Episode #9 “Not as Seen On TV”
US Airdate 9/29/01
I’ve been terrible about not keeping up with the episode reviews. As of the day I’m writing this one, Fox has switched back to one new episode a week showings (So they don’t overrun the original Japan run, I’m sure.) which gives me the chance to play catch up.
We pick up where we left off last week. Why does Takato always think that Guilmon is going to eat him in when he changes? Poor Growlmon is pretty freaked out too.
And we have the little problem of NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO UNDIGIVOLVE. They never did really explain that in the first two seasons. So we have the plot of the episode, how to de-digivolve.
“Is de-digivolve even a word?”
So Takato tries a scare tactic, then he decides to wear out Growlmon with exercise. Then a bath. “Oh great, I’m going to go down in history as the worst digimon tamer ever.” And with that Takato jumps in alongside, resulting in the best “BLAHweaeeaeaH!” sound effect I’ve ever heard.
Next, we resort to Shinto Prayer. The plan is to stay at the shrine till Growlmon turns back into Guilmon. Why are shinto shrines always deserted in these shows? While leaving, an uncertain Takato runs into... Juri.
So, he attempts to explain his problem to Juri. You knew this wasn’t going to go well. So at the abandoned playground we get a cute discussion in which Takato sounds like he’s describing something like a puberty problem. Well, it could be alot worse.
Juri pulls out her sock puppet and tries a health class lecture on him. Yup, scary ne? See all the weird people you run into on the streets at night? This is a good lesson to always stay in at night. Anyway, she thinks he’s hitting on her in a subtle way, leading to the quote of the week spoken through the sock puppet.:
“Jeri likes you Takato, but only as a friend, okay? Don’t worry, there’s a million other girls out there!”
Derrrrrrrrr. Leading to quote of the week number two:
Takato: “Mom, Dad? Why are girls crazy?”
T’s Mom: “They’re not, their husbands make them that way.”
Say what you want about dubs, the english writers on this show are clever enough to pull off a damn good rewrite.
Growlmon is asleep at the shrine, and Calumon pops up. They both head off to Takato’s apartment, because according to Calumon 2 AM is the best time to play. I’m going to have to set up a “World According To Calumon” page, he makes some good sense sometimes. Takato remarks Calumon gets weirder every day as cute little guy runs off, leaving Takato to hide Growlmon, again.
His plan? Wake up Henry, share the pain. Henry decides to help and the head off to the ‘mystery tunnel’. The leave Growlmon there for the night and head off, but Impmon finds him.
Impmon, of course, decides to harass Growlmon, and what follows is a chase. So of course, the next morning he’s missing in action. So a search goes out. Terriermon gets the job, complaining in his shrill little voice. Oh, and a couple goes by and says something REALLY disturbing that I’m not going to repeat here.
Terriermon finds Growlmon, in a playground that looks like a stonehenge construction. They find him in some bushes, where the exhausted Growlmon had run to. Some women walk by and comment on how little boys playing with dolls is so cute. Much to Terriermon and Henry’s chagrin. So they decide to paint Growlmon so no one will see him in fatigue. Meanwhile, the clouds move in. Rika shows up to demonstrate how anyone could find him. A fight almost breaks out, and the rain comes pouring down.
And all the paint runs off Growlmon. Takato has a mental breakdown and there’s nothing sadder than watching Takato sobbing his eyes out. The rain stops, sun comes out, and a rainbow comes out. They stop and stare, and I break into a chorus of the rainbow connection, and magically Growlmon de-evolves into his old Guilmon self.
Davis voice over, and we leave this episode with more questions that answers!
