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The Plunder & Lightning Movie Re-Rant

Reviewed: 11/22/2008-11/30/2008
Additional Commentary: 09/21/2021

Can An Awesome Character Both Create & Seal The Fate Of An Entire Series In 90 Minutes? Yes It Can!

Original Airdate: 09/09/1990 (Disney Channel), 11/19/1990-11/22/1990 (Syndication), Episodes #1-4 (DVD Volume 1, Disc 1), Episodes #29-#32 (Production Order), Episodes #34-#37 (Syndication Order).

Plunder & Lightning Part One
Plunder & Lightning Notes
Plunder & Lightning Transcript
TaleSpin Edits Page

ACT III: Khan Job

Time to repent the sins of your bloodstained past!! - Kluya, Final Fantasy IV DS.

(In the recap of the previous episode; when Don Karnage makes it to the SeaDuck on the motorboat; they are using the movie version instead of the syndication version. Al Khan: "Good idea". Us: "Really bad idea!" The echo effect in the closet is also gone, but that is a minor quibble. Anyhow; wlecome to immortality everyone, the big game changer of this show happens right now.)

Yeah; it's the new translation version of the same line I used for my fanfic Unforeseen Impact. However; it plays into the next act which goes from merely Kit being awesome to Kit being immortalized. For fans of this series; this was groundbreaking. For others; it would prove to be the thing that seals this show's fate forever. It makes me hate that boy, if only for a fleeing moment. So we begin this one back inside the ransacked room which is now being animated by Walt Disney Animation Japan. I like Walt Disney Animation Japan; but Disney should have let Walt Disney Animation France do this pilot from start to finish so that some of the character art didn't look so out of place. (Actually; Walt Disney Animation Japan would have been better because they were much more detailed in their work. Sure, France's animation was more fluid, but Japan's was much more detailed and looked polished and finished rather than rushed. If you are going to use WD-France's studio all the way, then just make it a cinema movie already.) Anyhow; Kit is sitting on the trash looking gloomy as Baloo wonders how they are going to get the stone back if Molly has Lucy and Lucy has the stone inside of her. Then Kit stands up and proclaims that it is all his fault. Geez; I wondered where the fragile emotional emo character fanfic writers (including myself) gave to this boy came from?! (Yeah; it's much more difficult to blame fanfic writers when even canon is making Kit take the blame for everything.) Baloo is taken aback by this because it was Don Karnage who kidnapped them; not Kit. You do not know the half of Kit's statement right therem Poppa Bear, as Kit pulls on Baloo's hands and forces him out because it's time to save them like Baloo did to Kit in part one. Is Kit brave; or feeling regret that he's really doing it to redeem himself?! (Well; Kit was brave/foolish enough to turn on Don Karnage the first time, so it's both in this case.)

So we get the scene changer quickly as WildCat has apparently patched all the bullet holes in the SeaDuck during the break. (WildCat must have been in the boat house all this time when Don Karnage kidnapped the Cunninghams. Anyhow; that meeting must have been long and WildCat is much faster in painting and repairing than we all gave him credit for.) The SeaDuck engines roar like a kitten and the plane flies into the sky and into the narrow ridge as we cut to inside with Baloo piloting the plane and Kit in the navigational chair with his map, pencil and dividers which means his math skills are at least three or four grades above the average person. (Sadly; his spelling skills need a lot of work, as per Vowel Play.) Baloo presses some switches as he admits that he's wanting to save Molly and even Rebecca (still having problems with sexism there Baloo?!); however, he has no idea where they are. Kit looks somber again and admits that he knows where they are: Pirate Island. No relation to the decent live action series. (I don't remember that series other than it was on the FOX Box and it was one of those fine series for what it was. Nothing memorable, good or bad; which sadly in this day and age would be a strike against it. I remember TaleSpin and I remember this act so well it's not even funny.) Baloo is SHOCKED to hear this because NO ONE knows where that is. Kit does as he write position on the charts and uses the dividers to show the way: From the cliff go one-six-o south southeast. Talk about going over the child's head there son; you know how Michael Eisner hates that complex speaking. At least he's not Al Khan; or else Kit wouldn't even be allowed to read his trusty map because kids don't read see. (Okay, the joke is dead 2008 Me, move onto someone else.) Baloo sells it since he is the navigator after all; and pushes two switches as the SeaDuck flies towards a lot of clouds. UH OH! Lots of clouds means a storm is coming and that usually means trouble for this friendship. (Yeah; it seems that whenever there are storm clouds around and it's not the actual threat; there is tension among the friends.)

Now that Baloo is out of danger and there is really no one to threaten him or Kit Cloudkicker for that matter; now he can ask Kit to give him the news on his knowledge on the Air Pirates. I love that blue sky background in the cockpit by the way. Syndication would fix that error I should note; thank the lord for small favors. Too bad this movie gave dubbers like 4Kids so many pointers on how to screw anime over so badly that it isn't funny. (We are up to 151 edits now thanks to a couple of syndication fixes and additions to the dialogue.) Kit doesn't sell anything as he looks at the window and he must be thinking: "Why is he asking me now? I wish he didn't." So now we are finally going to find out who Kit really is. (Something Kit doesn't want anyone to know as he's looking at the window, worried. Sure, he's worried because the moment has finally come and this might not end well for anyone involved.) So Baloo invokes possible angle number one: (I think this is a prototype of a segment I started with Chargeman Ken called "Book That Spot" and "Book The Finish"; only the spot they booked was epic for all the wrong reasons, instead of being just awful and bad like it was in Chargeman Ken.)

Baloo: Oh; you can tell old Baloo. Did you stumble on their hideout?

Considering that Baloo doesn't know what Pirate Island looks like; it's understandable; but Pirate Island is a volcano in the middle of the ocean so the chances of Kit stumbling on it is almost zero. (It is possible that Kit stumbled upon it when a stray plane he hitch hiked on was shot down (the pilot would have been killed here) and Don Karnage found him. Don then made him a deal to join them or die with the pilot. Kit chose to join them and the rest is history. It's perfectly reasonable and it's understandable. Heck; I could see Kit being the cabin boy spy for the federal government too. I realize how unethical and how corrupt that idea is, but has that stopped a government before? Since Kit doesn't respond, the answer to angle number one is a no.) Kit plays with the dividers and he's mad. He doesn't want Baloo to know who he is; but he doesn't want to blow him off and hurt his feelings. (Kit's restraint is much longer in syndication and had more animation in it.) So; Baloo invokes possible angle number two:

Baloo: Were you kidnapped by them?

You know; this one is the one I think makes perfect sense and knowing BS&P, I would believe that this is the one that happened to Kit. Kit was probably kidnapped by Don Karnage; made to wear that red scarf and his parents were killed by them. It's not like Disney doesn't allow murder/death of parents in their animation/movies anyway so it's completely possible; albeit predictable. Kit doesn't sell that and gets more and more angry by the second. UH OH! I do not like where this is going. So Baloo invokes possible angle number three (UGH! I hate this one.):

Baloo: Was...was your Dad a pirate?

Oh god; I hate this angle; but it is still very possible and it's one I just want to punch Baloo in the face for. At least it's not the comic version I'm ranting on because if it was; Baloo actually grins on that question and I wouldn't blame Kit for a second if he punched Baloo in the face in the comics either. It's so heartless for him to consider that and it makes Kit look like a petty thief. (Assuming Kit ever knew his dad (In the Long Flight Home; he admitted that he never knew his dad at all, so it leads to wonder what happened to have such a thing happen.), man; Baloo just insulted him for no reason since there was no evidence that his dad was a pirate or even a thief.) So which angle did Len Uhley choose here? Well; the answer is none of the above. Everyone: What do you mean "none of the above"?! Well; Kit gets so angry beyond belief on that answer and jabs the dividers into his map which causes his pencil to break on cue and he is so PISSED OFF beyond belief that he responds with this line... (By the way; in syndication, the second Baloo finishes saying "Was your dad a pirate?" Kit instantly tells him he's a pirate and storms out throwing his hat away. Disney cut at least two non-verbal cues that served a purpose to what was happening in that scene. In syndication, Kit basically snaps instantly like a childish adult who hates someone JAQ'ing off (for a good reason) at him. It made me feel less sympathy for him even though he's a child. In the movie version, Kit shows a lot more restraint as he lets Baloo ask questions, but then when Baloo implies that his father might be a pirate, well Richard Lowman said it better than I could: Well, before he shot out that reply, there was a brief moment where he took the compass that he was using, had it closed, and had it jabbed into the navigation board that he was using. The look on his face at that point was as if he was hit over the head with a grand piano, that look of anger that he gave Baloo, with his eyes tightly shut. That's what I mean by 'getting even' with Karnage somehow. There's also something there that Kit couldn't say about what happend to his father. Was his father connected with the air pirates, or did he cross Karnage for the last time? That was cut out from the orginal showing of 'Plunder And Lightning', and I hate that because as short as it is, it told volumes about Kit's father, and what might have happend to him. Here, Kit gains a lot of sympathy because Kit is trying not to yell at this guy and Baloo simply won't stop. If only Baloo had stopped, we could focus on getting the stone back to Shere Khan, and rescuing the Cunninghams; then maybe we can talk about my life. With Baloo JAQ'ing off; Kit had little choice, but to tell him, and it would really play into the next scene and pretty much the rest of the series.)

Kit: No, I was a pirate. You happy now?!

Kit then jumps out of his seat; throws his hat down so hard that it disappears right on the ground (Oh, that crazy Walt Disney Animation Japan animation mistake. (Kit Cloudkicker's anger and frustration is so powerful he made his baseball cap disappear. You know, after seeing Time Waits For No Bear and the pink pilot's cap incident, the hat disappearing might have been done on purpose as a way to say that in Kit's mind; Kit's life as a navgiator is all over with, and even maybe his own life period.) and then he storms out to the back. HOLY FREAKING CRAP?! Did Kit just say what I think he just say?! And why does Peggy Charmon just want to strangle Eisner for allowing HIM to say it?! Baloo is in absolute shock on that response and he's not the ONLY one. (At first I figured; "Okay, he probably embelished quite a bit to get Baloo to shut up about it. Maybe he really meant that Don Karnage found him and basically told him to join or die (thus angle #1 or #2 basically). Maybe he yelled because of the indecent jab to his father (thus angle #3 basically.). A father Kit would never know because as I mentioned in "The Long Flight Home"; Kit admitted that he never knew his father or mother and that he was an orphan pretty much from the word go.) Baloo asks Kit to hold on as he ties ropes around the flight stick to create a make shift autopilot (Once know as the redneck autopilot since Baloo's voice is more Southern in nature. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Kit would learn his lesson well with his crowbar named "Crow B.!")) and then walks into the back as he has the power to find Kit's baseball cap since he's carrying it into the room. (Baloo's worrying is so powerful, he can made Kit's hat reappear. This has to be a Walt Disney Japan quirk; or is it a Hanho quirk? I don't know; the more important matter is how is Kit going to get out of this moment. Answer: He doesn't.)

We cut to Kit who is rolled up into a ball looking completely ashamed. Sadly; I don't think he's going to get any sympathy from Michael Eisner, Peggy or any parent groups at this point. They're hoping he's just lying and got insulted by Baloo's indecent jab at his father. Kit notices Baloo coming in and rudely blows him off for not flying the plane. Baloo tells him to relax since the makeshift autopilot is on. Baloo sits down with Kit and asks him to explain himself. Baloo puts the hat on Kit's head as Kit shifts away from Baloo (You can tell Kit is not liking the prospect of telling him. And why should he like it? He was an air pirate and he's scared that Baloo is going to throw him out of the SeaDuck and call the police now (Because the police would love to find Don's hideout and this boy has the information that he gave to him.). Baloo right now is wondering: "Was it about his dad that Kit was offended by and he just said what he said to me just to protect him?" ) and admits that he has no family and no home. Okay; that's not unusual in DTVA although using a twelve year old kid in this case is a little over the top. (So, Kit was a homeless transient living in the 1930's. Sure; it's problematic, but a transient is usually a babyface anyway in real life (despite all the Hollywood shows trying to tell us otherwise. iCarly; I'm looking at you.) so this would not offend most people except for scoiopaths.) Kit then proclaims that he actually joined Don Karnage's terrorist group a year old; but got sick of them. I think there's a lot more to that and even Kit's trying to keep his composure in explaining this because he pretty much knows that he's screwed in more ways than one. (So; it's official now. Kit Cloudkicker is an Air Pirate and we should have seen the signs: The red scarf he threw away, knowing the entire vent system to pop in to steal the box, the tough guy attitude towards male adults, the sword play in Khan's office, saying he has no rich folks nor friends, knowing where Pirate Island is. A note; his navigational skills were not learned from being an air pirate, they were learned when he was on the run from Julius Whiterspoon in The Long Flight Home. I'll explain more as we go on.)

Baloo feels really sad about this and probably in more ways than one too. He saw the stone and decided to make his move by hiding in the vents and stealing it from under Don Karnage's nose. Then he escaped them and ran into Baloo. Baloo quickly shrugs it off and tells him to forget about them because they are friends, pals and even a team to boot. (Baloo's reaction to Kit being an air pirate for real was like: "Oh god, what has the world come to.." look. Baloo's humanity really shined here as he accepts Kit unconditionally as a person, basically telling him that it's all water under the wing and basically saying that Kit did the right thing in jettisoning Don Karnage. Although, I think Baloo would have been even better off if Kit didn't steal the stone, but that ties into Kit's distrust of male adults.) Baloo pets Kit's head as Kit has that dubious pause again and thanks Baloo for supporting him; even calling him Poppa Bear for the first time and they do an awesome embrace to end one of the most groundbreaking and maybe the first major scene that sealed the show's fate for good. (Syndication cut out the "buddies, pals, team" part along with Kit's dubious reaction to it before the thank you and embrace. That edit was bad as well because in the movie it was intentionally a mixed message: (1.) Kit cannot believe that Baloo accepts him so easily. "He could have just thrown me out of the plane or tied me up and called the police. After all; I just gave this bear information to the air pirates hideout." (2) This means either (a) "Wow, there are male adults out there who give a damn about me as a transient who is parentless, homeless and living in the depression era, thank you." Or (b) "Thank you for falling for my plan", as in Kit does the playful giggle as a signal that he might turn on Baloo later on. I love this moment because it could still go either way and if he doesn't turn on Baloo, I'm like "Well, duh" and if he does (weither it's real or fake), same thing. The mixed message still works. By cutting this out, Kit accepts Baloo right away and when he does the fake heel turn on Baloo, it makes Baloo look like he's holding the Idiot Ball. Although to be fair, so was Don Karnage in the end of this as well. The funny thing about it is; if you really think about it, this is the first time Kit ever referred to him as "Poppa Bear". As if he thinks of Baloo as his dad. Of course, conspiracy theorist in me points to the fact that he probably said that to get Baloo to lower his guard down a little more in his master plan to betray him later on.)

Kit; as awesome as you are; I HATE YOU FOR CALLING YOURSELF A FORMER AIR PIRATE! (Oh damn, you don't need to shout 2008 me!) I cannot believe I'm saying this; but I have to. Even with the red scarf on his neck; it wasn't that big enough of a clue since Don could have kidnapped him and forced him to wear that thing as a shaming device. I know I praised Len Uhley for a lot of things; but I wish he had picked the kidnapping angle instead of making Kit admit that he was one of them in hindsight. I think it might have even allowed the series to last a hundred episodes even. (Nope; Disney had no plans to expand beyond sixty-five episodes.) My first question to this is: What is Peggy Charmon's reaction to this?! (None that I am aware off. Oh please, someone do a shoot interview with her and that someone please ask the question 2008 me just asked? I don't care what her answer is; any answer would be fun to deconstruct at this point. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Still no response. I guess she didn't really care.)) I mean she doesn't have a lot of love for this series to begin with because she's concerned that it might make children turn against human role models; but that is MINOR compared to this scary angle Kit is saying. Kit just admitted that he was a heel; a bad guy; an evildoer; an Air Pirate; A TERRORIST! (Again; do you have to shout 2008 me?) Jymn Magon is literally playing with fire here and he got burned as he was demoted from his one shot at the top. I look at it from this angle: If children see this alone; will they believe that being a terrorist is cool since Kit was one of them and he's a realistic child (minus the anthro and the cloud surfing gimmick and even the later gimmick isn't as fiction as you think.)?! Maybe; maybe not. (Mostly not. But what has stopped moral guardians from thinkng that? Nothing of course and it's all about them after all.)

However, after 9/11 when we saw terrorists fly planes into buildings; and after all the things George W. Bush proclaimed and did in office afterwards; (Yeah; he basically said that you are either with my unjustified war in Iraq; or you are a terrorist. Before 9/11; people including myself would have seen Kit as a poor little guy who was sick of being just an Air Pirate and think nothing of terrorists. If the terrorist plan was to make us rethink our own culture as a whole (and what a hell of a message that was, eh?); then they pretty much already won. Look at how the world responded afterwards. We have regressed and that's before Donald Trump came into play. President Obama tried hard at least to rebuild western trust, but that mountain is such a steep climb. Hey, he deserves credit for that at least.) Kit suddenly scares the living crap out of me. Kit is proclaiming some serious stuff here and Eisner must have panicked big time that he proceeded to bury Kit afterward; even to the point of editing out emotional moments; or at least dulling it to a certain extent. I wonder if Alan Roberts was really there to sub in for RJ due to voice breaking; or to redub all of RJ's lines during the second run after the Disney Channel preview. (Nope; it was because Alan Roberts was on the way out and couldn't compete with R.J. Williams' as a voice talent. Simple really.) It is really sad for me to proclaim this; but after five years of Malstrom and hindsight, I can safely point to this scene as the beginning of the end for TaleSpin. Sure; the show lasted sixty-five episodes, but Disney had to release sixty-five episodes in order to fill the contracts with the syndication stations. The angle didn't effect ratings; or if they did, it didn't matter because the show was a monster hit in syndication. Michael Eisner doesn't like drama (Even Kim Possible in roundabout terms admitted to this; and I love Kim Possible by the way.) and he certainly does NOT want a BS&P nightmare to occur. (Bob Iger would have seen this as BS. Heck; Judy Hopps not being a Disney Princess was a great little screw you to the brand and thank you Zootopia for that.)

Kit Cloudkicker in Eisner's eyes was a BS&P nightmare; otherwise we would have seen Kit's first Christmas instead of Molly Jolly Christmas (No disrespect to Libby Hinson here since that episode was AWESOME too.) and we wouldn't have seen Kit reduce to conscience and maybe the occasional Kit focused episode. Sad; but true. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Okay; do you realize that I was half joking about the whole thing? Basically; I was playing Moral Guardian on purpose to prove a point: If you look hard enough and give critical thought to it; many of your favorite memories of cartoons are really horrible. I'm not talking about the quality of an episode; I'm talking about the implications here. Kit Cloudkicker is basically the poster child for "Unfortune Implications"; a phrase used by Mysterious Mr. Enter to show that if you put enough thought into it from a critical standpoint, it sounds awfully horrible. Kit being an Air Pirate would put it at eleven on that scale. Personally; Mr. Enter's standards are so high (way higher than me) that it's amazing that he can find good cartoons at all (which he has). Don't ask me what he thinks of TaleSpin, he's only referenced it once and it's nothing really special. Len Uhley and everyone on staff is figurally speaking playing with fire here because it's one thing if Desiree Allure did this because she is an adult and if you can have adults as monster heels; no one is going to bat an eye. However; when a child is the former Air Pirate; remember, this show is marketed to children. Remember that children think that Kit Cloudkicker is cool. Now add the angle and probable cause of him turning heel again like Desiree did (and later Terra from Teen Titans) and since it's all about the MG's; could kids think joining up with terrorist groups, gangs and other such things is also cool? Never mind that Kit Cloudkicker himself doesn't want to be an air pirate anymore...Screw that, says the MG's, when you are a heel, you are a heel FOR LIFE~! Geez; the New World Order in WCW sounds more and more Moral Guardianish by the day, despite being cool heels (because they were honest, perchance?). On a personal level; yes, Kit scares the crap out of me with this angle and his near-suicidal tendences to the point where Baloo's mother hen gimmick is justified in some way. However; this shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Disney is not the ultra-squeaky clean, right wing studio that everyone and their dog who watches live action Disney for the past ten years thinks it is. All I have to do is say: Look at Kit Cloudkicker, watch Plunder and Lightning from start to finish without any bathroom breaks and then try telling me that Disney was or ever will be squeaky clean. That all said; Kit is still the greatest child character in Disney history and this is the origin story for him to come together with Poppa Bear.)

Now with that said; I can hate Kit for sealing the show's fate; but I cannot hate him for the scene overall. It was a painful, emotional one to watch as Kit finally opened up; albeit a small bit on his past and it was the beginning of the Kit Cloudkicker fandom in earnest. From Tail Winds, AeroStars, High Flight and Air Freedom this is where the fandom began for better or for worse. In one statement of fear and warning he went from just being awesome to immortalty. No major DTVA character has ever admitted that he was a bad guy (and part of a terrorist group no less) and turned into a real face: A child no less! (To that point and I think Sandira from Aladdin The Series might be the second one in DTVA; albeit her tenure on the show was too short to be of anything.) Desiree came close; but we knew she was a heel from start to finish and we knew she was using Monty in Many Love Is A Splintered Thing. We still don't know if Kit is going to turn heel on Baloo just yet and Kit has already broken new ground in DTVA and maybe even at Disney in general. (Believe it or not; Kit's the inspiration for Clark The Cub for the Chicago Cubs and in two years the Cubs made the playoffs and to the NCLS even. So getting the kids to come with a mascot wasn't such a bad idea in hindsight. Thank you Kit Cloudkicker for that one.) For better or for worse; Kit made history. We as fans love it; BS&P hated it. Now we have to ask the question: Why is Kit "sick" of them? Is it because he was abused? (Considering that Don Karnage had no problem slapping pirates on screen without any reason to; the answer is yes. And that's just Don Karnage. What about the others?) Or did something happen to his parents and Kit knows that Don Karnage murdered them? (Answer: No. Kit has already admitted that he doesn't know his blood family if they are alive or not. Which means anything goes here and would make sense. Although them being murdered by air pirates would be very possible and give Kit incentive to actually hate Don Karnage and get sick of the pirates.)

The unofficial line on Kit's parents was that they died violent, bloody deaths. Still take that one with a grain of salt. We do not know if Cloudkicker is Kit's real last name either. (I'm almost certain that his parents died at the hands of Air Pirates. We do know he's an orphan (Runaway since Magon's line on that is that he never was in an orphanage. He also claimed that Kit lived in Cape Suzette at one time before he met Baloo which is BS since Kit acted as if he never saw the city before. He probably heard about it; but never saw it. Like I said earlier; not much of a "word of god" type is Jymn Magon.) and the official line from Magon was that he spent his life on the run before meeting Baloo or Don Karnage sleeping under docks, hangers and such. Who knows what Kit has seen?! Who knows if Kit stole from anybody? (Later on, Kit stealing the keys from Don Karnage pretty much cements that he was stealing even before he met Don Karnage.) Who knows if Kit did WORSE then that?! (One of my Youtube commentors actually believed that Kit would be the first killer of DTVA history. Even though it was already done in Ducktales (Launchpad) and Rescue Rangers. First child to kill? Maybe; but no evidence. I think he was the same commentor who called Kit a Byronic hero; which I found silly. I thought he was a babyface who had a dark past and had to make due with what he had. To be fair; he's certainly not Ken Izzy by a longshot.) These are questions that fans wonder about Kit and it excites them while scaring others. Kit is one scary child character and man did he wrestle the title of best DTVA character from Gadget's cold dead hands, and probably kicked her with that Cloudkicker kick in her Insano Nuts. AHHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm...Question is; at what price? (In any other company, no one would bat an eye except probably me; but if Disney does it, all hell breaks loose. Kevin Johnston is right, these MG's are so stupid to think Disney was ever the squeaky-clean company. Considerng how many animation studios have opened up since this for Christian entertainment (weither you love it or hate it, it doesn't matter to me.), I think even they realize it too.)

Kit truly has grown up way too soon and he fears about the very power that he welds; fear of being corrupted by such power. He should fear Eisner a lot more; but it's still not over yet for Little Britches as he is going to really trump even this scene to infinity. If Peggy was scared of this moment; wait about another fifteen minutes and Kit will deliever. Also; another note: We saw the irony of Baloo's character from the Jungle Book to this series; now we are seeing the irony of Kit's last name. The Cloudkicker name in the nice sense is the one Kit wants us to know him by: His cloudsurfing and his command on the clouds which no one in that canon would ever do. (Unless they are Jake Long, Kim Possible or Kick Buttowski.) However; there is an ironic side to the name Kit wish it died a horrible death: The dark cloud he keeps kicking away which is his past; which always keeps coming back and pouring salt into a wound that is very fragile at this point. Also; the irony of him being a navigator (and learning it through his time as a homeless boy running away from Julius.) in that he's the one who needs direction. He has this virulent igorance in him in that he thinks he knows what to do; but yet he really doesn't. He is lost in the maelstorm of thugs, evildoers and horrible adults. That just makes the whole story even sadder for him as other episodes would demonstrate and this movie as well. (Too long; don't care: One part AWESOME, two parts SCARY and one part very sad. That's all you need to know about this.) So we go to another area of the skies in the clouds as another Shere Khan Transporter Plane is flying due east as we cut into the cockpit with a back shot of a beige panther in Shere Khan uniform gear (green this time) and I should note that the panthers were modeled after Bahgeera from the Jungle Book. Magon's official line on Bahgeera himself not being in TaleSpin was because Rebecca surplanted him in the role. Oddly enough; very few fanfics took advantage of him. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: The fanfics have increased since the new audience has embraced the show on Tumblr.)

I did a cameo for him in Unforeseen Impact as Jaloo's boss in a rib. The funny gag was that they were the CLONES OF ABOMINATION and Mr. Khan seemed to be cloning them for his use and abuse so to speak. (Yeah; having a bunch of black panthers doing the dirty work of the CEO. That feels racist. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: It also feels like Mr. Khan is thirsty for Bagheera and Bagheera won't accept his sexual advances. I wonder why he wouldn't, and it's not because it's a gay relationship, you bigots!)) This one has a navigator himself reading a map who looks like a scared brown mutt (with a pretty big nose I do admit) wearing a blue version of Baloo's hat, a blue jacket and a red sweater underneath. The navigator is scared because of the rumors of terrorists/Air Pirates hiding somewhere. The panther pilot tells him to relax in his Rob Paulsen voice since he was voiced by Rob Paulsen. I think the navigator here is either voiced by Pat Fraley, Ed Gilbert, Jim Cummings or Chuck MacCann. Luara Ann Trombley is a godsend for voice talents; but when it comes to figuring out who is who in what episode it is still tricky since Disney didn't throw Jim Cummings out to do these roles and stuck with him. (I know a lot of people were stunned by the "nearly 40 roles" Jim Cummings did; but if you look at the voices he actually did, only Don Karnage. Louie L'Amour, Trader Moe and maybe Gorilla Goon are the only ones that really mean anything. Out of the forty voices he did; only about ten of them at the most (as stated above and including: El Gato, O'Roaroke, McNee and maybe one or two others) had enough of a speaking role. The remainder had one or two lines at the most.)

A lot of guest cameos were done by actual guest voice talents including a few who did anime (Cam Clark, Debi Derryberry, Sherry Lynn, Tony Pope and David Lodge); kid actors (Edan Gross, Brandon Blum, Whitby Hertford, Gabriel Damon, Ben Ganger, Benny Grant, and maybe Julie Urbie if the rumors of her voicing on this show are true.) and even some old classic voices (David Doyle, Howard Morris, Brian Cummings, Alan Oppenheimer, (Alan and Brian are more towards old classic DTVA voices starting with the Wuzzles), John Stephenson, Allan Melvin, Hal Smith and even Alan Young etc.) on top of the usual Disney voices (Jim Cummings, Corey Burton, Peter Cullen, Tress MacNeille, Alan Young. Don't forget Tim Curry as a face actor along with the newish cartoon voices like Debi Derryberry, Jennifer Darling, and Rob Paulsen. 2020 Gregory Weagle Says: You can see a cross roads in TaleSpin when it comes to voice acting as this was the point when the old guard was starting to crumble. Mel Blanc and Daws Butler have both passed on at this point, and Hal Smith was years away from his passing. Jim MacGeorge was in a few Z-Grade movies and shows in the 1950's. The anime boom hadn't really started yet, but it was getting there, and more and more face actors were getting into animation. Rodger Bumpass was not Squidward yet and Debi Derryberry wasn't Jimmy Neutron at this point; Debi was barely into the business at this point, while Rodger was settling in on voice acting as a former face actor.)).

Walt Disney Animation Japan seems to like that blue Wii background on the cockpit for some strange reason. See; Don Karnage has been attacking Shere Khan airplanes for the past week; but that solid armor in the plane will counter that. It's going to get it's first test as the Air Pirates attack at the front. Actually; "Get to the gun quick" is in this version as the navigator gets to his machine gun on the side and begins firings round after round after round while the Air Pirates counter with a good one of their own. As I said before; despite the yellow lights; the sound is clearly bullet shooting and not a laser gun. We are now nearing 1.6 Trigun at this point. One Air Pirate CT-37 is shot down but they are coming in too fast which was added in syndication. Panther Pilot decides to go into the clouds to lose them as he shoves the plane into the clouds as we cut to Dumptruck flying his plane and finally getting his face redone into the final look he would get for the rest of the series laughing it up because they are had. (Well, until Bygones at least.) The panther flies in black clouds which looks like black smoke (AND THAT'S BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH, MOVIE RATING AND BAD DARKWING...DUCK EPISODES! (As much as I agree that there were Darkwing Duck episodes that were bad, (a) you don't have to shout and (b) Bubba's Big Brainstorm trumps them all in terms of awfulness. Even worse, Bubba wasn't the biggest problem with that episode either. In fact, he was the second best thing about that episode. )) as they are had because they fly right into the Iron Vulture. HAHA! They are forced to land as apparently; one of their wheels got shot because it goes flat and the plane has a bumpy landing all around; grinding metal on metal with the floor and the plane is saved from crashing into the wall thanks tothe tennis net.

We cut to a far shot of the catwalk as we see Don Karnage and Gibber on top. Don calls it the catch of the day like he was an angler or something. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Also, there is a short TaleSpin story called "Catch Of The Day" featuring Kit Cloudkicker messing with the Air Pirate's mind like a boss.) Gibber gives him the megaphone and cuts his usual awesome promo of himself. He's not as vain as Gusto is; but he's damn close as he tells the pilots to prepare for pirates to be on board. The Air Pirates inside (which tallies about thirty of them more or less as see in some of the crowd shots later on.) blitz in and prepare to dismantle Shere Khan's Transport Plane as we cut to outside and see the Air Pirates who attacked the plane fly on top of the Iron Vulture and go in via the slow trap door from above in a nice spot. Sadly; it's Mad Dog and he still doesn't screw up here. Mad Dog jumps from his plane and goes over to the Shere Khan plane and delivers this gem of a line:

Mad Dog: Aw; looks like they dropped their props!

HEE HEE! That is so naughty of you Mad Dog. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Imagine dropping your underwear and then looking around to try to find the brain bleach.) As we cut to the tailsection door opening forcefully and in comes Don Karnage and Ratchet walking in as the pilots put their hands up. Don Karnage orders Ratchet to check the cargo spoils and Ratchet does ignoring all the valuables and then finding the one item they were looking for: fishbowls. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! This actually serves a purpose later on; but it's still too funny. (This also makes Rebecca's question of why would pirates want mangoes sound fishy. Although in this case; it's a case of "Rebecca doesn't know what Don Karnage wants anyway and we expect her to have psychic powers because cartoons, baby." Never mind that even the worst cartoons have some form of logic even if they never apply it consistently.) The navigator cannot believe that Don Karnage would steal something worthless and Don Karnage blows him off with this awesome line and I'm paraphrasing here:

Don Karnage: You know; worth is in the eye of me who is doing the beholding.

Too funny of a line as Don Karnage waves goodbye to them cutting another awesome line: So many crimes; so little time. HEE HEE! (I don't know about you, but the next time Jim Cummings claims that he ab-libbed promos; please someone asks him for examples. Because the beholding line sounds like something he would ab-lib the crap out of.) Don and Ratchet walks out with the fishbowls as the men clear the area with their stolen goods (using the convyer belt to boot) as Don orders Hal to open the bomb bay doors and he evens says "please" to boot. (Sadly; there are two Air Pirates who would be on the Iron Vulture and Pirate Island at the same time.) Unintentionally hilarious moment: A lot of us thought Hal's first name was Fleatol because Don's mangled accent sounded like it. So in my fanfics; Fleatol was immortalized as Hal's last name. Hal is a fat oversized beige cat who wears a blue shirt that is clearly too small for him; red pants, a red scarf and green goggles which apparently; Kit stole for Bullethead Baloo. HEE HEE! Hal was a sadist in that he likes bomb bowling and was voiced by Frank Welker. (As per Jumping The Guns. Even funnier; Don's accent wasn't mangled as he said please clearly in the audio. Basically they did 2001 A Space Odyssey reference from 1968. I wonder if there was as big of a critical beatdown by the critics on 1960's pop culture references back in 1990; or that this was an internet invention with the 1980's pop culture reference we see in Family Guy.) I think I have covered all the Air Pirates here. Hal pushes the red button (Helpfully labeled as the Bomb Bay Door Release; and the whole spot is a rib on the HAL computer voice by the way.) as the red flashing lights and alarm sounds. The panther panics on cue and pleads for Don Karnage to have some decency. (Decency? From Don Karnage? Bah! Now mercy on the other paw...)

Don blows off because he is not in the business of doing any decency in a neat promo as the dismantled plane is dropped from the bomb bay doors opening and it gets plopped into the ocean...and they are still alive. (Don Karnage gets off another awesome line: April Foolishness. Yes; he did an April Fool's joke as a terrorist in November and somehow that was much funnier than any April Fool's I see today. Probably because there was a bigger story to the joke that wasn't a joke.) Mad Dog whines about it because apparently; letting them live is not a standard protocol of the Air Pirates. Wait, what?! It just plays right into the questions of Kit himself. How many deaths has Kit seen? How many crimes did he see? How many of them were DONE by him? See what I mean by BS&P nightmare? (Kit Cloudkicker only told Baloo as much as he wanted to tell Baloo please if he goes too far into it, Baloo might not exactly forgive him as easily as he did in the previous scene. So the Air Pirates are basically doing it for him. Of course, after almost getting killed by Don Karnage in Plunder and Lightning part one, I think Kit being sick of them is an understatement. You wonder if he grew Stockholm Syndrome in the process? Like I said, this created the Cloudkicker fandom for better or for worse. Mostly worse sadly. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: In the comics, there is a story that Kit actually reveals that he took part in at least one Air Pirate raid and even came up with the plans!)) Don blows him off because he wants Shere Khan to know what he stole and play some mind games with him as he stuffs the megaphone right on Mad Dog's head. HAHA! (Just like a number of terrorist groups; they like to flaunt their successes in order to strike fear in the frightened population and rub it right in the face of authority. Only Don Karnage does it with the style of someone who is cool.)

Mad Dog now sees the points which is ironic since he cannot see with that thing stuffed on his head. (Bump machine, thy name is Mad Dog; who went to the Mepps School of Self Defense~! One day, I'll explain the joke and you won't like it one bit.) Don orders his men to set a course for Pirate Island and the Iron Vulture sells it by going up and then flying away stage right. We then get an awesome cloud sequence as the SeaDuck flies towards Pirate Island which is a set of volcanoes which Kit helpfully points out. Baloo asks if it's behind the volcano and Kit answers that one as inside the volcano. Yeah; how sadistic can you get?! Baloo calls this hot stuff indeed. Kit states that they'll go through the back door which is usually where the guard is down. He tells Baloo to fly low and through the fog bank which Baloo protests that it's solid rock. Kit tells Baloo to trust him in a pretty happy voice and smile. I betcha Kit tells everyone that and Kit gets unlucky ninty-nine percent of the time; thankfully Baloo is the one percent that foils Kit's mistrusts of adults in general. (The conspiracy theorist in me suggests that the trust me line is going to be very symbolic when Kit does the fake heel turn, because Baloo fell for it hook, line and sinker.) Baloo flies in low and through the fog bank as the flight sequence is really good for it's time as Baloo is worried a bit about the touch and go situation that he's in; but ultimately he manages to fly into a cave which happens to have a waterfall. Baloo slides the SeaDuck to the left side of the top of the waterfall and parks next to a stone dock. (The movie version screwed this up by having a huge gap of water between the SeaDuck door and the stone dock. Syndication fixes this to avoid a logic break in the next shot where the SeaDuck door is against the dock as it should be. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Part Three was the least edited in the entire television pilot.))

Kit and Baloo run out of the SeaDuck as Baloo calls that a wild ride. We then start the spot fest as Kit and Baloo run onto a bunch of rope rocks which make up a really wild swinging bridge. Baloo's weight plus heat equals danger as the rope is threatening to snap. Baloo and Kit hop quickly onto the rocks; and one of them is hanging by a spike column as the two bears are struggling harshly to keep their balance. Baloo grabs Kit and Baloo hops over the pit and lands without incident onto the other side. Baloo sets Kit back down; and Kit runs over to the torch on the left side. HOLY CRAP?! This scene doesn't use the cartoon scary dark cave colors! Not that I care either way; but that is really odd here and it really puts a dent into Mr. Hardcore's cartoon hate right there. This was marketed to kids by Michael Eisner I should note. (When I first saw this; I was literally laughing my ass off because after seeing the Diablo 3 petition, it was clear to me that no one who wrote the petition had ever watched cartoons in their lives. More so the ones from DTVA. Most of all this pilot alone. It was so stupid.) Baloo asks where the Air Pirates are and Kit thinks that they are on a heist which means WildCat did repair the plane in between the first and second scenes of Act III. Kit grabs the torch and a huge killer spike befalls missing Kit by about three feet. Oh man; Magon is really cutting it close with Kit teasing death here. Kit and Baloo run off stage right as the non-cartoon dusk lighting is in effect. Wow. Kit stops in front of a small stone and Baloo stops behind him. Kit states the whole thing is rigged as he throws a stone into the general area and it hits a small panel which twists around to find a swinging bear trap! I think Don Karnage has a personal grudge against bears in general and I think he's using Kit to shame all bears everywhere by having him as a heel. Needless to say; it didn't work. (Oh really?! You know better 2008 me that in that era, ducks rocks and bears sucked! It has been a well proven fact that bears are communists and red blooded AmeriKKKans will have none of that crap.)

Baloo whistles and Kit shuts his trap with his hand! Now if he can do that to Drake Mallard and Norton; my life would be complete. (Do you have a personal grunge against Jim Cummings 2008 me? Besides; the only one I want to shut up is Drake Mallard because he's full of himself. But he is the ultimate voice god in that he can never he shut up.) Kit throws away the torch. (A kid using a torch? CENSOR THAT ONE~! I can just hear Al Khan say that now. (Yeah; give him a flashlight like every other neutered show set in the 1980's because the FCC sucks. Sometimes, I feel bad for the FCC, they are truly a misundestood government organization.)) They run around the traps as Baloo asks him about the traps. Kit and Baloo run into the next hallway proclaiming that the traps are busted and trips over a rope in a pretty awesome spot. That uncorks the killer motor saw and Baloo yells to pull chocks and they run off stage right. Thankfully the saw stays in one place as Baloo calls Kit's former "friends" a "nice crowd". (Yeah; we are getting a Cinema 101 type demonstration of how terrorizing the Air Pirates really are. I think (and understandably so) that the reason no one sees them as terrorists is because Don Karnage is so cool and likable as a monster heel. However; there is a major difference between being likable and being a terrorist. It's basically using his charm as an excuse to justify violence and fear. I thought Shere Khan was supposed to be the Donald Trump of this outfit, although Khan is more like Hans Gurber from Die Hard which is as 1980's of a pop culture reference that you can get. Where are those anti-pop culture references critics on this one? I know they wear rose colored glasses, but even this is silly by their absurd standards of criticism.)

I'm amazed Kit didn't fall on his ass again like he did in Act II. (This all with cut in syndication by the way because it was deemed too violent and the sawbuzz apparently came too close to Disney's liking. They changed it to Baloo and Kit jumping over crumbling edges; thus eliminating the danger altogether. I have no problem with it being there in syndication; but it should have happened after the sawblade.) By the way; the scene changes to Rebecca and Molly's cell begins here in the movie version; but in the syndication version, Disney decided to add a scene where Baloo and Kit run into two Air Pirates and they did some square dancing which ends up with the Air Pirates doing a sick bump on each other's heads and they get knocked out. This scene basically proves my point about the Home Is Where The Heart Is "time cut" in that he wanted to dull the emotional power of the series as he ordered another dancing animal spot on this one. The spot itself is all right; but it was tacked on in order to justify cutting a much better scene because Eisner got spooked of it for whatever reason. (This spot would have been better if the two Air Pirates were not on the Iron Vulture literally a scene earlier. This was rushed in order to cut the sawblade scene due to violence. I'm not saying that the hoedown spot should have been removed, it was fine. However; to force to choice between the two in order to apease moral guardians after all the machine gun shooting in the first two acts and the first third of this one is complete BS in my view.) So we cut to inside the prison cell as we see Rebecca and Molly sitting down on a bench as the blue/green cartoon darkness is back in full force. (Well; because the halls are much better lit. I'm guessing Hanho Heung-Up did the ink and paint on these scenes.) Molly whines with her doll because she doesn't like being in there. Don't we all Molly? (Yeah; spending a night in jail is a real bummer, most so when you didn't commit a crime...)

Rebecca hugs her in total agreement and Molly declares that Lucy doesn't either. This just makes Baloo's love for an airplane as a human being more fitting actually. Rebecca stands up because she can hear someone coming and it's a weird looking bear with a raccoon's tail; moose antlers for a hat and has the same kind of look Hal had earlier; only he's a brown bear. Notice the diverse creatures in Don's employment (if you can call it that) compared to Higher For Hire (Mostly bears and one mountain lion.); or Mr. Khan's employment (Mostly panthers; although it would get up to diverse levels later on in the series.). Very interesting kind of dynmanic I would say. However; the TaleSpin family dynmanic is pretty interesting in itself so it all balances out. This one is voiced by the late Ed Gilbert by the way as he has the tray of food and calls out for the prisoners. Rebecca goes to the bars and sweet talks him and since most Air Pirates are dumb he sells the eye blinking and the heartbreaker line Rebecca gives. (This pirate is so clueless that it takes him thirty seconds to sell the eye blinking. He needs to get out more and judging by his lack of plane and being a prison guard; he needs it badly.) Sorry; but Rebecca is not THAT hot. Lotta, Kitten, Mira and Kathy are by Disney's cool standards of sexiness; but Rebecca isn't unless she goes into her cicra 1988 look again. (Which I have stated before; looks like a sexist stereotype.) Janna Michael's giggling under her breath is just plain awesome here with Molly which sounds like someone did the Cloudkicker kick into her groin literally. (Katie Leigh's acting in that scene when the Book Of Great Gummi was torn was a thing of beauty in a show where the acting was much more wooden than it was at this point. Sometimes having a real six year old voicing roles feels real and believable.) Remember what I said for later on. The guard has no plane whatsoever and cannot fly with the rest of the pirates see. No wonder Kit got away from them then. (Well; that would be one obvious motive to leave and screw them by stealing the stone.)

Rebecca then goes underneath her sweater (HOLY CRAP?! If she had breasts that spot would be cut from Toonami dubs. So it was violence that killed the gun pointing in her face spot from Spy In The Oniment. (Yip.)) and brings out the deed. On the condition that he lets them out. The guard is so giddy as he grabs the deed and runs towards the wall where the keys are (But remembers to stall for time by going over to tell her to not go away. Don't worry; she won't. HEE HEE!). This guy deserves whatever he is going to get from this. He is THAT dumb. He is very stupid. And no one has learned anything; which is apporos for such a pointless song. Hinder has this effect on me see. (As Johnny Knoxville said when he duped Zack Ryder into getting smacked with the GIANT HAND OF DEATH on one of those Monday Night Raw's: He's such a tool. He might have said "fool"; but it doesn't matter since it basically the same insult.) The guard goes over and grabs the far right keys; but he takes an ultra sick shot off-screen to his head with the lead pipe as we cut to see Baloo with a cartoonishly bent lead pipe to show how hard that Pirate's hard head is. Well; the harder the head is the more stupid a person is. Except for Kit of course. Then he's merely stubborn. Apparently; his name is Cement Head (I hope this is true, which means Dumptruck is smarter than this guy as his head is only made of solid bone.) as Kit grabs the fallen keys and goes over to the prison cell to open the door as Baloo grabs the deed from the guard. Baloo kisses it as he calls Rebecca a briber. Well; at least that one wasn't a sexist comment as we head inside to see Rebecca with the bench (Slight coloring mistake: Rebecca's claws on her feet are white here. Maybe she really is Kit's mother and we don't know it.) and orders Molly to run out the moment the door opens and she MURDERS that prison guard. Molly checks on that one.

The door opens and in comes Baloo and Rebecca MURDERS him with the bench in a pretty weak shot compared to most of the sick bumps in this movie. Baloo drops like a stone knocked out. Rebecca shoves the door so violently that Kit is behind it (the one who unlocked the door and opened it) and takes a sick MAN-SIZED bump into the door and the wall with his face. OUCH! Rebecca and Molly try to run away; but they hear the pet name Becky and then turn around to see that it's only Baloo and Kit resucing them. (Not quite; Baloo says Becky right before he got clobbered with the bench and as Rebecca and Molly run out, she is blowing off the goon for calling her that pet name (so I guess when it comes to mere scumbag babyfaces, she's professional; but is much more offended when a criminal calls her that.) and then turns around to notice Baloo and Kit getting away from the door selling injuries. I should note something else: I betcha Kit gets that many times when he was a hobo who is looking for a job and no one wants to hire him because he's homeless.) Kit actually sells the shot to his face by grimancing and pulling on his hat. Then the sirens beckon as Rebecca screams for answers. Kit panics because Don Karnage is coming back so it's time to scram as Kit grabs Molly; Baloo grabs Rebecca and they run away stage right. Rebecca protests this outrage because she wants the deed back; but Baloo assures her that it's safe and back to where it belongs. Rebecca isn't exactly thrilled by this as she is forced to run...like the wind...an easterly wind this time. (I don't remember the commercial on the radio for this; but it sounds cool as a running gag for my rants, so it stays.)

We then cut to outside as we get an awesome Iron Vulture drop down to the water (to show that it's an oversized boat too; a general theme for this series) as it is near the stone doors leading inside the hideout. Then we head back inside to the front as the MIRACLE WORKERS CONNECTION runs down the boardwalk in a cute symbolic spot as the door is opening and the light is shown. (Miracle Workers Connection: Anything this show does great is a miracle considering how much of a rush job this show was. It really shows in the animation of this pilot.) Kit proclaims that it is too late; and they bail into the conveniently placed crates. The doors of stone finally open and in comes the Iron Vulture being towed by the TINY SUBMARINE~! HAHA! (Nope; it was actually a small warboat with guns on it. As if we don't have enough of those already in this pilot.) We cut to the bears who are hiding as Molly whines that they will never get out of here as we cut back to the Iron Vulture stopped at the docks as it opens it's beak and all of the Air Pirates who were part of the heist earlier run out like tiny ants in a cute spot to end the segment nearly fifty-eight minutes in. (Syndication actually added the entire opening sequence of the beak opening; while the movie version simply showed the beak open already and the pirates come running out. Still; hell of a first act of this important movie; but it's only going to get even more amazing and it's not going to end well for almost anyone involved.)

After the commercial break; we see the bears running for their lives and then hiding behind a war bunker like structure which appears to be too small for Baloo's ass to be covered. Okay; I think Walt Disney Animation Japan is on drugs for the weird colors they use on the water effects there myself. (Even if they were; why are you complaining?! The rainbow water effect here is kind of nice.) We then cut to a behind Baloo's perspective of the shot as we see Don Karnage and his Air Pirates walking down the stone passageway (complete with train tracks) as Don tells Ratchet to take the stuff that they got to the work shop and do shop work on them. HEE HEE! Ratchet leaves as Don Karnage calls this excellenmudo or something like that. Mad Dog and Dumptruck then decide to ask the good old Captain something with a thousand groveling pardons as Dumptruck somehow gets manners (So that's who gave Kit such good manners? (Now I feel ashamed that I didn't notice it a lot sooner.) ) by taking his hat off as Don is tapping his foot. Don asks him to speak up because his door is always open sometimes. I just love how he uses a fruedian slip up here. (I wonder if this line was ab-libbed by Jim? I hope so; because it would be like the mistake we heard with Homer Simpson spelling "smart" SMRT before correcting himself; which in interviews was in fact a shoot that became canon.) Dumptruck asks what all this junk is for directly while Mad Dog just goes on and on about it and Don Karnage blows them off because he is the leader and they are the bit players. The two DOGS OF WAR (sort of since Mad Dog's a ferret) feel offended as Don asks if they're feelings are hurt. They nod and he calls it a good thing. HEE HEE! (Now there's a cool dickish heel move if I ever saw one.) Don doesn't even suspect Baloo's ass; but we don't see it either so it's understandable. Oh; Baloo's ass is small enough to hide, my mistake.

Don proclaims that this is his master plan (No way I'm calling this a Krackpotkin Plan nor a Mimi Joke Zone Plan because of one thing: It worked this time.) as the brainless piles of mayhem don't get the plan see. Don almost rests his hand on Baloo's ass; but recoils a bit flustered and decides to show them as he walks towards the double wooden doors and opens them himself. I guess the door leads into the workshop where Ratchet is. Don Karnage shows them the real plot device which is partially covered by a blue blanket which indicates one of them is Linus. AHHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah; it's a laser cannon; but at least Don is using it to fry someone instead of being a setup for a giant green Jello fruitcake. Like I'm going to take Klordane's weapon seriously as a threat. (I will have more on this because it ties into the finish of this pilot; and it also ties into a point made by Mike Russo about the similarity of the pilots' storylines. Needless to say; I have a counter to TaleSpin's take on the storyline.) The Air Pirates sell it as if they were zombies as Don hops, skips and jumps towards it and uncovers it to reveal it like he needs to since it's clearly a laser cannon. Funny how that works; everyone complains about laser guns in American children's cartoons and yet this is the ONLY one in this show basically. Every other gun is bullet shooting type. (Well; except for the pie guns in Sound & The Furry; but at least it was justified because they weren't trying to kill the pilots since it was a race.) Can TMNT 1987 era say that?! (Yes and no. TMNT 1987 had bullet shooting guns, but thanks to popularity it degraded to lasers. Even Leo was ribbing heels for this BS&P decision, so you know it sucked.) Kit points out the exit as it is inside the workshop right in front of a gang of bloodthirsty pirates which Molly doesn't like at all. (Hilarious Disney Captions mistake: They claimed Rebecca said the line instead of Molly. You wonder why I think Disney Caption is horrible? How could they mistake Molly's voice for Rebecca's? Their voices are completely different, for goodness sakes.)

Baloo then gets a brainstorm for his Krackpotkin plan and Rebecca blows it off because she didn't bring an umbrella. (Rebecca's wit is getting even better than Baloo's at this point; although it helps that a face actress like Sally Struthers can in fact act. It amazes me that people complain about this today when TaleSpin did this in 1990! Maybe the concept isn't the problem; maybe it's because many of the face actors cannot act. That would be a more reasonable position to take.) She must know that babyface plans have a very high failure rate of working; even those from characters who are immune to the Krackpotkin Plan (Dale, Kit etc.). We cut to inside the workshop as Don Karnage explains the whole plan as Ratchet is welding the gun really good on a basket chair raised by a pulley. Don shows the BOOK OF FORBIDDEN SECRETS (An electronics handbook.) which I'm sure will be burned once Cape Suzette figures out what Don is up to; (Or sued out of existance ala "How To Be A Hitman". And no, Bret Hart didn't write that book, so stop snickering.) and apparently shows the secret of Gyro Gearloose's robot hockey players. Wait until I finish Rescue Rangers and maybe I'll get to Ducktales and that episode in a few years the way this has been going for me. (I finally got to finishing both series in full along with Treasure Of The Lost Lamp movie for Ducktales; so I'm done with both series officially. I might do rants on the Ducktales remake; but that depends on how easily I can get access to the footage. I'm nothing if I'm not a completist.) We cut to a shot of Hal (with more Air Pirates (including the three Air Pirates Baloo and Kit knocked out earlier.)) as Baloo and Rebecca are carrying sack containing Kit and Molly (Baloo with Kit, Rebecca with Molly) which pop out of their sacks to sell the idea. Baloo's disguise is really reasonable; but seeing Rebecca with a moustache reminds me too much of Gadget from One-Upsman-Chip. GOT YOU LAST! HAHA!

See; Don Karnage is going to use the device to get into Cape Suzette see. How?! Stay tuned as they say. The Air Pirates pop on cue as Dumptruck foolishly asks the dumb question of the episode: Are they going to rob the place blind. Don is pissed off at this because he wants to plunder the city see. Spoken like a true terrorist, Don Karnage. Dumptruck is confused because he thinks they are merely robbers and Don Karnage blows him off because they are Pirates and he hates robbers. I think terrorist would be a much more fitting term; but that's like Don Karnage being called crazy in BS&P's eyes. Wonder how Drake Mallard got away with saying terrorist to Gosalyn? (How did Ducktales get away with it during the Gizmo Duck era is still a mystery to me.) Don makes up for it by stepping on Dumptruck's head though. Don grabs a torch and throws it into the furnace to turn up the heel heat literally and it's singing, dancing animals who have guns time~! As the movatation poster would say: "Furries. Don't F**K with us; we have guns!" (Most furries in real life don't use real guns. Gun is a metaphor for penis with a chunk of this group.) This is the Sky Pirates Theme which is so over the top and entertaining that I swear Magon must have been pitching this movie to Feature for some reason. We have every classic Walt Disney device here in this pilot. All they need is for us to see his parents died a horrible death and all the bases are covered. (Which with Kit's parents sounds about right; although not official. Although Usland is also canonal and it wasn't anywhere in the series.) As awesome as this song is (It's Don Karnage; what do you expect?); I'm not calling the spots here, it's too fast to call; but I should point out that when he closes the furnace; the light shine was added as a paint edit for syndication. I think we have most of the kinds of edits for anime dubs to use as pointers. All we need is music changes and opening theme changes; and we have all the bases covered here. (Worse, the syndication painted the spotlight in such a way that it made the spool of cable Don Karnage was rolling on to the stage disappear. DUMB!)

Jim Cummings still rocks as a singing voice for animation; to the point where even the worst cartoons can have one saving grace when he starts singing. Even Dumptruck's own shadows fears packed heat so to speak. (Even more amazing is if you listen to the song; they also admit to legit murdering people and enjoying it to boot! I'm shocked this song wasn't redubbed in syndication, because it only makes the implications that Kit was part of the group even more frightening now. How can anyone say that these guys aren't terrorists after all this? Listen, I took it seriously because they laying out who this group really is.) Don finishes the song with the victory cross pose and you can just hear Baloo's voice go "One more time!". (Sadly; in syndication; they showed Baloo saying all of it instead of saying it off-screen so Don can hear it and then cut to Baloo for the rest of the promo.) Don't you just hate it when THAT happens?! You sing a perfect song and then Male Hoppo has to break the silence of the aura. AHHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm... (Now remember this; Baloo is the one who screwed this thing all up. If he had kept his big mouth shut and just walked away; then they wouldn't have been found; and then what happens in the next five minutes wouldn't have happened. If you want to give the Idiot Ball to Baloo; this is the best place to give it to him. Everything else is either window dressing, or Don Karnage getting said ball.) Baloo feels so screwed as Don blows him off because he's the leader and even Baloo's a two bit player. HAHA! The Air Pirates sneak away to reveal the disguised adults as Mad Dog points at them just to rub it in. Dumptruck comes over as Baloo puts the sack down and tells Kit that when the Pirates attack them; he's to grab Molly and get out of there. Kit tries to protest but no dice. I think it's a stupid idea; because realistically; Kit and Molly don't stand a chance to escape; but I'm sure Disney will find some contrived way to make Kit and Molly leave without getting hurt. It's not like Disney will have any babyface turn monster heel in their products now..could they?! (Looks at Kit as Kit looks down at his feet ashamed.)

Dumptruck cuffs the two adult bears together and forces them up to the front of the wooden stage as Rebecca's mustache finally falls from her face. You know you are screwed when THAT happens. Don stabs the fake hair and takes off Baloo's eye patch; just so he can call Baloo fat and Rebecca annoying. Well; that's pretty symbolic of someone who doesn't watch this show doesn't it?! Don then ponders how she is no longer in jail and that allows Gibber to do his whisper gimmick and Don Karnage blows him off almost swiping the sword right into Gibber actually. Don recovers though and demands to know where the stone is; since it's the key for the device to work, see. Baloo goldbricks on him intentionally and Rebecca chimes in as well with the goldbricking although that is unintentionally since she doesn't know what he is talking about. (We are building up I Only Have Ice For You very nicely in this segment alone. I love this show!) Don Karnage blows him off because Baloo is not qualified to do Kit's awesome goldbricking spot. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. (Okay; he didn't mention Kit in the promo. At least this promo...) Then he gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY and plays the Kit Cloudkicker card and Baloo no sells that. Don cannot believe that Baloo would protect his former cabin boy (I wish he actually said that just to see Rebecca and Molly's reaction to that.) as Baloo calls Kit a good kid. Now that's the understatement of the decade BABEE! We cut to Kit in his sack along with Molly as Kit pops out and cannot believe that Baloo and Rebecca are defending him to their last breath. Kit puts his head down thinking: "I got to do something! It cannot end like this!" Okay; so Len Uhley has scared the crap out of me once; I don't think he'll turn someone heel here; would he? (Are you kidding? Len Uhley is the best writer of DTVA; of course he's going to do the heel turn. A fake heel turn; but one of the most effective ones I have ever witnessed.)

So then Kit pops out of the bag and makes his grand entrance; proclaims that he is back in a cocky manner and shoves the shaggy dog so hard he takes a MAN-SIZED bump off-screen. HAHA! Make the joke and then pay it off. Baloo is SHOCKED to see Kit doing this as Kit blows him off like a heel. UH OH! I don't think Peggy Charmon is going to like where this is going. Kit gets on stage and asks Don how he did and Don just doesn't know what to make of all this as he is more interested in MURDERING him than thanking him. Kit hustles behind Don Karnage as Kit explains about what he taught him (The Don Karnage Hustle) and steals the handcuffs keys without him even suspecting it! Awesome spot; but I fear for Kit's life now! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: He's the reason why kids are in the main event on DTVA even today now! And Kit literally hit it out the park much to the frustration of the ones who thinks only adults should be allowed in cartoons.) Kit flicks the key behind his back and catches it with his claw foot as Baloo facepalms himself while Rebecca just looks sad at all this. I think she realizes something since she's looking directly at what Kit is doing. (That is actually important for later on, but Kit is doing his damnest to make this heel turn look convincing. Every awkward moment Kit did early on and everything is making it look like this was Kit's plan all along.) Kit explains that he stole the stone on purpose to steal the MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH out of Mr. Khan. (I wonder how he was going to swindle the money out of Baloo and somehow get the stone back when Khan has the rock and security guards? I guess even the best fake heel turns aren't completely logic break-proof.) If only Kit knew the thing was worth five million dollars; but whatever. (Even better!)

Kit slides over and unlocks the handcuffs with his foot and then uses the foot to grab the chain of the handcuffs and toss them aside. Now, that is just great as Kit is literally shredding his friendship. Too bad; Baloo doesn't know Kit's acting to save them because he's facepalming himself for whatever reason. Rebecca might know since Kit is just giving her clues into his real act though. Kit then proclaims that he was going to steal the rock back but Molly and Rebecca got kidnapped by Dumptruck and Mad Dog because it's NEVER Don Karnage's fault see. (Great heel move by Kit to protect the boss while at the same time deflect all the blame off of him to the two useful idiots.) Don blows them off and then decides the ultimate torture: Hanging by pinkies! HAHA! (Oh; that would have to hurt for a long while. Add some fatal beatings and Don Karnage is all set. If you believe my fanfics are canon (and hell on you if you do) then we all know that Kit was once hung by the ears and beaten.) Dumptruck and Mad Dog apologize on cue feeling ashamed and threatened. I am so loving this scene as Kit hugs Don Karnage (Actually he doesn't; the animation made it appear, but Kit puts out his ass and waves his body and hands to say "Relax Captain".) as Kit plops the navigational cap right on Baloo's nose. Baloo cannot believe this as he thought he was Kit's friend. Don Karnage wonders why they are not friends anymore (Just remember, Don Karnage is still not believing this child who spent three days or so screwing him out of the stone.) and Kit responds with such an evil look that his acting should have won him an Oscar. Then he does one final awesome blowoff complete with scary laughing his ass off as now Baloo is PISSED off and takes it out on his navigational hat in a symbolic moment of mistrust.

Oh man; I didn't think Len would go all the way with this and turn Kit against the family he never had; but he did. I can think of only one other American cartoon that meant anything that pulled this one off: Teen Titans with Terra and Slade; almost fifteen years later. The reason for the rare turn is simple: Pulling the "Zero Approval Gambit" when you are a twelve year old kid is quite emotional and really painful to watch; plus to do it on a children's show just makes it more cringeful. Kit broke the model and DTVA never did it again since; at least in this matter. Live action and anime have done heel and face turns a dime a dozen; but it rarely happens in American animation mostly because of parent groups like the PTC who want clear heels and faces. Kit's heel turn isn't really a true heel turn since he is acting; but the act is so convincing only Rebecca is remotely no selling it. Her selling is more of sadness for Kit having to stoop to that low to save them. (Yeah; I mean, how dare he? It's bad enough that he was one of them, now he wants to go back? Remember that MG's are so angry that they cannot read non-verbal cues and clues that make it look like a fake heel turn instead of a legit heel turn.) Remember that Disney is already in enough trouble with the Southern Baptists over homosexuals being employed at Theme Parks; and they will use anything and I mean anything to smear the company to shield their bigotry. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Monica Cole of One "Million Mom(s) even blasted Ducktales 2017 for Violet having two dads in a cameo appearance. Sure, the Southern Baptists bashing Disney didn't help matters for the company; but it didn't do nearly as much damage as you would think.) Kit Cloudkicker: Victim of the system in more ways than one.

Don laughs it up and thrusts his nose into Baloo's face and asks him if he doesn't mind if he blasts them to death so to speak while flashing his teeth. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Funny how Don only believed Kit when Baloo believed the exact same thing. Karnage was holding the Idiot Ball here. Baloo was already the idiot because he let his mouth cash a cheque that might kill him due to his ego.) The Air Pirates unleash their guns as Baloo and Rebecca are so dead now to end the segment sixty-three minutes in. (Don Karnage is actually testing Kit again to see if Kit is legit in his turn back to the Air Pirates, or if he's faking it. That is actually a smart move on Don's part, considering the last three days or so. Now Kit has to find a way to convince Don Karnage that he's part of them again and hope that his new family (in spite of the fact that at least two of the members would want to kill him) doesn't get murdered execution style before Baloo can buy time to get himself out of this. One thing is for certain; Kit's dream is pretty much over. Or is it certain? Stay tuned.) Again; awesome groundbreaking plotline, wrong company to be using it my friend. (Well; Gargoyles did this again, but with adults which didn't bat nearly the eye this pilot did.)

After the commercial break; we cut to Don Karnage raising his sword and cutting "A You Cannot Do That On Television" promo as it is curtains for our adult heroes; but Kit stops the execution. Does he have a change of heart?! Ummm...no. (Yeah; here comes Kit's plan to convince everyone that he has turned heel legit. Remember that Rebecca's not exactly buying that Kit has turned on them; but more sadden that it had to come to this, fake or not.) Kit actually proclaims that Don is forgetting something as he runs off and Don is confused. (Here's where knowing how to act helps a scene: R.J. Williams says the line and stammers a bit. It's not the most noticable thing in the world; but it's an important cue that he is desperate to get this over with so his new family can escape somehow without getting killed. Kit knows that if this doesn't work, he is out of ideas and he might be killed as well if he screws it up. Thankfully and sadly; this worked actually.) Molly who has stepped out of her bag looking SHOCKED the entire time; doesn't even notice Kit is behind her and he grabs Lucy's doll. (In fact; Kit is literally beside Baloo and Rebecca when he does this and they are too flustered to notice.) Molly protests this outrage as Kit rips Lucy's head off! HOLY CRAP! (Now this is a great non-verbal cue: If Kit had done the reverse of what Baloo did and just took the stone from the back of the doll without destroying it, then everyone would have seen that Kit wasn't turning heel legit and Don Karnage would have seen it as a sign that the boy is lying; and everyone dies. By actually taking the head off of Lucy; he intentionally did something Don Karnage would have done if he did it himself. Kit knows Don Karnage like a glove here; and it shows.) Then he ups the ante by telling Molly to literally shut up, right in Molly's face! HOLY CRAP! I'm amazed he didn't slap her there to boot since he was teasing it and it might have made Rebecca reconsider her saddness to Kit's actions.

Molly cries right on cue as Kit stuffs his arm into the neck of Molly's doll and gets the stone back. Don is amazed that he would be mean to children. I'm amazed Disney didn't cut that one out since it was pretty much like physically slapping Molly in the face according to BS&P. (There was no way Kit would be allowed to slap Molly in the face; even though that it probably was a dumb move on BS&P's part because it would have completely seal any hope of Kit being forgiven by Rebecca and Rebecca would have probably need to be restrained from trying to kill Kit. Notice that Rebecca didn't react to all this happening to Molly's doll. It's a clue that Rebecca has figured out that Kit is playing this gambit to save them and is not being a heel legit. Remember; Kit is trying to convince Don Karnage and his Air Pirates that he has stabbed his family in the back. As long as one babyface out there other than Kit knows what's really going on, then the show Kit is putting on is convincing. Baloo and Molly playing the Idiot Ball actually makes the turn a lot more convincing to the guys you want to be fully convinced.) Kit comes back and gives the stone back to Don Karnage as Don praises him for his refreshing plan remembering to blow off the Air Pirates to boot. Yes; Kit's direct destruction of this future family is complete; but the real scars are soon to come as Kit asks Don to let the saps go so to speak which is probably the biggest clue in Kit acting here. Don doesn't suspect it (Well; he isn't a mental giant.); but still no sells because of standard protocol: Cannot let them live. (Because it's not Shere Khan and Shere Khan doesn't have to know even though he knows that Baloo and Kit had his stone until the turn.) Baloo of course is behind the treasure lode and grabs a big of gold dust on the distraction. I guess Don has been stealing riches after all (and wants more. (He probably had all these riches well before he started this plan.)).

Baloo blows the pirates off and everyone except Kit eats SHUUUUUU...Golddust! (Kit was smart enough to escape before the real guns started ablazing because we would never see him again until the next scene.) Don is blinded as the gold dust clears and orders them to shoot to kill...a lot of shooting to kill so to speak. Baloo grabs Rebecca and they are forced to run off towards the entrance which is what they were shooting for from the start. (So Kit's plan to get them out of the room worked; even though they are far from being out of the woods yet.) That leads to the not so awesome SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE FAKE AIR PIRATES EDITION~! Rebecca does make up for it somewhat by blowing off Baloo's use of her pet name. Baloo stops in front of the narrow passage and sees trouble; but he looks to his left and sees worst trouble so he grabs the girls and runs stage northeast. The Air Pirates shoot their heat; but Baloo pushes on the conveniently sping rock panel and it causes the bridge to crumble and the Air Pirates are too stupid to stop on a dime so they fall into the pit below. Well; at least they got the crap out of the way quickly as the "Bears Minus Awesome Sad Heel" run to the SeaDuck as Rebecca asks about Kit which Baloo no sells as he jumps into the SeaDuck. (This pretty much gives away that Rebecca was fully onto Kit's plan and that he didn't turn heel legit. Pretty much what Kit planned in spite of Don Karnage forcing his hand in this chess game.) The Air Pirates who fell pop up from the pit as the Baloo turns on the engines of the SeaDuck and the SeaDuck quickly flies out of the back door of the hideout. The SeaDuck gets shot at from the CT-37's with Don as the lead shooter and even several ground cannons from below. Don shoots his machine gun and gets about five shots on the left wing as we head to 1.8 Trigun as Baloo feels screwed stiff. However; he sees his saving grace: The overdrive red button right on the front of the SeaDuck on the wall above the window.

Baloo tells Rebecca and Molly to hang tight as Rebecca sells it; Baloo pushes the button and it's the AIRPLANE SHOCK WAVE~! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: The Russian version of the show actually edited the shock wave out completely. I'm guessing they felt it also hit too close to home. If anyone knows why this edit happened, please tell me why.) Don Karnage gets a few parting shots; but the shock forces the CT-37's to retreat as Baloo struggles to maintain control for five seconds and then pushes the red button to shut the overdrive off. Rebecca wonders what that was (and we wonder how Rebecca redid her hair in between shots.) and Baloo explains that it's something he added and using it too long would kill the engines literally. Molly goes all giddy and in moronic fashion wants to do it again. HEE HEE! Hey; she wanted to surf on Kit's board; so it's completely apporos. (Remember the overdrive because it becomes very important later on. It's funny though that some people thought this was a logic break since Mach One For The Gipper had it's own version of this. The problem is: The overdrive overheats very easily; while the jet engine that breaks the sound barrier does not. Also; if the overdrive was a jet engine; then we would hear Baloo's countdown in this scene after the fact. So it's not a feature that breaks the sound barrier. I'm amazed that Kit can tell everything in the SeaDuck, even down to the customized parts, but didn't notice that feature. This plays right into the disbelief Kit had when he would be saved a second time by Baloo in Act IV.) We then cut to outside Don Karnage's sun tanning area (as shown in Ransom of the Red Chimp) as Kit looks at the sunset feeling really bad about himself as he realizes that he's a heel for life until death due his part. Don Karnage enters from behind with the red scarf Kit threw in Plunder and Lightning Act I and puts it around his neck to complete the sealing of Kit's fate. Although Kit sealed the show's fate about four minutes ago. Don Karnage proclaims that he is proud of him and asks if he is happy.

Kit lies through his teeth and then sheds two tears to really accent the scene. Ted Heniz uses this as evidence for his Kit & Karnage theory which was that Kit would turn heel for real and rejoin Don Karnage once again. I personally think in Kit's mind; Don is completely irredeemable and that the only way to redeem himself is to have Don turn face and join Kit to take on a bigger monster heel (and probably die in vain to boot) if Magon wanted to go that far. Sadly; by then Eisner had already wanted no part of this series and downplayed it to the very end of it's syndication run. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Well, I guess "buying time for Darkwing Duck and basically sealing the show's fate the moment was approved is tantamount to Eisner wanting no part of it and downplaying it when he wanted to.) It makes me like Bob Iger just a little more. (Yeah, at least he brought TaleSpin in full form on DVD as unedited as you are going to get in second run syndication.) Also; I like this scene because it teases the probable bad ending which was done in Second Sight from Dan Green in canon. Plus, it shows that Don does have a small heart even if it is bad as sin. (It's one of those moments where Don Karnage seriously thinks that he can get away with what he has done: He almost killed Kit multiple times, terrorizes airplanes and bars, kidnapped Rebecca and Molly (and would have been executed or worse if Baloo and Kit refused to give up the stone), and forced Kit to do a heel turn in order to protect the only people who gave a damn about him. Sorry Ted, but your dream is as wet as water and it should stay there. Also; Kit turning his head to the left is brilliant because he doesn't want Don to know that he's hurt inside because of all this, that he had to resort to this tactic; and now it's not only his fault that they hate him now, but the blood is all on his hands later on when Don Karnage invades Cape Suzette for real. Even though Baloo (the star of the show mind you, so he's untouchable) is the one who blew their cover to begin with. I truly felt bad and scared for Little Britches after all this because we know who is at fault for this turn even happening; but everything will fall on his shoulders if anyone else finds out. After all; Kit has dealt with thugs and insensetive adults before and it rarely ends well for him. Also of note; turning the head also keeps Don Karnage from cluing in that he didn't really love him and that it was all a plan to save his family. Great attention to detail there guys.)

We head back to a shot of Higher For Hire as we cut to the door to the office as Rebecca is demanding Baloo to speak to her since he hasn't said anything of note since talking about the overdrive engines as the bears are back in regular clothes now. (Notice Baloo is ignoring her like Kit did to Baloo earlier in the episode? For a guy who has been betrayed, he is sure acting more like Kit than Baloo. Maybe Kit enabled him, who knows.) Baloo tries to open the door; but I guess WildCat locked it as they hear a car engine and the bears see a black limo and a orange trenchcoat hand (which looks like Khan's limo driver from A Bad Reflection On You Act I) grabs Baloo's dorky shirt and pulls him into the limo along with Rebecca and Molly on the far shot. The black limo drives away as they drive to Khan Tower and the bears are forced into the building like tiny ants. We then pan up to the top of the tower and then cut inside Khan's office to the shot of the elevator as Khan's limo driver (wearing a green coat) opens the elevator and shoves the bears into the office and they take some really decent bumps on their butts. When even Molly is taking such a bump; you know this pilot rules. Mr. Khan turns his chair around from the skyline as he addresses the bears and Rebecca storms forward to protest this clear case of assault and battery. She makes it to the desk as Shere Khan blows her off complete with awesome neon pink background since he makes his own DA RULES (FAIRY GOD PARENTS! I just had to get that one in somehow.) and demands answers on the stone; complete with deadpan voice. Baloo has that look of wanting to kill Shere Khan which doesn't surprise me since I'm sure he wishes he killed him for real in the Jungle Book.

Rebecca is willing to talk about the stone as long as she knows what the hell is this stone of doom everyone is talking about?! (Don't think Rebecca is above saying that line either; Her Chance To Dream and all that stuff.) Khan calls this a fair deal and calls out his doctor as we cut over to a sexy bunny rabbit wearing a sexy white coat and the goofy glasses because he's a sciencist see. He is Doctor Debolt; Koosh's favorite character voiced by Rob Paulsen. He became yet another victim who got over but got squashed after this pilot was over. This would be a general theme for these characters in general. (Yeah; and in Debolt's case, he was never named in the television pilot. He was named in the comic books released after this. I wouldn't be surprised if his name is canonal since Erwin was never named in Whistlestop Jackson, Legend on television, but recent storyboards by Tim did provide official evidence that the finance minister did have a name.) Debolt does some really cool hand motions as he calls the stone the "Sub Electron Amplifier" which is used to allow Khan to run his entire empire using just one power source. Now that's what I call extreme environmentalism. I think even Greenpeace would be surprised to see this; even though the power source is dangerous as hell. Debolt wants to go on; but Shere Khan grabs him by the neck (Do I sense Magon hating bunny rabbits or something here? (Nah; this was Michael Eisner's threat to Bugs and Buster Bunny (no relation of course) to retire which failed since Bugs Bunny is still very much around as recently as the show called Wabbit. Yeah; saw it on Teletoon recently and it's good.)) and keeps choking him the entire time as he wants his answers on the status of the stone. Rebecca stammers and admits Don Karnage has got it back. Apparently; Shere Khan lets go on the Rebecca shot as he is disapponted at Baloo for failing him and Baloo is pissed off that he unleashes this quote:

Baloo: Don't tell me about being let down, mister; 'cause I'm an expert! You let someone get close to you and they stab you in the back! Well; I'm sick of being used and I'm sick of working for you!{Points at Rebecca.}And I'm sick of your stupid stone! (Debolt just looks stunned.) So you all just leave me alone! (Baloo turns around and storms out as Rebecca is just stunned to hear of all this.)

Baloo turns around on his heel and storms out as everyone is SHOCKED to hear that one from Pop-A-Bear. (How funny that this is the exact same thing Kit did in Plunder and Lightning Part One. Sadly; this one is going to last much longer and cause much more destruction to the city than the Kit version of this act did.) For some strange reason; he basically repeated the very line Kit didn't speak himself. Kit's non-verbal cues let on that he was speaking of the stabbing in the back thing and here's Baloo directly saying what Kit was saying throughout the entire pilot. Even though Kit isn't around; he is wrecking havoc in this scene. It's almost like he's there in the room in Baloo's mind twisting the knife further into everyone's back. (That's why the heel turn was so convincing. Remember that only one person outside of Kit has to believe that Kit is faking this; otherwise, if everyone doesn't believe it, they are dead.) Khan calls him an emotional man and unlike Fat Cat; he shows no emotion and thus no psychological projection. He dismissed everyone as Debolt pleads for Khan; but he gets no dice from Mr. Khan and he turns his chair around and looks at the sky thinking about his next move to get his property back and the heart wrenching is still not over yet! We head back to Higher...For...Hire as we cut to Baloo walking towards the SeaDuck with his luggage packed as Rebecca calls him out. Baloo opens the door and throws his luggage in as he is gone and going to Louie's. Rebecca protests this as she owns the SeaDuck; but Baloo shows her the deed and possession is 9/10^th of guilt so to speak. (Well Rebecca, you said it first in Her Chance To Dream, so there you go.) Rebecca tries to grab the pink slip; but no dice. I guess that is symbolic of the termination of Baloo from the company; or Mr. Khan's awesome pink neon staining everything.

Still, Baloo is not a completely heartless bastard as he takes the gold dust sack from his shirt and gives it to Rebecca as payment for the SeaDuck itself. (Well; at least he didn't try to buy the business back at least. I'm guessing Baloo didn't want to have that gallstone around his neck too and it brought too many painful memories, with Rebecca buying the business from underneath him due to his childish and reckless behavior.) Baloo tips his hat and tries to leave; but Molly pulls on his shirt pleading for him not to go. Baloo tells her he cannot because the skies are calling him and he's gone. Rebecca isn't buying any of this grandstanding because it has absolutely nothing to do with the plane, the stone or even her. It is all about Kit Cloudkicker as Kit just continues to indirectly twist the knife further. Baloo completely blows her off accusing her of being Kit's Pirate Denmother. Ooooo... (Notice that the moment Kit is involved, Rebecca doesn't care about the business anymore? In fact, she clearly has let out that Kit's heel turn was in fact fake. She really did love him like a son; even though Kit was very convincing that you would forgive Baloo for falling for it like Don Karnage did, and to a lesser extent Molly. I wonder how the talk with Molly with Rebecca would have gone in Act IV? Then again; I would love to know how Kit lost the scarf in Act IV as well? More on that as we head to the final part of this pilot.) Rebecca pleads with Baloo to think with his heart and not his head over this. Baloo no sells that and proclaims that he goes solo from now on as he walks into the plane and closes the door. (Kit doesn't trust male adults, so Baloo doesn't trust anyone outside of Louie and maybe WildCat -- including children -- outside of Molly. That's hardly a fair tradeoff.) The engines start as Rebecca and Molly back up as Rebecca protects Molly from the engine wind as the SeaDuck begins to fly away as we cut to Molly against Rebecca's pantleg crying her eyes out in a really neat, but sad spot. The SeaDuck flies away as Rebecca yells out to Baloo:

Rebecca: I just don't believe Kit's gone bad! (Ted Heinz: Woohoo! Bad Kit! Bad Kit! It would be so much more amusing if it wasn't so sad to watch.)

That was just one awesome ending of Act III there; but Rebecca should have told Eisner that more so than Baloo; not that he would have bought it anyway. He answers to lawyers and bad marketing managers; not to his creative team or good marketing managers if you catch my drift. That officially ends Act III at 68:28. Well; Mark Zaslove is certainly going to have a near impossible act to follow there and you can say that about the series in general actually. It just saddens me that this show was made by Disney because if any other company created this and released it; the show would probably go on for as long as the Simpsons did. Michael Eisner: Just say NO! (This deserves eighteen stars alone just for the historical value; and they built up the storyline perfect. If this was given the movie treatment, it makes Zootopia's numbers in 1990. It would be a ground breaking movie that would force Disney Feature to stop acting like children and actually match up. Sadly; Eisner was completely clueless because he just wanted to amuse himself at the expense of the customers. Children caught wind of this and both Fox and Warner Brothers in the television animation business was born. It just goes to show you that execs can be bigger morons than the children. Anyhow; this animated a lot better than the first two acts, looked much more polished and finished in spite of it's Ducktalesish nature; but make no mistake, it was Kit Cloudkicker that literally stole the show here. At least ten stars goes to Kit's performance alone. It's the biggest difference between what makes this the best pilot in DTVA history and it earned very bit of it. Sadly; it's going to make Act IV look anticlimatic in comparison, although Kit Cloudkicker's awesomeness is not done here...)

Act IV: Plunder & Lightning

So he we go; the conclusion to an emotional ride; can they keep this up?! (One note before we get started: In the comics; it's called Plunder and Lightning, but in notes given to me by the late Christopher Barat, it was called "Lightning In A Battle". Personally; I like the comic version name better. Also of note: The narrator so far has been glossing over some details and one really glaring example is that Kit pretended to join the pirates. The problem with that is: The narrator makes it as if Kit pretended to join them for the first time even though in the previous act, Kit told Baloo that he was once an Air Pirate. Yup, they downplayed the most important part of the storyline, because we can't have MG's who aren't clued in to the fact that Kit once was an Air Pirate. The narrator should say that Kit pretends to rejoin the pirates. Before I began the transcripts for this part, I felt relieved because this was supposed to be the least edited part of the pilot and thus adding on the movie stuff would be a piece of cake. As Kit would say: Yeah, right?! By the time this was over, only part two had more edits than this part. It went from 17 edits to 49 edits! I'll mention the more absurd edits they did as we go along; however...Damn you, Disney!) Well; we begin this one at sunset as the vultures swoop over the Island of the Terrorists..ERRR...Air Pirates as we pan down to vultures flying and water animating well which is kind of a unusual since Act IV is animated by Sun Woo. We cut to inside the island to the gun wall as Sadie grabs a musket of his own along with other pirates including the shaggy dog Kit shoved away earlier along with Hal. Dumptruck grabs some bullet holders containing bullets and Hacksaw (I still love that ring tied around his ears.) checks his pistol. Geez; I wonder if Toon Disney will cut this one out in 1995?! (Yes they did.) The giant double wooden doors of doom open by more Air Pirates as about a half dozen Air Pirates including Hal pull on the tracks the Lightning Gun as we cut to more Air Pirates passing boxes.

They head towards the Iron Vulture as Don Karnage is inside as he looks on and goes to his Sky Karnage Throne (I made it up as Dalton's Japanese name of the Epoch.) and pulls the lever (JESUS~!) and opens the Iron Vulture's beak up. The Air Pirates pull the Lightning Gun inside the airship as the rest of the pirates go to their battle stations. Don Karnage does an annoying hand spit job and it's showtime according to him as he demonstrates once and for all that remote garages allow the terrorists to win! Now I understand why I don't have one; it's all clear to me. (Now that is sarcasm. I should note that the skull button lever was take off in between shots. Although the levers did different things; so I'm fine with it.) The stone doors opens and out comes the Iron Vulture as it races on the water and then flies into the skies as we cut back to Don Karnage using the steering wheel as Cape Suzette is his weither they are ready or not. This should be fun. He even spins the wheel to show how cool he is. (It's interesting to note that the train chugging sound effects were not added until it was in syndication. The movie version had a whump-whump sound instead, so whomever did post-production had the foresight instead of the writers. Amazing! Also, and one of my collegues on "Baby's First Steampunk" didn't even point out that the front of the Lighting is the front guard for a train. So we have a weapon inspired by a train which shoots electric lasers. Now that sounds cool.) So we head back inside Cape Suzette as it looks a little like Gotham City now as we get another pan of the city and then cut to an ice cream shop (Brenda's & Jim's Drug Store) as Rebecca is inside on the payphone which should end any debate that TaleSpin takes place in it's own universe. (Nah, phone booths were invented in 1889 and became mainstream in 1920. On a more hilarious point; the booth is spelled "Telephon" which suggests Engrish, until you realize that "Telephon" is the German pural for Telefon, which means telephone. So that booth was a booth in Germany in the real world. I have no idea how Brenda's and Jim's Drug Store (heck the spelling of the name of the store is more problematic than this; and a rib on writers credits.) got this booth, but it suggests something...I don't know.)

Rebecca is apparently calling Conwing on buying a plane and he has one for sale. (We never knew who Rebecca was calling other than the fact that it was an airplane producer. Judging by the ending, it was probably the ones who create the Conwing L-16.) Remember that for the finish later on as Molly is messing her face in a bowl of ice cream in order to ease the pain and suffering of Kit destroying her doll Lucy. (Here's an anime dub moment: In the movie version, there was no music playing in the background when Rebecca was on the phone; which they added music in syndication. Why? I don't know. Anyhow; like I said before in the TaleSpin Edits page; you want to get angry at 4Kids editing practices, start with this pilot! Otherwise, I have no sympathy for you.) Rebecca (wearing her blue coat again) hangs up and then realizes that she's one pilot short. Molly suggests Baloo and Rebecca wipes her face with a white cloth and tells her that Baloo is gone and it's only them now. Still; she cannot help but want him to come back anyway thus showing that they have to marry sooner or later. (I think there is a sense that even Rebecca has a feeling that the TaleSpin world is full of sexist douchebag pilots and that none of them would want to work for her even if their life depended on it. At least with Baloo, his life depended on getting the SeaDuck back and thus, when Rebecca owned the plane; Baloo had to work with Rebecca and put whatever sexism he had aside. Rebecca's bossy nature is at her best around a guy who is much bigger and thus Rebecca felt Baloo had a naive charm about him that made it amusing enough to keep him on the payroll, no matter how much he has screwed up. Plus, Rebecca is also looking for a friend, and both Baloo and Kit are gone now, so she's alone in a world of douchebags and dude bros who don't care about her feelings. Baloo at least cared enough to work for her and Kit was liking her and had an interest with Molly. It shows that even almighty Rebecca does have feelings and worries that won't easily go away, no matter how many masks she hides behind. Same with Molly, Kit and Baloo. If WildCat has any, he's done a hell of a job masking it. Except for one scene in Stormy Weather of course.)

We pan northwest to Khan Towers as we cut to Shere Khan at his desk looking at the night sky and taking a phone call. Apparently; he is calling a bounty hunter or something, but before we can find out the elevator door opens and in comes Doctor Debolt looking so goofy he's sexy. Koosh has got to be loving this. (Khan calling in a bounty hunter from the coast would be so Muppet Movie-ish of him.) Debolt wants to talk to Mr. Khan; but Khan blows him off because he's taking a phone call. Debolt gets on the wooden desk (HEE HEE!) and then presses his hand on the phone which cancels the call. Debolt is almost as suicidal as Kit is. And now Mr. Khan goes into unemotional piss ant mode and he MURDERS Debolts hand with the phone! HAHA! Awesome spot there as Khan warns him that this better be important. (Okay; Debolt is the best one shot character in this movie. He does not care about future employment and it might have to do with whatever Don Karnage was building.) Debolt gets on the desk as he has information on stuff the Air Pirates stole in the last week and Shere Khan decides to use his hand to squeeze Debolt's ears. (The old stop Bugs Bunny trick from Looney Tunes. Almost works every time.) He blows him off with his usual deadpan mode and then drops Debolt on the desk on his knees. Debolt must have a perk that allows him to lay on his desk. Debolt proclaims that Don has built a weapon to focus the energy of the stone; basically giving him a Lightning Gun. You know what good Doctor; you're not fooling anyone. You asked Miss Cunningham before you did that report didn't you? (Yeah; because in the previous scene, Rebecca was in the office at the same time as Debolt was. Cinema 101 dictates that Rebecca told Debolt about the stone. More importantly; why didn't Rebecca just go to the police about Pirate Island since she was flown back to Cape Suzette from there? Oh wait, Rebecca's not that smart in the common sense/real life thing. My mistake as usual. But seriously; if Baloo was so pissed off at Kit for betraying him; why not snitch him out and go to the police and tell them the location of Pirate Island since Kit gave him the directions? Wow; I didn't realize how stupid Baloo and Rebecca are after this whole thing. They really were hurt inside when Kit did the fake heel turn.)

Apparently; Mr. Khan agrees with that because he calls it absurd. However; the skyline outside begins to light up with crimson red lightning as we cut to the Cliff Guns as the CRIMSON LIGHTING BEAM OF DEATH hits on but misses the guns for some reason. I guess Don wants them to use for this terrorist scheme apparently so I say smart move there Don. He probably sees his Lightning Gun as a steal card. (I don't think it matters; but plundering the Cliff Guns as spoils of victory is in fact a smart move. Hey, you know Usland wants revenge, so why not.) We cut to the mouth of the Iron Vulture as Don invokes the telescopes on the guns and is extremely giddy on all this. Ratchet is on laser shotgun in this one, DUH! (Well; he built the Lightning Gun, so he might as well be the one to shoot from the dick, so to speak.) Don wants more shooting with feeling so that he can prove that he is not a cold, heartless bastard like Shere Khan. It's nice to know that Don Karnage's own voice and flair can carry episodes when Kit is buried by Eisner for trying to get so "monster" over that he becomes a Disney monster by proxy. (Here's Don Karnage going from comical villain with an awesome voice, to a monster with a comically awesome voice as he is the ultimate weapon to plunder an entire city which is his motive. Yes, you've seen this pilot's plot before, but in this case; this weapon is the only one that I can take seriously as a major threat. I'll explain more later when Baloo is trying to leave Cape Suzette with the others, but the others refuse to leave. Why? Because they know Don Karnage is not going to stop at just Cape Suzette. Money and greed have a deletorous effect on restraint you know. Otherwise; money and power being the root of all evil would be a meaningless catchphrase spewing by people who hate life in general.) Ratchet puts on the welding goggles (because you don't want to go blind when you are aiming see) and fires the gun which does a really awesome firing sequence and it misses the target by at least twenty feet; but does damage to the rock cliff.

I see Don is making fun of Sun Woo's animating already as he cannot nail Sunwoo Animation; so he whacks Ratchet with the telescope a good three times and then tells him to try again. Too funny. (It's funny because it wouldn't have mattered what Ratchet did here. If he hit the target which was the cliff gun; Don would have bashed him in the head with the telescope because he would said: "I need those guns, you naughty boy!" Don Karnage is in full on monster heel mode now and no one can stop him because Kit is on their side now. Right?) We cut to Kit Cloudkicker who apparently threw his red scarf away again because even he knows it is a shaming device and the loud explosions wake him up from his bunk bed. (I don't know if this is true or not; but my theory is that the suntanning cave with Kit and Don Karnage was longer than it was in the pilot. My guess is that in the original production before it was edited down: Don Karnage turned around and leaves the cave. Kit is alone and he goes to the cave's edge; takes the scarf off and throws it into the ocean, which to point out is a sign that Kit did in fact fake the heel turn. Kit doesn't even have to say a word nor sing. The throw would have been enough to get the message. For those who were blasting Disney for cutting a lullaby: Just imagine what didn't make either version of this pilot.) He actually has his flight manual in his paws which indicates where everyone got the idea that he had one. (I don't think it was the flight manual; it works like a flying magazine or comic book. Either way; this show goes out of it's way to show us that this show doesn't take place in the 1980's nor the modern world now like most cartoons. Because "science" says kids relate to the real world better. What; you can't make a documentary fun? Then you are a talentless hack.)

More shooting occurs outside as Kit runs to the catwalk and then slides down onto the ground floor and slides over to a door where Dumptruck comes out and Kit asks what is going on. Dumptruck tells them that Don is beating the stuffing out of Cape Suzette. Kit asks if Don is crazy and Dumptruck agrees with him. Ooooo; Don better hope he doesn't HEAR that boys; you know that really hurts his feelings. (Yeah; it's so bad that Don Karnage moved to Japan and became a censor for Japanese television. Oh come on! It's not my fault that Japan thinks the word crazy is the same as saying "f*ck" on American television.) We cut back to Shere Khan in his office watching the skyline as the shooting continues and Khan turns around as Debolt proves his point. Shere goes to his telephone and calls out for the airfield as we cut to a launchpad on the ground as about twenty airplanes fly into the air to counter the Lightning Gun. This is becoming more and more suicidal by the moment as the Iron Vulture enters into Cape Suzette harbour as we cut to the mouth shot as Don Karnage blows them off with a funny Boston accent promo ("How do you like them mangoes, citizens?" which is edited out in syndication.) as Kit arrives and pulls on Don Karnage's uniform like Molly on drugs. (I'm almost certain Molly can do that without any substances in her body, good nor bad.) Don is pleased to see him even though Kit is mad as hell now. (A true sign of a scoiopath who uses flair to mask his monsterous nature.) Kit walks away as Don tries to join him but Gibber buts in and does his whisper spot. Don is angry because the Air Force intends to shoot him down with their puny planes and both Don and Gibber nearly get MURDERED by plane gunfire. Oh come on, guys! That's enough bullet shooting for one episode for god sakes. This show is getting more forbidden as it is already. (Oh; that trainwreck is going to get even more gruesome later on. And it comes from Baloo of all furries!)

Don runs up and lightly shoves Ratchet out of his seat on laser shotgun and mans the goggles. UH OH! You PISSED him off now guys! The planes go in for another round and Don shoots back in rapid fire as he is just MURDERING plane after plane. Two of the pilots got their parachutes out safely; one did not. (Wow; they actually left us wondering if someone had legit died. Great!) Again; as I said earlier: It may be more realistic to have death as a consquence for failure; but most fans who want that want it as their ONLY consequence for failure since they think anything less than death has no sense of danger. As if Disney is going to ALLOW Kit Cloudkicker to actually be shot in the head for god sakes. Thus; I don't blame BS&P for stepping in here; because death is shocking and then you need to have MANY people drop like flies. (That's because it's never enough for a blood thirsty crowd who have no sense of real life.) We have enough productions with a high bodycount as it is. (More importantly; when you have a really high body count, you risk trivializing most of the dead into stats rather than making the deaths mean something which is important, so you can make the babyface comeback mean something instead of having the audience either be outraged or having total apathy (and personally; the former is better than the later, but neither one is good.) due to the senselessness of it. Heck; Disney Feature features deaths, but those deaths mean something because they happen to the main characters. It's amazing how Disney is blasted for not having more people die to be realistic, when they do a much better job in contextulizing the subject. I'm not saying "no one should die". That's stupid and unbelievable. However; having thousands of characters die for no reason other than they can or for shock value adds nothing since most people don't care about those nameless and faceless characters. Heck; Gundam Wing showed how dumb this was in a spot where Threres was in a fight with WuFang and WuFang was blowing him off for caring about the dead, so Threres rings off booking name after booking name of the people who died, just to spite WuFung without even having a second glance of what he did.)

Don believes that he has the city in the palm of his hand now as he jumps down from the gun and has the microphone. He goes into an awesome flair promo/rant on the citizens of Cape Suzette because they keep shooting at him when he tries to go into the city to plunder...ERRR...visit them. (Don Karnage has a manchild moment when he talks about them shooting at him; he throws a childish fit right on the microphone. He cannot fantom why Cape Suzette doesn't want him. And to a certain extent, I can see why he's upset: If he's wanted for various crimes; don't you want him to come in like a total idiot? Well; they are getting him now, and this city is going to pay for this because making Don Karnage angry is like making me eat good food. I never really stop.) Rebecca and Molly come out and everyone on the ground inside the city is SHOCKED and PANICKY now; depending on how fragile they are I guess. The pig lady from part one returns along with Teddy, who made cameoes for Louie's Last Stand and A Baloo Switcheroo where Kit said "Oh My God" for real just to screw Eisner over again like the defiant child that he is. (Kit saying "Oh my god" was edited in Disney Captions along with Baloo's "Oh god" in Jolly Molly Christmas (but not the audio though). Don Karnage would also get in the act in Ransom Of The Red Chimp. More to come once I get that transcript done. Also; Fred came out; but you barely saw him. Also; Don Karnage calls himself pirate extraordinaire; which syndication edited out. Why? I don't know. How many times have I said that? Too many methinks.) Don wants all the spoils for his victory over them and no one sells that.

So, Don decides to turn up the heat as he uses the spotlight on building and shoots the Lightning Gun at them. Geez; I wonder why TaleSpin was taken off the air after 9/11 happened for a year, eh?! (Oh this wouldn't have got the show blacklisted. Oh, no. This were merely the icing on the cake. The real reason is yet to come and it's shocking enough on it's own.) The citizens scatter like ants as everything gets nailed and this is just warm up practice for Don at this point. (Again; want to say that the Lightning Gun is just like every other plot device in DTVA plots, Mike Russo? A more detailed explaination is forthcoming.) The Cape Sign nearly MURDERS Molly and Rebecca (Seriously; it misses by about six inches at the most. I think Eisner has been part of Sun Woo's spot blowing myself.) as Molly is shook up a bit. Rebecca and Molly run stage left with Molly as apparently she returns to Higher...For..Hire. (Which most people in syndication wouldn't know because later on they edited out a key scene during Kit's free fall off the Iron Vulture.) Don is on the side of the gun (I guess he was shooting it) as the party hats are on the heels; (Boy; these fools will celebrate just about anything. They would probably welcome their TaleSpin version of the Nazi's (Already covered that subject in Gruel & Unusual Punishment) without a second thought, and give them a birthday party. No wonder Kit is sick of this group so much. I should also point out that in the comics, this scene featured a bottle of moonshine alcohol. No joking; this actually happened in the comics. Then again; Dogs Of War was basically a Nazi comic in the TaleSpin world, so why should I be shocked?) except for Kit as he's sitting on a crate feeling worse by the minute.

(2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Why shouldn't he? His decision to save his family is coming at the cost of destroying Cape Suzette. Granted, Baloo was a total idiot for blowing their cover, but most people who watch this think Baloo is such a star that he's untouchable that he can do no wrong. Look at how many people bashed Rebecca calling her a jerk just because she is being the responsible/sensible one in reeling in Baloo's lazy and reckless behavior? Plus, Kit is a child and most adults have no sympathy for them because they don't want to admit that it was a stupid adult who set the chain of events that led to this moment in the first place; since the stupid adult is the star. Plus, in Kit's case: Kit has humanity and that's the one thing that makes Kit different as an air pirate: He can step back and see what he has done. Heck; he was blaming HIMSELF and himself only for Rebecca and Molly being kidnapped in the previous act. The more I watch this show as an adult; the more empathy I have for Kit. Why? Because he's trying to be a mature adult in this whole mess and trying to grow up. He has had limited success and he sometimes regresses into a child at certain points. However; guess what? When he regresses as a child, I'm fine with it because he's supposed to be a child. I expect him to have those moments. Heck, even adults have their childish moments. It becomes a problem when the adult does it all the time and doesn't care about the consequences.)

Don slaps his back and asks how it feels to be on the winning side instead of the loser babyfaces. Kit nods in a clear lie as Don walks away. Kit whispers under his breath that he has seen enough as has to do something. (Oh man, I was even worse with the Freudian slips long before I did Chargeman Ken. And it's almost as hilarious: In the first version of this re-rant; I basically said Kit was whispering under his belt! Yes; this is the "Ken bargining into a ladies room." type mistake. Anyhow; I got to thinking, "Please stop, Kit. You did enough as it is; the show is done." Of course, Kit is Kit and he has to go all the way with this because in the end of the episode, Kit must be back with Baloo somehow. So this is basically, Kit's miracle comeback.) We get even more laser shooting on buildings for more fun as Kit backs up in dramatic fashion as his life flashes before his eyes. Kit sneaks behind the steel box and opens it to find the rubber glove. (So yeah, Kit does have some knowledge of the how rubber reacts to electrical power.) His plan is to grab the stone and escape. If the rubber glove doesn't protect him; (Well, the stone's power is supposed to power up Khan's buildings, many there are, there's no assurances that this rubber would protect him...) the stone electrocutes him and puts him out of his misery. He puts it on his right hand as we cut to Don Karnage who is cheering for victory and getting ready for the biggest plunder of all time: robbing an entire city blind and then probably turning the city to ashes for whatever sadistic reason. (Well; Kit distrupted the proceedings so Don Karnage wasn't able to finish whatever he was going to say. Actually; turning the city into ashes would be very Don Karnage like because of the protocol of Don Karnage: Don't let them live. So robbing the city blind might very well be the first step in the plan; a step in the plan that in the end succeeded. This group has to be stopped; but once again, they look untouchable. But are they...?)

However; his grandstanding would prove to be a mistake as Kit climbs up onto the gun behind Ratchet and grabs the stone! (Remember this; Kit Cloudkicker no longer cares if he lives or dies; or if anyone notices what he did in the end, as long as Cape Suzette doesn't suffer anymore damage than it already has. He could have done nothing and be a sad monster. He could have killed himself for this and be a cowardly sad monster. He chose to turn on Don Karnage for the second time, thinking: "If I die; at least I tried to stop them from wrecking the city, and my blood would be on Don Karnage's and his pirates' hands. They won't care, they're monsters already. At least I won't be one anymore." That's not only a selfless act on his part, it's also his redempation.) Oh boy; here we go again as Kit Chase music is on BABEE! The gun stops it's fire and goes dead as the Air Pirates in party hats are shocked and soon going to be appalled and then pissed off to MURDER someone. (They are like: "Wait; isn't Kit on our side?" Nope, he never was. His plan to save his family worked to perfection. The problem is, his decision ultimately has led to this raid.) Kit jumps down and runs off stage left. Don demands that he gives that stone back to him and Kit tells him to make him. Oh man; have you done enough already, my child?! (Nope. There is still more magic to come from this little brat.) We have awesome chase number two as Kit climbs up the pulley hook chain and then uses it on the catwalk to break the catwalk bridge as he runs off. The Air Pirates jump over easily. We get a race going as Kit squeezes through DA...HOLE (God bless Baby Plucky. (Baby Plucky is one of the few things in Tiny Toons that I genuinuely liked because Baby Plucky was in fact adorable and his spitting problem was a stuff of legends, let me tell ya.) ); but Shaggy Dog is ready this time as Kit comes through the other side and slide down the frame slide. (Great little attention to detail there because the shaggy dog pirate is the one Kit shoved to begin the fake heel turn. These writers do in fact think their stories out to a large degree, don't they?)

Kit thinks he's got a respite; but the Air Pirates come from the west and Kit is forced to run....like the wind...the easterly wind this time as he's at a dead end. That's the first reference to death in this pilot and it's Kit saying it of all people. (Actually; no. The first death reference was during the Sky Pirates theme song. Not only that; the way they say it makes them look like the terrorists that they are in that they enjoy actual killing. Remember, this is a children's cartoon published by Disney, the claimed professed squeakiest-clean company in the whole entire world. Do you see how stupid that sounds?) Kit looks to his left and then opens the door and gets inside locking the door behind him with the wheel on the door. Good bump into the door by the Air Pirates there. Kit slump downs but company is calling as we cut to in the hallway as the Air Pirates are using Mad Dog's head as a battering ram! SCORE! I told you he was a bump machine and those are SICK bumps too. (Here is one instance where the "people in pain" is actually funny because they are the heels. You expect them to do something this stupid. And also a note: Remember I talked about them having wrestling names? Well; there was a WWE match (I cannot remember the event nor the date other than it's late 1980's) in where the late Ravishing Rick Rude was in a tag match, and in one of the spots they did during the match, his partners took Rick Rude, who has a great body, but also the body is like a beanpole and literally used him as a battering ram, like seen in many stereotypical medieval castle break in's. So someone was watching WWE before this and it's still funny.)

Hacksaw is one of them doing it to Mad Dog and notice Dumptruck is not here. Remember that one for later. Kit backs up and turns around to see the table which contains the radio. There is hope left for Kit yet as he takes the microphone and calls for a mayday. Don Karnage finally arrives (and in a big surprise, Sun Woo keeps the same guys battering Mad Dog with the ram. CONTINUITY BABEE! (Sunwoo was on it's best behavior animating this and in some respects, they did a better job than Walt Disney Animation France did. It's too bad the editing in between version was scandalous.)) as he protests this outrage. They put Mad Dog down as he thanks Don for saving his brain damaged head; but Don blows him off because his head is too soft and kicks Mad Dog away right on the ass. Too freakin funny as Don goes to the door (while Mad Dog does the Ron Tussien spot to amuse me) and can hear Kit's pleads on the radio. Can you hear the desperation on Kit's voice? He realizes that he's dead now and he's only delaying his death now. (R.J. Williams' acting strikes again as he is selling this, knowing that if Don kills him before he sends the message to Baloo; then this series is over. He should be thankful that the series isn't already over after his amazing performance.) Don admits that he has been too easy on him which shows just how much Don wanted him as his protege.

(Not anymore. Don has given up on that prospect to the point where he will never see Kit as anything but Baloo's friend. I have been waiting until now; but it needs to be dicussed. Can you really blame Don for forgetting Kit? I mean, Kit Cloudkicker has basically screwed him twice already (and in one of the comics, he screws him a third time after the Air Pirates kidnapped him to use him as pawn. So yes, Don remembers Kit, but wants to forget him. Kitckicker of Animation Source in the post called "Kit was just a novelty to Karnage" (no he wasn't) wrote probably the best response to the whole reason why Don Karnage forgot Kit in later episodes: Rather than 'a novelty', I truly believe Karnage looked at him as a successor. Yes, he /treats/ him like a breathing part of his treasure hoard, and possibly that was because he thought Kit was quite rare. He was something to be shaped into future greatness. Not as trivial as a novelty or bauble, but not quite occupying that heart space a son does. Mostly, as I believe I've made clear in my earlier post, because Karnage lacks the empathy to care for anyone but himself. Ultimately anything he did for Kit was not out of some sense of selfless altruism, but because it benefited him to have the kid around. A successor, a sidekick, someone who could hold a conversation without having to pause every five seconds to consult a dictionary. But in the end, Karnage was a criminal and was aiming to turn Kit into a copy of himself. It's therefore ironic that his very training as a protegé made him independent and rebellious enough to break free from Karnage's influence. Undoubtedly this must have wounded Karnage on many levels. He had lost his successor, he had lost the investment of time and resources and he had lost one of the only people he could talk to. Possibly he felt some emotional loss as well, but as is often the case with criminal mindsets, his sense of loss sublimed into out and out hatred for the one who had shamed him. He'd been made to look the fool, and someone was going to pay. Even if he was willing to believe that the intial escape was part of an elaborate scheme to prove his worth, to extort money from Khan and then return in triumph (to the greater glory of Karnage, of course), when it becomes clear that his successor is not going to fall in line, hatred devolves into outright murder. Kit was not a novelty to Karnage, because Karnage never throws away any of his treasures. Even a novelty eventually ends up on the hoard, to be perhaps polished and looked at at some later date, but Kit he was perfectly willing to toss overboard. Kit was his greatest failure, the living embodiment of his imperfection. So if anyone complains about this, this is the proper response to it. Too long, don't care version: Don tried to mold Kit into him, not noticing that Kit was not stupid and Kit saw the light and turned on him. Don forgets because he failed to make a child into his image. Kit forgets because he doesn't want to be a pirate anymore and everyone knows he was one. Bringing it up every time annoys people more than not bringing it up.)

Don demands that they shoot down the door. Oh man; Don is just seriously screwed as the FURRIES WITH GUNS (That motavation poster on DeivantArt is absolutely hilarious. (More on that in the Review Line.)) uncorks their guns (WARNING: Toon Disney Violence Cut Commencing!) and they shoot as many bullets as Don Karnage and themselves can dodge. We are now at 2.5 Trigun now and that's without the Lightning Gun actually. I'm amazed none of the shots hit actually and Sun Woo managed to do the spot perfectly. (So perfectly that I'm amazed no one got hit even those there was evidence that some of the shots actually hit the pirates. No blood though, so they all missed, somehow. Even more shocking, syndication kept this scene in all of it's glory; and it's even closer to "Kit almost getting shot in the head" as you can get. Plus; Kit's spot was dramatic (along with the point blank range shooting Dumptruck did in Act II) and this was played for comedy. I would think the comedy spot would overrule the dramatic spot and Kit's one would be kept; but this isn't the case. I realize that kids just want comedy and this is funny and all; but still...) Don is kneeling on the floor and slowly tells them to go get the blow torch (making sure to say every word slowly like Santa Claus & The Ice Cream Bunny, only when Don Karnage does it, it's actually a throwaway spot and it's funny due to the voice.) because Kit may be too young to get shot with bullets; but he's not too young to fry. So we cut to various shots for pilots flying airplanes in the general area as we get more TaleSpin character cameos for the series that never got full shots in the actual series. Although for the life of me; Magon got way too many awesome characters who got one full episode to struff their stuff as it is. We hear Kit Cloudkicker's voice as he is pleading for someone to find Baloo because Little Britches has a message for him.

Remember that all of the pilots do not know that Kit turned on Baloo in Part Three because it plays into the big scene in this act which is the very next scene actually. (In fact, the closest any of these pilots might know what happened to Kit was when they saw Kit standing up to Don Karnage and his pirates in Act I, although none of them appeared in that scene, and certainly not the one who informs Baloo in the next scene.) We get a shot of Kit hundled in a ball near the radio table as the door is getting cut open with the blow torch. So we head to Louie's with a pan shot of Louie's sign and then we pan down to the front of the building. Then we cut inside as Baloo is singing the I'm Gone song again as the place is empty with only Baloo, Louie and the waitress monkeys. Baloo is dancing so badly that it makes his I'm Gone song look like Swan Lake. I think the coconut glass and dancing on the chair makes it worse. (Here's where the whole "censorship by copyright" argument for "Home Is Where The Heart Is" falls apart, sort of: So in part I; the song singing was fine, but in part three and part four; it's either cut or muted as evident here. Why? I'm Gone is an important aspect of the pilot where Baloo and Kit are running off when trouble comes, instead of standing up to themselves. This is an important element in the storyline and plays into the climax later on when the city of Cape Suzette is being torched. Wow; I never thought that song would have a double meaning, or even triple meaning, but I have found it.) Louie is polishing his counter while Baloo rants on having no worries as he's the teenager in fat adult's body again for good. AHHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm...

Louie nicely blows him off because he said it so many times that he'll think it's really true when it isn't. I don't think he's buying Kit's betrayal either as Baloo proclaims that it is true. (Louie has to be asking: "If Kit really did turn on Baloo; how do you explain Kit in my own bar when Baloo met Kit for the first time?!" Also remember; Baloo never saw Kit standing up to Don Karnage until Don Karnage caught him in Part One; but Louie did see him stand up to him in the bar in the same part! Why stand up to Don if he was with Don all along and bowl over Gibber and Dumptruck with a barrel? That makes no sense. So forgive Louie if he is like Rebecca (Rebecca shudders on cue.) in not believing that Kit turned heel legit. That makes two and maybe three if there was a scene where Molly and Rebecca talked. Molly's reactions were more of Baloo leaving than anything doing with Kit.) Then the most important furry in the entire series runs in; which is a beige dog (Chuck MacCann) wearing a brown bomber jacket and beige pants. He wants to see Baloo as Baloo addresses him as Ace. Ace tells him that he has a radio message from someone named Little Britches. (You know what; I think they missed the boat here: The overall spot is perfectly fine. However; this would have been a great moment to have Pilot Jack from Act I run in and inform Baloo that someone named Little Britches has a message for him. Pilot Jack doesn't know Kit's turn either, and he's not going to piss in Baloo's cornflakes on Kit hitchhiking either. It would have been a great redeeming moment for Pilot Jack here. Sadly, they missed the boat here. Not saying that this is a bad moment as it is; I'm just pointing out how it could be even better.) Baloo realizes who he is right away as Louie turns on the radio. Now you would think that Kit would just plead for Baloo's help like all DTVA characters do. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~! This is Kit we are talking about here. Kit delivers this line:

Kit: Can't stop them from wrecking the city. But I tried. Please tell Baloo! Tell Poppa Bear! I'm his navigator! (whispers) Always.

OH MY GOD! When will this kid stop being awesome and start acting like a Michael Eisner Disney character?! (Not until Eisner buries Kit deep into the earth; which pretty much happened at the time Your Baloo's In The Mail.) Now we know Kit's act was a noble act even though he is basically asking for his death. (Oh yeah; let's screw Don Karnage and his pirates with guns a second time just to save a bunch of people who don't even know I exist and probably don't care. Selfless, yes. Foolish and suicidal? Oh hell, yes!) I thought Kit would plead for Baloo's help; but if you read the message carefully; he never even implies that he wants any help. He sent the message to Baloo hoping that Baloo hears it and realizes that he was acting in Act III in order to save him and the Cunninghams; and thus did not betray him. (Yeah; because at this point, pretty much everyone has figured out that the heel turn was a fake. It was around the point where Kit asked Don to let the saps go where everyone should have realized that Kit was faking it.) The message also implies that Kit knows that he is basically dead, done, toe-tagged, six feet under now; assuming Don grants him a quick death. This message was extremely powerful and the always was in a tearful whisper gave the message such power; which sadly got muted in syndication. If you go to Spinnerstuff.com; you can download the entire movie to see the scene. (And depending on Disney's tolerance on Youtube, there was a slightly sped up version the pilot; which has the hilarious moment of Molly saying "I wanna play some more." instead of "I wanna fly some more." So yes, when sped up; play and fly sound the same. Anyhow; the "always" thing did not change the message one bit. If they wanted to make Kit plead for help; they would have changed everything before the always. Nothing Kit said in the actual message implies that he was asking for help. What the always does is an acting cue that Kit is basically saying goodbye to Baloo because he knows that Karnage is going to kill him. Of course; this doesn't stop Kit from trying to escape and he almost succeeded actually, if it wasn't for a certain dumb character who we haven't seen since the first speaking lines of Kit in this act. That is what gave the message power; and muting it did dull the emotional impact of the line. However; it didn't change the line in anyway.)

Now; why did the word always get cut? Well; there are three theories to this and sadly all three are plausible. (Actually; only two of them are believable now.) The first one is I think really the most heinous one and that is some people thought Kit and Baloo were gay and Kit had a relationship that was too close to being more than just a friend based relationship. The Southern Baptists hate gays/homosexual (Which is quite vile in itself; although I think Eisner's hate of families of love is worse since it alienates everyone; not just gay families.) relationships in general and Disney was already in trouble over their theme parks employment of gays. However; I think it's completely absurd since there is nothing to even imply that this is a homosexual relationship. Baloo clearly likes females and so does Kit (and Kit did have a girlfriend albeit in the comics.). (And why should it matter if they are gay. If Kit is gay; so what? It's not like this is an actual homosexual relationship and it's not like Baloo and Kit are going to have sex with each other in canon anyway. Of course, that hasn't stopped sickos from drawing pictures featuring this. You can be gay, straight, bi or anything in between (or even none at all) and still have a relationship that is merely being just friends. There's nothing wrong with that, and most real people prefer that unless the relationship is abusive. SB can go die in a fire of their own making for all I care.) The second plausible one is simply an audio mistake which sadly happens even when you are fixing the errors in animation from this pilot in Post-Production. It's tragic; but it shows no malice from Michael Eisner or Post-Production. (Well; that theory is out the window now. Later on; syndication fixed an audio mistake when Baloo says "Hang on to your kneecaps." as the s in kneecaps was cut off in the movie version. Plus; there is a "precision F-strike" that they didn't correct in any version later on, which cements my theory that audio mistake wasn't the issue.)

The last theory is that the mute was made because Kit was implying that he was going to commit suicide. At least that was what Eisner though in theory. The problem with this is that Kit was committing suicide with his life the moment he betrayed Don Karnage the first time. I think the mute is quite pointless when Don nearly killed him by slicing him in half in Part One; almost shooting him in the damn head in Part Two and now at the mercy of them in Part Four with more to come. I don't see why the always was muted for that reason from Eisner's standpoint. (Yeah; I don't get it either because it's not like Kit's decisions in the whole pilot were safe from being a theme of suicide. I mean, "I'm Gone" also has a double meaning in this pilot alone and they didn't cut that. I'm guessing that it's either suicide themes or just because they can.) I don't know what the answer is; but Eisner and company better hope it's an audio error (which is isn't) because the first reason is downright vile and the third reason is really pointless other than a "we can" standpoint to dull Kit's emotional character to appease moral guardians and make them look the other way. It didn't work, of course. It's clear from day one that Kit was a BS&P nightmare because it might make children love him more than Bart Simpson and Kit is MORE dangerous than Bart is. (I concur.) Bart Simpson is merely a spoiled brat who has a foul mouth. (The closest to him being dangerous is doing stunts; but in Bart's case, he doesn't have nearly the excuses that Kit Cloudkicker had in Stormy Weather.) Kit is a loveable character who knows too much, sees too much, hears too much and probably has done unspeakable acts he doesn't want us to know; and probably we don't want to know. (And boy did the fandom do their damnest to come up with the darkest possible stories about Kit that even I was regretting ever calling Kit the prince of darkness on my website. Some of them made my fanfics look like fluffy plots in comparison.)

Kit as David Tower said many years ago, is dangerous and you love him with great hazard and it's up to his new family to either reject him because they cannot take it; or accept it because they are strong enough to take it. True care and true love interwined. A viewers wet dream and a BS&P's wet nightmare. (Testify~!) So; let's resume to the rant as Baloo finally gets the LIGHT BULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY and realizes that he was wrong about the kid and if he dies; his blood is on Baloo's hands more or less. (The blood was already on his hands the second he blew their cover in the previous act. Baloo has now realized that running with the Idiot Ball for too long has serious consequences and if he doesn't bust his ass like crazy, he is going to lose pretty much the only friend he had outside of Louie. It also shows that Baloo does have some humanity in that body of his. Most modern cartoons would not bother with that little detail; because they had it pounded into their heads by execs pretending to be scientists that kids just want comedy. Not realizing that without humanity, people either don't care (because it's ficitional), or they are so angry that they become MG's. Neither option is good for your show. When you give humanity to a character, people do in fact care regardless if they are funny or serious. It's not that hard and it gives you the benefit that there is an incentive to continue watching the show.) Baloo runs out quickly towards the SeaDuck as Louie pleads for him not to go because Cape Suzette is a death trap (death reference number three for the pilot); but Baloo ignores him and turns on the engines as he is going into Overdrive BABEE! Louie pleads for Baloo to reconsider because it will MURDER the engine; (and he really means it too.) but Baloo doesn't care because Kit is going to die and he's not going to let that happen.

Baloo gets the SeaDuck coasting on the water and then pushes the red button which turns the SeaDuck into overdrive and the plane zooms off nearly knocking Louie off the docks which symbolizes this whole pilot episode actually. (Dan Green once said that Plunder and Lightning knocked him off his feet at one time. He was totally right; but he never really gave enough reasons for it. After watching this and studying scene by scene, I can see why he said that now, almost to a fault.) So, we cut back to Don Karnage standing behind the door of the radio tapping his foot as he is pondering devious ways to make Kit suffer a long painful, brutal death I do think. (Hmmm; if Don Karnage gets the stone back; he has a perfectly working Lightning Gun...More on that thought in the next act...) Ratchet finally cuts the entire steel door open with the flamethrower and Don kicks the door open. He runs inside and grabs the chair; but Kit is missing it seem. We cut back to Baloo flying the SeaDuck as the engines were running red hot and this could get ugly as we cut back to Don Karnage looking everywhere; but gets nothing until he decides to look up and sees Kit on the ceiling using a pipe to squeeze him into the tight spot and keep him there. (Now there's where the steampunk theme shines because not only is it used for decoration or useful applications for the heels; it can be made to take advantage of smaller babyfaces like Kit. You couldn't do this in a 1980's setting, it could only happen in a steampunk environment. That is amazing foresight by the background artists here.) He even puts the stone behind his back just to play more mind games with him. Don demands Kit to give him the stone and Kit goldbricks which Don doesn't buy since Kit appears to look like he tied his own wrists.

Kit is so screwed now as he gets the sword pointed at his nose since mind games are over BABEE! (Notice that Don Karnage has never pointed the sword at Kit until right now? Sure, there was the moment where he tried to kill Kit in Act I; but that's only because Kit pushed his Moral Guardian-equse buttons. Here, Don has no reason to point the sword other than demanding. In other words; Kit is officially like everyone else to Don: A silly type person to plunder and rob. Although with Kit; he wants to do much worse as revenge for Kit screwing him twice.) Kit shows the stone and he throws it hard on the ground which Don foolishly catches it and gets SHOCKED! HAHA! (Complete with Blanka shock effects from Street Fighter II before that game was cool.) Somehow Don is alive and manages to come out somewhat winded. (I should also note that when Kit slips from the pipe; the movie version cut short Don Karnage's screaming which sounds like he's drinking water from a glass. I see someone was watching X-6 from Chargeman Ken. Come on Jim Cummings, you can't tell me you didn't somehow watch that show?) Kit slips from the pipe and runs out of the room into the hallway and the Air Pirates are so dumbfounded at their captains getting shocked and appalled that they don't even catch him. Well; they aren't mental giants as they say. Some of them trip as Don recovers from the Wii Shock (HEE HEE! (Compared to Mr. Hardcore, Don Karnage was lucky. If it were the hardcore, then the suicide watch would be off the charts. I hope Nintendo NX gets that type of heat because it should damn needs it.)) and blows smoke (AND THAT'S BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH, MOVIE RATING AND DARKWING...DUCK EPISODES!).

Well he is a heel; but he's a cool heel so he's going to be getting a letter from the anti-smoking groups after this pilot is over. (I betcha someone would take a lollipop and put it in their mouths with the end sticking out; and those group would scream for the government to ban them for mimicking smoking. That's how scared they are of cigarettes. Granted; there are lots of reasons why smoking should be history; but it's stupid things like this that keep them from being history. But they don't care; because it's like I said before: Most MG's think it's all about them.) Don comes out and screams at his dumb idiots to grab Kit. We then see Kit running towards the mouth of the Iron Vulture and he opens up his airfoil. Nothing can stop him now as he tries to jump off the edge; but Dumptruck grabs him from behind by the collar and dangles him over the edge in more ways than one as Kit gets paid back for outsmarting Dumptruck from Act I. Wow; do I see a brain in Dumptruck's noggin?! Nah; must be the "broken clock tells time right twice" theory for him as we get a far shot of the Iron Vulture as the segment ends nearly seventy-nine minutes in. (What a way to make Dumptruck look like he's smarter than his solid bone head suggests. Remember; he was never seen between Kit's first conversation in this act and now and Kit outsmarted everyone, including Don Karnage and Mad Dog; but it was the dumbest guy of the lot Dumptruck; that caught him. So close, Kit; so close.)

After the commercial break; we see Dumptruck with Kit by the collar as Kit struggles to get free, but no dice. Don Karnage and his pirates waltz in (with discharged stone in hand doing a toss spot to amuse me) as he blows him off gleefully for trying to fool him twice. Don puts the stone in his pocket as Don steals Kit's Airfoil and even opens it amused by the toy. Then he USES THE KNEE (That one's for you Scott Keith.), breaking Kit's Airfoil! Huge, huge heel heat there from Kit fans everywhere as Kit can only gasp "My board." Funny spot: RJ Williams said "My board..." in a whisper (Which was not edited out by the way; cementing my theory that it was suicide themes that caused the "always" mute.) and yet Kit's face reaction made him sound like he was gasping for his father which caused some fans to think that Kit's father/mother/parents were the original inventors of the board and got passed on to Kit. (That is all very probable and in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the original line before BS&P caught wind of it and had it changed. If so, they forgot to change Kit's reaction.) Don gives Kit the remaining two pieces of the Airfoil in his hands as the other two flew away and never show up again. Don then completely blows off Kit with this line:

Don Karnage: So Kit Cloudkicker; you will kick the bucket instead of the clouds. Hahaha! I make a funny joke? From now on, I erase you from my list of noble pirates!

Oh man; Don just smeared Kit with THAT one and Kit pretty much deserved it since he betrayed Don and pretty much burned every bridge left; including his only escape left which was his Airfoil. Don Karnage walks away from Kit which proves to be a mistake for him in one sense; but Kit is so dead now and he knows it; so Kit blows him off. Sadly BS&P won't let R.J. Williams call him a terrorist. (This line should have been redubbed to "You're nothing but a terrorist Karnage." And why? Because he really is.) Just makes me hate Drake Mallard even more now. (Geez; I thought his dated sthtick was enough to make you hate that mallard. For goodness sakes 2008; give Drake some credit here.) However; Kit makes up for it by throwing the pieces of his Air Foil which bonk Don Karnage right on the back of the head. HAHA! Well; Kit just won't quit being awesome and Don is PISSED off and he orders Dumptruck to throw Kit off the Iron Vulture to his watery death. (I just realized something: Don Karnage walked away with the stone before Kit threw his airfoil pieces at Don. If he was going to dump him from the start; why didn't he just order Dumptruck to drop him AFTER he said he was going to erase him from the list. Instead; he lets Kit down to look at his airfoil pieces. Why didn't Dumptruck just keep him in grabbed position? Well; now I figured out why: Don Karnage was going to erase him (Cancel him if you will!) by ordering the pirates to tie him up and then have the pirates either shoot them with their guns; or worse, burn Kit to ashes with the Lightning Gun. In essence, by throwing the airfoil pieces off Don's head, Kit pushes his buttons once again. Don got angry and basically say "To hell with the Lightning Gun as your final moments; I'll simply throw you off the Vulture instead." In essence, Kit Cloudkicker actually saved his own life in an indirect way as you'll see later on. And don't think Don Karnage and the pirates would think twice about this because in Act II; Dumptruck was shooting bullets at Kit at point blank range. They have no reservations of shooting Kit dead then and there, so why now? It's things like this that looking back at this made the Air Pirates such threats as heels at the time, in spite of their comical nature.)

Dumptruck grabs Kit by the collar again and Kit doesn't even bother to struggle this time. He knows that he is dead now as Dumptruck finally drops Kit over the edge and Kit starts one of the most dramatic free falls I have ever seen and because Michael Eisner hates drama; future episodes had that freefall trivialized including the pilot of Darkwing Duck when Tarus Bullba killed most of his heat by doing a comic version of the spot with his vulture and Gosalyn. Gosalyn is the child victim here. (Even more stunning; Kit's free fall was basically his version of what happened to Teddy Ruxpin in Captured. However; MAVO would do what the pi-rats did in Rescue Rangers in making Teddy walk the plank and then Teddy would hold onto the airship for a bit after the force off, then free fall. Not here. Dumptruck grabs Kit and simply drops him. No tease, no fuss. Just like that basically; which made it much more scary. Also add that Kit is at least four years younger than Teddy is. At least Teddy fell into the river in his version and was nursed back to health. Kit's was more luckier in that way.) Kit screams out loud as he can be heard from Higher...For...Hire (Syndication Time Cut Alert!) as Molly and Rebecca notice the spotlight and Kit falling. Baloo flies the SeaDuck right into the narrow ridge as the engines are frying and catching fire by the second as we resume Kit's famous free fall as Kit's body literally twists to force Kit to actually looks up and Kit forces himself to look down. This whole fall was made into a poem called "Respite" from Marie Kelly and one of the reasons for Kit to force himself to look down was to eliminate the connection to his past; which just adds more evidence that Kit was basically committing suicide. I think R.J. almost says "Die" here (No; he just screams as R.J. Williams can and then stops because it's pointless now.) as Kit is about five feet from hitting the water and the SeaDuck swoops in just in time and Baloo grabs Kit in a picture perfect spot from Sun Woo. Thank you Sun Woo; that's all I ask you to do.

I think the TaleSpin victory music gave the whole thing away that Kit wasn't going to die; but still. Kit is amazed that Baloo is even HERE as Baloo has Kit by the collar and he forces Kit right into the plane. (I'm not surprised that Kit thinks this way. He probably expected the worst and that Baloo would continue to nurse the grudge till the day they both die. He's more shocked that Baloo actuallly decided to do something this crazy. Well as I said, two peas in a pod these two babyfaces are.) That is amazing because if Baloo misses by a foot; Kit either drowns to death; or gets ripped into bloody shreds. That's how close Kit was to death actually. In fact; he's about five feet away from touching the props actually. (This is a catch a star moment because if Baloo's timing is off by a second or too, Kit would had either bounces off the nose cone and died ala Chronicle Asher from Mobile Suit Victory Gundam; or drowned in the ocean directly, or worse, get sliced to ribbons in the propellers. In fact if you go frame by frame, you'll notice that Kit's feet almost touches the propeller when Baloo grabs him. Steet actually has a link to that picture. Wow; just wow, Kit was dangerous until the end, wasn't he?) Don Karnage is SHOCKED, APPALLED and PISSED off of this as we cut back into the cockpit of the SeaDuck as Kit is placed on the arm rest of the SeaDuck and the glove is STILL on the right hand! Kit cannot believe that he would come back to him as he problems with trust still linger with this kid and would linger for episodes to come actually as Baloo takes out the baseball cap and gives it to Kit as Kit wears it with the tip of the hat forward. It shows that he still doesn't completely believe Baloo saved him. He's only wearing it because he likes him. Kit is just happy that he's alive despite a one million to one chance of living on (which Baloo made more dangerous with the SeaDuck I might add.) .

Baloo is a little miffed because he told him that the navigator always wears it backwards as he twists the cap backwards which finally cements Kit's face turn for good. (Yeah; because you might have proven your worth, but your life is still ass backwards anyway. Personally; I would change that line to: "You know better, navigator. You always wear it this way."; which would be a lot more accurate since Kit knew exactly how to wear the hat in the first place.) Kit finally gets it actually; for now anyway and yes folks, this is the last big spot involving Kit. It's all Baloo and Rebecca from here on as the SeaDuck gets attacked by the Lightning Gun and it's time for Kit to hold his kneecaps. (Okay; you missed a spot here in your rant 2008 me! Before the attack starts, the roof of the SeaDuck sparks and the SeaDuck slows down because the overdrive fnally overheats and burns out. Then we start the attack.) Do you know why that promo was great?! Because Magon mever did it as a catchphrase and thus we hear it rarely and it doesn't get watered down by bad promo cutting and execution later on. See DARKWING....DUCK. (Too bad the movie version sound editing wasn't good.) The left engine is smoking badly as the SeaDuck dodges all Lightning Gun shots which shows just how much skill Baloo has as Don Karnage is getting more and more pissed off by the second. The second engine slowly smokes as well as Don Karnage even has his sword out so you know he is serious! Baloo decides to play a little "Hide and Sneak" as the spotlight is on the SeaDuck (as a character now) and the SeaDuck hides underneath a bridge as the spotlight follows and the spotlight loses the plane after passing the bridge. Don assumes that he has the fried and dead now as the spotlight reverses onto the bridge and Don wants to burn that bridge. Geez; let's just add more symbolism for this series in this pilot why don't we?! (Well; TaleSpin didn't burn it's bridge enough that Bob Iger didn't have the series put on DVD, so I'm guessing that accounts for something.)

Don proclaims that they have made mincemeat of them as the SeaDuck apparently got vaporized. Don is happy that they are gone so he calls for his men to plunder the city as the trapdoor opens from below the Iron Vulture and the Air Pirates climb down on ropes and go into buildings and plunder the city. And according to their logic; they win since they plundered the city successfully. Personally; I think Don wanted more than that; but I'll explain that one later. We get a water shot of the underneath of the bridge as we cut to inside a ransacked Higher...For...Hire as WildCat is hugging Molly (Thus starts their relationship in earnest.) with Rebecca below the stairs with a flame lamp as she hears a familiar voice beckoning. Rebecca goes to the radio transmitter and looks defeated herself as the pounding is too much for her. Baloo then blows her off for using that Wii'ish name. Rebecca turns to happiness as we cut to the SeaDuck coasting out of it's hiding place and proclaims that we are coming home and thus implying that Kit is safe as the girls and WildCat cheer over the radio. (I hope that if Plunder and Lightning is remade in the comics from Joe's Books (It might, it might not. I'm whaffling like a whaffle at this point.); I hope it includes a version of the scene from the Plunder and Lightning novelization where Kit is worried that Rebecca and Molly will hate him; with Baloo reassuring him that they wouldn't. Then go to the docks as the SeaDuck lands, Baloo goes into the office as Kit apologizes to Molly and Rebecca; and then they forgive him. It would also lop off a couple of logic breaks, namely; Molly having a second doll with her during the next scene.) So we cut to a far shot of Higher...For...Hire as The Iron Vulture in the background continues to spotlight and alarms sound as we cut to a side shot of the office as Kit and Molly look on (And apparently; they kissed and made up here.) as we get a cute cartoon spot (because this drama NEEDS one at this point. (I can just hear Eisner saying that now.)) as Baloo tries to put stuff into the SeaDuck; but Rebecca keeps stealing it back.

Rebecca yells that he's not leaving and Baloo blow off her lack of sense as Baloo gets thrown off the top of the dock and takes a really good off-screen bump. Rebecca goes over to her and pleads to stay because this is her home. Baloo tries to convince her that the city and themselves are going to be fried if they stay; but Rebecca holds firm with the Gruffi pose. Baloo then goes to Kit for help; but Kit sides with Rebecca and rightfully so. Don won't stop with Cape Suzette; he wants to make everyone live in absolute fear to defend his one true creed as an Air Pirate: The epitome of a terrorist. (Mike Russo mentioned this in his Tumblr blog about the pilots of Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck all having the same plot: Heel gains unstoppable weapon to rob banks. In Rescue Rangers and Darkwing Duck, these are all 100% true. Rescue Rangers is ultra goofy and Darkwing Duck's is simply an anti-gravity beam. None of them I can take seriously as threats. However; the Lightning Gun is a pure laser cannon. Sure, Don Karnage's motive is to rob the citizens of Cape Suzette blind. But think of the implications beyond just that: He has a gun that he can threaten people with like a terrorist, he could do a lot more with that gun: He could destroy buildings (which he attempted to on Cape Suzette and actually did shoot at), he could fry and kill denizens at will (hell, he could've burn Kit Cloudkicker to ashes if he wanted too, and probably would have if Kit hadn't throw the pieces of his airfoil off his head.), he can destroy planes and kill their pilots and everyone else (which he did and almost did in part IV.); he could terrorize every portion of the planet and not be able to be stopped. So in essence, the Lightning Gun is a weapon that I can take seriously and it makes me want to see Baloo and the gang stop this meance. That is how you build up the entire angle and not make it look goofy. It makes Don into the almost unstoppable monster heel and it makes Baloo, Kit and Rebecca's attempts to stop them look like the biggest heroes in history. DW and C&D cannot make that claim because the weapons in those pilots are very localized...let the police handle that. The Lightning Gun is a stroke of genius by the writers here because it is an actual threat I can take seriously where you absolutely have no choice but have the one pilot who hates being a hero being forced to play hero.)

The Gruffi poses completely trump Baloo (Gruffi has got to be livid to be outclassed by these bears.) as he agrees to it; but there will not be much left and then it's the PUPPY FACES OF DOOM from the bears as Baloo is in way too deep. (Nowadays; Johnny Ass...ERR...I mean Johnny Test would use these puppy eyes just to get what he wants. They are using the puppy faces for a really good reason here: Don Karnage isn't going to stop at Cape Suzette. Does anyone honestly think otherwise?! If so, then you don't know how heel dynmanics work in real life. It might be time to get a new life; one that actually has a clue.) Baloo completely goldbricks on those puppy faces in a pretty funny spot. (He was closing his eyes, covering his ears and humming that he's not listening like a child. Some things never change with Pop-A-Bear.) Rebecca tries to convince him to do it but Baloo goes into complete theocrat mode when a different opinion is presented that they hate. Baloo proclaims that the Lightning Gun would MURDER his plane the moment it takes off the ground. (Which is a total lie because as you'll see later on, the SeaDuck takes off without any incident whatsoever. Besides Pop-A-Bear; the pirates think you and Kit are dead.) However; Rebecca shows Baloo the rubber glove to counter. HAHA! Kit's crazy act just screwed Don Karnage now. I betcha Don now wishes Kit didn't get into the radio room huh?! (Or maybe he should have killed him when he got the chance during the touching suntanning cave scene too 2008 Me? Rebecca's science and Kit's courage has now set the table for the final main babyface comeback as Kit has pretty much set up the checkmate on Don Karnage and his plan. Even though, Kit is directly done in this pilot, his actions are still having effects long after.)

So we change scenes as Rebecca is actually doing some work hammering tires onto the SeaDuck along with Baloo and Kit. (See, Rebecca can work hard and work smart. Now if only she can play hard, then we have a true balanced character. It'll happen later or sooner depending on what mood I am in.) WildCat is checking the engines as Kit asks Baloo who would be doing the spot Kit would get in later episode (See what I mean about my conspiracy theory with Eisner?) about the tires and Baloo explains that the rubber will deflect the lightning instead of merely absorbing it like metal usually does. (In a way; this is actually brilliant because if you get a lucky shot to bounce back and hit the Lightning Gun, you can destroy it that way. Of course; that would be the "slip on the banana peel" finish which wouldn't work in this situation. TaleSpin is bold; and you got to do a bold finish in order to make sure Rebecca owns the SeaDuck. What exactly happens? Read on...) Rebecca finishes her pulling rubber and then goes over to get a few more tires as a stray tire rolls in and stops on it's side and out pops Molly in a really cute spot. Rebecca grabs her and they have a bonding moment as Baloo asks WildCat on the status of the engines. (I really needed some tension broken at this point; because the suspense was killing me for a while now. Thanks Molly.) WildCat states the engine is fine; but the overdrive is toast forevermore. Baloo doesn't mind at the least as Kit realizes that was what saved him. Still doesn't water down his message to Baloo in anyway, though. Baloo grabs Kit from the roof and sets him on his feet on the dock; and it's time to make Don Karnage pay for trying to destroy this family by heart; but Rebecca also wants to join in which Baloo protests. Rebecca blows him off because it may not be her plane; but they are her tires and her plan. And she probably wants to talk to Kit too while we are at it. Baloo agrees to it and they all hop in except for Molly and Wildcat. Baloo starts the engines as it is Lightning Gun Bagging Time~!

The SeaDuck flies around the bend of the harbour over Molly and WildCat wave at it. We then cut back to the mouth of the Iron Vulture as Mad Dog and another pirate use the sway bridge to cross back and get more spoils of victory so to speak. We cut to Don having more fun with his treasure (He's so vain that the treasure in his cave isn't enough. He must have a psychological projection grudge against anyone who does any speck of materialism. Now that would be an angle that this show should have considered; but didn't. Anything to give Don Karnage a past, anything! ) and thinks he's won and then hears Baloo's voice on the radio as he is here to bust up the party like a party pooper would. Don has the telescope as he sees the SeaDuck coming. Don goes to the radio and demands a name to engrave on their tombstones; while destroying Dumptruck's hat for fun (Remember that he dropped Kit off the Vulture earlier?). Baloo responds with his name and Kit follow up with his and proving that the James Bond tribute Magon was shooting for was really a silly one. (Notice now that Kit isn't acting awkward anymore about saying his name? That means he has finally accepted Baloo and Rebecca as adults he can trust now. Sure; there will be trials where Kit will second guess himself or outright think his learned behavior was right all along (like most people in life do weither they admit it or not.), but he has finally found his home. And he'll be damned if Don Karnage is going to burn it to the damn ground.) Don Karnage is shocked and appalled at this as he jumps down onto the floor and goes into his triade. (Like most psychopaths; he cannot believe that anyone would decide to challenge him and yet here they are. Now Don is in trouble for the first time in his life. He's now realizing that he made a fatal mistake not killing Kit when he had the chance in Act I and II; and he's now regretting not using the Lightning Gun to burn Kit to ashes in this act. Don's plan is officially falling apart at the seams and there is nothing he can do about it now.)

Don orders Ratchet to blow them off as Ratchet gets into position and fires the Lightning Gun straight at the SeaDuck's nose and the shot is REJECTED~! HAHA! Doesn't matter if planes today can take such a shot without the rubber; but the gun is committed to Final Fantasy logic so the psychology works well. (It's a straight up laser, where the power is focused as destructive energy as demonstrated in this gun with the stone as the energy source.) Hey; it's an infinite times better than the JELLO FRUITCAKE~! (TESTIFY~! I don't care what Acorn Cafe says. Besides; Norton has a perfectly workable laser himself that never got used either, making Klordine look like a goofball and an idiot on top of it.) Don Karnage is SHOCKED so he orders Ratchet to fire stronger as Ratchet fires again and manages to push the SeaDuck back; but it does zero damage and the SeaDuck keeps coming. (Now here's is a Snopes.com moment that I had to rewind about fifty times in order to make sure I wasn't hearing things. Now; I think when Baloo, Kit and Rebecca were cheering, Baloo was supposed to say: "It finally worked!"; which makes little sense because it worked the first time. Anyhow; as they are cheering, I don't know how this got past BS&P; but Ed Gilbert during this said and this is an exact quote with no censorship whatsoever: "It fucking worked!" No joke whatsoever. I rewound this so many times during the work on the transcripts. Now, Disney Captions claims Baloo said: "It worked." The problem is; Baloo didn't say this line, Kit Cloudkicker said this line. There is a clear "Fuc" sound made by Edmund Gilbert in that scene. Now; it is possible that this happened in recording in most cartoons; but then it's never used in the actual broadcast or it is edited out in newer cuts and none is the wiser. That means someone in editing screwed up royalfully and didn't even notice the audio one time during this sequence. And no one in Disney ever noticed nor care because every version of this pilot has the same line in the audio, EVEN DISNEY+! Only Disney Captions did when they didn't subtitle Baloo's line; but subtitled Kit's line and claimed that it was Baloo's line. People of this website: TaleSpin has made history. It is the first Disney production with the Disney name to have one of it's cartoon characters say the word "fuck" in a show and got away with it!)

(One more note that I missed: When Baloo says "Hold on to your kneecaps"; the movie version cuts off a split second too early, so it's "Hold on to your kneecap...". Syndication fixed that gaffe, but not the precision f-strike.) Don is now PISSED as he order his men to get him the old fashion way: a dogfight with bullets. Kit is loving this as he proclaims that nothing will stop them now...except for the CT-37's who are really the last line of defense as they dive down from the trapdoor below and they start shooting. I guess Magon wants the mythical 3.0 Trigun which would be fine if the shots made contact with furry flesh. Oh well; BS&P and all that. So; it's the dogfight number four for the SeaDuck as Baloo bails and heads into town just to make the show more fragile to getting pulled after 9/11. (Something about crashing planes into buildings and such crap like that.) One pirate missteps and trips over some rumble on the fly down into town and does some really awesome backflips into a store and takes a really good bump right onto a bear fake doll instore. Don't worry you sick freaks; the bear is covered with a pink dress even in this version. The SeaDuck turns 90 degrees to fly on it's side and the CT-37's cannot get inside and they get clipped with no parachutes to boot. Although they are too low to the ground to cause sure deaths; so it's okay to do that spot. (No; but without the parachutes, injuries even at low altitude are almost assured. Even more amazing: Baloo's plan to shake off the pirates is to basically make them crash into buildings. I crap thee not. Even more amazing; at least one building had a maintance worker in it. In pre-9/11 times, no one would care; but thanks to 9/11; you'll never see another children's cartoon attempt this again for a long time without being blacklisted.) More dogfighting as the SeaDuck is having confidence in the donimation (my favorite video game boss music of all time) as one Air Pirates crashes into the building and the weasel working in the room has to bail as the plane goes in.

What was that furry thinking working in a combat zone at a time like this?! (Worse, it's the same guy who worked on the sign for Higher For Hire in act II.) At least this pirate parachutes out the other side of the building. (This pirate is also wearing an amulet with a black cross around his neck similar to the German Iron Cross!) The damage is set at seven hundred fifty billion dollars now as the SeaDuck dodges more fire as he goes up the Khan building and then drops down steeply which causes the two CT-37's to lose control and crash into the pavement below. HOLY CRAP?! Now this is having a sense of danger since having a sense of danger involves teasing death! Context people, context! (Don't bother trying to reason with them. If they are scummy enough to not get context, they are also scummy enough to pirate those "Ideon"-equse productions as well. Although in Ideon's case, I can see why since there is no official English dub of the show nor Be Invoked. The amazing thing about Be Invoked was: The first half was perfectly fine; but once they started killing everyone in gruesome ways, instead of being tragic, it became comical to the point where I almost feel sorry for the Moral Guardians of this world. I mean, this was evidence #1 in justifying their hate in anime. Although Chargeman Ken's Terror! Mental Hospital episode did more damage than Ideon did.) More shooting as the SeaDuck goes into the tunnel as the Seaduck's wings are scrapping the edges in a neat spot; so Baloo adjusts on cue and it's the TaleSpin Victory music time as the SeaDuck flies just below the "Low Clearance" sign and the CT 37's cannot adjust and they get destroyed by bumping the pavement with nasty bumps. The two parachute which is pointless since they were only two feet off the ground; but the thought was certainly there. (Yes, Baloo defeated every single CT-37 by simply letting them crash into the city, and in three instances literally into buildings. Someone wrote a really great post about this and how 9/11 affected the plot device, basically turning it into persona non grata.) The SeaDuck flies out of town as Baloo gets this awesome line:

Baloo: If you can't fly; don't mess with the eagle!

When Baloo gets a great line; you know this pilot is awesome as the SeaDuck flies straight towards the mouth of the Iron Vulture and since the gun has zero effect on the SeaDuck now; Don orders his men to close the beak. Two of his pirates use the cranker; but it's going much too slow as the SeaDuck gains more speed by the second. Rebecca doesn't think that they are going to make it; but Baloo doesn't know and still wants to try anyway. (And like in real life, it's not like there's any excuse not to try; so why not? That's the problem with Yoda's "Do or do not, there is no try" line in Star Wars is that it basically means "Do it or don't try." You might be able to get away with it in fiction; but it's a really horrible message in real life. (It's okay to try and if you fail, you can try something else. Just for the people who thought the message in Lost Cargo Of Kit Cloudkicker was horrible.) Besides; you made Air Pirates crash into buildings on a show that aired eleven years before 9/11; so why not go all the way and crash your plane into the Lightning Gun. What could possibly go wrong? Besides assuring that Rebecca gets your plane back after it's rebuilt in the best case and in worst case, everyone in the SeaDuck dies.) Baloo flies the SeaDuck straight at the Lightning Gun as Ratchet bails on cue and Baloo apologizes to the one friend he had through thick and thin before Kit (his plane) and The SeaDuck takes the second bump to end all bumps right into the Lightning Gun. The SeaDuck gets clipped into pieces and it also destroys nearly everything not nailed down including the Lightning Gun itself. The gun even shoots some stray shots as the pirates panic and run in various directions to dodge the debris. No sense of danger? What does that idiot mean? Me not know how that can be impossible in this show? (Again; this is what happens when you mistake a sense of danger with a sense of actual death. Having a sense of danger not does equal certain death. It never did. Besides, killing isn't the only way to die, even in a cartoon.)

Kit even hotdogs the bumps by bumping around like a superball inside the cockpit. You got to love him for that; even if he's responsible for assuring this series lasts only 65 episodes. The trapdoor opens for some reason (I guess debris hit the door switch...) and the remains of the SeaDuck freefall towards the ocean below including the parts which hold the stone. The plane goes into a tailspin and Baloo just makes my day as he gets the awesome: "We are in a tailspin!" (BWHAHAHAHA!) and thus the pun of TaleSpin is born. You got to love real comments that are real comments to boot, BRUTHA! The Lightning Gun falls first into the sea (Since the spiraling of the SeaDuck slows down the SeaDuck's descent and the gun falls straight down...) and that creates the red painted circle on the ocean surface and we have a massive explosion since the stone explodes when it is exposed to water. Now that is an ironic weakness if I ever saw one. (Funny, since in Pokemon, ground would be the weakness, so burying it would have been done if Pokemon logic is used. If this were today; there would be a segment with Doctor Debolt explaining why this just happened in his own way. That would have been hilarious and I'm sadden that it wasn't considered here. I guess they felt it was too comical to try. Odd, because I thought kids just want comedy.) The explosion creates a huge tidal wave and whirlpool in the middle that catches the SeaDuck and the SeaDuck's remains ride wave as the bears inside are holding for dear life in a triangle like formation which is symbolic to Jymn Magon's official line of this trio being a three legged stool. (This is one aspect of TaleSpin that both me and Jymn fully agree on because it's an obvious aspect of the series.) The SeaDuck finally get swamped in the waves as Shere Khan looks on with the binoculars from his tower as the waves make it to about halfway up the buildings.

Mr. Khan calls it a pity assuming that the trio drowned along with Molly and WildCat (They were probably in the closet playing and mingling together to prepare for the WildCat/Molly relationship that they did so few episodes onward.) as he turns around and orders someone to scramble the planes before closing his skyline window. He's probably lying low for the lawsuits that will follow as the waves finally die down completely. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Good luck on that, I don't think even Austin Featherridge could get a liable victory out of Mr. Khan.) We see Rebecca and Kit pop out coughing from choking on sea water from the sand. Yeah; they are all right as they call out for Baloo and we cut to Baloo showing up from the waves with just the flight stick in his hands as the trio apparently got shot right out of the SeaDuck as if the Duck destroyed itself to save them in a full blast of irony. Baloo takes a look to his left as the sun finally rises and the Seaduck cockpit finally sinks to the bottom of the ocean for good. (Most of it; only the nosecone is left bobbing on the water.) Baloo is just shocked and doesn't know how to respond to all this as he plops on his back to the sand. (Baloo just acted as if he just lost his son for real, only instead of crying, he doesn't really know how to react because he has mixed feelings about this since the plane was used to destroy the Lightning Gun. Also of note; Disney had this scene suffer a retake inbetween versions: The movie version had water all around Baloo when he flops on his back; while the syndication version changed it with the background is down to bare ground with little water, meaning that they had to reanimate the splash effect when Baloo fell on his back. This was the point where I was legit pissed off.)

Kit and Rebecca can only watch from the ground shot as the Cape Suzette Air Force has arrived to kick Don Karnage's ass and this time; I think they can win. The Iron Vulture is smoking like a chain smoker as we cut to Sadie taking control of the wheel with another pirate inside as Don storms in with his sword and proclaims that he is ready to fight to the last men...for about three seconds as the bullets start flying fierce. (And almost getting shot in the head like Kit which they didn't edit out.) His hope chest is gone and there is no hope for him as he falls down and we cut to outside as the planes just plain shoot the Iron Vulture to death. Guess what folks; there is your 3.0 Trigun right there. The left side catches fire which is enough for Don Karnage to panic and calls his men to retreat at last. They turn around and the Iron Vulture flies away; but not before more shooting from the air force just to see how far Magon can take it. Final Trigun count: 3.3 Trigun. As the Iron Vulture retreats we pan south east to the bear trio on the beach as Molly and Wildcat run in and it's hugging time. Rebecca hugs Molly; while Kit and Wildcat do a dance of victory as Baloo just stares at the ocean blue as the last of the SeaDuck finally gets engulfed by the ocean. Goodbye SeaDuck Mark I; we hardly knew ye.

Spongebob Narrator: One week later...

We get a pan shot of the top of the flag of Higher...For..Hire flying in the wind and even more animation just to question me on who is doing the animation here. We pan down to the office door as Baloo protests Kit's attempt to pull him out of the office. And Kit looks pissed off already! UH OH! Eisner just peed on him; I just know it. Kit calls Baloo a baby which is too funny as Kit gets spun around by Baloo as they have a tug of war on the stick; which Kit actually wins. Baloo takes a good off-screen bump as Kit just blows him off for sitting on his duff so to speak. Baloo is surprised to hear that he hasn't flown in a week and decides to accept Kit's offer. (Where is everyone getting this attitude that the SeaDuck was rebuilt in forty-eight hours? There's no mention on the time it took to rebuilt the SeaDuck. When Kit talks to Baloo here, he mentions that it has been a week since Rebecca and Molly found an apartment. So I'm guessing that it probably took several weeks before even that could occur since the city was being rebuilt from the destruction Don Karnage caused. Baloo claiming that he hadn't flown in a week can be constructed as him not being able to tell time and thus his lackluster education. If you wanna complain about logic; then how about the city of Cape Suzette being rebuilt in a week (although the apartment building Rebecca found might have been spared, so who knows.) Kit is finally happy as he guides Baloo towards the dock and Baloo is shocked to see the SeaDuck is right there in front of him that he drops the flight stick of the SeaDuck Mark I. Welcome to the family Seaduck Mark II as the gang says "Surprise" on cue. WildCat does his in his usual funny childish way just to amuse me as Baloo runs and hugs the nose of it like it was his eight year old son. (WildCat actually says "Happy New Year" here, which I was paying attention to because if the timelines are correct, this would take place right about the time New Years would occur in the real world. It's a Frosty The Snowman Rankin-Bass promo; but it was awfully timely on WildCat's part, all things considered.)

However; Baloo is screwed now as Rebecca butts in to inform him that she holds the deed mark II and therefore it is her plane once again, and since Higher..For...Hire is still hers; Baloo is screwed on that front. David Tower wanted Rebecca to not rebuild it; but Rebecca really brought another one since she called for a new one in Part IV thus paying off the phone call. I just wished they redubbed this line as such instead of Rebecca trying to hog the glory here. (Actually; after seeing Feminine Air; Rebecca having the SeaDuck rebuilt was a smart move and she never actually said that she rebuilt the SeaDuck herself, she meant that it was rebuilt piece by piece on her orders, which makes much more sense and she probably called back to inform the airplane producer that she was changing her order to a custom one. A perfectly acceptable decision that makes sense.) "Kit's Chase Mark II" plays as Baloo stammers on cue as Rebecca gives him the offer he cannot refuse (be her pilot again) and with those sexy flashing eyelashes; how can he refuse?! Molly does the cute smile as Kit asks him what the decision will be. Baloo finally decides that he will be a pilot (by tipping his hat looking defeated, so he's not thrilled with this decision, but he has to say yes in order for the series to continue.) as we cut to the skies as Baloo flies the SeaDuck Mark II on it's first voyage as Kit Cloudkicker does some cloudsurfing with his goofy googles on just to act cool. (Which is pointless because he's cool and awesome and doesn't need window dressing to do so. I think this is the only time he cloudsurfed with the goggles on. I wonder why he changed his mind in storyline? I know in creating this; it was to save money. But if you are going to do that, at least have a storyline reason for it.)

Baloo agrees to be her pilot until he buys back the SeaDuck of course which actually never happens despite several attempts after this pilot was over (Save The Tiger! in fact he did buy back the SeaDuck; but the story made it in such a way that Baloo was forced to give it back to Rebecca again due to Shere Khan's anger towards Baloo's broken aesop gimmick.) which if it continued probably would have ended with Baloo and Rebecca marrying thus giving us a babyface failure that makes reasonable sense. Well; Kit finally got the family he never had despite basically sealing the show's fate to do it. (Yeah; Gosalyn didn't have to go to such lengths to find her family. Plus; unlike the nephews who were pretty much driven to Scrooge like a bunch of WASP children by Donald (exactly like Ducktales 2017, too!), Gosalyn was also in trouble, although unlike Kit, she wasn't part of Tarus Bullba's group; she was merely part of his plan. That plot is all right for Disney to use.) Baloo blows off the company name Rebecca gives again and Rebecca tells him to get use to it forevermore, I guess. The SeaDuck with Kit in tow flies to new heights (in more ways than one) to finally end the pilot movie at 89:35. Man; hindsight can be a good once in a while. I'm almost glad the finish was really quick due to the Walt Disney's "Ninty Minute Movie Rule of Doom" or else I shudder to think if we got an Act V like Golden Suns did with Ducktales find out that Kit knows Rebecca's husband; or worse gives gory details that'll REALLY scare me out of my wits. Thank god for fanfics or else Eisner might have killed the show Fluppy Dogs style even with the commitments. (Considering that the ratings were monster big; he couldn't use that excuse anyway.) I didn't give the movie the full monty in the first rant; but historic context tells me it has earned it. ***** (100%).

(2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Has it ever?! Look; the animation was all over the place in the first two acts and there is where most of the flaws are. And it's not really the artwork that was crappy; it was the editing and changes made between the versions that made it such a mess. Otherwise; this is a great way to start a really great series: The writing and performances were beyond what you normally saw at Disney at the time, even at Feature. I personally thank this show for making Disney Feature step up their game with Beauty & The Beast and The Lion King (Jungle Emperor Leo knockoffing notwithstanding); because it certainly help them become their best. I'm amazed that no one has seen that Kit Cloudkicker was the main reason why this family came together in the first place, and you know what; if you ever want to blame smugass kids being in the main event of modern cartoons while adults are rendered stupid or midcard at best, watch this show. Heck; Inspector Gadget did it in 1986; and they all ruled. How can you blame execs for using a formula that has worked wonders since the 1980's. It's always been there; the difference is the quality of the kids that is the problem. Animation is *** 1/2; writing was **** 1/2 and Kit's performance alone was eighteen stars!)

THE REVIEW LINE

It took me over a week and over fifty pages of writing and editing; (It's probably over a hundred pages and 564 KB in size, requiring this rant to be split in two.) but I finally got through with this one and it was slightly better than I remembered it mostly due to Post-Production errors than blown spots from Walt Disney France. (Nah; it was because the movie version was completely rushed, which is why they should have waited until November to release it in it's full bloom in order to polish and finish the movie. Again; this pilot needs a Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta: A New Translation treatment. Joe's Books; make this happen, please!) Of course; we could have had a lot more scenes in this pilot with Kit's apology to Molly, Kit remaking his airfoil; Kit and Molly having a tickle fight and more interaction scenes with Rebecca, Kit, WildCat and Molly to allow them to shine while Baloo can sulk in the background; but really the pilot was running long as it is and since it was a television movie (acting like a Disney feature) instead of a story arc; Magon decided to honor Walt for a change and have it run only ninty minutes long. (The problem is, if they had gone to a part five like in Ducktales and Rescue Rangers, it would go against their mantra of doing little movies in 22 minutes. I guess we are still not ready for denounements in 1990 at this point. Again, Joe's Books; are you listening? (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Nope, and the TaleSpin reboot isn't happening in the comics. Reason? TaleSpin doesn't resonate with money hording dragons.)) Still; I cannot help but think if they made it as contrived as Darkwing Duck was; it could have saved the series from being just another sixty-five episodes series that it clearly wasn't. However; Kit Cloudkicker was just not going to allow that and he basically went from his debut all the way up to him free falling from the Iron Vulture in awesomeness. I said they ruined it all in the previous rant (which is the fourth article I ever wrote for the Rant Shack in 2004); and I am mistaken.

He ruined it all: Kit Cloudkicker. Unlike most people who ruined it all; he should be thanked because Magon didn't sell out when he was given the chance and showed talent that is missing or buried by BS&P in later animation. However; it came with a price: the wrath of people who declare television cartoons the tool of Satan. You will never see a Kit Cloudkicker character from Disney ever again. You might see it elsewhere in animation; but not from Disney. I'm SHOCKED Disney is still doing television animation at this point. (Oh; look at their work now 2008 Me: Ducktales is getting rebooted and if we're lucky thanks to Zootopia, TaleSpin has a bigger chance to be revived than it did before Zootopia was doing over $850 million (Total Box Office: $1.024 billion by the way; on par with Finding Dory and third overall in 2016. That was some big box office there. Also, Zootopia is getting a animated series after all that uncertainty.). Big Hero 6 is getting a television series, Gravity Falls and Phineas & Ferb were awesome, Star Vs The Forces Of Evil is awesome, and only Pickle & Peanut sucks. I would say that DTVA is back and so is Disney Feature as well. I don't care if Zootopia is CGI; Disney Feature has done amazing business and I don't care if it's hand drawn anymore. It's not like anything is done just in American anymore.) Disney has decided that kids relate to the Jonas Brothers (You wish they were the Beetles fans. If they can get some decent talent then they will be a fun act. (I didn't think the Jonas Brothers were bad, I just felt that they were the usual and they were fine in their role at Disney.)), Hannah Montana (Miley is trying; I'll give her that.), Suite Life of Zack And Cody and other live action gigs; including their new alpha and omega: High School Musical (Good concept; terrible execution.) a lot better. (Oh look, Mark L. Taylor worked on the sequel. How nice.) All real life human beings. In other words; Peggy Charmon got exactly what she wanted originally from Disney.

However; after she defended Buster the Rabbit after having a Lesbian angle; I wonder if she has some regrets? I wonder though as some fans have: Does this attempt to make kids relate completely through streamlining come at the price of looking like they are pandering to kids rather than families? (Yes; but money talks you know.) In all fairness though; I do give Bob Iger some credit. He was man enough to release fifty-four of the sixty-five episodes of this series on DVD and even got it in uncut second run syndication. They even did a decent job of it in spite of the lack of extras. (It's all 65 episodes now; so only Plunder and Lightning Disney Channel version is still on the blacklist unless they do a Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta: A New Translation on it. Which is never going to happen. It might happen in comic form; but not in televised form.) He at least had the guts to address the existence of TaleSpin which was something Eisner wanted us to forget. It would have been better served if he completed the job and release the remaining 11 episodes and extras about the series; but with low sales due to time, I don't think it is possible anymore. (Well; they did release the remaining eleven episodes, but when they were released, I stopped caring about extras and was just glad to see the series completed. So in essence, thank you Iger. Zootopia is the new TaleSpin anyway; so it doesn't matter if TaleSpin gets revived anymore. Sure; I'll be happy if they did and I would love to see them do it, but I'm not upset about it anymore.) If the PTC wants to see a show studded with dark acts; this one is perfect because there is enough dancing animals in them to make them think it's for small children when which is a death wish with the one or zero morality of these people. And there are a lot of them.

Demotivational Poster: Furries: Don't F*** with us! We got guns! (Sadly; this poster is gone; but there is an alternate one: Link.)

I still hold Plunder and Lightning as the better pilot over Ducktales's first pilot (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I also think it's much better than the Ducktales 2017 one.) which Chris Barat holds as number one due to the sheer historic value of the pilot and the Kit Cloudkicker character itself. Gosalyn is awesome; but she just couldn't match Kit move for move although if they ever crossover; those two would have awesome chemistry together. (But, bears drool and ducks rule; the protesters say. I say: Why not? Are you afraid that your ducks cannot handle the bears? If so; then how could ducks rule and bears drool? For goodness sakes, take off the rose colored glasses and treat everyone like a character instead of a stereotype. TaleSpin can do this; why can't you?) Golden Suns could have easily been five separate episodes and you wouldn't have really noticed until the fifth episode begins that they tie in together. Plunder and Lightning makes no mistakes about what it's pilot is. I do admit that Golden Suns beats TaleSpin in one area and one area only: Animation consistency. (Without question; although I blame this on using about ten studios and sticking it together with chewing gum on a budget. Yes; Disney could have done much worse, but at the same time: If you weren't going to get it fully ready by September and you were going to cut it in syndication anyway; why not just delay the debut until November and put it on Disney Channel?) While Plunder and Lightning's animators did an awesome job here (even Sunwoo) you still have four different animation studios and three different art styles which clashed together creating minor coloring mistakes (Dumptruck's face) that shouldn't be in there. Walt Disney Animation France should have animated the whole pilot from start to finish because while the animation is loose; it's believable enough to the point of not looking like a Kennedy cartoon (Being loose for the sake of it...), but still look really alive. (If they did; this would have been delayed until November.)

Walt Disney Animation Japan is too anime-ish to do this pilot justice in my opinion along with Sunwoo. (I perfer Walt Disney Animation Japan here from start to finish because they proven that they can get their stuff done on time and within budget with few mistakes and fewer retakes. Sunwoo was actually very good; but they suffered retakes from each version, although many of them were sound edits. Total number of edits: 184 plus. I think I missed one or two in part two; but I'm not going back to this to find them.) In the end though; I had a lot of great memories and noticed spots I didn't see until I watched the thing in full which shows the pitfalls of doing a rant on memory. I know for one thing. It's going to be really interesting to see if I'm right when I finally get to Ducktales and do the pilot rant for Golden Suns because Plunder and Lightning just set the bar for me on how high Golden Suns, Super Ducktales and the other one (I think it's Time Is Money) must jump in order to match it. Just saying this: The challenge has been made. Are you up to it my feathered web footed mallards? I cannot wait. (They failed on all counts; but Golden Suns did an awesome part five and was very close to Plunder and Lightning in storyline so they deserve the consolation prize without question. P&L is just that damn good.) So, finally...

Thumbs way up to infinity for this pilot and I'll see you next time with the continuation of the Rescue Rangers. (If you want to see this pilot; watch both versions. Don't bother with the Toon Disney nor iTunes one. Seriously; buy the DVD version and you'll get all the scenes that Toon Disney cut as well. The movie version is on Youtube, but it's sped up and probably will be take down within three months. Spinnerstuff is still around though. Anyhow; I am finally done this and now I can handle the rest of the series with ease. Before I leave; I want to say this: It's much easier to just watch a cartoon like this show than to review it and transcribe it, mainly because it drains me emotionally. It's difficult to emotionally invest in a show when the show does it's damnest to make me care. If you put more than ten minutes of thought into this show, you will be drained of life as well. Don't get me wrong; TaleSpin is a fun show to watch. Hell; even thinking about it is a great experience for a much longer time than almost every cartoon on planet Earth. It's just not fun to review because it does a lot on me spiritually. Other shows don't do that even when I review and that's probably why they are more popular than TaleSpin was. Anyhow; I'm just glad that it's over as much as anything else. )

(November 2016 Gregory Weagle Says: Now that this series is over with; I can move onto other shows as Goof Troop is next on my plate. Reviewing other shows is much easier on my mind than TaleSpin is and I'm glad for it. Anyhow; also on the plate will be The Mighty Hercules (not the Disney one; the Canadian Z-Grade one), more Teddy Ruxpin episodes and a few other things (Kick Buttowski and Fish Hooks). I'm going to wait on Zootopia for the second half and I might work on the remaining Gargoyles episodes if I can get the DVD set during that second half. We'll see.)

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