Cody’s TaleSpin Review

 

Plunder and Lightning

5 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials

 

*Reviewer’s Note: I will be reviewing the uncut version, since that’s the only one I have access to.

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

Part 3

 

Part 4

 

 

Part 1

Summary

 

Don Karnage steals the Sub-Atomic Power Amplifier from one of Shere Khan’s planes. Upon returning to the Iron Vulture, he gloats about it to his loyal lackeys, unaware that he is being spied upon. Kit jumps out of the grate over the table, snatches up the box containing what he thinks is a jewel, and bolts out the door. Karnage orders his men to “Stop that boy!” and Kit races, grabbing a grappling gun along the way. Karnage thinks he has the boy cornered when he finds Kit perched on the edge of the beak. He is proven wrong when Kit jumps. After disposing of his red scarf, Kit whips out his airfoil and uses the grappling gun to hitch a ride on a plane bound for Louie’s.

 

As he serves up drinks from behind the bar, Louie complains, “Man, Baloo! Sometimes runnin’ this place is like workin’ in a zoo!”

“Hey-hey, Louie… ya gotta learn my secret to ree-laxation.”

“Oh?  And what’s that secret, cuz?” Louie asks.

With a snap of his fingers, Baloo cues the band, grabs a tablecloth to make a dress and a bowl of fruit for a hat and proceeds to sing I’m Gone.

Gidget:  Don’t you wish you could do that?  Snap! And your favorite song plays on command?

 

Up in the air, Kit lets go of the gun when he sees the nightclub, intending to glide to a stop in the water. Unfortunately, he slides out of control up the dock and through the door, effectively interrupting Baloo’s song-and-dance number. He slams into Baloo, who is a good sport about being bowled over. The pilot with whom Kit hitched a ride does not appreciate hitchhikers and storms into Louie’s, yelling “C’mere, you half-pint hitchhiker!” Baloo intervenes and the pilot backs down. When Baloo asks about the box, Kit gets defensive and the pilot leaves, whistling cheerfully. Karnage bursts into Louie’s and threatens to tear the place apart if he does not get “the boy and the box.” Kit hides the box in one of Louie’s tiki masks and taunts the pirates. Then, he grabs a vine and swings out the door, hitching a ride on the Sea Duck. After Baloo lets him inside, they talk about planes for a while, and Kit tells the pilot that he’s going to have his own plane someday.

 

Baloo laughs. “I hope your folks are rich.”

 

“I don’t have any folks,” Kit returns. “But I’m going to be rich! And real soon, too.”

 

Baloo lets the boy fly the Sea Duck—until they’re interrupted by the Air Pirates. The pilot takes over and outmaneuvers the pirates with a game of chicken towards the ocean. Then, he flies straight to Cape Suzette and his own dockside Baloo’s Air Service. Kit is disgusted by the state of the interior, which resembles a cross between a dump and a rummage sale, and comments on Baloo’s unpaid bills.

Gidget:  Rude little snip, isn’t he?

 

“I only work when I have to and no more,” Baloo says indignantly. “Flyin’s what life’s all about.”

 

Baloo finds a red and blue baseball cap, which he gives to Kit with the offer of becoming his navigator. Kit turns him down without a second thought, insisting that he’s got to get back to Louie’s. Before Kit can persuade Baloo to take him back, a banker shows up and informs Baloo that he is “delinquent on his airplane loan” and that if “three thousand dollars are not deposited in our institution by nine am tomorrow, we will be forced to foreclose on your airplane loan.”

 

Baloo goes into panic mode until Kit suggests that he take a job. He finds a smelly and dangerous job transporting gorilla birds for the zoo and persuades Kit to help him.

 

Once in the air, the birds take over the plane until Kit locks them in the cargo hold. Suddenly, the Air Pirates attack. Baloo tries to lose them in the jungle and succeeds in crashing the plane on a sand bar.

 

Kit breathes a sigh of relief. “Whew! We lost ‘em.”

 

“Maybe. But it don’t figger. I got nothin’ they want, but they attack us every time me an’ you…hey.  You!  They’re after you.  Talk to me, kid.  What’s with you an’ the pirates?”

 

Kit pulls his hat forward. “Look, what do you care?”

 

“They’re shootin’ up my plane, son!”

 

The boy jumps up. “Oh, that’s all you care about. Your plane, your plane!”

 

Kit storms into the jungle where Karnage captures him.

 

Baloo rounds up the gorilla birds, which had escaped when they crashed, and is heading back to the Sea Duck, secure in the knowledge that the money is his, when he hears voices. Peeking through the vegetation, he sees Kit hung upside down from a tree and surrounded by Air Pirates. As Karnage and Kit exchange threats, Baloo decides he must save the boy.

 

“Oh, I’m gonna hate myself in the morning,” he moans, untying the gorilla birds and shooing them into the clearing.

 

The birds chase Karnage into the jungle, Baloo grabs Kit, and they head back to the Sea Duck. As they’re taking off, Kit gasps, “What about the birds?”

 

Baloo, busy with the controls, answers, “What’s more important, those burpin’ buzzards…or my new navigator?”

 

Touched, Kit tells the pilot he has a treasure and offers to share it with him. They decide to retrieve it the next morning and head back to Cape Suzette.

 

 

 

Quibbles and Bits

 

Cody:  The animation is kinda crappy. The lines on the characters are rough and the backgrounds are a little more washed out than in other episodes.

Gidget:  I agree, which is a big part of why I don’t like P&L as much as you do.  I like sharp, clean edges and well-defined lines.  Especially when comparing it to the much improved animation later on.  And the dubbing is lousy.

Cody: You know, I think I heard somewhere that P&L was actually made halfway through the series, which accounts for the big gaping plot holes in some of the episodes. So they don’t have any excuse.

 

Cody:  Kit’s trailing after Baloo like a lost puppy bothered me. I expected him to be a little more suspicious of people than that.

Gidget (moaning like a ghost): Kiiiiit….Come, Kit… run… run into the light!

 

Cody:  I know Baloo’s a tad unobservant, but wouldn’t he have wondered why Kit ended up crashing into him at Louie’s? And why ‘Jack’ or whoever he is was after him? Louie’s is an island—it’s not exactly a place you can get to on foot, and it doesn’t strike me as a hangout for kids.

Gidget:  Yeah, wasn’t that supposed to be Burlesque Night at Louie’s?  ;)  There are better places for kids to hang out.   Remember the Island of Misfit Toys?  Or that island where Pinocchio and his buddies are turned into donkeys? 

Cody: Burlesque night? Does that involve Louie and the gang in thongs?

Gidget:  God, I hope not (whimpers and curls up into a little ball).  Speaking of observing things, I noticed the first appearance of a frequent background character--- the redheaded pig lady---was standing behind Baloo during I’m Gone. And when Baloo sings, the background vocals are only provided by Louie and the monkey waiter.  They sound like a quartet and nobody else in the room is singing.   Louie’s voice is very distinct, not a blending backup vocal at all.

Cody: I never noticed that before. Huh. And did you see Amelia Airhead or whatever her name is in the background as Karnage emerged from the shadowy doorway?

Gidget:  She’s just trying to pick up guys, the dirty bird!  ;)

 

Cody:  Dumptruck keeps dying himself. In some scenes, he’s all white, in other’s he’s the usual gray and white.

Gidget:  Yeah!  He doesn’t look too well.  Not that he’s ever looked that healthy to begin with.  Speaking of color discrepancies, Kit’s eyebrows are black in the When Baloo tells Kit, “Look --- sorry, kid.  But I’m not due back at Louie’s for a few weeks.” later eps.  Here they’re sort of reddish-brown. And what about Karnage?  His teeth look unnaturally big and sharp here.   They’re practically fangs! In the later parts of P&L, they’re a lot smaller.

 

 

Gidget:  Yet he seems to go there every day after Rebecca takes over… J 

Cody: Can you blame him? Louie=fun, Becky=work. No contest!

 

Gidget:  As the Sea Duck flies into Cape Suzette to escape the pirate planes, how come the cliff guns don’t shoot it first when they fire at the air pirates?

 

 

Neat Little Details

 

Gidget:  Karnage first steals the stone from Khan’s plane and we get our first glimpse of one of the ‘Bagheera’ panther pilots.   When he speaks, it’s a little weird that he doesn’t have a British accent, ala Sebasian Cabot.  And Baloo’s first words to Kit are, “Well, well, well… what have we here?”  Definitely a nod to the same Baloo-Mowgli exchange in 1967’s The Jungle Book.

Cody: Much as I hate to say it, Kit and Mowgli did act similar when they met Baloo. They both tried to be tough guys. Of course, Mowgli just got stupid and Kit actually turned into a very good character.

 

Cody:  Kit’s got a serious attitude and skillfully manipulates people. Nuff said.

Gidget:  When he steals the stone, launching that grappling hook --- it reminds me of Batman! 

Cody:  Kit, Boy Wonder to the rescue!

 

Cody:  When Kit hides the box behind the tiki mask and looks over the banister at Karnage, it looks like there’s a dead woman lying under the table. All you see is her lower half, but she doesn’t move and she isn’t crouched.

Gidget:  She passed out when she got downwind of Louie?

 

Cody:  I don’t think Baloo has cleaned that office since he bought the place and who knows how old that pizza was.

Gidget:  I’m surprised Baloo doesn’t get food poisoning.  His way of turning on the gramophone is to remove an old hamburger from in front of the record needle.  I nearly puked when he found a sandwich in the Sea Duck and took a bite out of it (Pizza Pie in the Sky)

Cody: You mean that’s not what you’re supposed to do with a week-old sandwich? J

 

Gidget:  Small but cool:  Baloo and Kit drink their orange Fizzies and real fizz floats and pops from the bottles.

 

Cody:  A tribute to “Iron Paws,” Baloo’s nickname in the Jungle Book—there are boxing gloves hanging up in Baloo’s Air Service (thanks to Bearcat for pointing this out).

Gidget (as Joanna, sighing):  Iron Paws!

 

Gidget:  Also:  This is the only time Baloo lets Kit take the controls (“Knock yourself out, kid.”).   Something odd, though… if Baloo was the lone pilot all this time, how come there are two steering sticks instead of one?  You’d think that they would have to switch seats so Kit can fly, but Kit has a stick of his own.  Oh, that sounded bad… :p

 

When they get attacked:

Kit is alarmed.  “What was that!”

Baloo says, “Back on the corner where I hang out we call that pirates!” I love that determined, do-or-die expression!

Cody: “Nobody flies like that!”

 

Gidget:  Wonder how Kit’s hat stays on while he’s hanging upside-down? After Kit bites Karnage, he’s tied with several more ropes!

Cody:  How Kit’s hat stays on is another of those mysteries of the ages things. I’ve always wondered how it stays on when he cloudsurfs. I can never keep a hat on my head when I get my horse to canter, so imagine how hard it would be while cloudsurfing!

 

 

 

Funny Stuff

 

Karnage’s frantic expression as he jumps up and down, ordering his men “After him! After him!” Then he slaps them.

Gidget:  All that jumping around and he doesn’t wear a bra?  Tsk, tsk!

Cody: He coulda borrowed that coconut bra of Baloo’s! And didn’t he look like he had to go to the bathroom really bad?

Gidget:  Well, he should have done that before he left home to go pillaging.

 

Baloo’s imitation of the Chiquita Banana lady:

Gidget:   When ‘fat lady’ Baloo leans into the angry pilot (“Aw, cut the kid some slack, Jack!”), they bump noses, making a honk sound.

 

Kit mistaking Baloo for a woman:

“Yeah, listen to the fat lady!” he says.

“Lady?!” Baloo puts his hands on his hips indignantly.

“Whatever.” Kit rolls his eyes.

Gidget:  Funny how Baloo dresses in drag and then gets offended.

 

Gidget:  I get a kick out of Baloo kissing his plane, murmuring, “Miss me, baby?”  That guy really needs a girlfriend.

Baloo coos to his plane, Oh, baby --- that’s my girl!

Gidget:  Like I said…

Cody: Hmmm…you may have a point on your head. He does like that plane a little too much, doesn’t he?

 

Kit trails after Baloo as he goes into his house/office. Trash is everywhere. Kit sees a drink and eagerly picks it up—only to find that it’s practically glued to the table. Baloo, oblivious, opens a pizza box and munches happily. “You hungry?” he asks.

Kit grimaces. “Not anymore.”

 

Kit bashes Baloo over the head with a broom as he tries to corral the gorilla birds.

“Ow!  Whose side are you on?” Baloo complains.

“Sorry!” Kit says, annoyed.

“Just lock ‘em up in the back! Is that too much to ask?” Baloo snaps.

“Hey, wait. You’re the one who said this was gonna be a piece of cake,” Kit retorts.

 

Karnage’s face as he’s trampled by the gorilla birds

Gidget:  Just when he’s about to torture Kit with the turnips and sandpaper, he drops them and asks, “What’s that smell?”

(as Mad Dog, whining):  “Captain, Dumptruck just let one go!”

 

Baloo and Kit jumping over crocodiles, yelling at the top of their lungs.

 

 

 

Quotes

 

Karnage faces down one of Khan’s panther pilots. “Grreetings and salivations, fellow aviator. It is I, that panic-provoking pirate, Don Karnage.”

“Shere Khan owns this plane, you slimy thief!” The pilot grabs an iron pipe and brandishes it.

Several pirates appear in the hole in the ceiling and the pilot gulps.

“The box, if you please.” Karnage holds out his hand expectantly and the panther hands it over. The pirates take their leave—after shooting the plane down, of course.

 

As the Iron Vulture looms into view, Karnage says, “Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. Open up, my mangy minions! Your cunning commander is back!”

 

Kit jumps from his hiding place, lands on the table where Karnage has placed the box, and says, “For me? Aw, you shouldnta!”

“Well it was nothing, really,” Karnage starts to say modestly.  Then, he realizes he’s been duped. “Stop that boy!”

 

Kit bumps into Dumptruck and says, “Don’t just stand there.  The captain needs your help!”  (G:  Ha!) The boy zips past him and just as the big pirate turns to see what his captain wants, Karnage (in hot pursuit) slams into him!

 

Karnage had a lot of great lines in this part:

“I am sorry to fracture the festivities.”

“Boys, tear the place asunder!”

“This is no time for a Chinese fire drill! Follow him!”

and of course, “Your tail section is mine!”

 

Gidget:  I like it when Karnage, holding Louie’s hostage, grabs a drink off a nearby table and takes a long swig.  “You always serve such tasty drinks, Louie.”  Talk about adding insult to injury.

 

Karnage corners Kit on the beak of the Iron Vulture and saunters towards him. “Well, my reckless reptile. It may be none of my business, but you seem to have gotten yourself into a tiny piccolo, yes-no?”

“You know, you’re right.” Kit turns. “It is none of your business!”

 

“That was quite an entrance, L’il Britches,” Baloo says after Kit plows into him.

 

Baloo finds a blue and red baseball cap in a file cabinet drawer and tosses it to Kit, saying, “I’ve been thinking of addin’ a navigator. You interested?”

Gidget (as Baloo, calling): Wildcat, we’re addin’ a navigator to the Sea Duck.  Get the weldin’ torch!

Cody: LOL! Can’t you just see Wildcat chasing Kit around, trying to weld him to the navigator’s seat?

Wildcat: Hold still! Baloo wants to make sure you don’t get away like the last one.

Gidget:  LOL!  I can see that!  Wish they’d included it.

 

Kit twists the cap so that it’s backwards and says, “Me? No way! I’ve got to get back to Louie’s.”

“Didn’t we just come from there?” Baloo asks.

“Yeah. And I wanna go back. Okay?” Kit defiantly replies.

“This tough guy routine work on all your friends?”

The boy’s shoulders slump. “I…I don’t have any friends.”

Gidget:  Everybody now:  Awwww…

Cody: (as Kit) It could be my BO, but I don’t know. Mad Dog gave me some of his favorite grooming tips.

 

A bored-looking beaver with a handful of papers knocks on the door to Baloo’s Air Service.

“Mr. Baloo?” he asks.

“The one and only,” Baloo says proudly.

“I’m from the Cape Suzette National Bank about your plane.” The beaver cuts to the chase.

“Yeah, ain’t she a beauty?” Baloo looks fondly at the plane moored at the end of the dock.

“You, sir, are delinquent on your past six payments and unless funds totaling three thousand dollars are deposited in our creditiary institution by nine am tomorrow we will be forced to foreclose on your airplane loan,” the beaver informs him.

Baloo is confused.

“This guy speakin’ English?” he asks in a stage whisper.

“He said ‘no dough, plane go,’” Kit translates.

 

“But what about the birds?” Kit asks worriedly as Baloo starts the plane.

“Hey, what’s more important, those burping buzzards or my new navigator?”

Kit is speechless.

Gidget:  I vote for those burpin’ buzzards!

Cody: But they can’t navigate the way Kit can! And they eat more than Baloo!

Gidget:  No way!

 

“Now where does he keep his spoons?” Kit wonders. He turns to ask and overhears Baloo talking to his plane.

“Now remember… you be good to your new owner, like you were good to me.  Make me proud.”

Kit (thinking):  Oookkaay. When we land, I’m outta here.

Gidget:  Well, he did say the Sea Duck was his best friend.  And we never did find out why Kit wanted those spoons.  They never ate anything.

Cody: And after seeing Baloo’s office, would Kit really want to eat anything the bear offered him?

Forgetting about the spoons, he goes back to the cockpit. “I’m…sorry about your plane.”

“Hey, you win some…you lose some,” Baloo says sadly.

“No one’s ever stood up for me before and well,” Kit pauses, “I have a treasure. I’ll share it with you.”

Baloo chuckles. “Thanks, Li’l Britches, but I don’t think your bottle cap collection will help.”

“No, it’s a big glowing jewel!”

“Sure, kid.” Baloo sounds tolerantly disbelieving.

Cody:  Kit should have decked him.

Gidget:  And get his fist stuck in Baloo’s stomach?

“Why do you think the pirates are after me?”

That gets Baloo’s attention. “A jewel? Really?”

“I hid it at Louie’s.”

It dawns on Baloo. “I could buy back the Sea Duck!”

Cody:  Gee, he’s quick.

Gidget (as Rebecca):  *sighs* Quick to start, slow to finish!

Cody: I think I’m gonna hurl. ;)

Gidget (moves several feet away):  Um… I’ll just sit over here, okay?

 

 

 

Commentary:

 

Cody:  This is the kickoff to the best of all TaleSpin episodes. Rebecca, Molly, and Wildcat have yet to make their appearance, but that’s okay. I loved watching the interaction between Kit and Baloo as they meet and become friends. The animation could definitely have been better. I think it was done by Disney Japan, though, and that studio is the worst. The soundtrack is awesome. I love Don Karnage’s music, a grand, sweeping thing that suits his personality well.

Gidget:  Are you kidding?  For me, it doesn’t really begin until the rest of them show up.  I don’t like a cast that’s all male or all female.  Mix it up you guys!  However, the scenery --- especially the ethereal, life-like clouds --- is gorgeous.  Even in their sub-par eps, the sky and ocean are almost always masterfully animated.

Cody: *shrugs* Well, I didn’t particularly care for Becky’s role in this one. Kit was great, though, and since he was a big part of the first one…

 

 

 

 

 

Part Two

 

 

Summary

 

Gidget:  Ahhh…now the show really begins!  :D

The next morning, our boys sleep late. The alarm clock rings and Baloo smashes it with his pillow. Kit groggily checks his watch, realizes Baloo’s payment is an hour overdue, and instantly becomes fully awake. After carefully putting on his new hat, he tries to wake up Baloo, who’s having none of it. When Kit reminds him of the treasure, however, he jumps out of the chair, puts on some music, and dances around the room while munching a moldy hamburger. His new navigator tries to get him to hurry up, but Baloo tells him to relax. “The bank wouldn’t send anyone this early!”

 

There is a knock at the door, and Kit says sourly, “You hope.”

 

Baloo opens the door to find a young attractive (C: Well, that’s a matter of opinion J) female bear in a raincoat. She starts to introduce herself, but is interrupted by Baloo, who tells her to go away and “come back when the sun’s warm, like June.” Slamming the door in her face, he returns to his dancing. Undaunted, the woman climbs through the window and tells Baloo off.

 

“And just who are you, sister?” Baloo asks, annoyed.

 

“Rebecca Cunningham, business major,” is the proud reply. She tells Baloo that the bank foreclosed on his loan and that she now owns both the building and the plane.

 

“Now just a doggoned minute…!”

Just as things are about to get nasty, Molly crawls through the window, asking, “Mommy!  Do I still have to wait in the car?”

Gidget: … with the windows rolled up on a hot summer day?  Rebecca should have tied her to a parking meter.

Cody: Or to a car bumper. Preferably one that’s moving.

Gidget:  LOL!  And here I thought I was the evil one!

While Rebecca and Molly check out their new place, Kit reminds Baloo to be nice so that they can get the plane and go to Louie’s. Baloo agrees to be her pilot, Kit introduces himself, and Wildcat makes his debut. Filthy and slimy from having wrestled with a pipe under the building, Wildcat pops up from a trapdoor and shows Baloo the clogged pipe.

 

“Hey, Baloo! I finally fixed the sewer pipe. You want the old one?” Wildcat asks.

 

 Baloo introduces Rebecca, who is disgusted.

 

“This is a mechanic?” she whispers in disbelief. “He couldn’t tell a screwdriver from a bus driver!”

 

“Oh yeah?  Watch.” Baloo grabs the phone and smashes it.  “Oh, Wildcat?  I think there’s something wrong with the phooone…”

 

“You know, you could be right.  You should be more careful…” Wildcat fixes the phone in five seconds flat.

 

Shere Khan, in the meantime, is busy trying to figure out who stole his Sub-Electronic Power Amplifier. Gulping, his yes-man tries to disentangle himself from Khan’s killer plant as he tells the businessman it was Karnage. Khan uses his desk as a scratching post and orders that the stone be found.

 

At the docks, Rebecca has been busy. She’s painted the plane, redone the interior, and is busy supervising stevedores hanging the Higher for Hire sign at the end of the dock. After being threatened with having the Sea Duck taken away permanently, a reluctant Baloo and Kit emerge in new outfits that make them look like “flyin’ soda jerks.”

 

Their first assignment is to deliver mangoes for “the sizable Fandango Mango account.” Molly wants to tag along, Rebecca says no, but she stows away, anyway. She blackmails Baloo into taking her along by threatening to tell Rebecca about Louie’s.

Gidget:  She’s such a little sh—er, con artist.  I like that.

 

At Louie’s, while the bartender distracts the little girl with a Krakatoa Special (Louie’s patented ice cream sundae with the works), Kit presents Baloo with the treasure. Baloo snags Louie, who appraises the “jewel” as worthless. Both pilot and navigator are discouraged until Kit remembers that Karnage had swiped it from Khan. Baloo muses that “this night light might be worth something after all” and decides to take it with him. As they’re leaving, the pirates attack. Kit reveals his talent with his airfoil and manages to down a couple of planes, but it’s the cargo that saves the day—Baloo dumps it on the pirates.

 

Rebecca has a fit. She rants, raves, and threatens until Molly sets the record straight. Then, Rebecca apologizes and Baloo graciously “forgives” her.

Gidget:  They didn’t exactly ‘kiss and make up’, but hey --- ya gotta start somewhere…

(as Baloo to Rebecca):  An’ how’s about I start right here…

(as Rebecca):  Ooohh…yes!

                        

That night, she sends Baloo and Kit off to sleep in the plane with blankets and pillows while she and Molly settle down in the office. Molly whines about things not being like home, and Rebecca sings Home is Where the Heart is.

Gidget:  Argggghhh!  I hate that song!  Every time I hear it, I want a gun.  And it’s creepy, too.  Listen to the lyrics sometime:

They’ll always be a home for you here inside of meeeee… (G:  Go to your womb, young lady!)

And …whatever you may do/They’ll always be a part of me here inside of you

 

Cody: Yeah, I was pretty excited about hearing it since I’d heard so much hype from other Spinners. Then, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing because Sally Struthers can’t sing.)  After giving Molly a cookie and getting her settled, she sees Kit at the window and leaves a cookie jar on the sill without really acknowledging that she’s seen him. Kit gratefully takes a couple of cookies and goes to bed.

Gidget:  Some mother.  Didn’t make the kid brush her teeth afterward.

 

Outside the cliffs, a less-than-melodious voice breaks into song. “O, solo-mio! O so-do-you-o!”

 

“Who goes there!” The guards shine a spotlight on Karnage dressed as a gondolier and Mad Dog and Dumptruck dressed as an amorous couple.

 

Dumptruck waves sheepishly. “Oh, uh, good evening, officers!”

 

“’Scuze, signore. The younga lovers, they need their privacy!” Karnage calls as Dumptruck tries to kiss his “honey.”

 

The cops cut off the searchlight and Karnage opens a panel in the back of the boat that conceals a motor. With the curls of Mad Dog’s bad blonde wig flapping in the breeze, they go in search of the Sea Duck.

 

The next morning, Baloo wakes Kit up and the two head to Shere Khan’s (after Baloo has hidden the jewel in Molly’s doll) and find out that he’s offering “a hundred thousand lousy bucks” for the stone’s return.  Cheerfully, the two leave.

 

“Sit tight, Shere, baby! We’ll be back before you can say Sea Duck!” Baloo says.

 

Khan watches them go and chuckles to himself. “It was worth fifty times that.”

Gidget:  Tsk! And they say Khan doesn’t have a sense of humor.

 

Baloo and Kit return to Higher for Hire to get the jewel and discover that the place has been torn apart. On the back of the door, Baloo finds a ransom note pinned to the dartboard with a knife:  Karnage wants that stone back or they’ll never see Rebecca and Molly again.

Cody: Yeah, big loss there. You know what I would have liked to have seen?

Baloo: (crumbles the note and tosses it aside) Big deal. We don’t need her.

Kit: Yeah. She already paid for the Sea Duck and this rat hole.

Baloo: Hey! Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, Kit.

Kit: ‘Specially since I haven’t had my rabies shots yet.

Gidget (as Baloo, doing a Stanley Kawolsky imitation):  Rebeccaaaaaaa!!

 

 

 

Quibbles and Bits:

 

Gidget:  Before he wakes up, Baloo’s hat is huge --- almost bigger than his head.  Then, after the ‘alarm’ goes off, it’s the right size.

 

Cody: When Baloo answers the door, a panel of it is missing so that you can see Rebecca. Then, when Baloo tells her to go away and closes it, the panel is back.

Gidget:  When he pushes the round window in the door open, it nearly hits her in the face.  Actually, I don’t think it should be able to open---no hinges.  And when Rebecca climbs through the window, all she has to do is unfurl the hanging blind.  There’s no window!

 

Gidget:  Um, when Baloo goes to the back of the plane to take off his ‘monkey suit’,  later Molly comes out.  Was she watching him get dressed?  O_o

Cody: (*sighs*) She’s a precocious little peeping tom, isn’t she?

 

Gidget:  That sundae Louie made for Molly was huge---enough for three people.  Guess there aren’t any kid specials on the menu.  And instead of sparklers, why not use dynamite?  J

Cody: Dynamite! Yeah! (rubs hands together) And in the scene where Baloo wakes Kit up so they can go see Shere Khan, Baloo leans against the bunk. For a few seconds, his torso from neck to the bottom of his flight shirt is yellow.

 

 

 

Neat Little Details:

 

Kit’s obviously been taught manners. When Rebecca asks his name, he looks as though he’s thinking for a moment. Then, he takes off his hat and introduces himself. “Uh…Kit Cloudkicker, ma’am. I’m the navigator.”

 

Rebecca shows her skills as a motivator. She quickly remodels the office, paints the plane, renames the business, and convinces Baloo and Kit to wear hideous red bellhop uniforms.

Gidget:  Wonder how she found uniforms in just their size?

Cody: I know. Kit’s was a little big and I’m surprised she was even able to find one that fit Baloo’s massive frame.

Gidget:  Maybe she made those uniforms.

(as Rebecca to Baloo):  Come here, big boy.  Let’s ‘measure’ you.

 

 

Funny Stuff

 

Gidget:  Baloo’s ‘alarm clock’:  He throws his pillow at the filing cabinet, knocking the model airplane into the open drawer, landing on the pillow.  Then a mysterious second pillow is thrown, slamming the drawer shut.  Baloo only had one.

 

Kit’s expression as he tries to remember what to do when introducing himself to a woman:

Kit: (thinking) Oh, crap! Do I have to kiss her hand?

Gidget:  No…not her hand…

 

Gidget:  Actually, I like the innuendo of her offering him a job.

“…in the meantime, I’ve got an opening for a staff pilot.”

 

Gidget:  Baloo’s idea of ‘home’:  During her inspection, Rebecca finds a sock in a pot on the stove (I suppose Baloo was trying to boil the smell out of it? Also, in My Fair Baloo, she finds another sock!)  Dead plants… bats in the storeroom…

Cody: Yeah, sounds like my room. ;D

 

Cody:  Rebecca’s idea of a pretty plane:  Rainbows, a weird smiley face, and frilly curtains. Ugh. I thought I was going to be sick. Of course, not as sick as Baloo and Kit when they got a load of what she’d done.

 

Louie appraising the “jewel.” He could obviously tell right away it was a fake because he made such a show of oohing and ahhing without really looking at it through his jeweler’s glass.

 

Baloo getting zapped by the stone.

Gidget:  (as Baloo) Wow!  It’s not Becky, but it’ll have to do. J

 

The Sea Duck after Baloo’s fight with the pirates—broken headlights, rudders that looked as if they’d been chomped, paint completely gone.

 

Mad Dog and Dumptruck as lovers. Dumptruck gets into his role a little too well. He tries to kiss Mad Dog, who slaps him.

Gidget (as Mad Dog):  Not in front of the captain, you nitwit!  Wait ‘til later.

Cody (as Dumptruck): Deerrr, sorry Mad Dog. (whispers) Er, could you vear that dress?

 

Shere Khan’s straight-man attitude when Baloo and Kit ask him about a reward.

“What do you say to a hundred?” Khan drawls.

“Only a lousy hundred bucks?” Baloo is outraged.

The businessman arches an eyebrow, but his voice doesn’t change a bit. “A hundred thousand lousy bucks.”

“Dollars?!” Baloo and Kit are incredulous.

Gidget:  No…chocolate coins.

 

 

 

Quotes

 

“If this is how you treat customers, buster, it’s no wonder your business is failing.” Rebecca crawls through the window and stalks past Baloo.

“Whoa, lady. You act like you own this place.” Baloo says.

“I do.” Smugly, Rebecca waves the deed at him. “When you didn’t pay your loan this morning, the bank sold the deed to me.”

“What?” Baloo exclaims.

“Told you,” Kit says.

“They didn’t even give me time to brush my teeth!” Baloo protests.

Gidget:  Does he ever?  Brush his teeth, I mean?

 

 

Rebecca wipes the dust off a mirror and admires herself. “Yes, this place definitely needs a woman’s touch.” Sweeping a load of junk into the drawer, she mutters, “Or a bulldozer.”

Gidget:  Since when does a woman’s touch always mean neatness?  I hate housework.

Cody: I know! But she is a woman of the 30’s, even if she does represent the modern working woman.

 

 

Wildcat pops up from a trapdoor. “Hey, Baloo! I finally fixed the sewer pipe! You want the old one?”

“Make that three employees. This is our mechanic, Wildcat. Wildcat, meet Rebecca Cunningham, our new boss.” Baloo pronounces Rebecca’s name with exaggerated care.

Wildcat shakes Rebecca’s hand. “Really? You smell pretty good for a boss.”

“Thanks.” Rebecca grimaces at her slime-covered hand.

Wildcat holds the pipe up to his eye like a telescope and says, “This little guy was all clogged up. He was sayin’ ‘help me, help me! I can’t breathe! I gotta cold.’”

He promptly flops on the ground. Rebecca looks at him in disgust. “This is a mechanic? He couldn’t tell a screwdriver from a bus driver!”

“Oh yeah? Watch.” Baloo digs around till he finds the phone and a bucket. He smashes the phone and holds up the shattered remains. “Oh, Wildcat! I think there’s something wrong with the phooone.”

Wildcat sits up and takes a look at the phone. “You know, you could be right. You ought to be more careful.”

Baloo counts down and Wildcat fixes the phone in five seconds flat. It rings and he answers it.

“Uh, it’s for you,” he tells Rebecca.

She takes the phone. “Well, at least something works around here.”

Gidget:  How come the phone works without even being plugged in?  And she hasn’t even moved in yet.  How could the phone be for her?  Wouldn’t it more likely be for Baloo?

Cody: Yeah! I had a serious quibble with that.

 

A dock worker asks Rebecca where to load the cargo.  “Which plane, ma’am?”

She points to the balloon and happy face monstrosity.  “The pretty one!”

Gidget:  Rebecca, Rebecca… arggghhh!  And why ask ‘which plane’?  There’s only one tied to the dock!  Maybe he means Wonder Woman’s invisible plane?

 

 

“Get out here, Baloo! Let me take a look!” Rebecca calls.

From inside the shed, Baloo yells, “Forget it, lady! I’m not goin’ out in public dressed like this!”

“If you ever want to see the Sea Duck again, you get out here on the double!”

Cody:   Rebecca learns early on that threatening Baloo with Sea Duck deprivation is the quickest way to get him to do something.

Gidget (as Rebecca):  Baloo, if you don’t rock my world right now, you can kiss your plane good-bye!  ;)

Baloo and Kit grudgingly emerge from hiding in their red uniforms and hats.

“I feel like a flyin’ fool,” Baloo mutters.

Then, he and Kit see the Sea Duck and do a double take.

“My plane! What did you do to my plane?”

“Doesn’t it look wonderful? And incidentally, you look terrific. From now on, you’re going to get noticed,” Rebecca gushes, in hyper-mode and oblivious to the fact that her employees don’t look too thrilled.

“I’m tellin’ ya, no one hires a pilot dressed like a flyin’ soda jerk,” Baloo protests.

“Oh, no?” Rebecca looks smug. “What if I told you I just landed us the sizable Fandango Mango account?”

Gidget (as Rebecca):  Later, flyboy.  Wait ‘til we’re alone.

(as Baloo):  Hot diggity!

 

 

 

Commentary

 

Molly is almost bearable in this part. I like the way she conned Baloo into letting her come along. I also liked Rebecca’s debut, even if her taste in clothes and planes leaves much to be desired. J I do have to wonder if she dropped out of college, though. She introduces herself as “Rebecca Cunningham, Business Major” instead of “Rebecca Cunningham, BA in Business” or something to indicate that she had graduated. In your fanfic, you assume that she didn’t, right, Gidge?;)

Gidget:  Well, not during her marriage.  She followed her dream after the guy bought the farm.  In those days, women weren’t supposed to work or go to school if they were married.  Maybe she killed him so she could get her degree.  ;)

Cody: LOL! Yeah, that sounds like something she’d do.

 

 

 

Part Three

Summary

 

Baloo and Kit are in shock. Kit blames himself, then drags Baloo out to look for them. Once they’re past the cliffs, the navigator reveals the location to Pirate Island…and his big secret:  That he was a pirate. Fearful of what his new friend will say, Kit stomps to the cargo hold where Baloo confronts him.

 

“I got no family,” Kit says. “No home. I hooked up with Karnage’s gang about a year ago, but I got…sick of ‘em.”

 

Baloo tells him to forget about them and the two prepare to rescue Rebecca and Molly.

 

Karnage takes the Iron Vulture on a heist. He hijacks a Khan cargo plane and loots their fishbowls. One of the pilots makes the mistake of calling him crazy. After taking their propellers, he drops the plane in the ocean.

 

Rebecca and Molly, meanwhile, are locked up in a dank prison cell on Pirate Island.

Molly whines, “Moom, I don’t like this place.”

“I know, sweetie.” Rebecca hugs her.

“Neither does Lucy.” Molly pouts adds.

The guard comes to give them food, and Rebecca gets an idea. She coos and flirts with the guard until he agrees to let them out in exchange for the pink slip to her plane. While the guard gets the keys, Rebecca dismantles the board that serves as a bed and gets ready to knock him out.

Gidget:  No room at the inn?

 

Kit and Baloo, meanwhile, dock and go in search of “the gals.” They jump on rocks across a lava pit and Kit sets off some booby traps that had been fixed since the last time he’d been there. A buzz saw nearly slices Baloo in half.

“Pull chocks!” Kit yells.

They make it to safety and Baloo examines his rear for damages. “Nice crowd you hung around with, kid.”

 

The place is quiet, so Kit says he thinks everyone’s on a heist. He leads the pilot to the brig where Baloo knocks out the guard as he’s getting the keys. He notices the pink slip to the Sea Duck and snaps it up. Then, he opens the door to the cell with a cheerful, “Hey, Becky! Guess wh--!”  Rebecca brains him with the plank, grabs Molly, and prepares to run for it.

Gidget:  Heh-heh…Baloo got brains, um, brained. 

 

“That’ll teach that goon to call me…Becky?” Turning, she sees Baloo rubbing his head

Gidget:  Oh.  His head.

and Kit staggering from behind the door, which she’d slammed on him. An alarm sounds and Kit tells them that Karnage is back. They make a run for it, but don’t make it back to the Sea Duck in time. The Iron Vulture docks and they’re forced to take cover behind some crates and sacks. Karnage tells his “mangy minions” of his great plan and Baloo gets his own great plan for getting back to the plane. Disguised as pirates, he and Rebecca carry Kit and Molly (in sacks) across the room. Karnage puts on his infamous We Are Pirates song-and-dance number to clear up Dumptruck’s confusion over the ‘robbers versus pirates’ question. Baloo gets so caught up in it that at the end, he cheers, “One more time!”

 

Karnage orders them to be brought to him. They leave Kit and Molly with the instructions to run for it if they’re dragged away. Karnage sees through their disguises and demands to know where the stone is. Then, he notices that Kit isn’t anywhere to be seen. Baloo defends the cub, which is more than Kit can stand. Leaping from his hiding place, he struts to the stage and makes a great show of betraying Baloo. He explains that he never really betrayed Karnage, but wanted to “finagle some ransom money out of Shere Khan.” Karnage, not really convinced, decides to test Kit’s loyalty by putting Baloo and Rebecca in front of the firing squad. Thinking fast, Kit rips the head off Molly’s doll and presents the pirate with the stone and a request that Baloo and Rebecca be freed. Karnage refuses. Baloo throws some gold dust at them, grabs Rebecca and Molly, and runs for it. They make it to the Sea Duck and are up in the air, surrounded by pirates, when Baloo unleashes his secret weapon:

Overdrive.

Gidget:  Oh.  Excessive flatulence might have come in handy too.

 

On Pirate Island, Karnage finds Kit watching the sunset. He compliments him on his con job, ties a red bandana around his neck, and places a hand on his shoulder as they watch the sun sink below the horizon.

 

Baloo, Rebecca, and Molly make it back to Cape Suzette, only to be “invited” to see Khan (G:  In other words, snatched off the curb and kidnapped in a limo)  Baloo blows up at everyone and storms away. When Rebecca catches up with him, Baloo hands her a bag of gold (from Pirate Island) to pay for the Sea Duck and takes off, leaving the confused and unhappy Cunninghams behind.

 

 

 

Quibbles and Bits

 

After Baloo’s bombarded the pirates with gold dust, he grabs Rebecca and says, “Step on it, Becky!”

 

“It’s Rebecca!” she snaps.

 

Cody:  Isn’t that a weird time for her to be nitpicky about her name? I mean, she’s got pirates after her head and she’s going to argue about her name?

Gidget:   If she’s going to die, the name ‘Rebecca’ will be on Baloo’s lips, not ‘Becky’.  No dignity.

Cody: Bet she wouldn’t object if he called her ‘Becky’ in the throes of passion.

Gidget (as Rebecca)  Waaaait a minute, buster.  Just who is this ‘Becky’?

 

Nothing fazes Molly until Kit rips Lucy’s head off and the little girl cries.  (Gidget:  Who cried --- Lucy?  Wow, dolls could do anything in those days. Cody: Yep. Talk, pee, cry, call their owners names…) Then, after they escape, she cheerfully asks Baloo to do the overdrive again!

Gidget:  After her father died, she asked for Frosty Pep to make her feel better.  It did the trick.  ;)

           

 

 

Neat Little Details

 

Cody:  The “backdoor” to Pirate Island has curving rocks that look like ribs.

 

Cody:  Karnage sings for the second time—his voice is terrible, but he’s got enthusiasm and I loved his dance number!

Gidget:  Speaking of which, where did that invisible orchestra come from? 

Cody: It’s the invisible orchestra! That reminds me of an episode of Family Matters where Carl dreamed the gang was in the Old West and this weird music kept playing and they kept looking around for it. Finally, just before the showdown, they decided to form a posse and go after “that danged orchestra.”

 

 

 

Funny Stuff

 

Rebecca bashing Baloo with a board and slamming Kit behind the door.

Gidget:  Ah, memories…

 

Kit’s frantic expression as he tries to think of a way to save Baloo and Rebecca from getting shot. Yeah, yeah. I know it’s an odd thing to find funny.

 

Gidget:  How about that yes-man, er, tiger assistant of Shere Khan’s?  When giving his boss an update of the stone’s location he tells him more than he wants to know.

“…but you’ll be happy to know we located our pilot, safe and ---!”

Khan waves him off impatiently.  “Where is the stone?”

 

Gidget:  When Baloo, Rebecca and Molly get grabbed off the curb to ‘visit’ Khan.  Both B&B are grabbed by the front of their shirts, and it looks weird to see this strange hand making a grab for Rebecca’s chest!  O_o

Cody: LOL! That’s hilarious! It gives whole new meaning to what she tells Shere Khan about there “being rules about this sort of thing,” doesn’t it?

 

 

 

Quotes

 

Baloo looks over at Kit, unable to contain his curiosity. “Okay, Kit, now give. How d’you know so much about the Air Pirates?”

 

Kit glares at him out of the corner of his eye.

 

“Did you…stumble onto their hideout?” No response.

 

“Were you…kidnapped by ‘em?” No response.

 

“Was…was yer dad a pirate?”

 

Kit slams the compass into the map so hard it snaps and glares at Baloo. “No, I was a pirate! Ya happy now?”

 

Flinging his hat to the floor, he stalks to the back, leaving a confused and astonished Baloo gaping after him.

 

“Wait! Hold on, now!” Quickly, Baloo ties some rope around the wheel and snatches up Kit’s hat. Apprehensively, he makes his way to the cargo hold.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be flying?” Kit sneers.

 

“Relax. I got ‘er on autopilot.”

Gidget:  Who --- Rebecca?

Cody: No, that’d be terror pilot. J

Baloo puts the hat on the boy’s head and sits down beside him. “Now, you wanna take this from the top?”

Gidget:  Take it off, Kit!  Take it off!

 

“I got no family. No home. I hooked up with Karnage and his gang about a year ago, but I got…sick of ‘em. So when I saw that stone, I figured, ‘hey… make your move.’ That’s when I ran into you.”

Baloo reassures him.  “Aww… ferget about them, Li’l Britches.  From now on, you’re with me!”

Kit hugs him.  “Thanks, Papa Bear.”

 

Karnage has hijacked a Khan cargo plane, passed over gold bars and jewelry, and swiped fishbowls. After his men remove the propellers, he tells them to clear the area.

Gidget:  ‘Cause Dumptruck was about to release a big, wet juicy fart.

Cody: And Mad Dog had to burp.

 

“Have you no decency?” the pilot asks.

 

“I’m a pirate. I don’t do decency.” Karnage shrugs and turns away nonchalantly as the plane falls into the ocean.

 

The guard comes with food and Rebecca gets an idea for getting out of their cell.

 

“Well, hellooo, heartbreaker,” she coos.

The guard looks taken aback. “Who, me?”

Gidget: I understand his bewilderment.  That uggo needs a paper bag… badly.

Cody: Really. He makes me lose my appetite just looking at him. And what’s up with Karnage’s pirates and stupid hats?

“Of course, you!” Rebecca flutters her eyelashes. “Tell me, why isn’t a sharp cookie like you out with the rest of the pirates, flying among the clouds, free as a bird, rampaging and pillaging?”

Molly giggles, but her mother ignores her.

Their guard shuffles his feet. “Ah, me just lowly prison guard. No plane.”

Gidget:  Me guard, you Jane.

Cody: LOL! That stupid song about doin’ it “like they do on the Discovery Channel” just popped into my head.

“Well, we can fix that.” Rebecca lays it on good and thick; her voice is the same as you’d use to soothe a child. “If you let us out, I’ll give you the deed to my plane!”

Gidget:  Slut.

Cody: Whatever works. It was pretty funny to see Rebecca flirting with the guard while trying to ignore Molly giggling.

Gidget:  Well, her flirting does need work.  Really, ‘what’s a sharp cookie like you…’  Come on, what guy wants to be called a ‘sharp cookie’?

Cody: Well, the guard didn’t mind. ‘Course, he doesn’t have the intelligence of an ameoba, so…

 

The pirates have just returned from their heist and Mad Dog and Dumptruck are confused about their loot.

Gidget:  Those two are always confused!

 

“A thousand groveling pardons, Cap’n, but could we just ask you one little question?” Mad Dog all but bows and kisses Karnage’s boots.

“Speak up!” Karnage says grandly. “My door is always open sometimes.”

Gidget:  I love that line.

“Oh!” Mad Dog’s whine is pitched much higher than usual. “Well, lately we’ve been skippin’ the valuables and swipin’ wire and fishbowls and stuff.”

“Yes, yes. What is your pathetic, insignificant little point?” Karnage asks.

“Vell, vhat’s all dis stuff for?” Dumptruck speaks up.

“Yeah, we don’t understand,” Mad Dog says.

“That is why I am in charge and you are bit players!” He looks at the dejected pirates. “Oh, did I hurt your feelings? Good! That is all part of my master plan.”

 

The Higher for Hire gang is trapped behind some junk in Ratchet’s workshop.

“We can get out through there!” Kit whispers, pointing to a passageway on the far side of the workshop.

“Great,” Molly mutters.

Baloo picks up some cloth and says, “Wait! I’m gettin’ a brainstorm.”

“And me without my umbrella,” Rebecca says dryly.

 

Captured and handcuffed together, Baloo and Rebecca refuse to tell Karnage where Kit is.

Gidget:  Oooh, handcuffs!

“You would risk your lives defending that filthy flea?” Karnage asks in disbelief.

Gidget: I’m with the captain.  ;)

Cody: (glares at Gidget) Watch it. :D

“Hey, lay off! He’s a good kid!” Baloo growls.

Kit can’t take it anymore. Gesturing for Molly to stay put, he leaps out of hiding and jauntily struts to the stage, slapping a smaller pirate out the way.

“Hiya, gang! I’m back!”

“Kit! What are you doin’?” Baloo asks in disbelief.

“Can it, rudder rump,” Kit snaps as he pulls himself onto the stage.

“’Rudder rump?’” Baloo is confused and hurt.

Turning to Karnage, the cub grins. “Yo, Captain! How’d I do?”

“What are you talking about, you juvenile delinquetywink?” Karnage scratches his head.

“I’m talking about what you taught me.” Kit winks and moves to stand beside Karnage, furtively picking his pocket for the key to Baloo and Rebecca’s handcuffs. “The ol’ Karnage hustle. First, I pretended to steal the stone from you so I could finagle some ransom money out of Shere Khan.”

“What ransom money?” Karnage asks suspiciously.

“A hundred thousand dollars,” Kit says smugly. With the key between his toes, he unlocks Baloo and Rebecca’s handcuffs and shoves them aside.

“Really?” Karnage asks greedily as the pirates murmur in the background.

“Then, I was going to steal it back and give everything to you.” Glaring at Dumptruck and Mad Dog, he snaps, “That is, until these clowns messed it up by grabbin’ the lady and kid.”

 

Rebecca resumes nagging Baloo when they return to Higher for Hire:  “What is with you?  You haven’t said three words the flight home!”

Gidget:  Well, duh!  It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Kit betraying him, could it?  O_o

 

Baloo finally loses his cool.

(to Khan) “Don’t tell me about bein’ let down, buddy, ‘cause I’m an expert.  You let someone get close to ya and they stab you in the back!  Well, I’m sick of being used. (to Rebecca) And I’m sick of workin’ for you! (to Dr. Debolt) And I’m sick of your stupid stone!  So y’all just leave me alone!”

Khan:  Hmmm…a very emotional man. (to the others)  You’re all dismissed.

 

Gidget:  Rebecca tries to keep Baloo from leaving Higher for Hire in a huff.  “This isn’t about the plane or the stone or even me!  It’s Kit!”

Baloo growls at her, making her take a step back.  “Aw, what are you, the pirate den mother?”

 

Rebecca calls after him, “I just don’t believe Kit’s gone bad!”

Gidget:  What is that smell?

Cody: Uh-oh. Kit’s spoilt. J

 

 

 

Commentary

 

Cody:  I love part three. Kit’s edgy, bad boy act is fabulous and proves that he is a very good actor (or is he?). It’s highly emotional, yet has moments of comedy and the H4H gang play very well off each other.

Gidget:  Yeah, I have to agree.  I admire sneaky characters, although I still can’t believe B&B didn’t notice that Kit freed them from their handcuffs.  There were a great many holes in logic in this part, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Cody: I think Becky realized it. She musta looked at her hands when the camera panned to K&K. She did try to convince Baloo to go back for Kit.

Gidget (as Rebecca):  Men!

 

 

 

Part Four

Summary

 

The episode opens with a gorgeous view of Pirate Island at sunset. The pirates are loading the gun onto the Vulture and getting ready for an invasion of Cape Suzette.

 

Back in Cape Suzette, Rebecca and Molly are sitting in a diner. Molly’s eating a huge ice cream sundae and Rebecca’s trying to buy a plane. She calls a dealership that tells her they have planes for sale, and she says that she’ll be by the next day to take a look. Then, she goes glumly back to the counter. “Now, all I need is a pilot,” she murmurs. Molly, the persistent little demon, suggests Baloo, but Rebecca reminds her that he’s gone.

Gidget (as Rebecca):  See, honey?  The sun’s shining.  Baloo’s no longer blocking it.

(as Molly, rubs her eyes and squints):  Wow… it’s beautiful!

 

Khan’s rabbit (C: or rabid) scientist, Dr. DeBolt, charges into Khan’s office, interrupting an important call. Khan isn’t exactly happy—he slams the phone down on DeBolt’s fingers.  In pain but determined, the scientist tells him that Karnage has possibly built a lightning gun.

 

“Absurd,” Khan says dismissively.

 

An explosion from the cliffs convinces him otherwise and he calls the air force.

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Khan surprised.  And I loved it when Debolt cut off the call.  As the old Jim Croche song goes, you don’t pull on Superman’s cape/you don’t spit into the wind/you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger and you don’t mess with Khan!

 

High above the city, Karnage is enjoying the show. He orders Ratchet to torch buildings right and left. Kit wakes up from a nap as Karnage bombards Cape Suzette and goes to find out what happened. Dumptruck tells him that the “Cap’n is blowing the stuffing out of Cape Suzette.” Kit races to the bridge to find a party in progress. Karnage invites him to join the festivities. Then, he delivers his ultimatum:  “Hand over all your valuables and knickety-knacks to me. Okey-dokey?” Since he “did not hear a ye-es,” Karnage blows up bridges and buildings. Rebecca who had been watching, transfixed as the Iron Vulture glided overhead, grabs the screaming Molly and dodges flying debris.

 

“I got you, baby!” she assures her squalling brat.

Gidget (sings)  I goooot yooooou babe!

Cody: LOL! I was thinking the same thing!

 

Kit, meanwhile, is trying to come up with a plan to get Karnage to stop his attack. He rummages around in Ratchet’s toolbox until he finds a rubber glove. While all the pirates are busy watching the buildings blow up, he grabs the stone. Karnage orders him to put it back, but he mutters, “Make me” and runs. He races through the hallways with the pirates in hot pursuit. Finally, he makes it to the radio room and slams and locks the door. The pirates immediately use Mad Dog as a battering ram. Kit uses the radio to send a message to Baloo. Karnage arrives and sees his men trying to break down the door.

 

“Stop that!” he orders. “What were you thinking?”

 

The pirates drop Mad Dog, who says, “Thanks, Cap’n.”

 

Karnage kicks him out of the way scornfully. “His head is way too soft.”

 

Placing his ear to the door, he hears Kit using the radio and orders his men to shoot the door down. The bullets ricochet wildly. Holding in his temper by the thinnest of threads, Karnage says, “Somebody…get…the blowtorch.”

 

Meanwhile, Kit’s message reaches a pilot who relays the message to Baloo, who has been living it up at Louie’s. Baloo realizes Kit didn’t double-cross him and speeds back to Cape Suzette.

 

The pirates manage to break down the door, Karnage barges into the room, finds Kit, and demands he hand over the stone. Kit throws the stone at him, he catches it, and gets electrocuted. Kit slips out of his hiding place and pushes his way past the pirates. He makes it to the beak and starts to jump off, but Dumptruck grabs him and holds him over the edge. Karnage breaks his board and orders Dumptruck to drop him. As Kit falls, Molly and Rebecca, who are standing on the dock at Higher for Hire, see him.

 

At the last second, Baloo swoops in and saves him. They dodge a few lightning gunshots and Baloo tricks them by hiding under a bridge. Then, they go to Higher for Hire where Rebecca refuses to leave.  The clever businesswoman has an idea to deflect the lightning gun.   As ‘Miz Science says, rubber and electricity don’t mix, sooooo… she buys some tires, they nail them to the Sea Duck, and Baloo, Kit, and Rebecca go to confront Karnage. Rebecca’s idea works—the gun can’t penetrate the tires. Baloo leads the pirates on a merry chase through Cape Suzette where everybody crashes but Baloo. Then, he crashes his plane into the lightning gun. The Sea Duck and gun fall into the ocean where the lightning gun explodes and creates a tidal wave. The plane and gun are destroyed, our heroes are miraculously not drowned, and the city is saved. Khan’s men take care of the pirates while Baloo moans about his plane.

 

A week (or more) later, Baloo is still moping. Kit convinces him to come see the new plane Rebecca bought. To his surprise, it’s the Sea Duck, which she’s paid to put back together, piece by piece. 

Baloo is overjoyed.  “My baby!”  As he runs and embraces it, Rebecca’s words stop him cold.

“Well, actually…it’s my baby.”

“What?”

“That’s right.  Since I paid to have it put together, piece by piece, I own it again!”  She smiles and flutters her eyelashes at him.  “So… you gonna be my pilot, or what?”

Baloo grudgingly agrees to be her pilot. The gang takes a flight, with Kit cloudsurfing.

“Now I’m just doin’ this for ya till I can buy the Duck back,” Baloo says.

“Of course,” Rebecca replies.

“I can’t be tied down or nothin’,” Baloo adds.

“Oh, right, Baloo.”

“And about that name... I still don’t like ‘Higher for Hire’.”

“Get used to it, Baloo!” Rebecca laughs.

 

 

 

Quibbles and Bits

 

Molly forgives Kit awfully easily.

Gidget:  And Baloo was the one who ripped Lucy’s back apart to insert the stone.  Reminds me of how Madame Medusa hid the Devil’s Eye diamond in The Rescuers.

 

Why weren’t Kit and Rebecca in a seat when they rammed the lightning gun? They’re both small enough to fit into the navigator’s seat, and that would have been a whole lot safer than rattling around like peas in a bucket.

Gidget:  But then it wouldn’t be any fun to watch.  Bad enough that Disney won’t show real casualties of an invasion.  Planes are shot down, pilots float harmlessly back to earth in parachutes.  Shrapnel doesn’t land on anybody.   Where’s my beloved gratuitous violence?

 

Gidget:  How come B & B conveniently look away in shock when Kit removes their handcuffs?  And how come they don’t even feel it, or wonder how they got free?  And then they leave him there!

Cody: Baloo was such an idiot! Becky realized what Kit had done and tried to make Baloo go back and get him, but noooo.

Gidget (as Baloo, muttering):  Kid ate me outta house and home anyway.

 

When Karnage searches for Kit in the radio room, he checks under the rug.  O_o

 

Kit’s airfoil is gray at first, then turns white when Dumptruck grabs it from him.  And for the record, Dumptruck dropped Kit off the Iron Vulture, not Karnage.  The captain just ordered it done, so it’s not really his fault.  ;)

Cody: I see Ted’s been brainwashing you. J

Gidget:  I’ve got a dirty mind anyway.  Before Baloo tells Rebecca and the kids, “Whoa, people!  I’m not the hero type”, Rebecca’s eyebrows are missing.  That’s the first time of many occasions that the artists forget to darken them.  And wasn’t it rather odd how Rebecca just happened to have the rubber glove that Kit was wearing when he got dropped from the Iron Vulture?

 

After fitting rubber onto the Sea Duck, Baloo tells Kit to prepare for takeoff to save Cape Suzette and tries to make Rebecca stay home.  I cheered when she says, “It may not be my plane anymore, but they’re my tires.  I go.”  Since when is it more appropriate for a twelve-year-old child to enter a war zone than a grown woman.  I know Kit’s seen it all, but that’s no excuse to treat Rebecca like she’s a child.

 

After Kit and Rebecca come up to the surface, spluttering water, Rebecca’s hair is dry.  Compare it to the time she was doused in The Bigger They Are, the Louder They Oink.   She was soaked, hair hanging in her face, wringing out the hem of her sweater.

Cody: Yeah, that bothered me, too. Rebecca needed to look a lot more bedraggled in my opinion. That would have made that particular scene better.

 

 

Neat Little Details

 

Vultures fly around Pirate Island in the opening scene

 

Gidget:  When Baloo puts the Sea Duck into overdrive to increase the motor’s power to reach Cape Suzette in time, it reminded me of Han Solo putting the Millenium Falcon into hyperdrive (or is it hyperspeed?)

Cody: Hyperdrive.

 

That pig lady and Teddy are beside Rebecca and Molly as they’re coming out of the diner. Could she be Teddy’s mother? Also, Teddy was wearing the same outfit he wore in Baloo Switcheroo, Louie’s Last Stand, and that other episode he was in.

Cody: I think it was Last Horizons. I don’t think he was in Vowel Play.

Gidget:  No, I think he was in the street with the pig lady when Heimlich Menudo broadcast his terrorist threats.

 

When they’re flying through the city, one of the pirates crashes his plane and lands in the lap of a mannequin whose hand is upraised as if she’s going to spank him.

Gidget:  LOL!  I love it!

 

 

 

Funny Stuff

 

Baloo’s dancing

 

 

Karnage getting electrocuted

Gidget:  Yeah… that was good!

 

 

Baloo and Rebecca’s tug-of-war over the floor lamp and rug when he’s trying to persuade her to leave Cape Suzette:

Gidget:  Oh yeah, that was priceless!  What gets me is Rebecca’s vehement assertion that ‘this is my home’ and Kit and Molly agree with her, despite the fact that Cape Suzette is a deathtrap.  Reminds me of the stock character of some monster movies (eg: Dante’s Peak) --- you know the stubborn old widow who’s lived on top of the dormant mountain for forty years and refuses to leave it, even if the ‘mountain’ is a volcano about to erupt.  The warnings are there, the heroes try to convince her to escape the danger with them, but just because it’s her home, she elects to die.   The danger could be a man-eating shark, crocodile, ax-murderer and she’d still be home watching Hollywood Squares when her number’s up.

Cody (as Rebecca): I’m not leavin’. I’ve lived here for three days, and I’ve got a lot of memories of this place.

 

 

 

Quotes

 

Rebecca calls about cargo planes for sale while Molly eats ice cream.

“Yes, yes, I know it’s closing time,” she says impatiently. “But do you have any cargo planes for sale?…You do?  Great!  I’ll be by tomorrow!”

Hanging up the phone, she adds with a sigh, “Now all I need is a pilot.”

“What about Baloo?” Molly asks.

“Now, honey, I told you. He’s gone away. It’s just us two. Though I wish he were here.”

Gidget:  Is that how you explained Molly’s father’s ‘absence’?

(as Rebecca):  Well, it sounded a lot nicer than telling her I paid a hit man to take care of him.

 

Explosions wake Kit up and he goes to see what’s up. He sees Dumptruck in the corridor and asks, “What’s going on?”

“Eh, the Captain is blowing the stuffing out of Cape Suzette,” Dumptruck says gleefully.

“Is he crazy?”

Dumptruck laughs. “Yep.”

Cody: Good thing Karnage didn’t hear that little exchange. Kit and Dumptruck both would have been hanging by their pinkies. J

 

Karnage grabs a microphone and addresses the city. “Attention wonderful people of Cape Suzette! For years, I have tried to visit your fair city…but you have always shooted at me! Ahem. Now that I am here. You will hand over all your valuables and knickety-knacks to me, okey-dokey? I didn’t hear a yes.”

 

Kit realizes he’s in the radio room and decides to broadcast a message. “Mayday, mayday! Can anyone hear me? Anyone who flies? Get word to Baloo.”

Gidget:  I thought he said, ‘Anyone with flies?’  ;)

(as Louie, waving hand wildly):  Over here!

 

At Louie’s, Baloo is doing a dumb dance while Montgomery plays the piano.

“Hey Louie! Ain’t this the life? No bosses, no troubles, no obligations.” Baloo spins a chair around and sits in it.

Louie polishes the bar. “Yeah, cuz, you keep sayin’ that every five minutes. And you’ll believe it in a year or two.”

A pilot rushes in, out of breath. “Uh, is there a pilot here named Baloo?”

Baloo grins. “You’re lookin’ at him, ace.”

“There’s a distress call for you from someone named…Li’l Britches?”       

“What?” Baloo gasps and Louie flips on the radio.

“—can’t stop ‘em from wreckin’ the city. But I tried. Tell Baloo…tell Papa Bear…I’m his navigator…always.”

Gidget:  For some stupid reason, ‘always’ was edited from the syndicated airings.  And it’s an important word, because it reveals that Kit was ‘always’ on his side, that he didn’t betray him.

Cody: Which he should have seen anyway, the dumbbutt.

 

Karnage looks for Kit under the desk. Then, for good measure, he looks under the rug. Glancing up, he spots Kit behind some tubing on the wall.

“All right, you naughty nuisance. There’s nowhere to run. Hand over the stone.”

“Stone?” Kit asks. “What stone?”

“The one behind your back.”

Kit displays the stone. “Oh, this? Catch!”

He tosses it to the floor and Karnage catches it as it bounces. He is promptly electrocuted. Kit uses the opportunity to slip out of hiding and dart out of the room. Karnage lays prone on the floor. “Hoo, boy.” He coughs. Then, he orders his men after Kit.

Kit makes it to the beak and is about to jump for it when Dumptruck grabs him. Karnage saunters up with the rest of his men.

“My boy, my boy. You cannot make the fool of me twice, yes-no?” Grabbing Kit’s airfoil, he flicks it open a few times. “Interesting toy. Oh, but I broke it!” He breaks it over his knee and hands the pieces back to Kit.

“My board…” Kit whispers.

“So, Kit Cloudkicker. You will kick the bucket instead of the clouds.” Karnage laughs. “I made a joke. From now on, I erase you from my list of noble pirates!”

“Noble? You’re nothing but a cheap crook, Karnage.” Taking aim, he hurls the broken pieces of his board at Karnage. They strike him square on the head and he whirls around, furious.  He barks an order to Dumptruck.

“Drop him!”

The giant obliges and Kit plummets, screaming. On the Higher for Hire dock, Rebecca and Molly watch the show.

“Mommy, it’s Kit!” Molly exclaims, pointing.

Gidget:  If he sees this, he’ll explode!  Uh-oh…there he went!

 

“Hold on!” Baloo yells to Kit and Rebecca.  “I’ll try losin’ ‘em in town!”

Gidget:  Yeah, they’ll never find you in the department store.  Try lingerie.

 

Khan stands at his window, looking at the tidal wave with a pair of binoculars.

“Pity,” he says. “That was a pilot to be reckoned with. Scramble the planes.”

 

Furious that his lightning gun was destroyed, Karnage decides to put up a fight as Khan’s pilots attack. “To your posts, men! We will fight to the last man!”

A volley of gunfire makes him change his mind. “On the other hand…retreat! Retreat! Full speed behind!”

 

 

 

Commentary

 

Cody:  A spectacular finish to a kickin’ episode. Is it just me or did the animation get better as the P&L series went along? Parts 1 and 2 were mediocre at best, but 3 and 4 were great! The lines were cleaner and sharp, the colors more rich. As far as plot goes, the third part was probably my favorite. I tell ya, though, that scene where Kit’s facing down Karnage is the best. I love that “you’re nothin’ but a cheap crook” line. He knows just how to get under people’s skin, doesn’t he?

 

Gidget:  Well, that’s one way to put it.  O_o.  I honestly liked part 2 (B&B meet) best, even though Rebecca is a bit of a dingbat (honestly --- painting a smiley face and tying balloons to a plane?  Frilly flowered curtains on the windows?  Who is she, Minnie Mouse?  Part 1 didn’t do it for me (not enough of the elements of a good episode, although it improved in the following parts, like you say.   Really enjoyed Shere Khan’s characterization… he’s J.R. Ewing of the animal kingdom.   You’re right --- the animation did seem to improve as it went along. On the whole, I’d give it 3 Krakatoa Specials.

 

Cody: Three? Are you nuts? J Seriously, though, I can see why. The main focus is on Kit and if you’re not a Kit-fan, you’re left waiting for your favorite character to make an appearance a lot of time. The animation in the first one almost made me bump it down to a four, but as I said, it got better. There was fabulous character development and I loved the plot, too. Compared to shows like the Rescue Rangers, this was pretty complex stuff. I don’t think any other premiere episode of a Disney show has packed much in the way of complex emotions and moral issues like P&L does.  It’s an impressive body of work.

 

 

November  2001

 

 

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