Sometimes I write things

Never aired in the US, the fourth season of Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers (CDRR) was to my knowledge shown only on the Armed Forced Television Family Network (AFN Family) during the month of June, 1992. Though CDRR continued as part of the Disney Afternoon (TDA) programming package syndicated from September 1990 until some time in 1998 (shortly before the launch of Toon Disney, a cable channel which aired episodes from the first three seasons of CDRR from its inception until sometime after 2002).

Perhaps due to the shifting themes and more advanced storyline(s) of the fourth season, the Disney corporation has never integrated these episodes with the first three seasons, much less TDA, or included them among their official episode lists, released portions on VHS or DVD, or even admitted their existence. Fans of CDRR (dubbed “Rangerphiles”) privately circulate summaries and dubbed tapes of original AFN Family broadcast.

The following summaries are based on review of the original audio scripts, kindly provided by Tad Stones, producer and head writer of the show, and close study of the original masters for the surviving episodes 66-74, 76-78, 80, 81, 83, 84, and 87, kindly provided by Disney. Writer Evan Milastic contributes comments on selected episodes. Unfortunately, the only known copies of the original master tapes for episodes 75, 79, 82, 85, and 86 were destroyed in the Burbank Lot Fire of 1997.

Show 66/4.01 aired Monday 8 June 1992
“The Mouse Who Was October, Part I”

The new season kicks off with a bang, as Gadget’s childhood acquaintance October (guest voice Robin Wright) appears on the team’s doorstep, begging sanctuary from an angry mob. She’s been falsely accused of defacing a village of ducks’ memorial, a crime in truth committed by Nimnul (last seen in episode 64), a human scientist aware of animal civilization.

E.M.: “We had a lot of discussion about taking the show in a different direction. We nearly scrapped the existing character designs and created an entirely new show – I guess that would have been a better idea, given the chilly reception Season Four eventually received. What came out was the result of a lot of compromises… October was almost named Melody. I forget why we made the change. The title comes from G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Man Who Was Thursday’.”

Show 67/4.02 aired Tuesday 9 June 1992
“The Mouse Who Was October, Part II”

While October flirts unsuccessfully with Chip, Gadget recalls their childhood together, and Nimnul continues to steal animal-produced art objects. The investigation is stymied by angry ducks, which Dale must placate.

Show 68/4.03 aired Wednesday 10 June 1992
“The Mouse Who Was October, Part III”

Now aware that Nimnul is up to something, something big, the team (plus October, who invites herself along) rushes after him, intent on learning the secret of his plot. But can October really be trusted?

Show 69/4.04 aired Thursday 11 June 1992
“The Mouse Who Was October, Part IV”

With most of the team captured, October and Monterey Jack must race back to the Tree in the Rangermobile to mount a rescue operation, and October takes the opportunity to accuse Monterey Jack of secretly being her father, which leads to no end of embarrassment when October’s estranged mother September appears on the scene.

Show 70/4.05 aired Friday 12 June 1992
“The Mouse Who Was October, Part V”

October, September, and Monterey Jack free Chip, Dale, Gadget, and Zipper, and working together the seven of them ruin Nimnul’s HRAC-Machine and cement his reputation as a crackpot. October and September say their tearful goodbyes, and an offhand remark of October’s sets Gadget to thinking about Chip.

Show 71/4.06 aired Monday 15 June 1992
“Normalcy is as Average Does”

After the “fiasco” of the last few days, the cast tries to settle back into a routine, which is made difficult by a sudden drying-up of “the Rescuees that need Rangering,” as Montery Jack puts it. While Gadget tests designs for a new Rangermobile and Monterey Jack tests recipes for a new cheese chowder, Chip puts Dale and Zipper through their paces in a detective-procedures review seminar. This episode is notable in that there isn’t even a semblance of a villain: it’s a simple slice-of-life story.

Show 72/4.07 aired Tuesday 16 June 1992
“Citizen Shane Versus the Wolfman”

Every copy of ‘Citizen Shane Versus the Wolfman,’ one of the most-beloved films of all time, has been stolen. The cast is on the case, but there’s just one problem: despite his encyclopedic knowledge of film history, Dale doesn’t remember a thing about this classic. Eventually it’s revealed that a witch and retired casting agent named Veronica (Tress MacNeille voices) created the memory of the film as part of her revenge against the studio system; Dale is immune due to his being asleep at the time of the spell’s casting (two in the afternoon). Deborah Walley guest stars as Foxglove, Dale’s nocturnal bat friend (last seen in episode 46).

This episode features the semi-legendary “Wild Kingdom of the Deadly Beautiful Maidens” sequence. While Monterey Jack reads aloud promotional copy from ‘Wild Kingdom of the Deadly Beautiful Maidens,’ a film by the same creative team that allegedly produced ‘Citizen Shane Versus the Wolfman,’ Chip becomes distracted by Gadget and embarks on a brief hallucinogenic fantasy including a feral jungle-girl version of Gadget. The text Monterey Jack reads is reproduced below.

“Wild! Deadly! Beautiful! Yet possessing an innocence and grace! Don’t let her gentle beauty and manners fool you: under her skin beats a heart of passion, the soul of a tigress! None can tame her, for that is not her nature; but who can run with her under the stars on a warm spring night? Love in the steaming jungle.”

Show 73/4.08 aired Wednesday 17 June 1992
“Boom Boom Ka-Boom”

When a minor earthquake traps Dale and Monterey Jack in a disused burrow during a routine investigation, Gadget realizes how much she cares for and admires Chip during their rescue operation. Ends on a cliff-hanger, as Dale and Monterey Jack discover a counterfeit cheese operation working out of hidden tunnels under the park. N.B. Zipper is absent during this episode and the one immediately following, which is not explained.

Show 74/4.09 aired Thursday 18 June 1992
“Earth-Shattering”

Resolves cliff-hanger ending of “Earth Shattering.” Dale and Monterey Jack meet up with Chip and Gadget and together they destroy the counterfeiting equipment in a commando raid (an extended action sequence involving lots of rolling cylinders and Cheez-Whiz-like material exploding, et cetera). After the successful mission, Chip and Gadget agree to go on a date, which fact they hide from Dale and Monterey Jack for no clear reason. N.B. Zipper is absent during this episode and the one immediately preceding, which is not explained.

Show 75/4.10 aired Friday 19 June 1992
“Guns of Burbank”

An indeterminate number of weeks after episode 75, Gadget and Chip now appear to be in a settled relationship. They’re keeping this fact secret from Monterey Jack, Zipper, and Dale, however, apparently for fear of damaging the team’s dynamic. Their odd behavior complicates an otherwise simple investigation of a boy’s stolen BB gun, which was taken by Fat Cat as part of an arsenal capable of intimidating local animal merchants into paying protection money.

Show 76/4.11 aired Monday 22 June 1992
“The Angels Want to Wear My Blue Suede Shoes”

Monterey Jack has deduced that Gadget and Chip are up to something, and dispatches Zipper to find out what. When Zipper learns the truth and tells Monterey Jack, they decide to play a prank on Gadget and Chip by faking an anonymous tip that a ballroom dancing contest is going to be raided by forces unknown. At Monterey Jack’s insistence, the pair “go undercover” by entering the contest together and, as he predicted, are ultimately unable to restrain their romantic impulses on the dance floor. Monterey Jack and Zipper guffaw when the truth comes out, but Dale is deeply hurt.

E.M.: “This was probably my favorite episode of the season. The character designs on the other dancing couples, and the dialogue between Chip and Gadget out on the dance floor… it was a lot of fun. And Chip and Gadget kiss, which there was such a huge buildup to, that had to be a big moment. It was huge for a cartoon show, anyway.”

Show 77/4.12 aired Tuesday 23 June 1992
“Holding the Bag”

A fuming Dale complains to his friend Foxglove (guest voice of Deborah Walley, last seen in episode 72) about the unfairness of life in Chip’s shadow, oblivious to Foxglove’s apparent (but unvoiced) attraction to him. They’re interrupted by a sequence of minor crises, which Dale’s quick action resolves quickly: a lost squirrel-child, a missing cache of nuts, eggs trapped in a damaged bird’s nest. With Foxglove’s prompting, Dale eventually admits he’s more angry about the presumption that Chip and Gadget pairing off would upset him and the extents they went to to hide it, than he is about the pairing off itself.
A running side-plot features Chip’s missing hat.

Show 78/4.13 aired Wednesday 24 June 1992
“Brie and the Watership Downs”

One of Monterey Jack’s old traveling companions, a rabbit named Edgar (voice of Tim Daly) recruits the team to save his village from the machinations of Desiree D’Lure (last seen in episode 46), who protests that she’s reformed and only wants to help. Monterey Jack rallies to her defense, until Gadget uncovers strong circumstantial evidence Desiree conspired to rig the village elections. The plot is thwarted, but due to the lack of proof against Desiree, Monterey Jack convinces the others to let her go peacefully. She does, protesting her innocence the whole time (deliberate ambiguity is written into the script).

Show 79/4.14 aired Thursday 25 June 1992
“The Buzz”

This episode sees the cast (allegedly) thwarting Fat Cat’s planned theft of the Klutchkoin Diamond, using an elaborate plan we the audience witness only in brief fragments. The real focus is on Zipper, who’s been relegated to “manning the telephone” back at HQ; Chip, Dale, Gadget, and Monterey Jack are shown only in brief cutaways, as they enact their plan.

Zipper, meanwhile, is drawn away from his telephone-manning duties by Foxglove (last seen in show 77), who fears a pyromaniac paper wasp called the Buzz will set fire to the park. With Foxglove’s reluctant assistance, Zipper evades the Buzz’s traps, tracks him down, and talks him into surrendering his butane lighter. Unlike every other episode of CDRR, in his scenes Zipper speaks normally (voice of Corey Burton), but context makes it clear that the various mammals he encounters (Foxglove, an irate squirrel named Mrs. Nuthatch, and a mouse child named Tinka) cannot understand him.

Throughout the episode, we regularly cut from Zipper to the other cast members, who have separated into two teams (Chip and Gadget, Dale and Monterey Jack). The logistics of the plan are never explored, and it’s hard to imagine the fragments seen assembling into a coherent whole. In the cutaways: Dale agonizes over whether to cut the red wire or the blue wire to disarm some unknown electronic system; Chip and Gadget postpone entry into a ventilation system long enough to make out; Dale helps Monterey Jack into a chicken suit; Chip prevents Gadget from falling into a vat of liquid cheese but nearly falls in himself; Monterey Jack complains about the recent soap-opera antics.

Show 80/4.15 aired Friday 26 June 1992
“The Big Lie Technique”

Nimnul resurfaces, still intent on revealing the sentience of mammals to the world at large. The team thwarts his plan to air hidden-camera footage of them performing intelligent actions (flying the Rangerwing, solving a differential equation on a whiteboard, picking a lock with a tail) by pretending to be the trained performing menagerie of failed zookeeper Harvey H. Haverhack (voice of guest star Brent Spiner).

Show 81/4.16 aired Monday 29 June 1992
“October Skies”

October (last seen in episode 70, guest voice Robin Wright) returns with another crisis in tow: Fat Cat is trying to rig the Burbank 500 RC Car Race. Gadget’s newest Rangermobile (the third model she’s built over the course of the season, after the previous ones all crash and fragment) becomes a target as October agrees to drive it in the race.

Show 82/4.17 aired Tuesday 30 June 1992
“Fun and Profit, Part I”

Foxglove (last seen in episode 79, guest voice Deborah Walley) decides she wants to be a Rescue Ranger, and cajoles Dale into asking the team to admit her on a trial basis. Meanwhile, a mysterious ‘Sewer Al’ begins abducting housecats.

Show 83/4.18 aired Wednesday 1 July 1992
“Fun and Profit, Part II”

Foxglove’s overenthusiastic manner grates on the team, especially Chip. Reports of missing pets lead the team to the sewers, where Sewer Al has rediscovered Nimnul’s static-electric generator (last seen in episode 1).

Show 84/4.19 aired Thursday 2 July 1992
“Fun and Profit, Part III”

An offended Foxglove leaves the team in the lurch, taking Dale with her… straight to Cat Alley. Sewer Al cuts a deal with Chip, agreeing to return all the cats, and the team rescues Dale and Foxglove with the aid of the freed felines. “Sewer Al” is revealed to be Nimnul in disguise.

Show 85/4.20 aired Friday 3 July 1992
“Fun and Profit, Part IV”

The full grandeur of Nimnul’s madness is revealed, as he prepares to level the city, and the team (now including Foxglove) are the only ones who can possibly stop him. Includes a reference to the “meltdown” scene from episode 58:

GADGET: We’ve reached the first stage of meltdown!
FOXGLOVE: Yay! Meltdown! Hoo-ray! Melt! Down! Melt! Down!
GADGET: Meltdown is bad.
FOXGLOVE: We hate meltdown! Meltdown, boo! Meltdown go home!

Show 86/4.21 aired Monday 6 July 1992
“Fun and Profit, Part V”

With the static generator disabled, Nimnul’s plans lie in ruins, but he still has concrete evidence of the animal civilization. The team chases the increasingly unstable scientist to his mountaintop home, where they barely escape with their lives.

Show 87/4.22 aired Tuesday 7 July 1992
“Life as Prelude”

This unusual episode recapitulates Gadget’s life in flashback: early childhood, informal education from her father and his friends (including, along with younger Monterey Jack, a very young October, and October’s mother September, both voiced by guest Robin Wright), the devastating loss of her father, and the events of “To the Rescue!” (episodes 1-5) and “Earth-Shattering” and “Guns of Burbank” (episodes 74-75) from a slightly altered perspective, as well as a scene from Gadget’s and Chip’s first date (between episodes 74 and 75).

The flashbacks are framed by an occluded figure silently observing Gadget going through her daily routine, which figure is ultimately revealed to be Lawhiney (last seen in episode 40, but now voiced by Tress MacNeille, in a change neither explained nor addressed). At the episode’s conclusion, it is strongly implied that Lawhiney plans to enact revenge on the Rangers by abducting Gadget and assuming her identity, which presumably would have kicked off the fifth season.

E.M.: “More of Li’l Gadget and Li’l October, from show 67! It was nice to be able to actually show Gegaw and September interacting, even if only in flashback. We were taking a risk, though, setting up so much unresolved for a fifth season.”

Addendum: “October Surprises” pilot script, no audio track recorded.

In this unproduced spinoff, October (putative voice of Robin Wright) and Foxglove (putative voice of Deborah Walley) embark on a cross-country trip to see America. In the first and only episode, they meet a family of lizards oppressed by an obese slumlord, and save them from eviction by raising the needed funds through a charity car-wash. (Apparently in the spin-off, animals use money.) Had the series been produced, Wright and Walley would have been the regulars.

(Postscript: just so we’re clear this is a work of parody created by me, Jeff Wikstrom.)