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Captains Outrageous Re-Rant
Reviewed: 11/27/2010
Additional
Commentary: 11/02/2021
Bless Poor Vandersnoot's Soul!
Original Airdate: 11/15/1990 (Syndication); Episode #37 (TaleSpin DVD Volume 2, Disc 2), Episode #44 (Production Order).
Captains
Outrageous Notes
Captains
Outrageous Transcript
Wow; what a way to start disc two off, huh?! Probably my second most favorite episode in the series as we start the Jungle Aces angle. They are a group of kids Kit befriended out of nowhere and became the inspiration for Terra Of Terrastone (my take on the origins of the Jungle Aces) and Clouding Riches (which deals with how Kit met Oscar Vandersnoot) (2015 Gregory Weagle Says: Terror of Terrastone and Clouding Riches had wonderful ideas and I tried to write a great story around it. I failed and it looks mighty awkward; as I never really learned about non-verbal cues, voice inflication and all those other factors in making the characters sound great or memoriable. I read my fanfics in recent years and I'm embarrassed at the writing style I used. It's awful and it really shows in when the characters are talking. One of the main reasons why I have stopped writing fanfics and just write reviews. It's easier, I can study the characters from afar and it only takes hours to finish rather than years.). It also shows just how much Jymn Magon wanted realism in his child characters as not one child character in this episode was done by a middle age woman. (Although after seeing the torture scene in this one; having Russi Taylor do this scene, as fake as it is; probably would have been for the best. R.J. Williams' vocal chords will thank him for that; as you'll see later on.) Plus; with Kit around and Don Karnage around; this was an easy episode to love without actually seeing it. It also contain a crazy scene which makes me also wonder how some of these writers sleep at night. (TaleSpin writers tend to write stuff that has unfortunate implications all the time; and yet instead of making me feel repulsed; it makes for compelling television, at least on a children's cartoon level.) So, how does it measure up now? (The plot of this episode is: Kit is in a club and is trying to get a clumsy, well-meaning kid into the club. Sadly; the well-meaning kid has never had an adventure because his mother is extremely overprotective and the club hates him. So Kit tries to give him an adventure by doing a fake air pirate strike on the SeaDuck with Baloo and Wildcat; only Don Karnage gets involved and turns the worked adventure into a legit shoot. Basically; it's Double'O'Chipmunks, only this one involves little kids, torture and kids using dynamite.) Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Jan Strnad. The story is edited by Karl Geurs. The animation is done by Walt Disney Animation (Japan) Inc./Hanho Heung-Up Company Limited.
We begin this one with the title against a black background and then we reverse fade at the junkyard (it's UNCENSORED BABEE!) and zoom into a makeshift treehouse. (Junkyards and WCW don't mix; even as dated jokes 2010 me! Just so you would like to know.) Wow; that's the fourth time this series has done that opening. (Why didn't they do this with all the regular episode openings? At least then it wouldn't be on the screen when the action starts.) Anyhow; we hear Kit telling his Air Pirate stories to a group of kids -- four of them -- inside the treehouse on the soapbox. I should point out the fact that Kit is wearing a strainer on his head like he's the husband of Danger Woman or something. Can you say Molly's revenge?! (Somehow; I hope this was true and this was Molly's idea, because as I said many times: Burials of cynical Kit will never fail to make me laugh. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I would love to have Kit and Molly be worshippers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Kit's in this episode even dresses in pirate outfits and wears a strainer. I'm sadden that I didn't consider it for my fanfics.)) Then again; Molly has that kind of influence on people. See Baloo in the beginning of Bygones, which I'll be ranting second last. The other kids are wearing kitchen stuff on their heads as I see a hippo in overalls, a rabbit -- in purple pants and a pink shirt -- and an ostrich who is the only one wearing boots. (Ah; he came prepared for the tickling hazing ritual (as per the DeviantArt piece with Ernie, Kit and Oscar). Sadly; Oscar and Kit don't have that much forethought.) There is a hyena kid wearing a pot on his head and wearing overalls too. I'll leave Kit's story as an exercise to the reader; other than only the hundreds part is BS, there were about a dozen of them since that's all Disney Animation (Japan) Inc. can animate. Still; I'm sure Monty is crying in his cheese and wine after that one. (BS&P today would never allow kids to make machine gun fire noises. The "pew pew" sound that is made from lasers is acceptable, but not a bullet shooting gun sound (not even the BANG! sound); because you see, our school authority figures see these noises as a threat to school safety and they might cause a false alarm due to the fear of someone shooting up the school with a real machine gun. As stupid as this sounds; you cannot say that this isn't an irrational response. A stupid response, yes; irrational, not so much. Kit Cloudkicker would be suspended for that if he were in school today, although considering his past; that might be the least of his worries.)
Needless to say; the kids sell it like mad and that leads to the "Jungle Aces Chant" which is downright awesome to see. The lyrics if you please:
Aces!
Aces! Aces!
Aces! Aces! Aces!
Pick'em up, knock'em down!
Hit'em
hard, make'em frown!
Over sea, in the sky!
Jungle Aces flying
high!
FLYING ACES!
It's always a nice sight and convincing when children are voicing this because it makes it sound like a real chant rather than a goofy one. (You can clearly tell that children were voicing this because their acting is of a child level. It sounds like real kids in real life being kids. That is how it works.) They slap skin and cheer as the leader of the group takes the soapbox and in a shock or all shocks; it's not Kit. Wow; you know Kit isn't a nepotist when he's merely a member of this group. (Actually; at the end of the episode; I think he was originally the president of the Jungle Aces until Oscar officially took over the position at the end. Ernie was probably his second in command.) Speaking of goofy; it is daytime and yet they are called The Jungle Aces Secret Midnight Club. HAHA! (To be fair; the secret part is accurate. They use the shorthand "Jungle Aces" anyway, so it's basically the kids showing off.) Anyhow; the leader of the Jungle Aces is Ernie who is voiced by Whitby Hertford and he's well into the acting business now compared to R.J. Williams who has more interests in directing (As his intentions were made before he got into the business.). See; new business is in order because Kit has a new kid to produce for memebership. Now at first; I personally thought it would be Molly and this would be the kid's version of a sexist episode. (That wouldn't have worked anyway because Molly has already gotten at least three or four adventures under her belt before this episode; and Feminine Air already aired. So, it had to be someone else. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: It seems that the rabbit kid is in fact female. I assumed that the rabbit kid was always male. If so, Julie Urbine would be the voice.) However; Kit kicks the green inflatable seat away -- much to Ernie's surprise --, pulls away the curtain, winds down the window of the back door and introduces...wait for it....Oscar. Did Disney get the right to...Oh wait; it's an almond bear with glasses; shingle styled brown hair, white/blue shirt, red bowtie and brown pants, my mistake. Oscar lets out a relucent hello and the Aces are SHOCKED and APPALLED as we find out that he's Oscar Vandersnoot. (The Ostrich Kid actually speaks 3/4's of a line by himself and wasn't part of the ADR loop throughout the episode.)
Considering the horrible news about Joran Vandersloot and his evil ways; this appallment seems more creepier than Strnad had intended it to be. (Hindsight can be so fickle sometimes.) Nice touch by Oscar to take a MAN-SIZED bump into the top of the door before coming in too. (A trait Miss Lips had in Fish Hooks. And it's not the only connection in this episode.) Oscar Van Der Snoot is voiced by Ben Ryan Ganger. According to sources; Ben actually became Peace Corp volunteer; but then apparently was forced to leave and he sued them. Strangely; I recently found his Myspace account while doing prep work for this episode and I should have the link on my Index post of web links sooner than later. (Other than what I wrote; I have no idea where he is or how he is doing.) The rest of the Jungle Aces are voiced by Brandon Bluhm, Gabriel Damon and the uncredited Benny Grant as he was in Bullethead Baloo so I'm crediting him here for easy viewing. Yes folks; they got five extra kids -- one uncredited due to fixed width font issues in the credits -- to do this episode. And that's why I heart Jymn Magon in 1990. By the way; the Jungle Aces have no names whatsoever in spite of Wikipedia assertions. The fans came up with the names. My fanfics have the hippo as Lars, rabbit as Spot and ostrich as "Super" David (S.D.). Lars is also Airplane Jane's son in my fanfics. (Those claimed names on Wikipedia have been removed. Ernie wasn't named until Bullethead Baloo anyway. However; if anyone has the scripts/storyboards and they reveal the names of the remaining Jungle Ace kids; let me know. I didn't see them in the character design layouts though.) Ernie doesn't want Kit to nominate Oscar into the club because he's a walking disaster area and a big zero. (I know a lot of people thought Ernie was a jerk and all; but compared to Bullethead Baloo; he and the other Jungle Aces were really, really tame. Considering what happens after Kit tries to coax Oscar into saying that he had an adventure; their response was kind of justified. Even in Bullethead Baloo; I can see why Ernie was such a jerk; since Baloo really had no reason to embarrass himself in front of Kit. Again; this is what happens when you only care about voice infliction and body language and forget the context of why characters interact the way they do. I'll explain that when I get to Bullethead Baloo; because it's more profound there.)
Kit then references DA RULES (FAIRY GODPARENTS!) because anybody can join as long as they have an adventure. I should point out that a hardcover picture book of this episode was made available (I even have the scans for it too; but I'm not posting them since they are available on other sites.); and The Jungle Aces were a lot more open to Oscar than in the actual episode. They didn't blow him off to start with which shows that Disney had zero idea how to market this show when TaleSpin wasn't much of a toy show to begin with. (That in itself killed the show. There's a good reason why character-based shows are so rare: What is the point of buying toys when you love the characters so much that you want to create your own stories and stuff? It also doesn't help when the quality of the toys were awful. TaleSpin's ratings at the time were awesome; but ultimately meant nothing in the long run. Oh; and there's also the screwed up deal with Fox to consider too. This show just couldn't buy a break.) Anyhow; Kit is certain Oscar has had lots of them. See; this is why he didn't choose Molly: The episode would have been over in two minutes with Molly getting in since the writers have already done a sexist episode earlier -- and got it over -- and Molly already has four major adventures under her belt as a focus character. (Indeed.) Oscar responds that it's no, not really. In the picture book version; Ernie asks Oscar about his adventures and Oscar responds quite honestly that he has none since his mother thinks adventures aren't safe. Ernie also had more sympathy for Oscar too in the picture book version. The picture book had no names for the three unnamed Jungle Aces as well. Anyhow; Kit asks if he has been in an airplane, motor boat or race car and Oscar says he hasn't because his mother thinks that they are too dangerous. So Kit has done some car racing after all?! And people are SHOCKED when I don't see anything wrong with Phineas doing the same thing?! Oh; and there's the steamroller from Pizza Pie In The Sky. Cannot forget that one. (Oh; and let's not forget later on in this very episode; Kit is flying a small airplane with Wildcat. Granted; he is being supervised and all; but still, it's Wildcat Puma backing him up. And that wouldn't even be the last time; only those times, Kit was unsupervised. Bottom line: If Kit can pilot the most difficult airplane in all of existence unsupervised, than Phineas & Ferb can drive whatever the hell they want.)
Kit asks if he has ever rode a bike and Oscar claims mother won't let him have one. Ernie declares him out of the running for being a Jungle Ace. Oscar cries and it's so awesome he even blows his nose on the curtain. HAHA! Oscar proclaims that if this were his club; he wouldn't want himself in it either. OUCH! (Now there is a sad money shot line there by Oscar. I love Oscar Vandersnoot; he's a well meaning kid who got all the upper class perks, but still hates them because he just wants to belong. The fact that Kit would want to be around Oscar Vandersnoot is amazing. That was one of the reasons why this show needed an origin story on how Oscar met Kit. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Only Oscar would ever do a sick burn on himself! Poor kid, indeed!)) Kit is PISSED as he takes Oscar's arm and walks out stage left as Oscar drags the entire curtain on the way out. HAHA! So where is Kit going? To get Oscar an adventure of course. How can anyone not like Kit after that? He is willing to hang out with a dork kid in Oscar despite being a jock and he won't even give up on Oscar when it's clear Oscar isn't Jungle Ace material. It's sad that this implies that the other Jungle Aces are jerks; but let's face it: Oscar Vandersnoot is "accident" prone. Scare quotes intentional for obvious reasons. (One obvious reason: Most of his clumsiness actually works in his favor as you'll see later on. As per the Kit Cloudkicker Profile/Editorial (edited for grammar; the unedited version is still on the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage at the Editorial Index): "The next example proves that Kit is not your normal type "brat in the show" because Kit has a strange yet fitting way of choosing his friends. In Captains Outrageous; this episode focused on a secret club created by Kit Cloudkicker and Ernie (an hyena kid) called "The Jungle Aces". Kit decides that it was time to add a new member to his secret club; however, this friend is not what people think he is. His name is Oscar Vandersnoot; an almond colored bearcub who is not only nerdy but clumsy. Ernie and the Jungle Aces do not like Oscar at all: "Kit; you cannot invite Oscar Vandersnoot into the club. He's a walking disaster. A ZERO!!". A normal kid would have felt the same way and let Oscar Vandersnoot cry; but not Kit. He was the only one willing to defend Oscar. The problem with Oscar Vandersnoot is that he never had an adventure in his life; which is the only requirement for getting into the club. You cannot blame Oscar Vandersnoot for that; he lives with a rich family and a very overprotective mother." )
We head outside an abandoned construction site and it's full of toxic waste sludge in it's own right. Again; and people are SHOCKED when I don't feel offended when watching Kick Buttowski?! Anyhow; we see Kit and Oscar balancing themselves on some rusted metal beams and jump off. Kit jumps off the muck; but Oscar does a cute face plant in the mud. HAHA! Oscar asks if this is an adventure and Kit gleefully points out that it's getting dropped in the mud. Kit motions Oscar to come over as they climb the fence. Kit makes it over easily; but Oscar is having an extreme amount of difficulty doing so. We then zoom out to see Mad Dog on headphones and microphone -- which equals danger, of course -- as they have Vandernsoot in their sights and then Mad Dog panics because Kit THE MIRACLE WORKER is with him. HAHA! See; the Air Pirates remember him. It's called picking your spots guys. (Or different writers in different times. Oscar doing the chin up on the wooden fence is many buys. (2020 Gregory Weagle: Or maybe it's just Don Karnage forgetting the feud because Kit buried him deep within the earth in "Pirate For A Day"?!)) We head to the Iron Vulture as we head inside with Don Karnage in the radio room from Plunder and Lightning Act IV as the small brown dog in green -- the one Kit shoved in Plunder and Lightning Act III -- is on radio along with the dog from Ransom of The Red Chimp. Don tells him to ignore Kit because he wants Oscar to ransom him for a reasonably enormous fortune. (I know people are going to say that he has forgotten the feud; but after being double crossed twice and screwed in the comics for the third time, can you blame him for erasing his own memories of being embarrassed that the one smart person of your terrorist group ditched him?) It's sad that Jan Strnad never had the time to write a 44 minute episode of this because if he did; Clouding Riches would have explained everything beautifully. Sure; there would be some parts cut for time and BS&P reasons; but I enjoy seeing Oscar Vandersnoot and he deserved a better fate and an origin story on how Kit and he met. Heck; The Jungle Aces never got an origin explanation and they deserved an origin episode too. (Terror of Terrastone was my take on the Jungle Aces; Koosh did a fanfic on Ernie and had it related to a character in My Fair Baloo. I'll explain that when we get there. The guest characters in general deserved better than they got. Well, most of them. I'm not fond at Gomer nor Barney in anyway. Every one of them had a personality and didn't get reduced to gimmick joke machines like a lot of guest character tend to stoop; even during TaleSpin's time. Looney Tunes fell into the joke machine category; but at least it was justified because it was supposed to be a comedy.)
Anyhow; Don tells them to let Kit turn his back and then grab Oscar which actually seems easy to do with Oscar struggling on the fence. Kit keeps asking Oscar if he's fine and Oscar struggles like mad. Mad Dog and Dumptruck try to blitz; but the fence panel flops Oscar over and then smacks the heels away with a MAN-SIZED bump. HAHA! They also get coated in sludge as Oscar is on the other side of the fence literally as Kit consoles him. Oscar guesses that he's okay and considering his accent; I'm surprised that someone didn't steal that for Guess With Jess. Then again; Fish Hooks title card jingle is partially stolen from the ending credits music of "Guess With Jess" anyway. (I remembered Guess With Jess somehow? This is what happens when you are a Canadian and watch YTV Treehouse. You tend to get some of the most obscure children's shows in history. Probably one of the reasons why I don't get repulsed instantly by Canadian shows. Sure; some of them are godawful and some of those were the ones that aired in the USA. Yeah; sabotage our country why don't ya?) Oscar asks if that was an adventure and Kit no sells because he got hung up by the shorts which is actually true here sort of. Of course; Kit shouldn't know that since he wears no shorts anyway. (Oh; consider what he wears for the fake air pirate raid, you are so wrong 2010 me!) See; as soon as they have one he'll tell him. How nice of him as they head stage left. So we finally head to Higher....For....Hire (I'm sorry folks; but the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM is less funny than Rebecca's version of it anyway) as a real seagull (I have to say that because there are seagulls anthros in this show. Only TaleSpin would play around with the animal/anthro angle in such a serious manner that it might have taken Bojack Horseman to make it happen again. At least according to Kevin Johnston.) has nested on the right post of the sign and then flies away as we zoom out to see Kit and Oscar on the far shot already in front of the office. Kit calls this the base of operations. We also see Baloo sleeping on the job in his hammock of course just to be the greedy fatass that he is. POW! OUCH! Ummmm...
Oscar is in awe and points to Baloo as he is even eating green grapes by sucking them in like a vacuum cleaner. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I could make a Sean Desmond joke about Baloo like I usually do; but I'm done making idiots salty enough as it is, so let's move on.) Kit isn't too amused by this and then proclaims that he's storing up energy for their next big mission. Isn't it funny that Kit's attempt at Monty's BS stories sound a lot more convincing?! That's probably because he's being astract about it; instead of trying to come up with untrue details like Monty does. (Yeah; Kit doesn't say anything so absurd that it comes off as a fake story and considering that Baloo's a lazy slob, it's natural that every mission is like a huge feat to him. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Also, in TaleSpin: Adventure finds you! That's not a Soviet Union joke either, despite this show having the Thembrians.)) Kit then walks with Oscar stage right towards the boat house because it's time to see Wildcat as we see the arrival of Dumptruck and Mad Dog. Dumptruck has the brown sack as we see Kit walking down the steps backwards and then Oscar does the same which sounds a wee bit contrived for my liking here as Dumptruck blitzes in with the sack; but Oscar's hands slip on the railing and Dumptruck runs like Warner Brothers in mid air about 50 feet before landing into the drink. Fuzzy logic strikes again! Or as they say: Dumptruck just got WARNERED! HAHA! (Well; it's obvious why I use the phrase if you have watched enough Roadrunner cartoons.) Kit grabs Oscar on the way down as Mad Dog is flustered. I agree; this is a Disney cartoon; what with all these Warner Brothers spots dude? (Because a good chunk of creative worked with Warner Brothers? They also worked for other companies too; but that's the nature of the freelance beast. Mad Dog being flustered at a Warner Brothers spot is proof that this show is self-aware of how much they stole from WB and just likes to rub it in a subtle manner. Sadly; Cathy didn't get the subtle part in Destiny Rides Again.) Kit and Oscar jump across the pier and enter the boat house as Kit introduces Oscar to WildCat.
WildCat is having trouble with the wrench on the PROPANE TANK OF STUPIDITY. It's the distinct cousin to the JETPACK OF STUPIDTY which we'll see later on in Bullethead Baloo, which is the second appearance of the Jungle Aces minus Oscar for some odd reason. (Not really. Oscar is the honoray president as you'll see at the end, he was probably forcing his mother to join him in his crazy antics somewhere. He was clearly trying to make up for lost time.) Wildcat strains with teeth grinding as Kit proclaims that he's working on something secret. Nice touch to whisper yell to Oscar on the secret part as Dumptruck pops from the water as he makes it to the window as Oscar ask if it's a top secret anti-pirate weapon. Dumptruck is SHOCKED to hear this as Wildcat tries to explain that it's just an propane tank and then the propane tank becomes stupid as it breaks from the valve and all hell breaks loose. It goes through the side of the boathouse for logic break number one because the screen indicated that it was going to nail Dumptruck in the head. BS&P decision I'm sure. (I'm not going to call that a logic break because it wasn't all that far off and I prefer no more shots to the head, thank you.) Dumptruck rides on the tank like a balloon zipping through the air after the air runs out of it from the bottom. Dumptruck takes a rather cute bump off of Baloo and he tailspins (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) out of the hammock and takes a wussy bump onto the docks for good measure. Sigh. More zipping around as Mad Dog waves at him which shows the education of some guy who sees a picture of a school once, he gets nailed and loses the black carrying purse which I believe is one of the few times in this series where something goes nowhere as we see Kit, Oscar and Wildcat coughing up lungs outside. (Nope; the black purse on the pole did in fact go somewhere, albeit in the next scene. ) The rocket zips towards the abandoned construction building (Yeap; they are paying off the second scene; what a surprise?!) as Mad Dog and Dumptruck let go and splat into the toxic sludge again. We cut back to Baloo slowly getting up and blowing off his grape eating as he's dizzy and we get the off screen explosion. I guess Jan didn't want to wait for the finish after all to do that. (As per For A Fuel Dollars More and On A Wing & A Bear.) as we see the abandoned construction building collapse in the distance with a nuclear explosion smoke cloud. I'm tempted to call that logic break number two; but knowing Rebecca's sanity for crazy business schemes, this wouldn't be out of place. Baloo is shocked as Kit, Oscar and WildCat arrive. Oscar just could not resist asking:
Oscar:
Kit; was that an adventure?
Kit: No; that was a DISASTER!
HAHA! I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Wonder if that was a rib on animation purists because if it was; it was damn sure funny. We head back to the site as the building is all rubble, DUH! We see Dumptruck and Mad Dog rise from the toxic sludge as Dumptruck tells Mad Dog that it's a secret anti-weapon. Dumptruck grabs Mad Dog and wants to inform Don Karnage about this. See; this is why this episode is better than Double'O'Chipmunks because the air tank was in fact a dangerous weapon and thus the whole work/shoot this show did was a lot more plausible. Plus; Oscar is a more plausible character to work with than Dale in this role since he's not nearly as goofy as Dale is. (Double'O'Chipmunks had Dale acting like a stupid child and while that is funny; it is very childish. Captains Outrageous works a lot better because Oscar isn't trying to be stupid and awkward; he's just unlucky. Plus; Kit Cloudkicker can get anything over, so there's that.) We get another shot of Higher...For...Hire and then we go into the office as Kit is pleading his case with Rebecca on letting Oscar once since his friends won't let him into the club. I see the inner tube has been gold plated since I last saw it as Baloo thinks this is a great idea since they got adventures that they haven't even used yet. HA! Rebecca isn't sure as Oscar is sitting on a foot stool (NOT THAT ONE! (Speaking of childish reactions...)) I do believe as we see Rebecca writing on her clipboard as Baloo thinks it'll do the kid some good. Rebecca doesn't sell so Kit antes up by claiming that it would give her the Vandersnoots as clients. What a scheming little boy this Kit Cloudkicker fellow is?! Using business sense to get what he wants. That is so wrong right guys?! Even worse; he has the hat off when he does it too. Rebecca of course sells it as long as he gets permission from his mother, of course. (Rebecca's promo here is awesome in that her face reads like: "Don't you ever try to use my business sense to get what you want ever again, Kit?" Sadly; Kit would actually break her again in My Fair Baloo; so that face was ineffective to say the least. Even more to the point; Kit is asking something that is quite reasonable in the great scheme of things and actually is smart enough to know Rebecca's personality as a character. It's subtle, it's effective and it makes Rebecca mad, even though the little kid outsmarted her by taking advantage of Rebecca's own character. Johnny Test/Ass would never be even close to being this subtle as he would do the puppy dog eyes everytime he wants something and it's always either unreasonable, deadly, or disgusting. And he still wins out! This is why saying "I love Johnny Test because I can relate to him since he's 11 years old!" is stupid. Here's a clue: Kit Cloudkicker is about the same age as Johnny Test in storyline. So you should love Kit Cloudkicker more than Johnny Test because he has a lot more than just age on his side in terms of likability. That's called using your brain. Turning it off completely is a bad idea; unless something is so frustrating that you have to turn it off because your brain might fry. )
Kit loves this as Oscar is confused on this delivery run as we see the clipboard of doom on the grocery list and BEHOLD The Engrish of Walt Disney Animation Japan:
[1.]
Higher for Hire is "Hire For Higher."
[2.] 80 boxes of
carrots is "80 roxes of carrotts."
[3.]Brussels
Sprouts is "Brussel Sprouts"
[4.]
1/4 ton of blueberries is "1/4 ton of
blueberrie" (although to be fair; Rebecca's finger was clearly
over the end of berries.)
[5.] 10 boxes of strawberries is "10
boxes of strawbeddies".
That's about it folks. HAHA! Ah; the pitfalls of Japanese animation. No wonder Al Khan ordered the text wiped out. We don't want kids to speak like racist Japanese dudes and dudettes now, do we?! POW! OUCH! Ummmm... (Al Khan is so stupid; what a surprise?! Actually; calling yourself 4Kids is a complement; most would mock say: 4Toddlers Entertainment; because that's how 4Kids treats their audience. Even Saban was grade school level childish in their dubs. In WD-Japan's defense, Higher For Hire reversed is a sign of "last name first, first name last" style that the Japanese typically use, so I can live with that.) Rebecca runs off the list as all the male babyfaces walk out as Oscar doesn't think delivering vegetables sounds very adventurous. Did I mention that Mad Dog and Duimptruck practice the fine art of not being seen before the door opens to let the male babyfaces out. Baloo claims that it's their secret code as it's also BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) because that is their secret code because as Kit would say that it's a super secret anti-pirate weapon. Can you smell the Double'O'Chimpunks plot oozing out of this one?! Also, like that episode; it all turns into a dangerous shoot; only with real guns and a really awesome heel instead of BS&P guns and a one shotter awesome heel. (Well; to be fair, BS&P guns were justified since the denizens of Rescue Rangers are supposed to be small animals in the real world. The fact that they are in the real world talking like humans was a bigger problem than mere guns since that show uses bullet shooting guns as well, just not to the extent TaleSpin does.) We see Dumptruck and Mad Dog grab the black purse. I'm wrong again; it did lead somewhere. (Already mentioned your graffe earlier so there you go.) They hide behind the office barn door as we see the sky shot as Baloo tells "Slick" (Oscar's new pet name from Baloo, I see.) to be up tomorrow morning as Kit and Oscar run off to see Mrs. Vandersnoot. We then zoom in to Mad Dog and Dumptruck on the radio contacting Don Karnage and the radio runs like a Jack-In-The-Box. HAHA! They can get the kid and the weapon at the same time too. We return to the Iron Vulture as we see Don Karnage tapping his paws on the desk listening to the jury rigged radio as he likes the idea since it's two for one.
I should note that the train chugging sound effect is still there; but they added a sonar submarine effect ON TOP of that. It's not bad; but it's odd for this series in general. Then again; this is the last episode I know that has sound editing done by West Sound Productions. I might do a supplemental on them along with Sam Horta Editoral and the Motion Picture Sound Editors teams that did sound editing for this series in 2011. (Which I did. West Sound Productions is a weird decision on Disney's part since this show is the only DTVA show sound editing was done that I am aware of.) Of course, Don thinks he came up with it himself. HAHA! (And next year; this promo would become a staple for babyface Darkwing Duck. You wonder why I cut Drake Mallard down to size? That's one small reason why.) Don thanks the pirates on not doing a terrible job at all. HAHA! He orders them to return to base and bring doughnuts and cappuccino and it's Karnage out. HEE HEE! We head to the docks on the sky shot in the morning as apparently; we see that WildCat or Baloo has rented out a black bi-plane with red trim and made it into a reasonable version of a CT-37. Sadly; the wings are too long to quite make it work. Kit is dressed like a pirate captain so hard that you knew he would blaspheme Don Karnage at some point. (So Kit does remember the feud and just likes to stick it to Don Karnage by dressing in a much cooler outfit. And considering how cool Don Karnage looks in his outfit; that is S-rated effort on Kit's part. Kit's outfit is awesome as a traditional pirate captain, and makes him look like a pirate version of Colonel Spigot, considering his height. ) WildCat dresses like a lame pirate lacky. The purple spotted doo rag on WildCat makes him look gay for some reason. (Oh come on 2010 Me! Purple spotted doo rags are merely goofy; not gay at all. You should know better.) Baloo thinks they look great which tells you he has the fashion sense of an ass. He is turning into the male version of Hoppo. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmmm... (It's clear Baloo came up with Wildcat's outfit. No way he came up with Kit's since Kit did Tan Margrant's outfit in Feminine Air.) Baloo asks if Kit has the plan and that leads to this awesome gem sequence:
Kit:
Yep. We'll meet you at six thousand feet (He's reading the
map.), ten miles south of Louie's.
Wildcat:
{Looking confused.}We will?
Baloo: Oscar and
I will be flying along, peaceful as you please, when
suddenly.....
Kit: Air Pirates!
WildCat:
{Confused as hell and somewhat panicky to boot.}
Pirates?
Baloo: Yeah; there they are, 12:00 high! We dodge
to the left, we dodge to the right. Zoom!
Kit: {Makes
gunfire noises and he does a great sell job of the plan.} Oh
Baloo. {Laughs his ass off; then repositions himself and laughs
again as WildCat does the cuckoo motion with his finger.}
Baloo:
We'll leave them in our prop wash.
I always love that spot and WildCat asks them as Kit corrects him because they play the fake Air Pirates see. This is again better than Double'O'Chipmunks because Kit is an ex-pirate and in fact; Plunder and Lightning was going to replay in four parts in syndication after this episode aired for the first time. (What incredible foreshadowing during the time too?!), therefore he has creditability on his part to make the fake Air Pirate thing work. Sadly; WildCat isn't an air pirate which is fitting since Don's men are not exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer either. It also helps when R.J. Williams has his smart ass voice on full blast here too. (Remember in Double'O'Chipmunks with Chip (aka Dirty Chip Rat) acted like a heel cowboy even though Dale was supposed to be a spy? None of the characters involved had any creditability of knowing how to play their roles outside of Dale; even though most of Dale's exposure to spies were on television. Here; Kit is a former air pirate who has clearly read enough pirate stories and dabbed into the actual culture for 12 months no less and lived to get it. Kit's outfit is so awesome that he should wear that on Halloween until the end of time. Sadly; Disney PR is so stupid that they made Kit wear his cowboy outfit from A Star Is Torn. NOT ENOUGH BUYS~! R.J. Williams' acting is always a treat when he's given actual great material to take advantage of. His laugh is always priceless, no matter how much of a toll it does on a developing child's voice.) Kit tries to finish the plan; but here comes the Vandersnoot limo as Baloo tells the heel playing babyfaces to fly into the sky; and to be careful because the plane is rented. (I don't think Rebecca is going to like this. I hope Rebecca knows what is going on because if she doesn't; then she was right about Baloo in I Only Have Ice For You.) The plane flies away stage left as we see a tiger furry in a navy blue coat and hat (It looked like a black coat and hat when I was doing transcripts.) open the side door to the left and it's Mrs. Vandersnoot dressed in purple with a pink feather on top of the hat and she looks like Cindy The Bear only dressed and looking like Rebecca Cunningham in mass. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Ironic since one of the designs for Rebecca Cunningham was a fox in Cindy's outfit. That was nixed rather quickly.)
Oscar claims that he is going to get laughed at as Oscar comes out with a football helmet, red neck brace and inner tube. (Sadly; the helmet isn't a leather helmet because if it was, it would have been accurate for the time period since the present day football helmets didn't exist until the 1960's.) Look on the bright side Oscar; at least she didn't wrap you up in Bubble Wrap. Then I could get in a cheap shot to those critic who thought Safe Communities was an attempt to eliminate freedom (The Coast; I'm looking at you!) in HRM over injuries. Of course that's a load of horsesh*t as Mike LeRue already explained in his counter article to the Coast; but considering the ability of getting themselves in legal libel trouble before; it doesn't surprise me. Mrs. Vandersnoot -- the over-protective mother that she is -- proclaims that he should let them lest he gets hurt if he doesn't wear the padding. What's even funnier is I think the censors watched this scene for pointers because when American Dragon, Jake Long was in production, they made Jake even in dragon mode wear a helmet. Seriously. Never mind that he's flying at three thousand feet at least. Why not just give him a parachute?! That would have made sense and still please BS&P. (I love how BS&P was so concerned about protecting kids from a mystical creature flying in the air in the modern cartoon that they forgot the number of times, Kit never wore a helmet nor a parachute when cloudsurfing. And cloudsurfing is actually a real extreme venture now thanks to modern techonlogy. Sure; it has caveats (like hooks to hook the feet with that Kit doesn't have), but it is doable now. It's still too dangerous to take off as a mainstream sport; but still.) Anyhow; Mrs. Vandersnoot is voiced by Edie McClurg. (Edie McClurg's role in Fish Hooks as Mrs. Goldfishberg is basically the same character as Mrs. Vandersnoot with one likable difference: She's so dense that her overprotectiveness is funny because she is well-meaning; but has no concept of letting the kid learn on her own, like in the case of Bea. It also helps that Bea is worse on the asshole scale than Rebecca ever was.) Anyhow; in Clouding Riches; she's Gloria Vandersnoot; wife of billionaire Ted Vandersnoot (See; I can write fanfics that make sense, but still suck.).
Mrs. Vandersnoot wants assurances that this flight will be perfectly safe and Rebecca insists that it will be. Oscar is not amused and then he hears Baloo whispering and sees him motioning to him from behind the docks. Oscar walks forward and then around the docks as he sees Baloo's SeaDuck shined up nice and good. Oh and Mrs. Vandersnoot doesn't want the pilot to fly too fast because Oscar is very delicate. We are all very delicate madam; I think you are overdoing your over-protectiveness. (No kidding?! This is the kind of mothering you would see with Freddie's mother in iCarly by the way, except Mrs. Vandersnoot is more subtle with it. Unlike most characters who are annoying.) Oscar walks into the side door as Baloo grabs him and welcomes him aboard. Oscar gets set down on the floor and asks where Kit is. Baloo claims that he has an errand to run which is partially true in one sense as Baloo closes the side door. That means Oscar is the navigator/co-pilot of this outfit. Oscar is impressed and then notices the secret anti-pirate weapon in full sight behind the cargo with a white cloth underneath. Sadly; the potatoes are still seen on the floor below. Baloo slides over and pushes the potatoes in as he asks "Slick" (Yes; that is Oscar's nickname from Baloo.) to not talk about it right now. Baloo then goes over and strips Oscar of his armor and helmet and Oscar is thrilled because according to his mother; she'll freak out if she sees him get hurt. Baloo noticed that, too. We head outside on the side profile of the SeaDuck as Oscar's mom runs in with a bottle of air sickness pills which makes sense in one sense; but we are still around three years off before treatments for air sickness. I'm guessing they are made from ginger. Also drinking soda pop, eating crackers or sucking on a lemon has some effect; but that might as well be woo until I know for sure. Walt Disney Animation Japan slightly screwed up here as the engines turn on because Oscar seems to be flying the plane! (No he didn't. It was more of a jump cut of Oscar and Baloo already sitting in the cockpit of the SeaDuck.) Anyhow; let's overkill some more from Mrs. Vandersnoot as she gets splashed in the face with water. Sadly; she's in the quackery universe now and water is considered magic according to them. We head to the cockpit as Oscar has the seat belt on, asks what her mother said and Baloo lies to him, of course.
Baloo does a stop and go on the SeaDuck and then we fly up as Oscar whimpers asking if they are having an adventure yet. Baloo says no because they are blowing off the carbs. Wow; that sounds too pop-culture for my liking. (Carbs were officially discovered in the 1800's.) We fly towards the cliff with seagulls flying; Oscar panics as the SeaDuck manages to twist to the left all the way upside down and then barrel rolls much to Baloo's glee. Oscar is scared stiff as we fly out and all he can say is "oh yeah". He literally stutters (Wow; no stammering this time from Disney Captions.) a "yahoo" out of it. Baloo blows him off because they are flying see and he needs to give him one from your toes. Oscar nods and gives off a much better one (That voice is funny to listen; it's like Ben Ganger has an broken English accent; but speaks no broken English.) as Baloo does the loop-de-loop for only 15 cents. Baloo likes that one and pushs on the lever (JESUS~!) as Baloo asks Oscar to keep his eyes peeled for pirates. Oscar salutes him in response. (I actually like this scene because they didn't book Oscar to look really weak, like make Oscar vomit for instance. Oscar whimpered and was scared, but he took it like a man and it showed that his mother is the problem and not Oscar himself. He isn't afraid of heights or flying. Oscar is merely clumsy.) We go into the fog which is WELL BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunrise) and then we head to the skies during the afternoon on the scene changer. Okay; that's logic break #1 for the episode right there as we see the Fake Air Pirate bi-plane being piloted in the back by WildCat with Kit in the front piloting. (Not much of a logic break unless you assume Louie's is to the west of Cape Suzette rather than the east; or Earthia rotates (my name for the TaleSpin world) in the opposite direction.) Kit's actually allowed to pilot a plane with an adult supervising and it's WILDCAT supervising. Wow; this makes Baloo look even worse in Flight School Confeditial in hindsight. Kit wants Wildcat to keep circling as Baloo should be here any second now. The SHADOW OF DOOM blocks out the sun according to WildCat as we hear the train chugging, helicopter whirrling and sonar all in the same sounds as Kit and WildCat panic. Kit screams okay; WildCat not so much. (Oh; R.J. Williams' screaming will get a lot better (and brutal on the vocal chords) later on.) The bottom door hatch of the Iron Vulture opens and we fade to black to end the segment twelve minutes in. Now we turn into a shoot. (Lovely episode thus far.)
After the commercial break; we see the Iron Vulture flying in the sky and Don Karnage is not happy as he blows off the pirates for nincompoopery which indicates that the cut line from Plunder and Lightning was indeed a time cut. Sadie takes the wooden rods from the plane and thinks they are the secret anti-pirate weapon. Don steals one and teases MURDERING Sadie with it in the head; but chooses not too. See; he doesn't have a brain worth MURDERING. Then we see Kit and Wildcat in front of Dumptruck and Mad Dog as Don Karnage blows them off for having no MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH, bad breath and for having their mother dress them up in silly little clothes. Well; Baloo is a mother hen so it's perfectly true. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm....(Okay; this is slander. They have no money true. Bad breath is purely subjective and it's only true in Wildcat's case with the silly clothes. Kit's outfit being silly is slander at it's worst. Perfect since Don is supposed to be heel.) Kit is pissed off at being called useless at Don and he literally spits in Don's face. HAHA! Don't screw with the MIRACLE WORKER Don. Don takes my advice as WildCat backs up Kit and gets MURDERED with the Dumptruck screw punch; (Using the most obvious love tap possible.) while Don grabs Kit and tries to break his jaw but stops. Now I admit that the threat could have been better on Don's part; but Don's hand clearly showed that he was trying to smash Kit's jaw with his left hand. (Someone suggested that they go with "I'll punch through your belly and eat your guts!"; but Don Karnage would never act that rigidly.) Oh; and this is where Dog Garbage came into usings by Baloo by the way. (Dog Garbage makes sense because Karnage is a wolf (Probably a red wolf was what Magon was shooting for. Doesn't matter in the end.) according to Jymn Magon; and so he's part of that family/subfamily. Even if Magon is wrong and he's a fox; it still part of the same family. A hybird would be the same thing, so it works no matter what. Garbage is slander by Kit by the way so he should be afraid.) Don doesn't want to be hasty puddings because he has an incredibly calculating mind and he has a use for Kit after all.
Kit is not happy to hear that one either. We head to the sky shot of the SeaDuck flying into the air as Baloo wants Oscar to keep his eyes sharp. Oscar has the tiny telescope of doom while Baloo enjoys a MacDonalds container of soda like the lazy fatass that he is. See; you never know when those pesky pirates will come swooping out of the sky. Another reason why this episode is better than Double'O'Chipmunks: Better and more natural acting. Baloo is even allowed to say gun as Oscar panics and points at the window. See; even Oscar Vandersnoot is doing a bang up job here and his voice actor is only about ten or eleven years old at the time of production. Baloo throws away the container and then panics as the real Air Pirates shoot to kill on the FPS shot. (As of this writing, we are twelve for sixteen with the guns pulled out.) Baloo tells Oscar to hold onto his socks -- despite not wearing any -- and we dogfight for real. The Seaduck spirals down as Oscar asks if it's a near miss and Baloo calls it a near hit (No kidding Sherlock?!) and thanks him for yelling because they would literally be in heaven ("We'd be sitting in the cloud plucking harps.") aka dead. Another reason why anime dubs suck: When Baloo avoids the word die; he finds a really creative way around it which actually erases doubt of what he is talking about. Sitting in clouds plucking harps is as close to saying die without saying it. Constrast that to the destroy and hurt phrases and you'll see why. There is no context to what they say; they are being used because BS&P won't let them use the proper terms or anything that directly implies it. (To be honest; a lot of anime also uses the word defeat a lot in their own right in the context of death. So; it's not just a BS&P thing in America.) Oscar is surprised that he did something right (Well; he has screwed the pirates over despite being "accident" prone so he must be on a roll here...) as Baloo tells him this isn't over yet as the SeaDuck dives and there is more shooting. Yellow streaks to indicate that Walt Disney Animation Japan is animating here as Baloo hyperboles up from the sea and one CT-37 skips off the water and breaks. So we head to a closeup of silver glasses Air Pirate -- who looks like a clone of Don Karnage -- as we get more shooting on the SeaDuck and one bullet nearly grazes Baloo's ear.
I know this because Baloo winces on cue as Oscar asks now what. (That must have been the ultimate power of suggestion or a wacky angle for the bullet to land since the bullet holes were well away from the cockpit.) Baloo decides to invoke the Dead End Cave -- direct death reference number one for the episode -- as they dive down as Baloo wonders if they might get lost themselves. Baloo points to the control panel to find the light switch and Oscar pushes lever number two (JESUS~!) and Baloo panics because Oscar just invokes the HANS SOLO MOVE OF DISMEMBERMENT and one box of tomatoes splasts right on Air Pirate number one's head who seems to have lost the glasses. (Like lazy pilot; like clumsy friend of a navigator.) The bullets fly from the machine gun. We are up to 1.0 Trigun at this point. Baloo thanks him for it as Oscar puts the lights on and we head into the cave. We go from mature light to blue/green light in a matter of ten seconds. We fly for a while with some pretty good TMS repeat flying and then we go to mature lighting again as Oscar asks how far to the other end. Baloo states that this is the tricky part since there isn't any end as we go through the Castle Greyskull cave as Baloo goes around the eye sockets while Oscar cowers in fear of course. The CT-37's crash into the cave. HAHA! Dead end indeed. All the pirates wipe out on the broken wings as the Seaduck flies right out of the cave. Notice that the A-Team of the pirates hasn't got involved in this dogfight?! Heh. (Yeah; they are all in the Iron Vulture with Kit and Wildcat in the radio room, of course.) Oscar thinks everything is all right; but the JAWS OF HALF LIFE stop the SeaDuck dead. Then we hear Don Karnage's voice from the Iron Vulture on the pan up as Don calls Baloo a "miserable type person". Baloo is not impressed as he gets the transmitter of doom and blows Don off because he has nothing to say to him. Don then counters by having Baloo say hello to his friends as Don is enjoying all this from his jury rigged radio of doom. He wants the weapon and if he gets it; he'll let them go of course. (Maybe even alive if Don isn't such an asshole today. Good trolling there Karnage.) Gibber is around as we pan to Dumptruck with his hands around Kit's mouth as Kit struggles free and yells at Baloo to save himself.
Baloo realizes that it's Kit and gives up instantly much to Kit's pleas otherwise. The radio goes dead as Don orders Gibber and Dumptruck to toss them in the brig and not gently. Dumptruck grabs WildCat by the neck (!!!); while Kit gets his ear pulled and Kit actually does sell the ear pull. I have been proven wrong again. (I don't know why it had to be by the ear since Gibber is still big enough to grab Kit otherwise.) Wildcat's selling is still better though as we cut to the SeaDuck being pulled up into the Iron Vulture as we see Baloo go for the parachutes (which come down from the ceiling I might add. This SeaDuck is like a spy plane.) as Oscar is at the weapon and wants to blast them with it. Baloo no sells and admits that the whole adventure thing was a work. Too bad it all turned into a shoot. Oscar is in tears hearing that the adventure was planned in advance; however, Baloo has a Krackpotkin plan to get them out of this as he throws the parachutes out and one of the pirates -- it's clearly Sadie -- claim that they bailed out as we see the parachutes fall down. Somehow I doubt that as Don doesn't care as he and his crew get the propane tank out of the tailsection of the Seaduck (which has been hoisted up into the Iron Vulture already natch) and they bring it into the brig as Don Karnage is giddy because he gets to torture Kit Cloudkicker again. And Wildcat is along for the ride. And no surprise; we cut to ocean level as the parachutes are loaded with sacks of potatoes. HAHA! Small potatoes indeed Don Karnage?! (That was awfully convenient of Baloo eh?) Anyhow; we head to the porthole as it opens and out comes Baloo as he is going to blast the door down with TNT (TNT in hand) and they'll be out before he can say jackrabbit. Baloo crawls as he practices the fine art of not being seen as we head to the brig as Kit and WildCat are chained to the wall as we see Don Karnage, Mad Dog, Dumptruck, Rachect, Gibber and Sadie try to get information on the secret weapon; but Kit tries to explain that it's not a secret weapon but a propane tank with stuff stuck on it. (Which is true by the way; but propane tanks in this show are a dangerous weapon; so it's nice knowing your voice there Kit.) Don is not convinced and so Gibber brings the box to Don and Don brings out the TIGER CLAWS OF DEATH~!
See; he must do terrible things that he loves doing anyway. Ah; circular logic, a heel's way to becoming a true blue funny heel. Kit and WildCat panic on cue. Kit should be thankful that it's not...THE FEATHERS~! POW! OUCH! Hey....(Oh; how could I forget my incomplete fanfic Plunder Project J4306 and Buzz's granddaughter Victoria who tried to tickle the crap out of Kit. She also had a great catchphrase as she kept taunting Kit by wiggling her feathered fingers and saying "THE FEATHERS~!" which causes Kit to turn polar white in fear. Even Baloo started taunting him with that so you know it's absurd.) That ends the segment sixteen and a half minutes in. Other than a few minor mistakes; this episode is holding up better than I remember it. (And while I'm on the subject of the Air Pirates; apparently, there was a conspiracy theory about the Air Pirates on TaleSpin being a giant middle finger to a bunch of people who were creating artwork of Disney characters doing and using sex and illegal drugs. Disney sued the Air Pirates group and ultimately won; and Dan O'Neil (for better or for worse) didn't care because he was daring them to send him to jail which they didn't. Dan forgot that Disney putting an artist in jail is bad business; even more so when Disney knows that there's a punishment worse than jail in this regard: Dan's wallet. Even his collegues knew this "victory" was BS. As for the case; parody is fair use and Dan should have won, but Disney had a reputation to keep as a family-friendly company (I mentioned this on Animation Source concerning sickening artwork.) even though smoking cigars and cigarettes were not much different than smoking a joint other than one is legal (and heavily regulated) and one is not. Plus; the hypocrisy of condemning sex while allowing bullet shooting guns (this show the most guilty of by the way.), violence and death to exist as a family-friendly company. (Which is why the new Disney is what is now. School shootings do have massive consequences beyond the day of the tragedy you know.) Anyhow; the theory of the Air Pirates in TaleSpin being a middle finger from Disney is absurd because Disney won the lawsuit. What point would it serve? This might have worked better if we saw the pirates implying sex and were smoking cigarettes and cigars themselves; but even then, that would only make sense if Disney lost the lawsuit. They didn't.)
After the commercial break; we hear Kit and Wildcat screaming off-screen and Kit kills all here, including his own voice. We head to the SeaDuck as we see Oscar open the bottom door, the same one they used to stuff Jack Cases in in Spy In The Ointment, he notices the book of matches and yells to Baloo that he forgot them. That scene was edited out by Toon Disney and it is a really senseless edit when you consider what happens later on. (They didn't just edit out the shot with Oscar and the matches; they basically edited the shot before they went into the SeaDuck. The commercial break in the Toon Disney version skipped to Baloo at the brig already and forgetting his matches; thus with no build. It's senseless also because Oscar only touched a book of matches. He didn't light them or even take a match out.) We see Baloo slide in safe towards the brig. He places the TNT down and tries to go for the matches; but they aren't in his pocket. So we see Mad Dog's arm and he gives him a lighted match. HAHA! I believe that was cut out too. (Nope; they didn't cut it.) I guess most of the pirates left when Don started the torture as we see Mad Dog, Dumptruck and two other pirates and one of them is the one Baloo knocked out in Plunder and Lightning Part III. (During the dance sequence which is in syndication, but not in the Disney Channel version of the movie.) The real break is the lack of screaming in this scene since they are clearing near the brig. Then we finally hear the screaming as R.J. Williams is naturally in oversell mode as Baloo gets thrown in and Kit and WildCat just scream and struggle as Don Karnage is scrapping the TIGER CLAW OF DEATH against a chalkboard. HAHA! That's a page out of the Pink Panther movie; and unlike the movie, the actual sound effects are timed correctly here. (They actually remembered the scratching sound effect when R.J. Williams was screaming like he was a live action actor in an Oscar winning movie. It's barely audible, but it's there. I hope for R.J.'s sake that this was done in one take; or even better; some of his screaming was stock from Polly Wants A Treasure (R.J. Williams screams the exact same line when we was being tickled here too.) because his vocal chords are taking a beating already. R.J. Williams and Sally Struthers are face actors who dab in animation once in a while. R.J. was never this profound in his acting in Gummi Bears as Cavin. Never.)
Don Karnage calls him so horrible as he takes the cotton out of his ears. (Kit's screaming is so amazing that even Baloo is forced to cover his ears. Most kids cannot scream like R.J. Williams does.) Nice touch as well to Mad Dog and Dumptruck covering their ears, too. Dumptruck and Mad Dog drag Baloo over to the wall and they chain him as Don Karnage is so happy to torture three of them for the price of one. Baloo tells Kit that they are sunk as WildCat states that Oscar hasn't been caught yet. Baloo writes him off despite being a good kid and before he can say anything insulting we come to the point where you can only say two words: We then hear Oscar's voice in the background reciting the "Jungle Aces Fight Song The Short Edition", then the wall completely blows up, then the metal falls down and in walks Oscar Vandersnoot smiling. HOLY SH*T! (That's putting it mildly and shows that Kit does enable people sometimes.) Also, here's the scary part: Toon Disney DIDN'T cut this scene out even though it's clear that (1) Oscar lit the TNT and (2) blew down the wall. Like I said; Disney's editing practices are downright laughable and make no sense. They cut out a book of matches but allow Oscar to blow down an entire wall?! TOTAL MARKUP CITY FOR THAT MOMENT! I cannot tell you how much even today that I mark out seeing that. Oscar is MONSTER over now as Oscar goes over to Baloo and asks Baloo what to do next. (The greatest thing about this is; he does the fight song and that alone pisses off Don Karnage, then lights the dynamite off-screen implying that he struck a match, even though Toon Disney tried to make sure Oscar was not seen touching the book of matches despite not being shown striking one. He blows down a wall and walks in smiling. He just didn't give a damn and that was great! Again; this is why the DVD's were made; because even Disney realized how stupid the Oscar with the matches edit was.) Everyone yells it him to run. Oscar tries to flee; but Don Karnage grabs him. Don praises him for being brave and then downs the ransom to ten million dollars. HAHA! He is SO generous. No, not really. (That was kind of stupid. If Don thought he was brave; shouldn't he raise the ransom instead of lowering it? Sometimes ab libbing can be dangerous.)
The chained up babyfaces are in shock as they realize that the pirates were after him all along. Oscar wants to make a deal: He'll show them how the secret anti-pirate weapon works; as long as they let his friends go. (Even after being caught, Oscar somehow is handling Don Karnage like a glove; and Kit, the ever knowing babyface sidekick realizes this too.) Don swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (son of a gun) because he had so much fun torturing that he almost forget. HAHA! (Yeah; scoiopathic heels who have strange voices sometimes forget business don't they?!) Baloo doesn't get it because even he knows it's only a propane tank. Kit tells him to be quiet and let him have a chance. Even Kit knows where this is going now. (If you recall earlier, Kit and Oscar were in Wildcat's boathouse when the propane tank went flying and destroyed an entire abandoned construction building like a rocket. This is also why this is better than Double'O'Chipmunks: The weapon is not a McGruffin. Even though the secret anti-pirate weapon is fake; the tank is still very dangerous in stupid hands as demonstrated earlier. Oscar noticed this before even Kit did which is a plus for Oscar too.) Oscar grabs a wrench, goes to the PROPANE TANK OF DEATH, then backs up and points out that they would know the secret too; which is the Air Pirates crew, of course. Don ponders and he gives Oscar a point on his head. Don orders the pirates to turn around with ears closed and no peaking. The Air Pirates sell without question. (This is funny because it makes sense that only Don should know about this secret; but it still makes Don Karnage look stupid. Which is fine because in the end; the heel is supposed to look stupid! Again; this is how babyfaces and heel psychology works. Jan is smart enough to book the spot as if Don's stupidity came out of his desire to know all.) Don is going to get seriously messed up now as Oscar puts the wrench onto the valve and calls it all automatic. Oscar turns the weapon towards Don's chest. (Nice move there Oscar.) He twists the wrench and Don is seriously done for as he gets nailed by the propane tank and flies around. HAHA!
Oscar Vandersnoot is so awesome and Kick Buttowski is crying in his sleep somewhere realizing that even an "accident" prone dork has outclassed him in every way without having to do a single stunt. (Oh, and Oscar is going to be doing a stunt at the finish; but that's icing on the cake for his crowning moment of awesome.) Nice touch for Don to cut a promo and close his eyes before getting nailed. (Don Karnage, no matter how stupid he gets, never fails to make you laugh when he loses.) Oscar sneaks in and grabs the keys from Dumptruck as he did it without touching Dumptruck at all. He throws them to Baloo and he frees himself, Kit and WildCat as Don rides propane tank for a while to amuse me. Baloo thanks Oscar by petting his head and everyone bails through the broken wall as Don goes through the door and WildCat's voice sounds terrible. The babyfaces duck and Don goes through towards the airstrip as the babyfaces go through the door and in one of those HOLY CRAP moments; we get the explosion of death as the babyfaces go flying. That was nasty in itself; the bumps they took were MAN-SIZED and WildCat is on bottom. Even scarier; Kit and Oscar are right in the middle which means Baloo is on top and he squashes both kids to boot. HOLY CRAP! BS&P?! What BS&P?! Even more amazing; everyone stops selling, gets up and runs towards the door as we see that the SeaDuck is hanging on from a hole in the bottom of the floor. OUCH! Kit and Oscar are super bears; there's no other way to say it. This also makes Kit as a sky god theory plausible now. (Yeah; they were tossed like rag dolls and Baloo squashed Kit and Oscar in the middle of the pile which would kill them in any sane universe, including the real universe. Nope; Baloo gets up and when they get into the hanger, Kit and Oscar run in acting as if nothing had happened. Either that belly is pure stuffing, or Kit is basically a prototype Wind God Gau from Final Fantasy VI SNES version. Occam's Razor says pure stuffing, my razor says Wind God Gau.) Baloo yells at them to get aboard; but Don cuts an awesome promo coming from the meat hook pulley:
Don Karnage: A moment please. So I may free you FROM YOUR MISERABLE LIVES!
Don is so awesome as Baloo and WildCat get in as the SeaDuck is tipping; so Kit jumps onto the door of the tailsection of the SeaDuck and yells to Oscar to jump. At this point; R.J. Williams' voice is starting to break now. See this is what happens when you oversell and over act your roles. Thank goodness; R.J became a director and rested that voice up when he did. It probably saved his life too. (He has become a huge presence in the entertainment industry with Arjay Entertainment and Young Hollywood; and on-line that it's not even funny. He learned his lesson in the end and his vocal chords are thankful for that too. Even so; R.J. Williams in this episode is still giving us his all. To be fair; Last Horizons with his screaming of Baloo when Baloo came back from Pandala that made me fear for his voice.) Oscar is confused as Don comes down and swings towards Oscar as the SeaDuck slides down and freefalls. Oscar tries to jump; but Don Karnage grabs him by his shirt as the SeaDuck spirals down. So Oscar actually bites him on the hand on screen and free falls (Kick: OH BISCUITS!). ZOINKS! The SeaDuck dives down as Baloo tries to push the buttons; but the props are gone. Baloo yells at Kit to grab Oscar; so Kit runs to the back; opens his airfoil and unwraps the rope and opens the tail section door and surfs out as far as the rope can take him. Kit yells to Oscar to hang on; but Oscar is still too far away. This is amazing because if Kit mistimes this; Oscar is DEAD when he impacts the water. Baloo still cannot start the engine as he yells at WildCat to do something. We see WildCat with the red wires and black wires as it's corrison of the contacts and he'll fix it up in a jiffy as Baloo panics again. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: This scene would later be used for Dewey hotwiring Donald's boathouse in Ducktales. Even funnier, Della named Dewey "Turbo"; whom is the French dub name for WildCat. The writers know exactly what they are doing.) After a nosedive; Kit finally grabs Oscar's hand and Baloo pushes the red button and the engines start up again. Baloo sees that he is going to hit water; so he pulls up on the stick and the SeaDuck does a hyperbole as Kit skips the water three times with his airfoil and the day is saved.
Baloo thanks WildCat for saving their bacon as we cut to Kit and Oscar cloudsurfing which is an awesome visual as Oscar asks if he is having an adventure and Kit tells him he better believe it. (Just the way Kit planned it of course because he's a real daredevil.) We head to the docks of Higher...For...Hire BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as we see Oscar's mom worried sick with Rebecca who seemly magically appears on the near shot. Mom paces around and feels ready to not forgive herself if anything happens to Oscar and here comes the SeaDuck. Mrs. Vandersnoot sees the absolute last thing she wanted to see: Oscar on Kit's airfoil waving to his mother. HAHA! (Oscar just didn't give a damn as he has overcome flying, heights and even Don Karnage. Oscar is awesome now!) Needless to say; Oscar's mother faints dead away as Rebecca has to grab her on the way down. That scene was just priceless as we see the SeaDuck fly over to the junkyard where the Jungle Aces club is and we see the Jungle Aces cheering without Ernie (he must have been upset over all this or something) as Oscar waves at them. That leads to the spinning newspaper (The Cape Suzette Tribute Volume 1.) as we see Kit and Oscar together with the headline: Kids Foil Kidnapping Plot. (Which Walt Disney Animation Japan's Engrish streak strikes again: It's "Kids Foil Kidnap Plot" in the headline.) See; Kit finally got his picture in the paper after all. He also has his teeth back too. Nice payoff from A Bad Reflection On You too. (Although considering his past; this might bite him on the ass in the future, if Disney wasn't milking Baloo so much.) We return to the Jungle Aces Secret Midnight Club of Irony as Ernie is at the soapbox and Kit is sitting down on the inflatable seat that he kicked at the beginning of the episode.
Ernie officially declares Oscar Vandernsoot elected as honoray president as he holds up the colinder that Kit probably gave to him since Kit is still wearing his baseball cap here. (I'm guessing Kit was originally the president of the club and Kit gave Oscar his spot for his heroics. Awesome!) Ernie whisper yells to Kit that he's late, Kit stands up and whispers something in his ear. Ernie is SHOCKED in amusement over this and we segue to an amusement park as Oscar and his mother are riding the rollercoaster. HAHA! Well; you got to take baby steps to overcome the addicition of anything; even being overprotective. (Sadly; Bea's mother is awesome that removing that part of the gimmick would render her boring. Besides; Oscar is making up for lost time and he was probably doing some adventures while Bullethead Baloo was running. Almost forgot; another Fish Hooks connection: The nerd babyface in that show is Oscar (his last name is different); only he's more sweaty even though they are underwater. Yeah; that show is illogical.) That ends the episode at 21:13. I am still right about this episode; this is still awesome even with the minor mistakes. Like I said; Oscar deserved an origin episode. Sadly; Oscar would be never seen again although the Jungle Aces would appear later on. ***** (100%). (As the late Christopher Barat would say: "Underutilized characters who made one or two appearances and then vanished into the animated ether... that's the story of TALESPIN's (all too brief) life!" The rating stands and this is still my second most favorite episode I have ever seen. So It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck is officially number five now behind Stormy Weather and Flight School. This is how you book a goofy nerd.)
Final Note: The credits use the prop font like in Flight Of The Snowduck. Also; Jamie Mitchell appears as a Post-Production Producer. I'm guessing this episode got edited heavily as well. Also; there are twelve different names voicing here and five of them are kids. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: In the hardcover version of this story, they crown Oscar at the end in the house without the scenes from the end of this episode.)
THE REVIEW LINE
Yeap; this episode still holds up better than I thought it could. Oscar Vandersnoot's story really touched a nerve with me because of Kit's treatment of him. Kit was the only one who was gusty enough to bring him into the inner circle and was the only one who defended him. Oscar paid him back by showing to Kit that he could stand up to Don Karnage; Kit's bitter rival who nearly killed him twice. Sure; everyone will say that Oscar should have accepted the fact that he had a friend in Kit at all. However; reality tells me that wasn't enough. (It clearly wasn't. Kit wanted the Jungle Aces to accept him for who he was; but Oscar didn't have an adventure and he was the child of a 1%'er. No one liked Oscar, except for Kit even though it wasn't even Oscar's fault for this; he was unlucky to have an overprotective, hyperpreviliged mother. Which begs the question: How did Mrs. Vandersnoot accept Kit Cloudkicker since he would be a piece of crude matted fur like Louie L'Amour according to Rebecca Cunningham. Kit didn't have to help Oscar and really had no reason to defend him because Oscar didn't have an adventure in him; but Kit did anyway. That's a great babyface! That's something I don't often see in modern cartoons anymore because execs think that they are scientists, when they are just money marks.) That's how Oscar Vandersnoot got over and sadly he would never be seen ever again. A common occurrence for many of the one (and two) shot characters who got over.
Oscar was a really believable character and had a child's voice to match. Kit Cloudkicker was also awesome in the fact that this is classic Kit: He is the one person who you would want around kids because he has seen the darkness and knows just how awful it is and thus it allows him to take the hand of the child and lead him away from such madness. I saw it with Molly, I saw it here with Oscar and the Jungle Aces to a lesser extent. Kit truly had got the riches he really needed and wanted. (As I said before; Kit Cloudkicker is truly a beast as a character and seeing him getting the payoff he deserved is sweet in spite of his past. Oscar is a wonderful character too and he and Kit were great together as Oscar learned how to be smarter and he overcame his clumsiness, defeated Don Karnage and got into the club. So much so that the Jungle Aces cheered him when the adventure was over. The Jungle Aces weren't all that bad; Ernie is probably the only true jerk of the bunch and he was more so in Bullethead Baloo than in this episode.) Almost everything clicked and the acting was amazing. Also; Oscar blowing down a wall with dynamite even in the Toon Disney version brought a smile to my face the way Oscar just casually walked into the death trap smiling. A few minor mistakes from Walt Disney Japan (almost all of that from their strange Engrish that wasn't edited in Post-Production. For some reason.) ; but they didn't hurt the episode in any way. Next up is The Time Bandit which I have since mellowed out. It's Citizen Khan that I only truly dread. (Which is the exact opposite of Kevin Johnston who thought Citizen Khan was the best episode of the series. Granted, Wildcat, Wendell and Clementine are great and all, but Gomer sucks as a heel and I can boo him without regret and without apology.) So...
Thumbs way up for this episode and I'll see you next time.
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