As I was collecting refs of this episode's cast, I came upon this victorious shot of Floppy. Cheerful as it was I decided to redraw it rather than draw the character in an original or stock pose (as per my usual).
Anyway...
As some of you know, 'The Adventures of the Little Koala' (AotLK) is among my favorite animated shows of the 1980's.
I've re-viewed an AotLK episode here before ('The King of the Castle'), but wanted to give the series another look with 'Lost in a Race'.
For whatever reason, uploads of AotLK are prone copyright strikes, despite the series no longer airing on television (since 1993) and having no DVD release. For this reason, I will not be linking to the episode, but uploads aren't too hard to find.
The story begins with Miss Lewis and Papa announcing an upcoming event to the kids.
MISS LEWIS: "Now children, this coming Sunday my magazine will hold an orienteering race for teams of children only"
All right, what's an orienteering race?
PAPA: "It's a race across the countryside, where you have to find your own way to the finish line. First you choose your teams of three or four members each. Then, each team uses a map and compass to follow the path set out by the race"
Ah.
The winning team will earn a trophy and a ride in a helicopter ...the latter seems less than impressive, if we consider the kids have access (often unsupervised) to gliders, a speedboat and even a hot-air balloon ...not to mention the *airplane they rebuilt.
*from a lost episode ('The Flying Doctor'), but it still happened! ^^;
Anyway...
Sunday comes and the race begins! Each team is released some time apart from the last, to prevent them from bunching up or following each other directly.
Roobear's team (he, Laura and Betty) is the first to depart. All's well.
Floppy's team (he, Mimi, Nick and Pammie) departs second. Once some distance is laid behind them, Floppy's teammates succumb to distraction and overconfidence. Floppy tries to corral them,
FLOPPY: "Now listen, everybody: we're not on a a picnic---this is a race we're in and we gotta keep going! Now stop fooling around!"
MIMI: "You said we were sure to win"
PAMMIE: "There's a lot of time yet, Floppy"
Floppy's team has placed a great deal of faith in Floppy to win them the race, hence the members stop to smell flowers and pick berries to Floppy's great dismay ...and reminds me of a verse from the Bible,
"If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall." 1st Cor. 10:12
Worsening matters for Floppy is the passing-by of the third and final team: Walter's (he, and his brothers: Horsie sand Colt).
Tsk-tsk.
The teams of Roobear and Walter tie for the first to reach the initial checkpoint (monitored by Weather and Mingle).
WEATHER: "You're on your way to the second checkpoint now---it should take you about forty minutes. There are arrow signs along the way to help you, but be sure to use your map and compass.
Some time passes. Roobear and Walter's teams split up at some point (I'm unsure how these races work), enabling Walter (who is just ahead of Roobear) to mischief. Upon reaching a T-crossing marked with an arrow sign, Walther has the brilliant idea of moving the sign so that it will indicate the wrong direction.
WALTER: "(The other teams) will find the right way sooner or later by using their maps and compasses, but this will give us some extra time and we won't have to hurry"
It's around this time that Floppy reaches the first checkpoint. Floppy's team is a mess, yet Floppy is undaunted. He finds a huge rubber band (your guess is as good as mine) and has his teammates stand it inside in a line.
FLOPPY: "We're a choo-choo train---all aboard, folks!"
Alas, the members go in different directions, stretching the band beyond its limit. They all fall down. :(
Meanwhile, Roobear's team arrives at the errant arrow sign.
ROOBEAR: "This is the second arrow sign we've found, so we follow the path this way"
LAURA: "Shouldn't you be checking on the map?"
ROOBEAR: "I'm sure it's right. Let's go!"
The team progresses forth into the woods. Eventually, Roobear checks the map, discovering his team has been deceived by the sign. In their confusion, Betty meanders into a hole in the ground, with Roobear and Laura tumbling after. The trio lands in a pile, deep inside a forgotten cave.
At the second checkpoint, Papa radios Weather to convey his concern that none of the teams have checked in. Weather and Mingle respond by checking the course for the wayward teams. It's not long before they discover the signpost has been tampered with. A search party is tasked to find the kids.
Returning to the cave: Roober's team encounters Walter's team. Roobear asked how they happened to be there.
COLT: "Well, we got lost and came back. But when we got to the place where Walter changed the arrow sign, he couldn't remember which way was right! So, we took the wrong path and fell in here"
Snitch! D:
Of course, they should be ashamed of themselves so I'll accept Colt's tattling as a sign of contrition. Either way, they knew the sign was wrong, so... process of elimination would tell them not to that way or the way they came ...Moreover their team had a map and compass ...but we need a plot and the characters have lessons to learn. :P
Roobear and co. are incensed, but decide to work together with Walter's team to find a way out of the cave.
Floppy's team (somehow) makes it to the arrow sign. Floppy checks to verify its reliability.
Of some visual interest here is a 'fourth team' of incidental characters standing behind Floppy and co. Generally, AotLK's incidental characters are drawn from the model sheets of the usual cast, with only slight variations given them. Still, I enjoy looking at them, and this episode has a menagerie of these (esp. at the race's finish line)
The Roobear and Walter teams follow an underground stream to an opening to the surface, whereat they are met by Miss Lewis's search party.
MISS LEWIS: "You can tell us all about your adventures later on. Right now you should get going---you know the race isn't over yet!"
CHARRRRGE!
The two teams dash toward the finish line, albeit Floppy's team is leading (he never veered off course).
Twas close, but Floppy's team is declared victorious!
MISS LEWIS: "I proclaim Floppy's team the winner. I'd also like to compliment Floppy on his excellent map reading, and on the *way he held his team together: Floppy's team wins the trophy and the helicopter ride!"
*they continued to use the rubber band ...this, incidentally, reminds me of yet another verse from the Bible,
"They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course" - Joel 2:7
And another, for good measure,
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" -1st Cor. 9:24
MISS LEWIS (continuing): "There's been another result to our orienteering race: the discovery of a truly extraordinary cave that we didn't know existed before. So to the team that discovered it, we are awarding a special prize!"
COLT: "Hey, Walter, that's us she's talking about!"
Roobear's team gets the prize: Walter's was disqualified, for it's revealed his team cheated by moving the sign. :3
...And that's the episode!
I like this one as it shows Floppy (my favorite AotLK character) at his best, and Walter at some of his worst. Roobear, here, falls victim not only to Walter's cheating, but also to his own lackadaisical shortcomings (I mean, the idea of the competition was to use your map, not to follow signs, be they right or not). Walter, also, doesn't get away with his deception. Such would be expected in a series like this, but rather than simply 'being caught', Walter falls for his own trap (and has to face Roobear, consequently).
TL;DR: this episode isn't perfect, but it has some good lessons in it. :3
Oh my gosh I LOVE this!! You did an excellent job re-draw from the actual scene :) It's also great to see you draw something AOTLK related! It's always a treat for me lol. Very amazing job on this dude!
Oh my gosh I LOVE this!! You did an excellent job re-draw from the actual scene :) It's also great t
