Return to 50 Webs

Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The web master has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.

Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the web master and no one else's. The web master has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.

A Bad Reflection On You OAV Rant

Reviewed: 05/02/2009-05/03/2009
Additional Commentary: 10/05/2021

Can 44 Minutes Containing Voice Mixing, Sunwoo & Baloo Screwing The Pooch Be Awesome? Yes It Can!!

Original Airdate: 10/01/1990-10/02/1990 (Syndication), Episodes #20-21 (TaleSpin DVD Volume 1, Disc 3), Episodes #2, #63 (Production Order).

A Bad Reflection On You Notes
A Bad Reflection On You Transcript

Sometimes I wonder if Jymn Magon really knew what he was getting himself into when he was in DTVA?! More to the point; when he became supervising producer for TaleSpin. (2015 Gregory Weagle Says: The purists hate for DTVA really started the moment Ducktales was released because Michael Eisner originally promised that none of the Walt Disney stuff would be remade; like the Scrooge/Donald Duck stuff, although that angered Carl Barks/Don Rosa purists more than Disney Feature purists. Same thing happened with Winnie The Pooh and Rescue Rangers, only more forgivable.) Plunder and Lightning was truly an exercise in pushing the panic button on Kit Cloudkicker's character and it ultimately damaged Rebecca Cunningham's character as a result. Now this rant will deal with another gem of an episode in the wild and wonderful series that Jymn Magon and Mark Zaslove created. (Okay; the "Kit is a former terrorist" thing was a half joke/half pondering on my part. It was basically right into the "Unfortunate Implications/Rancid Morals" sections of an animated atrocity. It's the kind of thing that no matter how noble Kit was in Plunder and Lightning to turn on Don Karnage, this is what created the Kit fandom. For most people; this was compelling, but for some, it was frightening.) While this episode didn't create problems for Michael Eisner in general which was perfectly nice; Jymn Magon unintentionally found a way to piss off someone, and that would be Disney Feature itself. See; Jymn Magon has always been interested in what creating a model of little movies; which is basically creating a movie like episode on free television. Yeah; like that isn't going to piss off the elite! Like that isn't going to make some in Walt Disney Feature groan. No wonder Poisony Britt came out and did the “We should discriminate our tastes” blast on this series. No wonder Merlin Jones hates DTVA so much. It makes perfect sense now since Magon was basically taking aim in disrupting Disney feature. (Remember that to many people who love Disney at the time; Disney Feature was the sacred cow and any attempt to use characters from Disney Feature, no matter how awesome the idea is or no matter how much money can be created from it is basically attacking the sacred cow that purists put on a pedestal.)

No wonder Lion King turned out so damn good years after this show released. It had to; otherwise, Disney Feature might had faded into obscurity out a lot sooner than it actually did and PIXAR might had to be called in a lot sooner than it actually did. Notice a lot of the PIXAR guys actually worked on several episodes for Walt Disney Television France for TaleSpin?! The mind boggles doesn't it?! (Not really. Walt Disney Animation France workers weren't so thrilled by working on TaleSpin, mainly because they were still taking orders from a music producer. How dare a music producer think he knows about animation?! He's well out of his expertice; he has no right to be an expert on animation until he actually animates according to our lofty standards! Look, I do have standards; but my standards are of entertainment, not art. Art is a different business than entertainment and it simply does not pay well.) "A Bad Reflection On You" represents basically the mid-point of the series and really the crossroads for the show as a whole. (Crossroads, yes. Mid-point, no. The halfway point of this series is episode #33 which is Flight Of The Snowduck, which is also great.) This two part episode is where we finally find out if Jymn Magon can really deliver on his little movies concept that he has been teasing for so long as he and Chuck Tately wrote this two part episode. It turned out to be Jymn's only episode in the series as a writer and maybe his best episode ever written by him. (Jymn's other writing for this series came from the audio books and maybe the Golden Books story. I'll have to check to make sure.) He wrote the second half of the OAV and it was probably Baloo's biggest meltdown and probably the 22 minutes I want to remember Kit Cloudkicker by the most. As much as Plunder and Lightning was historic; the stigma of his BS&P nightmare-ish character gives me too much pause to remember him and not feel regret. (Still true. I still wonder how Len Uhley got that past BS&P with a straight face and lived to become one of the best writers of all time. Len decided that Kit being kidnapped by Don Karnage wasn't going to cut the mustard.) This episode; however, I have zero doubt as this was without question Kit's greatest moment at this point.

No matter how much Michael Eisner tried so hard to bury him (A few writers almost did in a few episodes.); Kit Cloudkicker could never be taken down until the series itself was canceled and thus he was finally taken down. Now; my two part rant last time I felt was awesome; but had two problems: sloppy animation (Take one guess who animates both parts of this episode?) and weird voice mixing with Kit Cloudkicker. (You pretty much explained the problems of this episode in a nutshell. This was officially the last episodes Alan Roberts was in and doing the transcript was a chore since I also had to figure out which voice was voicing Kit at the time. TVTropes claims that R.J. Williams did the first half and Alan Roberts did the second half; which is false. I think what happened was that whoever wrote that entry (The Other Darin trope by the way) read the two major speeches Kit was involved in. The first speech in part one was voiced by R.J. Williams, and the second speech in part two was delivered by Alan Roberts. So in essence, they basically took the speeches and based who voiced which part on that. As you'll see in the transcript; that is not the case at all (basically, the very first scene is voiced by Alan Roberts. So much for that theory TVTropes.). Although this is the same TVTropes who claims that R.J. Williams was the voice of Kit in "Mommy For A Day" while Alan Roberts was the voice of "The Time Bandit". Neither one is correct. Anyhow; the plot of this two parter is that Shere Khan requires a flying fool to run something called the Master Run; because the planes doing the Master Run are vanishing. And Baloo so happened to be in the papers being "heoric" (even though Kit was the real hero in the whole mess.); so Khan showered him with praise and a trophy for being the best pilot in the world as Baloo accepts to do the deed for Khan. Baloo's ego then swells causing problems with Kit until they make it to the Twin Spires. Baloo gets blinded and the SeaDuck crashes in the water upside down; and then it's discovered that the air pirates really were behind this using mirrors to blind the pilots. After finding out that Khan set him and Baloo up; Baloo goes into a deep depression as Karnage poisoned the well like a bully would on a nerd. This is basically the episode where Baloo is exposed as the egomaniac that he is and no adult would defend him because of it. But one person did. Who was it? Stay tuned!) How does this episode hold up now? Let's rant on shall we...?!

This episode is written by Chuck Tately (Part One) and Jymn Magon (Part Two). The story was edited by Jymn Magon and the television movie was directed by Jamie Mitchell. (Robert Taylor was never involved in this episode 2009 me. The Jymn Magon tribute will be in the Plunder and Lightning re-rant. ) Despite all the jokes and crap I give to Chuck Tately; he is a really good writer in TaleSpin. He just has a knack for writing in logic breaks that are just way out there (the teleporting Wildcat from Last Horizons and of course the SeaDuck getting inside Zabaldo's lab in The Incredible Shrinking Molly for instance.). The animation is sadly all done by Sun Woo Animation which really grinds my gears sadly; but in all fairness, TaleSpin was their best work. Ponder THAT one for a minute and sulk. (At least Sunwoo had the excuse that they were barely one or two years into animating for DTVA at this point, so it doesn't sting nearly as much as some think. Wang Films on the other hand has had three years to clean up their act, and they really never did.)

Act I: A Bal(l)oo(n)'s Head Swells

We begin this one with the title card behind a black background with thunderstorm sound effects and then proceed to the SeaDuck flying amiss the dark clouds AFTER HAPPY HOUR (After dark). Now that is just plain odd for some reason. (They did this introduction in Captains Outrageous too. I would love to hear the explaination for it.) They are above the clouds as the SeaDuck has it's flashlights on full blast as we head into the cockpit with Kit in the navigation chair and Baloo asleep in the pilot's chair. HAHA! You just knew Baloo would be sleeping on the job. He should be thankful it's in front of Iwata Kit and not in Yamaguchi Rebecca. (Wow; what a novel way of explaining the two there 2009 Me!) Kit has the orange soda bottle and shakes and sprays some on Baloo with fury which wakes him up. Kit tells him that they are almost home as he is voiced here by Alan Roberts. (Thus killing TVTropes creditability right there. This two parter would be his official final appearance in the show.) Now; before someone e-mails me that it couldn't be him because he's a middle age actor from the UK: Alan Roberts is a common name. This Alan Roberts was a 12 year old child Disney used to voice Kit Cloudkicker in the early TaleSpin episodes for the Disney Channel preview before they signed R.J. Williams for the role. The amazing part is that this is one of the few times in animation that I could stand having both actors do the same character since they both actually did the character very well. Alan Roberts tended to do slightly better with dramatic scenes than R.J. Williams did and R.J. Williams was slightly better in the acting department on the playful scenes. The only major difference which probably got Williams the nod overall was his awesome laugh of course; so much so that in episodes where Kit looks like he is going to laugh, Alan Roberts would not laugh normally. He would either giggle or act (Time Waits For No Bear he goes “Yeah” when he shakes his head when it's clear that he's laughing.) since if he laughs it would not be the same. (Considering that Ginny McSwain (who in a surprise is not credited at all in either part of these two episodes) was working with R.J. Williams before this and really liked him, that the writing was on the wall concerning Alan Roberts. It's a shame; because Alan is really a decent worker. However; it's like comparing anyone to the best child actor in the world. It doesn't mean you suck; but this is R.J. Williams we are talking about.)

Baloo proclaims that he'll stay awake and yawns because staying awake is a good idea and then he goes asleep. HAHA! Another thunderclap wakes him up again as Kit smiles and tells him to ease the SeaDuck down into the clouds which would put the SeaDuck in more danger. Then again; Kit is insane, so there you go. Baloo eases the SeaDuck down into the storm and flies through a gorge which leads to a flash of light. Then we segueway to a shot of Cape Suzette from a far shot with the lighthouse rotating it's lights. (Which is a neat scene changer; so Sunwoo is trying hard here even if it make them look sloppy.) We then go to a shot of the docks on still which shows Khan Gas (And the sign is glowing the same as it did with the Sub-Electron Power Ampilifer in Plunder and Lightning.) and a bait shop. Mr. Khan's voice beckons which proclaims that he means business BABEE! He wants a shipping report as a man gives it to him as we pan northwest into the Khan Gas and Shere Khan moves the shipping date to Wednesday and the man thanks it not so well. The second man proclaims that the shipment of imported spices will be in grocery stores by morning as we get shots of the tanker shots in the rain, the city in the rain and of course Khan's Tower which is pretty good considering that Sun Woo is animating all of this. Khan asks if this stores are the only stores carrying nutmeg and the man responds that they are. Khan calls this excellent and then raises the price by twenty-five cents a tin; like a heel. Naturally; the top of the Khan Tower is the only place where it is not storming. (Top about symbolizing Shere Khan as being above it all, huh?) Nice attention to detail there as the men wonders if consumers would be upset over this as Khan states that they will be; but they'll pay anyway because he is the only one offering nutmeg, you see. Can you say monopoly?! I knew you could. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Considering that we have see Mr. Khan in Plunder and Lightning and From Here To Machinery, you may wonder why Khan is getting such a big introduction in this episode?! Well, originally; the first part of this part was literally the second episode on the animation paper, while the second part was episode #63 on the animation paper for goodness knows what reason. The very second episode of this series was going to be Shere Khan's official debut in the time line.)

Mr. Khan is reading his papers inside the conference room which is an orange circular room as he wants the energy report and of course someone is sleeping on the job. We pan over to see a light brown panther furry in a blue suit and pink tie with his elbow on the desk (a big no-no). He is addressed as Jenkins, according to Mr. Khan as he is woken up quickly. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Full disclosure: Despite all the rumors swirling around in the Internet Wrestling Community; he is not related in anyway to Tony Khan of All Elite Wrestling, nor Nick Khan from World Wrestling Entertainment. Shere Khan is just a fictional character in a fictional cartoon that Disney execs don't want to reboot. Something about not relating to non-rich people telling their stories from their lens.) He grabs his papers and reads the energy report as his panther buddies (All brown panthers wearing different color suits. HA!) are not exactly amused by his snoring or reading skills. We pan over to two panthers and they decide to have a whisper talk conference just to make Jenkins and Mr. Khan look bad:

Blue Suit Panther: 3 am. Doesn't Mr. Khan ever sleep?!
Black Suit Panther: Ever heard of vampires?!

Then Blue Suit Panther checks his watch after he already told us the time. HAHA! (That was an odd spot to do.) Jenkins tries to complete his report as Mr. Khan is shown sitting at his podium not being amused by all the dealings (what a shock?!); however, the sirens wails upon thee. Rhinokey spotted in Sector Z! AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! (What was that about 2009 me?! It's kind of silly to mock Rhinokey when you stole his gimmick.) Shere Khan pushes a button and a male voice informs Mr. Khan from a speaker that he was supposed to alert him when the plane was nearing the DANGER ZONE~! (Randy Savage: I've been to the Danger Zone!) This sounds like something out of a Tom Cruise movie, when Tom Cruise wasn't so insane. Mr. Khan pushes the red button (Which is the important button as you know.) as it swirls his chair around and opens the Shere Khan logo wall to reveal a giant computerized map. Then a grizzled commander in uniform walks on stage and Mr. Khan tells him to proceed with his briefing. The commander explains with the biggest stick he could find (Seriously; he might as well have a sword with him, it's basically the same length.) that yesterday they lost one of their transport planes on a secret cargo route called: The Master Run. He points to the map which shows a orange path and some twin spires. Jenkins asks if it crashed and the commander tells him that it didn't because it vanished which causes Mr. Khan's eyes to twitch. Somehow that twitch is making him think this commander has gone loopy if you catch my drift. The commander explains that the pilot was on the radio one minute and the next minute he was gone with the kind of eyes which makes me think that he knows who is behind all of this. I mean; look at the DVD at 3:10; that look is absolutely hilarious! The commander proclaims that another plane is making the run; but this time one of the gunship is tailing him as he goes to the intercom and pushes the button below it to radio in the gunship from Khan Tower. We head to sea in the rain storm as the gunship is racing and smoking. Captain Hotspur gets the message and we go inside with another old panther fury (with nasty sideburns) in a navy blue uniform with the transmitter as he proclaims that the plane flew over ten minutes ago and they are tracking it.

Hotspur is voiced by Frank Welker by the way. Minus Rob Paulsen and Janna Michaels (Despite Molly Cunningham being in the show.) and plus Alan Roberts; every voice from Plunder and Lightning is in this one. (Molly may have planned to speak; but she never did. This also happened in the next episode after this one: On A Wing & A Bear. No Ratchet in this one nor that one, sadly.) He turns on the signal by flipping the switch and promises the relay the signal to the office. We return to Khan Tower with a shot of the computer path as a red dot appears on both screens (Hotspurs device and the computer map in Khan Tower. This is where the whole "1990 show with a 1930's motif" comes into play and thus the whole 1937 setting doesn't quite work anymore. Keep in mind that the pre-production sketches wanted to be present day, but was changed so to look less like Ducktales 1987 and even Rescue Rangers to a far lesser extent.) and the commander gives off this gem of a line:

Commander: As you know; this system is still new and the plane's location is imprecise.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That my friends is actually a funny little indirect rib on Sunwoo's spot blowing from Polly Wants A Treasure which was released before this. See; creative CAN laugh at itself, unlike some people I know (gives mean look to Mr. Hardcore). (Someone does have a sense of humor; although I'm not sure if it ever was a rib.) The commander tells them to watch as we get the over dramatic music as we watch knowing the the red dot is going to disappear and once it reaches the twin spires it of course vanishes, DUH! Hotspur swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (Curses) as even Khan is SHOCKED at this which is new even for him. Everyone is whispering as Jenkins asks if it is the Air Pirates involved in this dastardly deed and the commander blows it off because they haven't been seen in weeks. Remember that for later on as the panthers wonder what it is and commander is baffled by all this. Mr. Khan proclaims that there is a mystery on their hands and wants answers as Jenkins asks if they should send another plane. The commander blows that one completely out of the water because NONE of them are brave and foolish enough to do a jinx run. Mr. Khan realizes this and decides that he'll decide to do this:

Mr. Khan: Well; in that case, we need to find a patsy. A chump. A flying fool.

Huh. Now who would be insane and crazy enough to do something like this and be over the age eighteen? I wonder...I really wonder...So we logically return into the stormy skies over the mountains as the SeaDuck flies around, then up and then the WII STORM OF DEATH does it's disruption and takes out the lights. HAHA! Baloo wants answers to this one and proclaims there is no funny business because he's awake see. Like I'm buying that one Pop-A-Bear. Sadly; Sun Woo commits logic break number one for the episode since the lights should be out inside and they are still on when we cut to Baloo inside the cockpit. We go to the window shot and they are out for real as Kit tells him that the lights are shot and Baloo blows it off because Kit's the navigator and he should think. Now in Disney circa 1996 onwards; these two would have the biggest argument in history; but Kit looks around (I love that red tint on Kit as a nice touch which makes up for the logic break by the way.) and he's got it as he grabs the flashlight from the ceiling and puts on the goggles. (Yeah; because arguments equals funny and kids just want comedy. Come on execs of the world; try the joke machine idea. It's cheap; it'll cost you little and if it fails, you lose little but gain a lot of insight that your neopist focus groups couldn't measure.) Now that looks pretty cool; only could be cooler if he found a white scarf to put on. Baloo calls it using the headlights as Kit sticks half of his body out of the window and turns on the flashlight and starts calling out directions to avoids all the mountains as much as he can. The DVD version is clearly lighter than the television version since the older state allowed for darker scenes. Still we continue on as the SeaDuck flies up the gorge and up the mountain. Baloo has that look of: "That boy is going to kill me one of these days; I swear to God!" (Damn; Donald Drake has that effect on 2009 me sometimes.) Recycled scene with Kit and the flashlight -- which is fine since he doesn't change his stance any -- and we get a really awesome dark to light scene where it shows a mountain about three seconds away. Kit yells to Baloo to go to port, Baloo snakes around faster than a Mario Kart driver, he finally makes it out of the rain and finally flies towards Cape Suzette.

This scene is good; but it's a lot cooler on the non-DVD versions since the darkness is a lot more obvious in the non-DVD versions and the cleaning up in the DVD version made the scenes way too light. (It depends if you are using a DVD player stand alone with a television, or a computer using VLC. The VLC probably made the DVD too bright to watch.) Baloo states that either Kit or Alan Roberts acting has some nerve while the red tint is still on them all this time in a neat spot as Baloo tells him not to let this go to his head. (It sounds like Alan is giving out an S-effort to keep his job, which is pointless since Ginny already made her decision on who is voicing Kit from here on out.) Kit puts on his seat belt and uncorks the seat belt as Baloo thinks he is going to be a great pilot someday. Kit wonders if he'll be as great as Baloo and Baloo chuckles that it's something to shoot for. Remember all of this sequence for later because it plays right into the entire episode and into the finish. Trust me; this sequence is completely subdued and merely okay compared to what we are in store for later on. So we head to Higher...For...Hire as Kit and Baloo unload the SeaDuck it's cargo with WildCat as we pan over to Rebecca talking to a hippo in a yellow raincoat proclaiming that thanks to their efforts that they have saved the zoo's koala bear. The hippo you may have noticed by the voice is voiced by Tony Jay in one of the few times Mr. Jay did a voice other than Mr. Khan. (He actually did two voices unrelated to Shere Khan. The second one is in part two of this re-rant actually.) He shows a large wad of cash and how grateful he is for the eucalyptus leaves. Rebecca shows how grateful she is by taking the money by proclaiming that she's glad they could help. I know that I'm going to get bashed for this; but having Sally Struthers say that is still ironic considering what has happened to her. She asks for approval from Baloo and Baloo agrees as he slumps on two crates like a drunk and uses a rubber blue blanket as a blanket (IRONY!) to fall asleep as we fade to black. We then return with the flashbulbs of doom going off and Baloo instantly protesting this outrage because they sound almost like lightning again. HAHA!

Rebecca reappears again saying good morning to the flyboy (HAHA!) as the PRESS OF FRAUD -- which equals danger with a capital D of course -- taking pictures and Baloo doesn't want to see morning ever again as Kit re-enters and he looks even MORE sleep deprived than Baloo does. Man; Baloo is right, those camera sounds are SO annoying that they are giving ME a headache. Rebecca explains that they are heroes and Kit cannot believe this while sounding like R.J. Williams. Now; I know that in the previous rant, I made the mention about being annoyed by the fact that they should have used one voice for the whole episode. I still believe in that; however, it doesn't offend me anymore because Williams and Roberts do a kick ass job as Kit anyway. After seeing the violently mixed quality jobs of voice talents of Cavin in Gummi Bears; I should be happy that Roberts and Williams can at least sound very close to each other with only the laugh being the major difference and the writers can make sure to know which actor to use when the laugh is needed. (Already mentioned in the opening summary.) Rebecca states that saving the koala bear is major news. Well; it's 1937 so it makes perfect sense and quite frankly it would still make a decent story even up to now actually with the right animal. (This is not a Fanon thing; Disney Comics confirmed TaleSpin took place in 1937 and even the bible mentions it's somewhere in 1936/1937.) Baloo wants to sleep just ten more hours as Rebecca tells him to rise and shine and gives him no WRAITH OF BECKEY to show for it. The two bears are too punch drunk to no sell and they allow the press to take the snapshot and it's shown on the front page of the newspaper and man; Baloo's mug makes him look so damn drunk that I'm laughing my ass off. Remember that for later on as well as for Kit's nearly getting cut off on the lower right hand side. (He should only be so lucky considering his own salty past.) We then see Mr. Khan is reading the newspaper in his office with white bright lights in the background proclaiming him to be a fool. Huh. Mr. Khan seems to be loving this as he has some evil intentions for this flying fool as we zoom out on his office. HEE HEE! We logically return to an outside shot of Higher...For...Hire as Rebecca proclaims that her Krackpotkin Plan worked splendidly as Sun Woo shows the SeaDuck doing some pointless animation of the Sea Duck dunking around.

We head inside and Al Khan (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: There's a lot of Khans (pun intended) in this rant that I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.) is going to be steaming mad because the biggest horror of his life is unleashed on him. (Oh, here we go; another epic rant from 2009 me.) That's right folks – Kit Cloudkicker and Molly Cunningham; a twelve year old boy and a six year old girl are both...wait for it...READING THE NEWSPAPER!! OH NOES! Chuck Tately is delivering a false vision on how children are viewed and this scene must be censored at once to protect the Al Khan fans of the world! We must have Kit playing the yo-yo or Molly playing dolls or something. Anything but...READING!! (Because kids just want comedy you see.) Okay; here's the story: 4Kids Entertainment is considered by many anime purists as the biggest devil incarnate when it comes to dubbing anime (and that covers a LOT of ground) and Al Khan is the leader of 4Kids Entertainment. (Actually, was the leader of 4Kids Entertainment as Al Khan resigned in 2011. 4Kids is officially dead and done after that, so this rant is awfully dated now.) While a lot of dubbers do change signs from Japanese; they tend to change them to English for clarity reasons. In a world while universal themes are king this was a good thing. In a world where the show takes place in Japan; subtitle it; but don't remove the text. (The reason is because you want clairty for the English speaking audience; but it is bigtory to remove the language if the show takes place in Japan.). However; 4Kids doesn't just remove Japanese text from signs; they remove any text from anything that anyone could remotely read and change it to either pictures; crap or nothing at all creating blank signs which make no sense at all in real life. Al Khan's reasoning behind this is that kids don't read and he went into a full two minutes explaining it all. (When you need to explain a one sentence answer in two minutes; you are full of crap and insulting children, which is mighty distasteful.) A lot of fans including me felt that this was really dishonest of him; but we all fell into his trap thinking that he was responsible for making children not being able to read because really Al has no moral obligation to do such a thing anyway. (That is sadly true. That's what public schools are for, anyway. Why are you punching down on public schooling?!)

Second; his statement is false on it's ear anyway. Children DO read; but it's like Nintendo. Nintendo is competing in the entertainment business; not in the video game business. It's all about context. Children do read and write; just not with the same tools and values that Al Khan uses. I think Sean Malstrom mention that in a post called Toxic Generation which finally blew those fools off for good. (Good for him; the "kids don't read" thing is bogus if you put more than ten seconds of thought into it. Don't they realize that reading on a screen and reading a book is basically the same thing. It's still reading, dummy! Sure; it's two different mediums. However; the internet is a jack of all trades anyway. Even funnier; if you read Al Khan's argument, you'll see the internet comment right there which completely kills said argument since the internet is loaded with information, misinformation, fanfics and such. Stuff people read. The reading hasn't changed; the mediums have. Al Khan could not fanthom this because he has had it pounded into his head that books are the only measure of reading. It's one of those "old fart syndrome" type things. ) So in other words; both Al and the purists are wrong about this including myself. (You can question their grammar or their style; but to say that they don't read nor write is crazy and is an extremly rigid point of view.) So why is Al Khan so dishonest?! The real reason why Al is painting out signs and such is because of how employees at the digital paint department are paid. Apparently; they are paid a certain way and need to digitally paint enough stuff in order to justify the payment. The problem is a lot of anime they do paint over doesn't even need editing, is edited for the sake of editing and to pay the editors for. This is why I don't like 4Kids Entertainment that much. (Bingo! Occam's Razor suggests this. Why didn't Al just say that? Because he liked contraversay since it creates cash. It does work for awhile; but then it usually becomes fatal and it almost did in 4Kids' case during the lawsuit against NAS.)

But, I'm not going to stoop to the lows of bad conspiracy theories anymore just for the sake of cheap thrills. (So the Jungle Cubs conspiracy wasn't a cheap thrill 2009 me?! Granted; the conspiracy was better than anything Alex Jones can dish out, but it's still a pretty bad conspiracy theory just the same.) I don't know why 4Kids thought changing the black character white in One Piece was a good idea; I really don't. The guy did have thick red lips which is a racial stereotype in the original (something a lot of Youtube people missed in their bashing which is why he was edited in the first place); but changing the color of the skin actually made the thing WORSE, if that was even possible. (Yes it did; because it was whitewashing. Getting rid of the lips would have gotten rid of the stereotype.) Anyway; enough with the conspiracy of a terrible dubber like 4Kids Entertainment, let's move on. Rebecca proclaims that everyone will now see that Higher For Hire is a great place to do business with as Baloo grabs the newspaper clipping and he looks unimpressed as he sees the picture of him looking like a stupid drunk. Can you smell the hilarious joke coming at six o'clock?!:

Rebecca: It's a good picture.
Baloo: It's a stupid picture!
Rebecca: No; it's a good picture of you looking stupid!

HAHA! The dangerous mix of flash photography and lack of sleep. It always leads to ribs at your expense and since Baloo is always a good guy to mock, Baloo is screwed. HEE HEE! Make the joke and then pay it off. (This is where Rebecca Cunningham's cutting Baloo down the size was actually funny because Baloo walked right into the trap.) Kit blows it off (Voiced by Alan Roberts now) because he didn't get his picture in the paper. Well; not a very good one at least as Baloo shows him the picture because they printed his name. Kit looks at the photo and he is pissed off now:

Kit: What?! Kit Clownkicker?! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Story Editor: Della Duck.)

Yeah. Okay; I won't say that the PRESS OF FRAUD was paid off by Michael Eisner. I was planning to do a sketch with one of the press members and Michael Eisner; but I nixed it because I promised no conspiracy theories involving Kit Cloudkicker anymore. I've done enough with Kit already as it is. All I can say is that Kit is ticked off and the urge to kick clowns is rising. There is no other witty response that works in that situation. (No kidding 2009 Me?! This is the first episode where Kit's last name is made fun of because it's meaningful. The irony of this is that in the real world; people do have wacky last names. We have David Broadfoot, a legendary comedian in our area. How about hockey commentator and loudmouth, Don Cherry? Heck; Shawn Michaels has a really funny last name: Hickenbottom. Yeah. The whole naming scheme is from Star Wars and Luke Skywalker; but that naming is based off Native American naming. It's not unusual and only a bigot would think this is wrong.) Then a knock on the door beckons and Baloo pets Kit on the head proclaiming that it's only words. UH OH! I smell Gidget pet store joke commencing as well. (Gidget was a TaleSpin fan who anytime cute things happen; Kit would be like a kitten in a pet store.) Remember that only words part as well for later as Baloo goes to the door looking like a stuffed idiot and CUE THE WACKY PORNO MUSIC~! WildCat barges in on the KILLER RED TRICYCLE OF DEATH as he bowls Baloo over. HAHA! All hell breaks loose as WildCat crashes into everything off-screen (good bumps). Kit dodges WildCat as WildCat tells everyone to gangway. Best spot in the whole thing occurs as Molly claps like a trained seal and Rebecca forced her and herself onto the desk. HAHA! I guess that's HER tricycle; the lucky little one! (I wondered where the "Molly on the motorcross cosplaying while Kit is whining that Rebecca kicked the kickstand down and Rebecca was not amused" picture from DeviantArt came from?) Baloo walks in and I love the way they use the background music for the sound effects as Baloo goes into the panic state and they use the music as the sound effect. Now that is awesome.

Baloo bails stage right as Wildcat does the Krillain Dragon Ball Z walk on walls spot while being out of control. As opposed to the other episodes he is in?! (I love this because they went all Chargeman Ken on us; but creativity used the music as the sound effects. It's sort of tainted by the fact that the teeth chattering sound effect was used though; and this works better in a silent movie. Remember that this show takes place in the 1930's; so a silent movie motif works a lot better here. Still; this is a fun chaotic scene all the same.) He grabs onto the rope on the ceiling and does the loop-de-loop for only fifteen cents, takes a MAN-SIZED bump on screen on the floor and the tricycle doesn't break! Man; that tricycle is tougher than Steve Williams. The pink vase (with green plant in it) gets destroyed of course because you cannot have a sequence without that happening, of course. Baloo ducks complete with Hanna Barbera teeth chattering sound effect. Now you know you are watching a classic! Somehow; TaleSpin is more of a real comment than a work comment when it comes to classics, I don't know. WildCat drives over Baloo missing him by about a foot which is far less than I thought so Sun Woo didn't blow the spot nearly as bad as I thought. Then WildCat goes up the stairs with wild jabbering, then goes into Baloo and Kit's bedroom and the door slams shut. (OHHHH MANNN!) Baloo and Kit walk slowly towards the stairs thinking that they are safe; but out comes WildCat with the door being used as a launchpad (how ironic?!). He flies over the railing and the two male bears bail as Wild Cat does an awesome flip in midair. WildCat lands right in the red chair sticking his head through the back in a neat spot. The newspaper of course has invisible ink on it; but WildCat is such a genius that he can read it and the Sox win again. HAHA! Rebecca comes out angry pulling the paper away demanding answers; but no WRAITH OF BECKEY; which is probably the best thing that could happen to him. She just won't act like a jerk today and good for her. (Considering that Molly was almost ran over by WildCat (not on purpose, mind you); she was awfully generous here.) WildCat talks about the new bike, he uncoils himself from the spring of the red chair and launches himself into the wall with a sick MAN-SIZED bump off-screen. OUCH!

Man; he even make a huge realistic dent into the wall on that one as Rebecca is SHOCKED that Baloo must make delieveries on it because it seems only Kit could ride it. However; WildCat couldn't find a regular bike; so this would have to do and he even put a motor on it; calling it snazzy. (This is like where I work where we cannot get any high end computers to recycle even if our lives depended on it. Cape Suzette must hate tricycles a lot.) Rebecca asks Baloo if this will do and Baloo chuckles this one as this is the jobs from the pros from Dover. I don't get the promo as Kit gives the contact signal with the thumbs up, since he is R.J. Williams again. (The Dover reference is from M*A*S*H* by the way.) We logically head into the streets of Cape Suzette as Baloo drives the red tricycle looking like a complete tool while doing it and Kit of course is attached from a rope with his airfoil surfing through with a bag of goodies from Lee's Bakery. Now that is teamwork and pretty creative form of marketing without being all that disruptive in a bad sense. Kit throws a muffin into a window of a old light beige bear with red hair and glasses with the typewriter who may or may not be either Kit's mother; or grandmother; or Rebecca's mother. See what I mean by having so many good character designs; but the sixty-five episode rule assuring that we never get to use them? (Actually; if you believe the late Christopher Barat; TaleSpin probably would have gone one hundred episodes if Disney's relationship with FOX didn't fall thought the cracks. Personally; I don't think it would have mattered since the show was seen as a rushjob and was basically filler until Darkwing Duck showed up. It's a tragedy because Magon and company put out the best effort you could pull of in that instance, and ultimately it meant nothing. However; considering Tim Val Hal had confirmed that Eisner had zero plans to give TaleSpin extra episodes irregardless of it's success, the show became just something to prop up the Disney Afternoon block. That's an even bigger tragedy, actually. If you didn't hate the Disney execs before, I sure do hate them now.) We see a panther in a trench coat reading the newspaper not noticing Kit's perfect dunk of a muffin into his coffee as Kit is enjoying himself throwing muffins and bagels into windows as Baloo drives over a green car and not enjoying himself.

The music as sound effects spot begins again as Baloo panic as a coffee truck drives in front of him as Baloo is forced to drive underneath and somehow manages to get all five hundred pounds underneath without any damage whatsoever. That is awesome even for him. Kit has a lot easier luck and thus his teeth chatter (Which uses the HB teeth chatter sound effect since the music doesn't go in sink with the effect.) doesn't have the same effect and he goes under easily. Next spot: The old fashion stop light of doom goes stop and Baloo is forced to stop the motor engine; but the rope on the back forces Kit to go forward on the throwback. Yeah; Kit breaks all the rules of Disney, this is so symbolic. I don't think doing this "in your face" style is going to win Kit back any friends in BS&P, Chuck. Baloo's panicking and rubbing the handlebars is a sight of beauty because Kit might go splat on the pavement if the light doesn't go green in time mind you, finally the light goes green, Baloo races for his life and Kit manages to keep into the air missing the ground by about two feet. We continue racing through the city and really it looks beautiful and somehow Sun Woo manages to keep the whole thing looking good without resorting to short cuts as Baloo goes over a river bridge and under a bridge. Then we go into the farmers market from "It Came From Beneath the SeaDuck", I do believe as Baloo destroys a lot of boxes of fruit and pumpkins and he's the FRUIT LADY OF DEATH again. HAHA! No matter how manly he is; he cannot shake the cross dressing image. Even when he's not trying to cross dress on purpose. Even some lobsters and fish get tagged along for the ride just for fun. We race down the street and then we cut to a white building as a blue butterfly flutters along just to get in the veiled Smurf joke. HEE HEE! We see at the window a baby orange bear in diapers looking at a bunch of flowers at an open window sill, and you thought Michael Jackson was a child abuser?! The female baby tries to grab the butterfly as it comes towards her; but it dodges and the baby drops out of the window. Oh good god, guys! You writers are truly insane and sick to have an infant who is barely TWO years old do that spot without some cartoon features. The baby is a real two year old, for god sakes!

See what I mean by kids not afraid to tease death in this show?! (Here's where the writers put in some more unfortunate implications so to speak: If you are going to have them do these spots looking like babies; then they have to be midgets basically; like in Dirty Rotten Diapers in Rescue Rangers. Thus the cartoon features part 2009 me was talking about. Also; I discovered that the baby is in fact, a girl, which makes this even more creepy.) Kit swears in dubbed anime style (Oh my gosh which is funny considering that R.J. Williams slipped in the "Oh My God" for real in A Baloo Switcheroo.) and tells Baloo to step on it. Baloo sells it and the bike races down faster as Kit manages to grab onto the baby by it's dirty rotten diaper at the last split second. I can hear Eisner say: “Don't say by it's dirty rotten diaper; that makes me nervous!”. (Also of note and missed by 2009 Me is when Kit pulls on her diaper; you can clearly see a shot of her bare asshole. Not just the ass; but almost half the tunnel. Unlike Polly Wants The Treasure (which is also animated by Sun Woo); there is no doubt, this was on purpose. I do know that cartoons have been clamping down more on those shots in recent years after Kick Buttowski was doing these asshole shots several times in the early episodes. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I wonder if Disney+ used digital paint here?)) Kit saves the baby, which is no surprise since he likes children and he saved Molly in this fashion about four times already. However, the rope on the bike snaps right on cue (You know how much I HATE it when that happens!) in an anime spot, Kit and the baby go flying off the Air Foil and towards the ground as it appears that they are going to go splat on the cement like bear pancakes, which the segment ends nearly eleven minutes in. Man; you can tell just how things have changed at Disney when even a realistic two year old baby in 1990 is TEASING death; let alone taking a bump and compare it to now where kids are barely able to take even a wussy bump without extreme padding. (That's pretty much the gist of it. Chuck is doing a great job so far in setting up the whole episode in a nutshell and setting up the two angles required to pull this off.)

After the commercial break; we return to ground level as Baloo rides around the bend with the bike yelling at Kit for whatever reason. Either that he cares about his safety in the scene or his safety when Eisner gets his hands on Chuck Tately. Either answer is acceptable at this point. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Why not both 2009 me?!) Kit and the baby drop down into the green roof and spring off which creates logic break number three of the episode since Sun Woo made it look like they were going to splat on the pavement for a second there (As seen before the commercial break.). Still a really scary moment nevertheless; so I'll give Sun Woo props for at least making it look convincing even though they had to break logic to please BS&P. Then Kit and baby go head over feet over Baloo's head like the show off that Kit is (Which is why he is the MIRACLE WORKER, you see.) as Baloo rides over to the park, takes a hard on-screen bump into the yellow hydrant, then another really sick bump into the wooden bench -- which in any other universe would have broken his back and neck --, flips over and catches the baby in one motion allowing Kit to gently fall into the fountain with the banana hat on top of his head. HAHA! BS&P RULEZ~! But understandable considering that the writers were already showing enough nasty bumps as it is. (Well; after the bare ass and the fact that a two year old baby teased falling and dying; Kit's gentle bump into the fountain was a relief for me. Baloo took enough of the bad bumps as it is.) That was still a really good sequence of events as Baloo laughs it up and praises Kit for saving the baby. That is important because the PRESS OF FRAUD enters in as Baloo is holding the evidence and of course, they believe that Baloo saved the baby as they act in over-dramatic fashion. The furries show a lot more animation than the first show up as the fraud machine is in full force. The public all thinks Baloo is the real hero as Baloo tries to explain that Kit Cloudkicker is the real hero of this whole thing; but zero dice. Personally; as much as it would have pained me to say this; but I would have taken the glory and taken the chances of a wrathful Kit. Why? I'll explain when we get to the big scene in a few moments.

We get the spinning newspaper of doom with the Cape Suzette Gazette showing Baloo with a baby which is a better picture of him as Kit is barely in the picture looking like a fool. (This also proves that Cape Suzette has more than one newspaper in the city; which is a neat touch.) So we logically head back to Higher...For...Hire and then into the office as Baloo is eating some French bread (Why did he have a loaf of bread in his hand?! This only encourage the French dubbers to make every scene sound like Baloo is making food jokes.) asking for where Kit is and Rebecca doesn't know. All she knows that he stormed in, that he threw his airfoil in the corner and left as we get a shot of the opened airfoil in the corner. Man; that whole thing really shook him up and really, I don't blame him. Baloo grabs his airfoil as Rebecca is worried about him which is no surprise since Rebecca is like a mother figure to him and she does love Kit like a son. Baloo has a good idea where he is and throws the airfoil to Rebecca who catches it so well that she manages to keep her stack of papers perfectly intact in the process. HAHA! We head to the cliff where there is a old rusted up plane nearby as Kit is throwing stones over the cliff. I should note that I used this area as a basis for the Unforseen Impact fanfic scene where Kit explained to Rebecca Cunningham what happened to her husband in grave detail and dug into some of Kit's pirate life. I thought it was a great idea and a lot of TaleSpin fans thought it was fitting too. (It was also used in a later fanfic that I didn't write (thank goodness) about Kit's life a few weeks after Plunder and Lightning. It should be at Fanfiction.net somewhere.) We zoom in as Kit continues to throw rocks as Baloo enters in and throws rocks on the opposite side. Kit notices Baloo throwing and it leads to this awesome exchange which I will reveal in full:

Baloo: Hey buddy. You sore at me?
Kit: No. But it's not fair.
Baloo: You mean all this publicity nonsense?
Kit: Yeah. They cut me out of photos, they misspell my name, I fall off a building...
Baloo:...and they give me all the credit right? (I love how Baloo crawls under the wing following Kit which is a really nice touch to the whole thing.)
Kit: Right. (Sitting on the wing feeling defeated.)
Baloo: Aw now listen to me Kit. None of that fame stuff means anything. You know who you are and that's all that matters.
Kit: Really? (Kit is now beaming)
Baloo: Hey kid...I think you are the best. (Baloo then pulls the lid of Kit's baseball cap to the front of the hat and Kit giggles)
Kit: Thanks papa bear. (Kit jumps off and the two bears return to Cape Suzette.)

It's moments like this where I really like Baloo as a character. Sure; there are moments where Baloo acts like a jerk and such. Sure; he screwed Kit out of his well earned money in Double or Nothing, but it's speeches like this that redeem him as a character even if he sadly lapses naturally into his ego driven character as we shall see later on. I also like the fact that Baloo basically told Kit that he was the best which is completely true and a basic shoot comment in the eyes of a lot of TaleSpin fans everywhere. He is the best child character in DTVA and maybe Disney's best child character they ever had. Plus; Baloo realized that Kit saved the baby as well and that he tried to explain it to them; but the press would not buy it because the evidence was in his hands and not in Kit's. That was simply a bad case of timing and there was nothing Baloo could do to change the situation. At least I was happy to hear that Kit wasn't jealous at Baloo himself and that he KNEW that Baloo wasn't stealing his heat (which he wasn't; at least not on purpose.). By the way; Kit wears the hat backwards because his life has been so ass backwards and Baloo's pulling the lid forward is for him to pull his life forward. It's really so simple that I forgot to mention it in the Plunder and Lightning re-rant. (That is one of those non-verbal cue moments that really drives how important it is. Kit wearing the hat on backwards means something, in that his life has always been ass backwards. He's supposed to be an ordinary kid with ordinary parents doing ordinary things; and here he is thrusted into being an orphan, a former hobo, an ex-pirate and being the navigator of Higher For Hire; in a dangerous job that in any sane universe would have Child Protection Services spiriting him away in a heartbeat. In this scene; Baloo pulls the hat to pull him into realizing that he knows who he is and doesn't need to be in the papers to prove it. That's a great moral.) However; there is a good reason why getting his picture in the paper would be a bad idea. See; I look at it this way: Let's say that the press does it's job and Kit Cloudkicker saves the baby and becomes the hero. What if some journalist decides to dig into Kit's past and finds out that he was a runaway orphan?!

Remember that in “The Long Flight Home” comic; he was running away from the officers who were trying to force runaway orphans back into the orphanage. (Julius Whiterspoon in this instance.) Baloo could lose Kit that way and who knows what Baloo would do after that. (We have already seen how devastating it is when Kit left on his own in Stormy Weather. Can you imagine Kit being forced to leave due to someone else's own morals?!) That would be the lightest strike against them, actually. What if the journalist finds out Kit was an Air Pirate?! The fact that he was a part of them would set Kit up as a good dummy for the police to press charge after charge on him just to get the justice they want on terrorism and piracy. Regardless if Kit was involved or not; Kit is royal-fully screwed, the journalist would be the hero and Kit is the big heel regardless of what he did in between saving the city. They don't even know what Kit did in Plunder and Lightning for goodness sakes. They all think Baloo did all the damn work. (Although, if you believe the fanfic "Scar Of His Past"; then this theory is totally moot.) This is also why I sometimes think Kit should ask for thanks and stop doing stuff as a thankless job. In Mommy for A Day; everyone praises Molly for defeating MacNee; but it was Kit Cloudkicker who protected Molly long enough to get Molly to do the water spraying finish on Henry. Kit really is a selfless hero; but self-preservation is not in his word usage and that is something Baloo and Rebecca has got to teach him. That selfishness isn't always an evil thing and it once in a while can SAVE him from himself. That selflessness can sometimes destroy a being from the inside because then you become a crash test dummy for someone's use and abuse. So in hindsight; the speech works on all levels and Kit not only feels better; but Baloo might have not only saved his friendship, but a lot of lives in the process. That is strength which is a rare form of writing that Chuck Tately should be proud of. Sure; I mock him for his logic breaks in certain episodes, but when he is given good characters and story plots to write with, he can be very good. (Chuck Tately's TaleSpin work is good; but he had a great show to work with. Outside of that, he's not much.)

One other thing before I go into the next scene: On Youtube; there was a troll called nukunukufufu who wrote these weird comments about the show that I found quite amusing at the time including claims that Baloo fought a T-Rex with the SeaDuck (Which would have made an interesting storyline for a Robot Chicken episode mind you. I'm shocked Robot Chicken hasn't considered that yet.). His version of this scene was to have Baloo throw rocks at Kit, then throw Kit over the cliff and then say that he can finally have all the photos on the penny saver. On a Robot Chicken level; I found the story amusing enough; but a few TaleSpin fans didn't take kindly to Baloo murdering Kit in cold blood like that and nukunukufufu finally revealed his true colors as a person who hates gays and people who likes shows like TaleSpin. Then he threatened to take BalooDumptruck (Who hasn't exactly done a good job in making himself not look like a troll.) off the internet in Stuck On You and thus I stepped in and challenged him to come up with better material or simply go away. Needless to say; he hasn't shown up since. Figures; since his only material is mocking the SeaDuck abilities and his hateful bigotry. (Speaking of Robot Chicken; everyone needs to see the TailSpin section now. It's ten seconds long and is surprisely PG even though the show is TV-MA with Kit's cloudsurfing thing. It's hilarious because it's also very believable with the universe that the show is in. Sure, Kit dies; but the way he died is actually something that might have happened in the TaleSpin Universe even with Disney. Sure; Disney wouldn't do it; but there is enough elements in the series to make it look believable. I can see an episode where Kit dies and we have the aftermath; only to end as a dream like Dead Duck from Darkwing Duck. Sure, it would be depressing; but I can take that one much more seriously than Dead Duck's version where it's impossible to take this seriously, when Drake is getting mauled and somehow he lives on unharmed. Heck; there is even a fanfic on the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage with that plotline.)

So we return to the office of Higher...For...Hire as Rebecca has the stack of papers as she is glad that Kit is okay as Kit is sitting on the desk. I guess Rebecca thinks Kit is a real hero and thus deserves the honor of being on the desk. Too bad Molly is RIGHT THERE nodding and waiting to pick her spot it appears to tickle his feet. It doesn't happen; but we can dream now can we? (Again; Magon fails to see dollar signs in a Kit/Molly tickle fight.) Kit proclaims that Baloo is right and that he cannot let the fame stuff go to his head as Baloo blows off the picture because it still looks stupid. Like I said before: camera + lack of sleep = DANGER! A knock on the door beckons again and now Baloo want to feed that tricycle to WildCat. Why? That thing was AWESOME BABEE! It had it all: Porno music, a two year old teasing death and Kit bumping around like an insane freak. What more can a ranter ask for?! He opens the door and it's a bengal tiger wearing all green with a message from Mr. Khan. I guess Baloo is his last name. (No, it's not because Baloo refers to himself as "Baloo Bear" to Khan's elevator guard in the next scene. This existed before The Balooest Of The Bluebloods, so it still made sense to call himself "Baloo Bear"; which is as goofy as calling someone "Donald Duck" or "Huey Duck" for instance.) So, his first name is something else I guess; or is this the rib that they did on Mr. Fat?! I'm betting on the later here. Sadly; the rib doesn't quite work here. (Yes on both counts.) He gives the white calling card to Baloo and everyone is surprised at this. Baloo reads the card as Khan wants his presence at his earliest convenience and to make sure that it is at one o'clock. HAHA! Don't you just love that Vinnie Mac logic there?! Kit, now being voiced by Alan Roberts (Pretty much Alan Roberts for the rest of the first half.) wonders what Khan wants and Rebecca finally does me proud by doing her awesome Gruffi pose thirteen minutes in. Molly just looks SHOCKED for no reason. Maybe she is wondering when she is going to speak. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! PUNT! OUCH! ALL HAIL MOLLY VIOLENCE~! ALL HAIL~! See; Khan is too high and mighty to care about them. Which is true except that Plunder and Lightning demonstrated that he was considering them as a possible contact if need be.

The tiger offers Baloo the limo and Baloo is surprised by the tiger's gesture. So he gives the English gesture and allows Kit to go out first. How nice of him as Rebecca decides to let this one go since it could be good for business. Molly nods for approval , but still doesn't talk. We head to Khan Tower with the zoom in, in full force. We head to the elevator area as the place just looks breathtaking even by television standards on the far shot. Baloo and Kit walk towards the door as Baloo hands the white card to a bear bouncer wearing so much purple that he could be part of the Purple People Eaters Organization. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm... Nice red hair too. The bouncer asks who is Baloo and Baloo tells him to read the paper since he is as Kit gulps in disbelief over that one. The bouncer agrees only to let Baloo go up; but Kit must stay in the lobby. Baloo won't do it because they are a team, you see; even pulling his sweater in front which is quite embarrassing. The bouncer proclaims that there is no Cloudpicker on the card just to get on my and every Kit fans nerves even further. (Just wait until the end because this all ties into the whole joke.) Baloo blows him off and looks really to MURDER the bouncer for sullying Kit's good name; but Kit pulls on the shirt and agrees to wait in the lobby anyway before the bouncer does something truly evil to Baloo. See; Kit was always the smart one of the team. Kit runs to a seat and then gives the thumbs up to Baloo as he walks into the elevator -- gives the thumbs up to him -- and the elevator closes. Kit then waits so no one notices and then gives the bouncer a well deserved raspberry for his troubles. HAHA! Probably to give Michael Eisner his just desserts for trying to bury him; the cad. (Yeah; it's Cloud-kicker, you bouncer! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Good thing he didn't say Kit Cloudblower, that would have been lewd.)) The elevator door opens inside Mr. Khan's office and Baloo heads inside. The doors close and Baloo asks for the bleachers. Funny since this would unofficially be the third time Baloo has been in Shere Khan's office in this series. I guess the appearance erases the selective parts of Baloo's memory. (Personally; I think Baloo just like cracking jokes to break the fear he has looking at the prospect of meeting the almighty Shere Khan.)

He walks to the desk of Mr. Khan slowly, Mr. Khan turns around in his chair and greets him. Mr. Khan wants to thank the community as Baloo completely ignores him and sees the SeaDuck from the window just to annoy Khan, of course. Khan praises and butters him up for his efforts as Baloo tries to tell him that Kit helped him; but Khan cuts him off. Khan presents him with the golden trophy on the right side of the desk which proclaims him as the "best pilot in the world". Remember that for later on as it shines which indicates that Sun Woo is animating. Baloo is SHOCKED as he grabs it. Khan proclaims that he deserves it. On one condition though: If he can do a special job and handle it. The amazing thing is that unless you have an ear for musical themes; you'll never know who is behind this. I won't spoil it just yet; but the “If you can handle it” plays an important role later on. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Chuck and Jymn did an awesome job revealing who it was without saying who it was. The suspense was perfect here since unless you know what the Air Pirate theme was in full detail; even adults wouldn't have guessed that it was the Air Pirates behind this because the show was telling you that the Air Pirates were not involved. Even though, the Air Pirates doing this deed makes perfect sense.) Baloo agrees to it because he's the best pilot in the world, asks what it is and Khan explains the Master Run which is a very demanding ultra secret cargo route. Baloo gets an envelope and Khan asks if he can handle it. Baloo says yes because he's the best pilot in the world as his ego is slowly starting to balloon. Khan chuckles as his bait is set. We head back down to ground level in the lobby as the elevator opens and Baloo walks out with the trophy. Kit walks behind him asking him what happened. Baloo notices him and shows Kit the trophy. Kit reads the trophy and is grateful for Baloo winning it. Sadly; Kit's gratefulness is not going to last very long as Baloo proclaims that he is going to fly a special run for Mr. Khan and then walks out the spiral doors. Kit cannot believe that since shouldn't it be: ”we” which we end the segment sixteen minutes in. Can you smell the build up guys?! Can you smell the set up of Baloo to be knocked down?! Why couldn't Disney do this with Darkwing Duck on a regular basis is beyond me?! Maybe if they did that; then Darkwing Duck could have lived up to the lofty hype placed on them in 1991 and maybe the whole “TaleSpin sucks” thing would have been justified on some level. By the way; there is a red to black fade during the break which is just plain odd. (Nope; this is a case of the DVD player since I had no problems with that on VLC.)

After the commercial break; we see WildCat putting cargo into the back of the SeaDuck as Kit is sitting on the edge of the pier. Rebecca proclaims that the newspaper story was a good idea after all. Well; of course it was Rebecca since it is all about the MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH. At least Rebecca is no longer the biggest jerk in this family this time around. Kit questions all this because he has a million pilots of his own which is a good question to ask; but Baloo's swelled head answers that one because he's the best, you see. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: To be fair to Baloo, he really was the best pilot in the world in storyline, but when it comes to common sense, real life and attitude; he was below average, to put it mildly.) WildCat and the tiger from earlier bring the cargo into the side of the plane. Baloo then cuts a cocky promo about everyone wanting to fly for him, people coming from miles around and then we get this awesome exchange:

Baloo: “Baloo for hire. No job too big.”
Kit: No head too big.
Rebecca: It may be your ego buster, but it's still my plane!

HAHA! Nice to see Miss Cunningham still has her bossy attitude in place just for things like this as Kit re-enters the plane. Like I said; can you smell the ego inflating here?! Plus, why is it that Tad Stones didn't learn something from this? (At least when Tad Stones was ranting on why 1936 movie structure writing is a bad idea; Tad didn't mean that you cut out the most important information or spots. Most modern cartoons now just ignore that kind of work and think that an exec is somehow a scientist. In a field of telling fiction. I can understand Damon and Jason calling out people on technology because that at least is rooted in science. Cartoons are not based on science; and even the Stars know this. Execs acting like they can use science to make funny cartoons is more laughable than most laughable arguments in politics. Be thankful that most of these arguments in cartoons are usually harmless; because if they weren't; that's just creating ammunition to the moral guardians out there.) WildCat puts down the box harshly and the tiger chaffeur somehow gets offended by it because it is a painting, according to him. His stammering suggests something else; but it's too big to speculate at this point; so I won't at this point. Kit calls it an awful fat frame as I approve of Kit's use of the word fat here. It certainly help in a word where the word can be taboo. (I think Kit should've realized that fragile object require a lot of padding; kind of like many Quack Pack stories in 1996.) Baloo comes in, tells Kit to get the rope and patronizes him to where it is which Kit blows him off since he know where it is. We go to the cockpit and see Baloo placing the trophy on the front of the control panel as the ego inflate more and more slowly. Building the plotline and giving it actual context?! In a DTVA cartoon?! What's that?! Me not know how that can exist in today's machine gun rapid fire world where apparently children get bored and change channels if they see build ups. Maybe it's because TaleSpin does this so well that when others try to do it; they see TaleSpin formula rather than the real thing and feel cheated. (That's probably false; but it's a lot more believable than what most critics think it ultimately is. I'll give that as an exercise to the reader.)

Baloo tells Kit to buckle up and Kit blows him off for it because he knows how to do it. HEE HEE! Baloo's patronizing act might be annoying; but it damn sure works because it builds up the straw man to be knocked down later on in this two part episode and it makes Kit Cloudkicker finest hour even sweeter. So I say; Kit should take it like a man and let Baloo do his thing. I believe Alan Roberts is voicing here as Kit asks where they are going and Baloo refuses to answer because it's top secret. Kit is pissed off at that because he's the navigator and does a cute Gruffi pose. Baloo now has to tell him as the SeaDuck takes off from the waters and then just to rub it into Mr. Khan; he flies around Khan Tower while Khan looks on from the window. (Which Baloo actually doesn't say on camera. Doesn't matter; Baloo told him off-screen since Kit knew where they were going later on.) Khan is amused by it; but chuckles at the “best pilot in the world”. Scare quotes intentional because he has zero idea what is in store for him. Funny since Khan is acting like a heel even though he is clearly the babyface here. (Khan has a lot to lose if this mystery isn't solved. This Master Run is costing him money and resources; and anything to solve this mystery would be helpful. If Baloo is such a cocky bastard to take the fall; then so be it. It's good for business and it's needed in case others who are not part of Khan's employment (as we'll see with Wily Pole later on.) fall prey to it. Yes; Khan is doing it in his best interests; but it's far from the Xanatos gambit (a gambit Khan only played twice in the series and those were at least believable.). ) The SeaDuck flies out of Cape Suzette and we logically go to that island on the south seas; Louie's. The music is lively of course because it's Louie's. It wouldn't be an awesome place without Louie's theme music in the background. (Louie's has his own unique arrangement in the Christopher L. Stone soundtrack which was done by the late Roland Shaw.) The SeaDuck has already landed as Baloo and Kit are on the dock. Baloo tells Kit to make sure they top off the tank because he needs every drop and he pets him like he's a pet just to annoy him even further. Kit is mad as hell as he walks off fuming stage right.

Baloo walks stage left into Louie's as we pan into the place and the waiter monkey's (all wearing blue Dale T-Shirts) and matching red hair (A sign of fury coming for Baloo methinks.). Baloo sits down at a table and puts the trophy down on the table. We pan over to see Louie with a mug of the WE KNOW IT'S ALCOHOL BUT WE'RE NOT TELLING OF DOOM as he addresses the sitting Baloo as Baloo slides the trophy towards him. (Oh come on, critics. You expect me to buy that it's apple juice, even though it looks very similar to beer?!) Louie admires the trophy as Baloo proclaims that he picked it up for being the best pilot in the world. Louie asks how he earned the trophy and Baloo proclaims that he didn't do much as Louie tries to walk off; but Baloo grabs him and then tells him the story of his piloting skills in the lightning storm from the beginning of the episode; making sure to exclude Kit's role from it to further inflate his ego. Somehow, his version of the story is damn near funny as he gets off death reference #1 of the episode. Louie loses his hat and his sense of humor judging by his face. Oh; Baloo smashed one of his pots; that's why he's so angry. Baloo does the blind spot as Kit enters and just lets Baloo make an ass out of himself. Strange considering how flustered he was earlier in the scene. Baloo uses a plate to force the point and end the story which makes him look exactly like Shere Khan proclaims him to be: A flying fool. No wonder Ted likes the Kit & Karnage ship so much. Kit mocks him a bit by proclaiming that he did it all by himself, of course so Baloo can claim Kit was there, like the backpedalling scumbag that Baloo is. Louie tries to leave again; but Baloo grabs him AGAIN! Does the phrase sexual harassment mean anything to him (other than four different words)?! (That's rich considering Louie's womanizing of Rebecca in A Touch Of Glass.) He proclaims that he has a special run for Mr. Khan called the Master Run and a plate gets smashed right on cue which SHOCKS Baloo. Because it doesn't involve HIM doing it see. AHHAHAHAHAHA! Then we get another one which drops on-screen as the waiter monkeys are SHOCKED and APPALLED (in that order). Baloo calls this party dead. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Although a little late to be saying it; but whatever.

Louie explains it's better than him being dead as the radio beckons and it's Wiley Paul. Disney Caption has him addressed as Wiley Paul; although a lot of us say his last name is Wiley Pole. Interesting. (It's Wily Pole in both the audio and by the fans. Actually; the Volume 2 set in A Baloo Switcheroo is Wily Pole. Christopher Barat says it's "Wily Pole" because it is supposed to be based on Wiley Post who was killed in a plane crash with comedian Will Rogers.) Wily is at the Twin Spires as the gang approches the radio (The same one from Plunder and Lightning that Baloo heard Kit's message from in Part Four.). Louie explains that two planes flew over there and vanished as Wiley proclaims he sees no sign of wreckage. Wiley claims clear skies as Baloo takes it as a good sign and then Wiley is in pain as he can no longer see as his plane is in chaos. He's upside down as he cannot correct and calls for a mayday. Then the radio goes dead and Louie shakes the radio calling for Wily; but there is no dice. Kit wonders what happened and Baloo in a cocky matter calls it pilot error as the ego is ballooning slowly evermore. Baloo and Kit leave as Louie blows it off because Wiley Paul is the best. It's difficult for me to consider Wiley Paul now that Disney Captions is calling him THAT now. (Don't be difficult. Disney Caption was wrong here.) Baloo blows him off because he's the best and the trophy proclaims him as such. I think him saving Cape Suzette from the Air Pirates gives Baloo the title by default; but the ego trip is increasing even more slowly. Unlike Darkwing Duck episode where there is little buildup; it makes the knockdown even more awesome later on. Louie doesn't care who is the best because someone is gobbling up areoplanes which has to be the scariest line I have ever heard from someone, ever. When it's from Louie; you know this show rules. Giant sea monster; a hole in the sky, he doesn't know. All he knows is that you go there, you never come back. Somehow; Louie has actually convinced me to stay and even Kit is asking Baloo to reconsider the run. (This is proof that Kit is not a Scrappy nor a Mary Sue. He's likable and deep; he's not a coward, but not completely fearless to the point of being a psychopath. He's smart; but not a smartass. Also of note; Louie's promo also makes me believe that he's the one behind this too. Considering him being a thief in A Touch Of Glass and being the one behind the Ghost Ship in the Golden Book series; I cannot overlook this.)

Baloo blows it off saying "ixnay"; which Openoffice claims it is not a word by the way. (Oh, it's a word. It's pig latin 1930's verb for cancel or stop. It's an exclaimation for rejection too. So yes; the word has a meaning and it fits the timeframe they are shooting for.) You see, Kit's making Baloo look bad. UH OH! The ego is going to eleven now as he proclaims that he is off to do the job -- dangerous or not -- and then walks off stage left cutting the most self-serving promo I have ever heard from him as Kit follows. (I should also point out that Baloo went to the counter and drank the mug of beer on said counter. How do I know he did this and how do I know it's alcohol? Before he grabbed the full mug of beer; they cut to Louie looking stern and then they cut back with Baloo leaving, as the mug is empty. I'm amazed that this wasn't edited out because it still looks obvious. Could the first run syndie version showed Baloo drinking the mug? It's possible, there's not much left to the imgination here. It also makes the next scene more obvious that one possible reason for Baloo's flying there was that he was drunk.) We head to the skies as the SeaDuck flies towards the Twin Spires without further incident and we have about 90 nseconds left in the first act so this should be really quick. We cut into the cockpit as Baloo is sleeping on the stick and Kit has the Gruffi pose down good. He sees the Twin Spires dead ahead as there is nothing unusual going on other than some fog. Kit points it out as Baloo wakes up on cue and Kit tells Baloo that they should go back, now that it's only him and Baloo now. There's no one to impress now and no one would think that he was chicken. (I love how Kit is being reasonable here: He might not completely know; but he suspects that Khan is probably using Baloo as his tool to solving the mystery of The Master Run. He was questioning this ever since Khan's messenger gave the card to Baloo to read. He realizes something is fishy even before Baloo is suspecting it. However; Baloo's ego won't let him make that connection because he's a manchild who should know better since he is supposed to be an adult, yet he doesn't.)

Baloo then really blows off Kit as Baloo ego is finally on full blast because he is the best and finally Kit has had enough of Baloo's boosting. Kit tells Baloo off because Baloo is letting the trophy go to his head. Codeword: Kit is calling Baloo a hypocrite more or less. Baloo blows him off and does what all bad Jonas Brothers fans do when their contexts are soundly defeated: Accuse Kit of losing his nerve. Codeword: He is accusing Kit of being jealous and orders him to check the cargo now since he has flying to do. Kit runs into the cargo and slams the door weakly as apparently this friendship is about two steps away from being destroyed. (Now the inflated ego is about to go bust as Baloo has walked right into the trap like the cocky bastard that he is.) Baloo goes to his one friend left which is the trophy on the control panel and then goes to the transmitter and calls on Louie as Louie asks if everything is cool. Baloo has his feet on the controls (EEWWWW! I should point out that he does this a lot in this series and in the comics. It's a comedy trait of this character and shame on the critics for not noticing it all these years and then bashing modern cartoons for their grossout spots.) and Baloo proclaims that everything is fine and that the master pilot can handle the Master Run. That would prove to be the beginning of his own undoing as the XENON FLASH OF DEATH occurs right on cue. (You know what; I also love how in the scenes where the press was taking photos of Baloo being the hero and all that, and Baloo couldn't take the flash bulbs going off as it was affecting his vision. That is a great way to set up the angle and now this is the first phase of the payoff. Who said Chuck Tately is a crappy writer?!)

We cut to Kit in the back as there is shaking as he calls to Baloo asking if everything is all right. Baloo re-opens his eyes and claims that everything is upside down as Kit goes to the side window while Baloo proclaims that he'll flip the plane. One problem; Kit notices that they are still right side up and tries to tell Baloo that nothing is really wrong; but Baloo doesn't listen of course (because the trophy has gone to his head like Khan had predicted it would.). Baloo flips the plane, Kit takes a pretty decent bump into the box. Baloo pulls on the stick, pulls up a bit in spite of Kit's protests and the SeaDuck dives into the water as Baloo is drunk and sees nothing but flying fishes. HAHA! So much for the best pilot in the world. I smell ego slowly deflating and the strawmen being knocked down as we end Act I at 21:18. One of Chuck Tately best written episodes to date; as most of the logic breaks were minor and basically BS&P breaks more than anything else. (Most of the logic breaks were all on Sunwoo Animation. I say "one of the best" because Chuck would later write the best episode in the series and maybe the best one in his entire writing career.) Still; this part is the weak side of the OAV compared to the really awesome part that is to come because now it's Jymn Magon's turn to take over. (This begins the Blue Screen Of Death angle and the pay off of this is so sweet that it redeems both Baloo and Kit in their own ways.)

Act II: As a Boy's Matures Beyond Eisner's Own Age

Yes; the acts mean something and I'm making them up. So shoot me. (It's not like Plunder and Lightning where I know the original subtitles for each episode that were originally planned and then not used even though they had to cut about a minute and a half of footage to put recaps in because the execs don't have enough confidence in the kids to use their own brains. Flight of the Sky Raker and Gates of Shamabhala did have episode titles for each part in the comics, along with the comic adaptation of Plunder and Lightning, so there you go.) We begin this one with the same title card black background, then we resume with Baloo and the SeaDuck sleeping with the fishes. HAHA! Now that is CONTINUITY and attention to detail all rolled into one! Even more so; the trophy manages to gain a mind of it's own and float up to the ceiling as Baloo unbuckles his safety belt which is dangerous. He then flies up and takes a sick MAN-SIZED bump on-screen on his head as we turn up-side down. Kit re-enters the cockpit, wondering if he is all right. No matter how much Baloo screws up; Kit cannot seem to be angry at him anymore, which really shows how he has progressed as a character at this point. (It also shows that sometimes; having different writers with different viewpoints helps a lot in creating multi-dimensional characters. See Rebecca Cunningam for instance.) Baloo explains that there was a bright flash and zowie. Kit proclaims that's what Wily Pole said on the radio as Kit goes from Alan Roberts to R.J. Williams merely fifteen seconds in. Baloo proclaims that this isn't supposed to happen to him as his ego is slowly starting to deflate and the straw men is slowly starting it's knockdown. The upside down trophy just makes the whole thing even more symbolic. Remember; this is Jymn Magon writing this; at his creative peak. Something weird is going on as Kit wonders if it's monsters and Baloo blows it off because monsters make noise. Of course we hear the loud thudding sound which forces them to opposite walls. HAHA! The knocking continues as the two MIRACLE WORKERS CONNECTION do some awesome acting (by television animation standards) and then they both agree to go together as a unit to the side door. Odds makers: 3:1 monsters. 5:1 Don Karnage. 7:1 Mr. Khan playing a joke. 10:1 Louie playing a prank. 500:1 Wily Pole playing a joke.

The door finally opens and it's...wait for it...it's Don Karnage on a boat with Mad Dog. The first I saw this; I really didn't see it coming because Tately made sure to have the Commander claim that no air pirates were involved. That Commander is REALLY STUPID to not figure this one out. I mean; how could it be them after he stated that they couldn't find them for weeks? Did the Commander lie to Mr. Khan? I SMELL A FANFIC COMING! (Answer: We'll never know because they never told us. However; it would be interesting as a side angle; but it's not important for this episode as a whole.) Anyhow; we have our major swerve which was near perfect as only one little detail gave it away: When Shere Khan asked Baloo if he could handle the special job inside Khan's office; guess what piece of music was playing in the background? If you said the Air Pirates theme, you win the no-prize. It's little details like this that made the show over because it was so obscure and short that you have to have a critical ear to notice them. (This is actually an awesome swerve if you note the context of what it implies: We were promised that it wasn't Don Karnage behind this from the Commander; and they had a perfect culpit in Louie and even Shere Khan. However; it turns out it was Don Karnage all this time. That's the definition of a swerve: You were promised something and they delivered something else. More importantly; the swerve makes total sense as well from a heel standpoint. Louie doing this makes little sense and Mr. Khan gains nothing from having his pilots go down. So, ultimately Don Karnage is the perfect guy to do this. That's why this worked out so beautifully as a suspenseful angle.) Baloo and Kit are as SHOCKED as I am and Don Karnage blows them off because they didn't address him properly see. Because he is the feared pirate Don Karnage see. WWE entertainer Santino Marella pretty much stole 90% of his heel act from Don Karnage; including the accent I should point out. No surprise that Santino is one of the most entertaining acts in the WWE now. (Him stealing Jerry Lawler's Subway Sandwich (And how amazing is it that Jerry Lawler is now much less of a scumbag then Jared Forgle is right now, considering Jerry's scumbag past.?!) and doing "The Most Interesting Man In The World" parody promo was his highpoints in his career in my opinion, so he's no Don Karnage. Still very funny just the same. (2020 Gregory Says: Sadly, neck problems ended his career which is very sad since he was on fire as an entertainer during that period.))

He invokes the cutlass for old times sake as he backs up the Miracle Workers Connection into the SeaDuck. Don Karnage, Dumptruck and Mad Dog enter inside. Don greets Baloo, sarcastically praises him for screwing up the place and then steals the trophy with the sword as now Baloo is going to experience the best mockery of his ego to date. He “apologizes” to the “best pilot in the world”. Scare quotes intentional, of course. He call him so great because he crashes upside down into the ocean and laughs him off on it. HAHA! That is so damn funny and awesome as Baloo's ego is just getting slaughtered now. Also, since Baloo is such a fragile character psychology wise (even more than Kit is); this is going to make everything Kit does later on even sweeter. Don address Kit Cloudkicker at last (As Baloo's "best friend in the world" (Implying that Baloo has no real friends; which is another attempt to poison the well.) which is in fact true in this sense. Personally; I'm fine with this because having Don Karnage remember what Kit did to him would be shameful; and hiding it would be for the best.) as Kit demands answers changing his voice to Alan Roberts again. Don explains that he is stealing the cargo of course because they are pirates and that is what they do. Sounds about right to me. Kit doesn't want that answer -- since that is TOO obvious --, he wants answers on the horizon. Don Karnage tells them to look outside as Baloo and Kit take a peek outside and they see the Twin Spires are fitted with two giant mirrors fitted at a 90 degree angle with each other to create flashes of bright light. Now THAT is brilliant. (Yes it is. I'm shocked Phineas & Ferb didn't steal that angle. Yet.) I betcha Ratchet got that from his "Science Made Easy" book (as per Plunder and Lightning). We see the mechanism at work as the mirrors come together as a single mirror as Don proclaims that he didn't build the mirror and that he stole it of course as the FLASH OF DEATH beckons to blind our heroes again. That brings another scene changer to a far shot of the Sea Duck being seen squarely in the mirror in another symbolic moment as Baloo finally gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY on the situation. (This is going to ruin him now; because he finally going to realize the trap he put himself in due to his unchecked ego and not following his own moral.)

Don also gets one as well, since Shere Khan is mentioned. Now Karnage sees what is going on as Khan was getting tired of losing planes and man power; so he sent Baloo as a lamb to be slaughtered so to speak. Baloo suddenly realized that he was just made to be a fool. This is just great and the greatest thing about it is that Magon and company build the whole thing up with context and everything. It made perfect sense and didn't insult my intellegence. It'll also ultimately make all the rest of the episode look mighty awesome after this too as you will see. Baloo tries to protect his reputation in front of Kit; but it's already too late since Kit has already realized that Baloo's ego is out of control. Although Kit says nothing here since Don wants his cargo. (Kit always called him out on it in part one and Baloo couldn't take it. No point in rubbing it in; which he never does in part two. Which is an excellent showing of his likableness as a child character. ) Baloo tries to goldbrick; but Mad Dog finds it tied up against the floor (or ceiling; doesn't matter in this case) of the Sea Duck square in the middle. Don Karnage wants to play peeping tom on wooden crate just to be a dick. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Perfect cheap heat no matter who voices Don Karnage: Just let Karnage be a heelish dick.) Baloo blocks him to defend it's honor. Geez; I smell Dumptruck SCREW PUNCH OF DOOM knocking Baloo out at three o'clock. I check the DVD... Damn; I'm good. That was a good shot and sell of the shot too! Kit is forced to console the knocked out Pop-A-Bear. HAHA! See what happens when you try to pick a fight with Don Karnage when it's three against two?! Kit went seven on one in Unforeseen Impact and one Stephen Cunningham is dead. Although his attempt to save him actually saved HIM his soul though. I was hoping Don would step on Baloo's belly for a laugh; but no dice. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Again, perfect cheap heat; so I'm sadden Karnage didn't do the deed there.) Dumptruck pulls the box down and Mad Dog opens it to reveal...wait for it...a homing device. HAHA! Baloo cannot believe this and neither can Don Karnage as he throws it onto Baloo's belly, accusing Baloo of setting him up.

Don is giving Baloo way too much credit here. Baloo couldn't set up a bank account properly; much less set him up. Now if it was Mr. Khan or Kit; of course he was bloody set up Don! (Kit without a doubt had no idea that there was a homing device inside the box either.) Baloo is dumbfounded as Don agrees with him. Don proclaims that Khan poisoned him into believing grand notions into the vast emptiness of your head. UH OH! Which means that Baloo has been drinking his own Kool Aid and that Louie might be right all along about Wily Pole and all that stuff. The star has fallen to the floor and shattered into a million pieces. Kit isn't giving up yet because Shere Khan is tracking them and he will still send the big gunship at Don to MURDER them more or less; so the Air Pirates are screwed because Khan just doesn't like heels like him who screw with him, (And in Dan Green's world with Kit as Khan Heir demonstrated.) see. Mad Dog and Dumptruck shudder with fear because the boy is right (YAY!). Don Karnage agrees with Kit under a fair fight situation. However; since Don Karnage doesn't fight fair (What a shock?!) and that he has a plan: strap the device to a minefield and lure the gunship to it's explosive death that way. Kaboom! Goodbye, adios. You just have to like Don Karnage. He knew how to kill people; but his henchmen always somehow screwed him up. Don thanks Baloo for basically causing the death of Captain Hotspur and his crew BEFORE it actually happens and then just to add one final insult to injury: Karnage calls the trophy gold plated and worthless like him as he drops it like a bad habit. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Again, cheap heel heat. Perfect!) Baloo cannot even respond as his ego has burst and there is nothing left of it. That my friends is what happens when you let something go to your head. The sad thing about it: Baloo is the best pilot in the world. Even better than Wily Pole is. However; who is going to save Baloo's ego? Is there a champion who can put his own hurts aside? I don't really see one right now...or is there? Stay tuned! We get a scene where the SeaDuck is towed away by the same boat from earlier towards the Twin Spires at sunset towards the back of the mirror where it is AFTER HAPPY HOUR and there is the Iron Vulture resting behind it.

I think that weird Commander had something to do with all this. We zoom in and then go inside towards a death march hallway with the engines working as Don Karnage, Mad Dog and Dumptruck lead Baloo and Kit towards the jail cells. Don is disappointed that he didn't get treasure; but he will be happy with the scrap metal, guns and broken bodies from the gunship from Mr. Khan though. They finally make it to the jail cells as Mad Dog opens the door and Mad Dog pushes Baloo and Kit in with the rest of the has beens, so says Don Karnage. (Baloo and Kit were only about six inches away from the door and they both were going to walk in; but Mad Dog shoves them into the cell; just to be an asshole. Wonderful, heelish tactic there.) Mad Dog locks the door and the heels walk off stage right. Baloo and Kit sell so much they almost touch the left wall as we see two panther pilots in white uniforms and white hats doing laundry, old fashion style and I mean before the washing machine was invented. There to the right is Wily Pole; the old mountain lion with the yellow mustache, pilot goggles and red coat voiced by Frank Welker. He also appeared in several other episodes and was a friendly pilot rival to Baloo; albeit a little bit of a fuddy duddy at times as he is going to demonstrate later on. Wily notices them and Kit greets him as Wily proclaims that he was tricked by those pirate creeps. Cannot say I blame him; Don Karnage is pretty brilliant when his henchmen are not screwing him. He wonders why Baloo is here and Baloo calls himself the best idiot in the world as Don Karnage has now poisoned him successfully. See where this is going now? It's a tale of two extremes now. Baloo now doesn't know who to believe anymore, now he doesn't even believe in himself and now he cannot function anymore as a pilot. He truly believes that he is an idiot; even in the thing he is best known for, which is being a pilot. Like I said; the payoff is just getting sweeter and sweeter now. We cut to AFTER HAPPY HOUR as Captain Hotspur's gunship arrives on the full moon rising and Hotspur has his binoculars on full blast which is a good sign of classic DTVA cartooning. Khan is on the radio wanting a report, Hotspur reports that the SeaDuck has crashed and the beeper is functioning as it's the thief Don Karnage.

It amazes me how Don can still be called a thief when his acts are clearly of a terrorist nature even if his motive are completely absurd. (I wonder how Hotspur figured it out that it's Don Karnage? There was no explaination here like: The homing device picked up the Iron Vulture signal. It's like they knew all along.) Mr. Khan tells the good Captain to follow the device and blow the pirates out of his ocean. Now that is so Vinnie Mac of him that he has zero idea that Don has gone Stone Cold on him, too. Naturally; Captain Hotspur has to obey as we return to the Twin Spires. The bell beckons and we pan down to see land mines scattered all about. No one accused Don Karnage of being unprepared for a situation like this. We zoom in a wooden boat with a stray lamp as Dumptruck is unloading land mines while Mad Dog does what he does best: nothing...AND THE ROCK SAYS NOTHING. Well; that is not exactly fair to him. He is whining about wanting to watch the cockroach races which is got to be pretty sadistic for an Air Pirate. No wonder Kit got away from them. Oh; and he's filing his nails because he has a hangnail. SCORE! How did Jymn Magon turn to crap in Transmission Impossible just boggles my mind?! (Because his spirit was broken at that point due to Eisner not caring about TaleSpin since it was filler from the start and Toby Shelton being an asshole because he hates Ducktales and dognoses.) Dumptruck grabs the last land mine and the boat suddenly has a mind of it's own to try to screw the two into the water; but thankfully the gravity of science saves them from sheer utter destruction. Mad Dog then goes to the other side to save himself; but then again the law of the bump machine dictates that he takes the BUMP OF DEATH! So, Mad Dog takes the MAN-SIZED bump with the land mine right on his head. HAHA! Somehow, the damn thing doesn't explode. SOMEONE FIRE THAT EXPLOSIVE! Mad Dog protests this outrage and Dumptruck apologizes: for his hangnail. SCORE! AGAIN! HAHA! Then he casually throws the land mine away and it still doesn't explode. HAHA! Mad Dog blows him off for being so damn dangerous and Dumptruck admits that blowing them up would be very bad. I agree; then they would be dead and there would be no more bump machines for me to mock. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! Dumptruck holds into the bouy as Mad Dogs straps the homing device onto it with rope. They call this a kaboom as they row back to the Iron Vulture and the gunship is slowly heading towards the area as the beeper keeps going.

We return to the mine filled ocean as we see the two goof heels rowing towards the Iron Vulture. Kit is looking out of the window; explains the situation as we return to the jail cell. Kit is scared that people are going to get hurt and you know it's Alan Roberts voicing because if it was R.J. Williams; he wouldn't be afraid to say die in that situation. Baloo doesn't give a damn about anything as that ego is burst, dead, done six feet under. Kit doesn't understand what is going on as his voice is now R.J. Williams again. Baloo calls himself worthless as the poisonous red herring from Don Karnage is complete. Kit calls it only words. Irony is so damn ironic sometimes isn't it? (Because it's obviously not "just" words. Look how those "words" have deflated one's ego so quickly?) It only gets sweeter from here, folks. Finally, Kit decides that the only way they are going to get out of here is for him to get them out of here because he knows the pirates better than anyone else. Well; DUH! He used to be one of them! You know; the stuff that keeps Eisner up all night! (Not anymore; now lack of presence in the media world keeps him up all night. Then again; he was responsible for Glenn Martin DDS, so there's a good answer as to why he has no heat anymore.) Also, Kit is now Alan Roberts again. We cut to the iron bar window and Kit gets through the window easily to demonstrate his thin body which is a sight to behold. Can the nephews do that spot?! Wily Paul offers to tie some of the blankets and use them as makeshift rope which always spells DANGER in these situations. However; you got to use what you got at this point. Kit drops down as Wily looks down as Baloo looks completely ashamed of being upstaged by Kit. That's a key because it only makes what happens later even more awesome. Kit moves left to avoid Gibber noticing him in the window (HA!), climbs down further and the rope undoes itself (D'OH!). Kit tries to climb up; but no dice as he is forced to hold onto a stray window on the bottom floor and then flip into Don Karnage's room, taking a really good bump onto the floor about an inch away from the door. Man; if he overshoots; that's a sick bump to the head and he's dead. (You do realize that the fanfic "Count Your Blessings" is Fanon 2009 me?! And it was a dream too?!)

He does a back flip onto his feet in an awesome spot (YAY! (That was Grim Reefer-equse. (That wrestler from Urban Wrestling Federation where his moonsaults literally have no air. Plus; he's a zombie dead smoker.))) and then we cut to the hallway. We see Mad Dog walking around hearing banging noises. Mad Dog opens the door, Kit hides in Don Karnage's closet of uniforms and puts one on. HEE HEE! This could be fun. Mad Dog enters as Kit uses the uniform to shut himself up as Mad Dog asks for anyone in there. He then walks in a straight line across the room parallel to the closet and Kit (Wearing Don Karnage's uniform, a pilot's hat and his boots.) in perfect sync with him. HAHA! Mad Dog is REALLY STUPID to fall for this; but he is the bump machine, so I don't really care. The little fact that the image in front of him is a bearcub and about half his size would be a dead giveaway; but this is too damn funny. Besides; he's wearing Don Karnage's clothes and if any damages befalls on them; well you know how Don Karnage gets when his clothes get damaged now, do you?! More mind games from Kit as Mad Dog just cannot get the two clicks into the making of a clue. (He's basically your average main event babyface in a modern buddy cartoon, like in Breadwinners.) The dancing continues as Mad Dog stupidity in dancing is funny as well. They go to the left wall and they play peek a boo for a bit and then Mad Dog turns away and Kit runs like the wind and shuts the door behind him as Mad Dog turns around to the closet, seeing nothing at all. HAHA! See what happens when you let the WRATH OF DON KARNAGE guide thee?! Kit tries to leave, but hears Dumptruck singing "Old MacDonald had a farm", which is not funny until we find out that "on this farm he had an octopus." HAHA! Sadly; Dumptruck realizes that it isn't right at all and spots Kit in Don Karnage's uniform. Wow! Dumptruck's brain is of solid bone and yet he somehow noticed Kit better than Mad Dog did. I guess it was the WRATH OF KARNAGE. AHHAHAHAHAHA! (Of course it was. You would think that someone who saw a picture of a school would have more brains than a guy with his brain being solid bones?! Obviously; I was wrong!)

Kit then points out that MacDonald is right here right now and of course Dumptruck turns around to notice and Kit bails. It's Dumptruck; brain made of solid bone. Did you expect anything less from him?! Oh; and Kit is R.J. Williams now as Kit runs off, Dumptruck is mad and he rips a lead pipe from the wall because it is clobbering time! You know it's 1990 Disney when you can tease the attempt at trying to bash a child's skull in; AND IT IS ON! (Heels wanting to harm children. Geez; that is so anime like actually.) Dumptruck and Kit run onto the middle catwalk as a bucket of water falls onto the bottom deck of the Iron Vulture and spills which in any other Disney cartoon 1996 onward would be totally forgotten. However; this is 1990; so I wouldn't put it past Magon to involve this somehow. We cut to Scottie who is a Scottish dog (wearing cool sunglasses; a red hat and a candy cane shirt) snoring and looking cool. Sadly; Sun Woo negates it somewhat by not drawing his feet quite right. Minor annoyance; but I'll live. (Actually; there is a great Disney Feature cameo involved in this and I'll get to it at the end of this because it's funny.) We pan to the northwest as we see Don Karnage with the red book (Which makes sense with Don Karnage. Somehow.) as it is his diary. Probably the same one he stole from Juan TooMany. (I don't think so since I think Juan's diary cover was pink.) Don writes that he brought down his fourth airplane (I guess this week.), claiming that this is stealing candy from a baby child, falling off a piece of cake and easy as pie on the log. HAHA! I'm amazed Santino hasn't stole this spot yet for this act in the WWE yet.

Sadly; before it can get really good here comes Hacksaw the explosive expert (check the dynamite packs on his arms), Don Karnage sneezes and ruins his diary entry. HAHA! (Actually; that's not what happened. According to my transcript; Hacksaw yelled as he came in and Don was writing and the pressure of the pen point ripped the page of his diary. Don actually wrote Atchoo; instead of what he wanted. That's actually funnier than Don Karnage sneezing into his diary and getting the page wet.) Don protests this outrage remembering to call Hacksaw and I quote: "Mr. I Have The Brains Of A Duck You Know." HEE HEE! I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. I wonder if this was a low blow on Ducktales fans? (Nah; I would say that this is a pre-emptive low blow to Darkwing Duck fans and Drake Mallard in particular.) Hacksaw grabs Don Karnage by his uniform -- he is just asking to be MURDERED now -- and forces him to the main bridge to inform him that the ship is...wait for it...taking on water. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Don is right. This guy does have the brains of a duck you know if he's taking this as a serious matter. (And not taking Hacksaw seriously is something Karnage is going to have a huge regret later on.) Don just dusts himself off and simply tells him to rid out it calmly as if he was a boss in real life. HAHA! Careful Don; that can turn you babyface quickly. Don walks off stage right. We return to the catwalk as Kit is right in the middle of it balancing on it. Dumptruck is after him with the lead pipe, it leads to this awesome exchange and I quote:

Dumptruck: Stop!
Kit: Gimme one good reason!
Dumptruck: So I can hit you very hard.
Kit: Sorry. Not a good reason.

HAHA! You got to love their honesty; which is rare in these cartoons these days. Great acting too as Kit goes to the porthole and with great effort -- since the sleeves are interfering with his paws, no doubt -- opens the porthole and climbs out onto the top deck of the Iron Vulture. The wind whips around and his pilot's hat goes goodbye. We see Kit's bare head in the process. (I should point out that Kit is wearing Baloo's pilot's cap and it's worn backwards. Only Kit Cloudkicker would remind the world how ass backwards he can be. Also of note; the pilot's cap comes off, but the baseball caps stays on his head somehow. HA! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: It became a running joke for an article on why TaleSpin makes no sense online, too.)) We return to the wheel house as Don is sitting in his chair and Hacksaw looks around for whatever reason. Hacksaw is wondering how to get rid of the water and then he has a MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN as he asks Don if he can drain the water out. Don approves his plan. I wouldn't do that if I were you Don. Hacksaw gets giddy and goes over to the bomb bay release door button (Helpfully labeled as such; with a danger warning and everything just to make Don Karnage's decision look even more stupid in hindsight.). Hacksaw then does the ultra awesome "home in on the finger" spot just to draw it out some more, then finally pushes the red button, the red alert sirens beckons, of course Don Karnage does a delay version of the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY and then panics like a little bitch. HAHA! (Oh sod off 2009 me!)

The bomb bay doors open and the places floods quickly, DUH! Don Karnage yells that they are sinking and of course he blames Hacksaw on it as Hacksaw has that look of “I am SOOOOOOOOO dead”! (Now THAT is funny! I suspect that was the same reaction the WWE gave to Hacksaw Jim Duggan when it was discovered that he was in the same car with the Iron Shiek and got pulled over by the police who discovered that they had illegal substances with them.) Don Karnage grabs him by the shirt and drags him into the room to be raped and murdered. Apparently. (Nope. However; I'm going to let the rape part go here; because it's clearly not a joke and I wouldn't be surprised if Don Karnage would stoop to such a low.) We get a far shot of the Iron Vulture sinking as then we see one of the panther pilots at the iron bars yelling that the ship is sinking and that they will drown. Baloo naturally don't care one bit at all as the panther pilot isn't amused one bit at him. Remember that for later as we cut to Kit and Dumptruck climbing up the props of the Iron Vulture as Kit has placed his baseball cap on now -- probably placed it in the coat during the sequence -- and climbs onto the top of the prop. Dumptruck nails the prop good as Kit is on his feet; but Kit sways. In spite of all this; he manages to keep his balance anyway. Dumptruck backs Kit up towards the edge of the prop as he proclaims Kit isn't such a smartypants, brave kid now to end the segment almost 33 minutes in. Oh man; Kit is screwed now. (Yeah; because he's smart; but not smart enough to wear any pants.) Dumptruck could murder him now; or the props could slice him to pieces if Don turns on the Iron Vulture; and if that doesn't happen Baloo and gang drowns. Something has to give. Or does it?!

After the commercial break; Dumptruck gets onto the props and backs up Kit calling him a little meatball. However, Dunptruck makes the fatal error as he takes the big swing and misses. Kit dodges left, Dumptruck loses his balance and hangs on to the props in a helpless state. Dumptruck struggles to get up; but Kit takes off the coat, calls “CHECKMATE!” and ties Dumptruck against the prop with ease using the arms and the head. HAHA! Kit blows him off because he's got the meatball now. It's so true since he is the biggest Swedish Meatball in the land AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's a little payback for throwing Kit off the Iron Vulture in Plunder and Lightning Part Four, by the way. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: It shows how booking backwards to make sure everything makes sense in the end can help a show so much. Well, since P&L was in the middle of production anyway.) Goes to show you; all brawn truly gets you nowhere in this world. HEE HEE! We cut back to inside the Iron Vulture as the place is really taking on water now (HEE HEE!) while Disney Captions is back to it's old crappy self (What a shock?! It gets better in Volume 2 though.). Don grabs Hacksaw, throws him right into the bomb bay door release button and he does a picture perfect MAN-SIZED bump into it. Hacksaw goes dizzy and salutes as the sirens wail differently now. Don orders Scottie to start the engines, he sells as he pulls the lever (JESUS~!) and the props start up as Dumptruck is seriously going to be messed up here. Kit climbs down to the porthole and Dumptruck twirls around the prop like a Merry-Go-Round. HAHA! Kit mocks him like the dumbass that Dumptruck is (HEE HEE!) and climbs down the porthole and closes it. It's difficult to have sympathy for Dumptruck when he threw a twelve year old kid thousands of feet off the Iron Vulture into the water below to near death; with only Baloo and his SeaDuck to save him at the last split second. Now, that is a neat BS&P payback if I do say so myself. The Iron Vulture rises into the sky, dumps it's water and then the bomb bay doors close as there is MORE water on the floor than there was before. Don then orders Scottie to bring the Iron Vulture down, he pushes on the lever (JESUS~!) and the Iron Vulture plops down.

The props slowly stop and Dumptruck stops whimpering and manages to live through his ordeal which proves that he is tougher than Steve Williams (In real life; he would be torn to pieces, but I think the torture of being in that spot is good enough for me not to BE in that position as it is. (For once; a BS&P spot that was probably more painful than what would really happened.)). The coat finally unwinds and Dumptruck falls down onto the floor of the top of the Iron Vulture. Sun Woo creates the first logic break of Act II (logic break #4 for the episode) as the porthole is open when it should be closed. Minor logic break; but still. We head to the engine hallway as Kit Cloudkicker runs down and apparently; he took off the boots during the run as he is barefoot (Good; because he's not cool with shoes on. (You're just saying that because his feet are ticklish 2009 me. It's so obvious!)) when he reaches the jail cells as he slides in safe and grabs the keys. Kit arrives and Wily is right there to praise Kit for doing an awesome job of getting out of there. (Somewhere in this; Kit was supposed to say: "They aren't the only one who can use mirrors" which appeared on the storyboards of this two parter; but didn't make the final cut. Also; Kit was supposed to strip all his Karnage gear off which was also edited out.) However; green leather suit panther washer mentions that he and Dwayne (I called him Duwain in the previous rant; but whatever) cannot leave without Mr. Khan's cargo. Kit has no problems with that as he wants to escape (R.J. Williams voice of course). Baloo notices that Kit has arrived. Kit opens the door and the lesser pilots escape; but Baloo escape last and only when Alan Roberts voiced Kit yells at him to come. Baloo slowly gets up and walks out slowly. You can just tell he has nothing left and it's completely hopeless. Kit's plan has worked so far; but it still hinges on Baloo's piloting skills and we are soon coming to the fatal point of no return. Everyone runs down the engine filled hallway as the lesser pilots have no trouble running by themselves; but Kit has to assist Baloo to walk him towards Khan's cargo to get out of there. Meanwhile; back at the top of the porthole, Dumptruck dances around drunk as Sun Woo actually fixes their own logic break. I just wished they didn't break logic in the previous scene with Dumptruck. Still; Dumptruck's punch drunk dancing routine is too funny. Pointless; but too damn funny.

We head in the treasure room as the babyfaces steal the treasure from Don Karnage and place it into the sacks. Can you say; Don is getting a taste of his own irony here?! The sweet taste of irony. We pan left to Kit as he ties up some bags. Kit states that they got to get to the SeaDuck and warn the gunship before it goes kaboom from the landmines. He asks Baloo is he is okay and Baloo lies through his teeth saying whatever Kit says. (This is the final R.J. Williams lines as every line Kit speaks from here on out is voiced by Alan Roberts.) Baloo is finished and everyone knows it; but probably Kit. We cut to Khan's gunship vessel (The SK logo gives it away in some more pointless Sun Woo animation as Sun Woo has really done a decent job in spite of the minor logic breaks.) as it swoops in without further incident. Then we cut to Hacksaw cleaning the Twin Spire Mirrors as punishment for nearly causing everyone to die via drowning. He should only be so lucky; the bastard. Hacksaw protests this outrage because the ship needed to be washed anyway. I thought heels hate being cleaned?! I think the guy is projecting if you catch my drift here. (Hacksaw almost said "Oh god" here as he said "Oh rod" (I think) which Disney Captions missed.) We go to the far shot of the mirrors and then to a far shot of the upside down SeaDuck near the Iron Vulture as the babyface climb on the ropes with their loot into the SeaDuck side door with Kit leading the way and Baloo being last (Which indicates how dead Baloo's ego is right now).

They hop in and now the SeaDuck is taking on water. That Hacksaw is such a bastard! (Considering that the SeaDuck was tied upside down with the Iron Vulture; it's probable that it was taking on water.) I was going to call logic break number five for the episode since Baloo came in second; but the door was big enough to allow Baloo to come in second; so there was no logic break to consider. Baloo cannon ball spot into the water made up for it though as he is all wet. Everyone swims in as Wily proclaims that they'll never get the SeaDuck righted. Finally, we now reach that point that I was talking about. The point that makes me love Kit Cloudkicker as a character. The point of no return as Kit proclaims that Baloo is going to fly them out of here. Kit is using Alan Roberts at this point as Baloo blows it off. Kit comes in and states that he's only being modest because he can fly anything anywhere. Wily tells him to give it up because no one has EVER took off in a plane full of water and upside down. Kit then proclaims that Baloo can because he is the best. Since this is the MIRACLE WORKER; and with that face, would Kit lie to me?! Huh?! Finally, I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time. When I wrote the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage and did the Kit Cloudkicker profile; to me this scene was the one that finally clinch Kit Cloudkicker as the best character in DTVA. I felt that the Disney Channel preview episodes and his Plunder and Lightning appearance were merely flukes. (Funny considering that on the animation paper: Part One was #2 and Part Two was #63.) The question was: Could he do it again in an episode like this? Well; here comes the exchange that in my opinion is what I want to remember Jymn Magon by:

Kit: Baloo can. 'Cause he's the greatest!
Baloo: (Grabs Kit and yells at him) Stop it; you hear me?! Just knock it off! I'm a loser. A failure. I crashed my plane, I lost my cargo...and thanks to me a very big boat's gonna get sunk and I can't cut it! I tell ya...just …. Just leave me alone!! (Baloo goes to a wooden crate and cries.)
Kit: (Just looks at him almost ready to cry) Poppa bear?
Baloo: What?
Kit: I still think you're the best. (Smiles weakly as the adults looks so ashamed at something. (Notice that not once did they zoom in slowly to Kit which would have jackhammered the point home to the point where you cannot take the scene seriously anymore. Good for the animators to not stoop to Family Guy's level!))
Baloo: (Long pause as Baloo slowly turns around and walks towards Kit.) You really think I can do it?
Kit: It's something to shoot for.
Baloo: (Play punches Kit on the cheek which Disney would never allow anymore.) This ain't no hayride! Let's pull chocks!
Kit: Yee-ha! (TaleSpin Victory Theme...)

Jymn Magon just couldn't have scripted it any better. Alan Roberts and Ed Gilbert couldn't have acted it out any better than that which is why R.J. Williams didn't get the part in the first place. Now why is this scene powerful now? Because Jymn Magon and Chuck Tately did something a lot of writers in DTVA rarely do: they build up the two most important parts of the entire storyline, which was both the moral lesson and the self-esteem lesson while managing to intertwine both into each other. Unlike most stories; Magon and Tately slowly build up Baloo ego inflating, without making it looke nor sound contrived nor forced, thus it made Baloo's ego trip seems believable and made Baloo seem in the right when he felt Kit had lost his nerve even though Kit had every single right to lose his nerve because Baloo was being a hypocrite since Baloo did in fact let the trophy go to his head due to Shere Khan pumped notions to his head. However; Shere Khan unintentionally did Baloo a favor and it's ultimately going to cost Don Karnage: Many of the notions of Baloo being the best pilot in the world are absolutely true. Shere Khan knew that the very moment he saw the Sea Duck get destroyed by the Lightning Gun in Plunder and Lightning to save his ass and the city, Baloo was the best pilot by default. Kit was the best hero; but he wasn't the best pilot since that title cannot be his for another five years; but whatever. Even Kit knew Baloo was the best pilot in the world. Kit never had a problem with Baloo boasting about the title he had; he had a problem with him having the trophy inflating his ego and Don Karnage took full advantage of it by throwing a red herring and poisoning the well by claiming that Shere Khan believed that Baloo was really worthless and was being used by Khan. Once Baloo realized that he started making mistakes that even the best pilots would have made; his fragile ego (Even more so than Kit's own fragile state of trust...) burst like a balloon to the point of being almost unable to recover. Almost. Now; the adults feeling shameful in that scene was a non-verbal cue that Alaska Animal Lover loves to talk about in that they really liked Baloo with the deflated ego because in reality; Baloo was an asshole in their minds when he is boosting about being the best pilot in the world.

Wily Pole has a lot to gain from this as he was the one who got a victory over Baloo in A Baloo Switcheroo in a flying contest albeit Kit was in Baloo's body at the time. So, you think the adults were going to tell him that he was the best?! Of course not. They would probably gloat and walk all over his corpse if Kit wasn't around. They looked ashamed when Kit did the speech because they didn't have the humanity to say what Kit had to say. Simple as that. (I think balls is wrong in this context, since 2009 Me isn't talking about physical strength, he was talking about empathy.) The adult's around him were not amused with Baloo's cockiness that they didn't even talk to the bear and get his confidence back. They didn't even speak up in Baloo's defense. Only one person spoke up; a twelve year old child who was Baloo's navigator; surrogate son; guardian angel and second half of Baloo's own soul: Kit Cloudkicker. It doesn't matter what reason why he said what he said. Selfish reason would be to make his plan work to escape and warn the gunship and save lives. Selfless reason is to save Baloo's ego and his friendship (and plus; it was the humane thing to do.). Also, all points in between. The alternative is to do nothing and Don Karnage wins. When Kit said that; it was the words that Baloo not only wanted to hear; he needed to hear. It was to say that Khan was right that you were the best pilot in the world. That was truth. Khan was merely using him for his own purposes and that Don Karnage is a man who lies to get his own way. Baloo finally realized that he wasn't worthless after all and that the one person (Kit Cloudkicker) in his life that mattered to him actually said it to him without sounding like he is lying. (Because it was from the heart and they managed to pull it off in a believable matter that I was literally rooting for Kit to succeed in spite of Baloo's behavior in the episode.)

It was the scene that pretty much gives Kit the power to say that he is the best navigator and the best child character in history. It really makes me smile; even more so when he did that weak smile to accent the point further. Plus; I don't think it would have worked at all if the voice of Kit was a middle aged woman. It had to be a real child saying it because with Alan Roberts or R.J. Williams making the speech; it sounds real. It doesn't sound like a thirty-five year old middle age woman going through the motions trying to act; it's a twelve year old boy speaking from the heart and soul which makes scenes like this more powerful. That is what makes the pathos in TaleSpin more real. It's not the same if Molly Cunningham wasn't voiced by a six year old girl; or Kit Cloudkicker was voiced by a middle aged woman. That would sound like a cartoon voice. It's totally fake acting on television which is why in many cases, pathos don't often work in DTVA except in TaleSpin. It's not because the writers suck or even because the actors cannot even act; but we as the customers know that the child character isn't a real child and therefore we feel cheated. Scenes like this show that Kit Cloudkicker is truly a MIRACLE WORKER and Michael Eisner just couldn't bury him no matter how hard he tried. So he buried the series instead and had Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop as the focus which turned out to be a fatal mistake. Also; nice Robin Hood promo there from Baloo at the end if you didn't notice. Thank you Jymn Magon for the memories; I just wish politics on demographics/job conflicts didn't lay you low so quickly...and it's not over yet! (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: This is also another reason why I thought making Kit and Molly as adults in Ducktales 2017 was brilliant: Because then if they have to do pathos, then they still come off as real because Kit and Molly are voiced by adults.)

(I've corrected some of the re-rant for better choice of words; but there is something else that ties into all this: I watched this two parter well before I saw Ducktales and the episode "The Right Duck" where they did a similar deal with Launchpad and Doofus. The BSOD angle worked wonderfully with Baloo and Kit because (a) Baloo and Kit were the top babyfaces while Launchpad was barely #5 on the list, with Doofus slotted far below that. (b) The angle was set up, build up perfectly and wasn't rushed. That allowed the angle to work because by not rushing the angle altogether, you have the maximum sweet payoff at the end. The Right Duck was rushed to hell and it made the payoff really sour in my view. And (c) Kit Cloudkicker was voiced by a child, Doofus was voiced by a middle-aged man. This is not a situation that requires brutalizing your vocal chords (like in Polly Wants A Treasure and Captains Outrageous.); and Brain Cummings is a good voice actor, but his role as Doofus here was absolutely brutal. It also doesn't help when the writing of the BSOD angle was not good either as Doofus' just sounded contrived and forced throughout it. This is a prime example of Cartoon Duck Syndrome; where writers think "It's a cartoon duck. Kids won't care. I'm writing for a pay cheque." That's why A Bad Reflection On You was so great and The Right Duck was way overrated (although it was that way because I didn't seen Hero For Hire before The Right Duck, like I should of.) As great as that scene was with Baloo; it breaks my heart more considering that Sun Woo is animating this because I actually have seen the storyboards on that very scene involving Kit and Baloo. I don't know if it is Sun Woo inability to animate tears properly or if it's Disney's attempt to dull yet another Kit moment; but in the storyboards, Kit was shedding tears in that scene. When he said "Poppa Bear? I still think you're the best."; he's supposed to be shedding tears from his eyes. Also; just before Baloo shakes Kit and proclaims himself to being a failure; Kit's said a lot more than just "Baloo can. Because he's the best!". Kit says the following:

Kit: Baloo can! Cause he's the greatest! The ace of the base! Why I once saw him..." )

We return to the rant as Mad Dog return to the jail cell, seeing some shorts and hears some engines; finally getting the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY realizing that the prisoners have escaped. HAHA! That officially makes Dumptruck smarter than Mad Dog. Dumptruck might have a solid bone brain; but at least he has one. We cut back to the SeaDuck as everyone buckles up as Kit gives a tube for Baloo to breathe through since he is underwater see. Wily proclaims that this isn't going to work and there are two things I hate: fuddy duddys and backseat drivers. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: You speak from projected experience, I see 2009 Me!) Kit thankfully blows him off nicely as the engines start and begin to roar like lions. Wily calls Baloo crazy as the SeaDuck drives forward upside down, snaps the rope (which is fine here for obvious reasons.) and drives forward away from the Iron Vulture. Meanwhile; we return to Don Karnage's room as Don is practicing his sword play with his sword and the standby mirror just to be vain, of course. HEE HEE! Naturally; he cannot even get to do that without hammering on the door. He takes it well as he wants them to come in; if they have a present. They come in because they have a present, it is bad because it's bad news. Mad Dog and Dumptruck barge into the room to inform Don that the prisoners have escaped. Don calls them idiots and nearly breaks his hand on Dumptrucks ribs in the process as Mad Dog looks out the window and proclaims: MOBY DICK! Ooooo....Veiled penis joke that isn't supposed to be a penis joke. HAHA! (That was not funny 2009 Me! I realize that cartoons are childish to begin with; but come on!) Don Karnage thankfully corrects him before the PTC goes to their e-mail automations (As if the Plunder and Lightning incidents with Kit as a former air pirate haven't ALREADY made them go to them.). The SeaDuck drives away as Don orders them to go after them. DUH! We cut back to inside the cockpit as Kit tells Baloo go right and speed up as the SeaDuck flies high into the sky and somehow manages to absorb all the water and dry itself up. That's the first major logic break in the entire two parter nearly thirty-eight minutes in.

Baloo cannot believe that it worked as Kit cheers for victory. The SeaDuck rotates 180 degrees right side up as the water should slide down onto the bottom; but it doesn't sadly. The SeaDuck goes towards the gunship and the bouy with the landmines. Kit proclaims that they need to warn the gunship and setting off one of the mines will do it. Kit then eyes the trophy. Baloo takes exception to that; but Kit proclaims that it's the only way as the gunship is now about a hundred feet away from total destruction. The SeaDuck spirals down, Baloo kisses the trophy, drops it down onto one of the land mines and it actually explodes on cue. Wow; Dumptruck couldn't make those things explode to save it's life; but ONE well aimed shot with a trophy makes it explode. (Talk about wonky logic!) Well; it did hit the spike part; which I guess is what triggers it so it does make sort of sense. Nice explosion effect though; so it did look awfully convincing as Hotspur sees the water spout, it's land mines dead ahead (death reference #2) and hard to port. Hotspur's second mate panther takes the wheel and does the awesome "spin the wheel, 270 DEGREE TURNAROUND ON A DIME" spot which I believe made on an episode of Mister T. Hey; it's TaleSpin where bears fly airplanes in their own universe. At least it makes more sense than in Mister T's vision of the real world. (Ponder that one for a moment.) Kit is scared for a minute; but the deckhand's spinning manages to turn them around in the nick of time as Kit proclaims that Baloo has saved the gunship. Sadly, now the SeaDuck is seriously screwed -- so paraphrases Baloo -- as the DOGS OF WAR (A misnomer since Don employs a diverse set of furries including a bear cub at one time.) fly from behind the Twin Spires Mirror and that ends the segment nearly thirty-nine minutes in as this prepares for the awesome finish and ending to come. Yeah; you think this is a Cartoon Duck Syndrome episode where writers cannot finish an episode properly? Surely you jest!

After the commercial break; the SeaDuck turns around and the DOGS OF WAR start shooting bullets of crimson red bullets as finally the violence commences. Also, as I said before: those are not stun lasers, those are bullet shooting guns that can kill you and cause a great deal of mess. (Counting the previous part; we are now 20 of 25 episodes with the guns pulled out at this point which is an eighty percent clip.) The CT-37's go into a diamond formation and surround the SeaDuck as it appears to be over for our heroes. Baloo pulls the flight stick up flies away stage left easily as the Air Pirates are forced to regroup and fire back. We cut to Khan's office as he asks for a status report from Captain Hotspur. We cut to Captain Hotspur with the binoculars watching as he proclaims that a yellow seaplane just save their gunship from a minefield. Khan realizes that it is his pasty and Hotspur states that his “patsy” (Scare quotes intentional, since he's impressed already with the pilot's skills now.) is giving those pirates a run for their money. We continue the chase as Kit and Baloo show more determination than ever because Don Karnage is going to pay for screwing with Baloo's mind here, almost costing them their friendship and Khan's business. Baloo does a hyperbole and then splits the Air Pirate formation good on the wraparound in a neat spot. Baloo dodges more planes as Kit tells Baloo to go to the mirrors since he knows Baloo cannot keep this up for long since none of the pirate planes are hitting the water hard enough to destroy the CT-37's. Wily blows it off like a fuddy duddy as Kit explains that the plane model of the pirates are CT-37's and therefore they croak off a steep incline. This is actually a great CONTINUITY move from Plunder and Lightning part two which was also used although the HANS SOLO MOVE OF DISMEMBERMENT tainted the move a little bit. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Remember what I said about the writers mostly knew how to book backwards to make sure everything made sense?! This is another great example of it.) So the SeaDuck will escape in between the mirrors as the CT-37's follow upstairs and then the CT-37's croak on the steep up climb. Remember this: Kit Cloudkicker used to be an ex-pirate and airplane model expert, so this all makes PERFECT sense in context and buildup as a finish. This is a perfect plan and that is why Kit is immune to the Krackpotkin Plan.

Baloo realizes this is perfect and goes with it as Wiley calls this insane. Geez; that is what we called Kit Cloudkicker in Plunder and Lightning Part One! You are too late to the party Mr. Fuddy Duddy Paul! (I'm keeping Disney Captions name here because Wily Paul is a perfect insult for him here.) Baloo flies low along the water as Gibber flies up towards the right side above him. Don tells him to stop him on his microphone just to be cool. Gibber lights a stick of dynamite (Which wasn't cut out in Toon Disney edits mind you.), throws the lit dynamite right in front of the window and explodes as we get the shattered window. I didn't know Baloo went to Apple Auto Glass and had that awesome window glass technology. Rebecca Cunningham thinks of everything since in the 1930's that glass would have cut Baloo and Kit to pieces. Wily comes in to tell them that they are finished. Will you shut the hell up Wily Paul?! Kit then decides that he is going out and will become Baloo's eyes. OH MY GOD! THAT IS FREAKING INSANE OF HIM TO TRY THAT with all the bullet shooting guns out there! (I concur with 2009 Me! This is the sort of thing that would make BS&P very nervous.) Wily blows it off because apparently this boy's enthusiasm is going to get them all killed. Finally a direct reference to death in this two parter and wouldn't you know it had to involve Kit in it. No Wily; it's only going to kill Kit since he's the one most likely to lose his life since HE'S GOING TO FREAKING BE OUT THERE IN THE FREAKING LINE OF FIRE!! (Again, I concur.) Baloo is PISSED off and he blows him off because this is Kit F'N Cloudkicker; the best navigator in these skies (The best F'N character in Disney history minus Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Minnie and Goofy.), they are a team, see and since we can do it; we are going do it. Nice touch with Kit sliding over off-screen to the pilot seat while Baloo is blowing Wily Paul off as Baloo orders Kit to do it; and when Kit is on screen; Kit has his hands on the pilot's stick. HAHA! (I love that spot; you cannot deny that Kit's dream is to pilot the SeaDuck for real. Soon; he will be able to.) Baloo got all his heat back and so does Kit as now it's time for the proper way to do the finish.

Too bad that it's too late for CDS writers to take notes at this point; but it could come in handy in case Bob Iger has the urge to bring DTVA back to it's former glory. (Yeah right?! (Be careful what you wish for 2009 me! Ducktales has already been announced as a reboot. Although TaleSpin is too much of a longshot at this point. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: I cannot wait for The Lost Cargo Of Kit Cloudkicker after that line, 2015 me!))) Kit crawls to the front light of the SeaDuck and shouts out directions. Half a mile towards the Twin Spires as the Air Pirates follows. Don Karnage is done and there is no turning back for him now. Kit has once again completely screwed his plans and everyone knows it now. Kit calls for more altitude. Can you feel the finish coming?! Ten degrees port. A bit more; dead on. Four hundred yards. A hundred. GO! (Yes, he basically said all that while crawling out the window and onto the engine roof of the SeaDuck right where if one of the pirate circles around the SeaDuck; they can easily shoot him dead. Plus; they have no reservations shooting him dead either as in Plunder and Lightning part two when he was being shot at, and at point blank range to boot.) Don Karnage is dead, done, toe tagged now. Baloo does the hyperbole up the Twin Spire mirrors and the pirates foolishly follow exactly like Kit wants them to. Over the first mirror and under the second one as Wily Paul cannot believe this display. Don Karnage is on the microphone yelling to them to follow Baloo; but it's over Don. Sleep with the fishes! Kit has outsmarted you and he has outclassed you in every way! Call it payback from Plunder and Lightning! Finally, the engines sputter right on cue as the CT-37's stall, die and free fall down as they drop dead like flies on the launchpad of the Iron Vulture. Mad Dog's plane collides into the three planes harshly and we have a massive explosion that should kill them in real life; but I doubt it will. Kit cheers for victory because they cannot follow. Remember; the one who risked his life the most was Kit because he could have easily been filled with bullet holes before this one was over. Huge risk on his part! The Air Pirates are out as the gunship starts firing their massive shells at the Iron Vulture and they also take aim at the Twin Spire mirror forcing Hacksaw (You thought Magon forgot about him didn't ya?!) to drop his harness and splash into the sea off-screen.

The gunship shoots to kill some more and the mirrors are completely destroyed from the back side leaving us to believe Hacksaw was legit dead in this episode; but I'm sure he made it out somehow knowing Disney. We cut to the destroyed CT-37's on the Iron Vulture launchpad as Don Karnage cuts another awesome retreat promo and he tells Scottie to get him the hell out of here. The gunship continues to fire as Scottie wakes up and Jymn swerves us again as Scottie reveals that his real name is Jock, that he's British and voiced by Tony Jay. (Wait; that name sounds familiar. Is that Jock from Lady & The Tramp doing an air pirate cameo? IT IS! Wow. That makes the Ink & Pixel Club's thoughts on that idea for a trucking company for a spin-off to Lady & The Tramp ever funnier now!) He pulls the lever (JESUS~!) anyway and the Iron Vulture drives away before any more damage can be done, which is actually pretty light compared to other episodes. Total Trigun: 0.6. We cut back to the SeaDuck as Wily Paul admits that this was the best piloting he had ever seen in his lifetime as everyone cheer. Then in a really iconic spot; Kit jumps in and hugs Baloo which really makes me smile wide as the SeaDuck turns around and flies back to Cape Suzette in the sunset. Now in any normal DTVA universe; that would be a good enough ending for an episode and I would accept it. However; this is TaleSpin we are talking about and this episode still has one minute to go. We return to Khan's office as the elevator door as Baloo storms in and protests this outrage as he could have been killed by all this see. He also makes sure to tell him about the guns and bombs to force the point as Khan just sits there in the bright idea looking unamused as he looks like he has heard all of this before. Baloo stammers like Honker being bullied by Drake about thirty seconds into the rant and sees the MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH on the desk. HAHA! I knew that would shut him up. Khan always knew how to show gratitude even if he is a heartless bastard. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Just wait until the next episode rant and witness Shere Khan outsmarting Rebecca with the most garbage attempt of empathy the world has ever seen. Even I was wanting to throw tomatoes and laugh him out of the building after THAT display!)

Baloo grabs the money and chuckles as Khan grants him a good day. Baloo is about to leave and then he turns around and calls him buster because he wants another trophy and a bigger one as he lapses back into character and thus learns absolutely nothing at all. OH GOD. He just played Kit for a fool all this time after Kit did that brilliant speech to save everyone. What a disgusting, fat, cocky bastard Baloo is and Khan reaction to it is justified. I mean; sure Baloo did lose a trophy saving his own gunship; but who cares?! Baloo hasn't changed one bit and we should have all known better. Kit is got to be depressed to hear about this. We head back to the office as Rebecca looks at her money, Baloo tells her about the money and his bigger trophy as Kit stands at the window with the Gruffi pose looking absolutely disgusted with himself in trusting that Baloo knew better. I suspect that this friendship might very well be over between him. Rebecca thinks it's wonderful and Kit just lies through his teeth on it. Then Baloo comes over, forces Kit to read the inscription just to rub it in some more and now they are one step away from Kit rejoining Don Karnage at this point. Kit reads the inscription and he cannot believe it. It reads: Kit Cloudkicker: The Best Navigator in the World. Baloo swerved him and everyone watching! OH MY GOD! (Once again; we were teased that Baloo had revert into his old ways and never learned his lesson and then he delivered something else, giving the real hero of this story his just due. Awesome! Also of note; Kit would finally get his face in the papers at the end of Captains Outrageous; along with Oscar. So there is still time for Kit to get what he wanted originally.) That bear did learn his lesson after all! Now, that how you end a two parter! Jymn Magon just reached his peak creative wise and it's a damn shame seeing him fall from grace now. (Now this is how to do it. I did like the fact they completely changed the original storyboard finish where after Kit hugs Baloo in the SeaDuck and then Baloo just lays back and then goes back to his selfish "I'm the best pilot ever" just to piss Kit off before flying off into the sunset, ending the episode. Funny enough; that tease was moved to the second last scene of the episode with Mr. Khan. I like the final ending we saw on television a LOT better. Like I said; sometimes BS&P can be an asshole sometimes (like in the scene with Kit's speech) and in some cases it can be a good thing (like in the finish and ending). Mainly because Baloo showed that he was willing to put Kit over as a real character (although Kit was doing an excellent job doing that on his own). However; the storyboard shows that the shows were designed to milk the stars while any new characters were just there to sink or swim. Really sad; because the writers producers some real gems that even Walt could be proud of, even if Kit Cloudkicker might have given Walt a bit of pause.)

Baloo tells him not to let it go to his head. HA! Wait until Flight School Confidential and then you'll see some fireworks in letting stuff go to your head. (The best part about this is: They got Kit's name right on the trophy. There was no "babyface gets the trophy and then discovers that they spelled his last name wrong" spot here for a cheap laugh. This was an honest, respectful, crew cut reward moment for Lil' Britches and this is also how you do it too. Nice to see that they didn't stoop to the obvious cheap shot on Kit's name just so they can make someone laugh.) We get a shot of the team reunited for good once again to finally end the OAV at 44:34. Yeap; this episode still holds up even after all these years and I think all the little annoyances were silly things that really didn't affect the overall enjoyment of the OAV. This episode was built up the way it should have been built up: a slow build up that wasn't contrived and flowed beautifully with the characters entertaining and performing their roles well; with really good animation even from a weak studio like Sun Woo and it had an excellent climax, excellent middle; awesome finish and awesome ending with two major swerves; one in the middle, one at the end and both done really well. Only one major logic break prevented a perfect OAV. This is the best Jymn Magon episode; but it isn't Chuck Tately's best episode. Louie's Last Stand was. **** ¾ (95%).

THE REVIEW LINE

Well; another re-rant is in the book and no surprise that it still holds up after all these years. However; I still think that it shows that sometimes old technology is better than new technology as the DVD version cleaned up and lighten up the episodes a bit making the opening sequence where Kit shows the way for Baloo to fly though a little less convincing. However; I cannot really blame that one on Sun Woo animation or the writers; that was a decision on Disney Home Videos part when they remastered the DVD version. Overall; I really loved how this episode went from start to finish. The slow build up of the two major lessons of the story of ego inflation and self esteem and doing it in such a fashion that it doesn't feel contrived nor forced. Plus; Kit Cloudkicker put on one of his best performances I have seen in spite of the voice mixing. Although, an awesome performance from Kit is almost assured when the writers give a crap about writing an episode properly which happens a lot more often than in most DTVA series by the way. I also like how they built Baloo's ego slowly in order to set up the straw men to be knock down later on by Don Karnage and for him to poison the well to boot. It flowed perfectly with the fragile ego of Baloo and then there was Kit's speech which tied the entire lessons together and as I said before: If this was done by a middle age woman; it simply doesn't work all that well. Ginny MacSwain and Jymn Magon I don't think get enough credit for talent coordination and knowing how important it is to get a 12 year old to get him to say that moment with the grace and beauty that is required to make it work. A lot of voice dialog directors in anime dubs (even some of the best ones) should be ashamed of themselves because many of them rarely ever get to that point with child characters; mostly because we know that many of them are voiced by middle aged woman. I know a lot of them try hard and many of them act well in comedy situation well; but this is TaleSpin which is an interaction/ adventure /dramatic series where comedy is secondary. Pathos are not only welcomed; they are almost required; and if a child character is a middle age woman trying to sound like a boy; the person hearing it is going to feel cheated. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Luckly, anime dubs have gotten a lot better since 2009; so, I'm glad there is better talent working on these shows.)

Jymn Magon knew that from the very start and that's why you saw R.J. Williams, Alan Roberts, Janna Michaels, Whitby Hertford, Gaberial Damon, Ben Ganger, etc voice major children characters. I think only Sherry Lynn's voicing of Ralph's granddaughter was the only one done by a middle age woman and that was for a comedy scene. Same for Debi Derryberry I do believe in Last Horizons. It gave a true sense that you knew that a real child was behind the microphone pouring his/her heart into it and man they knew how to act when they needed to. Also; a big kudos to Magon for the major swerve of the Air Pirates making us believe that they wouldn't show up (And unless you have a keen ear for music; I probably still be in complete shock over it.) and even doing a twist ending on us to make us think Baloo lapsed back into his cocky greedy character near the end with the trophy; only to give the trophy to the real hero and savior of the story which was Kit Cloudkicker as he properly earned it. This could have easily been a grand finale for the series even if it was in the middle of the season. The late Christopher Barat once said that when Kit Cloudkicker is written properly; he can shatter the perspective of the viewer like nothing else in the world (With TaleSpin's 25^th birthday coming this year; I hope his editorial on that comes out. (It won't since Mr. Barat passed away in Feburary of 2015, literally three days before the Ducktales reboot was announced.)). I also said that Kit should have the title of best child character in the world; but Bart Simpson's legacy wouldn't let it die. Thankfully; the overexposure of The Simpsons as a television series has helped a lot in that process in making sure Homer Simpson gets all the glory while Bart Simpson is forced into the background. I think it's pretty clear why as I said earlier in a previous rant and I quote:

“Well; I think it's pretty clear why. Kit is a normal kid and acts like a normal kid. He is absolutely believable and he could easily he casted as a live-action character (minus the cloud surfing) and shatter the impact of the viewer right there. It's what he did in this episodes (and so many others) that make him not only redeemable; but also make him sounds like a true adult even though he is still a young moronic kid. He was loyal to Baloo despite the fact that Baloo deserved what he got. Sure he got mad about Baloo was acting like a hypocrite; but Kit also knew that what Baloo was saying did have a level of truth behind it. He knew Khan was using him almost from the get-go and he knew that Don Karnage was always an evil guy who would take advantage of a deflated ego (Kit didn't have a huge ego and that didn't stop Don from smearing Kit's name). Kit realized that despite his heroics (which got all of his heat back); he knew that Baloo's flying was still the best and without waiting for the adults around him to tell him that; Kit took it upon himself to tell Baloo that he was the best and he meant it too! It made him look like the greatest person in the world and Baloo got his nerve back to save the day again. Not to mention that Baloo allowed Kit to show his stuff in front of a stuff-shirt prude like Wiley Pole to boot which was quite priceless. Naming Kit as THE BEST NAVIGATOR IN THE WORLD is well earned in more way than one. Ask any of his friends and Molly too. It cannot get any better than that.”

In a way; it already did because now Kit has something where I can truly be proud of him without the stigma of BS&P nightmare dangling over his head. In a way; Jymn Magon really saved his job and saved Kit Cloudkicker's life here as a character because if this came off as an average episode; Kit Cloudkicker would have truly been buried and Magon's career would have probably been over. I don't think he would have seen Goof Troop as a story editor either if this episode didn't succeed. Well; it passed with flying colors and Jymn Magon wrote in my opinion his best episode in history. Minus one logic break with the water which Sun Woo could have easily animated out better; this was Magon's perfection salad that he can go out on and this is how he should be remembered for. He might have had some very good moments with Goof Troop (he basically saved it from complete destruction mind you) and a bit of a swan song with Mickey Mouse Works/House of Mouse shorts; but those episodes are those few remember. Almost everyone remembers A Bad Reflection On You; the only episode Jymn Magon wrote for this series; and they remember just how good it really was. Sadly; I also remembered just how much of a bad taste Transmission Impossible and Feats Of Clay left in my mouth from Quack Pack; so you can understand just how much sweeter it was ranting on this two part episode. Also; a great effort from Chuck Tately who for once didn't commit a major logic break in this episode and actually built the episode well enough to allow Jymn Magon to step in and put in his magic and finish it in style. Withstand repeated viewing? "You got that right" as Ace London would say.

This is how you build a proper story and make it work from beginning to end. (This is pretty much untouched for the most part. Most of it is dead on.) The formula was right there and sadly; by 1996, even Jymn Magon had lost it and then DTVA turned into the big mess it is now. Kim Possible got over by sheer force of will (and the ground breaking female lead that was so badly needed in DTVA by the way) and they tried to bring the formula back somehow; but by that time, it was too late and it will never come back. I don't see children relating to DTVA characters en masse ever again thanks to the “god hates furries” meme; but also due to the more accessible human characters and live action characters that are streamlined so to be related completely. I can understand the need to relate completely; but it shows lack of talent and foresight because the viewer (the child) will feel cheated in the end. If they are going to feel cheated with a middle age woman voicing a child; then what will happen then? Then again; money talks and a giant weighs Profit is good and it's nice to see that Disney has at least got that pat down. Now when are they going to learn how to make a CUSTOMER?! Seriously; when? (I would say Bob Iger has finally won me back as a customer as most of what they show as animation on television is almost back to the Disney Afternoon era now. I cannot wait to see how much they screw up Ducktales because I know there is a probable Teen Titans Go vibe forthcoming to this series. 2017 will be a fun time irregardless of how good Ducktales Rebooted is. (2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Considering how they handled the TaleSpin characters, I would say that they handled it well, in spite of the lack of guns. Which in a way, I'm breathing a sigh of relief for anyway. Kit doesn't need another gun pointed to his head, he's already had his fill of that.)) So...

Thumbs way up for this OAV and I'll see you next time with the next OAV to TaleSpin: For Whom The Bell Klangs. (Which I already did the transcript and additional commentary.)

Back to TaleSpin Rants!
Return to the Rant Shack!
Return to the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage