GIDGET’S TALESPIN REVIEW

Citizen Khan

3 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials

Summary

The Sea Duck is making a delivery of kumquats in especially stressful conditions today.  Not only is it blisteringly hot, but it's isolated.  The heat is also rotting the cargo.
 
"Wouldn't want to break down around here," Kit observes as he takes in the long stretch of desert below.

"That's why we brought Wildcat along," Baloo answers and reassures him that they're taking a short cut.   He goes to the cargo hold to see what the mechanic is up to, only to find Wildcat gleefully dropping bad fruit overboard. 

"Bombs away!"

Horrified, Baloo stops him.  "Wildcat!  These kumquats are worth their weight in dough-re-mi!"

The cargo is getting smelly, so they don't dawdle.   Unfortunately, they are unceremoniously pulled over (or rather, hijacked) by the corrupt Sheriff Klegghorn and his dimwitted deputy, Wendell, who pulls out a slingshot and fires a strange, metallic missile at the Duck, crippling it.

"Whoa!  They shot my baby!" Baloo wails as he struggles to control the plane.  But they are forced to land in a desolate little mining town.   Once in a drab little courtroom, the sheriff dons a judge's robe and charges the handcuffed prisoners with '...speedin', litterin', resistin' arrest over the Boomstone city limits.  They are also sentenced to six months of hard labor and the Sea Duck is confiscated.

Baloo is outraged.  "You can't do that --- the Sea Duck's private property!"

Smugly, Klegghorn picks his teeth.  "Not anymore."
Gidget:  At least it wasn't his nose.

The secretary, a pretty young cat in western duds interrupts the 'trial' indignantly.  "Someone has got to stop this!  You're not the sheriff --- you are not the judge!  You're just a Khan Enterprises employee like the rest of us!" and rails at him for abusing his power, forcing anyone who passes the town work in the mine.  

But Klegghorn is adamnant.  "Until Khan tells me different, we're running things my way."  Of course, ol' Khanny can't say when the sheriff's got the only phone and it's been broken for weeks...

Suddenly our heroes notice that Shere Khan's portrait is hanging on the wall. 

"What does Shere Khan have to do with this?" Baloo asks and is informed by Wendell that Khan owns both the town and the silver mine.   "Well, look here, Cowboy Bob!  We just happen to be pals with Mister Shere Khan.  You'd better let us go if you know what's good for ya!"
Gidget (as Khan):  Mmmyes, Mister Balloon.  You are my... buddy.
Cody (as Baloo):  All right!  Uh…can I hit you up for a loan—little buddy?
Gidget (as Khan):  Mmmyes, as long as you don't spend it on that stupid banana song.  I despise boobie-woobie.
(as Baloo):  Uh, that's boogie-woogie.

"Mister Khan may own the town, but he doesn't run it.  I do."  Klegghorn pulls out a large slingshot and aims a piece of the same strange, metallic rock that sabotaged their plane.  "Now put these pals of Mister Khan to work."

In the mine, Wendell uncuffs them.  Baloo keeps threatening their captors.  "Just wait'll Khan hears about this!  You won't be dogcatcher for a mud puddle!"
Gidget:  Oooh... you tell him.
Cody:  Yep.  Big threat there, Baloo.

Klegghorn smirks. "And how is he going to find out?"

"Why---he'll read Clementine's reports."

The sheriff lets out a sleazy laugh.  "You know anything about reports, Wendell?"

His deputy chuckles.  "Not a thing, Sheriff."

Kit then notices a bucket of shiny, lumpy rocks.  "What is this stuff, anyway?  It's not silver."
Gidget:  As an ex-pirate, I guess he'd know his stolen goods.

"It's urgonium, son," the sheriff explains.  He goes on to explain that they ran out of silver quite awhile ago, then their mining machines came across a strange substance.  "Urgonium has a 'peculiarity' that's hard on machines... and miners.  That's why we have to arrange for special 'volunteers' to work the mines for us... like you all."

Baloo asks, "What kinda 'pecularity' are we talkin' about?"

"One that will have armies and demolition companies paying out of the nose for every teeny, tiny piece."

Wildcat picks up a rock from the bucket.  "It's kinda pretty --- for a rock."

Wendell panics.  "Put that down, you fuzz-for-brains!"

The mechanic shrugs and drops the rock back into the bucket.  There is a terrific explosion, making the whole place shake.  When the dust clears, Wildcat is covered in soot, resulting in 'stripes' across his cheeks, sort of like a tiger.  Baloo takes advantage of the fact that nobody in town has actually met Shere Khan and makes Wildcat impersonate him.  It's less than convincing, but the crooked pair  buy it.
Gidget:  They'd probably be fooled by Baloo in a hot dog costume too.  

Klegghorn's mind is spinning one lie after another.  He tells his deputy to get the plane ready to fly 'Khan' to town to rest up as he promises to explain the urgonium to his boss.   

As they leave the mine, Kit glances at the sullen captive miners and asks, "Aren't you going to lock the door?"
Gidget:  That's it, Kit.  Remind them.
Cody:  Kinda makes me wonder if Karnage made him help with brig watching when they had prisoners.  You know Dumptruck or Mad Dog would have forgotten to lock the door.  J

"Naw --- the only way out of here is by plane.  Besides, they like it here."

Enraged, the miners eavesdrop.  They are also less impressed than the sheriff by Khan.
Their leader, a gruff giraffe, speaks. "So that's the great and powerful Khan and he's got a plane --- our ticket home."

Meanwhile, the sheriff sucks up to 'Khan', suggesting, "Why don't you make yourselves comfortable until take-off time?"

Kit mutters to Baloo, "I don't trust that sheriff."

"That's why we're making prop wash as soon as the Sea Duck is up to snuff."
Gidget:  Is that anything like making whoopee?
Cody:  LOL!  Y’mean that’s what his code for “I want you and I want you now” ?

The sheriff and his deputy, however, have other ideas...

Wendell is worried.   "As soon as he's home, we're through."

"That's why he's not gettin' home... now here' what I want you to do..."

When she tries to talk shop with the decidedly non-businesslike 'tycoon', the sheriff quickly urges them to relax and play a nice game of pool --- his treat.  Unknown to them,  Wendell has racked up the pool balls, planting a deadly urgonium 'ball' on the table.  

The sheriff excuses himself to his 'guests', saying, "If you'll excuse me, I have to go get my teeth cleaned." The pair run outside to wait for the 'boom'.
Gidget:  Why do they hang around the window to watch?  It's going to explode, your turds!
Cody:  Yeah, kinda brainless, aren’t they?
Gidget:  Well, they will be --- after the explosion.  :D

Wendell has some qualms about killing their co-worker, but Klegghorn shrugs. "Trying to keep her in the dark while we stole the urgonium was getting to be a real pain."

Wildcat and Clementine play pool and narrowly miss getting blown up.   When everyone leaves, Wendell sneaks back in to check the defective rock.  Boom!  He gets it again.

Baloo and Kit leave Wildcat and the pretty woman to fix the Sea Duck's engine, unaware that the town's mechanic has been grabbed off the wing while reading a comic book.  The two bruins leave to distract the bad guys while Wildcat and Clem repair the engine of the Sea Duck.  Suddenly, the miners suddenly pounce on them, taking them prisoner in the mines.

The giraffe miner snarls, "Now, we'll see how you like it down here, Chairman Khan.  We work and starve so you can get fat!"

Wildcat looks down at his gut. "I thought I was putting on a few pounds."

The other two miners hold Clementine back.  She asks fearfully, "What are you gonna do?"

"It's not what we're gonna do, lady --- it's what you're gonna do..."
Gidget:  How'd she manage to get back to town without a plane?  Wait a minute --- is the plane also needed to get from the town to the mines?
Cody:  Well, it seems like it at first—when Kleggie and Wendell take Kit, Baloo, and Wildcat to the mine and they mistake him for Khan, the sheriff makes some comment about hopping a plane and getting ‘Mr. Khan’ back to Boomstone.  But then, the miners show up—planeless as far as I could tell—and kidnap Wildcat and Clem, so I don’t know.

A few minutes later, she bursts into the sheriff's office with ransom note:  " We demand safe passage out of this smelly place.  Refuse us and Khan's history."

Baloo is all set to do so until the Klegghorn and Wendell hold them at gunpoint.  The sheriff dismisses Clementine's protests, pushes her out the door and then tosses Baloo and Kit in a jail cell.  
Gidget:  Bears in chains!
Cody:  Sounds like the name of some alternative rock group.

With them imprisoned, 'Khan' held captive and Clementine supposedly sent home, everyone will be detained while they make their getaway.

But instead of going home, Clementine sneaks to the only phone in town.  She  picks up the receiver and hears the dial tone; not surprisingly, the sheriff had lied about the phone being broken.
Gidget:  Well, it'll be a long time before he has my trust again.  

In Cape Suzette, Khan still working late at night, grumpily answers the phone at his desk. 

"Hello?  I need to speak to somebody right away.  It's a matter of life and death for Mister Khan!"

"Is that so?"

"The miners in his Boomstone silver mines have snatched him!"

"Really.  Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"If someone doesn't hurry, it'll be too late.  They'll---!"

A familiar, raspy voice chills her spine.  "Clementine?"

The sheriff hangs up the phone and takes out of set of keys.  "Hey, I don't think you should be wandering around alone.  Let me take you to your room... make sure you're not disturbed until this Khan business is taken care of."

Khan hangs up too and decides to investigate the source of the  mysterious phone call...

Clegghorn locks the woman in her room, leaving her pacing with fury.  Suddenly, she spots the pair on the water tower through the window.  "What are those cretins up to?"

On the tower, the 'cretins' plot to kill Baloo and Kit as soon as they escape to rescue their 'boss'.  Upon Klegghorn's orders, Wendell deliberately leaves the keys in the cell door so that the prisoners will 'escape'  and have an 'accident'.  The sheriff figures that they can later blame the deaths on careless transportation of the urgonium.
Gidget:  I thought he didn't want anyone to know about the urgonium.  
(as Klegghorn):  "Those poor flyboys exploded.  No, I can't tell you why."   

But unlike a certain red-haired archaeologist, Clementine is no damsel in distress.  She ties several sheets together to form a 'ladder' and climbs out the hotel window.  "Well, this works in the movies."
Cody:  Nope.  Ol’ Clem can take care of herself without all the shrieking..

Then it comes apart, giving her only time to say, "Well, so much for the movies!" before she bounces on an awning and into a horse trough, and gets drenched.  Our unsinkable heroine then utters her best line, "After her bath, a girl's ready for anything!"
Gidget:  She's so cool.
Cody:  I just love her and Katie Dodd.  They’re much better than Becky. ;)
Gidget:  Well, I admit they're more glamorous.  Like Rebecca, Clementine is more 'attractive' than gorgeous.  Her eyebrows are heavier and her face isn't as girlish  --- she just has a nice figure and fluffy blonde hair.  I see her as the type that doesn't wear make-up.  She isn't afraid to get her hands dirty (or wet!) and is definitely not 'high maintenance', like say, Katie or Kitten Kaboodle.  If Wildcat and Becky weren't in the picture, I could see Baloo and Clementine hooking up. 
(as Baloo, singing):  Oh my darlin', oh my darlin, oh my darlin' Clementine...

Meanwhile, the prisoners take forever to notice that the key is in the cell door and nearly kill themselves finding other escape routes (Baloo tries to bend bars and Kit gets his head stuck between them).  Finally, when the big bear leans against the cell door, he falls out and they head for the front door, where Klegghorn has them in his sights, slingshot ready with its deadly missile.  When they don't come out, he sends Wendell to see what's keeping them.

Just then, Clementine bursts in through the back, soaking wet and exhausted.  Ignoring her condition, she commands the other two to follow her out the back way. 

Then Wendell goes in to find them missing, then goes back out the front to tell his boss.  Naturally, thinking it's the prisoners, the sheriff blasts him.

Clementine leads the two bears to the mine.  "We must save Mister Khan and rescue those poor miners!"

"We intend to save 'em but there's something you should know about this Mister Khan business..."

And afterward:
"No wonder he wasn't what I expected!"

Baloo nods. "Let's just hope your miner buddies haven't been too rough on him."

Just then, the villains show up.  Clem sees them and urges her friends into the mine.  

"They're going into the mines!" yells Wendell.
Gidget:  He has such an amazing grasp of the obvious.  Hey... maybe they'll find Timmy!  (Lassie ref.)

The sheriff just grins. "Yeah, but they ain't comin' out!"

In the mine, the miners haven't done more than tie up "Khan", because he's just no financial genius.  As the Giraffe miner puts it, "If brains was perfume, you couldn't smell this guy through a barb wire fence!"  

With everyone in his way now herded into the mine, he orders the deputy to blast it, causing a small avalanche.  The entrance is blocked and there is no other way out.  Everyone is scared but Wildcat says, "We'll be okay.  Just give me a hand."  

Kit is skeptical.  "Wildcat, are you sure?"

The mechanic picks up a broken axle, which looks like a giant tinker toy.  "Anybody got any bubble gum?"
Gidget (as Clementine):  I just wish he wouldn't bring it to bed...
Cody:  LOL!  Clementine:  Wildcat, honey, could you at least bathe before you come to bed?  You’re making the sheets smell like motor oil.
Gidget (as Wildcat):  Isn't that  better than the usual smell that come out of husbands?

Finally, the real Shere Khan  arrives to put things right (sort of like he did in Louie's Last Stand).  The sheriff stammers some excuses to buy time to escape. 

Wendell is more direct.  "I thought you was down with the miners."

"So I've been told."

"Hey, Boss," the deputy whispers to Klegghorn, "maybe the one we got down there ain't the real Mister Khan."

Klegghorn babbles to the newly materialized Khan, "What a surprise!  We were just about to call to let you know about some problems we were having with an imposter."

"I'd very much enjoy meeting myself.  Can you arrange it?"
Gidget:  I just love that line!
Cody:  There’s just something about Khan’s deadpan humor.
Gidget:  I generally think of him as humorless, but yeah, you're right.  You just have to listen for it.

"I'm not sure we can lay our lands on him right now.  You see..."

Suddenly, they are interrupted by the roar of a mining drill.  Wildcat has done it again.  He, Baloo and Kit triumphantly emerge from the vehicle.

Khan is hardly surprised.  "How nice of you all to drop by."

Klegghorn points at Wildcat. "There he is, Mister Khan!  The impostor!  The lowdown varmint who was trying to steal your mine!"

Khan looks at the disheveled Wildcat and raises an eyebrow.  "You mistook him for me?"  Then he sees the dirty miners.  "And who are these?"

The giraffe miner speaks up. "We mine your urgonium."

"Urgonium? How interesting.  Why haven't I heard about this?"

"Well, you see..." Klegghorn falters, panicking.  Then racing for the getaway plane, he yells at Wendell, "RUN!"

While our heroic trio gives chase, Clementine approaches her boss. "So you never told the sheriff to mistreat the miners?"

"My dear, I desire only money and power."  He regards the three miners with disdain.  "Unpresentable employees provide me with neither."
Gidget:  So there's no Jeans Day at your escort service?
Cody (as Baloo):  Darn!  Guess I’ll have to change!  Wait a minute—I don’t wear pants.
Gidget:  In an escort service, who needs jeans anyway?  ;)

A mid-air chase ensues, but it's nasty.  With their getaway plane loaded with urgonium, Klegghorn and Wendell shoot at the Sea Duck, nearly crippling it again.
Gidget:  If our heroes are pursuing the bad guys, how come they're flying in front of them?
Cody:  Ahh, the cartoon laws of physics…

Kit moans, "How are we gonna fight against those exploding rocks?"

Wildcat gets an idea and leads him to the cargo hold, where the now-completely rotten kumquats are still sitting.  He  scoops up a handful, then he and Kit start throwing the smelly goop at the evil pair, getting them in the face.  It also clogs the propeller, stalling it and making the plane crash.   So the baddies are caught and Khan makes a few changes...

Later, Khan asks Baloo and Kit, "How do you like my new mine foreman?"
Gidget (as Baloo):  Great pair of bongos!
Cody (as Khan):  Mmmm yes. ;)  

They watch Clementine, now donning a miner's hat, clipboard in hand, giving instructions to the considerably chastened ex-sheriff and ex-deputy.  
Gidget:  I wonder why they didn't go to prison for attempted murder?  Maybe being stuck in a boring small town is prison enough.  And how can Clementine be sure they won't try to kill her again?
Cody:  Guess they figured staying in Boomtown was prison enough.  But it’s a mystery as to why Clem stayed there, especially if it’s just her and the cretins.

Baloo chuckles.  "Why don't we ask the new miners?"

Wildcat, meanwhile, sadly realizes that he'll never measure up to the larger-than-life image of Khan that Clem had in her mind. "I guess now that you met the real Shere Khan, you don't like me anymore."

She smiles warmly, taking his hands between hers. "Actually, Wildcat, since I met the real Shere Khan, I like you even better!"

Surprised, but happy, he smiles shyly back.

A few feet away, Khan says to Baloo, "In gratitude for uncovering this subterfuge, I suppose I can reimburse you for your... kumquats."
Gidget (as Baloo):  Thanks.  They were the juiciest batch of kumquats you've ever seen.
Cody:  LOL!   You know, when I first heard that line, I thought he was sighing and saying “Ingratitude”—as in Clem should have been a little more thankful to him for freeing the miners.

"Well, that's real decent of ya, Khan."  Baloo adds, knowing the 'rules' of dealing with Khan, "And I promise, I won't tell a soul."

"And where's that mechanic fellow?  I want to thank him too."

Kit grins and gestures behind him, where Wildcat and Clementine are having their first romantic kiss.  "Well, Mister Khan, I think you'd better ask your new foreman."



Quibbles and Bits

Sheriff Klegghorn and Wendell both ride mini-planes that let their legs hang over the sides (like motorcycles), with reins.  Klegghorn's plane whinnies when he pulls the reins.  Also, the getaway plane has a saddle and steer horns!  Those modern cowboys...
Cody:  (jams on cowgirl hat) So, uh, where can I get one of those?

Instead of guns, Klegghorn and Wendell carry slingshots in their holsters.
Gidget: Is that a slingshot in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
(as Bart Simpson):  Don't have a cow, man.

Khan's scowling portrait hangs in the strangest places
-in the sheriff's office/courtroom
-both in and outside the mine  --- but why?
Gidget:  At first, it seems the animators needs a way to show how the Boomstone residents know what he's supposed to look like, but be logically fooled by Wildcat's impersonation.  Now, seeing the way his likeness is hung high over their heads with that fierce stare, I think it would be just like him to play with their heads, making them feel like he's omnipotent, like Big Brother.  Wonder if his portrait is hung in every room at Khan Enterprises, for just this reason?
Cody:  Odds are, it’s probably even in the bathrooms.  Could you imagine trying to go with that picture staring you down?
Gidget:  I wouldn't dare!  I'd wait I got home.  Oy... those darn sixteen hour work days... Hey, how can the sheriff 'have the only phone' if it's a public phone?  Clem should've been able to check out the phone a long time ago, like while the cretins were sleeping.  Also, notice that when a soaked Clementine enters the jail to rescue the boys, her hat is missing (lost in the trough, supposedly).  They're in a rush to save Wildcat from the miners, yet for the next scene, she somehow she found time to dry off and retrieve her hat.   Also, while they're in a rush, Baloo stops her from going into the mine to tell her why "Khan" isn't who she thinks he is.  Why not wait until they rescue Wildcat?  Telling her also wasted enough escape time to allow the baddies to catch up to them and trap them in the tunnel.
Cody:  It’s to prolong the suspense.  That’s it.

Gidget:  Let's see... Klegghorn and especially Wendell have taken the brunt of the urgonium a couple of times, coming out of it with no more than sooty faces.  In the end, they crash to the ground with a cargoful of exploding rocks and they still survive?  Who makes that urgonium, anyway --- Acme Inc.?  And why be afraid of it if they're going to survive the blast every time?
Cody:  Warner Bros, anyone?  Seriously, that annoyed me, too.  If that’s all urgonium did, it wasn’t much of a weapon.



Neat Little Details

The name of the town, Boomstone is probably a TS  pun on 'Tombstone', the location of the massacre at O.K. Corrall.  (remember Wyatt Earpe and Doc Holliday?)
Cody:  All right, pilgrim.  I’m a-callin’ you out. ;)

After the blast that changes Wildcat's appearance, Baloo is puzzled by the baddies' shocked expressions.
"What's the matter?  You two look like you've seen a ghost."
Gidget:  Hey, you've seen two of them yourself! (Joe McGee and Captain William Stansbury)
Cody (as Baloo):  What’s the big deal?  Ghosts are just people, only, uh, dead.
Gidget:  Cody, please... they prefer the term 'living impaired'.

At night, before we pan to where the miners are bullying Wildcat, everything has a strange, surreal appearance (curved cactus and barrels).  Also, Khan's portrait is straightened.  Kind of like Salvadore Dali painting --- without the melted watches, of course.  ;)

The phone booth where Clementine calls Khan is this adobe sombrero structure --- very similar to a Taco Bell restaurant.



Funny Stuff

While Wildcat accidentally detonates the urgonium in the mines, he 'earns his stripes', so to speak.  Unflappable as usual, he asks, "You guys seen my cap?"
Cody:  And didn’t you love the way he impersonated Khan?  It added a whole new dimension to his character.

Wendell, who usually sets the traps for others, always gets the brunt of the blast, getting completely scorched, like Wile E. Coyote.  Maybe that's why he's a wolf (or is he a coyote?)... for an injoke?
Cody:  If he’s Wile, who’s the Roadrunner?  Baloo couldn’t outrun a snail.
Gidget:  He’d just sit on it.  (as Baloo):  Oops.  Sorry, little fella.



Quotes

Kit:
Steering the plane to outfly Kleggy and Wendell, Baloo winks at Kit.  "These kumquats and I don't have time ta play Cowboys and Indians."
Then Wendell shoots them down.
Kit says, "Guess we have time to play Cowboys and Indians after all."
Cody (as Kit):  Why do I put up with this moron?
Gidget:  Because nobody else likes you, honey.


Wildcat:
"My friends would call me Shere, but I don't have any friends."

Klegghorn and Wendell brush the soot off 'Khan'.  "Mister Khan, what are you doing here, all dressed up and such?"
"I always dress this way --- except on my birthday --- I have a special suit for that."
Cody:  LOL!!  I love that line!  Of course, it doesn’t conjure up a real pretty picture, but the innuendo was absolutely ingenious.

The sheriff suggests a recreational activity for 'Khan'.  "How about a nice game of pool?  My treat."
"I love pool! Aw, but I didn't bring my suit."
Baloo whispers in his ear, then Wildcat says in a deep Khannish voice, "I mean... billiards would be divine."  He takes Clem's arm.  "Come, my dear."

While playing pool with Clem:
Clemenine:  "You're not at all what I expected a ruthless financial genius to be like, Mister Khan."
Typically, he chalks up his cue on the wrong end.  "Oh?  Uh... I've been sick.  

"Stand back... I'm really gonna blast 'em!" Takes his shot, hitting all but the urgonium 'ball'.  "I missed one."

The damaged Sea Duck and Wildcat's prognosis:
For Clem's benefit, Baloo is careful not to address him by his real name. "Can you determine the problem, Mister Khan?"
The mechanic holds up a comic book.  "Yeah.  I read this one already."
"I was referring' to the engine, boss!"

While Baloo and Kit leave to distract the rotten twosome, Clem helps Wildcat repair the engine.
Wildcat:  "Got any bubble gum, Clem?"

Repairs finished, he closes the hood, unaware that she is watching him with pure admiration.
"Oh, I am convinced nothing is too difficult for you, Mister Khan."
"Uh, I draw the line at eating brussle sprouts."
Cody:  It was a nice touch on Pat Fraley’s part to deliver the line with a little self-deprecating chuckle.  You could almost see him blushing at her praise.
Gidget:  I agree.  Nice grace note.


Baloo:
(after a piece of urgonium explodes) "That's a pretty peculiar peculiarity, all right."

Sort of a version of 'After you... no, no, no... after you!' with the sheriff:
Klegghorn says to 'Khan', "And soon you'll be winging your way home from this 'surprise visit' in no time."
Baloo interrupts:  "Seems to me our surprise caught you pretty much by surprise."
"Yep.  Your surprise ruined our surprise."
"Oh, you had a surprise?  That is a surprise!"
"We knew Mister Khan had about given up on our mine when we discovered the urgonium.  We wanted it to be a surprise."
Baloo is skeptical.  "Why, sure you did --- and you saved every piece just for him."

"Is there anything he can't do!" Clementine marvels when 'Khan' fixes the engine (?)

Kit spies the baddies kneeling under the window, waiting for Wildcat to hit the ugonium 'pool ball'
"What are they doing, Baloo?"
Baloo shrugs.  "I don't care... as long as they're not doin' it to me."
Cody:  I’ve always wondered what Kit thought they were doing.
Gidget:  Me too.  

Knowing his old friend and mechanic a little better, Baloo is less impressed.  "Yeah.  Find his head with both hands."
Cody:  Y’know, I found that mean—but very clever for Baloo.
Gidget:  Yeah.  But that's okay, because it was funny.  I hate meanness, but I love sarcasm.  As Bugs Bunny would say, ain't I a screwball?  ;)


Klegghorn:
"What ol' Khan doesn't know won't hurt me."

Explains that the urgonium is secure:
"It's locked on our getaway --- er --- patrol plane.  For safekeeping."
Baloo is sarcastic. "So it won't fall into the wrong hands."
"That's it, exactly.  Just a great big misunderstanding, right, Mister Khan?"
Wildcat is too absorbed with fixing the Sea Duck's engine.  "That would hold better with a large wad of bubble gum."
Baloo quickly explains that 'Khan's' talent with repairing planes is explained as a hobby
Klegghorn:  "I figured that as soon as I saw that antique he was riding around in."
Baloo glares at this insult to his 'baby'.

After the urgonium pool ball explodes, leaving the deputy in cinders:
"Oh, Wendell!  If it was raining soup, you'd fetch a fork!"

Baloo frets about Wildcat-as-Khan going missing.  "Oh, how can he get lost in a town that's only a block long?"
Klegghorn leers.  "Maybe he wanted to be lost.  That Clementine is a whole lot of woman."

He refuses to negotiate for Wildcat's ransom.  "I am not going to succumb to a crowd of hooligans.  Mister Khan would want it that way."

(when Baloo and Kit don't notice that they can escape jail) "Those flyboys are as slow as Wendell!"


Clementine:
When she delivers the ransom note, the sheriff patronizingly shoos her out of the office. "You've been through a horrible experience.  Why don't you go take a nap or something while I handle it?"
"Ooh!  I'll show him a horrible experience!"

"What are those two cretins up to?"

"After her bath, a girl is ready for anything.”


Khan:  
When forced to answer the phone at work, he is irritated. "This will teach me to let my employees go home after a mere 16-hour work day."
Cody: (shuddering) Could you imagine what working for that man—uh, tiger—would be like?  I bet he’s got overseers with whips to crack on his poor employees’ backs if they start to nod off at midnight. ;)

"I suppose I should investigate my own untimely abduction."

"I'd very much enjoy meeting myself.  Can you arrange it?"

Khan looks at the dirty mechanic, then at the others. "You mistook him for me?"  Then he looks at the scruffy miners.  "And who are these?" 
Gidget:  His tone suggests that he means: "And what are these?" 



Commentary

Gidget:  The sheriff is a memorably sleazy character --- ugly, porcine, and with a voice that could etch steel.  He sounds very much like the late Slim Pickens (the cowboy who rode the missile in Dr. Strangelove).   Oily and oddly charismatic, he's the king of his little domain.  Possibly, he realizes that he's a small fish in the world outside Boomstone, so he squeezes every ounce of power he can get from terrorizing anyone who gets stranded in 'his town'.  He's a male chauvinist pig, too.  He patronizes Clementine like you wouldn't believe.  I wanted to slap him.
Cody:  Me, too!  I’m surprised Clem didn’t.

Gidget:  Wendell is also a good character, although less compelling.   A goofy-looking wolf, he's slow on the uptake but unlike most sidekicks of this type, he is slightly more intelligent.   He's not  a blind follower, though.  It's not like Klegghorn tricked him into helping him.   He wants to do it.   He's slow but mean enough to take pleasure in bullying the prisoners.   He's like a nasty 12-year-old, eagerly aiming his slingshot --- except instead of killing birds, he's going after people.  The sheriff treats him as an equal partner in their theft of the urgonium and surprisingly didn't try to escape Boomstone without warning him to run.  Wendell also has a conscience... sort of.   He expresses concern that Clementine will get killed when she's playing the rigged pool game with Wildcat.  However, it doesn't last.  He shrugs it off and that's that.  
 
I give this three Krackatoa Specials.  Not as good as it could have been, but it does show an interesting side of Wildcat, giving him a bigger role than he usually gets as the almost invisible mechanic.   The other characters take cheap shots at his intelligence (see quotes) --- all except Kit and the lovely female he meets on a fateful cargo run to a near-deserted locale.  Here we meet Clementine, a true Steel Magnolia --- sweetly Southern, yet resourceful and tough as nails when it comes to saving herself and her town.  Gentle yet fiery, she's a wonderful creation.  

Cody:  Don’t have a heart attack, but I agree completely.  For me, Clem makes the whole episode.  Her voice isn’t annoying like Becky’s can often be and she’s got smarts, but isn’t a genius.  The only quibble I had was that she wore a skirt.  Katie and Becky get to wear pants—why not Clem?  But it’s a minor thing and more of a personal quirk than anything else.  Kit’s part was minor, but good, which makes me agree with that third Krackatoa. J

Gidget:  Although very attractive by TS standards, she's the polar opposite of Katie Dodd (For Whom the Bell Klangs).  Compassionate of the miner's fate and genuinely angered at being forced to play a part of it, she sees how dangerous the lawless lawmen are and takes steps to find a way to contact Khan to stop them.  I think she is purrrfect for Wildcat.   She appreciates his simple personality as one as genuine as her own (especially after spending time with creeps) and admires his handiness with tools and bubble gum.  With Clementine Clevenger at his side, he could do anything.

December 2002

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