GIDGET’S
TALESPIN REVIEW
A Baloo Switcheroo
Rating: 2 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials
Summary
Professor O’Bowens, a chimpanzee and a daredevil archaeologist, has just
discovered the Idol of the Soul- Switcher.
As he unsuccessfully explains to the greedy pirates, “According to
legend, it can steal your very soul and switch it with another.” He manages to escape and gives the idol to
Baloo and Kit, promising to meet them at Cape Suzette. Unfortunately, Kit and Baloo both look at
the idol during a thunderstorm and exchange bodies. Trying to live each other’s lives gets even messier.
Later, when Karnage tries to steal the idol from H4H,
Rebecca intercepts him (the point of his sword accidentally pokes into an outlet,
electrocuting him). They get switched,
Karnage (as Rebecca) escapes with the idol and a series of mistaken identity
incidents occur. O’Bowens warns our
heroes that if they don’t retrieve the idol and somehow start a lightning storm
before sunup, they will remain this way forever. Kit comes up with the idea of cloud-seeding (similar to
cloud-dusting, but with salt) to create a storm. A confrontation with the Air Pirates results in mutiny, a huge
storm, a successful switch and a lost idol (those things are always getting
lost in these episodes).
But in the end, Mad Dog and Dumptruck have a problem…
Quibbles and
Bits
Gidget:
Animation and dubbing (when characters exchange roles) are poor for the
most part. Mouths don’t match the words
either.
Gidget: When Rebecca tells
Baloo, “…anyway, you’ve got your own competition…the Fly-Offs.”, she looks at
Kit. Baloo’s soul is in Kit’s body, but she does not know that
yet. Why would she look at Kit? And why
wouldn’t she smell a rat when “Kit” reaches into “Baloo’s” pocket to check the
Fly-Offs schedule?
Cody: Maybe she’s just seeing what would happen since “Baloo” was the one
who was so worried about the track tryouts being moved? I don’t know. That
bothered me, too.
Gidget: A mystery for the
ages…
Baloo (as Kit): “Where ya goin’, Beckers?”
Rebecca
(at wit’s end): “To take an aspirin… I have a headache… my ears hurt… I’m going crazy!” When she
leaves, instead of heading upstairs to the medicine cabinet, she goes out the
front door.
Cody: She’s going to Wildcat’s to steal some of his stash. The whole aspirin
thing is just a cover.
Gidget: Coach pats (Baloo as Kit) on the head with his clipboard. Jerk!
Cody: “Kit” should have bitten him.
Gidget: That Baloo… eating again. No
self-control. *tsk*
Gidget: When Karnage and Rebecca switch bodies, “Rebecca” runs away with the
idol while “Karnage” shakes his fist, shouting, “Stop, or I’ll call the
police!” Oh, sure, that’ll make a thief turn around and come back. What she should have said was, “Stop, or I’ll
shoot!” Something a little more
intimidating, you know?
Cody: Yep. Just another irritating
thing about ol’ Beckers. J
Gidget: Whaddaya mean, another? ;)
Gidget: When the Iron Vulture tips and
the bomb bay doors open, everything rolls out (oil drums and Sea Duck); but our
heroes manage to get handholds on a smooth bolted iron floor. How come they don’t fall too? And they manage to hop aboard a speeding
plane, which is doomed to plummet into the ocean, another stupid move.
Cody: I think with all the
body-switching, their brains were scrambled, too. Or maybe they developed super
traction on the soles of their feet and palms of their hands.
Baloo (as Kit) roughly shoves Rebecca (as Karnage) away as “he” tries
to make the falling plane pull up.
Similar to the way he pushed Plane Jane in Waiders. That’s no way to treat a lady trapped in a man’s body,
Baloo!
Gidget: At end, when Mad
Dog and Dumptruck switch bodies, the idol is ‘forever lost’. How did they ever switch back?
Cody: They went scuba diving and got it back. Then, the ship’s cook seeded a
cloud with a little salt and voila!
Neat
Little Details
Gidget: One-shot character Professor O’Bowens is a
meek version of Indiana Jones, complete with a Raiders-like opening scene as he
searches for the idol.
Gidget:
One-shot character Teddy, Kit’s rival at school (actually two-shot,
if you count his fleeting appearance in crowd scene in “Last Horizons”; he has
no dialogue, but conveys so much contempt for Baloo (as Kit) in a smirk, a
glare, folding his arms and shaking his head in disbelief at who… us? Could Coach be his father? They have similar jawlines. And they’re both bears.
Cody: Could be. They do look an awful lot alike.
And Teddy’s actually a four-shot
character. He was in Plunder and
Lightning part 4 and Louie’s Last
Stand. Wonder why he didn’t show up in Sheepskin
Deep, since that actually takes place at school.
Gidget:
Probably in the boys’ room, giving Oscar a swirly.
Gidget: Karnage
is electrocuted for the second time in the series (first time in Plunder and
Lightning).
Gidget: Kit
finally flies the Sea Duck (while he’s in Baloo’s bulbous body).
Cody
(as Kit): Gee, this is harder than it
looks! Especially in Baloo’s tub-of-
lard body.
Gidget (crusty sea captain’s voice): Swim, laddie, swim!
Brody: We’re gonna need a bigger boat. (Jaws ref)
Funny Stuff
O’Bowens,
trying to be tough:
“Not this time, pirate! Feel the
fury of my whip!” (it gets sliced to pieces) and “Did I say ‘whip’? I-I meant
‘wimp’!”
Karnage (scoffing at the cautionary tale of the idol): “Who cares about that? All I want is the jewels.”
Karnage
(after being dropped into the ocean by his men): “When I
get back, I will hang them by their
pinkies!”
Kit:
“Come on, Baloo. Anyone can fly. The plane does all the work.” Wait till Flight School Confidential, Kit.
Cody: Hey! He flew…sorta.
Baloo
(after turning into Kit, regards himself from Kit’s
viewpoint: “How’d you get so big? (admiringly) And ruggedly handsome!”
Cody: Did Baloo turn into Karnage when no one was looking? That sounds so
atypically Baloo!
Baloo (as Kit):
Whoa! I’ve heard of
going through a second childhood, but not somebody else’s!” (during this scene,
we get a close-up of his eyes, and again in From
Here to Machinery)
Kit (as Baloo): “I know what you mean, Baloo.
Suddenly, I feel so heavy.”
Cody (as Kit): And would it kill you to lay off food for a while?
Baloo (as Kit, about Baloo): I didn’t wanna tell
ya… but inside that head is the mind of a child.”
Rebecca (scolds):
“Kit! You shouldn’t say things like that!
(under her breath)...even if it is true.”
Cody: Don’t hide your feelings, now, Becky.
Baloo (as Kit): “Hey, back in
school I was number one in track and field… or was that field and stream?”
Coach (suspiciously): “What’s wrong with your voice?”
Baloo (as Kit): “Uh, gee, I guess I’m just growin’ up, that’s all.”
Coach:
“You jump over
hurdles!”
Baloo (as Kit):
Aw, get outta here!
The only thing I jump to are conclusions!”
Cody: LOL! That line is pure gold!
Rebecca: “Enough! Things are bad enough without you two being
at each other’s throats.”
Baloo (as Kit): “Or worse – in each other’s
throat.”
Cody: Wouldn’t Becky have noticed and commented on that?
Karnage: “Idol…idol. You know, I really like that word.”
Gidget: O’Bowens finally makes it to H4H (on a makeshift raft, with a big palm
leaf as a sail, which he’s been blowing all the way from the idol site). “That
last 400 miles is a killer!”
Cody (the
vixen): I’d rather go 400 miles on that raft than in
an airplane!
Cody (the
author): Who asked you?
Gidget: Rebecca (as Karnage, looking down at her new body with disgust): “Oh,
great! I get to spend the rest of my
life as a thief!” Then she tries to
draw her sword, but it remains stuck.
Kit (as Baloo): “Let’s hurry (to
find idol) – I hate being being old and fat and tired…”
Baloo (as Kit, insulted): “Okay! We get the
message!”
Rebecca (as Karnage): comments on
the manmade clouds: “I’ve got powder
puffs in my makeup case bigger than that!”
Cody: If that’s makeup she wears, I’d hate to see her without it!
Karnage: (as Rebecca), reacting to
the leers of Mad Dog and Dumptruck: “Get your hands off me and slap yourself!”
and (after hands are tied and pirate refuse to make a deal) “You have to
trade! I am a man – I cannot live like
this!”
Dumptruck
picks “her” up and sets her down, out of the way. “Shut up,
skirt.”
Cody: You think Karnage became a women’s lib activist after this?
Rebecca (as Karnage): To Baloo (as
Kit) as he attempts control the plane:
“Stop! We’ll never make it!”
Baloo (as Kit): “Would you rather
wear boxer shorts the rest of your life?” (rather odd statement for someone
never wears pants)
Rebecca
(as Karnage): “Go for it.”
Karnage: “My beautiful
bod! I am my wonderful self again. I’m so… me!” (kisses himself all over, the
way a traumatized airplane passenger would kiss the ground)
Commentary
Gidget: I didn’t
like the animation (too dingy and
choppy in places) and the dubbing was poor.
But O’Bowens is a very likable character, quick-witted and tries to be
brave, although endearingly clumsy. When
he tries to distract the pirates from pursuing the Sea Duck, he swings on a
vine like Tarzan, shouting, “Just passing throooough!” This was an interesting
concept, probably borrowed from Disney movie, Freaky Friday (where a mother and daughter switch bodies). Some discussion generated suggestions for
other, more entertaining switches, namely with Karnage/Kit and Baloo/Rebecca.
Cody: I agree with your rating. It’s fun, but not
particularly memorable, though it does have great lines. As for more entertaining
switches, you really do have a sick mind. Or maybe I do. Or maybe both of us
do. Anyway. J
Imagine:
Kit commanding the pirates, freaking them out with his basic
decency.
Cody: Kit: I say we give this stuff back to them. I
don’t know why we took it in the first place.
Maddog (whining): But Cap’n…!
Karnage coping with
school try-outs and having to wear gym
strip.
Cody: Karnage (as
Kit): I am
not believing this. You want me to do what?
How dare you insult my wonderfulness!
Image-conscious Rebecca trapped in Baloo’s bulbous body with no
pants.
Cody: She’d probably be something like Gadget on
that ep of the Rescue Rangers where she switched bodies with Dale. Gadget:
Kinda drafty in here, isn’t it? (grabs a little cup and uses it as a skirt)
Baloo (cross-dresses for fun but doesn’t understand
women), not being able to dislodge the coconuts.
Cody:
*shudders at the idea of Baloo trying to “dislodge the coconuts”*
Gidget (as
Baloo): “Aw, you’re just jealous ‘cause mine are bigger!”
Gidget: Yep. Coulda been fun.