The Good, The Bad and the Tigger is the fourth episode of the fourth season of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It originally aired on September 28, 1991.
Tigger accidently lost Christopher Robin's toy train and he and pooh are put on trial as train robbers.
Plot
"Adventure is a Wonderful Thing."
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Details:
Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit and Piglet are at Christopher Robin’s house and are playing with his model train set. Tigger wants a turn to run the train, but Christopher Robin doesn’t think Tigger is ready yet and mentions that trains are not easy to run. Tigger denies this (stating that “Running trains is what Tiggers do the best”); but then wonders where the train’s propeller is. Rabbit replies and states that trains don’t have propellers, but also point out that it seems to be missing its rudder. Piglet comes into the room, steps onto the tracks, and is chased by the train (“Oh d-d-d-dear, oh d-d-d-dear, oh d-d-d-deary-dear”); Pooh asks if Piglet is enjoying playing with the train. Piglets bumps into a small arch made of blocks and falls into the tracks and sees the train heading toward him; but then Christopher’s mother calls her son and Christopher shuts the train off. Piglet stands up and is relieved that he didn’t “get it in the end”; but the train jerks forward and bumps Piglet down again (Piglet: “I guess I did”). As Christopher Robin heads downstairs for lunch, he instructs everyone else to not touch his train until he comes back. Tigger states he’ll keep an eye on everyone and Christopher Robin leaves his room.
With Christopher Robin now gone, Tigger suggests they take his train for “a little ring-a-ding spin”. Piglet objects to this, pointing out that something terrible might happen, and suggests that the gang instead go outside and play a nice quiet game called “Guess Who’s Sleeping”. Rabbit asks how the winner will know he won if he’s asleep; and a sleepy Pooh answer that they can tell him when he wakes up. Rabbit then points out that Pooh is taking an unfair head start by trying to go to sleep; and he goes on to state “We all have to be awake to go to sleep; otherwise the person who’s asleep won’t be awake, right?” Rabbit and Piglet walk out of Christopher’s Robin’s room as the discussion progresses; leaving Tigger and Pooh alone with the train. Tigger then picks up the controls to the train and tells Pooh that it’s their chance to run it; but Pooh points out that Christopher Robin said not to touch it. Tigger however points out that he’s not touching the “train” but it’s “controls”. Pooh adds “Aren’t the controls part of the train?” and Tigger replies “Nah, they don’t even know each other.” Tigger wiggles a control, and then roughly throws the controls on the hard floor (Pooh cringes as if Tigger was going to break them); the train starts up. A worried Pooh suggests they should introduce the Train and the Controls to each other; and Tigger replies that Christopher Robin won’t mind if they borrow the train, especially if he doesn’t find out (Tigger whispers that last part to himself). As Tigger is playing, Pooh then notices the train is heading for points in which one direction has the tracks end right after; Pooh points this out to Tigger (“I hope the train stops before the train… ‘stops’.”) Seeing what will happen and realizing he can’t “steer” the train, Tigger decides to lay down more tracks for the train to follow (“…maybe I can ‘steer’ the tracks”). Tigger gets more tracks and starts laying them just in time; he lays them toward a wall, up the wall, around and back down the wall, and out of Christopher Robin’s room. The train somehow makes it though Tigger’s obstacle and continues along the tracks out of Christopher’s room (Tigger: “Hey, where ya’ going? Runaway train! Runaway train!”) Tigger and Pooh then leave Christopher’s Room to catch the train.
A little while later, Rabbit and Piglet come back in Christopher’s room; Rabbit trips on the tracks leading out as he’s walking in, and then notices the train is gone; Piglet also adds that Tigger and Pooh are gone as well. Rabbit remember how Tigger was talking about touching the train and suspects that he and Pooh took it. Piglet replies; “No, that can’t be. Pooh’s not a train robber, and Tigger’s not a… Pooh’s not a train robber. Train robber. Train robber. Train robber…” As Piglet continues pondering, we fade from reality into an old western fantasy, and the first thing we see is a life sized version of Christopher Robin’s toy train coming out of a tunnel and Tigger (dotting black, western desperado attire) giving chase on foot. Tigger manages to grab onto the caboose, climbs on top, and proceeds to dash along the top of the train cars toward the engine, but bumps into solid rock above a tunnel entrance and lands back in the caboose after sliding off (Tigger is relieved as he states to himself he almost lost his hat). Tigger now makes his way toward the engine by going though the train cars, and hops over the tender and into the cab to find Pooh (dotting a black, western hat, a blue neckerchief and black boots) at the controls. He asks Pooh how he got there so fast, and Pooh answers by pointing out that this is a fantasy. Tigger then takes the controls and attempts to figure out how to run the train; he pulls 3 levers, but it seems to have no effect. Tigger then decides to take a “delicatessen touch”; he grabs a wooden mallet and roughly bangs the controls with it, causing them to go crazy and the train to go wild (Tigger and Pooh begin screaming as if they were on a roller coaster). Gopher (dotting a brown, western hat and vest) then pops up between 2 ties in the tracks wonder what all the commotion is; he sees the train speeding toward him and immediately screams and scrambles back underground to avoid getting run over by the engine's cowcatcher. Gopher takes shelter in a tunnel to stay out of the way “until the fools’ rush is over”; suddenly, the train races into the tunnel toward Gopher, who immediately runs for his life, out of the tunnel and off a bridge into a stream of water below. As we see Gopher carried away by the water, we fade into the view of an old western town. We see Rabbit (dotting western townsfolk attire) calling for help as the train has been stolen and goes to find sheriff Piglet (who we see dotting a white Sheriff’s hat, a gold, star shaped Sheriff’s Badge, and white boots).
Meanwhile in the train, Tigger (having a wonderful time) checks the firebox and then asks Pooh to feed it so that Tigger can figure out how to stop the train; Pooh agrees and adds that it might like some honey as he knows he would. Back at the Sheriff’s office (Sheriff is misspelled as “SHERUF”), Rabbit briefs Sheriff Piglet on what happened and tells him that the town is depending on him to hunt down desperado Tigger and Pooh. He then hands Piglet a belt with pouches containing ice cream scoops where small guns would be (ice cream scoops are substituted for guns in this western fantasy). Piglet however objects that Pooh would never take a train (“…honey perhaps, but not a train”); Rabbit disagrees, stating that “anyone who acts that innocent must not as innocent as he acts.” Eeyore (dotting a sombrero) comes in the room, stating that it’s just another story of a bear gone bad. Piglet then decides to take the job, but states he’ll need some deputies; Eeyore states to Rabbit “guess that means us.” Piglet opens a chest containing 2 gold, star shaped badges; he puts one on Rabbit’s chest, and the other on Eeyore’s left flank. We now see the train heading for a station and we see Piglet at the platform; he pulls out a long document and unrolls it to read it (it’s so long it goes across the tracks), and begins: “By the power invested in me as Sheriff of this fantasy, I arrest you for train-napping in the 17th Degree, and furthermore…” But before Piglet can finish, the train speeds though the station and shreds the document into confetti; Pooh sees this and states “Oh look Tigger, Piglet’s giving us a Parade.” As the train speeds off, Tigger calls out “Hey Piglet old pal, can you help me stop this choo choo?” Meanwhile, Rabbit is riding Eeyore to catch the train, and is telling Eeyore to go faster he claims they are gaining on them; Eeyore sarcastically remarks “maybe you’d like to change places for a while”. Right on cue, the train comes zooming past them, spinning them around and literally changing their places (Eeyore: “Never mind”). We next see Piglet attempting to lasso the train; he manages to get a hold of the caboose, but is only pulled along in mid air as he hangs on to his rope. Piglet remarks to himself that lassoing the train perhaps wasn’t such a smart idea; the train then races though the station again, and Piglet is left behind on the spout of the train’s water tower. While Rabbit continues to pursue the train on Eeyore (telling him to go faster), Piglet (still on the water tower’s spout) sees the train coming and has made a plan to hop aboard on the count of 7. While counting, Pooh gives a friendly hello to Piglet; Piglet replies, slips off the spout, and falls onto a cactus below, leading him to bounce around as he’s poked (Pooh: “Oh look, now Piglet’s dancing”).
Piglet, Rabbit and Eeyore now resort to pursuing the train on a rairoad handcart. They soon reach an incline and begin to gather speed as they coast downward; Rabbit asks Sheriff Piglet how to slow the handcart down. We go back to the train as it follows the tracks into a body of water (with Tigger screaming as if he’s on a roller coaster); the train emerges waterlogged but unharmed and still moving forward on the tracks. Tigger wonder what else to do: “I’ve pulled every switch, I’ve switched every pull, and it still won’t stop!” Pooh then points out a pedal on the floor and asks Tigger “Did you ‘pull’ this one?” Tigger steps on the Pedal, and the train finally stops suddenly; but the force of the sudden stop jettisons the entire train into the air. Each train car and the engine all flip backward in midair and land neatly back on the tracks in one peace, with the train cars and the engine in the same order as they were before, but with the whole train now facing the other way; and after a brief moment, the train speeds off again. We also see Tigger’s hat blow out of the cab and land on a mail crane alongside the tracks. Meanwhile, the handcart carrying Piglet, Rabbit and Eeyore is now speeding out of control, and everyone is screaming in fright and holding on for dear life. Much to their horror, they see their track (which is running high up along the side of a rock formation) is damaged up ahead; and unable to stop, they run off the tracks and plummet down toward another line of tracks on the ground below. The same Gopher from earlier pops up between 2 ties on these tracks and hears Piglet and company plummeting toward him; he ponders for a brief moment at what the sound might be, and then looks up and screams in fright as he sees what’s coming at him. The handcart lands neatly on the tracks in one peace and continues speeding along; Gopher was also picked up as the handcart landed (Gopher: “...get me off this thing!”). Meanwhile back in the train, Tigger hastily pulls more levers, and this only makes the train go even faster. Tigger then looks out of the cab and spots his hat on the mail crane from earlier, so he reaches out of the engine's cab to grab it and succeeds, but gets caught in the noose and is left behind as the train speeds onward with Pooh. Pooh looks back for a brief moment at Tigger before looking ahead and seeing the handcart carrying Piglet and company speeding out of control straight toward him (“Oh Bother!”) as the engine blows its whistle! Everyone screams in fright and covers their eyes as their respective vehicles charge toward each other fit to collide; and then, CRASH!
The impact jettisons Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore and Gopher into the air, and we see that the entire train and handcart are all horribly smashed to pieces in the accident. Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit and Gopher land on each other, and Eeyore bounces off them. Eeyore remarks to himself “What do you know: Didn’t get the worst of it”; but then sees airborne parts from the train land right next to him. Everyone gets up, but Piglet (despite his faith in his friend) is forced to arrest Pooh for train-robbing as he was the only one in the train during the crash. Tigger (still caught in the mail crane) watches from afar in grief as Pooh is taken away: “This is terrible, horrible; they ‘The Pooh with a name’ is an outlaw. Gasp, they must think I’m an outlaw too. All I did was borrow one incy wincy train. Well, at least it’s not a total loss; I got my hat back.”
At Sheriff Piglet’s office, Pooh is put behind bars in a rather unusual jail cell (the bars are not closely spaced enough to prevent someone from walking though them; and there is no back wall, allowing anyone locked behind the bars to simply walk outside into the desert; no one takes notice of this) and is interrogating Pooh as to why he took the train. Piglet warns Pooh that if he doesn’t come up with a good excuse, he will have to have the judge (and mentions the Judge hesitantly); a wave of fear washes over everyone at the mentioning of the judge. Everyone goes into the cell and looks out into the desert at a sinister looking swing set with Gopher (now in different western attire than he was wearing earlier) playing a sinister tune on his harmonica. “And guess who gets to play the Judge” says Gopher. He goes on “Looks like there’s gonna be a ‘swinging’” and laugh’s wickedly. Apparently, “swinging” is this western fantasy’s substitute for the old west’s common punishment of “hanging” (just as ice cream scoops substitute guns), thus making Judge Gopher a “swinging judge”; not understanding this, Pooh gleefully comments how wonderful “a swinging” would be as he loves to swing. Piglet replies, “Oh d-d-d-dear.”
Later that night, Tigger tiptoes toward the Sheriff’s office, quietly opens the (ironically lockless) front door, tiptoes past a sleeping Rabbit, Eeyore and Sheriff Piglet, grabs the keys to the cell and proceeds to unlock it to set Pooh free. Pooh (also asleep) wakes up and loudly says hello to Tigger, prompting him to go ironically though the bars to hush Pooh; he then walks back out and opens the cell door. Pooh however feels that he should stay, but Tigger reminds Pooh that he’s innocent and that he was the one who really borrowed the train. Despite Pooh adding that he believes he has “one of those guilty faces only a mother could love”, Tigger drags him along though the back of the cell where a wall should be and into the desert. Pooh stops briefly to say goodbye to Piglet; a sleepy Piglet bids him goodbye, and then wakes up completely, realizing too late that Pooh escaping is bad (“Escaping!? Oh d-d-d-dear!”).
The next morning, we find Tigger and Pooh walking through the desert and discussing the situation. Tigger mentions to Pooh that he should have told Sheriff Piglet and company that he had nothing to do with the train napping, and Pooh adds they all thought he was guilty and didn’t want to let them down. Tigger goes onto say that he only mean to borrow the train as no one would let him touch it. Pooh suggests that he and Tigger turn themselves in, and adds that they could get off to a fresh start after swinging; Pooh also mentions (rubbing his tummy) that he wants to collect the reward. Tigger however declines that, stating that although he feels bad, he doesn’t feel that bad; and he states that he and Pooh should put their thinking caps on to figure another way out. While thinking, Pooh mentions that it’s too bad they can’t fix the train; but Tigger thinks that is a terrific idea (“If we fix the train, we won’t have to turn ourselves in”). Tigger and Pooh arrive at the scene of the train wreck and get started (Pooh expresses a little uncertainty, stating that he’s never been good with puzzles); after a while, they manage to assemble a rather unusual choo choo of the old runaway engine (among other abnormalities, the smoke stack is behind the cab, the bell is where the smoke stack should be, and the hand pump from the hand cart is sticking out of the cab windows); and Pooh adds that they only had to use half the parts. Tigger then take Pooh to hide out, stating that Sheriff Piglet and company will find the train, and he and Pooh will be “home free”; while they aren’t looking, their train starts up and goes off by itself. Not long afterwards, Tigger and Pooh literally bump into Sheriff Piglet, who loads his ice creams scoops with strawberry ice cream (held by Eeyore) and pulls the scoops on Tigger and Pooh (Piglet: “Stick ‘em up outlaws, if you please. I-I’ve got you covered.”); Tigger and Pooh put their hands up and surrender. Tigger (walking backward and not looking at the tracks) then takes everyone to where the train should be, telling them they reassembled the train and left it there for them to find; Rabbit asks where it is now and Tigger realizes that the train is gone. All Pooh can say is that they perhaps misplaced it.
Tigger and Pooh are taken back to the Sheriff’s office and put behind bars; Tigger begs to be let out as he can’t take it (even though he can walk though the bars, or walk out the back as there is still no wall there). Pooh however points out that they only been in the cell for 5 minutes; this clams Tigger down who mentions that it seemed like 6 minutes. Eeyore mentions to Pooh and Tigger that their life looks even more depressing than his right now, and ads that he never thought he’s hear himself say that. A saddened Sheriff Piglet mentions to Pooh how disappointed he is in his trusted friend and chokes up; Pooh lends Piglet his neckerchief as he agrees (“I shouldn’t have done what I did, even if I didn’t know what I did.”) Tigger begs for Sheriff Piglet to go easy on Pooh, adding “I think he ate too much honey and couldn’t help himself.” Rabbit however states that it’s too late for that and Tigger and Pooh are going to get what they deserve, and he points to the sinister looking swing set from earlier, with Judge Gopher playing his harmonica sisterly. “Looks like there’s gonna be a double swinging tonight” adds Judge Gopher, and he laughs wickedly. Pooh, still unable to understand states to Tigger “How wonderful. Do you think I could go first?” But Tigger can’t let Pooh take that sort of fall for him and loudly confesses to Sheriff Piglet that he’s the train-napper and Pooh had nothing to do with it. Piglet is glad to hear that Pooh is innocent, and opens the cell door to let Pooh out, come into the cell and jumps into Pooh’s arms. Rabbit then confronts Tigger and demands to know what happened to the train, adding that it couldn’t have rolled off by itself; but right on cue, the train (having come off the tracks somehow) comes charging toward Judge Gopher and his swing set; Gopher dodges the train just in time, but his swing set is destroyed. The train continues toward the back of the Seriff’s office and everyone runs to get away; they all run outside and the train runs into the Sheriff’s office and destroys it. For some reason, the train is particularly interested in pursuing Piglet, and eventually sweeps him up; Piglet then hangs onto the cow catcher for dear life as the train continues rampaging though the town.
Eeyore says that they got to do something to save Piglet; Rabbit concurs and asks who’d like to be the new Sheriff. Tigger however states that he’ll stop the runaway choo choo and rescue Piglet, “dead or alive.” Tigger grabs 2 paint brushes and dips them in some black paint, and proceeds to quickly paint some train tracks on the grown for the train to follow; stating that he “never known a train yet that could resist following tracks”. Tigger is right; after the tracks are finished, the train can’t help but rush over and continuously follow them. Tigger then states that all they need to do is what for the train to run out of stream and stop; they wait a long time (we see the sun go down, come back up, go back down, and come back up again; as well as everyone falling asleep). As Tigger peels a banana, he states that he’d give the train “7 more days tops”, and he then throws the banana peel onto the tracks. Without stopping, the train rushes toward the banana peel and then slips on it, causing to skid sideways and crash off-screen, reducing it to pieces once more. Piglet emerges dizzy and his hat damaged, but is otherwise unharmed. Piglet thanks Tigger for saving his life and the town, “…even if it took you 2 weeks to do it.” But Rabbit points out that Tigger is still a train-napper and all the trouble they had gone though could have been avoided if it weren’t for him. Pooh however defends Tigger, stating that he only meant to train borrow before it got out of control. Piglet however adds that borrowing without permission is bad to, especially if you don’t say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Tigger however begs for another chance and promises to hang up his ice cream scoops for good. Piglet, Pooh, Rabbit and Eeyore huddle up, and decide to let Tigger off this tie with a warning, much to Judge Gopher’s dismay (“And I was all set for a good swinging, dag nabbit!”).
We now fade back into reality and find that Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet and Eeyore (who strangely was not there before the fantasy started) have put Christopher Robin’s train set back the way it was before, and just in time too as Christopher Robin comes back in from lunch. Believing that they didn’t touch his train while he was gone, he gives everyone a change to operate the controls, starting with Tigger as he wanted it so much. But after all Tigger had just been though, he declines this opportunity (saying he’s “trying to cut back”) and suggests they instead go outside and play “guess who’s sleeping”. Rabbit (who states Pooh is cheating again), Piglet (who asks if he could borrow a pillow), Pooh and Eeyore follow. After a brief moment, Christopher Robin then runs to catch up with everyone (stating that he wants to play too), and the episode ends.
Rabbit: "Tigger, trains don't have propellers. Although it does seem to be missing its rudder..."
Gallery
Trivia
The poster for The Good The Bad and the Ugly, to which this episode is based on.
This episode's title comes from the classic 1966 Western film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, starring Clint Eastwood as the Man With No Name.
This is the second episode in the series with a Western feel to it, the first being Paw and Order.
In real life, when the train and hand car crash, the train would not explode. The train would smash the handcar to splinters, this means Piglet Rabbit Eeyore and Gopher would have to jump for it to not get badly injured.
Despite the fact that the series is a fantasy, in reality, it seems next to impossible for the train to brake so hard that it's load would come off the rails into the opposite direction. In addition, actual brakes on a locomotive aren't the same as an automobile. They're normally either a lever or a valve.
The engine on the train in the opening is a 2-2-0 or a Planet type, which was only built during the pioneer railroad days, circa 1830.
The engine on the train in the dream is a 4-4-0 or an American type steam locomotive. These types of engines were used most common on American railroads during the 1800s and 1830s until 1928.
DVD and VHS releases
Growing Up With Winnie the Pooh Vol. 3: It's Playtime with Pooh
