Return to 50 Webs
Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The web master has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.
Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the web master and no one else. The web master has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.
Sheepskin Deep Re-Rant
Reviewed: 01/22/2011
Additional
Commentary: 11/20/2021
I've Heard of Lame Porn; But This is False Advertising!!
Original Airdate: 02/04/1991 (Syndication), Episode #51 (TaleSpin DVD Volume 2, Disc 3), Episode #48 (Production Order).
Sheepskin
Deep Notes
Sheepskin
Deep Transcript
We are down to the final four episodes of TaleSpin on DVD Volume 2 as we begin with another doozy of an episode with Baloo trying to finally pass school to get into a reunion. (2016 Gregory Weagle Says: This was a doozy of an episode which was considered by many as the best episode of the series. I wouldn't go that far; but it is a really interesting episode that trumps Recess and even Pepper Ann all in one fell swoop. Of course this wasn't the beginning of the final four episodes on DVD since this was written in 2011 and Volume 3 was finally released years later. The plot has been explained in a nutshell so I won't explain it again.) You won't believe what kind of school Baloo is passing either. (Kit could because he giggled when he heard about it.) This is also the first of several episodes involving work from the Nelevana Four in which two of them worked on this episode. (Two episodes in this series were storyboarded from Nelevana: John Flagg and Mike Fallows (who was working as an overseas animation supervisor quite a few times in the later episodes in this series) storyboarded this episode; while David Thrasher and Dale Schott storyboarded Flying Dupes (athough the late Ryan Anthony also did a storyboard or two for that episode.). It's a pretty interesting wrinkle to the stereotype of: "American planned, Canadian voiced, Asian animated" which seems to invade most cartoon thinking, since some of the pre-planning was done by a few Canadians.). I should have the supplemental up after this episode rant is posted. A lot of people claim that this is the best episode of the series. I beg to slightly differ as originally I thought it was the best episode featuring school that I have seen from Disney. (It is certainly the prototype for how to do a great episode about school. Personally; I think the concept has worked really well and execs think it's a great concept (after years of whining from the purists that it would never get over); but it is so overexposed now that no one cares about kids in school anymore. This is the problem with trying to get kids to relate: kids don't know the cliches in the first place; but it prevents execs from adding unique twists to the concept so older kids and teenagers have a slightly better incentive to watch the show. Of course the best thing to do is to create characters that everyone cares about instead of creating characters the kids can relate to, since kids will relate to anything since they are still trying to understand the basics of the world around them. However; expecting money marks to understand that is like trying to keep a pig clean.) How does it measure up? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by the late Dean Stefan. The story is edited by Ken Koonce & David Weimers. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Say what you will about Ken Koonce and David Weimer's quality drop as writers; they were still really good story editors. This episode might have been their peak in terms of editing.) The animation is done by Wang Films.
(Okay; the episode title is called Sheepskin Deep. Now of course; a sheepskin is slang for a diploma which is fine among itself; but the title name is just hilarious. Didn't Jymn Magon realize that Sheepskin Deep sounds like a title of a pornographic movie? Huh. I just love how everyone is so shocked at this when we heard Baloo say "It f**cking worked!" in Plunder and Lightning Part Four. In fact, we almost had some softcore pornography later in this episode in fact and I'm not talking about the fact that Baloo and Kit wear no pants either. No wonder Kevin Johnston is tired of this BS of people saying how squeaky clean Disney is.)
We begin this one with a sky shot of the docks of Higher...For...Hire as Baloo is singing the Cape Suzette fight song. I like the Jungle Aces one better as Rebecca is at her desk and she gets instantly annoyed. We then head into Baloo's bedroom as Baloo is wearing a crown on his head, a shirt that actually barely fits him and the red megaphone. (That shirt coat is actually his Cape Suzette Elementary School coat from years ago. I guess Baloo wasted his money on material things before going broke before Rebecca bought Baloo's Air Service. Why doesn't that surprise me?) Rebecca yells at him and he does some decent off-screen bumping into a glass vase (judging by the glass shatter sound effect). Then we see Baloo walk out of the room and wants to know what the big idea is. Rebecca is using the phone see. (Well that's a good reason to blow off Baloo's antics. Personally; she doesn't need to go that far. Baloo should stop singing just on general principle.) Baloo wants to warm up for the school reunion he claims that he is going to. This is actually the first of several episodes where TaleSpin went into the slice of life plotlines the Wuzzles used ad nansuem during their run. At least with TaleSpin; it feels more plausible; but it still contradicts the drama/adventure the series was shooting for. (No it does not 2011 me! The whole concept of TaleSpin is to tell stories and this is the story of how Baloo graduated from school and went to the reunion. In fact, it's a great departure from the drama/adventure motif of this series and unlike most shows that go against the premise of their own shows, this works great. Although considering TaleSpin's premise, can you really say they went against the premise? Ahhhhhhhhhhh...nope.) It's at Louie's on Saturday and he has been waiting for it all week. Rebecca thinks there is a dress code and he isn't invited. Umm; not exactly Rebecca; but it's close. (I love Rebecca's reaction here in that she still insulted Baloo; but did it in such a cute manner that I was laughing at Baloo and Rebecca at the same time. I mean; come on Rebecca, a dress code at Louie's? Umm, no.) We see in the window as the postal kangeroo arrives in grey -- somehow this is fitting for the postal service -- as he tries to knock; but Baloo opens the door and tells him to lay it on him.
Baloo gets nothing but colored pages and six bills. Only six? Really? (Six bills in a week is mighty realistic in this world; so kudos there Dean. Also of note; there are three types of telephone books in Cape Suzette: The Yellow Pages, The Green Pages and The Polka Dot Pages. Begs a lot of questions: So the White Pages are trademarked or too racist to be on this show? Does the Polka Dot pages mean that the Polka Dot Door television series is a legit world in TaleSpin? Is the Green Pages an environmental version of the Yellow Pages? And who uses the Yellow Pages now, anyway? To be fair; the Yellow Pages were invented in 1886. Polka Dot Door started in 1971 as a play on the BBC's Play School.) Baloo wants him to forget Bill and asks what about him. (Apparently; Bill is a four letter word meaning leeching off money. Oh, wait...) Baloo thinks he lost the invitation and the kangeroo postman blows him off. (Because he never loses the mail...) He hops away leaving a trail of letters. HAHA! This actually justifies the next scene and makes for a good tease. (Yeah; we saw the postman losing letters at a rapid rate; so it makes sense for Baloo to see Louie himself since as we saw later; Louie was the coordinator of the school reunion. I'm guessing he organized the event and wasn't part of the school reunion itself since there was no mention of Louie being a graduate of Cape Suzette Elementary School.) So we head to that island on the South Sea's Louie's and then we head inside as the monkey workers are decorating the place while Louie hangs around to pardon the pun. Baloo asks about the reunion invitation and Louie doesn't know so he decides to do a checkeroo (HA!) as he swings on a fan and lands on a table and opens the gray invite box with his feet. He has some pineapple crash on reverse. (I thought it was lemonade. Maybe 2011 me had Chrono Trigger Japanese version on the brain.) He checks his filing cards, Baloo is not under the B's. (Baloo, Bruinweld nor Bear for that matter; although he could check the W's for Waladaze but that's my last name for Poppa Bear in my fanfics so...nor the R's for "Round Bear".),
Then he checks some more and Baloo is under the U's. Baloo asks what that means and Louie states that he's uninvited; thus the postman looks smart. (If you listen closely; you can hear the soon to be fired postman still laughing all the way to the bank.) Scene changer as we see Baloo putting his goofy clothes in the trunk as we are in Baloo's bedroom again. Rebecca asks why he was uninvited, Baloo proclaims that it doesn't matter because he isn't wanted and that's that. Really Pop-A-Bear? It's Louie's! Unless Louie has the "No more eating more then your body weight" rule that we don't know about. (I doubt that very seriously 2011 me! There's only one reason Baloo is uninvited.) Baloo goes over to his bed and has the year book as he opens it and states that he's going to miss seeing Crazy Eddie, Stinky Sedgewowsky and then he shuts the book as Rebecca gets a little TOO close to it. Baloo's smile indicates that he's hiding something. Rebecca isn't buying so she grabs the book and we have a tug of war and Baloo loses thanks to Rebecca pushing on Baloo's belly with her foot. HAHA! About damn time someone figured out a way to beat the fatass. Now, I'm in trouble in these things. (No one is going to screw with a four hundred ten pound person like me, 2011 me. More so after having surgery.) Rebecca opens the book and realizes there was no picture of Baloo which is next to Bridie who looks like the star of Chicken Little hand drawn. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Wow, my old self remembered that movie? I am old.) Man; that smile on the bear in the lower left is pretty sick to watch. (As least Digger in Teddy Ruxpin was smart enough not to show his teeth when he had a smile that requires surgery just to have it removed.) Rebecca deduces that Baloo didn't graduate from high school. Ummm; not quite as Baloo states that this wasn't a high school reunion. Rebecca asks if it was junior high and Baloo states that it's not. (Uh oh!) Yes folks; Baloo didn't graduate from grade school by a few points. See what happens when you fail spelling Pop-A-Bear? This episode happens.
(Why is everyone shocked that this episode even occurred?! They have been teasing this episode ever since Vowel Play when Thursday saw Baloo's report cards. In fact, the same writer who wrote Vowel Play also wrote this episode. I gotta give a hand to Dean Stefan to this: Most shows would write an educational episode to school the dumb character and then they never follow it up, let alone pay off the fact that Baloo is without a proper education. This episode is actually the follow up and leads to a really great payoff at the end of the episode. It's not just Baloo getting his diploma. It's the way he gets his diploma. Granted; the Wooly Whatsit did something similar in Teddy Ruxpin at Leota's school, however; it wasn't nearly as whacky as this episode is. I'll explain everything when we get there.) Baloo then gets the Krackpotkin Plan to end all such plans as he gets his pilot cap and walks out because he is going to earn his way in to the reunion. Rebecca thinks this is crashing the party; but I doubt it. (Actually; Rebecca is reasonably thinking that Baloo is going to go outright heel on us because he would never think of actually going to "grade school" to get his diploma fair and square since Baloo always screws up when trying to hit the books. Look at Vowel Play; even during the finish, Kit still had to bail him out on the spelling of Weigh near the finish. So, Rebecca believes that Baloo is scheming to crash the party even though Baloo clearly claims that he's going to do it the right way because Rebecca believes that Baloo's right way is to cause chaos and mayhem. This plays into a storyline angle later on when Baloo is screwing up his job as a pilot.) We head to a sky shot of Cape Suzette school and how fitting is it that the writer of this episode also wrote Vowel Play too. We head into the hallway as the principal bear wearing a blue suit and tie with the Oscar haircomb all in brown is with Kit Cloudkicker and even addresses Kit by his full name. He asks Kit Cloudkicker how he would feel about sharing a locker with their new student. Kit is carrying a banana yellow book by the way and Kit isn't so sure as he addresses him as Mr. Pomeroy since he just earned that locker to himself.
I see he is still having friend issues at school. (Not really; since there is a platypus furry who dresses like Pomeroy later in the episode who helps Kit pop Baloo from his seat.) Then he notices Baloo with the PICNIC BASKET OF YOGIS near wooden lockers with five holes in each of them. Wait; so they keep live animals in there? That sounds...odd. Ed Pomeroy (Ummm; Pomeroy's first name is fanonal unless there is a storyboard that proves that he was called Ed as his first name. It's not impossible since Lafong in Whistlestop Jackson, Legend had a first name: Erwin.) is voiced by Alan Oppenheimer. Kit is amazed to see him as he asks what he's doing here and Baloo states that he is getting his diploma. Kit gleefully mocks him as the kids in the background run stage left. (Which features an elephant, a fox, the platypus kid who might be Oscar Vandersnoot if he was the almond bear from Captains Outrageous, a pig flying like an airplane and a grey furry in a red sweater. Surprisely, Teddy is not in this episode despite seeing at least two bears in the next scene.) Baloo blows him off for that in response. (He blows him off in a sarcastic manner, implying that he wants no one to hear about it.) Can you really blame Kit for that? (No; the fact that he would wait nearly twenty years to get a diploma from sixth grade is kind of silly.) Well; I guess Kit is in grade six since he is twelve years old which means he was held back a grade which doesn't break logic, but it does make Kit slightly weaker since he should be in junior high and grade seven. (They had to put Kit in Grade Six in order for the plotline to work; so I'm perfectly fine with this.) Also a note about the irony of this school: In Ducktales; the nephews were in a one room school that looked like something in the 1930's (As seen in Time Is Money...) and yet in TaleSpin, the school looks like something out of the 1990's. Just plain weird. Anyhow; we head to class as we see Kit's class mates and no Ernie, Oscar or the Jungle Aces in sight. (Basically; it's the same kids we saw in the previous scene, but we also see two bears, two birds (one of them wearing a green crown, the same crown Baloo wore at the beginning of the episode.) Also of note; in one shot, there appears to be a chicken hawk sitting down, but in the next shot of kids, she's gone and that's when the two bears show up.) in their seats.
Mr. Pomeroy introduces Baloo to the class as he calls him an inspiration to us all and Baloo thinks Pomeroy is praising him. So Pomeroy calls him old, uneducated and accomplished nothing in his life. BURN BABEE BURN! Well; when it comes to anything not related to flying; he's right. (That was just great as Pomeroy basically tells us how inspirational Baloo is in demonstrating on what not to do. That is great reverse psychology there. I realize some of you are going to point out how hypocritical it is for me to defend this and blast Miss Finster parading T.J. around in the pilot episode of Recess. However; Finster's parading a child around and making up lies about him in order to send the message. Pomeroy isn't parading Baloo around here since Baloo hasn't done anything bad yet; Baloo's an adult who should know better and Pomeroy isn't lying about him for the most part. Pomeroy's message is to stay in school and after seeing Baloo in this series, that's not a bad message to send. Plus; Baloo can give informed consent and if he's stupid enough to go back to grade school after ten plus years just to get a sheepskin in order to see his old buddies (who he could have just telephone or send mail to them, an indication that he didn't really care about them until now.), then he deserves whatever ribbings he gets. I can understand people getting angry if a child who is held back a grade is paraded like this; but this is not the case here. Baloo's defense for it pretty much justifies the parading he is getting.) Pomeroy tells them to stay in school if they don't want to end up like Baloo. (And really; you don't.) The kids proclaims that they will stay and do their homework. Surprisely enough; two of the kids actually have voices which I missed. Sadly; I don't think any of them are voiced by kids; but I might be wrong. Baloo is not amused as the old glasses wearing female adult with the purple coat greets Baloo as apparently they have met before. She even pulls Baloo's cheek for a laugh. (Which today would be child abuse by the teacher and usually results in suspension for the teacher; but this is 1937 and it's an adult, so it came off as funny rather than creepy.) Mrs. Morrissey is voiced by Susan Tolsky. (Once you see "Inside Binkie's Brain" from Darkwing Duck; that's all you need to know about Susan Tolsky.)
Morrissey brings Baloo over while Baloo sells the cheek pull all the time and he gets to be study buddies with Kit for the week. Baloo tries to sit down in the chair; but it's clearly too small for him and amazing it doesn't break. (Sadly; one of Pomeroy's wooden chairs in the principal's office wasn't so lucky later on.) Morrissey writes "5-3=" on the blackboard and Baloo stands up as he gets to answer the question. (Of course; the chair is so small that Baloo stands up and there is a chair stuck in his ass.) Now who does basic subtraction at Grade Six? Something tells me Morrissey is setting Baloo up for a big fall here. (Okay; I'm letting this one go because I know a lot of critics hated this since subtraction would be a Grade One type of affair. The reasons are simple: (1) The show takes place in 1937 and the cirrculum for Grade Six would be different from even 1990 or 2011 or even 2016 today. (2) It's not unusual in the 1930's for classrooms to contain multiple grades anyway. So I don't think Morrissey is trying to set up Baloo on purpose here. I think she's just doing her job as an educator at this point. That's because there is nothing that she says that indicates an intentional attempt to embarrass Pop-A-Bear. Besides; she doesn't have to. Baloo is doing a great job of that to himself.) The kids giggle under their breath and wow; the ADR is getting better and better. (Not really; the ADR was fine in this episode as there was chatter at the beginning of this scene.). Baloo proclaims that he would; but he needs to solve an extraction problem with the chair. Morrissey wants Kit to help with the chair because Kit needs to do something in this episode and Baloo goes to the window. Kit tries to pull the chair from Baloo's ass and not having much luck with it. As this was going on, Morrissey asks if John had five candy bars and ate three what would he have left. Baloo's answer: A mouth full of cravities. Ummm; no Baloo, I don't think only three candy bars can cause cravities. So Baloo cannot spell, do math nor science. (Hilarious considering the finish to this episode.) Baloo is holding onto the bookshelf while Kit and an Oscar Vandersnoot like platypus helps him. Wow; did Oscar have a spieces change inbetween this and Captains Outrageous? Maybe it's just Kit helping out another dork in his spare time; like his mature character suggests. No logic break; just weird.
Then again; Wang Films is animating so... Morrissey proclaims that Baloo needs to hit the books again and he's near the bookshelf so he'll be hitting on them real quick. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm.... Finally; Kit and Plaster -- my name for Kit's new dork friend -- (Which means nothing since we never see him again; unless you count his dad.)) unpop the seat, Baloo takes a MAN-SIZED bump into the bookshelves and gets covered partially in books. I see Wang Films isn't in the mood to entomb him. The bell rings and Morrissey tells the student to go to gym class and then return for the history lesson. (Which is a logic break because when Baloo returns to class; it's geography class he goes to. You couldn't just redub her line to say "geography class"? It's not hard and...Oh wait; Koonce/Weimers is story editing here. That would be too difficult for them.) Kit helps Baloo up as Baloo asks if the gym teacher learns juggling. Kit asks why and Baloo states that he needs to juggle school and working for Rebecca. We then see Kit and Baloo walking down the stairs from the door and Kit asks about Rebecca making him work during school hours. Baloo then admits that she doesn't know he's IN school because she would bust a rudder if she found out. She was bust a rudder all right...in helpless laughter. (I just love this angle on Baloo juggling school and work because it is actually real and believable. Now granted; Baloo's juggling is completely hyperbole; which I suppose is more believable than singing in the hallways in every segment like in High School Musical. However; it's an ironic punchline to Rebecca having to juggle a small business as owner while caring for her daughter as demonstrated in a number of episodes already.) Kit is surprised as Baloo notices the clock and the bell rings as Baloo runs out of the front door and out of school. Kit proclaims that it's the first day of school and he's cutting classes. (Not only the first day. Literally after the first period. He would have the record if he cut classes BEFORE the first classroom scene occurred.) At least we know why this time; unlike his usual "because he can" routine. (Yip.)
Anyhow; we return to the docks of Higher...For...Hire as Baloo packs the boxes into the tailsection of the SeaDuck while Rebecca runs down the list of stuff to deliever; like baby bottle stoppers to the Bambino Island Baby Clinic, and something goes to the Upper Geezerland Lawn Bowling Society. (Baloo picks up the box and it's heavy; so it's clearly bowling balls.) Baloo takes the heavy bowling balls box and places it into the plane as Baloo proclaims that this could take hours which leads to this funny gem:
Rebecca:
You look guilty about something, Baloo.
Baloo: Me? Oh; I'm
as innocent as a schoolboy. {Baloo closes the tailsection as
Rebecca's reaction is priceless; if only because Wang Films colored
the whites of her eyes flesh colored for logic break #1 for the
episode.}
We get some SeaDuck flying scene changers and I ask: Why didn't they use these for EVERY scene changer in this show? We see a steampunk like hospital which looks like it's from A Fuel Dollars More as Baloo complains about being in the delivery room. Ummm; yeah. (Actually; the Bambino Island Baby Clinic is located at Smithereen's Hospital which is located on Bambino Island. Even better; Wang Films spelled Smithereen's properly unlike Walt Disney Animation Japan Inc. who spelt it as Smitheens. No wonder Wang Films kept their contract with Disney long after this.) SeaDuck scene changer and we head to a castle in the middle of the snow (I'm guessing this is Upper Geezerland) as Baloo proclaims that those who skip history class are doomed to repeat it. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. (Actually; it's not. It's I believe the kingdom of Prince Neverhas Beenbroke and it's still snowing there for some reason. That is one amazing iceberg there, Miss Cunningham and now we know why they keep saying "history class" instead of geography. Just to cut a promo. At least this joke was funny; but it is still a logic break.) Anyhow; we return to the school as Baloo parks the SeaDuck while scattering all the children in the process and lands in front of the bike rack. Baloo jumps out and ties a chain to the bike rack. Okay, that was really funny. Baloo runs to the front door and opens it to find Mr. Pomeroy. Pomery asks where the star pupil has been and Baloo states that he felt sick and went to his doctor. Pomeroy no sells because they have a school nurse. (So he's not buying anything Baloo is selling here. That's actually great because it makes it clear that he's not stupid. How could he not notice the SeaDuck coming in?! If this were modern cartoons; he wouldn't have noticed it and probably say nothing about it to Baloo, making him look like an idiot.) He allows Baloo to go back; but warns him that he will get demerits for cutting classes again. Something tells me Kit told Pomeroy in advance of this. (Good; that is how it should be booked. Pomeroy should be giving Baloo chances and let Baloo be the heel here in order to justify expelling him at the end of the first act. Plus; he did it in a professional matter and didn't say nor do anything to embarrass Baloo, like any good principal would.)
Oh; and Baloo is supposed to be setting a good example for the kids too. (That's a good one Pomeroy. Fun fact: Pomeroy is a variety of dessert apple. It also means "King of the Apples." Which of course, an apple is a staple of school life.) Baloo walks back stage left calling Pomeroy prince-oh-pal. One difference between school shows from 1995 onwards and this is that Pomeroy doesn't get insulted by the comment and talks like a normal school principal should in real life. Plus; he's not a psychopath like Stickler in Fish Hooks. (In fact; he never responded to it in any way to suggest that he was insulted at all; or more to the point: He didn't respond to it at all. He's letting Baloo commit the sins of his stupidity at this point. Calling Pomeroy a prince implies that he thinks Pomeroy is a busybody tryant, which is in fact insulting. No one can walk away from this and not feel bad for Pomeroy and hate Baloo. Pomeroy comes off as the professional and Baloo comes off like a terror.) Anyhow we head to Morrissey's classroom as Baloo is in the seat again -- this time with the handles cut off -- with Kit as Morrissey puts the reels in the projector and today they have a wonderful little film called Geography & You. (And 2011 me missed the obvious logic break here. Which is hilarious considering what 2011 me didn't miss and/or got wrong later on.) So he cut both gym and history class? (Okay; maybe not a logic break after all. Sometimes even 2016 Me should remember to read the whole thing and then add commentary.) Morrissey turns out the lights and unlike Baldwin she's not boring and unlike Miss Finster; she is not a sadist. (Okay 2011 me; I have to disagree with you here. I like Morrissey because she's a good teacher doing her job. But compared to Mr. Baldwin; she is the boring teacher. Mr. Baldwin has a relationship with Miss Lips who is clumsy and breaks doorways. He has a baby inside of him like seahorses do. That alone destroys the notion that he's a boring teacher. Plus; he has a charming voice to the point where I can root for him once in a while. I like Mr. Baldwin from Fish Hooks because he's not dumb and boring. Plus; he's less gross than Mr. Mufflin from Fanboy & Chum Chum. Now; Miss Finster is perfectly acceptable until Doctor Slicer came about.) The projector turns on and Baloo sets a ruler with his pilot's cap on a geography book as Baloo crawls towards the window and Kit calls him out on it because they are supposed to be studying geography.
Baloo wants to do it at ten thousand feet as that is higher education. Riiiggghhhhtttt Pop-A-Bear. We head to the Cape Suzette harbour as a tugboat sails into view and two planes fly above in as the SeaDuck flies out. We then head to the cockpit as Baloo talks about Bulgaria (a real country) and Malaria (a insect disease in real life although it was common in Europe during this time. Not anymore though. (Although knowing the anti-science special snowflake bridage out there, they might come back in full force at anytime.)); surrounded by a third country called Hysteria. (Which begs the question: Is this the world of Histeria from Warner Brothers? If so; does it mean the country is full of wacky historians?) Baloo is then forced to pull up on a three prop grey plane and loses his books. Baloo wonders how he can keep this and his deliveries straight as he flies into the map which is the scene changer. We head to Boomstone where Baloo talks to Clementine (Without her hat; and loses about a foot in height. (Are you kidding me 2011 me? I took a picture and she clearly has her hat and the height is the same because it was shot from far away.)) about the saxophone mouthpieces for the embroidery club. (Heh. Someone has lost their thinking skills and it's ironic that an educational place is doing it to him. Baloo is trying to be book smart; but he has shut off his street smarts completely just for that. His brain is not functioning properly.) Next we head to Zibaldo as Baloo gives the Pgymites the package of knitting needles for the marching bands. Somehow; I think Baloo is mixing and matching. (Which actually plays into the scene with him and Rebecca later on.) and we head to Louie's outside as he gets two dozen hundred-watt light bulbs. Then they shatter off-screen and now it's reduced to one dozen fifty watt light bulbs which makes no sense whatsoever. (Okay; this scene was poorly staged. Baloo shatters the lightbulbs off-screen at Louie's; but the scene changer back to a one second shot of inside the plane with the map was shown before the light bulbs shattering sound occurs. Then the scene changes back to Louie's as it's one dozen lightbulbs at fifty watts. My guess is that Baloo delivered the wrong lightbulbs and Louie broke them; so Baloo went back to the SeaDuck; got the correct order and came back. Which begs the question? Who ordered the 100 watt lightbulbs? We don't know. It doesn't really matter because the point of this is that Baloo's moonlighting as a grade student is starting to really screw up his work as a pilot.)
We head back to the cockpit of the SeaDuck as Baloo checks off every place but Upper Geezerland as the blue ribboned alarm clock rings because the geography film is almost over. How did he know how long the film was? (Yeah; Morrissey never told us, but Baloo acts like he has seen this film before or something.) Baloo panics as we see him return to class with his books, he notices Morrissey and Pomeroy in the hallway and then runs away complete with Hanna Barbara looping effects out of the school as Pomeroy thinks it's Baloo. Morrissey proclaims that he's mistaken since he's at his desk. Pomery enters and pulls the book away from the hat and there is Baloo who somehow managed to get into the class room in fifteen seconds flat. Logic break #2 for the episode eight minutes in. (Considering that Baloo can do backflips in Road To Macadamia and climb walls pretty good; I put nothing past Baloo. So no logic break here 2011 me; although I can understand why you thought it was such.) Pomeroy asks Kit if he was at his desk all the time and Kit lies of course. Pomeroy decides to sell it; but he's keeping his eyes on him as he leaves. Baloo thanks Kit for covering him and Kit corrects him because he is getting them in big trouble. (I just love how Kit is angry over having to lie to cover Baloo's ass like in War Of The Weirds; considering that Kit has to basically lie about his past with Air Pirates for so long.) Baloo proclaims that it's all covered as the bell rings (and man that bell is strange this time) as Baloo tells Kit to keep him covered. Oh wait; that's the alarm clock; my mistake. (How did Morrissey not hear that? I guess in 1937; ear checkups were not common as they are now.) Baloo crawls away much to Kit's disdain as we return to Higher...For...Hire with Rebecca is in her office. She has a call returned because the bowling balls from Upper Geezerland haven't been delivered yet. Rebecca is at her desk on the phone telling the guy that he'll have a word with him. See; he got his deliveries wrong too and then she deduces that Baloo has a second job! No; not really Rebecca; but your close as Baloo comes into the office wanting those deliveries. Rebecca backs him up good and calls him out on the second job. She wants Baloo to quit the second job and Baloo claims that he's trying to better himself.
Rebecca doesn't want him to moonlight anymore aka no more second jobs as Baloo proclaims that this is no problem and walks out. HAHA! Rebecca proclaims that he probably flew circles around the truth on that one. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. (See; the reason why Baloo has not told Rebecca yet is because in his mind, Rebecca would never buy Baloo going back to school since it would be an admission that he's an uneducated slob. Never mind that Rebecca already knows Baloo's education since Vowel Play. Baloo figures that Rebecca still thinks he's going to crash the party. Even better; Rebecca thinking Baloo has a second job actually makes sense because Baloo already did all that when he lost his pilot's license in On A Wing & A Bear. It's amazing that despite all the different writers that worked on this show; they all still seemed to have a clue how the characters work and how human psychology works to a surprisely deep enough degree.) We head back to the school walls as Baloo is climbing the steel pipes to the window. We then REPEAT THE FOOTAGE although they were at the same seat; so it's forgivable. Baloo's setup is still there as Morrissey is writing on the board about verbs and nouns in a sentence. (So we finally go almost full circle from Vowel Play; only it's grammar, not spelling.) Baloo waves at the window as Kit crawls to the window and opens it. Sadly; Morrissey wants Kit to answer the question and the off-screen bump occurs and Baloo and Kit are BUSTED! Well; it had to happen at some point. (Morrissey busted them when Kit pulled Baloo through the window and Baloo apparently gained fifty pounds since the last scene since he barely squeezed through it.) Scene changer as we head to an empty classroom with Kit and Baloo sitting down and Kit isn't amused by being in detention which is amazing considering that Kit would be the kind of rebel who you think would be in this room a good chunk of the time. (Well; several fanfics have had Kit face detention before; although they booked it that Kit was justified in his behavior over the bullies of the school as something that was built into his character. None of those fics were written by me.)
Baloo apologizes to him as Pomeroy wheels in a stack of chalkboard erasers and the job is to clap the erasers. Pomeroy claps some chalk dust and Baloo and Kit cough right on cue. Sounds like a fair and just punishment to me as Pomeroy states that this will make them think twice before breaking DA RULES (FAIRY GODPARENTS!). (I think this is the closest moment of Pomeroy acting like a dickish principal and yet it was just to demonstrate how the task should be done. This is only dickish if Kit suffers from lung damage; which he does not. Otherwise; Pomeroy comes out as a reasonable principal and he didn't parade the students here like Finster did with T.J. in The Break In in Rebecca. So, good.) Pomeroy walks out as Kit realizes that this will take all day. Baloo looks at the pile and smiles because it's time to stop clapping and start appulding. He's got a Krackpotkin plan (number two in the last ten minutes) as we get the scene changer with Kit and Baloo tie erasers to the props of the SeaDuck. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: This is one of the scenes Kirk Tingblad animated as a freelancer, I should point out.) Okay; this is a neat creative idea; but this is not going to help Baloo get any endearment from Pomeroy in anyway. (Sadly true in this case.) Baloo starts the engines and the erasers spin and the chalk dust flies right into Pomery's office window and he coughs like mad. (Ooops; forgot that one little detail in the plan there Pop-A-Bear? And for those who say Pomeroy should close the windows: Air conditioning in schools didn't exist until 1948. Even some schools today lack air conditioning, in 2016 I might add. It's too bad because the idea is pretty creative.) The engines are cut off and the props stop as Kit checks the erasers and they are dust free. (Kit seems to sometimes be close to the props and then way back in other shots. To be fair though; Kit being behind while the props are spinning is a great idea.) Baloo jumps out of the plane and chalks it up for engine-uity. Here comes Pomeroy coughing up chalk dust and covered with it. Pomeroy demands to know who did this and Baloo brags despite claiming that he doesn't want to brag. (And he wonders why Pomeroy wants to expel him at the end of the act? I would at least suspend him for a week.) Pomeroy finds his brush from his coat pockets and wants Baloo in his office at once before leaving.
Baloo thinks this is the point where he gets an early diploma for his brillance. Riiiiiigggghhhttt Pop-A-Bear. (Again; we are suppose to boo Pomeroy for expelling him. I realize Baloo is the star babyface; but he's acting like a jerk. At least they are projecting his faults on a male principal instead of Rebecca like they normally do in this series.) We head to the principal's office as Pomeroy is at his desk as he tells Baloo (Sitting in a broken down wooden chair (Jeepers; that chair is NOT UP TO CODE and I can relate since it's the same chair I sit on and it hasn't broke. Actually; that wooden chair broke in the end and I have a new chair custom made (basically to hold my weight. Even with that; I still broke two wheels on it within a couple of weeks about two to three months after I came home from surgery.)) that it's obvious he doesn't belong in this school. Baloo chuckles about being in a class in itself as Pomeroy is getting pissed off because Baloo belongs in reform school. See; Baloo is lazy and a nimcopoop as Baloo breaks the chair completely. (I don't blame Pomeroy for yelling at him; Baloo's a disgrace to every responsible adult who wants to graduate from school after many years of not doing it for reasons that were more justified than Baloo trying to get into a reunion. I get that Baloo did the right thing in going for the diploma legit instead of crashing the party like every heelish babyface in modern cartoons; but Baloo is screwing his plans completely.) Unlike Recess with Prickley; Pomeroy is in the right here because Baloo has been disruptive to Kit throughout the whole thing; making him look like a heel in front of Pomeroy and generally being a dick (Evidence #1: Baloo asks about a diploma right after Pomeroy rightfully blows him off.). Prickley only cares about a promotion; Pomeroy cares about his students and Baloo is making his student look bad so Pomeroy gives Baloo his explusion papers right there to end the segment eleven and a half minutes in. See what I mean by the irony of the concreate jungle? And I'm supposed to buy that the creators of TaleSpin don't realize it? Riiiigggghhhtttt. (The only thing I would change here is that Mr. Pomeroy should suspend Baloo for a week instead of expeling him outright. Because it would be the same result in the end: Baloo fails to go to the reunion since the reunion is on Saturday of this week and he has only a couple of days in between. I guess we have to make the principal look unjustified in his decisions somehow; but there's nothing to suggest that Pomeroy is being a jerk here.)
After the commercial break; Baloo starts by begging for mercy in a funny and disturbing spot at the same time as I suspect that Ed will blow him off of this too. (Okay; I get that you are calling him Ed because Pomeroy is more time consuming to spell; but Ed is fanonal until proven otherwise.) Ed blows him off and Baloo tackles him down continuing to beg for mercy. Ed is looking more and more like a babyface with every second and good for him. Ed decides to finally give Baloo another chance and wants Baloo to meet him at nine am on Saturday (His words not mine; so anyone who states that my quoting times on my first fanfic Terror of TerraStone is horrible can stop whining about it. Although everyone has every single right to criticize me for counting seconds for every single line in that fanfic.). Anyhow; Baloo feels relieved and kisses Ed's feet in a very disturbing spot as he leave. Ed takes it all like a babyface. (It's funny how we criticize cartoons for these spots today; and leave shows like this alone. Rose colored glasses; thy name is Hypocrite.) We go outside as Kit and Baloo walk down the street from the school as Baloo explains to the MIRACLE WORKER that if he passes the Equalivancy Test on Saturday; he will get his Sheepskin hence the episode title. Sheepskin is an idoim for a diploma in the 1930's if anyone is asking. Still; that's no excuse for making the episode title sound like a lame porno flick. Although I wouldn't be shocked if that one started Bea from Fish Hooks. (The Certificate of High School Equivalency or General Educational Development (GED) test started in 1942/1943ish; so this is actually an anchronism. So Usland was at least five years ahead of the curve when it came to these tests actually. Still; a better excuse than accusing Bea of being in a porno flick. If she was voiced by Miley Cyrus; then I can believe that.) Baloo then asks what the test is and Kit explains that it covers the whole years work.
Baloo sells it like he's screwed since he's doesn't know the tricks. Kit suggests that he needs a tutor and Baloo cannot think of one since Rebecca doesn't know (because Baloo is too embarrassed in hearing her reaction to him telling her that. Which is coming and boy; does it make the sexist idiots look stupid.) and Wildcat is TaleSpin's equal to Patrick Star; until he gets the LIGHTBLUB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY and wants Kit to become his tutor since he's a study buddy. Nice to see Baloo giving Kit ALL the work; as usual. Kit is not exactly amused as the artwork is pretty good and the animation is somewhat good. We go into the SeaDuck in the skies over the mountains with Baloo putting the REDNECK AUTOPILOT~ onto the stick and Kit THE MIRACLE WORKER is reading from the blue book. Kit wants to start with English and we get this gem sequence of a line and a perfect example of crap getting past the radar:
Kit: Any problems with dangling
participles? {Ooooooo...}
Baloo: Hey, no
smart talk. {Puts the AUTOPILOT OF DOOM on the stick.}
Kit:
Well then; can you conjugate
verbs? {Ooooooo...Baloo goes to the back.}
Baloo:
{Invokes the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH on Kit.} That is
none of your business.
Kit: Baloo, cut it out. {Kit
goes into the back with Baloo having a clipboard.}
Conjugate has a lot of meanings; but for the crap to get past the radar, Baloo thinks Kit is referring to sexual conjugation which is basically a form of sexual reproduction in biology. Dangling participle is fine combined; but it does have sexual implications. (It's even worse than that. According to the Urban Dictionary: An exposed penis, generally used when an exposed dick is seen in public. So that's why Baloo was offended which is silly for anyone with an IQ above 70. Below it; and it's perfectly normal. In Baloo's mind; it's “My God! Kit got off two sexual innuendo phrases; one after another.” Which Kit isn't even trying to. Kit is not talking about sex or anything sexual. Which begs the question: How did Baloo know about these words in the context he believed Kit was saying? Hell of a childhood Baloo has had methinks. This is like the claimed "blowjob" joke with Gumball and the anthroed balloon. Everyone seriously believed that Gumball gave the balloon a blowjob even though the balloon anthro was a legit balloon that talked. By the way; I put the proper defintion links in the quotes so everyone knows what Kit was actually talking about. So yeah; Kit nicely told him to f*ck off.). Baloo looks down as he doesn't get anything Kit is saying. A lot of kids feel your pain, Poppa Bear. R.J. Williams is GOD when it comes to complex speaking which Michael Eisner buried and Bob Iger continued to a lesser extent. (Kit has improved greatly as a book smart person since Vowel Play and I really like him for that. Too bad his math is going into the crapper.) Kit then get the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY because he'll teach Baloo by using the Fish Hooks method: using the thing that gives him strength. In Baloo's case it's planes; in Milo's case it is nearly getting him and his friends killed. I see Cory Baxter has learned very well from this show. (That was the episode Fail Fish and people were pissed off because Milo only learned because he was in danger, completely ignoring the danger Kit is going to put him and Baloo in the SeaDuck. I'm amazed how everyone missed this; but me.)
Baloo still doesn't understand the point Kit is getting as Kit takes Baloo over to the window and shows the airplane props spinning. See; verbs are like props in that they make sentences move. (At least Kit is not intentionally trying to put Baloo in danger and is using airplane analogy to make the point on how verbs work. That is using experience to explain how to work with an educational question. Most cartoons, even the ancient ones never put much emphasis on experience and always fall back to education as if it's the be all to end all. (And Pomeroy's character is based off of that as you'll see later.) The problem with that is that without the experience of people in their fields; there would be no education. It turns education into a religion which is something it was never intended to be. It's like athesim. It isn't supposed to be a religion (like atheists would tell you time and time again) even though some act like it is a religion (in spite of atheists telling you over and over again that it is not.). Most cartoons cannot see that; but this show somehow does. And it doesn't punch down on education and make it sound like experience is the be all to end all either. In fact; it shows that both are enchanced. To say that Dean Stefan deserves credits for realizing this when most writers would give it a second thought is an understatement. It's one of the biggest reasons why I loved Vowel Play and Sheepskin Deep and didn't like A Lighthouse In The Sea Of Time in Gargoyles. Mainly because Lighthouse was just there to pad the show's run; while Vowel Play and Sheepskin Deep actually meant something and had a glorious payoff at the end that made everyone watching it and the characters better in the long run.) Baloo likes the point so Kit goes to math and climbs into the SeaDuck and takes off the crowbar and has the SeaDuck take a nosedive. Question: What's ten thousand feet- four thousand feet? Baloo panics and yells at Kit to stop because they dropped six thousand feet.
Kit does a hyperbole and manages to get the SeaDuck back into the air after some really cute skipping on the water. I don't know if Wang screwed up the spot or not; but it was awesome so I'll let it slide. Kit proclaims that Baloo just subtracted. TOTAL MARKUP CITY! (I don't see why you need to mark out here; the episode was awesome without you marking out.) See; it WAS the Thunderyak -- and Kit's lack of strength in the arms -- that made Kit have trouble flying. (I love this because Kit basically did a dive to show how math works which at the same time; he knew that he wasn't in any danger doing the dive. Although that would prove to be short lived...) Baloo is in shock and Kit panics that they are about to be divided. Baloo is forced to take the stick and push left so the SeaDuck just scrapes off the tugboat back into the air. I see Kit still needs a little practice in dodging moving objects. Kit breathes a sigh of relief and Baloo wants him not to do math in his plane again. Oh piss off, Pop-A-Bear! That was awesome; and you are not going to bury your best buddy just because Michael Eisner wants him buried and dead. We go to the scene changer as we see the alarm clock on a desk with a lamp with a Hawaiian Hula girl in a grass skirt. She has big breasts and she's human. Notice something really odd? She is completely topless! The hair isn't even covering the nipples either! Wow Disney; just wow. I'm SHOCKED you allowed that one to stay without putting on at least a bra. (Okay; I'm about to end the myth of this once and for all. The Hula Girl is not topless as the bra is underneath the lower part of tbe breasts in every shot. The nipples are clearly covered here since they usually sag towards the body if the breasts are huge. That being said; this is still the least dressed woman in all of DTVA as that bra doesn't cover all that much as we still see at least half of her bare breasts even during this sequence. It's so powerful; it makes Baloo's study books change to green color later on. Although I can forgive this and believe that he had far more books than that and those were green. However; the hula girl is not topless. Now; if someone has the first run syndication version of this episode and can prove that she was topless; email me with video evidence of this and I'll reconsider. Otherwise; we made a big deal out of nothing basically.)
We see four books drop down on the crate as Baloo takes one and reads it. Even funnier; when he reads some more books and takes one and we shift from day to night; the hula girl gains a red band around her nipples (Which was always there; but it does expand a little bit in between shots. So at least 2011 me was partly correct about the hula girls' abilities to change her bra on command depending on which shot was used.). Toon Disney kept all this perfectly intact by the way. (Because there was nothing to censor here since the bra was already there.) Anyhow; the alarm clock rings in the morning at six o'clock as Baloo yawns, walks out of the bedroom and grabs Kit as he wakes up. Please let him sleep for once. Baloo takes a shower inside and looks naked. No fan service here in any way compared to Baloo's unintentional stripping in Vowel Play and intentional stripping in Gruel & Unusual Punishment. It should be noted that this doesn't break BS&P because Molly already gave Henry a bath earlier in the series. As Baloo is taking a shower; Kit is using the fishing road attached to a book and moves it so Baloo can read it at all times. Now that's pretty clever and it's the MIRACLE WORKER's idea. What a shock?! They do a spot where Baloo and Kit study under the dock where Rebecca cannot see them. Kit is using the white book of course. Man; that was pretty symbolic for Kit isn't it?! (Okay; the implication is from Jymn Magon that when Kit was alone and before he met the Air Pirate; he was sleeping under docks and in hangers as a hobo. Ah; I see there is a white pages in the TaleSpin world. I guess it was delayed for some reason.) They also do a spot where Kit would rip pages out of the yellow book (Man; this stuff just writes itself) and place them on the cargo. Baloo would pick up the cargo and read them. Cute moment; but Kit's going to suffer the WRATH OF THE APPLE KING for ripping the pages.
Anime Moment: The whole sequence is in total silence with only the TaleSpin soundtrack in the background. Today; we would hear Baloo and Kit in the background. (Which I wouldn't mind hearing them; although Baloo does mouth words on camera; but no audio comes out. Which was intentional since Disney Captions pointed this out as well. I'm guessing he was swearing like a sailor here, which would be a justified reason to not have any audio in this scene. By the way; WRATH OF POMEROY/APPLE KING is far funnier than the WRATH OF ED because it implies that Ed Gilbert would be mad at me. Problem is; he's decased and Ed is fanonal for Pomeroy anyway.) Baloo and Kit then do a sky writing exercise on math (1+1 this time), Baloo blows smoke to write "2" which is correct and THAT'S BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH, MOVIE RATING AND SCHOOL SHOWS SINCE 1995. (Nice to see them remember Vowel Play so well since that one involved school hijinks. Also written by Dean Stefan.) They use the SeaDuck scene changer again to end the sequence which is different this time around. Something tells me that Baloo is still going to fail that test; I know it. (In a modern cartoon; Baloo passes the test and we don't get to learn about the importance of how important experience is to education. All we learn is "education is the only thing that matters" which eight times out of ten is a fine lesson; but it doesn't give anyone incentive to understand what you learn to apply it to the real world.) We return to a sky shot of Higher...For...Hire as we get logic break number three for the episode as the SeaDuck is not at the docks. Why? (I guess it's parked at the school. Which makes no difference in the long run, except...) Anyhow; we head inside the offices of Higher...For...Hire as Rebecca has demanded three times for Baloo to deliver those thermometers as Baloo is more interested in deliver being a verb. Rebecca knows another verb and it's fired if he doesn't deliver the goods. Baloo states that he's awfully busy and Rebecca takes it as goofing off and notices what she sees as a hardback comic book and yes; there is such a thing so they DID do the research.
Baloo gasps in horror as she steals it and realizes that it's an English book for sixth graders. Rebecca asks if he went back to school and Baloo states that he did it for his diploma. (Baloo turns around and sulks because he finally told Rebecca the truth and now he's assuming that he's fired and gone from the company. However...) Rebecca proclaims that she has only one thing to say to him and Baloo thinks it's over. However; Rebecca thinks it's great to study hard and wants him to take Saturday off. Baloo calls her a class act and walks off with the book in hand. Once again Rebecca critics; how can she be a jerkass? Maybe because she's dealing with one. (TESTIFY~! This is so great and no one should have been surprised by this. Somebody was claiming that Rebecca would never give Baloo a day off to further his education. The problem with that thinking is that you also have to completely disregard Rebecca's promo in Vowel Play when she talked about spelling. She believes in a good education and in Baloo's case, he needs one badly. Rebecca showed as a champion of education that she wasn't hypocritical and once Baloo stopped lying and skirting the question and told the truth that he really was legit in wanting to get his diploma (even for the most pettiest of reasons mind you); instead of mocking him, she encouraged him to succeed! That's awesome! This is the kind of character development you rarely see in modern cartoons because comedy rules the roost. Dean doesn't get enough credit for writing this story and deserves the "best episode ever in series" monicker he got in the early 1990's. Maybe not now; but this episode is booked exactly how it should be booked.) We head to Higher...For...Hire AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) outside and then we head inside to Kit & Baloo's bedroom as Baloo is hiding under the cover in his bed as Kit THE MIRACLE WORKER can hear him. Sadly; no earmuffs on him to save him from the noise this time as he wakes up. Kit complains as Baloo (in a blue spotted night gown and cap) comes out of the covers reading books again with the flashlight. (He's basically telling Baloo to get some rest for the test.)
Baloo turns it off and finally decides to go to sleep as he will be bushy eyed and bright tailed. Heh. Morning arrives as Baloo is still asleep. Reminds me of me on the weekends; I can barely get myself up on weekends too back when I wrote the previous rant. Today; I'm usually up early. (Still am basically. By the way; I didn't mention this, but this episode set the record for the most scenes in the series with twenty eight scenes and that doesn't include scene changers since I combined some of them. Including scene changers, it was well over thirty and maybe forty scenes. Wang Films is usually notorious for two things: Shadow characters (this episode had lots of that) and doing pointless scene changer after scene changer. In Allowance Day; it was distracting since they replayed the exact same scene over and over again during the finish. Here; every scene changer actually went to another scene, so it was more of a time constraints issue than just someone trying to look impressive and failing badly.) Sadly for Baloo; today is the big test. Rebecca and Kit try to get him up but no dice. Baloo spews out the capital of a city. HAHA! I'll leave that line as an exercise to the reader. (The capital of Itsy-Bitsia is Teensy-Weensia.) Rebecca goes to the pincher of water and invokes the white wash on Baloo and it works since he wakes up. Baloo looks at the alarm clock and it rings at nine o'clock. Memo to Baloo: Always set an alarm clock to one hour BEFORE you officially leave! Baloo panics as he runs out of the bedroom yelling: "Mother Matriculation!" (Formal process of entering a university; great to hear the word in this show but bad for Michael Eisner's ears and it doesn't relate to a school reunion.) We go to Pomeroy's office see Pomeroy dressed in a fisherman's outfit that is so cute that it would be outlawed by the FASHION POLICE OF LAW. (I put a citation on the giant weighed pants he is wearing.) Thankfully; the clock at the school is one minute slow for some reason. Ed has bigger fish to fry as he does a neat spot by having the fishing hook grab onto his big pants. (And he pulled and did a flip bump onto the floor. I see this is his first time fly fishing.) We see Baloo riding the bicycle (which is simply TOO BIG for him) with Kit THE MIRACLE WORKER behind him (literally) doing the fishing rod/book spot.
Baloo goes into cram study mode which is pretty funny until Baloo's bicycle falls into the gutter as Kit goes flying backwards as Baloo flies forward off the bicycle. (Kit actually hangs from the fishing pole since the line hooked itself into a tree.) Baloo yells "Geromino" which is a Apache Chief according to Baloo and I have no idea if that is true. (It's true.) I don't understand why they bothered with real history here since TaleSpin is not the real world and doesn't pretend to be. Kit falls into the tree and that is pretty much the end for him in this episode. Sigh. (He does appear in the gym for the test; but after that's over, we never see him until Pizza Pie In The Sky at Louie's.) Pomeroy decides that Baloo has blown his final chance (Which isn't all that problematic for him as a babyface.); however, before he can leave Baloo flies like a rocket and takes an off-screen MAN-SIZED bump into Pomeroy. I think; they didn't show the bump and in this case it doesn't really matter since he is here. (I'll take your word for it 2011 me. I have no idea what happened here since they cut away after Baloo crashed.) At least Baloo was smart enough to set his clock five minutes fast. (Actually; one minute fast.) We go inside the school's gym as Baloo is sweating like bullets in his desk in the middle of the gym (ironically the only place we didn't see in this episode). Kit and Rebecca are outside looking worried as I eat my words again on Kit. Pomeroy appears as we hear some frightening walking sounds against silence against the music. Spooky. Pomeroy gives him the exam book and gives Baloo one hour to complete it. We go through a long sequence of the test which has nothing special to report except for Pomeroy's smile and the fishing hook spinning spot. (Again; another sequence in complete silence with music as Pomeroy is practicing how to fly fish. That somehow is an attention to detail most cartoons would miss.) Finally; one hour passes and time is up for Baloo as he looks at a triangle question and he finally gets it. Baloo is about to write the answer but Ed grabs onto the big exam book and Baloo stabs Pomeroy unintentionally with the pencil. Funny stuff as Pomeroy finally takes the test away as he proclaims that the test will be graded on Monday. UH OH! (Yeah; he unintentionally screwed Pop-A-Bear again.) Baloo starts to beg again to mark it now because the reunion is on Saturday. Oh man; Pomeroy is so screwed and he should blow him off. (I just love how Pomeroy is the one who looks like he's slacking off of education here while Baloo is the one who wants to get it over with as quickly as possible. Man; that reunion means so much to him, it makes Baloo look petty.) Then again; considering the disturbing spots Baloo does to get over, I'd give him what he wants here.
Pomeroy decides to sell it after a short walk. Baloo does the desk wedgie spot again just to amuse me of course. (Well; it was clear that the desk was way too small for him; judging by his belly.) Scene changer to a shot of the clock at 10:10 (!!) with Baloo walks backwards and forwards as Pomeroy is correcting the test on the stands. The tension is killing me as Pomeroy finally speaks up and admits that Baloo wasn't so bad after all. (Again; not as bad as the boil in the asshole 2011 me. Anyhow; Pomeroy acting surprised here indicates that the previous principal in the school when Baloo failed Grade Six was a different principal than this one. Which makes sense; otherwise, Pomeroy would have seen Baloo before. Morrissey's the one who knows Baloo well.) Baloo proclaims victory before Ed gives him the final result; which means that he probably failed it. Pomeroy gets him the result: an F by just one question...again! Pomeroy wishes him better luck next time and leaves the gym as Rebecca and Kit looked stunned. Baloo sits onto the bleachers looking completely defeated as the segment ends nearly nineteen minutes in. (Perfect! If this were today; he passes the test and no one learns anything. Because education is everything, right?) Absolutely stunning; albeit predictable and I commend Dean Stefan for not making Pomeroy sound cocky. (Actually; most cartoons are far more predictable than this episode ever could. See Fail Fish from Fish Hooks.) It was the proper response to the failing grade on both ends and I enjoyed it. If Principal Prickley did this sequence; he would probably cut a promo about how great he was and hoped that Baloo goes to the gutter till the end of time. This is the correct booking decision by a mile and it gives me new found respect for Pomeroy as a principal. Personally; I would be ended there and create another episode for season two where Baloo finally gets his sheepskin. Also; this is probably the longest segment in DTVA history as there is only 3:30 left in the entire episode and this segment lasted almost eight minutes by itself. (However; the episodes are self contained and episodic, so Baloo has to get it in this episode on a technicality. However; the way Dean booked the technicality was probably a million times better than anyone in any cartoon booking this. I mean; Kevin Johnston was smiling wide when he saw this I'll bet.)
After the commercial break; we return to the docks of Higher...For...Hire as Baloo and Rebecca are sitting down in front of the Higher...For...Hire sign talking about the failed test. Baloo feels defeated as he admits that he blew it...until he reads the exam book and then gets mad. (I love how Rebecca is consoling him and Baloo doesn't care because he failed regardless if it's one or twenty-one. Implying that education is not like blackjack.) Apparently; he's crying foul because one of his answers is actually correct; but was wrong according to Pomeroy. Oh man; even Baloo believes in the conspiracy of revisionist history. (Actually; unlike most people like that, Baloo actually has evidence to prove he's right.) Baloo asks Rebecca for places of fly fishing and Rebecca proclaims that it is Veronica Lake which was mentioned in The Idol Rich. (Since when did Rebecca know about fly fishing? I guess she got the idea from War Of The Weirds; but wouldn't Kit know more on that subject. I'm guessing Kit was supposed to be here; but they changed it to Rebecca. Don't understand why, since Kit makes more sense here than Rebecca; and the result is still the same.) Baloo runs off to the SeaDuck. Why can't Baloo just accept his failure like a man and stop complaining?! It's not like public schools are going to change the textbooks on a dime anyway. (True; but this ties into how equally important experience is to education.) We now go to Veronica Lake where Pomeroy talks in complex words (tranquility and serenity) to show that he is smart. Sadly; in his attempt to sound smart he violate ANIME DUB CONDUCT number twelve (Thou shalt not rhyme...because it's COOL!). Wow; it took a long time before I would see that stupid pun return. (And I'm glad I retired it. It's not cool anymore.) Sadly for Pomeroy; the SeaDuck arrives and splashes enough water to throw Pomeroy out of the boat into the water. Please Poppa Bear; leave this role model alone for a day!! What so gosh darn important about a reunion anyway?! (It's the principal of the lesson of this episode; not the petty payoff that goes with the diploma.) Why should I care anyway?! (Because the lesson here is very important. Although I could live better if Pomeroy wasn't changing outfits in between shots in this act. He was wearing his principal outfit half of the time in these scene and his fishing gear outfit seconds later in other spots. Very annoying.)
Pomeroy treads water pretty well for a school teacher until he get bopped by the life preserver as he turns around and starts yelling at Baloo. Please give him the WRAITH OF THE APPLE KING; just because Rebecca isn't around. Baloo states that Pomeroy has a destiny choice meeting with a....wait for it...wait for it some more...A kumquat tree. I crap you not! Where do these writers find this stuff?! My unpublished book "Rejected Fanfic Ideas Caused By Overdosing On Soda Pop"? (The same book also contains the nevoustoxins reference from Unforeseen Impact.) Really; a kumquat tree?! What kind of fruit is that? Oh wait; a kumquat is a real fruit grown in Asia, Europe and Southern USA. In other words; I am proven wrong again and they did do the research. Even more so near the end as you will see. (Kumquats can grow in very cold weather was basically the result of this escapade.) Pomeroy gets pulled into the SeaDuck against his will too. Another authority figure gets assaulted on TaleSpin by a babyface; that makes two episodes now that someone has done that and the third one is next. (Yes; a police officer, Pomeroy and the health inspector from Pizza Pie In The Sky all got assaulted in some way. Pomeroy got off easy; although he was kidnapped basically by the babyface.). Pomeroy comments that he is big trouble and Baloo blows him off daring him to expel him. I don't know Poppa Bear; maybe he can call the police and arrest you for kidnapping and assault?! (Wow; even 2005 Me remembered this and even call him out on it. Most old farts leave this alone.) The SeaDuck goes to the Formosa Mountains (Formosa is Portuguese for "Beautiful".) as Pomeroy is completely confused as to the whole point of Baloo's kidnapping him and Baloo explains that he got question forty-three correct which is: What grows on Mount Neverest?! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Mount Neverest would also become a mountain for Ducktales 2017, joining the Bearmuda Trapazoid and of course Cape Suzette. Proving that Ducktales 2017 took place in TaleSpin circa 2017.) Baloo states that it is the kumquat tree. Normally; I have a stupid pun, but this really does write itself. Pomeroy does the Gruffi pose since the answer is nothing and THAT'S WHAT THE BOOK SAYS!
He better hope the book is right; I would love to see Baloo in jail for his rough handling of authority figures. They fly into the Formosa Mountains and the biggest blizzard of the year ensues. Pomeroy panics and wants Baloo to turn back but Baloo no-sells. Baloo tells him that he will see the juiciest kumquats ever seen by goofballs. That is sexual innuendo number three in this episode; who knows how many in this series overall. I lost count already. Man; no wonder Disney purists hate this show. Anyhow; Baloo flies up Mount Neverest and amazing enough; sunny skies break the storm. The SeaDuck flies above the mountain summit area and Baloo looks around and finds nothing...AND THE TEXTBOOKS SAY NOTHING! Pomeroy should have used that phrase; but since he's not Principal Prickely he just gets off a generic comment ("Now you'll believe what the textbook says." in roundabout terms.). Baloo is so screwed now and likely going to jail if Pomeroy has his way. However; Baloo looks down and see the top of a branch...UH OH! I have a feeling that Pomeroy is about to get screwed now as Baloo uses the SeaDuck to blast the snow away from the branch; making multiple passes around the tree. The snow goes away and shows the kumquat tree right before Pomeroy's very eyes. Pomeroy is in shock and admits that he made a huge mistake. Baloo decides that the proper way to make up for it is to give him his sheepskin and Pomeroy agrees to as the truth is seen. I guess this was some lesson about revisionist history and not to believe in the public school system. However; that's probably me reading too much into thing once again as I usually do. At least Pomeroy admitted his mistake and gave him a check mark which is a D-; which is enough for the passing grade. He also lets Baloo off for assaulting him which he shouldn't; but that's a minor quibble on my end of things here. (Actually; the kidnapping was more problematic than the assault as the inner tube bopped off Pomeroy's head unintentionally anyway.) I got to give Dean some credit also for not having Pomeroy grumble or swear that he would get Baloo for this. (You not giving him a smidge of credit here 2011 me! He's earned his crew cut here, make no mistake.)
Pomeroy really showed that he cared about his students and was willing to admit that even he can make a mistake. That's how to make a proper, non-stereotypical school principal. Sadly; Disney hates TaleSpin so much back then that the writers failed to take notes on Dean Stefan's work and apply it to shows like Recess or Pepper Ann (although Hickery was merely annoying unlike Prickley who was downright nasty.). (The problem with saying that they hate TaleSpin is that it would imply that they cared about it to hate it. They don't care about TaleSpin at all, most so in 1990 when it mattered. Anyhow; there is a bigger point to this: When Pomeroy saw a kamquat tree growing in the Neverest Mountains; he didn't pull a David Burton and be angry about it. He admitted he was wrong after all this time and that the book was mistaken. This is how education works because accuracy is king. So how do you get the content for education? By going to experts who are experienced in their field of expertise. Here; experience won out over education because education failed to self correct itself. Once the mistake was shown; Pomeroy admitted he was wrong and corrected himself. I'm certain that he probably will take pictures afterwards to show the school board that Baloo was in fact correct about that question and the textbooks will be revised to reflect that. It's okay to revise stuff as long as it's something that needs to be revised because of errors made. This is one of those times. It's a testament to Dean Stefan to have this much foresight into making this story work that it ended up like this.) We head to Louie's AFTER HAPPY HOUR as Baloo is at the docks and gets out of his plane.
Baloo walks to the door as Louie introduces the guests (Including Clementine and apparently; the platypus furry kid from earlier has a dad as well as the pig furry kid having a dad!) before stopping Baloo because of DA RULES (FAIRY GODPARENTS!). Baloo knows them as he got out of his coma and got a diploma showing the sheepskin to Louie. Louie calls Baloo a main magna cum (Wow, is everyone raised their IQ by 40 points in the episode? Not really; since Louie really meant "great honorable loudmouth".) loudmouth and they slap skin. Then a male voice greets Baloo as he's the tall furry with the red shirt with brown coat and yellow hat as Baloo addresses him as Crazy Eddie. (I was wondering why he was crazy; and then I realized that he has a foot long neck. So he's the real Road Warrior "Big Bird" Hawk? Interesting.) He waves and then puts his nose on hold since the other short furry wearing a blue sweater and purple french hat is Stinky Sedgewowsky. (Wow; they give these two actual gimmicks instead of just names. Geez guys, you didn't have to, but I apprectice it either way. This episode rules regardless.) They then do the Cape Suzette fight song and do the triangle slap skin spot which is fitting since that's the last question Baloo tried to answer earlier on; but the test was over for him. (Wow; I never thought of that 2011 me.) The babyfaces all cheer on the shadow far shot and then walk inside to end the episode at 21:18. Almost dead perfect with a few logic breaks. As a story; this was one of the best episodes of the series, quality wise. In historic hindsight; it just another great episode in a series loaded with them. **** ½ (90%).
Final Note: This episode uses the prop font for the end credits.
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I'm officially impressed. A near perfect episode that came late in the series is a great key to success as any anime fan will tell you. This one was a special one on a number of fronts and the biggest one was the TaleSpin team's uncanny ability to create an excellent episode without the use of heels. Everyone in the episode was a clear face including the teachers and it showed that even faces can have a conflict once in a while. It truly shows the interaction of adults being adults without all the immoral stuff; with a lot better acting. Alan Oppenheimer and Susan Tolsky (who got saddled with hyper-safety genius Binke from Darkwing Duck) should be proud of their roles as they brought out the best out of Baloo. Pomeroy deserves a Crowning Moment of Awesome as being the only principal in Disney history that didn't just not make me cringe; but made me get behind. Baldwin tried in Fish Hooks; but the new Disney rules hamstrung him no matter how much he got over. Morrissey deserves one too to a lesser extent; but she became person non grata after Kit and Baloo got in detention. The only sad part is that people might think that this episode is a soft core porno episode with the porn-like sounding title (An X-rated title and a G-rated episode) (I think there were a few logic breaks and some really wonky animation mistakes from Wang that prevented a perfect episode; but the storyline was perfect.). Kit wasn't needed for this one; but that didn't stop him from making Baloo look like a sexual fool with his complex speaking. Great moment there and Rebecca having empathy for Baloo's failure topped off the list. As for Dean Stefan: Why he wasn't hired for Recess, Pepper Ann and the Weekenders is beyond me. He can bring out really good school episodes. As for this being the best episode of the series: It's not. It's another excellent one; but from a historical view; it's a slice of life episode that was a Wuzzles forte made better because there were fewer logic breaks in spite of Wang Films animation. Plus; it was basically another self-contained episode that payed off Vowel Play in a big way; but doesn't have the awesomeness of pay offs like a Flight School, or A Bad Reflection On You; nor even Plunder and Lightning which just plain rocked judging from history. This isn't the last time we will see this Wuzzles-equse type episode either since the next episode is Pizza Pie In The Sky. (Which is actually a better episode in hindsight. TaleSpin could bring it in terms of story because they made you care about the characters because most of them were lovable and most of the rest were likable. I think Sheepskin Deep has earned it's stripes after all these years mostly due to the lesson of the equal importance of education and experience. So the next episode is Bullethead Baloo and we talk about the Rocketeer commercial that episode pulled off two days from my birthday.) So..
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you next time.
Back
to TaleSpin Rants!
Return
to the Rant Shack!
Return
to the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage!