"The Masked Offender" is the first segment of the fourteenth episode of the first season of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It originally aired on November 12, 1988.
Synopsis[]
After reading one of Christopher Robin’s mystery novels, Tigger creates an alter ego, a mysterious figure who fights for justice: the Masked Offender. However, the Offender’s acts end up causing more trouble than help.
Plot[]
After Tigger hears a bedtime story from Christopher Robin, he becomes the Masked Offender from the book and makes Piglet his sidekick. They go out to fight crime. But Tigger ends up makng things worse. First he beats up Rabbit's scarecrow because Tigger thought that the scarecrow was a bad guy (which also making it safe for the crows to eat up Rabbit's garden), then Tigger fills up Gopher's hole because he believes that Gopher's house will be flooded from the rain if it’s filled with holes, and then he cuts down Owl's House because he thinks it is too high up (thinking the tree grew under it) and that if Owl sleep walks outside of his house he might fall to the ground and bend his beak.
Everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood is mad at Tigger (except for Pooh and Piglet) and they all plan to teach The Masked Offender a lesson. They all create a monster out of glue, molasses, two honey pots, cornhusks, hay, a toilet plunger, hoe, and sticks with shoes on top of a wagon while also naming it the Watchamadingle, and luring Tigger to it. Piglet tries to stop Tigger, but it was too late. Tigger tries to fight the big Watchamadingle, but ends up in a sticky situation. Their plan succeeded and Rabbit, Owl, and Gopher all laugh at Tigger, hurting his feelings. Tigger, who feels defeated, hurt, and humiliated, pulls off his costume while also revealing himself to everyone, and he begins to walk back to Piglet’s house vowing to never be the Masked Offender again. Pooh then tries to retrieve one of his pots from the Watchamadingle, however in his efforts doing so, he causes the big glob to end up rolling towards them. Rabbit, Owl, Pooh, and Gopher got stuck with the Watchamadingle as it rolls out of control down a steep hill. The runaway Watchamadingle then ends up rolling towards a badly built rope and wood suspension bridge crossing a gorge where it rolls right onto it. But because of the boards being weak or broken, the wagon loses its momentum stopping in the middle of the bridge, with several boards breaking off in the process. Then the wagon's wheels get caught between two of the boards and the ropes causing it to flip over, leaving Rabbit, Owl, Pooh, and Gopher dangling dangerously over the huge drop with no way of getting free due to being stuck up with glue and molasses as Pooh calls for Piglet's help.
Piglet quickly tries to get Tigger to go out and rescue them, but Tigger is still disappointed about his humiliation and refuses to help, especially not believing them as a result. With no other choice, Piglet tries to help them himself, but gets stuck with the others. Realizing Piglet is too small for the job, Tigger finally gives in and goes out to help them, but he gets stuck with the others as well. The Watchamadingle then finally comes off of the wagon completely as everyone goes falling to certain doom, however it bounces right up, which Tigger concludes that the Watchamadingle can bounce.
The next day Tigger fixes Owl's House, but when he throws the hammer, it accidentally hits the support beams he built to prop up the tree which causes Owl's House to loosen and making it fall down again. Everyone notices the house and begins to run away but Tigger doesn't. Tigger puts the suit back on, and says that “you never know where there be a call for the Masked Offender”. When the tree is about to fall on him, the show turns into a book that shows part of a story that says "The End?", and then the book closes.
Characters[]
- Winnie the Pooh
- Piglet
- Tigger
- Rabbit
- Gopher
- Owl
- Christopher Robin
- Crows (do not speak)
- Eeyore (cameo)
Locations[]
- Christopher Robin's House
- Hundred Acre Wood
- Piglet's House
- Rabbit's Garden
- Gopher's House
- Owl's House
- Rabbit's House
- Suspension Bridge
Interval Title Card[]
Cast[]
| Voice actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Jim Cummings | Winnie the Pooh |
| John Fiedler | Piglet |
| Paul Winchell | Tigger |
| Ken Sansom | Rabbit |
| Michael Gough | Gopher |
| Hal Smith | Owl |
| Tim Hoskins | Christopher Robin |
Quotes[]
- Pooh -“Umm, excuse me Owl, were you planning on moving?”
- Owl - “No, Pooh.”
- Pooh - “Then why are we?” (Pooh, Owl, the table, and the cupboard slide across the room and Owl's House eventually falls down).
- Rabbit - “And then on top of that, he fed my garden to the crows!”
- Owl - “He destroyed my home.”
- Gopher - “Yeah, mine too.”
- Piglet: (runs back to his house) TIGGER! Tigger, come quickly! (knocking on the door) The others are in danger! It's a job for the Masked Offender!
- Tigger: (from the other side) Sorry, pal. Nothin' doing.
- Piglet: (picking up Tigger's mask) B...b...b...but, they need you...
- Tigger: (from the other side) If anybody needs me which I doubt, I'll be in here for the rest of my life....if not longer.
- Piglet: Well, they're our friends and I'm going to help. Uh, P-Piglet.....AWAY!!! (slams the door behind him)
- Tigger: (opening the door) Piglet away?! (realizing this could mean danger, as Piglet is too small for this situation) Uh-oh...!
- Tigger: Well, what do you know? Whatchamadingles bounce!
- Rabbit: Ah! Ooh! Oh, it's horrible! It's... It's a...
- Gopher: It's as big as a h...h...house!
- Owl: Ooh! It's a... It's a... watchamadingle!
- Pooh: (pulling Tigger's cape) It's back there. We're supposed to be running from it, you see. (chuckles)
- Rabbit: (covering Pooh's mouth) He's so scared he's... uh... speechless!
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This episode was recorded on September 5, 1988.
- Tigger would later return as the Masked Offender in the episode, Three Little Piglets.
Guy Williams as Zorro in the 1957 television series of the same name, a possible inspiration for Tigger's alter-ego, The Masked Offender (Avenger).
- Zorro, a 1957 television series starring Guy Williams also made by Disney, is presumably the inspiration for Tigger’s alter ego, along with Pooh’s Masked Bear in Paw and Order. Although Tigger’s Masked Offender looks resembles that of a member from The Three Musketeers.
- Eeyore appeared in the beginning of this episode, but had no line of dialogue.
- This is the second time that Owl's House falls down where the events from the episode were based on Chapter 8 In which Piglet does a very grand thing from A.A. Milne’s book The House at Pooh Corner which were then re-used for Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.
- With this episode the new sequence begins with Pooh looking at his watch (“Nothing But the Tooth”).
- First Episode that has the Calypso beat.
- First Episode in 1989.
- First Episode of Carter Crocker, Barbara Ferro, George Goode, Leonard Smith, Rick Leon, Jamie Mitchell, Mitch Rochon, James T. Walker, Ken Kessel, Olivia Miner, Karen Silva, Barbara Beck, Jeffrey Arthur, Peggy Becker, Stephanie Elliott, Leona Jernigan, Vitello & Associates, Elen Orson, Roy Braverman, and Ed Barton.
- In the French version, Rabbit’s alias El Conejo, was called El Gazpacho.
