GIDGET’S TALESPIN REVIEW

Sheepskin Deep

3 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials

Summary

Kick 'em in the shins!
Make 'em sweat!
Yowsa, yowsa, Cape Suzette!
Are we gonna beat 'em?
Yeah, you bet!
Yowsa, yowsa, Cape Suzette!


Baloo looks forward to attending his grade school reunion until he finds out that he wasn't invited. 
Louie looks up his name in the card index for his invitation.  
"Well, you're not under the B's... ah, how you are --- under the letter U."
"What's that for?"
Louie is sympathetic.  "Uninvited."

At Higher for Hire, Rebecca is shocked.  "Uninvited?  But why, Baloo?"
"Aw, it don't matter.  I ain't wanted and that's that." Suddenly he gets an idea.  "Hold it... I know a way I can go to the reunion."
"You're not going to crash the party!"
"Oh, never say 'crash' to a pilot, Becky.  No, I'm gonna earn my way in!"

So he goes back to school to earn his diploma (or his 'sheepskin')
Cody: Whew!  I was thinking something completely different. J
... so he can join his friends at Louie's.  Unfortunately, besides the fact that he can barely squeak into sixth grade, he runs into opposition from a principal who seems to dislike him on sight and has to juggle both school and making deliveries for Higher for Hire.

He cuts classes to make deliveries, only to screw those up.     When he tries to sneak back into school, Principal Pomeroy is right in the doorway.
Gidget:  Gee, maybe he heard the plane's engines as Baloo landed on school grounds?
Cody: Ya think?

Baloo gives a lame excuse:  "I felt sick --- I went to my doctor."
Pomeroy:  "We have a school nurse," and warns his 'star pupil' that next time he must bring a note or get demerits for cutting class.
Baloo replies, "Right-o, Prince-o-pal!"

His elderly teacher, Mrs. Morrisey, begins the geography lesson by dimming the lights and announcing, "Today, class, we have a wonderful little film called, 'Geography and You.'"
Gidget:  In it, Fluffy the rabbit discovers fur where there wasn't fur before!
Cody:  So…geography’s a euphemism for sex ed? ;)
Gidget:  Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'exploring'.

When Upper Geiserland doesn't get its bowling balls for its tournament, it calls H4H to complain. Rebecca  promises  that she'll have a word with him.   It occurs to her that he might have a second job....  

"The jig is up, Baloo!  I know all about your outside activities!"
"You do?"
"Yes! No more moonlighting!"
"Moonlighting?"  
"Yes!  No more second job!"
He beats a hasty retreat, shutting the Duck's hatch.  "Okay, I promise!  Bye!"

More deliveries, then Baloo tries to sneak in the door, only to see Pomeroy and Mrs. Morrisey.
Pomeroy:  "Wasn't that Baloo?"
Mrs. Morrisey:  "I'm sure you're mistaken, Mr. Pomeroy.  Baloo's in geography class."
Pomeroy:  "Well, we'll just see about that."

Baloo pops up just in time under the cap-behind the book to say, "Hi, Prince-o-pal!"  Kit reluctantly tells the principal that he was there all the time, but resents lying.

He cuts class again to make more deliveries, and gets the third degree from his boss again as he loads the cargo onto the Duck. 
"You look guilty about something, Baloo."
"Me?  Oh, I'm as innocent as a schoolboy."  

After making more deliveries and chaining his plane to the bike rack, his luck runs out.  This time, he gets both himself and Kit caught by Mrs. Morrisey when he tries to sneak back in.  "Well!  What do we have here?"

Now both are In detention, and Kit is furious with him.  Pomeroy gleefully tells them that clap erasers. "Not a pretty job, is it?"
Baloo, of course, thinks of an easier solution.  "Stop clappin' and start applaudin', Kit! I got an idea!"  Soon, Kit's taping the erasers on the propellers of the Sea Duck.  The pilot simply spins them clean.
"Chalk one up for engine-uity!"
Gidget:  I'll never understand why he doesn't do stand-up comedy...
Cody:  A mystery for the ages…

Enter one very PO'd principal, covered in chalk dust.  "Whose idea was this!"
Oblivious, the pilot modestly blows chalk dust off his fingers.  "Hate to brag, but..."
Pomeroy grits his teeth. "May I see you in my office, please?"
As he leaves, Baloo tells his navigator smugly, "Probably wants to give me an early diploma for this piece of brilliance!"

In the principal's office:
"Baloo, it's obvious that you don't belong in this school."
"Yeah, isn't it, though, " Baloo chuckles. "Guess I'm sorta in a class by myself, get it!  Ha ha!"
Pomeroy loses his cool. "Yes, a class in reform school!  You're disruptive, lazy and a nincompoop!"
"Uh, when do you get to the part about giving me a diploma?"
"Diploma?" Pomeroy says incredulously.  "You're expelled!"

Baloo begs for another chance, clinging to his legs, appealing, "The old gang is there!  I haven't seen some of them for years!  Oh, have a heart!"
Pomeroy finally relents, saying, "I'd rather have the circulation back in my ankles."  Then Baloo covers his feet with grateful kisses.

So now the big bear is elated, telling Kit that all he has to do is to pass an equivalency test.   When Kit explains that it's a test of the whole year's work, Baloo is momentarily discouraged.
"Oh no, I'll never pass!  How's this old dog gonna learn that many new tricks?"
"Get a tutor." Kit suggests, much to his later regret.  Guess who!

With Kit as his tutor, he studies harder than ever, sweeping the cobwebs off his long-dormant brain.   They soon discover that Baloo learns best if the lessons are presented in 'plane terms'. 
(eg:  Kit (stupidly) grabs the wheel asking, "What's 10,000 minus 4,000?" and plunges the Duck into a nosedive.  Baloo grabs it back, yelling, "Stop!  We just dropped 6,000 feet!"
"Congratulation, Papa Bear.  You just subtracted."
"I did?"  He's rather pleased with himself until they nearly hit a mountain.
"Yeah, but now we're about to be 'divided'!"
After a narrow escape, Baloo chides Kit, "Oh, don't ever do math in my plane again!"
Gidget:  Notice how Kit is still piloting the plane as the scene ends?  After he nearly gets them killed?
Cody:  Well, it’s not like Baloo hasn’t almost gotten them killed before.  And have you noticed how these two almost never wear seat belts?
Gidget as Rebecca:  It would take two seatbelts for Baloo.

After intensely hard work, Baloo begins to understand the basics of... everything.   Through no particularly brilliant detective work, Rebecca finds out the truth and surprises him with her support.  
"Did you know 'deliver' is a verb?"
"Uh-huh.  And I know another one --- fired --- which is what you'll be if you don't deliver these."
"I can't!  I'm busy, lady! "  
Gidget:  This part bugs me.  After all the subterfuge, he reads while she's speaking and stupidly waves his textbook around as he says that.
Cody: I know!  And why would he think she’d bust a gut over it, anyway?
Gidget:  I suppose he thinks she'd either laugh at him or be upset that he's 'distracted' from work.  Not without cause.
 
"Busy goofing off." (grabs book)  "What's this, a hardback comic book?"   She squints at the title (note that the cover just says 'Grammar') "Basic English for Sixth Graders... you went back to school, didn’t you?”
Gidget:  Can’t put anything past her.

Baloo says dully, “For my diploma.”
”That’s why you’ve been messing up on the job lately!”
Gidget:  Like he didn’t mess up before?

"I'll be finished tomorrow!  I promise!"
"Baloo, I have just one thing to say to you..."
 "Here it comes." The pilot rolls his eyes, waiting for her to explode.
Gidget as Molly:  Uh-oh!  There she went!
 
"I think it's great!  Good for you! Study hard... and take tomorrow off."
"You're a class act, Beckers."

He pulls an all-nighter until nearly five in the morning, after Kit tells him to put the books away and get some sleep.  On the morning of the test, he barely makes it in time to intercept Pomeroy, who's just leaving for a fishing trip.  Now seated at a desk in the middle of the gym, he's told that he has one hour to write the test.  
Gidget:  That test is huge --- like Gone With the Wind.  Good luck!  And how come Question No. 43 is in the middle of that monster thousand-page booklet?  Seems to me that it would more likely be near the beginning.
Cody: And it’s supposed to be a test for sixth graders?
Gidget:  Imagine having to lug a whole class’s tests home for grading!

He begs the principal to grade it right then, so he can go to the reunion that night.

"I'll have this graded on Monday."  He starts to dismiss him, but Baloo follows him, still wearing the little desk around his waist.

"Oh, please, Mister P, grade it now!  I'm beggin', implorin' and committin' various other verbs!"
Cody: LOL!  I love that line!

So, while the nervous bear waits, the principal resignedly sits on a bleacher and does so.

"Well, Baloo, you surprise me --- you did much better than I expected."
Baloo, Kit and Rebecca start to dance.  "Class reunion, here I come!"
"You only missed by one question."
Gidget:  I love the way Baloo's eyes bug out in horror!
Cody:  Kinda like they would if Beckers announced she was pregnant, huh? ;)
Gidget as Baloo:  Aw man, how'd that happen?  

"Better luck next time," Pomeroy says cheerfully, leaving a devastated Baloo staring at a big fat "F".

Rebecca tries to comfort him on the dock...
Gidget:  Wouldn't a motel room be comfier?
... and he suddenly notices that question he got wrong is right after all.  So he chases down the unsuspecting Mr. Pomeroy, who is happily fishing in peace.
"Ah... this is the life.  Peace and serenity..."
Gidget:  If that's what you want, then why did you choose educating kids as a career?
Cody:  Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?  Speaking from personal experience, working in the public school system is not full of peace and quiet.

With a swoop, Baloo flies over the boat, making him dive for safety as the boat is overturned.  
"Missed me!" Pomeroy breathes in relief, only to get conked on the head with a life preserver and pulled onboard the Sea Duck!

"The Fermosa Mountains!  Are you crazy?  Why are we going there?"
"Provin' that I got number 43 right." 
Gidget:  Note that he points to page one now...
Cody:  No wonder he didn’t make it past sixth grade.
Gidget:  I'm surprised he made it past first grade.  He actually had to think about it before giving the solution to 1+1!

"Sorry, Mister P, but you and me got a date with a kumquat tree!"
Gidget:  Gee, that escort service is always screwing up...
As they ascend"Now you're done it.  You're in big trouble, mister."
"What can you do --- expel me?"

"What grows atop of Mount Neverest?  You wrote 'kumquats'.  The correct answer is nothing."
"But that's wrong.  There's kumquats in them thar hills --- I seen 'em!"

Mount Neverest is covered in snow --- no kumquats here.  
Pomeroy is smug.  "Maybe next time you'll believe what the textbooks say."
"Oh, but I was positutely certain!"  Baloo is dejected again.  "Now I'll never see my buddies."
Gidget:  Um... there's this wonderful invention called a phone book...
Cody:  Yeah, that always did bug me.  He’s bellyachin’ about a stupid reunion when all he has to do is look ‘em up and give ‘em a call.

Suddenly, he spots a lone, skinny branch poking out of the snow and uses his propeller to uncover the rogue tree.  "Blow, snow, blow!"
Pomeroy is astonished.  "I-I don't believe it!"
"A pertier kumquat tree I've never seen!"
Tough, but fair, the principal is willing to admit his mistake. "Well, Baloo, how can I make this up to you?"
"With a passing grade, Prince-o-pal!"
And so, with a rare smile, Pomeroy marks the test with a big check mark.
Gidget:  This so reminds me of the end of A Wing and a Bear, when practically the same thing happens with Throgmorton, his Driver's Ed teacher.
Cody:   Yup.  Wonder if they’re related.
Gidget:  At least Pomeroy doesn't have an obnoxious granddaughter --- imagine if she inherited those fierce eyebrows of his. 

Molly:  I wanna see snow!  I wanna see snow!
Joanna:  Here you go, kid.  (washes her face in it)
Cody: Yeah!  Drown her!
Gidget:  Cody... Cody... don't hold back.  :-)

Finally, on Saturday night, Louie greets his guests.  "And have a crazy time at the reunion, you glad grads!"
When Baloo starts to enter, he blocks his way.  "Sorry, Fuzzy... you know the rules."
"Sure do!  That's why I came out of my coma  --- and got my diploma!"
Gidget (as Rebecca):  You did?  I guess that explains all those times I found you dozing in that damned hammock.
Louie is ecstatic and hugs him.  "My magna cum loudmouth!"  (for those of you who a little rusty on their Latin, it's a play on magna cum laud)

His old friends Crazy Eddie and Stinky Situowsky arrive and all give the old Cape Suzette cheer and file into Louie's Place.



Quibbles and Bits

Kit just happens to be in Baloo's class and his locker mate.
Cody:  Maybe Baloo  put in a special request?
Gidget:  Well, we know it wasn't Kit ("Aw, gee, Mr. Pomeroy, I just got it all to myself and... Papa Bear?")

Baloo:  Listen, I know this kid—Kit Cloudkicker—he can help me chea—I mean earn my diploma.

Cody:  And here’s a quibble—the reunion was only a couple of days away, so how in the world did Baloo think he could get his diploma that quickly?
Gidget as Baloo:  Aw, shucks... all I need is a little ol' piece of paper and I can go par-teeee! 

When Pomeroy is introducing Baloo as the new student, his right ear is transparent for a few seconds.

The blacks and whites of Rebecca's eyes go negative after Baloo escapes her line of questioning, saying, "Me?  Oh, I'm as innocent as a schoolboy."

Gidget:  Kit is an awful goody-goody in this ep.  He's an ex-pirate, for Pete's sake!  He tut-tuts when Baloo cuts class and wags his finger at him.   What a hypocrite.
Cody:  Kinda like Baloo, huh?  Guess Baloo’s bad habits are starting to rub off. ;)
Gidget as Wildcat:  Maybe you should try toilet paper, man. 

In geography class, Baloo pulls an alarm clock from his shirt and notes that it's time for another delivery.
Gidget:  Is he still wearing that clock from Time Waits for No Bear?
Cody:  LOL!  Sure looks like it!

When Baloo puts up a 'makeshift' dummy to fool the teacher into thinking he's in class, it's sort of the way kids make pillow dummies in their beds and sneak out at night.  He props up his book in an upright position, then sets a ruler behind it, adding his cap to the top, as if he's reading the book.
Gidget:  Then Kit sneezes and the whole thing collapses.
Cody:  Now that would have been funny.  And seeing how he acts in this episode, are you sure Baloo and Becky would make a good couple?  I mean, what if he gets tired of her and pulls the ol’ pillow routine so he can go see a new girlfriend?
Gidget as Rebecca:  Listen, buster... you can't even see your own feet, let alone another girlfriend!

Kit:  "We're supposed to be studying geography."
Baloo waves him off and slips out the window. "I'll do it at 10,000 feet. --- it's called 'higher education'!"

When Baloo is pulling a one-nighter with the books, he's wearing a nightshirt and cap.  Kit is asleep in his usual green sweater when he wakes up and finds himself yanked out of bed to for an early-morning tutoring session.

When B&B are sitting together on the dock talking after Baloo fails the test, he suddenly asks her, "Becky, what's the best place for fly fishing in Cape Suzette?"
"Veronica Lake, I guess.  Why?"
Gidget:  Baloo loves to fish... he would know the answer to that, not Rebecca!  Why ask her?
Cody:  See, Becky’s got this secret life as a fisherwoman.
Gidget:  Reelly?  ;)
Cody: *groans* J

Gidget:  When Pomeroy reaches to take the test from Baloo on the Sea Duck to look at Question No. 43, we see the blue sleeve of his business suit.  He's wearing a red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up!  And when he gives Baloo a passing grade, he leaves a check mark on the front page.  Where'd the F go?

Gidget:  Notice how all the grads going into Louie's are male?
Cody:  Not quite.  If you look closely, you can see Clementine’s back as she’s going into Louie’s.
Gidget:  I never noticed that before!  I looked again and yeah --- Cameo Alert:  Clementine enters Louie’s Place as he says, “And have a crazy time at the reunion, you glad grads!” Odd how Baloo doesn't recognize her from school.  Or mentions the upcoming party when he delivers that cargo to her.
Cody:  Well, he was in a big hurry—couldn’t be late for geography, y’know.


Neat Little Details

Baloo just doesn't fit in... literally.   He gets stuck in the dinky little desk and needs Kit to help him out.  When Pomeroy yells at Baloo in his office, the chair Baloo is sitting on is straining to contain him.  Then it explodes into pieces.  He is also firmly wedged into the little desk when he's writing his test.

The highlight of this show is the use of clever puns:
Geography, according to Baloo's homework:
   Bulgaria and Malaria surround a third country known as Hysteria.
   
   The capital of Itsybitsia is Teensyweensia.

   Veronica Lake --- the best fishing spot in Cape Suzette, where Baloo tracks Pomeroy down.

   The Fermosa Mountains --- where Mount Neverest is situated.

Deliveries:

    Rubber baby bottle stoppers to be delivered to the Bambino Island Baby Clinic

    Bowling balls for the Upper Geiserland Lawn Bowling Society

    Smithereens Hospital (where Baloo says indignantly says, "What do ya mean, I can't deliver baby bottles  here?  It says 'Delivery Room', doesn't it?") 
Cody:  LOL!  Wouldn’t you love to be taken there if you needed a hospital?

    Red herrings for the Sherlock Holmes Retirement Home

Clementine from Citizen Khan makes a brief cameo appearance when Baloo swings down the frontier town to deliver 'saxophone mouthpieces for your embroidery club'.  Then Baloo stops on the island of the pigmies from The Bigger They Are, the Louder They Oink, to mistakenly delivers knitting needles for their marching band.   Then he goes to Louie's, saying, "Two dozen 100-watt light bulbs... CRASH... make that one dozen 50-watt light bulbs..."
Gidget:  My dad fixes appliances, so this occurred to me:  Exactly how does dropping a 100-watt bulb turn it into a 50-watt bulb? 

Cody:  Well, you know Baloo and math.  And I’m surprised he didn’t stop for a burger and fries.
Gidget:  Yeah... he must be serious about this diploma thing.

Baloo's studying places:
The shower, with Kit holding the book over his head with a fishing pole.
Gidget:  Can't he read on the toilet like everyone else?
Cody:  But that’s where he reads his girly magazines! ;)
Gidget:  Then he pinned the pics up on his wall in My Fair Baloo.
Cody: Now, you’ve got it.  Wonder what Becky thinks of his *cough, cough* other girls.

Under the docks, with Rebecca looking for them above (note that neither blinks nor moves --- completely frozen frame)

Kit tears out pages of the textbook and lays them on top of the crates as Baloo loads them onto the plane.

On the Duck, Kit writes on a small blackboard, "1 + 1 = ?".  Instead of just saying '2', Baloo skywrites the answer.  
Gidget:  Oh yeah, Rebecca will never notice that.
Cody as Rebecca:  Oh, look at the lovely gray cloud in the shape of a 2.  Never seen one like that before.

Riding a bike, miraculously able to see where he's going with a book in his face.

Under the covers, until four in the morning.  Also, note that as the pile of books shortens in front of the hula girl lamp, more of her is revealed.
Cody:  Kinda risqué for Disney, ain’t it?
Gidget:  This is from the man who thought Minnie Mouse using her bloomers as a parachute was clever.  And having Mickey and Minnie squeeze a cow's udders to produce music.
Cody: Hmm…good point.

When Rebecca finds out that he's going to school, she is thrilled.  When he leaves her office, she clasps her hands together and gazes after him with genuine affection.   Look quick or you'll miss it.
Cody:  I wish I had missed it.  (wipes drool off Gidget’s chin)  And you’ve got to stop doing that.
Gidget:  Sorry, Mommy.

Gidget:  I like the visual humor during the test.  Poor Baloo, sweating with terror, his stomach hanging out over the desk top --- it's a miracle they didn't need the Jaws of Life to get him out of it.  And it's obvious why Pomeroy picked the gym.  While Baloo's trying to concentrate, the principal spends the hour practicing his fly-fishing, reeling, twiddling his hook.  It's noisy and distracting, too --- like he wants him to fail.  Then Pomeroy announces 'Time's up!' and reaches for Baloo's test...

Yakko Warner:  Good night, everybody!

Gidget (pointedly):  ...reaches for Baloo's test and gets stabbed with the pencil, just long enough for Baloo to finish the last question. 



Funny Stuff

The sight of Baloo in a letterman's sweater and a 'Jughead' hat, prompting Rebecca's comment, "Maybe there was a dress code and they decided not to invite you."

The exchange between Baloo and the kangaroo mailman:
The mailman digs into his pouch and bring out several multicolored directories (white pages... yellow pages... polka-dot pages... bill... bill... bill..."
"Aw, forget Bill --- what about me?  You musta lost my invitation."
The mailman is indignant. "The post office does not lose mail!"  and hops away, scattering several pieces of mail in his wake.

Baloo and Rebecca's tug-a-war with the annual.  Grunting, pulling back and forth, grunting some more until she wins by planting her dainty foot on his belly and uses it as leverage to pluck the book from his hands. 
Gidget:  Talk about foreplay.
Cody:  Yeah, they’d be one of those couples who fight to get turned on.
Gidget:  Definitely!  I've always thought that.  They're the ursine version of The Honeymooners, remember?
Cody:  Oh, yeah!

Baloo stuffs a large pic-a-nic basket into the locker he shares with Kit.

Kit is surprised that Baloo is trying to earn his diploma.  "From grade school?"
Baloo:  "Speak up, Kit.  Someone in the next county didn't hear you."
Cody:  And didn’t you just love that herd of rugrats who ran by them, completely oblivious?
Gidget:  Pomeroy was letting them graze.  :)
Cody:   But he didn’t have ‘em on leashes!  Doesn’t he know that’s dangerous?  What if they haven’t had their shots!

The elderly bear teacher, Mrs. Morrisey, remembers him.  "Welcome back, Baloo."
Apparently, he's shocked that she's still alive and says disbelievingly, "Mrs. Morrisey?"  She drags Baloo to his desk, much the way Rebecca does when she pulls his ear.

Baloo has trouble taking his seat.   "Hmmm... I remember these bein' a little looser."
The teacher asks him, "Baloo, would you like to solve this subtraction problem?"
Baloo, struggling to get out of his seat:  "I'd love to, but first I gotta solve this extraction problem."
Mrs. Morrisey: "Kit, why don't you help him out?  Baloo, if John had five candy bars and ate three, what would he have?"
Baloo:  "A mouthful of cavities?"
Mrs. Morrisey is stern.  "I can see someone needs to hit the books."
At this point Kit gets him unstuck, sending him flying into the wall of books.
Baloo:  "How was that?"

Baloo chains his plane to the bike rack.

Baloo and Kit clap erasers by spinning them in the propellers of his plane, leaving Pomeroy covered in chalk dust:
"Bet he wants to give me an early diploma for this piece of brilliance."

On the morning of his test, Rebecca wakes him up by dumping a pitcher of water on his head.



Quotes

Pomeroy introduces Baloo to the class:
"Class, meet Baloo... an inspiration to us all."
Baloo (blushes):  "Aw, shucks!"
Pomeroy (continuing): ... he's old, uneducated and accomplished nothing in his life."
Baloo:  "Hey!  I represent that!"
Pomeroy (scares them straight):  "Stay in school... or you may end up like him!"
Kids are horrified: 
"Oh, no way!"
"I'm doing my homework from now on!"

"Sign here, buddy, I'm runnin' late.  They say those who miss history class are doomed to repeat it."

Baloo picks a tutor:
"Can't ask Becky... and Wildcat doesn't know sixth grade from a socket wrench... so that leaves... (looks at Kit)... you."

Kit grills Baloo while they fly:
   "Any problems with dangling participles?"
   "Hey-hey!  No smart talk."

   Baloo starts to leave the cockpit as Kit continues..
  "Can you conjugate a verb?"
   Baloo's shoulders stiffen --- he's visibly startled.  "That is none of your business!"
Gidget:   LOL!  I love that line!  Actually, I found another innuendo (later, when Baloo shanghais the principal to prove his answer to No. 43 was right.  They approach Mount Neverest, braving a terrible storm:
Pomeroy is terrified.  "It's a blizzard!  Turn back!"
Baloo ignores his protests.  "No way!  I'm gonna show you the juiciest batch of kumquats you've ever seen!"
Gidget:  Don't forget that set of bongos... 
Cody:  LOL!  I know!  Classic Disney innuendo!  Could you imagine what Baloo was thinking when Kit asked about the conjugating verbs?

Baloo:  Where’d that kid learn that?  I didn’t find out about that stuff till I was 20!
Gidget:  I always wondered whether or not he was a virgin...
Cody:  Seeing his track record with women, I’d say he is. 

Rebecca sneers about Baloo's reading material.  "What 's this --- a hardback comic book?"

At 4am, Baloo is still studying the night before the test.   Kit begs him to turn out the light so he can get some rest.
The big bear yawns mightily.  "No sweat... I'll be bright-tailed an' bushy-eyed."

Baloo has about two minutes to get to school to take his test.  "Mother matriculation!"

Frantically pumping a rickety old bicycle with Kit dangling a history book in front of him as he drives:
  "...famous Apache chief was  (hits a rock and goes flying, leaving Kit hanging in a tree) GERONIMOOOO!"


Commentary

Gidget:  I really liked this episode.  Although Baloo's main reason for returning to school is to attend a grad party, he surprises himself that he's smarter than he (or anyone else) thought.

Cody:  (picturing Baloo as a PhD J)  I’d have to disagree with you on this rating—I’d give it a 2.  There was just something about it—puns were great and it was funny, but…there’s just something about it that makes me take off that third Krakatoa.  Maybe it’s because Baloo seems to think he has to sneak around behind Becky’s back instead of being upfront with her?  Or maybe it’s because of the brainwashed Kit. ;P

Gidget:  Yeah, he does seem uncharacteristically cowardly here --- and for once he's not doing anything wrong (except screwing up his deliveries).  I think he actually enjoys the adrenalin rush of sneaking around and 'beating the system' like he does in The Time Bandit.

Cody:  There’s something to be said for that, but still…!

Gidget:  Pomeroy looks rather villainous with his beetle-browed scowl and gruff voice, but I see him as a crusty old grandpa type who needs to retire before he goes crazy.  He also reminds me of Throgmorton, Baloo's long-suffering Driver's Ed teacher --- another casualty when he takes a test.  Sometimes they do silly things to prove a point (Kit nearly gets them killed teaching Baloo math and Baloo risks his and Pomeroy's lives just proving that he got one answer correct.  Also, wouldn't that change the other student's grades, now that Pomeroy knows that the textbook is wrong?). 

Cody:  Kinda makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
  
Gidget:  It's funny with tons of clever puns and has a frenetic pace when Baloo is running back and forth between school and work.  The sight gag of him chaining his plane to the bike rack still cracks me up.  And I love the sweet scene where Rebecca comforts him on the dock after he fails the test.  They just look so right sitting there, talking.   I think the point of this episode is to question everything, even textbooks and authority.  Don't just memorize facts, know what you're learning.

October 2002

Back to Reviews