Episode #27: The Case of the Cola Cult
Rating: ****
AD: 10/16/89
D: John Kimball, Bob Zamboni
SEd: Bryce Malek
W: Kevin Hopps, "Cola Cult Song" by Kevin Hopps, Tad Stones, and Glen Daum
RSC: (none)
Voices: Corey Burton -- Pop Top, Myron
Peter Cullen -- Monterey Jack
Jim Cummings -- Bubbles
Tress MacNeille
Sindy McKay
Rob Paulsen
Notes:
Near legendary episode: only "A Fly in the Ointment" can possibly be
said to top this.
Parody of cults is incisive, particularly of Jim Jones-like cult that
steals $ under pretext of helping "lost souls." Gadget's initiation
a comment on cults taking advantage of dependent, depressed people.
Ultimate fate of cult a bit murky: Bubbles was a crook, but Pop Top
was honest -- so why shouldn't the Cola Cult continue? Bit of a weak
way to wrap things up. "Be yourself, respect your abilities" sounds
cliched & phony.
"Cola Cult Song": irony of the "religious" rite centering around a human
commercial. Another example of the "subsociety" at work.
Pop Top voice parody of Hans Conreid (longtime voice actor: Snidely
Whiplash etc.)
Bubbles NOT a parody of John Wayne!
First time a character has up and left the Rangers. Gadget's inventive
bungling overrode by her masculine character traits coming to the fore
-- "Ramboette" -- certainly her most heroic (in a stock sense) role.
Her REAL most heroic role would come later in "Gadget Goes Hawaiian."
[Jim Cummings would later use Bubbles' grating voice for another notorious
villain -- Negaduck, of Darkwing fame. -- MP]
If you'd like to read a transcript of this episode, it's availible on Julie Bihn's The Super Gigantic Rescue Rangers Episode Guide.