Monday 8 June 2020

The World of Teddy Ruxpin Volume 5: Grubby's Romance (1987) VHS Review


Grubby's Romance is the third Teddy Ruxpin VHS tape that I owned when I was a kid. It's also my favourite tape after Guests of the Grunges as well as my favourite episode of The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin after "Guests of the Grunges". There's just something about it that makes it a good episode to start with.

Like the previous volume, Take a Good Look, I had a rental copy of Grubby's Romance that I don't remember how I got. I got it at the same time as I got Volume 4 and Volume 9, Tweeg Gets the Tweezles, but I don't remember if my parents picked them up from Rogers Video like they had with the rental copy of The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, the live action TV movie, or if my grandmother found them at a yard sale. Either way I got all three tapes at the same time, sometime before 1993 when we moved out of the city. And just like the other two that I got at the same time as this one, the tape didn't include the in package bonus gift, which was a set of postcards. So I've never seen them in person, just on the tape in the outro when Teddy holds them up. 

Speaking of the outro, it's pretty short. Teddy talks about how they need to get the crystals back since Tweeg and L.B. had stolen them in the episode, and then talks about the postcards. He also talks about Grubby still being a little bit sad about Karen. And then the outro ends with Teddy telling the viewer to hurry back so they can go after the stolen crystals. 

One of my favourite things about this episode is that it's relatable. We've all had our first love that hasn't worked out because the person moved away or we moved away or whatever the case was. Which is what Grubby goes through with Karen in the episode. Teddy and Gimmick don't have much to do in this episode though I bet Gimmick now knows better than to leave the Portable Reducing Machine out in the open like that. Though considering it is Gimmick, that lesson won't actually be learned since there are other times in the series where Gimmick has left things for L.B. to tamper with or steal. 

Overall Grubby's Romance is a pretty great tape. The episode is a fun one and it also kicks off the next arc for the series, since "Take a Good Look" is a standalone episode following the first five episode arc that kicked off the series. The next three tapes I'll be reviewing are ones I didn't have when I was growing up so it'll be completely new territory for me. Of course I've seen the episodes that are on two of the tapes, as I have the whole series on DVD, and I probably watched them when the show was on TV in reruns back in the early '90s, but this will be my first time seeing the episodes in the versions that are on the tapes. The third tape, Volume 7, is a live action special based on the book and tape set "Teddy Ruxpin Lullabies", so there isn't a story to really talk about when I get to that tape, but I will be able to talk about the songs and my experiences with the material on the tape, since I have had some experience with it. I'll be back later in the week with a comic book review and this week's movie review so stay tuned.

No comments:

Post a Comment