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Original Air Date: October 14, 1984 Review completed November 20, 2005 "Walk Pool" Punky and her energetic friends are running circles around Betty when she walks them to school. Henry, after running down Betty's problems as her own fault, ends up with the job for one day. Needless to say, he doesn't do much better...although the kids seem to like him enough. "Gone Fishing" A bored Punky ruins Henry's attempts at a quiet weekend afternoon, so he decides to introduce Punky and her friends to the joys of fishing. They're not exactly thrilled, but Punky's glad for the attempt, and a lucky streak at the end provides some fun anyway. Two general things to note. First, the title sequence receive their third change in three episodes. The sequence is now a clip montage (most from future episodes) with the remixed version of the theme music playing over it. This particular sequence will stick around until the end of the season, so let's hope you like it. Second, while I had some varying opinions on the two stories last week, I have the same general thought on this week's. These stories have two general audiences that will not like them; people who are big on overall stories arcs, and people who like the more melodramatic episodes. These are fun, light episodes that, besides introducing Punky's friends, are mostly self-contained. Really, they come the closest to embodying the original goal of the fifteen-minute stories - quick stories that can be dropped into the lineup at any point necessary without disrupting running storylines. Well, and while being good, but that goes without saying. Alright, let's get to it. WALK POOL: A "Walk Pool". Man, what an 80s concept. Anyways, right from the start, this is an episode with an agenda: We have friends to introduce, and only fifteen minutes to do it! So, does anyone mind terribly if I play along and talk about them for a while? First off, there's the method for introducing everyone. There's two sequences for this; one where Punky and Cherie talk about them for a bit (in front of Henry, Betty, and the fourth wall), and one where Henry takes roll call, where the answers are supposed to indicate personalities. I've got to admit, these are some clunky sequences, but the impact of that is diminished by other elements, so I won't spend too long talking about that. Let's meet the friends instead. Cherie is now firmly established as part of the group here, and she...doesn't do much. She's pretty much just tagging along with Punky for the story. It's not good, it's not bad (it COULD have been just "assign-a-quirk"), it's just...there. Cherie needs something solid to do to stand out in any given episode, and she doesn't get it here. Pooh. Margaux Kramer is next on the list, and I'm still trying to figure out if she's Punky's rival or friend. Personality-wise, she's a eight-year-old rich-girl/cheerleader stereotype, and the casting actually kind of works for that, as Ami Foster has the looks to pull it off, being a fairly typical blondie. Out of everyone here, she probably gets the best moments, as she gets to be the solid antagonist of the group and thus provide some the comic relief in being deflated in various ways (like chasing Punky and Cherie with umbrella-bapping on her mind). Allan Anderson...oof. He's dressed exactly like Scotty (see below), and his official role of the group is "Punky's dumb friend". Unfortunately, the writers don't seem to know how to write dumb, and he spends a little bit of time looking mildly retarded. Not retarded as in "man, the whole Survivor craze is retarded", but looking like he actually has a disability or something. Looking forward, he'll actually become one of my favourite characters, but he's a long way from that right now. All he gets to do here is be Scotty's lackey and do really bad goofy giggles. Casey Ellison must have had a lot of patience to stay in the role for as long as it took for the writing to catch up to him. Finally, Scotty Lotabucci. He's the bad boy of the group, he shaves cats (people actually did that?), he gets put over more than Eddie in the second episode, and we'll never see him again after "Gone Fishing", due to R.J. Williams getting a better offer somewhere else. I could go into "What if...", but the short and sweet version is that it's really not a gigantic loss. Williams does okay, but the character really doesn't have many places to go after this. If Scotty had stayed around, he'd either end up as group antagonist (duplicating Margaux's role) or some genius would end up writing him as a love interest. Punky doesn't need that in her character yet (proven by "My Aged Valentine") and Margaux doesn't seem the type. Maybe he could have been a foil for Henry, but Punky does a pretty good job of that anyway. The funny thing about this episode, though, is that for all of the work that goes introducing Punky's friends, it's Punky, Henry, and Betty that come out the best. After having it being an informed attribute for the last few episodes, we actually see Punky's charisma in action via seeing that she has an established peer group in about a month of being in a strange city. Okay, that's still somewhat of an informed attribute, but we're closer to seeing it this time, and the next episode will go even farther towards that. Betty, too, actually gets to show rather than tell this time around. She got to play Henry's foil in the first episode and promptly disappeared for the next three, but she's back and with actual character. Here, we see she has a friendship of sorts with Henry, and seeing their scenes together, it's a good move to have that established. Susie Garret and George Gaynes seem to work well together, and it comes out on-screen, so seeing them exchange banter is an easy experience which gives an undercurrent of a good friendship, even when they're picking at each other. Also, it gives some mature dialogue when you need a break from kiddy antics. Nice. Henry, though, gets the large end of the stick in all of this. We don't learn much more about him, but we identify with him more. Really, this story provides a pretty good cross-section of Henry; outwardly gruff, but with a very boyish center that gets him into trouble fairly often. The scene I love using as an example in all of this is after Henry gets doused with a water bucket (don't ask); you realize that it's technically his fault, but you can't help but feel for the guy. He's young and old all at the same time, and that's the best I can do at describing what I'm thinking here. George Gaynes, good show. Also, the overall plot works for its sheer simplicity: Henry puts foot in mouth, Henry gets in way over his head, the kids have fun. "Lost and Found" tried to do a bit too much with a fifteen-minute slot, but this is a perfect example of what you do with fifteen minutes, plot-wise. Little things of note: This episode uses what is probably the world's WORST musical cue after Betty says "I told you so!" Think random synth accordian squealing away at high volume, and you'll have it. Just...ouch. On the other side, there's some good outdoor shooting in this episode, though the trained eye is going to find it pretty easy to see that they're in California rather than Chicago. Overall, the episode hits its goal of adding new characters, but it does more favours with everyone who was around from day one. GONE FISHING: If you thought the last plot was simplistic, then this one will give you fits: Just add "Punky and Friends" to the title, change some tense, and you have a good plot description. However, by balancing new and existing characters a little better, we have a story that may help with getting used to the group concept, even if it will be one shorter after this story wraps. Yes, Scotty Lotabucci mysteriously disappears, unexplained, after the end of this episode, even though this one works out a little better for him. It probably helps that Punky gets to be a little kinder and gentler (for the most part) and Margaux becomes his target, giving him more room to be the agressive one. Still, it's a fine line, and I could see where writing his character would become problematic when you have to write him at odds with everyone most of the time. The rest of the friends are more of a group this time around. Margaux gets to freak out a bit over worms and lose a hat, but for the most part, they just give the same reactions. That's fine with me, particularly with Allan, as it forces his character traits to become subdued and a lot easier to take. Punky has more of a range in this episode, and we go back to her driving the story this time around. After seeing her pull off some faces at the beginning (nice sequence), she gets to feel sorry for a worm and threaten her little clique. The worm sequence actually caught me off-guard a bit, after having Punky acting like a tiny comedian for the last few stories. Standing up to the clique was even more interesting, both because you've got a three-foot-tall actress trying to look menacing, and because of her reasons for doing it. See, a little character motivation makes all the difference. Also, we get more hints of off-camera stories, which is nice to see; after all, even if the series is more or less real time, we still only see one day or so out of the week. Also, Punky gains some catchphrases this time around. The first is her little "Oh, wow..." thing that she does, which is hard as heck to write out, incidentally. The bigger one is that the ever-popular "Punky Power!" makes its debut here, as Punky's trying to reel in a big fish. It was apparently an improvised line, and it certainly sounds like it when watching the episode. Uh...yeah, I just felt I had to note that. Hmm, I really don't have too much to say about this episode. The photo montage makes a return here at the end of the story; you would think that such a device would get a little more use, but I guess not. Another remix of the theme music is in here as well, but I only have a slightly higher opinion of that than I do of the horrific synth accordian cue in the last story. Too loungey. This one works in much the same way as the better Punky episodes; tone down the quirky personalities, and leave in the sense of just watching the characters have some fun in a home-movie kind of way. Also, note the beginning of the review. 'Simple' works. - Jimmy Vibes Do the first click Do the second click Plus, the title sequence that will be in place for the rest of the season... ...AND a photo montage from "Gone Fishing"! That's over 150 pictures from this half-hour block! |