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"Jurassic Jumble" is a season 1 episode that debuted on October 10, 1991. It is the debut episode of Stegmutt and Dr. Fossil.

Plot[]

Summary[]

Shyster and Loophole from Shyster & Loophole Tax Attorneys are dictating a letter to their secretary, Maria. It is addressed to Numero Uno in the St. Canard Minimum Security Prison. Uno is a client of theirs that they could not protect from being convicted, but they still want their payment as his defense lawyers. While Maria takes notes, a phone call comes in and she takes it. The awkward voice on the other side of the line keeps asking if he's reached Shyster & Loophole Tax Attorneys in a drawn out manner, distracting the secretary from the bipedal stegosaurus, Stegmutt, that barges through the wall and walks off with Shyster and Loophole as his prisoners. Just as Maria realizes something has happened to her bosses and screams, Darkwing shows up, unwittingly with Gosalyn and Honker in tow. After shoving them aside and assuring the secretary he doesn't know them, he asks about the abduction. Maria mentions the letter to Numero Uno, leading Darkwing to conclude the crime committed is one born out of vengeance. At the same time, Honker spots a footprint and determines it to belong to a stegosaurus. He tries to tell Darkwing, but neither the crimefighter nor Maria and Gosalyn believe him or are willing to go take a look. By now done with the disruptions, Darkwing boots the two children out of the attorneys' office. Dusting the ridicule of himself, Honker decides to follow the track of stegosaurus footprints on his own initiative, hoping to get a good grade for his science project at school. Gosalyn joins him solely because she has nothing better to do.

Convinced that the mastermind behind the abduction is Numero Uno, Darkwing contacts Launchpad and has the Thunderquack fly him to the St. Canard Minimum Security Prison. His questionable plan to uncover the whereabout of Shyster and Loophole is to abduct Numero Uno from his prison and interrogate him. His first attempt backfires when the elasto-suspenders don't come off and he's knocked back into the Thunderquack along with a tree he tried to hold on to. The second attempt does not improve the success rate when Darkwing discards Launchpad's idea to just land the Thunderquack. Once more, the elasto-suspenders don't unsnap and a swimming pool proves not any more secure than a tree. The caped crusader brings his own anvil for the third attempt, but while he does remain on the ground, his clothes do not. He wisely makes a temporary tactical retreat after that.

Honker and Gosalyn make more progress in the meantime. The trails of dinosaur footprints leads them to the dinosaur exhibit at the St. Canard Natural History Museum during closing hours. They walk right past their target, who isn't particularly trying to hide but nonetheless doesn't stand out among the skeletons and models on display. Once they're gone, Stegmutt goes to get a Coo-Coo Cola from a vending machine, but his order gets stuck. Gosalyn and Honker are alerted to his presence when he solves his predicament through violence. Stegmutt blends back into the display timely, minus the matter that he forgets to get the can off his thagomizer. Gosalyn sees the can and assumes an irresponsible visitor placed it there. In picking it up to dispose of it properly, she squirts some of the drink into Stegmutt's snout. He sneezes and blows his cover. The children are terrified to come face to face with a real dinosaur and hurry to the elevators for an escape. Stegmutt runs after them to explain he is no threat to them but he trips and crashes through the elevator doors. He apologizes, which Honker takes as his cue to attempt a conversation with the dinosaur, starting with the question if he's truly a stegosaurus. Steggmut unsatisfyingly replies that he used to be a janitor. Introductions are made and the children explain they've come to the museum for their science project. Stegmutt enthusiastically offers to show them a real science experiment in the museum's reinforced basement, which Gosalyn impulsively gives the go-ahead for.

In the basement, Stegmutt introduces his new friends to his employer, Dr. Fossil, who not only turned Stegmutt into a stegosaurus but also turned himself into a pterodactyl. Dr. Fossil isn't bothered by the children's presence so much as he is about Stegmutt's inability to keep even one thing secret. Seconds after bringing them in, Stegmutt shows the children the retro-evolution gun that Dr. Fossil used to mutate the two of them and reveals Dr. Fossil's caged collection of five other retro-evolved specimens. Gosalyn and Honker recognize Shyster and Loophole in two theropods and inquire about Dr. Fossil's larger plan. The doctor obliges, if only after tricking Stegmutt into going away so he won't hear. Dr. Fossil is a dinosaur enthusiast, hence why he turned himself into one, and believes that dinosaurs unfairly lost their chance when a comet hit Earth millions of years ago. He also believes that mankind is incapable of giving dinosaurs any real basic respect, viewing them exclusively as a source of amusement, and that therefore dinosaurs cannot thrive once more as long as mankind is around. Stegmutt will steal the world's largest super-magnet later that night, which Dr. Fossil will use to attract Cleanser's Comet to destroy mankind the same way dinosaurkind was destroyed. Then, dinosaurs can rule once more. Dr. Fossil nearly has Stegmutt retro-evolve the two children for his collection, but the clock strikes six, which means Stegmutt has to go steal the super-magnet.

By coincidence, Stegmutt, driving a flatbed truck, is stopped by a red light next to the Ratcatcher of Darkwing and Launchpad. He uses the moment to ask them directions to Camp Canard, inadvertently cueing the crimefighting duo in that Honker wasn't all that off about a dinosaur walking around. Darkwing finally forgets about Numero Uno and goes after the stegosaurus. When Stegmutt arrives at Camp Canard, he and Dr. Fossil pull their tried-and-tested telephone trick. Private Parking Garage is on guard and takes the call, being distracted with awkward and drawn-out questions about the number called. Stegmutt takes off with the super-magnet without any resistance. Darkwing's chance to halt the theft ends when the Ratcatcher runs out of fuel, but the hero can still follow the stegosaurus with the use of his magnet gun. After a painful and ill-guided chase, Darkwing finally catches up with the super-magnet when Stegmutt stops to buy a cola. He stays out of the other's sight until the super-magnet is delivered to the roof of the St. Canard Natural History Museum. Stegmutt clears out to the basement to change Gosalyn and Honker into dinosaurs, leaving Darkwing to only have to deal with Dr. Fossil. Although the doctor is not much of a combatant, his wings are an excellent countermeasure to the gas gun and Darkwing's approach.

Down in the basement, Gosalyn and Honker take their chance to inform Stegmutt of Dr. Fossil's plan for global extermination. He doesn't quite get the why and how, but the threat of not getting to eat anymore chocolate -covered sandwich cookies convinces him. The trio rushes to the roof and makes Stegmutt's switch of alliance clear. Darkwing accidentally knocks the retro-evolution gun out of his new ally's hands and it goes off. The blast hits Darkwing, whom is knocked off the roof into the tar pit below. He is feared dead for a few seconds, then rises out of the tar as his body grows rapidly to take the form of a building-dwarfing dinosaur. Dr. Fossil is not amused and activates the super-magnet as Cleanser's Comet passes by. After a moment of gloating, he jumps down to reach the bunker-basement, but Darkwing blocks the entrance with his foot. The pterodactyl flies away and Darkwing gives chase until he suddenly gets a call from a phone booth. It is Dr. Fossil, using the caller trap to get Darkwing to hold still so he can reduce him to an amoeba with the retro-evolution gun. Meanwhile, Honker has been working on a way to send the comet back into space before it collides with Earth. All they have to do is turn away the super-magnet. Stegmutt is the only one strong enough for the job and gets it done just in time. The super-magnet furthermore gets turned so that it is aimed at Dr. Fossil, who first loses the retro-evolution gun to it and then gets flattened between the magnet and a ship also caught in the field. With the world saved, Stegmutt concedes it's time that all the involuntary mutants get changed back to their old selves. Darkwing demands to go first, justifying himself by claiming a hero has to safety test the maiden procedure. He's not incorrect, because the first shot further retro-evolves him into a preshistoric fish. And the episode ends.

Cast[]


Quotes[]

"I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the papercut that ruins your morning! I am-"
"Let me guess, you're Daycare Duck."
"Gosalyn! Honker! I told you never to follow me to work."
"There was nothing good on TV."
"Eheh, just impressionable rollerskaters I rescued from a... burning... sidewalk. Heh."
— Darkwing has to explain the children to Maria.
"You mean Numero Uno, the math genius serving two to four for evading taxes on his five and ten cents stores for eleven years twelve months ago?"
— Gosalyn.
"Eheheh, dinosaurs! This is obviously the work of fugitive Martian carnival geeks."
— Gosalyn.
"Now we're on the right track. Uno's days are numbered!"
"I-I could just land the Thunderquack, D.W.."
"Don't bother, L.P.. I'm gonna get these elasto-suspenders to work if it kills me."
— Darkwing and Launchpad.
"Those aren't circus elephants. Circus elephants juggle and wear funny hats."
"Haha, I know that, Dr. Fossil. These are my new friends."
"But I didn't ask for new friends. I asked for circus elephants!"
— Stegmutt and Dr. Fossil.
"Can I show my new friends your secret invention? Can I, huh?"
"Wha-What secret invention? I don't see any secret invention."
"Oh, good. I'll be right back."
"Stegmutt, secrets are things nobody else knows about."
"This is Dr. Fossil's retro-evolution gun."
"Aaaand no secrets here."
— Stegmutt's unintelligence outdoes Dr. Fossil's intelligence.
"Stegmutt breaks a lot of handles. I have to use oven mitts to hold my hot cocoa mug."
— Dr. Fossil's scientific sacrifices.
"Well, my up-until-two-minutes-ago secret collection. Nifty, huh?"
— Dr. Fossil.
"OK, you like dinosaurs. But why do you have to wipe out mankind?"
"Do you know how hard it is being a dinosaur in a man's world? I mean, the stares, the resentment. All the people running in the street, screaming, "Look, look! It's Godzilla!""
— Dr. Fossil.
"Suck gas, evildoer!"
"Wha-Wha-With my asthma? Are you kidding?"
— Dr fossil has asthma? Who knew.

Notes[]

References[]

  • Godzilla is the star of the 1954 Godzilla franchise.
  • Cleanser's Comet is a reference to the Comet brand of cleansing products.

Milestones[]

Errors[]

  • Stegmutt slides through the elevator doors, bending them. When he shuts the doors to go to the basement, the doors are perfectly fine.
  • Darkwing expicitly says he is going home to pick up stuff. So he's not been home yet. Why, then, are he and Launchpad in the Ratcatcher and not the Thunderquack?
  • Stegmutt drives to the army base in a flatbed truck, obviously for the magnet. However, he ends up delivering the magnet entirely on foot.

Other[]

  • Presumed missing material: From context, it is clear that the museum's basement is built to withstand a comet's impact. There are, however, no scenes that actually address this.
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