CODY’S EPISODE REVIEW


Flight School Confidential

 

5 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials

 

Summary

 

Kit, embarrassed and mad at Baloo for making fun of him after he crashes the Sea Duck into the beach at Louie’s, goes to Thembria where Colonel Spigot is running a flight school for 12-year-olds. When he discovers that Spigot has no intention of letting him—or any 12-year-old—fly, Kit does everything in his power to thwart Spigot’s plan and even manages to fly a Thunder Yak…sort of.



Quibbles and Bits

When Kit breaks into the hangar, he uses some engine-thing as a counterweight on the flagpole. He didn’t strain when he was raising it, but it had to weigh more than he does and I’m sure he’s not strong as an ox.

 

When Dunder is bolting the planes together, he says “Only forty-seven more to go” and crosses one off his diagram. There are only eleven planes on the diagram and when they show the “perfectly formed flounder” there are only eleven planes. Where did the extra thirty-six planes go?

 

What happened to Rebecca and Higher for Hire in this ep? Did she go on vacation? And why did Kit send the postcard to Louie’s? Wouldn’t he have assumed that Baloo would have been at home in Cape Suzette?

All the sergeants look like Dunder. Is that a requirement in Thembria?



Neat Little Details

This is the only episode in the series to focus solely on Kit with almost no interference from any of the other characters.

 

Nice little dig at government blundering and control. It seems to say that if someone in the government makes a mistake, he will never admit it and always tries to cover it up so that those higher up won’t notice his blunder.

 

Thembria has a turnip-peeling school. Wonder what other kind of schools they have. A school on how to salute seafood, maybe? No, wait—that’s the flight school.

           

Funny Stuff

 

Kit tries to start a revolution, but finds that his fellow students are more interested in the turnip dinners than anything else. Disgusted, he tells Bobbo to tell the “guys to look at the sky at midnight.” Then, he goes on to hijack a plane—and crashes into the wall of Colonel Spigot’s office. “Whew. Hope nobody saw that,” he says, looking more than a little rattled.

 

Kit crashes the Sea Duck into the beach at Louie’s. Louie, Baloo, and a Thembrian pilot rush out to see if he’s okay as Kit opens the door and staggers out of the plane.

 

“Kit! Are you all right?” Baloo yells.

“Well, blow my horn! The kid’s fine,” Louie says.

“Gee, Baloo, I’m sorry,” Kit says, looking ashamed.

“What were you doin’?” demands Baloo.

“About five miles an hour,” Kit says sheepishly.

 

Spigot’s interviewing process for flight school is a hoot.

“This applicant has perfect eyesight, passed his written pilot’s exam, and his father was a pilot!” Dunder says.

“Never mind all that junk! Let’s see if he measures up….5’1”…too tall. Send him to turnip peeling school.  Next!”

“Wow, looks tough,” Kit comments to Bobbo in the hallway.

 

That Dunder is a sly one. He always manages to make a joke about his leader’s less-than-astounding height. Dunder welcomes the new flight school students and introduces Colonel Spigot. “You are the best, the brightest…and the shortest — and so is the man you owe your life, liberty, and future paychecks to, our glorious leader… Colonel Spigot!”

 

Kit tries to open the door to the hangar and has to hide behind a snowdrift as two guards come out of the hangar.

“Whew! That was close. But I’m not getting cold feet.”

Kit, you’re sitting in a snowdrift in the middle of the night and you’re not wearing shoes (or pants, for that matter, but we won’t go there). Shouldn’t you already have cold feet?  *dodges numerous tomatoes and other vegetables thrown in her direction*

Quotes

Kit begs Baloo to let him try a Baloo Corkscrew, but Baloo refuses, saying he doesn’t want to wind up with their nose in the dirt. Kit proceeds to try to convince him that he is every bit as competent as Baloo.

 

“Just ask me anything I the standard flight manual. Go ahead, ask me,” Kit says desperately.

Baloo chuckles. “I’ll bet you’d know. But knowin’ and doin’ is two different things.”

“But I’ve taxied and I’ve been in at least 200 planes and you’ve let me sit in your lap and steer!”

“And you’re only twelve years old. There’s no gettin’ around that,” Baloo interrupts.

“Aw, jeepers.”

 

After the Thembrian pilot tells Kit about the new flight age in Thembria, Kit looks at him in awe.  “Wow! Do they fly real planes and everything?”

 

As he and Dunder are reviewing the flight school hopefuls, Spigot says, “Please form a single-file line…or you will be shot.”

 

Bobbo checks on Kit while he is serving time in the kitchen peeling turnips.

 

“Are you okay, Kit?” Bobbo asks.

“Oh, I’m just great, Bobbo. I’m in a flight school that doesn’t teach flying!” Kit retorts.

“This kind of thinking is normal in Thembria,” Bobbo tells him calmly.

“Yeah, but I left home so I could fly,” Kit says.

“Flying means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

“It means everything to me. I sleep it, I dream it, I think about it once every ten seconds…at least!” Kit waves his turnip peeler for emphasis.

Bobbo leans towards him confidentially. “I know what you mean. I feel that way about shaving ice.”

 

Kit tries to break into the hangar to see what’s going on. After he overhears Spigot telling Dunder that the flight school students aren’t going to be flying, he gets upset, the beam he is on breaks, and Spigot yells for the guards.

           

“Ready…aim…fire liberally,” the Colonel orders.

The guards obey, causing more beams to come crashing down on them.

“We must have this hangar termite inspected,” Spigot says.

 

Kit goes back to the bunker and tells his fellow flight school students that they are all being ripped off. No one is particularly interested. Bobbo tells Kit that no one cares about flying.

 

“This isn’t just about flying, it’s about our rights as men!” Kit says indignantly.

“But we’re not men, Kit. We’re boys,” Bobbo reminds him. “Flying is too dangerous.”

“Oh, yeah? Tell the guys to look at the sky at midnight. I’ll show you how dangerous flying is.” Kit storms away to go shanghai a plane and prove his point.



Commentary

Okay, I’ll level with you. If you don’t like Kit, you probably won’t like this ep. This is the episode for every Kit fan. There is very little of anything but Kit and another aspect of his character is beautifully explored. He is a boy who wants something so badly that he is willing to go to any lengths to achieve that goal. He leaves home, goes to a very inhospitable dictatorship of a country where he doesn’t know anyone, and proceeds to try to start a rebellion when he discovers that Spigot is not going to allow him to fly. Nice glimpse into what Kit will be like as a teenager. Heaven help Baloo is all I can say. J It was really great to see him as something other than the responsible, mature boy that he usually is. Adds worlds of depth to his character. The animation is also very good. Absolutely no glitches as there are in nearly every other episode. The colors of Kit’s fur and clothing remain consistent throughout, unlike some eps. The plot is very simple, but it works well. The writers focus more on Kit’s development than on making a complicated plot and the story is better for it. They also provide another nice insight into Baloo and Kit’s relationship. They need each other, though Baloo seems a lot more dependent than Kit. The final scene demonstrates this aspect perfectly. Though Kit is the one who saves himself, he is unable to do so until Baloo encourages him and tells him what he needs to do.

 
August 2001


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