The Luck Stops Here

Episode story by Kevin Hopps & LuAnne Wood.
Episode teleplay by Kevin Hopps

Summarized by John Nowak

The episode opens in the park, and we zoom in on a fountain. In the fountain, floating on a hot water bottle, are Chip, Dale, Monty, and Zipper. While Monty and an exhausted Dale work an air pump, Chip speaks into a funnel, and Zipper hovers aimlessly.

"Don't slow down now," Chip says. "We don't want Gadget to be short of air."

Dale is clearly reaching the end of his rope. He gasps a few times. "What about me?" he grouses. "I'm already short of breath."

Monty is having less trouble, and he frowns at his aerobically-weak chipmunk friend. "Chip's right, Mate," he says. "C'mon, now -- double time!"

The powerful mouse ups the pace, and is soon making the chipmunk seesaw up and down wildly. Dale expresses his discomfort with a "Whoa! Slow down! Wait for me!"

"How's the diving suit working, Gadget?" Chip calls into the funnel.

We cut to a scene of Gadget under the water. She is wearing a hard-hat diving suit apparently made of two rubber hoses, a small jar, and a glove.

"A-OK. In fact, I'd say this diving suit is Ranger-ready." She looks upwards and startles. "Hey!"

A large number of coins are falling towards her. "Gadget! Are you okay?" Chip asks anxiously.

"No problem, Chip," she assures him. "Coming right up!"

She kicks off her weighted shoes and rockets to the surface. As Chip pulls her into the hot water bottle, she jerks a thumb disdainfully in the direction of the guy tossing money into the fountain. "You'd think people would have something better to do with their money than throw it away."

As she speaks, the scene cuts to a balding, gangling classic nerd stereotype with glasses, who we later learn is Clyde Cosgrove. He is executing something I can only call a "Chicken Dance."

"Oh, I wish I might, oh I wish I may, have this be, my lucky day!" he chants, drawing two handfuls of change from his pockets, kissing them, and tossing them into the fountain, to the dismay of the Rangers. Chip and Dale cuss him out in Chipmunk as they narrowly avoid being beaned by the coins.

Gadget pulls herself painfully out of her rubber glove diving suit. "I can't believe he thinks a silly ritual will bring him luck," she scoffs.

Monterey addresses her sternly, pulling her feet out of the tight glove. "Now Gadget," he says, "You shouldn't go sneerin' down yer lovely nose at luck." The diving suit pops off her, and Monty and Zipper flip off the raft. "After all," Monty continues, "It's bailed us out more than a time or two."

Meanwhile, Clyde Cosgrove is crouched on all fours, staring at a four-leaf clover in rapt fascination. "Oo! Maybe this _is_ my lucky day! A four leaf clover!"

A cat meows and Clyde Cosgrove recoils in horror. "Oh no!" he cries out, shielding himself with his briefcase. "A black cat!"

He races off in a panic, crashing into an obviously wealthy woman walking three dogs. She is knocked down and tangled in their leashes. The cat sees the dogs and runs. The dogs give chase, dragging their owner screaming after them. Our Hero continues to flee the malefic influence of the black cat. We then see a kid oiling his skateboard. Some of the lubricant's splashed onto the paved path. Clyde Cosgrove hits an oil patch and stumbles, landing on the skateboard. It zooms off with its unwilling passenger and crashes into a park bench, flipping him into the air.

He drops the briefcase, which heads towards the fountain and our Rangers, who watch the incoming luggage with horror. It splashes into the fountain, and opens underwater, releasing a cloud of small mechanical parts. It bobs to the surface, where Gadget is trying to keep her balance on the raft. She falls off into the briefcase, with a cry of "Whoa!", as the case snaps shut. The other Rangers watch in horror.

Meanwhile, Clyde Cosgrove emerges from the bushes he has landed in and races for the fountain. "My invention!" he cries, in terror. He recovers the briefcase and embraces it with obvious relief.

"Meow," says the black cat.

"Oh no," Clyde Cosgrove sobs. "Not again! Scat!"

He flees with the briefcase, and its unwilling passenger. "Zipper," snaps Monty in the fountain. "Follow that briefcase!" Zipper salutes, mumbles, and is off.

Monty and the 'munks struggle back onto the hot water bottle. "Don't worry, mates," Monty assures them. "That bloke looks harmless enough."

"No problem," agrees Dale, while Chip knocks copious amounts of water out of his ears.

"And what trouble could our Gadget possibly get into?" Monty asks rhetorically.

Monty and the 'munks react with a violent shock, as they consider the possibilities. "BIG trouble!" they all cry out in simultaneous horror.

"But how are we going to find them?" Dale asks. Apparently, he is unaware that Zipper is trailing the briefcase.

"Maybe we can find out where these came from," Chip suggests, fishing a gear out of the water.

"'Course, first," Monty points out, "we're going to have to find out what these are."

Chip and Dale seem to agree, as they look dubiously at the scattered mess floating around them.

Clyde Cosgrove, Zipper in tow, climbs up a long staircase to his home. He slams the door before Zipper can get through. The fly opens the letter slot and makes for a light fixture with a broken bulb on the ceiling. The general air of the place is one of disrepair and clutter; peeling wallpaper, stains on the ceiling.

Zipper looks about for the briefcase and sees it sitting on a workbench. He flies down to it and springs the lock, reaching into it with his hand.

"Thanks, Zipper!" Gadget says with a smile. She looks about with an awestruck expression. "Wow..."

A slow pan reveals that we may be in Gadget Heaven. There is an incredible clutter of things and doodads, mostly associated with cooking, all in a state of disrepair and almost audibly begging for the healing touch of a born tinker.

Their host pops up from behind a table, and begins to work on a device with a screwdriver. Since the Meal-O-Matic is important to the plot, it's worth describing in some detail: it is cylindrical, about a foot tall and four inches wide, with long slots from which arms protrude radially outwards, witting on a wide base. The top resembles a bowl, with two eggbeater blades extending upwards. It resembles the mid - 1980s ODEX robot project more than anything else.

Clyde Cosgrove goes into his "Chicken dance" again. "Oh, I wish I might, oh I wish I may, have this be, my lucky day!" Zipper and Gadget watch from the briefcase. Zipper twirls a finger around his ear and Gadget laughs.

Clyde Cosgrove turns on the Meal-O-Matic. It makes some noise, flaps its arms for a bit, and then collapses and shuts itself off. Obviously, it doesn't work.

"Ah well," he sighs. "I guess today's just not going to be my lucky day. But then again, it never is my lucky day." Gadget leaves the briefcase and dives for a better vantage point, followed by Zipper. We are treated to a slow pan of various mixing type machines, all obviously not working.

"My Wonder Blender doesn't blend. My Primo Pasta Puller is past its prime, and my Whirlomometer has lost the will to whirl." Gadget hears this sad litany of failure with an expression somewhere between sympathy and deep excitement at an obvious chance to Fix Something. "And to think that once I, Clyde Cosgrove, won the coveted Golden Blender award!" Here he looks at a picture of a much younger self, proudly holding a hideous trophy. "But I was luckier back then. Now my luck is so bad the Meal-O-Matic will never be ready for the Kitchen Appliance Convention!"

Cosgrove looks at a horseshoe and rabbits-foot hanging from the wall and obviously gets an idea. With a large smile, he rings the horseshoe like a bell. Incidentally, he's hung the horseshoe incorrectly, with the points facing down. Everyone knows this lets the luck run out.

"Kismet," he cries out. "Come to Daddy!"

Over on a luxurious pile of cushions redolent in Arabian luxury, a remarkably fat white cat with a jeweled collar and hair bow rolls over onto her back. "Meow," she states.

"Kismet!" Clyde repeats. "Come, come, come!"

The cat slowly and reluctantly rolls to her feet and ambles her way towards the hand that feeds her. "Meow," she sighs, making it clear this is an imposition on her feline majesty and dignity. It is obvious this cat is based on reality. Gadget recoils in instinctual terror.

"Is my lucky little kitty going to help her Daddy-waddy?" Cosgrove asks.

"Meow," Kismet admits reluctantly.

"Oh, thank you," Cosgrove says.

Cosgrove places Kismet on the table with the Meal- O-Matic. She strolls over to it, rubs against it, and unobtrusively applies percussive maintenance.

The Mel-O-Matic reboots. "I knew your good luck would rub off on my Meal-O-Matic," Cosgrove says. The Meal-O-Matic uses slight of hand to pull an egg from behind Cosgrove's ear. It cracks the egg on Cosgrove's head, and pours it onto his forehead. It then shuts down. But at least it didn't break the yolk.

"Meow," Kismet shrugs.

"It's not your fault, Kismet," Cosgrove sighs. "I'm the failure."

"Poor guy," Gadget says, wringing her tail sadly. "Golly, Zipper, I think we can help him." The mouse and fly carry a Human-sized screwdriver over to the Meal-O-Matic. "Looks to me like Cosgrove has a few loose screws," Gadget says. Zipper twirls his finger around his temple again.

Gadget inserts the screwdriver. Sparks fly as she makes adjustments. You'd think Gadget would know to turn off the power before working on something.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranger tree, Monty and Chip are examining two flat disks they salvaged from the briefcase.

"Blast," Monty gripes. "I can't make heads or tails out of this."

Chip notices some odd markings etched onto the edge of the two disks. "Hey -- look here!" he says.

Dale appears with a third disk. "I've got the same thing on mine," he says. "What does it mean?"

"Reminds me of some hieroglyphics I saw on the banks of Taluga Lake," Monty muses, walking to a map on the wall. "'Course, they turned out to be just the toe tracks of a two-stepping Talugian Lake Toucan..."

Monty demonstrates the gait of the Taluga Lake Toucan, crashing into the 'munks as Chip is threading the disks onto an axle. The crash drives the disks together, and we see that the markings form letters.

"Wow! Look," Chip says. "They go together."

"Blimey! And they spell 'Gribbish!'" Monty enthuses.

"Of course!" Dale cries, dancing happily. "Gribbish! That's fantastic! Uh ... what's a gribbish?"

Back in Clyde's apartment, Gadget is immersed in one of his devices. Zipper races over to her and starts pulling on her tail madly.

"Please, Zipper," Gadget snaps, annoyed, "Just a little --"

She doesn't finish her sentence. Her tail is grabbed by Cosgrove who lifts her into the air and examines her, while she stares at him in terror.

"Hey, what have we here?" he asks. "A little mouse." He touches her nose lightly, making her sway on her tail.

Kismet licks her chops.

Terrified, Gadget grabs for something to pull free, and turns on the device she's been working on. It immediately grabs some vegetables sitting conveniently nearby, and feed them into its hopper. A moment later, carved snacks pop out.

"My Veggie-Sculptor! It works!" Cosgrove cries out. Kismet looks appalled. "You're even luckier than Kismet!" Gadget relaxes, aware of her reprieve. Kismet snarls deep in her throat.

Cosgrove pops Gadget into an empty jar. "You may be just what I need to break my unlucky streak! Now, what can I use for a cage..?"

Cosgrove goes off to find something. Zipper pushes against Gadget's jar to no avail. Kismet takes a few notches out of the table with her claws.

"Meow," Kismet says to Gadget, smiling. Kismet coils herself for a jump onto the table. Gadget waits helplessly. Suddenly, the door swings over and fires Kismet into the wall.

The door has been opened by Mr. Gribbish, a large man with white hair.

"COSGROVE!" he yells.

"Yes, Mr. Gribbish, sir?" Cosgrove asks meekly. He holds a tiny birdcage.

"How is our little Meal-O-Matic coming along, Cosgrove?" Mr. Gribbish asks mildly.

"It - it's not quite ready, sir," Cosgrove admits.

Mr. Gribbish gives an expression of mock surprise. "Well, it had better be ready in time for the appliance show this afternoon," he says. "OR YOU WILL BE SLICED AND DICED RIGHT OUT OF THE BUSINESS!"

Mr. Gribbish pats Cosgrove on the head and adopts a milder tone. "You do understand, don't you?" he asks.

"Y - yes sir," Cosgrove agrees, chuckling nervously.

A contemptuous Mr. Gribbish slams the door on his way out. A flattened Kismet slides down the wall and inflates herself.

Cosgrove puts a cowering Gadget into the birdcage. The way it is drawn, Gadget should easily be able to go through the bars, but never mind.

"Oh dear. I'm afraid it'll take more than a lucky mouse to fix my Meal-O-Matic," Cosgrove mutters. "I know! I'll go back to the park and find that four-leaf clover! Now Kismet, take care of our little friend!"

"Meow," Kismet agrees evilly. She laughs.

Gadget pops the lock with her tail, and leaves the cage. Zipper gets ready to go.

"We can't leave yet, Zipper," she says.

"We can't?" Zipper buzzed.

"Cosgrove has just lost his self-confidence," Gadget explains, immersing herself into the Meal-O-Matic. "So we'll help him find it. After all, we're Rescue Rangers, and Rescue Rangers help people."

Zipper notices Kismet has leapt onto the table, and is stalking Gadget. Gadget is oblivious. Frantically, he begins pulling at her tail.

"Please, not now, Zipper," gadget says, thoroughly distracted. "Now, let's see... if I tighten this, and hook this to this..."

Kismet gets closer.

"Have a little patience, Zipper," Gadget snaps. "I think I've almost fixed it. All I need is a paper clip..."

Zipper takes Gadget's tail and wraps it around a spool of wire. He pushes it off the edge of the table as Kismet makes her death pounce. Kismet crashes into a mixer and flies off the end of the table. Gadget crashed into a box of paper clips. "Golly, Zipper," she says, "I only needed one."

A bowl crashes onto Kismet, finally getting Gadget's attention. "So thought you'd just come in and take over, eh mousie?" asks Kismet. "Well, there's only room for one lucky pet around here, and your luck's just run out."

Kismet expresses her claws, and reveals a glitch in the animators' knowledge of cat anatomy. She snaps them out from palms like switchblades, while a real cat's claws actually extend in the opposite direction, towards the pads.

Gadget dives for cover behind a table leg. Kismet takes deep gashes out of the wood. Gadget gulps in terror. "Is that any reason to - gulp - eat me?"

"Well, that and the fact that you are a mouse," Kismet points out.

"But I was just trying to help fix those broken inventions," Gadget explains.

"And just who do you think broke all those dazzling doodads, dearie?" Kismet asks, pushing against Gadget with her head.

"You? But I thought you were Cosgrove's lucky kitty -- uh, cat!" Gadget says.

Kismet advances on Gadget, who is forced to walk backwards. "Would he need me for a good luck charm if he weren't having a bad luck streak? No!"

Kismet's claws flash down. Gadget closes her eyes. "Oh well. I guess if you don't mind losing your meal ticket..."

"Meaning?" Kismet stops, suddenly interested.

Gadget heaves a sigh of relief. "How long do you think his boss will let Cosgrove stay here if his inventions never work? If he doesn't succeed soon, he'll be out on the street!"

The truth impacts Kismet. "And ... _so will I_!!"

"Okay, mousie," Kismet agrees. "I'll let you fix one of his inventions -- but that's it, understand?" She takes a toy mouse from a box and slits its throat with a cruel claw. "Now, you'll probably need these."

A heap of mechanical parts pour out of the mouse in front of Gadget. "Golly! Cosgrove's missing parts!"

Cosgrove walks in. The animals look up at him. "Why did they have to pick today to mow the lawn?" he asks, and drops an armful of lawn clippings onto the floor, covering the animals and the parts. "Oh well. My four leaf clover must be in here somewhere..."

Gadget, Kismet, and the fly whose name escapes me emerge from the heap, spitting clippings out of their mouths. "Huh," says Gadget, "How am I going to find the parts in all this grass?"

"What's the matter? A bit of bad luck, mousie?" Kismet asks with a chuckle.

"Nonsense," Gadget snaps. "You make your own luck, and I'll prove it." She dives into the grass and starts digging, kicking up a cylinder that bops Cosgrove on the nose.

"Say," he says, "This looks like the Kanuti valve off my --"

Mr. Gribbish barges in, smashing Kismet against the wall.

"Cosgrove," he says.

"Yes, Mr. Gribbish sir?"

"The movers will be here soon to move the exhibits to the convention hall. And if the Meal-O-Matic isn't ready, they'll move you out onto the street!"

Mr. Gribbish storms out, followed by Cosgrove. "But -- but!" Cosgrove says in an attempt to explain himself.

Kismet peels off the wall and inflates herself.

"Okay," Gadget muses, "Now, the way I see it, this should be as easy as piecing together a puzzle. If only I knew what the puzzle looked like..."

Back in the Ranger tree, Dale turns the pages of a telephone book by jogging on the sheets. "How come I always get the tough jobs?" he grouses, gasping.

"Just be thankful 'Appliances' are in the front of the book, mate," Monty observes.

"There it is!" Chip yells. "Gribbish. Gribbish Kitchen Appliances. 3436 Flower Street."

They board the Ranger Plane. Monty takes the Left Seat. "Hey," Chip gripes, "What are you doing? It's my turn to drive."

"Your turn?" asks Dale. "It's my turn."

The 'munks squabble, falling into the back seat. Monty lifts them up. "Now boys," he scolds them, "Leave the driving to me. I'm the one with experience. Why, I piloted an autogyro made of Canadian Goose feathers and never had a problem."

He starts up the Ranger Plane. It shoots backwards and crashes into the trunk of the tree.

"Except every winter, the blinking plane kept headin' south..." Monty continues, having gotten the Plane under control.

Kismet drums her claws on the floor, missing her hostage, Zipper.

"Golly," says a frustrated Gadget, "I can't figure out where all these leftover parts go."

"Well, they didn't all come from the Meal-O-Matic, dearie," Kismet explains. "Those parts were from all the inventions I sabotaged."

"Uh -- I knew that," Gadget lies, tossing a gear away. "Well, nothing a little hard work can't fix."

She turns to head toward the Meal-O-Matic. Kismet snags her tail. "Say," she says, "You wouldn't be doing this just to make yourself look good, now would you, mousie?"

"Golly, no," Gadget says nervously, backing herself against the Meal-O-Matic. "I'm just trying to help you out."

The Meal-O-Matic turns on. It grabs Kismet by her tail, swings her around a few times, and tosses her out the window.

Gadget tells Zipper, "I don't think it was supposed to do that."

Kismet has been flung across the alley. She is clinging to a rain gutter and meowing piteously, trying to climb up. It breaks under her weight and sends her into a garbage can.

"Well," says Gadget, "at least she's okay."

The Meal-O-Matic grabs her and starts waving her about as she tries to escape its grip. She struggles vainly. Zipper takes a paper clip and shoves it into the works, producing an electric shock and stopping the machine dead.

"Golly, thanks, Zipper!" Gadget cries out.

The arm she's in jerks, and dangles out the window. Zipper struggles to pull her up, to no avail. "Oh well," she says, determined to look on the bright side, "At least it didn't drop --"

She plummets.

Zipper dives after her. Gadget falls out of the hand. Zipper grabs her and starts lifting her. He breaks her fall for a moment, and then drops like a stone, only to land in Monty's arms in the back seat of the Ranger Plane.

"Gotcha!" he cries triumphantly. "Now that's what I call lucky."

Gadget bites back a reply.

As the Ranger Plane flies off, Kismet pulls herself out of the garbage. "I knew I should never have trusted that double-crosser," she snarls in a stunning display of cluelessness. "Maybe it's time I brought that mousie a little luck. A little bad luck." She extends her claws with switchblade clicks.

The movers drop the Meal-O-Matic into a packing crate from three feet in the air. Having seen exhibition hall union employees moving computer equipment, I can attest this is an honest portrait.

"But you can't take the Meal-O-Matic. It's not ready yet!" Cosgrove pleads.

"Gribbish says you can finish working on it at the convention," one of the movers says. They toss some spare parts into the crate and haul it off.

"But, but but but --" Cosgrove says, chasing after them.

The Ranger Wing hovers out the window.

"Sorry, Gadget love," Monty says. "Looks like we're too late to --"

"Wrong!" she sings out. "Follow that moving van!"

We now cut to the convention, where a large banner reads "Golden Beater Award." Two judges appear at a booth, where they watch a device make a lemon meringue pie with whipped cream. One gives a thumbs up; the other a thumbs down. The exhibitors are crushed.

Next, they go to a booth where an exhibitor has a machine which turns sausages into a spreadable paste. Again, the vote is split, and again, the exhibitor drinks deep the bitter cup of defeat.

Third up is a booth with a large sign reading "YUM." This machine turns broccoli into a paste which fills ice cream cones. After a taste, the judges flee in horror.

The woman in the booth resembles "Deb", the aerobics instructor on TV in "Battle of the Bulge." I suspect an in joke.

Mr. Gribbish paces angrily in front of his empty booth. He storms off to a back room where Clyde is doing his Chicken Dance. "Oh, I wish I might, oh I wish I may, have this be, my lucky ... uh oh," Mr. Gribbish has entered the room.

The Rangers look on in sympathy. "Well, is it ready yet, Cosgrove?"

"Mr. Gribbish! How nice to see you! Well, er, I, uh, with any luck, er ..." Cosgrove waffles.

"I see," Mr. Gribbish says grimly. "Well, I certainly don't want to put any undue pressure on you Cosgrove, but the judges will be at our booth any minute now... SO STEP ON IT YOU LUG NUT!"

Mr. Gribbish storms off, as Cosgrove stutters.

"Golly," says Gadget, "With Kismet gone, Cosgrove doesn't have to worry about bad luck. If only I could find a way to get him to trust his own talent!"

"Well, love," Monty says, putting an arm around her, "Good luck to you!"

"Luck?!" Gadget explodes, her face a map of fury.

"Uh well, you know what I mean," Monty apologizes.

"Don't worry," Gadget says. "I know just what to do."

"Me too," Kismet agrees, emerging from a box and advancing on her. "Surprise! It was so nice of those movers to give me a little lift, don't you think, Dearie?"

The Rangers run, except for Monty, who menaces Kismet with a wooden spoon. "It's going to take more to scare the Rescue Rangers than a measly cat!" Monty claims.

Wordlessly, Kismet slashes, and the spoon falls into several pieces.

"Like maybe a measly cat with big claws!" Monty gasps, fleeing to join the others.

"C'mon," Chip says, trying to drag Gadget to cover.

"But -- ut I've got to help Cosgrove fix --" she begins.

A "Meow" cuts her off. Kismet has leaped. Gadget splits off from the others, jumping from the table. The boys follow her, landing in a glass bowl, which Kismet closes with a vacuum-seal top, taking them out of the action and guaranteeing they will remain fresh for later.

"And now to take care of that meddling mouse mechanic," Kismet declares, betraying affection about alliteration. Now it's Kismet and Gadget, gato-a-mouso. Gadget goes for altitude, climbing to a metal conduit suspended from the ceiling.

"So," Kismet teases. "You want to play cat and mouse?"

Soon Kismet is on the same conduit, and jumps, knocking Gadget off. The mouse grabs onto the conduit and struggles to climb back up.

The boys have formed a pyramid and are trying, to no avail, to break the seal on the top of the bowl.

A defeated Cosgrove slinks into the room. He is shocked to see what is going on. "Kismet!" he cries out. "What are you doing? Get away from that mouse!"

He begins tinkering with the Meal-O-Matic.

Kismet is playing with Gadget, prying one finger off the conduit at a time with her claws. "G-gosh, Kismet," Gadget says, "I don't think you really want to do this!"

"Oh, but I do," Kismet assures her, pointing down. Gadget follows her eyes and gasps in terror. She's over the naked blade of a running blender. "Looks like there's more than one way to skin a mouse, eh, dearie?" Kismet says gleefully.

Cosgrove has finished his embellishments to the Meal-O-Matic. He carries it over to boxes stacked against the wall.

"I warned you, Kismet!" he says, and unleashes the mechanized cavalry.

The Meal-O-Matic uses its appendages to drag itself across the floor and up the boxes to the ceiling. Gadget smiles with hope, while Kismet looks at the audience with a wonderful "I just don't buy this" expression.

The Meal-O-Matic stops dead.

"Sorry, mousie," Kismet clucks with mock sympathy. "This just isn't your lucky day."

The Meal-O-Matic suddenly begins running again, and grasps Kismet in a cruel hand. The sound of a buzzsaw is heard, and Kismet, now sporting a poodle cut, is hurled to the floor. She screams her rage and flees out a window.

Gadget laughs endearingly at the humiliation and defeat of her enemy. The robotic Rescue Ranger rodent rescuer takes her in a hand and brings her gently to the floor.

The boys finally manage to pop the seal and open their prison.

The Meal-O-Matic hands her to Cosgrove. "Are you okay, little mousie?" he asks with concern.

The exhausted Gadget nods to him and grins.

"Hey, what do you know?" Cosgrove asks suddenly. "I fixed it without a good luck dance or a four leaf clover or anything! Maybe I just needed a better reason to succeed!"

He puts Gadget down on the floor and strokes her head once. She waves to him and scurries off.

"COSGROVE!" yells Mr. Gribbish. "Where's that Meal-O-Matic? C'mon Cosgrove, the judges are waiting."

In the hall, the Meal-O-Matic consumes vegetables and meat, pauses, and ejects two plates of food to the judges. They grin and give two thumbs up.

"I knew my Meal-O-Matic would work," Mr. Gribbish says. "After all, it was my hard work, my know-how, and my ingenuity."

The Meal-O-Matic shoves eggs in his mouth, corn into his ears, and pulls his chef's hat down over his neck. While Mr. Gribbish struggles, the judges give Cosgrove the award.

"How do you think old Cosgrove got that contraption to work so fast?" Monty asks out loud.

"Just lucky, I guess," Gadget says.

The others stare at her in blank disbelief.

***

Apart from Zipper, the others only affect the action significantly once: when they catch Gadget in the Ranger Plane. In an unusual inversion, the chipmunks are practically out of the story. This episode focuses on Gadget and her conflict with a mocking, sadistic, and selfish enemy.

The animation of this episode strikes me as being a bit unusual. From time to time Gadget's hair seems to show a distinct anime style. More than that, the characters are incredibly dynamic. None of the characters simply stand around and watch. Mr. Gribbish shows constant mood swings through body language, Cosgrove is nervous and trembling except around animals, Gadget shows stark terror throughout the episode - compare the "Is that any reason to eat me?" scene with the much blander "Conveyer belt to the buzz saw" scene from "Mind Your Cheese and Qs."

Rescue Rangers and all characters and episodes copyright the Walt Disney Corporation and used without permission.