The twelfth episode of TaleSpin.
Rebecca's new idea to drum up business for Higher for Hire is to have Baloo be a skywriter, despite the fact that neither he nor Kit could spell if their lives depended on it. A criminal named Mr. Weezelle, who is working for Heimlich Minudo, uses Baloo's skywriting skills (or lack thereof) to exchange messages with Minudo's gang.
This episode provides examples of:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Baloo dips into this territory in this episode when he takes off his shirt to read the message that Rebecca pinned to it, leaving him in just his hat.
- Bantering Baddie Buddies: The two raccoon goons in this episode are a bit more witty and competent than other bantering baddie buddies like Mad Dog and Dumptruck and have a casual banter. When they receive instructions to surround City Hall during an extortion scene, one of them jokes "Who says you can't fight City Hall?"
- Book Dumb: Despite being an Ace Pilot and extremely resourceful and street-wise, Baloo can barely read or write, and his spelling is atrocious. When Kit shows Detective Thursday Baloo's report cards, this exchange occurs;Thursday: Pathetic. I've never seen such awful grades in my life!
Baloo: Hey, I passed Recess with flying colors! - Chekhov's Classroom: Perhaps a literal example; when Baloo struggles to remember how to spell "Weight" so he can write "WEIGHT UNTIL DARK", Kit remembers a poem he learned in school; "I before E except after C." This results in Baloo writing "WIEGHT UNTIL DARK", which gets Kit to remember the second part of the poem, "And when sounding like A as in Neighbor and Weigh".
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Thursday looks over Baloo's atrocious grades on his report cards, Baloo tells him "Hey, I passed Recess with flying colors!"
- This exchange in the third act:Minudo: Think of it; I will soon possess every diamond in Cape Suzette! It's been my lifelong dream to build a mansion of diamonds with a swimming pool overflowing with diamonds! The icebox will be made of diamonds! The toaster will be made of diamonds!
(The telephone rings)
Weezelle: The telephone!
Minudo: Yes, the telephone will be made of diamonds!
Weezelle: No, I mean the telephone is ringing! - When Weezelle wants Baloo to skywrite "WAIT UNTIL DARK", Baloo tells Weezelle that if he writes it after dark, it'll be hard to see.
- Crazy-Prepared: Minudo reveals that he filled his blimps with explosive hydrogen gas, meaning that any attempt to shoot them down will result in the complete destruction of Cape Suzette.
- Didn't Think This Through: Early in the episode, Baloo tells Kit that spelling isn't important after Kit gets in trouble with his teacher for constantly misspelling "Spinach". This comes back to bite Baloo near the end of the episode when he loses the message that says "WEIGHT UNTIL DARK", and he asks Kit how to spell "Weight". Kit reveals to Baloo that he doesn't know how to spell "Weight" since he didn't do his homework under his advice.
- Everyone Has Standards: When Baloo discovers from Thursday that Weezelle has given him the code to blow up Cape Suzette, Baloo tells Thursday that paying customer or not, he's not going to do it.
- It Will Never Catch On: Baloo says this word-for-word regarding his opinion on skywriting. As he says this, a client comes in, asking him to write a message for her.
- Kids Hate Vegetables: Kit is revealed to dislike spinach in this episode. It begins with him in school, constantly misspelling "Spinach" in front of his class and always being corrected by his teacher.Kit: "Spin-ick". There!
Teacher: No, no, no! There is no "ick" in "spinach", Kit.
Kit: (chuckles)You wanna bet? Taste it! Ick!
Teacher: Spell it correctly, please.
(Kit's classmates laugh)
Kit: (sighs unhappily) I don't even like to eat it, let alone spell it. - Literal Metaphor: After seeing Baloo spell "EAT AT JOZE", Rebecca tells him that the way he spells is a crime. Baloo assures her that she's making a federal case out of nothing. Just then, Thursday arrives at Higher for Hire and arrests Baloo for his skywriting.Rebecca: You mean bad spelling really is a crime?
- Look Behind You: The secret entrance to Thursday's headquarters is in a washing machine at the laundromat. When he finds a rhino lady trying to do her laundry in it, he tries to distract her by saying "Look, a flying bear!". When she asks him "So?", he tells her "A flying bear that juggles bowling balls!", which manages to distract her. Later, when Thursday takes Baloo to his headquarters, he finds the rhino lady again. When he tries to tell her about the flying bear that juggles, she doesn't fall for it and tells him to wait his turn like everyone else. Thursday then reveals that his dryer is a deputized member of law enforcement community.
- Loves Only Gold: This episode has the villain Heimlich Minudo, a Funny Animal leopard with an obsession for diamonds, to the point where he has implanted diamonds in place of his teeth. His Evil Plan involves holding Cape Suzette hostage unless he's given all of its diamonds.
- Mathematician's Answer: This exchange between Rebecca and Baloo when the former sees the latter misspell "CHICKEN SOUP":Rebecca: Brilliant, Baloo! Really brilliant! What were two "O"s doing in "CHICKEN SOUP"?
Baloo Uh, the backstroke?
Rebecca: Not funny! - Pretentious Pronunciation: Mr. Weezelle demands people pronounce it wee-ZEL, not WEE-sel.
- Pronouncing My Name for You: This episode features a weasel client named Weezelle. He insists that his name be properly pronounced ("wee-ZEL!"). Naturally, everyone just called him "Weasel". Eventually, this annoys him so much that he refuses to do any more work until his name is correctly pronounced.
- Pun-Based Title: This episode's title is a pun on the saying, "Foul Play".
- Reminder Failure: Kit helps Baloo skywrite the message "WEIGHT UNTIL DARK", but remembers only half the spelling mnemonic of "I before E except after C. The message appears as "WIEGHT UNTIL DARK," which would be the code for "bombard City Hall." Fortunately, Kit remembers the second half of the mnemonic in time: "Or when sounding like A, as in neighbor or weigh." Baloo deftly corrects the fault in time.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Baloo's spelling in this episode is atrocious. Among the messages he spells are "HAPEE BURTHDAY 2 U", "CHICKEN SOOP", "EAT AT JOZE", and "WIEGHT UNTIL DARK".note
- Shell Game: Minudo does this with Weezelle, hiding diamonds of three different sizes under three thimbles and then shuffling the thimbles around. Weezelle ends up choosing the smallest diamond.
- Shout-Out: Detective Thursday is a parody of Joe Friday, the protagonist from Dragnet.
- Spotting the Thread: Thursday begins to notice the misspelled sky writing in the midst of a criminal conspiracy.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: When Weezelle wants Baloo to write "EAT AT JOE'S", Baloo finds this suspicious, as Joe went out of business last week. When Thursday sees the misspelled message, he also begins to suspect foul play for the same reason.
- Wicked Weasel: Weezelle is Minudo's top henchman, and the one who gives Baloo messages which lead to his gang being given orders to take over Cape Suzette.
