares him a hero and faints. Hollywood melodrama much there Kitten?! They allows the press to run in and snap pictures (Animal makeup is a green parrot, black crow and cat.) and then run off.
I guess the papparozi in TaleSpin are the "run and shoot" type. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I know that this sounds stupid since it's in reverse order; but "run and shoot" is a type of offense in American Rules Football. It works since Baloo was playing football before the episode started.) Somehow; that's more classy then the ones we see today which are "shoot and shoot and shoot until someone dies" type. (OUCH 2010 Me! These scoiopath stalkers have to eat you know.) Rebecca runs in through the crowd (and the mango driver from Plunder and Lightning Part II shows up on the right side) as he asks if Baloo is all right. Baloo places Kitten gently on the ground and says "Cowabunga". Now I said before that this is out of place for the 1930's; but it's not as off as I thought it was since the word was on the Gumby show back in 1954. So it's really only 17 years off. (Which is fine.) Baloo asks about the license number of that piano. Do I have to remind writers that you are supposed to reference the object to that promo?! It's "Did you get the license for that searchlight?" (See "Mind Your Cheese & Q's" from Rescue Rangers for that one.) Rebecca thankfully; isn't amused by that promo either. So we finally head to Higher...For...Hire with six seagulls flying in midair and a plane flying in the background (And people are surprised when Rescue Rangers got mocked by Warner Brothers?) as we zoom into the office door and Kit Cloudkicker runs into the office with the newspaper and asks about seeing the front page which shows Baloo saving Kitten natch; but then sees about two hundred newspapers piled up in mounds. HAHA! (Yup, Kit; they know about it. I'm surprised that you are just figuring this out. Yes folks, Baloo and Rebecca never told Kit about this even though he eats and sleep in the office of Higher For Hire. DUMB! Also; the Daily World makes this the third newspaper printed in Cape Suzette by the way.)
The stacks on the desk fold in separate directions as Rebecca is behind the desk as we see WildCat walk in with a couple of newspapers proclaiming that he didn't have to even pay for those. See; he basically stole them from the doorsteps and Rebecca and Kit just look at him like "He needs help". (Nice ableism there Dev Ross. I see Kit's previous life is rubbing off of even WildCat Puma.) Anyhow; Baloo walks in and wants his hands bronzed. Rebecca threatens to have his head bronzed if he doesn't get to work. (Bronzing someone's head is a lot more likely to be done in real life than bronzing a bunch of newspapers. Google-fu says that bronzing newspapers is impossible.) She shoves the newspapers into Baloo's hands as Baloo blows her off for being jealous since she didn't get her picture in the paper. SICK BURN~! Rebecca and Baloo go into childish mode as Kit reads the newspaper on the stacks of newspaper just to give Al Khan a stroke. Or maybe not. We then see the phone ring underneath a section of newsprint and Kit answers it. Kit states that he'll take the deal and puts the phone down. He then tells Baloo that Tantamount Studios (Take one guess what the reference is being referenced. (It's Paramount Studios by the way.)) wants Baloo to fly an important stunt in Miss Kaboodle's film. R.J. Williams is acting too well here and is only making Kit more awesome. Baloo throws the newspapers into the air and most of them land on Rebecca's pighead. SLAP! OUCH! Ummm.... Baloo is going to Starrywood as Kit wants an acting job (Sure, why not?) and WildCat wants to see a star (Sure, why not? Again.). Baloo proclaims that in Starrywood; anything is possible. Except when Rebecca Cunnningham is around of course. Rebecca wants permission and Baloo wants Rebecca to come as a friend and they do another half embrace. (Geez; they are so tentative with it, that this friendship is on the rocks already.)
Rebecca thinks about it; but Kit proclaims that they are paying three big ones and Rebecca of course wants to start now. This is NOT the last time Kit has used finances to get Rebecca into a plan. (Yeah and her reactions was different in all three spots here: In My Fair Baloo; Rebecca wasn't liking the prospect at all; but accepted anyway. In Captains Outrageous; Rebecca agrees with the offer and does a response that sounds like "Never take advatange of me like that again" to Kit when she accepts. Only thing is; she got roped in again in My Fair Baloo about eight episodes later. Here; she just accepts the offer carte blanche and is happy about it. I'm guessing that Rebecca was a lot more cyncial after this episode and after this episode, who could blame her?) We then hear a horn honking and Baloo walks out and notices a silver limo parked. Baloo proclaims that this is service. Indeed Poppa Bear, indeed! We go to the scene changer and we see a stone build gate with the words Tantamount Studios in black letters. I'm guessing that they went to the plain font to avoid a possible lawsuit with Paramount Studios. We pan down to see the limo drive up to the gate and see a cat furry dressed in red doing nothing of note. We then head inside as we see a scene of a brick wall with a duck dressed in a brown tux shooting a machine gun from a window with two police hippos (Nope; they are either walruses or bears.) and a black duck who may be a clone of Daffy Duck. (Yup; the guns got pulled out here in an episode I didn't expect them to be pulled out. Should have read the rant before I did the transcript. So that means we are 32 of 39 episodes where the guns did get pulled out. One more and half of the series is a apologist for the NRA basically.)
The limo passes and they stop and then after it leaves; they shoot again. I'm not going to bother going through the references because it would take forever. Although it's clear that all the ducks went to Starrywood in this show. We see various actors walking around the street as the limo drives and the MIRACLE WORKERS CONNECTION gets giddy. A cat furry wearing a Kim Possible skirt and shirt runs away from three foxes (!!!) while the short dog officer has a stop sign and notices nothing unusual at all. (This became a visual sight gag for the rest of the episode and I have zero idea what movie this show is referencing; so it got annoying after a while since it was the same thing over and over again with no variation.) Baloo then points over to our right as we see more stars; a pelican with a black tie only and a walrus who both look like Stan Laurel and Oilver Hardy which is apporos for this time period. Oliver Hardy Walrus of course sinks into the little pond for the first logic break of the episode; but then again, it is Starrywood; so I must accept the break no matter how absurd it sounds. (That's odd; wasn't Stan the bump machine in those black & white shorts? I don't remember because it's been a long time since I watched them. I do know that Stan is the crybaby machine of the duo.) WildCat proclaims that his favorite star is the North Star. HAHA! I see WildCat does star gazing in his spare time. Along with bowling with his friends; cannot forget that one. The limo speeds away on cue and we go to Kitten Kaboodle in a pirates outfit sailing on the wooden ship scene with a fake parrot which is drawn in a sloppy way by WD-Japan. (He looks like a prototype version of Iago from Aladdin: The Series.) I see Kitten has a slightly longer black skirt on and is wearing a half shirt thus showing a midriff which was rare in children's cartoons in 1990. When Kim Possible arrived; the main character was doing it about half the time. Of course it makes sense since the violence got toned down to BS levels by then. (Mostly; "No Guns Allowed" like in Garfield with that singing voice.)
An anteater furry (Koosh sadly omitted this one since he does nothing other than throw water on Kitten. (Kevin Johnston did not forget it though. Jeepers; 1930's Starrywood is more diverse than 2016 Hollywood is. Even Zootopia lacks birds and non-mammal characters; although Zootopia has mammals TaleSpin doesn't have. Although if TaleSpin got remade; all bets would be off. Don't bet on it happening, though. We already have our TaleSpin. It's Zootopia. Might as well be the Grand Theft Auto everyone was demanding. Funny how the creators of Zootopia are claiming inspiration to Robin Hood; when everything about Zootopia can be traced back to TaleSpin; with TaleSpin taking the furries from Robin Hood first. Kevin Johnston on Cape Suzette being renamed Zootopia and devoided of non-mammal character will always be his head canon; but it makes more sense than 90% of the creator's official canon on this movie.)) and a beaver furry (I think) joins in splashing water on her creating a wet T-shirt. (Moral Guardians; no one but themselves care and there are enough of them to make a difference. Otherwise; BS&P would never exist.) We then go to the far shot as the limo stops right there and Baloo gets all giddy much to the disdain of Rebecca. Baloo proclaims that she shivers his timbers which sounds more disturbing than Dev Ross had intended. She does have breasts by the way; for the sadists among us as she hopes the hunk of bear will do the stunt. Kit and WildCat get out with Baloo; but Kitten slams the door in Rebecca's face and she goes down hard. Rebecca protests this outrage as Baloo is all hubba-bubba for Kitten and wants her to show her where. Kitten points right at Baloo's nose and goes all Molly on us as the stunt is tomorrow. She wants to give Baloo a personal tour of the studio first and she doesn't kiss him on the lips right there. BOO! HISS!
Kitten holds Baloo's hand and they walk together with Kit and WildCat stage right while Rebecca cannot get the limo door open as it's convienently locked. I didn't know those doors had automatic locks. (Power door locks were invented in 1914 for luxary cars; so it's very possible, but also very rare. They didn't become common until 1956. So the limo there was a Scripps-Booth car.) What will Starrywood think of next?! Thankfully; the window is open and Rebecca struggles; and pops up taking a bump on her ass on the way down. (How could Rebecca struggle through that when the window is so big; she could have just dived out like she was diving into a swimming pool. Not to mention that when she tumbles; she almost lands on top of her head in the process. Damn.) Rebecca recovers and rubs her ass as the window in the front opens and we see a monkey limo driver (French guy with big lips and white gloves) wanting a tip (Jack Angel – same voice from From Whom The Bell Klangs) and Rebecca wants him to break a ten; but the monkey cannot spare a dime. HAHA! (I'm guessing that legal reasons were the issue because I think the monkey limo driver is supposed to say: "Quite frankly; I don't give a dime."; a parody line from "Gone With The Wind"'s "Quite frankly; I don't give a damn." Maybe it was a different movie and this makes sense; but I don't know.) Rebecca grumbles under her breath as she gives him the ten dollars and walks off stage right. The monkey tips his grey cap (to match his uniform) as we head into the streets as Baloo, Kit, WildCat and Kitten are driving aboard a white scooter (with red roof top) and Rebecca has to run and we get the sky shot of Pac-Man to waste some time which is strange since TaleSpin isn't known for doing this kind of spot. Usually; it's those "Disney By Name Only" shows who do that spot. (Like Fish Hooks with Clamantha chasing Oscar and then eating an out of nowhere cherry. Someone's cherry was popped; but it wasnt mine.)
We go into the "Studio Twenty-Six" hanger as we see the groaning camera man elephant from earlier in the episode seriously injuried and walking on crutches from a broken left foot. The white scooter drives in with Kitten driving, she bumps into the camer aman while explaining the set making, he does the second whirlwind spot of the episode (ZOINKS!) and falls on his back. (Ouch! This subtle non-verbal cue gives away who is doing the accidents; but of course the cameraman is too stupid to not look where he is going.) Rebecca runs in (and we get some mature lighting to boot) and she's almost out of breath. What a difference Ginny McSwain makes as a voice director, huh?! Rebecca notices the cameraman and she thinks he's doing a horror film. HAHA! So the "I don't see the obvious" spot from Golden Sprocket of Friendship is a character trait. That is just peachy. (Yeah; the cameraman couldn't have been an mummy; that mummy wrapping on him sucks!) The cameraman blows her off and sobs because no one is safe on that movie since every ten minutes something go blooey. That ten minutes has become a motif for this series it seems. (Grimitz?! You have some explaining to do.) The camera man flops on his back and Rebecca calls him so dramatic. She is sure these accidents always happen (Safe Communities would like to have a word with you Miss Cunningham.), the Saloon set falls down and she goes through the window safely; but the camera man gets squashed like a bug. Excellent bumping there too; as the press run in to shoot and run so to speak. Now Rebecca isn't so sure of it anymore. We go to sky shot of a set with four searchlights and a camera as Baloo is sitting on a stool (NOT THAT ONE!) as a rat furry (with a brown coat, brown pants and a hat. (He looks like Arthur's teacher Mr. Ratburn (The first major gay character in pre-school history after marrying a man in the most recent seasons of Arthur.) in the Arthur cartoon series.)) sets up a searchlight and then walks off stage right just as Rebecca runs in yelling at Baloo again.
Baloo asks where Rebecca has been. Rebecca starts blowing him off for not sticking with her together. Don't give Len Uhley any ideas for...Ooops; too late. Then we hear a male voice (Ed Gilbert) yell for make up, the pig furry from Time Waits For No Bear enters and invokes the powder puffer on Baloo causing Rebecca to cough. That's three times I have seen that same pig and he does at least a noise in every episode. Shame on Baloo for no selling that shot, too! Baloo does make it up by stating that he is doing publicity shots while addressing Kitten as Kiki. Rebecca is shocked to hear that as Baloo calls her Kitten. Then we hear a photographer voice say "ready" as a projection screen featuring the North Pole falls down behind Baloo's ass. I have no clue about that voice; but it's different than the makeup one; so it counts as a separate voice, although it might be Ed Gilbert again for all I know. (Actually; it's the same photographer who said make-up earlier; so it's all one voice.) He yells at Baloo to smile, Baloo sells and we get the ZENON FLASH OF DEATH and Baloo rubs his eyes out. HAHA! Rebecca tells Baloo that there is some weird things going on around here. It's Starrywood Miss Cunningham; it's always weird around here. In comes Kitten in a classy white dress walking in and she literally bumps Rebecca with her hips off-screen stage left. HAHA! This episode deserves ¼ * just for that. It's almost time for the luncheon as the limo conveniently drives in outside the studio as it's some Italian from Kaboodle as Rebecca is squashed underneath the same set that fell earlier. (Nope; it's a couple of wooden doors and the spotlight. That was some hip check by Kitten. I'm shocked that she doesn't just join the woman's ice hockey team as their enforcer. No one would attempt to mess with her.) Kitten and Baloo walk into the limo as Rebecca tries to talk her way into the luncheon about the accidents but Kitten blows her off just as they get in and the limo speeds off allowing Rebecca to eat the dust.
Rebecca coughs for a while and then we see Kit dressed up like a complete tool in that black tux, black hair and black mustache. Take off the mustache and Kit would look perfect. (I have no idea who Kit is referencing here; but Kit wearing a mustache is no buys! Kit with actual hair isn't many buys either. Kit in a suit is Kyoshi-equse buys by the way!) Rebecca tries to talk to Mr. Reliable; but Mr. Reliable cannot help since he's auditioning and he tells her to get Wildcat to help. (Where is this Gary Stu talk I hear about Kit?! I mean; if Kit was a Gary Stu; wouldn't have be leading the investigation into these accidents and not just helping Rebecca?! Oh, it's believe that don't like Kit for no real reason and have to come up with a catchphrase to sound cool to pretend that they know what they are talking about.) Rebecca asks Kit where WildCat is and Kit tells her he's stargazing. We see a pig furry in causal gear and a heyna walking on his heels with a black coat, black hat and a cane. WildCat is walking around with the camera as he cannot get them to stand still. HA! (At least he hasn't got the butterfly net yet in his quest to catch a star. Yet.) We head to a street near the animation studio as the cat in the white skirt is still being chased by the three foxes! (Okay; someone call the Daffy Duck cop now! This joke is too stalker-equse for my liking.) We also see two furries talking on a box crate in old gear while someone is reading a white magazine on the sidewalk. I cannot tell their spieces. We then pan over to a corner stand with the woman screaming. Who is doing that scream voice by the way? (I think Dev Ross did the scream; since it sounds a lot better than Sally Struther's screaming. Also yes, we will hear that chain-smoking seagull scream later in this episode.)) Two male furries are sitting down on stools with Rebecca on the far right one stirring some hot chocolate and sulking over Baloo's hypocrisy on friendship.
Then we hear another terrified cry in the background as we see the two actors (Two wolves in Prince & Paupler gear) and the female actress (Tress MacNeille in her Bab's voice) proclaim that it's another accident as they move in opposite direction and we see it's a turkey fury (I believe the same one in From Here To Machinery.). He takes a sick MAN-SIZED bump into the crate and baskets after falling from 1000 feet at least. HOLY CRAP! (The woman in the blue robe simply acts like this is so routine and just walks away unconcerned. It makes me wonder if she's behind this. Which we would find out later that she's not; so she sounds like an unconcerned scoiopath here. Oh; and despite having wood to break his fall; he also landed on pavement. He wouldn't die from it directly; but I'm shocked that he wasn't injured as badly as the cameraman because he would show up later in this episode unhurt.) The press -- the classy folks at they are -- run in and "shoot and run" before leaving. Rebecca comes over and questions the guy for trying to be a stuntman. The turkey blows her off because he's the accountant for the Kitten Kaboodle film. He's exactly the same furry in From Here To Machinery; right down to the glasses, except that Townsend Coleman isn't voicing him; it's Ed Gilbert again. (Proving that it's not only female characters who get voice switches.) He pities the big bear who is doing the final stunt in the movie because he is dead, done and toe-tagged (my words, not his) as the accountant walks off stage right. (The accountant proclaimed that Baloo's a goner basically, even though later on, Rebecca does say the word kill. You can say die in TaleSpin, Dev; relax.) Rebecca is SHOCKED and APPALLED to hear this and must warn him somehow. We go to another scene changer as we see Rebecca on a sidewalk near the limo as we go into the La Rotune Resturant as the pig furry from earlier walks into the check coat area.
We then see the hippo in a black coat and white shirt from From Whom The Bell Klangs Part One who is even voiced by the same guy: Jack Angel. The pig furry throws the white fur necklace right in the hippo's face. The hippo waiter throws the fur thing onto the coat rack with ease which is next to the door as we see Rebecca walk in. Rebecca walks in past the waiter; but the waiter pushes her back and does his ultra annoying French accent with English words. Rebecca sounds out of breath trying to explain that she's here to tell her friend about an accident that hasn't happened yet. The waiter thinks it's all well and good, then asks if she is a movie star. Rebecca blows him off for that one, the waiter states that only movie stars can be served and he calls out for Brutus. Oh swell; we have two Brutii's looking like gorillas but different styles! (The hippo waiter is the same in both episodes (and probably either has a identical twin, or he has decided to return to Cape Suzette after being shut out of business after the Tinbula incident); but the Brutus are completely different spieces and looks. This Brutus is a gorilla in a white suit and pants; while the one in For Whom The Bell Klangs looks like a dognose! Huh.)) Brutus arrives to throw Rebecca out; but Rebecca blows them both off and walks out. HAHA! Well; she has taken a lot of abuse in this episode thus far. We go back to the door as Rebecca opens it and steals the pig furry's white fur necklace. I betcha Rebecca uses it and gets past the waiter with ease. I check the DVD...Damn; I'm so good. (Yeah; she even stupid enough to throw the sash and the hippo waiter catches and does absolutely nothing even though Rebecca completely blew her cover since she was wearing nothing else that made her look different. This is the real logic break number two for the episode, instead of...) Rebecca walks in as we see logic break #2 for the episode as the turkey accountant is back eating pasta without any injury whatsoever. How about that?!
Okay; he did escape serious injury from the fall; so it makes more sense than most logic breaks; but COME ON! (The accountant was perfectly fine and got up on his own. Only his glasses were broken; but those can be replaced on Starrywood's dime. There was no logic break there at all.) Rebecca walks around as one of the wolf waiters flambes a turkey and it blows up in the pig fury and the guy who looks like the fox version of George Jefferson. That wasn't too drole at all. (Okay; I may have found an episode that was running in first run syndication in the Toon Disney version: In the DVD version; when the turkey explodes there is a moderate amount of ash and soot on the furries faces at the table. In the Toon Disney version; when the turkey explodes; there is almost no soot and ash on their faces. Now; why do I think Toon Disney used the first run syndication version? Because Toon Disney edited are always cuts, while syndication edits can be literally anything. So yeah; I found more editing in this series. I thought I was done with that in Plunder and Lightning? The only reason I checked the spot out on Toon Disney was because a match was struck and they cut that out in Toon Disney. Needless to say; the match striking was kept in the Toon Disney version. Dammit!) Anyhow; we get more jazz music from the always awesome Christopher L. Stone as we go to the table to see Kitten watching Baloo eat the pasta and meatballs on his plate at the table. Kitten wants to talk about Rebecca as Rebecca hides behind a large plane and we see animation mistake number two for the episode: We somehow see Rebecca put on the KIT CLOUDKICKER HANDS on the closeup shot of hiding as Baloo slurps on a pasta noodle like an idiot. (You couldn't just recolor the sweater from green to purple? Is the color purple so rare that it costs too much to use on scenes like this?)
Then we see logic break number three for the episode as the french bread comes OUT OF NOWHERE magically. Well; there goes the perfect episode right there. (There was no logic break there 2010 Me! The loaf of bread was on the table the entire time; although one shot made it look like a cigar. So blame bad drawing instead of logic breaks. You are starting to like yourself during the Polly Wants A Treasure re-rant there 2010 me!) Kitten calls his humor so humorous. I don't think he's making a funnie there, Kiki. (Nope; he was just being extremely awkward at socalizing, just like he's being awkward about being the guardian of Kit Cloudkicker.) She was referring to Rebecca as her girlfriend and Baloo gulps and refers to Rebecca as his boss. UH OH! (Yeah; I mean, what Baloo said was perfectly true; but Baloo implied that she was his boss only and not even just friends.) Rebecca then storms in and the WRAITH OF BECKEY is on full blast as she throws the pasta dish right on Baloo's head. Baloo is shocked to see Rebecca in her over the top jerkass mode and then in one of the most funniest moments in the entire series; (Jeepers; there were a lot of these moments by the way...) Rebecca whacks Baloo with the (not) magically placed french bread right on Baloo's noggin. BREAD VIOLENCE~! BREAD VIOLENCE~! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Memo to fans of Kick Buttowski and most of all; Brad Buttowski: Meet our REAL jerk in DTVA. (This is Rebecca at her sickest, sorriest best (worst?) and even though she is handling this wrong, seeing her go into berserk mode after being told that she is just Baloo's boss is priceless. (which if you know this series is almost perfectly true.) More so when Baloo insisted that they were friends now. So Baloo in essence is lying (something even Baloo admits in the next act; only for a vastly different reason) about having a friendship with Rebecca. However; Rebecca is in jackass mode today and thus the problem is: Like Dixie Carter when Immortal took over her company in TNA; no one could walk out of these next two scenes and not feel bad for Baloo and hate Rebecca. Baloo came off like a victim, Rebecca came off like a terror. Sometimes; being a jerk is a terrible thing, most so when someone's life is on the line and the someone's life doesn't believe what the other person is saying.) That allows Brutus to grab her off-screen, Rebecca gets carried out by Brutus on the hippo waiters orders with Rebecca struggling and that ends the segment eleven minutes in. (I don't get the pacing problems people from DAF Radio are claiming when they reviewed this episode. The pacing was fine; it was Rebecca's over the top angry mode that bothered me. She should have reeled it in quite a bit to prevent us from sympathizing with Baloo and make us actually take Rebecca's side of things, even though she is right about the incidents.)
After the commerical break; we see the La Rotune Resturant in full profile along with the limo in front. (Walt Disney Animation Japan commits Flench (Engrish only with French words instead) here since it's supposed to be La Routine Resturant; which is the routine most Starrywood followers go to socialize. So yeah.) Rebecca gets thrown out of the resturant with a MAN-SIZED bump on her ass. BS&P?! What BS&P?! Rebecca blows them off because she wasn't hungry anyway. However; she does get to keep the loaf of French bread for a snack later on. (Geez; even the hippo waiter isn't an ass on this show. I'm shocked he didn't just take the loaf away when Brutus was escorting her off the premises.) The door opens and out comes Baloo wanting answers to all this anger and fury. Baloo helps her up as Rebecca explains why she is being so embarrassing while doing the Gruffi pose. (Rebecca basically saids that Baloo is doing the opposite of what friends are supposed to be. I agree with it; but Rebecca's jerkass mode is doing her no favors today. Even if her fears about the main plot are in fact justified. Her jerkiness is going way too far here.) Baloo states that they are friends when Rebecca walks to the sidewalk as a taxi passes by in the foreground. Baloo thinks Rebecca is jealous of Kiki. Oooooooooo...(Those are usually fighting words there Pop-A-Bear!) That allows Rebecca to basically get off this one recycled from the Wuzzles (Bumblelion & The Terrified Forest anyone?):
Rebecca: Jealous? Of an empty-headed bombshell with a body that could stop a moose at fifty paces? HA! {Rebecca invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on Baloo and I wish she did it to Disney Captions since they missed the "fifty paces" part.}
Rebecca returns to the Gruffi pose as Baloo assures her that he only said it because stars are so sensititve. After all; some know British law and SLAPP is their key to keeping their reputation. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Wow, that sounds a wee bit political there, 2010 me!) They go to the bench as Baloo calls Rebecca a bright, capable woman (Cannot say a positive thing about Rebecca without gender involved; eh, Pop-A-Bear?) and they both sit down on the bench. Rebecca admits that Kitten is a bit inadequate around her and Baloo admits that he's doing it to avoid getting fired from the stunt. Rebecca gets the LIGHT BULB OF BLOODY CLARITY and pleads to Baloo to quit the stunt at once. Rebecca then jumps on Baloo and they fall onto the sidewalk with a MAN-SIZED bump as she tells him about the accidents that are happening. (Yeah; Rebecca is way over the top here as it's only putting more sympathy on Baloo and Kitten which I don't think this is what Rebecca wants nor needs.) Rebecca thinks it's all sabotage. NO?! REALLY?! Baloo doesn't like those words as Baloo want to talk to someone; but Kitten's voice and face stop him at the pass literally. (Yup; the body that could stop a moose at fifty paces strikes again! Baloo's so charmed here that it is slowly starting to become apparent that Rebecca assholish behavior is more out of frustration that Baloo is falling for her against his better judgment than mere jealousy on Rebecca. However; fee-fees of others have always won over common sense; so maybe Rebecca needs to try a new tact. Even being nicer would be a better bet.) Kitten causally walks in and bumps Rebecca with the HIP CHECK OF DOOM which she flies away stage right. (Someone please get her signed on the ice hockey team, now! He would rock; and I mean that in a nice way.) Kiki has a surprise for Pop-A-Bear as she teases Baloo with her finger. I am so loving this woman.
Kitten snaps her fingers and the limo arrives as we see Rebecca tangled up in the bushes. Baloo waves farewell to Rebecca for now. Baloo wants to do lunch as the charm is overtaking his brain at this point since he ALREADY has lunch. Rebecca gleefully blows him off as a complete idiot even for him. (Oh yeah; call him an idiot, that'll convince him to put aside his fee-fees. This is why fees-fees will always defeat unemotional sense: Because people thnk it's all about being human without realizing that being nice is also a great shield for being hateful as well. Many dishonest bigots have figured this out. Calling them an idiot would absolve them of any responsibility for their vileness and let them get away with figural murder basically. Sometimes; being an asshole does have it's place.) Rebecca decides to solve this mystery on her own as she goes into the director's office and overhears the director talking to Montgomery (who happens to be the duck assistant director). He feels terrible about these accidents; but the public loves the intrigue and he thinks these events will win him the Oscar at last. (Yeah; even Starrywood has Academy Awards. They should have changed this to the Osumas; just for a giggle. Also, this world's award ceramony will be more diverse than 2016's! And they are set in 1936! Ponder that one for a moment and get outraged!) Rebecca peeks in the keyhole as we even get the keyhole shot of the playtapus director talking. Rebecca gasps in horror as she accuses the director of causing the accidents; even though his dialogue clearly shows that he hasn't. (Yeah; he hasn't outright confessed to doing it and confessions alone without evidence do not a criminal make. Judy Hopps needs to sit down Rebecca and teach her how detective work works.) Sadly; the door wasn't locked and Rebecca dives in front of the director. The director is thrilled because the actress he sent for has arrived.
Rebecca gets in his face and threatens the police; but the director acts calm and claims that she doesn't need to audition since she already got the part. That clearly indicates that he isn't doing this at all. (Yeah; he is so not defensive about any of this, so it cannot be him. Even though he is the closest suspect in the case since he's been working since the first incident occured in the first scene of this episode.) Montgomery carries Rebecca out (along with the megaphone) protesting this outrage all the way as the director calls her temperamental. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. We hear some crashing off-screen too for a nice touch and we logically go to the set as we see the giant ass gorilla machine as a grey anteater (Two anteaters in one episode? WHAT ARE THE ODDS? (Very low; because anteaters are more communist than bears, I guess.)) is operating it by the way opening and closing it's mouth. We then see Rebecca in her Lady Jane jungle outfit grabbed by a hand as she screams that he'll never get away with this. I think he already has; it's called public domain. AHHAHAHAHAHA! (Okay; that was a hilarious Rhinokey joke there 2010 me! I'm surprised the real show didn't use that one for Hollywuz.) The director tells her to stick with the script as Montgomery is behind him and the elephant cameraman who is still selling injuries is at camera. Wow; Starrywood grunts are gluttons for punishment I see. How fitting that Montgomery has a name; but doesn't speak at all thus far. (Don't worry; the platypus director will be named soon enough. In fact; it's coming up in this scene in fact.) He even takes the megaphone right in his chops and flies off-screen. HAHA! I would love to see Brad do that one to Gunther; just for a laugh. Knowing Kick; I doubt it will happen though. (I betcha it did happen; I just have to reread my rants again and finish the remaining episodes sometime in 2020 at the rate I'm going with this show.)
The anteater pushes the lever (JESUS~!) and we see the gorilla machine arm go forward and Rebecca screams, of course. Her selling physically is good; but the scream is B-class to me; she needs to learn the proper way to do it (See Monster A Go-Go more often Miss Cunningham.). Montgomery's selling wins all as the megaphone is on his head and he is playing dead to boot while the director cheers for death....ERRRR....natural gift action. (He's not even trying to assure the viewers that he might be the one; so he must be innocent.) More screaming while Struthers' screaming is slowly getting better as we see Kit in a cowboy outfit in the foreground, he blows her off for getting part and walks off stage left. Geez; I don't know why Kit. I guess you're typecast to be a cloudsurfer pilot for life and there are zero films for that I guess. (Kit is also too young to fly; and there are no little adult bears in TaleSpin it seems.) I should point out that I originally picked Kit Cloudkicker as the one who sabotaged the film I should note. I'll explain that little tidbit later. (Also of note; Kit's cowboy outfit returned as Kit was trick-or-treating with Baloo in the 1991 Disney Afternoon Halloween commercial and Darkwing Duck was made to look like an idiot for my pleasure once again.) The director orders a cut and the anteater furry tries to pull two levers (JESUS~!); but they are stuck. UH OH! The director then grabs the megaphone and screams right in Montgomery oversells it like mad. The director then realizes that the anteater cannot stop the thing as the levers (JESUS~!) are broken off and so he pushes against the arm of the gorilla to try to stop it; but no dice is present. Thankfully for Rebecca; the gorilla arm breaks and Rebecca is forced to grab onto the lower mouth of the gorilla and the gorilla arm comes down on the director and squashes him in a MAN-SIZED bump.
Rebecca climbs down the gorilla structure and realizes that C.V isn't causing the accidents. (Yes folks; despite what Wikipedia tells you; the platypus director has a name; or at least a nickname. CV stands for curriculum vitae. So; his name is Curriculum Vitae; or simply "Resume" in our part of the world. I'm amazed that I noticed this; but no one else did, and that's long before I did the transcript for this episode!) CV is voiced by the late Robert Ridgely, whom passed away in 1997. Even more so; we finally hear Montgomery speak as he asks like a hyper guy on speed for another take. I cannot tell who voices him; but he sounds like Ed Gilbert to me. Rebecca then notices in the background of the area, a black hooded figure and it walks away. Notice that the only other one in the room at the time was Kit?! Remember that for later on. Rebecca runs as we pan left and see Baloo with flowers for Kiki. Rebecca bumps into Baloo and Baloo no sells. Baloo blows her off for crushing the flowers as Rebecca wants to talk about the accidents. Baloo agrees to talk about them as they try to leave; but here comes Kiki in the white dress as she takes the flowers and calls him Poopsie. Homcha! Homcha! (Oh sod off 2010 me!) Sadly; Kitten blows her cover RIGHT THERE as she is taking Baloo to one final fablous meal and Rebecca realizes it right there as she pulls on Baloo's arm and demands to be listened at. Dev Ross was chugging along perfectly until that little slipup. (Actually; Kitten says that he's taking him to one final faaablous meal before the stunt tomorrow. She doesn't give it away here, so you jumped the gun here 2010 Me! Also of note: Kitten is like Don Karnage, but instead of rolling the "r"; she rolls the "a".) Baloo gently pushes Rebecca, wants to talk later and Rebecca gets offended by that. Baloo tells Kitten to relax because Rebecca skipped lunch. Rebecca blows Baloo off and storms off stage left because she is going to the airplane hanger.
Rebecca sits down right beside the airplane Baloo is going to fly for the stunt as she is guarding it for him. See; she may be a jerkass; but she's a jerkass because she care about Baloo's safety. (True; but she is rubbing off people the wrong way if you catch my drift.) It's a blue seaplane with orange wings by the way. We head back to inside La Rotune Resturant as we see the Luarel and Hardy references eating at the table now along with a dog in a blue suit in the background as we hear Baloo and Kitten laugh (Disney Captions calls her Kiki here for some odd reason.) on the pan shot. They are having some peach wine as Kitten stands up and wants to be excused to freshen up. (Another "we know it's alcohol, but we're not telling anyone" moment by the way. Yes, peach wine is a real wine.) Baloo tells her to take her sweet time as we head to the air hanger AFTER HAPPY HOUR as there is snoring from Rebecca inside the airplane. Then we hear tapping as Rebecca wakes up and pops up to notice the black hooded figure dressed in black with brown fur banging something into the side of the airplane. It looks like the fuse for TNT. The figure runs away and Rebecca chases him as we go to the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE KIT{TEN}& KABOODLE EDITION~! They run into the studio and we see some knocking down props; walking on stilts (Reason why I picked Kit #1: Kit has brown fur; reason #2; Kit can walk on silts easily; reason #3: Kit runs fast. Reason #4: Kit isn't above sabotage and knows planes above par with WildCat. The only strike against him is that the accidents were happening long before he knew about them. However; if you recall earlier; Kit was not happy that Rebecca got a part and maybe got roped into the conspiracy by Kitten in exchange for an audition. Anyhow; the mask holes had brown fur in them by the way.); trying to squash mice squeaking around. We see the hippo fury and stock fury from Time Waits For No Bear lounging. So they are Starrywood talent! Nice build up guys. (So Broadcast Sally was moonlighting as a radio reporter at the same time she was a Starrywood star. Okay; that makes sense.))
They get squashed by the slits. Only the stock furry sold it. The figure goes down the sandbag pulley which brings the anteater machine operator up and Rebecca has a bonding moment with him as they go down. (When the jerkass respects you more than anyone in the world; that means even the TaleSpin world is racist.) We then cut to a spooky Z-Grade graveyard with one tombstone with the weirdest cross I have ever seen as the phantom from Scooby Doo Where Are You shows up with the same stock voice. I'm guessing Frank Welker uncredited here. (If it's the phantom voice; it's usually John Stephenson doing the voice.)) The phantom even gets a word in (which Captions misses. (This sounds like a sound editing error because he says: "Oh, wait..." as if the voice made a mistake legit while recording. Lovely!)) as the black ghost of doom and Rebecca break through the set. We then see the figure climb up the steps easily (Reason #5) and jumps easily (reason #6) as Rebecca struggles on her first jump on the catwalk, lands onto the railing. Then we run the maze and it's the old Scooby Doo door slamming spot. Didn't we already do this chase in Golden Sprocket already? (No doors were involved, so nope.) Also, the screaming woman and foxes chase gets involved of course. (Out of nowhere; and goes the same place as we'll never see them again in this episode. That means no payoff to this angle; which means it's a pointless sexist spot that no one cares about. Dev Ross is a woman by the way; and you would think she would at least pay this angle off with the cat chasing the foxes with a gun or an axe or something. Nope!) Then we go to logic break #4 for the episode as they are going through seperate doors on the first shot; but manage to come outside within ten feet of each other. HA! The black figure is in the mature lighting as Rebecca blitzes and tackles her to the ground screaming like a girl (A sign that I'm wrong right about Kit being responsible for the accidents, although I should note that Kit can mime voices to sound like Kitten. Except it's clearly Tress MacNeillie voicing the figure here. They should have changed this to her grunting and not saying a word before the unmasking. Not that it makes a difference or anything; but still...). Rebecca takes off the mask and gasps in horror saying "it's you" to end the segment nearly 17 minutes in.
After the commercial break; we see Rebecca with the mask as she proclaims that it was "you" who was causing the accidents, we pan over and it's Kiki of course. Dev Ross gave that away with the final meal part and Rebecca's reaction earlier. If Dev had removed the reaction and the final part from Kitten's speech; I wouldn't have known it was Kitten until just before the mask came off which would have been perfect suspense for the chase scene. (Actually; she did leave two little clues before the unmasking: (1) She whirlwinded the injured cameraman in the golf cart driving scene and (2) Her voice as the figure here. The final meal wasn't convincing enough and her bad acting on the stage lights free falling weren't convincing enough either.) See; when I first saw this episode; I seriously believed that Kit Cloudkicker (You cannot spell Kitten without K-I-T you know and Kit & Kaboodle is basically a saying in these parts of the world.) on lifts to make himself taller sabotaging the films because he couldn't get a part in the movie and he wanted Baloo's part in the play since that was the perfect typecast for him since he is supposed to be a future pilot. It's not like Kit is above sabotage or heelish antics since he was a former Air Pirate of course. (Also; even if the fact that Kit didn't know about the first accident that happened before the incident, I'm guessing that Kitten would still be behind this, but is using Kit as a decoy. Heck; Kitten was playing into the viewers hands into thinking it was Kit because the eyeholes on the mask are the same color as Kit's fur. So Kitten was trying to make it appear to everyone that Kit was the one sabotaging the stunts. Thanks to Rebecca stopping and unmasking Kitten, Kit is cleared on all charges.) Kitten admits her guilt right there and sobs with crocodile tears of course. She is an asstress after all. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm.... It's all terrible and Rebecca calls her out on her acting skills. HA!
Kitten's reaction is downright priceless on THAT one. Kitten admits that her previous two films flopped and her career has been on the skids. Geez; if only that was true today and she wants free press as she does her face with the pocket MIRROR OF VANITY. Kitten walks off as Rebecca is SHOCKED that she would risk the grunts lives for a movie and Kitten calls it show biz. (She is a psychopath and pretty much your average trashy celebrity in 2016! What a pioneer this Kitten Kaboodle is?!) She snaps her fingers and a limo magically arrives as she gets in while Rebecca protests this outrage and she is going to tell Baloo everything. Kitten shoves her back and walks into the back of the limo daring her to do just that because Baloo is her acting zombie for this film. Kitten asks who Baloo will believe just as the car speeds off and Rebecca pumps her fist in outrage as they are friends and Baloo will believe her. We head to the airfield WELL AFTER HAPPY HOUR (sun rise) as C.V., Montgomery and the injuried camera man still selling his injuries like a trooper. (Boy, the 1930's were horrible for a worker at this point, and not just in the money thing either.)) C.V calls for places as we pan over to see Baloo in his flight jacket and white scarf blowing off Rebecca as she is tugging on it. (Rebecca's jackass attitude and jerkiness has come back to bite her on the ass now. Her tactics of truthfulness isn't working because in Baloo's mind, Rebecca is a jealous woman who is merely a boss at a small business and is nothing compared to Kitten's star power. Even though her star power has taken a beating in the last two films. Kitten's charming has worked to perfection making her the perfect heel in making herself look like the babyface while making Rebecca look like the asshole heel even though everything Rebecca said about Kitten is true.)
Kitten comes out and invokes the HIPS OF DOOM to bump Rebecca off-screen stage left. Those are devastating hips you know. (Not this time; Rebecca is actually smart enough to see it coming and control herself to only moving about three feet away from Kitten this time around instead of bumping into bushes and spotlights. So her ice hockey creditability is sinking now. No wonder she's sabotaging her own film. She sucks!) Kitten and Baloo exchange pleasure thoughts as Rebecca tries to plead her case and claims to see the sabotage. (And she's right; but her behavior is not doing her any favors whatsoever. In fact; it's destroying the already fragile relationship of Baloo and her creditability of being anything other than a jerk.) I'm betting Baloo accuses Rebecca of sabotaging the stunt because she's jealous and I'm almost right there. (Baloo doesn't care about who did the sabotage other than that Kitten didn't do it and Rebecca is jealous. As they say; don't fool yourself and you are the easiest to fool. It happens to the most intellegent of people; so it's much more profound, but expected out of someone like Pop-A-Bear.) The director calls for the stuntman and Kitten tells him to break a leg and neck. Does it really matter at this point?! (Nope.) Baloo blows kisses at Kitten as Rebecca grabs onto Baloo's leg and pleads again. Treehouse syndrome much there sexists?! (Sorry 2010 me; but Rebecca's actions here have only embolden them, not reduced them.) Baloo proclaims that they aren't friends anymore as he tries to get into the plane; but the director screams into the megaphone to blow him back. Rebecca decides not to interfere with Baloo anymore; then grabs the megaphone and does a Grade S job of stuffing it on Baloo's head. HAHA! Baloo stumbles like a drunk as C.V run around in a circle to grab his megaphone back as Rebecca gets into the plane, proclaims that she's Baloo's friend and flies the plane into the sky.
C.V grabs the megaphone while Baloo protests Rebecca stealing his stunt; but C.V couldn't care less about it as he orders the special effects and cuts for action. (What a psychopath this CV is?!) We cut back to Rebecca flying the plane as she will do this even if it kills her (death reference #1) and the explosions happen right on cue. HAHA! (Yeah; literal indeed Miss Cunningham.) Baloo blows her off for stealing the limelight from him as Kit and WildCat run in to show the parts inside the butterfly net which fell out of the plane. Without the thingy of doom; he would crash, burn to death basically and WildCat's glad he's not up there. Baloo gets the LIGHT BULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY as he runs to the green stunt plane and starts the engines. Kit and WildCat release the wooden pegs underneath the wheels grounding the plane and the green plane takes off. Montgomery proclaims that it isn't in the script and the script gets whirlwinded by CV. CV equals "resume" for those who want to know. CV wants to keep rolling as Rebecca is trying to hang on for dear life. Baloo flies up and spirals down, then flies next to Rebecca and asks for her hand and Rebecca no sells. Oh swell; she's grown a Molly complex now. (Mommy For A Day; which directly involved Rebecca. Who is enabling who here? Plus; she went from being totally afraid of the explosion to completely no selling them. What?!) See; she refuses to take her hand until they talk right now when they are going to nose dive and crash to the ground. HOLY CRAP! Baloo stammers for a while on the sky shot of the ground; but he decides to talk. (Considering that Rebecca is going to die; her attitude is less dangerous and toxic than getting killed in an airplane crash. I'm just saying.) Rebecca goes into her Gruffi pose blowing Baloo off for treating her like not a friend at all despite his speech about them being friends. And Magon is surprised that fans point out that they are acting like they are married?!
Rebecca goes into her speech about friendship as Kit on the ground wants Baloo to end this now before they get glued to the pavement. I club BS&P! (Yeah; why is it not okay for Kit to say die here when Rebecca already said kill earlier?! Kit also said kill in Bearly Alive anyway. Are Moral Guardians's really that dense? Answer: Yes.) Baloo admits that he wasn't much of a friend due to having stars in his eyes as CV is loving this nose dive (sadist!) as we pan over to Kitten sitting in her chair yawning (Innocent sadist...Oh wait; that's Gadget. Guilty sadist! Much better.). Baloo lets out his paw and asks if it's not too late to start over and Rebecca proclaiming that it's Becky and then we see both planes crash into the back of the hanger and a loud explosion on-screen no less. HOLY CRAP! That's the fourth straight explosion finish in this series alone! They're stealing Darkwing Duck's gimmick already. Kit is just plain shocked and screaming as his past life seems to be flashing before his eyes; but we see the green plane fly away and Rebecca and Baloo are in the plane bonding. Like Disney was going to allow both main characters to die like that in a DTVA cartoon? That would be utter madness I tell ye. (They did a wonderful job teasing the possible death of Baloo and Rebecca because we never saw them hold hands before the crash. We were given that Rebecca had finally forgiven Baloo for his stupidity; but that was the extent of it. It also helps that the crash took place behind a hanger in order to hide the probable angle that both Rebecca and Baloo were killed in the crash. That made it possible for the finish to have then come out of the green plane embracing each other; without making it look fake and contrived. Good job Dev Ross; this is the way it should have been. I just wished you reeled in Rebecca's attitude, and then it would have been perfect.) WildCat twirls his hat and both side babyfaces cheer on the main squeezes as I expected.
We go to CV, on top of Montgomery (you wish you were Kit Cloudkicker pal) calling for a "cut and print" as the Oscar is here. Then the camera conveniently gets busted. HAHA! (I betcha this is what would ultimately assure that Kitten gets out of jail and does cameos at Louie's in Louie's Last Stand.) CV bashes Montgomery with the megaphone and Mont oversells it as usual. Kitten throws an absolute hissy fit, completely blows her cover right in front of the press and allowing Tress to use Babs, Gadget and Lady Bane voices all in the same freaking promo! Why didn't we hear this acting out of Tress in Rescue Rangers guys?! (Because Ginny McSwain wasn't the voice director. Okay?) Kitten recoils and speaks some French; but it's too late and she's BUSTED as the press runs in and blasts the flash bulbs on her. We then cut to Baloo and Rebecca getting out of the plane as they exchange notes on Kitten's legs and face. We see the walrus police officer and Daffy Duck police officer actually do police work and hurl Kitten away into the police van. How about that?! Police officers doing acting on the side of their police work. Now THAT's called using your talents well. (Hey; if you are going to use the Economy of Characters trope; this is the best way to use it. Also of note: Disney Caption ignored Kitten's protests completely; and my transcript isn't 100% transcribed on those lines simply because Baloo was talking over Kitten during this. However; one of her lines was "Don't touch me there!". I don't know why she said that; but I swear she was implying that the police were raping her or sexually assaulting her or something. No wonder Disney Captions ignored it then.) Rebecca gets a little pissed on the legs part and Baloo claims that he's joking around as the airplane changes from green to blue to green in the final sequence. (Another Hanho Heung-up coloring mistake; I'm so used to them now.)
We then get the babyfaces literally hugging each other. Seriously; Kit and WildCat even hugged each other despite being together most of the time in this episode. HAHA! (That was great as a throwaway spot.) Kit is happy to see that they pulled out from needing the spatula as Baloo claims that everything is under control. Riiiiigggggghhhhhtttt. Kit decides to leave as Rebecca asks why since they are going home. Kit whines about it because he got an audition for the new Bumphrey Hogart film and then he runs off stage left. (Yeah; Humphrey Bogart reference where they simply switched the first letter of each name. Very lame.) Rebecca then instantly gets charmed and she leaves along with WildCat since he has to catch this star. (WildCat also brings out his butterfly net; so he's just going to try to kidnap one of them. Lovely!) Baloo just stands there dumbfounded at the irony echo of this entire episode to end the episode at 21:15. A few mistakes aside; I still enjoyed it and it really sets up the obvious Baloo/Rebecca dream marriage that will never happened if Jymn Magon has any say about it. (I still enjoyed it and far more than DAF Radio did; even if Rebecca's attitude needed to be reeled in a lot more than it was here. She looked like a terror in places where her attitude only made me feel bad for Kitten, even if she's an evil person who has sunk to lows because the viewing public has seen through her lack of acting skills. Although; if she ever gets out of jail; there's always hockey in Kanada (My fanfic answer to Canada); or even as a fortune teller as one of my unwritten fanfics was supposed to be. I also had her full name as Kitten Kaboodle Wallace by the way; a nod to JD Wallace from the Japanese version Valkyrie Profile. Okay; back on point now: This gets a **** 1/4 (85%).)
THE REVIEW LINE
Despite the flaws of a few key minor giveaways that when removed would have made it suspenseful and some logic breaks near the end of the episode (all minor); this was a great episode to watch in that for the first real time; Baloo and Rebecca were finally getting to know each other as more than boss and employee. Kitten tried to get Rebecca into a situation where she would hate Baloo for the rest of her life because he was so charmed by a hot woman; but Rebecca showed to everyone that she isn't as dense when it comes to men as everyone thinks she was (See Her Chance to Dream/Molly Coddled). Also; the final scene was a classical one as no matter how charmed Baloo was; Rebecca didn't give up and even risked her own life (by getting into the sabotaged plane) to prove it to Baloo. Baloo loves hot women; but when Kit and WildCat showed him the evidence Baloo snapped out of it and recovered just in time to save Rebecca from her death. The best sequence was when Baloo reached out and Rebecca refused to take it because she was his friend and Rebecca wanted him to know it. It was also nice to see Rebecca finally decide to take the hand after Baloo admitted his own guilt instead of forcing the issue until the very last second before they would probably die as a result. It was a wonderful moment and it pretty much got the Rebecca/Baloo relationship monster over for good. I felt overall; that this episode still holds up, and that the acting was better than I thought. The flaws are more towards Kitten's giveaway of the final meal part which hurt the suspense of the chase scene since without that little key; it could have easily have been Kit who sabotaged the film for the reasons I mentioned. (Kitten was more convincing than 2010 Me thought it was too. Personally; the big problem of this episode is that Rebecca's jerkass mode went into overdrive and reeling it in somewhat would have helped a lot. So I'm dropping a 1/4* from the rating for that.) Dev Ross wrote a nearly flawless episode; but a few mistakes prevented a perfect episode for her. So, we go to the end of Volume 1 with the final two episodes next which are A Spy In The Ointment and Balooest of the Bluebloods. (Up next for the re-rants is the final three episodes of Disc 2.) So...
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you next time.
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