You know it never fails once they're involved

[austin_dern]

(Posting early; good reasons; I'll get to them in time.)

I happened to catch the Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers episode ``Chocolate Chips'', which, truth be told, isn't the cream of the Rescue Rangers crop. It is one that stands out to me, though, since it features coatis, an animal I doubt anyone here is surprised to know I rather like. But coatis have roughly the pop cultural presence of Garret Augustus Hobart, who was replaced as Vice-President by William McKinley for the election of 1900 when it was discovered that Hobart had died the year before. Anyway, I had some thoughts about it and want to review the plot a bit.

The Rescue Rangers, visiting the Amazon, discover wide swaths of the forest missing. Chip, having snuck out of camp overnight, returns to find the other Rangers and the locals (including the coati mentioned) marching zombie-like and aiding weird costumed figures in tearing down trees -- something none remembers come the morning -- and flocks of mosquitoes with apparently sinister designs. Investigation following nights reveals mosquito bites produce this zombie-like state, producing workers for what turns out to be a mad chocolatier, who believes he's discovered the secret for perfect chocolate and was laughed out of the respectable chocolate community. Now, though, he's using the mind-control juice and his hoard of mosquitoes to collect tree-fresh cacao for his chocolate scheme. Eventually, of course, the Rangers foil the scheme and inflict appropriately ironic justice.

What has occurred to me: you know, these are all the elements for an episode of The Avengers: mysterious and somewhat spooky starting events, the introduction of a potentially world-changing new gimmick, the gimmick's application being what most people would regard as a fairly trivial goal even if the perpetrators of the plot feel passionately about it, a resolution with a touch of whimsy or ironic flair. I had rarely before seen any particular connections between Gadget and Emma Peel, but now I'll need to re-evaluate the series's worldview.

Trivia: Milk chocolate was invented in 1876 by Daniel Peter, in Switzerland. Source: Sweets: A History of Temptation, Tim Richardson.

Currently Reading: Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman.

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

The Avengers == Iron Man and the Hulk?

It sounds kind of like a Cobra Commander plot, too.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Eh, better-looking Avengers. Ones with cuter accents, really.

You're right that Cobra Commander might have given it a try. Destro would be aghast at it, but if it started pulling in money ... well, Tomax and Xamot at least understand you can't conquer the world without capital.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

My brother and I used to watch that show after school, but I don't remember seeing that one -- and I think I would remember something like that. What does a Disney coati look like?

My favorite Rescue Rangers episode -- keeping in mind that I haven't seen the show at all since I was in high school and am working with vague memories -- was the one where they find a cult of mice that worships a particular brand of soda pop.

[rcoony.livejournal.com]

(http://coonycake.com/stuff/disneycoati.jpg) I've gots that on video shiny. It's not a bad coati, certainly, and would make a nice icon if you happen to know any coatis that post to Livejournal or something. I'd be tempted to use it myself, except he has this unfortunate lack of a proper eyemask. Oh well, not everyone can be perfect, right?

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

No, not everyone can be perfect. But the raccoons can do their part by using coatis as their public images.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I know the episode you mean -- it's got this extended soda commercial that's magnificently mid-80s and still over-the-top. I know I've seen that on YouTube, at least.

My favorite, I think, is probably the one where Doctor Nimnul invents a way of faxing people, and it leads to some incidental head-swapping. That's largely because of a cute little aside with a school child named Kafka who wrote a tale of a man waking up to find himself an insect, just as the fly-headed Nimnul is wandering by, and, well, it's funny and was obviously planted for the writers to amuse themselves, or else so that kids who watched it would realize a decade later that the kid's name was a joke too.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

"Come Along. You Belong. Feel the Fizz."

That's one of the more memorable episodes of Rescue Rangers, indeed.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Of course, that episode has got the jingle going for it, which means once you've seen it, you're going to have it running through your head for years to come. Maybe forever.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Ooo! I remember watching that! The beginning was rather spooky, yes. You don't often see mad chocolatiers plotting world domination, either.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

No, they usually just end up as the family managing the Mars Corporation.