Mach One For The Gipper

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Mach One For The Gipper Re-Rant

Reviewed: 02/06/2011
Additional Commentary: 12/04/2021

The Best Deus Ex Machina Finish Awaits!

Original Airdate: 02/11/1991 (Syndication), Episode #56 (TaleSpin Volume 3, Disc 1), Episode #62 (Production Order).

Mach One For The Gipper Notes
Mach One For The Gipper Transcript

Ah yes; this episode arrives. This is pretty much the only appearance for Phil Hartman in this series and would have been the first for him in DTVA; if I didn't discover from Chris Barat that he appeared in a Ducktales episode. (2016 Gregory Weagle Says: So I have finally decided to cull the herd with the third volume of the TaleSpin DVD set as an experiment to see how long it takes to transcribe an episode without subtitles. This was under the assumpation I had that the third volume had no subtitles in it. Much to my surprise; when I checked VLC's subtitle menu, there was an English subtitle track on the disc! So I have since had to apologize to everyone that this DVD set the and Goof Troop DVD sets didn't have subtitles originally when in fact they both have subtitles. Sadly; there is no options menu to add subtitles from the disc, so you either need to have the option on your DVD player; or have a program like VLC. It's so dumb on Disney's part. Anyhow; anyone looking for mistakes and errors will be disappointed as Disney Captions in this episode was pretty much on it's best behavior as it seems that 95% of the time, they actually listened to the audio and rewound to make sure.) Anyhow; it's the debut for another Simpsons actor and actress, there is lots of misunderstandings and I loved this episode; most so for it's finish which is one of the weirdest in DTVA history. (It's not Nancy Cartwright sadly. That's for Goof Troop everyone. Anyhow; the plot of this episode is such high comedy: A childhood friend of Baloo's is testing out a brand new top secret engine for the Air Force. However; this man is so cocky and arrogant -- caring more about getting Baloo's goat than anything else -- that he unintentionally loads up Baloo's cargo (which is lots of pickles by the way) by mistake and in order to cover up his stupidity, he blames Baloo for stealing the engine, offering to redeem himself by going after Baloo to get the engines. Oh; and Don Karnage wants to be the fastest sky pirate alive and not have a garage sale. This is a comedy of errors mixed in with some hilarious errors by the animators.) Let's rant on shall we...?!

This episode is written by Cathryn Perdue. The story is edited by Jymn Magon. (This is Cathryn's most memorable work in her career and probably her best episode in DTVA after coming off an episode that without Kit in it; it would have been an easy thumbs down.) The animation is done by Wang Films Animation.

We begin this one in the skies with various clouds moving as the Seaduck flies overhead. We head into the cockpit as Baloo is flying while WildCat is playing with a nut and bolt in the navigational seat. Do you get the sense that Michael Eisner is trying to bury the BS&P nightmare by not having him show up in an obvious role? (Actually; this episode is perfectly placed in the pre-Plunder and Lightning era since there was not one mention of Rebecca Cunningham in this episode; nor Higher For Hire. Plus; Baloo and WildCat clearly knew each other before Rebecca took over, so Cathryn Perdue is already a step ahead of Jeffrey Scott when he wrote Paradise Lost for this series.) Baloo is struggling with the controls, asks WildCat if there is something funny going on with the engine. WildCat spins the bolt on the nail and states that the engine is speaking to him that the cargo is heavy. HAHA! Baloo is a wee bit dumbfounded on that one as then he talks about dragging and wants WildCat to check it out. WildCat goes to the back pushing through boxes and throws the wall switch to open the tailsection door of the SeaDuck which is flying a tow rope with six cargo boxes with wings on them. One of the boxes is acting up (the fourth one, of course...) as WildCat sees the problem and jumps onto the crates. We cut to Baloo on the stick proclaiming that he'll never let himself get this overloaded. WildCat slowly walks on the tightrope, then jumps on the crate talking to the cargo like it's human and spins around the box about eight times. HAHA! (Actually; it's more like four, but 2010 me loves to embelish everything more than I do.) WildCat has a yellow something and his wrench as he is going to fix it up good. (I'm going to take a wild guess that it's a stablizer for the wing.) WildCat gets the fourth cargo box into it's proper place; then the RED BARON OF DOOM flies in, spirals around the entire SeaDuck and cargo causing the SeaDuck to spiral and then the cargo to spiral after it in that order. HAHA! WildCat spins, holds onto the white wing as the cargo box is back out of alignment and he looks down to see cows and a barn. I'm guessing this was recycled from a Rescue Rangers episode; I don't know which one though. (I'm guessing it's Mind Your Cheese & Q's; which no wonder purists hate this show.)

We then cut to the red plane spiraling some more in front of the SeaDuck as we see Baloo on the transmitter, blowing off the road hog. Then the voice of the late Phil Hartman (You may remember him on Saturday Night Live as Troy McClure on The Simpsons who was murdered by his wife in 1998. No need to mince words here.) beckons. (Fun speculation during the time was that Phil Hartman was originally supposed to be the voice of Daring Dan Dawson; but the voice didn't fit the role. Probably for the best; since the alias joke wouldn't have been as funny without someone like Cam Clarke doing it. Anyhow; "Joe from The Issue At Hand" once speculated that Zapp Brannigan from Futurama would have been voiced by him if he hadn't died and let's face it: It's not like Phil was in poor health or anything. He had a lot of life left and someone killed him legit. By the way; if Ace London appears in a TaleSpin remake; what is the over/under that Ace London be voiced by Billy West, who became the voice of Zapp by proxy?) Apparently he and Baloo are buddies as the red baron plane flies upside down and loop-de-loops for fifteen cents as we see a grey wolf with a bomber jacket and a cocky smile waving at him. (Actually; Baloo admits later on that he knew him since they were kids. I speculated that Ace London was in the same private school as Baloo when he was a Bruinwald. Or that Baloo was forced to live a peasant life and forgot about the Bruinwald fortune for many years because he didn't nor couldn't relate to being a blueblood and met London as a kid. Not that it matters; Ace is too funny to have most people think about his past anyway.) Baloo is not liking this because it's none other than Ace London. Oh goody; I love Ace London from the last time I saw him. (He's still an awesome, funny heel; mainly because he is a babyface who acts like a heelish jackass, but it's much funnier to see him get Baloo's goat everytime. That's mainly due to Phil Hartman comediac timing. Even a below average script writer wouldn't faze this man.) London calls it a bullseye as he asks where Baloo is going and Baloo claims that it's to Hades.

Or would have if Ace didn't put words into his mouth. HEE HEE! (Okay; 2011 Me, what the hell were you thinking here? First, Ace never put words in Baloo's mouth once in this scene. Second; it's Kardy's; not Gades and certainly not Hades; which I thought it was what you meant.) The red baron plane flies away like a Tiny Toons character proclaiming that they'll play catch up like the old times. Can you smell setup or do I have to spell it out for ye? (Oh, and the setup is basically playing the most screwed up version of snooker in the history of the world because Wang Films has zero idea how the game works.) We cut back to the cockpit as WildCat walks in with the orange visor over his eyes asking Baloo who that was. Baloo admits that he's Ace London and WildCat is amazed that Baloo knows Ace London as Baloo sulks that he wishes that he didn't know him. HAHA! We head to the twin spires island of Kardy's with a floating landing strip as the SeaDuck bounces down on the landing strip and bends it good as we take more MAN-SIZED bumps along the way. The SeaDuck bounces and lands right in front of the hanger. The cargo boxes take MAN-SIZED bumps in sympathy pains for good measure and none of them are damaged whatsoever. Someone fire those crates! (Someone give the landing strip a raise; since it was bent in cartoon like fashion. It seems that the later episodes of TaleSpin were attempting to be more cartoony; so a chunk of the audience was basically changing the channel saying that TaleSpin should be live action. I hear that a lot since the CGI/live action version of Disney's The Jungle Book was released and is doing almost as well as Zootopia is now. For goodness sakes fans; if you need to make TaleSpin live action; then all you did is demonstrate that the show's charm sucks. I would rather have a CGI TaleSpin made in the vein of Zootopia because Zootopia has demonstrated that you can make big bucks with that style and that style is basically TaleSpin's style with computers. If you need to change a show's charm due to insecurites you have about other people; maybe it's time to change your life, because something's wrong here. If you make TaleSpin live action; you kill the furry charm, because you know that live action means make everyone look like a human being (usually at the expense of giving them humanity because kids just want comedy.). Stop it!)

WildCat is upside down in the seat on his head of course as the engines finally stop. The sequence animation wise wasn't bad considering who is animating here as Baloo opens the side door and wants to give London a piece of his mind. (I just figured out why Baloo was so mad here: He wants to call out Ace for buzzing him because he also did this while WildCat was making repairs outside. Ace almost killed WildCat because of his reckless behavior. So in a way; Baloo does have a perfect justification to get back at Ace. However...) WildCat asks Baloo if he could get his autograph too. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Baloo's reaction is priceless on that one. (It's like: "Are you f*cking kidding me, WildCat Puma?! That piece of shit almost made you free fall to your death on a farm for goodness sakes!" Even if Ace is a jackass; he's a funny jackass to make WildCat want his autograph after nearly getting him killed.) Baloo asks a conveniently placed wolf furry -- wearing a blue coat and banana yellow baseball cap with a clipboard -- about where Ace is and he tells Baloo that he's at Sally's. (I have already assumed that Kardy's was the storage company's name and not the name of the island.) Baloo thanks him and walks stage left as we head to "Sally's Alley" (complete with prop in the middle) as we see Ace's plane in the foreground. We head inside as we see a bartender watching on and then pan west to the billard's table as everyone is watching on including a monkey kid and Amelia "GOD I HATE THAT NAME" Airhead. (Actually; it's Teddy from A Baloo Switcheroo. Most everyone you have seen in crowd shots before; because it's overseas animation. Witness the 33 Air Force soliders looking exactly the same at the end of the episode. Who does Usland think they are? Thembria?! No wonder the High Marshall thinks so low concerning Cape Suzette swine.). We zoom into London preparing his cue stick as he talks about pouring root beer into the gas tank. A female patron bear with yellow hair and pink/purple dress asks: (She's voiced by either Maggie Roswell or Cathryn Perdue since Cathryn has done some acting before becoming a writer. Later on I noticed that the bear patron was carrying a tray; so she is actually one of the waiters for Sally's Alley. How I missed that years ago is a mystery to me.)

Female Waiter: Golly Ace! Did it work?
Ace London: Are you kidding? That plane flew like a songbird; or my name's not... (Ace London does a stick in the arm pit trick and shoots the billard balls and all of them go into the corner pockets.)
Patrons: Ace London!
Ace London: You got that right!

HAHA! Sadly; all the balls (except for the white one) turned striped when Ace cracked the balls so to speak. (Wang Films has no idea how snooker works and it's insulting when you consider that even Knack Animation knows what the rules of American Football are. How bad do you have to be to be worse at something than Knack Animation?! It's amazing! Actually; Ace should have lost the snooker game because the white ball got sunk too.) Anyhow; Baloo opens the door, protests this outrage of screwing of his cargo earlier and London is so happy to see him. HEE HEE! (London's gimmicks are two fold: Make Baloo mad and make himself look good at the expense of Baloo. London knows how to talk; and knows how to act like a jackass. But his humanity is hilariously bad.) He spins the cue stick and forces Baloo over because he has the shot all lined up for him. (Who lined the shot for him because we saw Ace in the scene all the time. It must have been the woman waiter; it couldn't be anyone else.) Baloo proclaims that he has a bone to pick with him and London completely ignores him. (Just like a jerk would; only this jerk is actually hilarious.) I see the Vanderschemes and even Seymour has made the trip here. (This actually makes more sense than the post-Plunder and Lightning episode because none of these guys have screwed Baloo yet. In the case of the Vanderschemeers; even if they were criminals, they probably escaped or something.) Baloo takes the cue stick and decides to accept his dare because he beat him last time. London blows it off because it was impossible. The scary part is I believe it; or his name's not... Ace London. (Ace London: "You got that right." I might as well pound this joke into the ground; since his catchphrase is so great. It's almost the same promo Darkwing Duck cuts; only London is a tweener in the purest sense. He a troll on Baloo, is loved by everyone else and he has no love for Don Karnage, so he's a tweener.) We see the cue balls are back in place and they change positions on the next shot as Baloo takes aim at an orange ball. I see Wang Films doesn't know about billards as much as Sunwoo does.

Logic break number one for the episode nearly five minutes in. (This is the sort of thing millenials would be mocking us for liking, and rightfully so. This is a scene where CGI would have taken care of this. Although it would also help if animation studios knew how billards are played; but meh...) Baloo sweats profusely as Ace proclaims that he should do it and slaps Baloo allowing the cue stick to rip up the green carpet and it flings the eight ball into the air; shatter glasses; bounce around Sally's bar and bounce back right into a mug of root beer splashing Baloo in the face. Nice reflexes from the female patron to get the tray up to prevent spraying on her. (Hilarious mistakes abound as the root beer glass appears on the table out of nowhere for starters and the eight ball has the number three on it for no reason. The spot itself was fine, it was just screwed up by incompentent animators.) Baloo is a mess as Ace laughs at Baloo's expense. (Out of everything that happened; only the ripping of the pool table was done well.) London proclaims that Baloo is always behind the eight ball as he takes the black ball out of the mug and pours out the root beer. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Remember the eight ball in the mug is in front of Baloo and you'll get the humor. (The payoff to the joke works; but getting there was hilariously bad.) He throws the ball into the air and it hands in Baloo's left hand. Baloo get the awesome CHEAP HEAT OF LAUGHS. Ace walks off to Sally (who has Gosalyn's hair before Gosalyn ever existed, purple shirt (like Gosalyn) and pink glasses) who is voiced by Maggie Roswell. Anyhow; Ace tells her that he's off to become really famous and Sally asks what he is testing this time. Ace gets on the stool (NOT THAT ONE! (With his other leg on the counter. Sadly; he would be on the floor on the next shot. Still better continuity than the billards spot.)) and proclaims that he can only say that it's something that will make him the fastest man in the universe. (I cannot accept "on Earth" here. I just cannot because, you are billing the show to be in it's own world. Calling it "Earth" is going to make the smarks snicker because it kills the "own world" thing dead. Call him the fastest man on the planet is a lot better; or even "the world". That allows it to be it's own world without killing the angle dead. Jymn Magon should have spotted this and corrected it.)

Everyone is stunned as the male customer (wolf with blue overalls and red shirt) asks him what it is. Ace proclaims that it's top secret (Even calling the guy Ray to boot...); but thanks to it, he'll make aviation history. (Here's one of those moments where I shake my head: Think about it: Ray here gets one line of dialogue and two appearances tops in this episode without saying another word. Yet; he has a first name. General Patent's professor is called by his title without another name; and yet he has at least four or five lines of dialogue in one scene and a few lines at the end! Heck; the ferret pilot of the Ace London "You got that right!" fanclub has multiple lines during the whole episode and yet he has no name. I would say the finance minister from WhistleStop Jackson, Legend has no name, but we found out via storyboards that his name is Erwin.) Which allows Baloo to be a dick and REPEAT THE SPOT. (Now here's where repeating the spot actually works and makes me feel dirty for all the years I have complained about it: Baloo is repeating Ace London in a sarcastic manner to further the point that he has a bone to pick with Ace for buzzing him and WildCat at the beginning. Plus; Baloo is a jealous old bastard. This is good writing because it's a reaction to Ace London's unadulterated arrogrance towards him and everyone else. It makes sense to repeat what he said. Most times they repeat the spot, it means nothing.) Baloo proclaims that he isn't the only one who going to make history and Ace is on pins and needles asking Baloo what it is. Can you sense that Ace is making Baloo look like the fool that he really is? Then the door opens and in comes the Krady's Storage Coordinator to inform him that the shipment of pickles are ready to be delivered and London walks out mocking Baloo. HAHA! It's a "dill of a job" (Ace London's words, not mine; of course.) as Baloo gets the CHEAP HEAT OF LAUGHS again and even better one this time. HEE HEE! (Phil Hartman's comedy timing was great here as Baloo pretty much talked himself into a corner and could never get out of it. It's things like this that make Baloo look jealous and hypocritical while making Ace London look like a cocky man who can back up his claims. It's an interesting feud to be sure and this makes Eisner's direction in milking the classic characters at the expense of new ones that aren't joke machine even more aggravating.)

Baloo walks out and goes to Ace blowing him off as Ace proclaims that Baloo is always playing catch up and Baloo blows that one off. I see the jealous bug has bit him hard in the ass this week. (Baloo needs to just put his jealousy aside and call him out for nearly killing WildCat. Although the problem with that is: WildCat doesn't seen to care about it anymore and in fact; now that he knows it's Ace London, he is marking out for him like everyone else.) We head to the hanger as we see a hamster and someone else (I think he's supposed to be a ferret, but it's hard to tell.) all decked out in blue uniforms, blue ties, (Actually; the hamster furry is wearing an orange scarf.) goggles, grey pants and shoes with rifles guarding a big box. Ace tells them to go into Sally's Alley to have some pie and the tall guard asks about the cargo's safety. Ace tells him to relax because he'll guard the cargo with his life; or his name's not:

ACE Guards: Ace London!
Ace London: You got that right!

So this must be the Ace London "You Got That Right" fanclub; or the ACEZOMBIES as per my previous rant. (Boy; 2011 me was a lot amused about the two pilots being zombies; although later on, at least for one of the pilots, it may be more accurate than sarcastic 2011 me was at the time.) So like last time; there is my running joke for the episode. ACEZOMBIE number one (the tall one) salutes him and both ACEZOMBIES leave as ACEZOMBIE number one tells him that it's the cargo on the left. Ace London assures him that he knows. I'm guessing that it's ACEZOMBIE number one's fault for all this. (See, the point of this misunderstanding is that when the ferret pilot said "the one on the left", he meant "ferret pilot's left". But since he never said: "On my left"; so Ace assumed it was on "Ace's left" which was actually the crate of pickles Baloo got. In essence, the ferret pilot caused the cascade of events that would follow. As you'll see later on; despite this, Ace found a way to screw himself big time and pretty much deserved what he got.) Ace slaps Baloo's back proclaiming that someday; he will make it to the big leagues. Baloo walks out stage left blowing Ace off as the hanger coordinator with the clipboard returns asking which one to load up and Ace tells him that it's the one on Ace's left. The coordinator is confused about that and Ace assures him that it's the one on his left. So the coordinator takes the box on Ace's left and walks into the camera. Ace then whistles for the "Ace London You Got That Right Fanclub"; who is inside at the bar about to be eating slices of cherry pie. HAHA! Sadly; it's time to saddle up and the ACEZOMBIES run out stage right. (And they did so without complaining at all; so they didn't care about fueling up; they were just there to do a joke.) We head to headquarters as we see a raccoon aide dressed in blue pacing around sounding very tense about getting something top secret as the engine is important to him.

In front of him is an brown bulldog wearing a green uniform and a red beret pacing around as he assures the good doctor that it'll be here because Ace London is their best man. (No; he wasn't the best man at General Patent's wedding. Although at last report, the general got a patent for a "You got that right!" wedding. At least that's the rumor. Also; the doctor is not an aide to Patent contaray to popular belief, namly 2011 Me.) The doctor still asks where he could be and we hear a transmitter voice of Ace as Ace addresses the general as General Patton. (Disney Captions says Patent; and I think it's a funnier name than General Patton in the sense that he probably could moonlight as a patent officer and still be believable at that job.) Ace does his usual ace of the base promo on him, Patton is happy to see him and gives him the all clear signal. We get various shots of the landing strip as Ace London and his "You Got That Right Fan Club" land with Ace doing corkscrews just to amuse me. ("You better be arrogrant. You better be cocky. You better be vain; I'm telling you why. Ace London is comin' to town!" Now; I know some of you are noticing this is dripping with sarcasm (and probably dripping something else no one cares about either.); but Ace really did say that he was coming to town on the transmitter during this scene. "He's getting Baloo's goat. And steals it twice! Is going to find out if he's angry or awkward!" POW! OUCH! Ummm...) Scene changer as we are inside a hanger as the ACEZOMBIES are pulling the crate wood planks away while the raccoon doctor watches on. I should point out that the doctor is not Patton's aide much to fans belief that he was. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Oh, so 2010 me finally admits it?!) We pan over to Patton as Ace is looking cocky and wants a briefing on the engine that he is supposed to be testing. Ace also has a penny in his right hand as he is flipping it. (Geez; that is so "Two-Face" of you London. Are you a double agent for Warner Brothers or something?)

The raccoon doctor gets on a ladder in the closeup and explains that it's not a motor engine as it is a jet engine which was invented in 1939; close enough. (Off by two or three years which is a lot more in the ball park than most modern cartoons usually are.) In this world, it is the first of it's kind. Ace London is amazed as the raccoon doctor pushes some stuffing away as he explains that it runs on some special fuel and we see a jar of pickles as General Patton is shocked and appalled. The raccoon doctor is shocked as Ace London flicks the penny away realizing the major gaffe. See; ACEZOMBIE said to take the left cargo; but forgot to tell Ace that it was the ACEZOMBIE number one's left; which means Ace should have taken the cargo on the right. Well; at least Ace London can take solace that it was the ACEZOMBIE number one's fault for bad context in direction. (Sadly; Ace London is such an arrogant bastard thinking that he's never wrong that by the time this is all over; the ferret pilot is the least to blame for the sins of Ace's arrogance.) The raccoon doctor wants the engine as he throws the jar of pickles away and they shatter off-screen while he dives into the box. HAHA! General Patton wants to know who is responsible for this as Ace cowers in fear. (Basically in any other universe, this gives away that Ace was responsible for this. However; since Patent is one of those who loves Ace London, so...) Ace clear his throat and he blames Baloo for stealing the jet engine. Well; he does have a slight point; even though it was ACEZOMBIE number one who got his directional context mixed up. Ace claims that Baloo switched freight on him and General Patton wants Baloo arrested. Ace asks him not to and he'll get the engine back; or his name's not:

The Air Force: {Ace snaps his fingers and everyone rises.} Ace London!
Ace London: You got that right! {Winks at the camera.}

(Ace actually wants to do the arresting because if Patent does arrest Baloo, all Baloo's got to do is prove that those were his pickles. Plus; in that instance it would be so easy to show that Ace made an obvious mistake and that he's wrong. This would be embarrassing for Ace and end the cozy relationship he has with Patent. So Ace wants to find him in order to get the engine back and prove that Baloo stole it. None would be the wiser here so to say. I should point out that during this portion of the catchphrase pick up line: The hamster pilot has zombie like green eyes; so 2011 Me's sarcasm actually works out to a degree.) We head into the sky with Ace London -- with goggles on now -- in his red baron plane with his "You Got That Right Fanclub" as he is on transmitter informing his fanclub to be on the lookout for Baloo since he has the top secret engine. (By the way; I'm semi kidding about this since the entire airforce is in love with Ace London. Still more believable than everyone in Seattle loving Fred Figglehorn.) ACEZOMBIE number one -- in a green plane -- is on transmitter as he wants Ace to shut up because it's top secret and someone could hear them. Ace tells them to relax because who would hear them from the skies as we conveniently see the Iron Vulture approaching. Oh goody; two awesome heels for one; I LIKE THAT~! (Actually; Ace London is supposed to be the hero who works as a heel. Which is the definition of a tweener here.) We head inside the Iron Vulture's cockpit as Don Karnage has returned for the first time since Jumping the Guns asks "who would hear indeed." (Wow; that is amazing restraint from the writers at this point, considering how popular Don Karnage was and still is at the time. Either that; or they were putting in an effort to elevate new heels to main event status. Needless to say; only Doctor Axelotte came out of the wash all awesome.) We see Gibber is in the room as Don asks Gibber what he would do with an awesome top secret engine:

Gibber: {Nods and whispers in Don's ear.} psst...garage sale...
Don Karnage: No, I would not have a garage sale!

HAHA! I see Jim Cummings is in top season form today. I guess someone needs to since Kit Cloudkicker isn't around for another five episodes at least. (Well; this probably wouldn't have happened if R.J. Williams wasn't moonlighting as the voice of Cavin in Adventures Of The Gummi Bears at around this time too. I mean; out of all the Kit-less episodes in the series, half of them were staged as pre-Plunder and Lightning episodes, so it wouldn't make sense to have Kit appear in those. Anyhow; the garage sale crack and response is the third best moment in the series for Don Karnage next to "Fire at will" and of course his "This is your last chance boy!" speech from Plunder and Lightning.) Don goes to the window proclaiming that he would be the fastest pirate alive and he would fleece and run. So we go to sky level as we see the SeaDuck fly into the camera and Baloo is still sore after being screwed over by Ace London. (Well; Baloo's ego is like a balloon and when it pops it becomes sore.) We head to the cockpit as WildCat is using a wrench to open a bottle of empty soda pop. See; since Baloo and Ace were kids, Ace tried to get the glory and his goat as WildCat opens the bottle cap and we see that it's filled with orange soda. (This is the sort of thing that is why CGI is such an asset because digital painters would have spotted this and colored it in right. When WildCat was using the wrench in the first shot; there was orange edges inside the bottle to indicate liquid; but they forgot to color the rest of it.) He gives the bottle to Baloo as WildCat opens another bottle of orange soda. Baloo would love to upstage London and make HIM haul freight instead. They are about to toast and we hear Ace London on the radio as Baloo speaks of the devil. (This would have been a big deal if I didn't hear someone in Kick Buttowski talk about the devil's stairs in one of their episodes. I think it was Wade Against The Machine.) Baloo takes the transmitter and blows off Ace claiming that the shipping lanes are too slow for him.

WildCat seems to be having trouble drinking from a bottle as Ace demands that Baloo gives the cargo he has to him at once and that's an order. Baloo orders him to go fly a kite because he takes no orders from Ace London. (I should note that this is evidence of a pre-Plunder and Lightning episode since Rebecca isn't mentioned at all.) Baloo puts the transmitter down and Ace is PISSED. (You do not want to get Ace all flustered and bothered. No one would like that.) Ace and his fanclub fly above the SeaDuck and then decide to play chicken with Baloo. Baloo doesn't want to play chicken with an airhead (How dare you insult Amelia there Baloo?! Just because she has an insulting last name doesn't mean you can use it to mock Ace London. Sod off!) and manages to play in between them to separate from them. WildCat praises Baloo for that one as Baloo is relieved that this is over. (In cartoons; you never ever feel relieved, because you'll just die in storyline.) Sadly; he spoke too soon as he comes the CT-37's as they shoot to kill. (So after 41 episodes; 34 episodes had the guns pulled out. This is becoming a trend and it's going to continue on some more.) Baloo takes it all back as they play chicken the same way and that ends the segment ten minutes in. Now the fun really commences. (So far, this is a fun episode with the usual crappy Wang Films animation. It pretty much is like Bearly Alive; but the climax is so much better in terms of quality in this episode than in Bearly Alive, it only exposes Ken and David even more as hack writers. Cathryn is not a great writer; and yet she has performed a miracle on this show in creating an ultra-hot character in Ace London that regardless of Ace's alignment -- which is a babyface who heels on Baloo -- Ace is so cocky that it gives Don Karnage a run for it's money. Plus; Jim Cummings Vs. the late Phil Hartman in a promo cutting contest is millions and millions of buys!)

After the commercial break; we see Don Karnage's CT-37SE fly around and we go to the FPS shot of the plane shooting at the SeaDuck as we are at 0.5 Trigun already. The plane goes underneath as we head back to the cockpit with Baloo whincing about everyone attacking him and wanting pickles all of a sudden. (Geez; it's so much so that I swear that the jet engine in Baloo's plane runs on pickle juice to boot.) Then we go to the transmitter as Don Karnage voice beckons and cuts his usual awesome promo; which Baloo ruins by calling him Dog Garbage. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: This makes Baloo the third TaleSpin character to use that insult, next to Rebecca and Kit Cloudkicker. DT 2017 Don Karnage should be lucky that he's only called "Dan" by Kit since Kit has said worse with his own descendents.) Don Karnage gets all pissy about it because he forgot to roll the R. HAHA! Ah; Don your intentional mistakes are priceless. (Yeah; Don is so upset that Baloo got his name wrong that he tells him to roll the "R" even though he should have said "Car" not "Gar"! Also not call him a dog to boot; even though a wolf is a part of the same family. How drole indeed.) Baloo blows him off like a pop-culture kid and it's see you later as the SeaDuck does the steep climb spot from A Bad Reflection On You Part Two and of course the Pirates foolishly go after him; lest Don calls them sissies. (Huh; that was a homophobic slur if I ever saw one and all it does is encourage someone to think that Dumptruck and Mad Dog are lovers rather than just pirates. Not that Dumptruck and Mad Dog being lovers is a bad thing since it would add more spice to their characters; but SB&P rules you know! I'm surprised Toon Disney didn't cut that one out considering what Baloo said at the end. I guess if the heels say it, it's okay. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Also, a lot of toxic masulinity to boot as well, cannot forget that!)) We see that Dumptruck has joined them and of course the CT-37's croak as this was not part of Don's Krackpotkin Plan and they fall like flies into the drink with ease. We cut back to the cockpit as Baloo proclaims that he needs to get off this route now. (He needs to get off the route of irresponsbility; but that's another time.)

We head to Bart's Deli outside and then we head inside as we see a big ass cat -- with the brown goatee white hat and green shirt -- looking on as Baloo and WildCat open up the crate. Baloo seems to be calling him "Burt" despite it clearly being called Bart on the sign outside. If it was copyright; Disney is an idiot because they forgot to change the sign outside to reflect that. (Okay; I know someone is going to point out: "Maybe Burt is one of the employees of the place." One problem: Burt talks about the Pickle Hoedown as if he is the sponser; so Burt has to be Bart. It cannot be anyone else. Even more to the point: How can anyone mistake Bart Simpson for this fatass cat?! Answer: Someone who uses the legal system as part of their business model. That's who. Anyhow; in the transcript, I addressed him as Bart; but I left Baloo's "Burt" gaffe intact. There's no way this wasn't censorship by copyright; no one can be this dumb and not redub the line.) Baloo flips the top and WildCat goes flying off-screen. We see that Baloo has the top secret jet engine as Bart blows him off because they clearly do not look like his pickles. WildCat claims that if you squint; it sort of does. HEE HEE! Baloo is flustered as he realizes that this is Ace London's secret engine as Bart pulls on Baloo's shirt because he needs his pickles tomorrow for the eight annual pickle hoedown. (Gherkins are a cucumber used for pickling. I would not be remissed if I didn't mention the hilarity of Chargeman Ken and Caron in Japanese sounding like she just said "Sea Cucumber Doggy!" Just goes to show you how fitting it was when I wrote that Caron was accusing Ken of "barginning" into a ladies room.) Baloo proclaims that he'll get his cargo back from Ace London in a flash and Bart gets giddy over hearing his name. Oh; and he wants his white hat autographed for his wife too as Baloo looks dumbfounded. (If you listen closely; you'll hear Ace London laughing all the way to the bank. Sadly; he damn well needs the bank and isn't going to be laughing for long.) Scene changer as we get the sky shot of below and see the SeaDuck fly in as WildCat is in the back noticing that there is no gas tank, no motor and no props.

Something tells me this episode was supposed to have Kit in it; but BS&P overruled it for some reason because this is right down Kit's alley. (I'm guessing that it's because R.J. Williams was voicing Cavin on Gummi Bears at this point and thus was unavailable. I don't understand why he had to do Cavin since Cavin is a much different character than Kit is; and R.J. Williams was perfect as Kit; but sounds awkward as Cavin. I know R.J. puts good effort into the voice; but it didn't matter since the character didn't fit the charming voice R.J. Williams had. On another subject; Teddy Ruxpin's is like a Wuzzle: Illiops are half bear, half mountain lion, judging by WildCat's feet.) Baloo is flying inside the cockpit as he blows it off because it might as well be a turnip that he doesn't want to fly. WildCat calls the engine fascanating; but Baloo doesn't care because he just wants to give it back to London and be done with it. We then hear engine sounds and here comes Ace London's red baron plane along with his "You Got That Right Fanclub". Baloo gets on the transmitter, then Ace turns full fledge heel and shoots at the SeaDuck; damaging the radio and sparking it. OUCH! Someone really whizzed on him in between scenes because Ace is feeling it now! Baloo does a loop-de-loop for fifteen cents allowing WildCat to bounce in and do the Ron Tussien spot with the chair. HEE HEE! Here comes Don Karnage from the FPS shot shooting on the tailsection of the SeaDuck as we near 1.0 Trigun. Baloo panics (As "everyone wants the cockamamie engine but him" so says Pop-A-Bear. Oh come on, Baloo. You know you would kill to have that thing since this is a pre-Plunder and Lightning episode. Heck; WildCat probably did a motorized version of this engine for the overdrive you had installed and then used it in Plunder and Lightning.) as they fly close to the water and Ace London and Don Karnage blow each other off for fun. Baloo flies into the fog and Ace is on the transmitter calling for the "You Got That Right Fanclub" to go after them and they do into the foggy island below.

Then we jump cut to Don Karnage already into the fog. WHAT?! There must have been a Toon Disney cut there for some reason. (Nope; it's the same in every version. I'm guessing that there was a scene where Don Karnage and company went down; but they ran too long and had to snip it. It's a much more minor problem than the Bearly Alive one where Baloo talks about the goons of Howard and getting past them; when we never saw them again for the rest of that episode! At least Don Karnage stuck around pretty much until halfway through the climax and there was a payoff with his appearance in this episode, so snipping out ten seconds here isn't all that bad.) The pirates do a sequence where the Air Pirates glide on the surface of the water looking for the SeaDuck in the fog. However; they past the SeaDuck before finding them. Sadly; Wang Films screws up the fog effects because you can clearly see the SeaDuck behind the CT-37's. All the Pirates have to do is look on their left and they should find the SeaDuck with ease. No wonder people think Don Karnage and company are a bunch of bumbling idiots. (Not really; they were looking to their right so they wouldn't have seen them even if the fog effects weren't there. Not bumbling idiots; just the usual not paying attention. Ace London found them anyway a few moments later; so it's a moot point.) Anyhow; Don calls out to Baloo, calling him a "future victim" for good measure (You just have to love a monster heel who loves making Baloo a victim to announce that; that you don't stop laughing, which causes him to be the ultimate cool heel.) so he can MURDER him. Baloo acts like a timid bunny rabbit whining that they would be found. (Yeah; because the Air Pirates didn't lose their heel heat until Ransom Of The Red Chimp. I almost said random there for a second.) WildCat has an awesome Krackpotkin plan to counter which is to use the top secret engine to rocket out. Baloo blows him off for being loco because it's untested, dangerous and absolutely perfect, of course. (Didn't Mr. Enter complain about this in Breadwinners? Granted; Breadwinners went on far past the expiry date with the gag in comparison to this one, but it's still the same gag.) Wildcat likes the idea as we continue seeing the pirates in the foggy island in a circle as Ace London is getting blown off by ACEZOMBIE number one for shooting on a civilan. Ace blows him off because he's a fugitive and he forced us down.

ACEZOMBIE number one claims that Ace did that and Ace blows him off because he wants the SeaDuck found and destroyed. (I just love how the ferret pilot is deflecting everything on Ace London here. Now granted; what Ace London has done is beyond the pale criminal; but this whole thing would never have happened if the ferret pilot just pointed to Ace where the crate was instead of saying "left". No wonder Ace was blowing him off there, even though in orders of magnitude, London's actions are far more problematic than the ferret's.) Baloo -- now with the end cables -- looks at WildCat and we go to the scene changer as we see Baloo and WildCat putting the secret engine onto the roof of SeaDuck. This would not be a logic break if Wang Films did their fog effects a lot better here. Thankfully; Ace London and his red baron notices the SeaDuck right away (See how looking to the left makes him look smart?) as Ace London and the "You Got That Right" fanclub blitzes over. (I realize that 2011 me is amusing himself with that; but if you watch the episode and see how the Air Force was treating Ace, it's a wonder that the fanclub is not considered canonal.) Baloo jumps into the pilot seat and starts the engines as the SeaDuck glides onto the water forward just as the Air Pirates notice him. Baloo is not happy as the Air Pirates are behind him and the Ace London "You Got That Right" fanclub is above him rendering them sitting SeaDucks. (As Baloo said here.) Baloo tells WildCat to start the secret engine as we see WildCat with the green console attached to the pipe; and he gets the a-okay...for about three second because he doesn't know how to start the damn thing. HAHA! Baloo is not amused by that one as that ends the segment fourteen and a half minutes in. (What an awkward place to end a segment. I would personally end the segment after Baloo said "sitting SeaDucks" and move the final segment of Act II over to Act III. What; were they afraid that the segment would be longer than the first act? Is there some rule in place where the third act has to be shorter than the first act? If so, that is so abritary. At least today; the segments are equal in length and it makes it easier to see when the commercial break starts. That aside, Ace London is slaying me here and Don Karnage is still great at this point, making this a fun episode that Walt Disney Animation Japan Inc. should be animating. Although for my amusement, I would love to see this animated by Kenndy Cartoons. Not because it would be better than Wang Films; but if they want TaleSpin to be more cartoony, Kennedy is much better at that stuff anyway.)

After the commercial break; we see the side of the SeaDuck as Baloo and WildCat look up, we have more gunfire from the Air Pirates and the Ace London "You Got That Right" fanclub. Gun scope from Ace London on the nosedive and more gunfire as Baloo ducks to avoid the shattering glass. (Which is magically repaired a few moments later.) Oh lord; we are up to 1.5 Trigun now as Baloo pops up and yells at WildCat because he was supposed to know something about the secret engine. WildCat ponders and then nods as Baloo yells at him to do something. WildCat then does the "Catch The Tiger By The Toe" promo and flicks the top right switch (He only had three choices; two switches and a knob, by the way...) and the thing shakes. We see blobs of oil going from the pipe into the engine and that turns on the secret engine and it coughs like a chain smoker. HAHA! Jerky motion ensues as Baloo blows it off. WildCat scratches his brain pan and then notices that there is the conveniently placed knot in the hose. Logic break number three for the episode as WildCat does the cartoon spin move to undo the knot and the engine really goes. (I'm guessing that knot in the hose was there for a really good reason; and after seeing this episode, I can see why they put the knot in that hose.) The SeaDuck jets forward so fast that Baloo and WildCat's seat literally force them to the back wall of the cockpit with cute bumps. HEE HEE! I see Baloo got a rubber flight stick today as we see the SeaDuck racing forward and the CT-37's and Ace's planes get drowned as the result of the waves as they wash ashore and break up somewhat. We continue on as Baloo screams to WildCat to turn the damn thing off and WildCat proclaims that he'll give the old grade school try as they repeat the last end of the sequence. Oookkkkaaayyyy. (Even more bizzare is that WildCat's seat was already to the back wall in one shot while the next shot has him sliding from the front to the backwall. That makes no sense.)

WildCat flicks the bottom right switch this time, the engine reverses itself in midair, the SeaDuck goes backwards and do the Aps Final Fantasy VII swamp on the heels. Meanwhile; Baloo and WildCat squish into glass like a freaking bug on my windshield! (See logic break with the windshield earlier. That makes the kink in the hose look logical in comparsion. At least here; it was the heels causing the damage and not the babyfaces. Plus; the damage was miminal. Anyhow; Aps is a mistranslated monster in Final Fantasy VII named Apanda; but Aps is so hilarious as a boss in that games that Aps is more apporos.) Ace is on the red baron plane blowing off Baloo for this outrage. (Note that he's the only one of the fanclub with a plane left for the ending...) Baloo yells at him to shut it off; not backwards, WildCat flicks the bottom right switch again and we go forward again. The ropes snap under the pressure (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Because we have to do one of these in every episode!) and the SeaDuck spirals out of control. Baloo cannot steer this crazy thing as both babyfaces panic, the SeaDuck collides into the top of the rock face crumbling some rocks and then spirals into a tailspin (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!). Baloo then decides to open the SeaDuck door and goes outside to see that the rope has snapped. He goes directly to the breakage (Ewww...(Oh your dirty little mind still ticks to this day 2011 me. Trust me on that one.)) and ties up the loose ends. Don Karnage cannot believe it that Baloo has lost his marble cakes and so Don decides to make a retreat until this whole thing blows over. However; the SeaDuck flies around the Iron Vulture in an obvious jump cut and smacks right into the DOGS OF WAR; causing them to invoke the whirlwind spots and goes right into the Iron Vulture in a great spot. (Great spot; but how did the SeaDuck get behind the Iron Vulture? That makes no sense.) Baloo is screaming for control as the SeaDuck spirals down towards the water. WildCat tries to shut it off as Baloo's legs looks like they are going to get fried.

However; WildCat takes a bump against the window, the SeaDuck flies around and finally goes into the Iron Vulture. This causes massive bending of the place -- about ten million shaboozies in damages estimated --and finally crashes into the back of the Iron Vulture. (Remember when TaleSpin was rooted in reality to a certain extent? This episode has killed that dead now as it's now just another cartoon, just to spite a bunch of critics who thought that they should have gone live action. Listen; never give the critics the time of day, even me. Let them hate you and ignore them or you can release the viewership numbers and let them eat them and not like the taste of it. Focus on the show and the audience because when you care more about critics than you do your own audience; (Teen Titans Go! with "Return Of Slade", I'm looking at you!) not only are you basically admitting that these reviewers have power over you (If your show is doing well; why are you so self-defensive about a critical review?), you are also saying to the audience that you don't care about them to make a good show and that's when the audience, even kids stop watching your show. Don't get me wrong, the episode is fun and great and all. However; you don't have to go overboard just to prove that this is a cartoon. Most people know this show is ficitional because so is most live-action stuff. Besides; that's what the chimeras are for.) The good news is the engine is shut off; the bad news is that Baloo's head is spinning out of control and that Don Karnage (with Dumptruck next to him) can become the EVIL MIRACLE WORKER~ again. He licks his chops as the SeaDuck is jammed. He wants that engine and the sky pirates -- about seven of them; including Mad Dog and Sadie -- runs down the stairs towards WildCat with weapons drawn. Baloo panics and screams for WildCat to turn the jet engine on again. (Amazingly enough; one of the pirates (the one in the black coat) literally puts the knife in his mouth in the same fashion as the old Seton Hall Pirates logo. I mention this because that is no longer allowed on children's television for obvious reasons.)

Let the next Krackpotkin joke commence as WildCat flips the switch again and the engine is on full-blast. The Iron Vulture shifts and the heels fall down. (Not quite; they actually hang onto the catwalk.) Baloo states that it's one more time and since he has the engine; he's no longer the two-bit player. However; the rope snap spot rears it's ugly head again (NOOOOOOO!) and this time the engine is released from its bindings and flies around with WildCat in tow who has finally figured it out before flying right out of his seat. As the Iron Vulture is suffering even more damage; Ace London's plane arrives and while I'm on a roll here: Where are the ACEZOMBIES?! (Probably still on the ocean fixing their green planes since they appear at the end of the episode anyway.) Ace looks scared stiff; wondering what's happening as the jet engine flies right out of the Iron Vulture through the bomb bay doors. The engine flies around (I'm tired of writing that stupid pun to death now.) as it dives into the sea like a submarine. Isn't it amazing that the underwater sequence looks better than any underwater sequence done in the recent editions of Land Before Time (particually LBT IX (** 1/2 by the way)) and it costed less than a million dollars to make compared to the 3D water which costed about $20 million to make?! It's how you spend your money you stupid idiots; not how much!! (Yeah; like better technology and talent. Zootopia is at $900 million on a $150 million budget. Which contains a TaleSpin-equse theme in the modern world. So there you go. It is hilarious that Wang Films did a great job here in around everything else looking bad.) Sure; having fire in the water makes no sense; but whatever. When you have bears flying in airplane; the horse is out of the barn. (Actually; this link proves that water can be a fire starter: Link. So it makes a lot more sense than you realize 2011 Me. Besides; hydrogen and oxygen are flammable gases anyway.) Anyhow; we return to the Iron Vulture as it is smoking (The jet engine cost Don Karnage more than thirty million shaboozies in damages now which is a record now)...AND THAT'S BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH!! It shows the SeaDuck twisting and bending as it dislodges out of the impact spot and falls right out of the bomb bay doors and lands with a safe splash; while staying afloat. (And now; the windshield is broken.)

The Iron Vulture limps away as Don Karnage declares it is time for a long vacation. Oh well; better luck next time Don. (See you in the next episode I'm transcribing and what a comeback by Don Karnage too.) However; Baloo's about to face the WRAITH OF BECKEY now as the SeaDuck is going to need a major repair job now. Also, nice to see Cathyrn Perdue kill a logic break right there; although we are up to above five breaks now. (Rebecca wasn't even mentioned 2011 me; so it's a pre-Plunder and Lightning episode. Okay?) We now return to Baloo riding the jet engine up from the water with WildCat in tow as the engine is still out of control. The engine is heading for the sands as Baloo pleads for mercy. However; mercy doesn't happen as the engine goes right into the sand and they proceed to do the Bugs Bunny spot. Bugs is demanding royalties from the Disney Company now. It's A BUGS BUNNY SPOT OUT OF CONTROL! (Because we have to insult the cartoon on this show. It's not working and it makes Disney look like a petty whiner. Okay? At least Cathryn's writing is more subtle in that department than Destiny Rides Again where they buried the heel in that fashion before he got even a chance to be over as a heel.) Ace London follows the spot as the jet engine finally appears out of the sand and continues to dive in and out of the water a little bit. Baloo is just praying for this to end as he realizes that they are finally at the Air Force Base. (Even funnier: when he tries to get the nose up before they dive into the sand dune, Baloo is literally praying on camera. Lovely!) Well; so much for secrets. The engine flies in a straight line for a change and Baloo drops down under the engine and takes a couple of bumps onto the runway. However; they do not do the sick and sadistic "ass-catches-on-fire spot" to annoy me. I guess you cannot win them all. We then see Ray and another repairman dog (blue hat, orange overalls, red scarf and white shirt) come out and they are forced to scatter as Baloo flies into the hanger and out quickly. They then fly around a flagpole containing a windsock as Baloo screams in pain. General Patton notices the jet engine is flying around.

The engine flys right past the airforce base and Baloo panics again. I'm wondering if Baloo's realizes that if he lands on the base; he's going to be arrested? (Or worse given that the jet plane engine is unintentionally a deadly weapon now.) Baloo then pulls off the sixth logic break of the episode as he slides up onto the jet engine and pulls the engine up until it flies around. Don't ask me how he did that, fuzzy cartoon logic strikes again. (Baloo pulls up on the engine and it turns around. I can get it slowing down for a moment; but turning on a dime? Absurd!) WildCat does a cute spot when the hose lets go of the control panel -- complete with blood-equse oil spray -- and he has to attach the hose back to the control panel. Baloo then screams for WildCat to slow down the jet engine. WildCat feels happy as he flips the second switch from top right, the control panel completely shorts out and the jet engine goes even faster complete with anime background which lasts less than a second if you didn't notice. (Actually; the use of the anime background is completely apporos here because they are going beyond the speed of sound and thus the blur effect in the background makes perfect sense with the scene. Most times; anime backgrounds are used because no one can animate backgrounds properly and they look cool in Japanese animation. Here's an example where the background actually serves a purpose, unlike the same one in Waiders Of The Wost Tweasure, which is animated by the same studio animating this episode!) The whole place rumbles beyond belief from the SONIC BOOM OF PAIN~! Sadly; there is no glass breaking in the scene as Wang Film screws up that spot. (What a surprise?!) Baloo is screaming from the top of his lungs now:

Baloo: {Complete with anime background.} Shut it off!
WildCat: I thought I did!
Baloo: Well, do it again!

Nothing special here. Really; there was nothing special here as the engine begins to slow down completely since the jet engine finally sputters. WildCat states that they are out of fuel. WildCat does a whiplash spot while Baloo admits defeat as they both get WARNERED~! HEE HEE! Baloo and WildCat's hope chest is gone as they fall and land off-screen taking a MAN-SIZED bump in the process. Don't ask me why Wang Films animated the cartoon stars like that. I guess the drugs are more freaky than the ones used by Sun Woo...or maybe not. (I'm surprised that no one retook this scene because the stars looked like pentacles, which is basically a pentagram without the magic circle. I guess after Ducktales; I shouldn't be shocked of all this, but even 2011 me missed this obvious moment.) Baloo and WildCat are on their midsections thinking that this whole ordeal is finally over. However; since they are at the air force base; General Patton's soldiers draw their guns and point them at Baloo as they struggle to their feet. (Yeah; all thirty-four of them. I'm shocked that they were able to clone thirty-three of these men for this scene because there are only two babyfaces and Patent is as huge as Andre The Giant at this point, so he alone could take both babyfaces out if he has to. To say that Baloo and WildCat are screwed is understating the obvious here.) General Patton wants answers and is ready to arrest them for stealing their engine. It's all over folks; this series is officially over. (And since it's a pre-Plunder and Lightning episode, it's before the series officially happens! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Also, this is believable in a children's cartoon since no one actually died, so you could end the series on this without having someone killed if there is a no kill rule present!)) Baloo and WildCat are headed straight to jail for a long time and will become known as criminals faces...and then, this happened out of nowhere:

Baloo: SHUT IT OFF...OFF!
Wildcat: I THOUGHT I DID...DID!
Baloo: WELL, DO IT AGAIN!

General Patton is as SHOCKED as everyone else is; demanding an answer for that. The raccoon doctor appears looking quite giddy as he explains that Baloo and WildCat were traveling faster than sound and that's their voices catching up to them. Which would have worked perfectly if we didn't hear Baloo and Wildcat's voice during the shock wave sequence. However; since we only heard them during the shock wave and not everyone else in storyline, there is no logic break there. They broke the sound barrier, everyone is in shock as Baloo and Wildcat are officially heroes. Yes folks; that is the impossible finish I was talking about. HOW DARE THEY BECOME LIKE NICK?! IT'S SILLY! (Yes, yes it was. However; the whole voices catching up with you when you break the sound barrier is legit science believe it or not. Oh; and please stop shouting 2011 me! You are terrible at it!) And yet this finish was badly needed. Sure; there are lots of examples where TaleSpin becomes a cartoon and yet there are even more examples where TaleSpin could have been done as a live-action series. Most of the cartoon examples look like they could be easily done in live-action as well; however, this finish cannot without suspending disbelief completely. It can only be done in a cartoon and I'm glad they did it since TaleSpin is notorious for being so grounded in reality that everything looks ultra stiff. (I concur; but I just wish they cut it out with the "in your face" cartoon spots earlier. You can be cartoony and still be grounded in reality. It just means you make your cartoony spots count. Oh well; it's still a great finish either way and the whole thing makes sense too.) Baloo seems more concerned about his neck breaking as he shakes hands with the raccoon (Who has gained a pink bow tie since we last saw him...) and feels proud. Then we hear Ace London barge in protest of this outrage because he should get the hero's handshake because Baloo stole his engine. Baloo unhands the handshake and calls Ace out because he's not a thief. (Well; even though it was all Ace's fault for loading up the wrong cargo into his plane and the jet engine into Baloo's plane, no one in court is going to buy that argument.)

ACEZOMBIE number one agrees with Baloo because London did load up the wrong engine. Which is funny considering that it was ACEZOMBIE number one's fault for not telling him that it was “Ace's Right” so to speak. (Yeah; because ACEZOMBIE number two never spoke in this episode.) Oh and Baloo calls him out for shooting at him when Baloo was going to give him back the engine and London is so totally backing up. Patton completely blows him off and shoves him to the ground as he is going to deal with him later. (I just love how Patent turns on Ace like that because Patent is supposed to be in Ace's back pocket. However; the minute any threat of one of his "boys" does something so beyond the pale like shooting at civilians (which is a grave no-no in the armed forces, mind you. Even more so than a civilan shooting at another civilian.), he instantly believes everything Baloo says. Of course, the ferret pilot will likely have evidence to prove Baloo's innocence and Ace was covering up, but this doesn't make a lot of sense.) Patton goes over and slaps Baloo's back because this is going in the history books as Baloo likes that. One note: in the original syndicated version (Or my UK cut tape which is mostly the DVD version minus one edit in A Baloo Switcheroo.) Baloo actually said “Honest injurn” before saying “Well how about that”. Two guesses as to why this was cut; although some on the Cloudkicker forums are questioning if this was racist dialogue. Then again; Toon Disney considered the Chinese Fire drill to be racist and it was cut so there you go. (Injun is slang for an Indian, so you can see why people call it a racist remark. At least Toon Disney is consistent with cutting out dialogue; even though they had no possible way to paint a smiley face on Last Horizons and it's racism.) Patton is grateful for him testing the engine and asks Baloo if he needs anything done. Baloo states that he needs to deliver his pickles to Bart; (Or Burt depending on the writer...) but he has no plane. Patton ponders this over and he has the proper solution:

Patton: Hmmm... Why, he could fly the cargo for you, or his name's not...
Air Force: {All in unison surrounding a stunned Ace London.} Ace London!
Ace London: {Whining.} You got that right. {Cries in his red baron plane in the sea BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as he flies away with the cargo of pickles into the sunset.}

How fitting that Ace London went in like a lion and went out like a dejected little girl. (Very dejected I might add; more so than your writing is 2011 me! I think this is one of the few times outside of police officers, military figures and Scrooge's blunderbuss that a babyface who heels it up fires a bullet shooting gun at this point. Although that will change in Darkwing Duck, I assure you of that.) Due to the effects of Cinema 101; I suspect this is the least of his worries because you don't cry over pickles, Ace. I suspect he is going to prison and getting a dishonorable discharge to boot. That ends the episode at 21:15. Now this was a brilliant episode filled with just enough silliness to be funny and a finish that breaks cartoon logic to no end; but it's also brilliantly staged that you will not care that it exists. (Right on the button here. This was one of the funniest episodes in the series, mainly because of Ace London's hilarious attempts to cover up the fact that he might be a cocky, chrismatic guy who makes us laugh with he gets Baloo's goat; he's really an insecure, dishonest tweener who would kill anyone for embarrassing him. Once again; if Eisner wasn't milking Baloo dry, Ace would be the number two heel of the series even above the Thembrians. But only a heel to certain people; while still being seen as a babyface to most everyone else, because they will think a lowly cargo pilot ruined his life, and not Ace London himself.) Ace London is the best mixed character in the series and it put Don Karnage into the netural character rather than a full-fledged heel. (Nah; they would both be heels; only London would at least have sympathy babyface heat. Don would be the cool heel outright.) If it wasn't for several Wang Film mistakes; this episode would be perfect. (Yeah; that was a major problem; but the Bart/Burt gaffe is hilariously low rent.) Cathryn Perdue should be commended for this episode as a writer and that's saying something considering that she's never gotten up to this point after this series was over. If only Wang was more like Walt Disney Japan... **** ¼ (85%). (Pretty much the same rating as before.)

THE REVIEW LINE

I've heard from a number of complaints about this episode about how the finish is the allegory of the silliness that we see from all the Nick cartoons of today. That the breaking of the sound barrier goes way too far in the suspending disbelief. However; considering that TaleSpin has been up to this point looking too believable that it creates a perspective that this cartoon should have been a live-action show instead; this finish was badly needed. Just like Mommy For A Day, The Old Man & The SeaDuck and Her Chance To Dream; this episode shows that TaleSpin can only work in a cartoon. All in all; a great episode which had a monster over character in Ace London where no matter how cocky he is; he manages to work his butt off. Don Karnage was brilliant as always and the flight sequences are great. (If only Wang Films would pick up the slack and not make so many mistakes, this would be perfect.) As I stated before; when the people who worked on this show are in the correct environment (like they are here); they can look like absolute geniuses and rarely little can go wrong; like Cathryn Perdue for example. However; on other shows, they are pretty much exposed as average writers or worse. (Although some of them might have flashes of brilliance in other shows; it depends on their efforts alone.) It just goes to show you that proper execution is everything. Almost anyone can come up with a great idea; but it takes a genius to execute that idea properly. (Heck; look at the number of patents in the world that aren't even used to make products. Having an idea is only good if it is made and not made up as a way to create a scummy business model. It's even funnier talking about patents considering that the general's name in this episode is "Patent".) I wish Tad Stones would have learned that lesson better in the future with Darkwing Duck. This should get perfect marks; but Wang Films screwed up too badly with the logic to make it so. Next up is Stuck On You which faced the old gun shredder edits in the Toon Disney version. (Which effectively screwed up the rating on that one. When I watch it again tomorrow and do the transcript of it; maybe the rating will go up. Who knows.) So...

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

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