TUGS: Trapped

Another day, another review. We're Trapped with the TUGS this time around!

THE OPINIONS, THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS IN THIS BLOG POST ARE SOLELY THOSE OF ZACK WANZER, AND NO ONE ELSE'S

Trapped

Written and Directed by Chris Tulloch

Captain Star explains that there's times when both Star Tugs and Z-Stacks have to work together; one of those times is bringing timber and tanning bark from the sawmills Up River; this year, it's extremely important. (No, that's not a capitalization goof; there is a location called Up River.) Zug has been given the task of hauling a rusty old tramper to the breaker's yard, but this extra task, according to Zak, will get Zorran cross with Zug. Meanwhile, we're introduced to Billy Shoepack the alligator tug who works at Up River - his task his transporting explosives from Mittsville to the logging camp. I'm sure you can bet why O.J. and Big Mac aren't the most comfortable around him.

Meanwhile, Zug meets up with a very annoyed Zorran, who "agrees" to "help" him get to the breaker's yard faster. However, Zorran pushes too hard, causing the tramper to jam the river, leaving Zug trapped with all the Star Tugs... or so he thinks. ("Once it starts to go, you cannot stop it," Sunshine quips.) It turns out Ten Cents had been bringing lumber-cutting machinery to Mittsville, and Zorran tells him up the "accident", so Ten Cents tells him to inform both captains and the salvage team while the Star switcher goes to investigate the scene.

Sunshine runs into Billy and explains about the blockage. Billy decides to use dynamite rather than a crane, much to Sunshine's dismay. Ten Cents encounters Top Hat (who's raised his wheelhouse to talk to him) and the former says he'll get help and later comes across Little Ditcher and asks him for help. Back at the blockage, Big Mac and O.J. decide to use a few barges to form a battering ram... which doesn't work. Then Sunshine and Billy turn up, much to the surprise of everyone else, and when the dynamite is rigged... nothing happens after a countdown. Turns out the fuse got wet. Take two - this time, the dynamite blows the tramper in half, but Zorran had just showed up on the lower side and he ends up on the rocks, much to everyone's amusement. Considering he caused the trouble in the first place, that's very cathartic. Billy is praised for his actions and I believe Zorran is brought back into water with Little Ditcher's help.

Out of the nine episodes that are 15 minutes in length, Trapped is one of those nine. The other four - Sunshine, Pirate, Munitions (which I'll get to later), and Regatta - are all 20 minutes - why all four of them are cut down to 15, I have no clue as sometimes, edits to cut down run-time leads to plotholes. Granted, Magic Railroad made it blatant, but that's irrelevant. The ending is probably one of the funniest and most exciting in any TUGS episode, like I mentioned above. Plus, the fourth wall break with Captain Star and Zorran was also amusing.

Rating: 10 out of 10

TUGS Episode Scorecard

1. Sunshine: 9
2. Pirate: 10
3. Trapped: 10
5. Quarantine: 9.5
12. Regatta: 9.5