#jerrie has the smaller half of the braincell

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1998 Film Mungojerrie Rewatch Part 1

Since Mungojerrie disappears between the beginning of The Old Gumbie Cat and his own number, the first part will be pretty short, but I’ve got a few things.

From the moment the Tire Choir assembles, Mungojerrie enters his default state of Doesn’t Know What’s Going On. Rumpleteazer skipped the same rehearsals that he did, but even when she can figure it out, he usually can’t.

He was kind of impressed when Jenny hit her high C and gave multiple cats hearing damage. Both Jerrie and Teazer seem a bit impressed with it. They had no idea that their mom could be bad like them! Well, they had to get it from somewhere and it wasn’t from Skimble.

And then a human throws a boot at all the noisy cats and they React Accordingly. Jerrie Doesn’t Know What’s Going On.

“Well...okay then.” Most of the other cats are some combination of concerned/offended/startled but Jerrie can only accept things as they are, because he doesn’t entirely know what that means anyway.

Misto and Victoria get the party started and Jerrie points, which is very rude. What are you pointing at, young man?

When it’s time for the first number, the twins sit down on opposite sides of the stage.

But Jerrie found Misto’s screw-up so funny that he teleported to the other side of the stage to laugh with Teazer about it. He’s still a meanie, but he one has to appreciate the effort.

Jerrie Doesn’t Know What’s Going On. I don’t think he can even see in his beetle costume. Still, he does his tap routine perfectly, so maybe he actually knows what’s going on so well that he can do it blindfolded. That was unexpected. Both twins know better than to slack off on their mom’s big musical number.

When Tugger shows up, both twins are excited, but Jerrie disappears for the number, as I mentioned in the last rewatch. My own joke explanation for this is that Teazer locked him in the changing room when they went to change out of their beetle costumes so he wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her in front of Tugger. But, out of universe, this is kind of strange. From what I can tell, Jerrie is usually in this number hero worshipping Tugger with the other boys. I wonder if there was some sort of scheduling conflict during the filming of this version that led to him not being there.

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1998 Film Mungojerrie Rewatch Part 3

I’ve had the pictures saved for this for almost a week now, but if you’ve followed the other recent posts on this blog, you can see that I’ve gotten very sidetracked. I’ll probably continue to get sidetracked a lot, but the rewatches will continue.

Now, it’s time once again for The Awful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles and The Rest of the Absurdly Long Full Title Rumpus Cat!

But, the twins skipped rehearsals and Jerrie is about to reach peak Doesn’t Know What’s Going On. While Rumpleteazer seems to be able to awkwardly improvise through it with cues from Munkustrap, her brother, with the smaller half of the braincell, is hopelessly lost the entire time. 

As everyone gets into place, Jerrie talks to Jemima, asking what’s going on now. She can’t help him now, since there’s no time to explain. He’ll just have to go to stage right and try his best.

And that’s who Mungojerrie ended up with a shoe on his head, boxes on his paws, an no time to change out of his crop top before it got covered in even more garbage, with absolutely no idea why any of this is happening. Jerrie’s probably had weirder nights out than this, but at least he thought he did something cool in all those stories.

We’ve already gone over the routine of Jerrie messing up his barks, but, not only did Munkustrap point to each twin when it was their turn, not only did Teazer also start pointing to help Jerrie out when he messed up, Jerrie points to Teazer on her first turn, demonstrating some comprehension of how this is supposed to work. And he still doesn’t get it.

He barks twice again, despite everyone, himself included, being aware that this wasn’t right.

Munkustrap can’t figure out if Jerrie’s doing it on purpose or if he’s just that stupid. Really, it could be either one. If he is doing this to troll, Teazer wasn’t in on it and is ashamed to have been involved at all.

Munkustrap suggests that Jerrie should just forget it and go get in line with the other toms. There’s no line forming at the moment, so Jerrie still doesn’t get it and conditions are not about to improve. Teazer laments her existence. 

While Munkustrap prays to every possible feline deity for strength, Jerrie decides to let Pouncival go ahead of him in the line. He assumes that Pouncival was at the rehearsals and knows what they’re supposed to do, so he’ll just follow him. As a kitten, with parents that would care if he skipped rehearsals, Pouncival probably did attend them. He just really wasn’t paying attention. He also never realized that his costume didn’t quite fit and he couldn’t see out of his shoebox. But, Pouncival always likes to be the first to show up to everything, so he’s the one who volunteered to take the lead. You can see Responsible Adults in the line. Asparagus knows what he’s doing. Even Alonzo or Coricopat probably know, but Pouncival went first in rehearsals because Mungojerrie wasn’t there, so they’re used to it by now.

After a lot of nearly crashing into things and going the wrong way, Munkustrap decides that Pouncival needs to be stopped. Jerrie Doesn’t Know What’s Going On. Why are they stopping? How was he supposed to know that Pouncival was leading them the wrong way? Why can’t they just keep going?

After that fiasco, Asparagus gives Jerrie a talking-to. Jerrie wonders why he’s in more trouble than Pouncival is. All of this is very hard to see because the Scottish Pollicles are hard to ignore. Skimble’s a cat who cannot be ignored by his admission and the camera thinks Misto’s the main character.

Enter Tugger on the bagpipes. Jerrie Doesn’t Know What’s Going On. But, this time, nobody does, except for Tugger himself and Pouncival who was in on it. It’s why he didn’t pay attention during rehearsals. He was starstruck that Tugger wanted to conspire with him of all people.

When everyone gets caught up barking, Jerrie Doesn’t Know What’s Going On, so he’s the only one who’s actually behaving himself. That literally never happens, so the idea that he’s become the well-behaved one probably sends him spiraling into an existential crisis.

Coricopat and Jerrie, apparently independently of one another, because they’re looking opposite directions, both decide that since Doggo Go Pant they should have their tonbues out like panting dogs.

And as everyone cowers in fear of the Great Rumpus Cat, Jerrie Doesn’t Know What’s Going On and just points.

Everything I have to say about Jerrie during the Song of the Jellicles basically applies to Teazer as well. But, the two eventually separate and while Teazer stays up front with the her queen friends, Jerrie wanders off and ends up hanging out with Tantomile. It’s really hard to tell Coricopat and Tantomile appear from a distance, but I’m pretty sure it’s her, because throughout the first part of the Jellicle Ball, Jerrie and Tantomile are consistently right next to each other.

You can see that when everyone gathers together to watch a plane go by and then hiss at the camera, Mungojerrie is between Teazer and Tantomile, because she was who he was standing closest to when they flocked together.

You might be wondering why I keep pointing this out, because two character happening to be standing next to one another for a while doesn’t really mean anything, but I think that this might’ve been supposed to mean something and I’ll explain why.

So, we have this Big Sexy Dance where the younger adult queens (and Etcetera) dance and Tugger leads a group of toms to join them. Jerrie is not one of those toms. He spends the scene sitting on the car, watching from a distance. Jenny’s there too, so I guess he’s taking time to say hi to his mom. What a nice young man!

Skimbledad comes along to join the family as the toms and queens pair off. Alonzo dances with Etcetera and George with Cassandra, though they switch partners for the Can’t Believe It’s a Mating Dance. Since Alonzo and Cassandra already appear to be a thing, I don’t know why they didn’t do this before. Etcetera isn’t supposed to be here and Alonzo just decides that since this dance is already becoming an inappropriate disaster, he might as well make a contribution.

Tugger is with Bomba, which is to be expected. They’re basically Friends With Benefits. Plato and Demeter is a bit random, but since Victoria’s not an option Plato has to go with someone else. Why her and not Tantomile? I mean, that’s left poor Coricopat dancing with his sister while most of the other guys are getting to sexy dance with women they’re not related to.

Well, I think this is because, for whatever reason, whether in-universe or out, Coricopat wasn’t actually supposed to be part of this dance at all. Mungojerrie was. If he’d been cozying up to Tantomile before, he’d obviously pair off with her, leaving Plato and Demeter as the only two left.

Tugger leads a group of toms in another dance later, and it’s all the same toms that he leads here: George, Plato, and Alonzo. But, Coricopat is swapped out for Mungojerrie. What if Mungojerrie was supposed to be one of Tugger’s Boys in both dances? Putting him close to Tantomile earlier in the ball would build up to that and since this particular dance is a bit more sexualized than some of the other dances, having two siblings together wouldn’t have fit the pattern.

During the whole Jellicle Ball, Mungojerrie ends up in the back of the crowd quite a bit with Rumpleteazer is usually right up front, on of the more featured dancers. Since we’ve already seen Jerrie and Teazer’s number, they’re equally skilled dancers, so it’s not like they were trying to hide Drew Varley because he wasn’t good enough. But, combined with his absence from Tugger’s number, I think something was going on there. Varley was playing Mungojerrie on stage during this time, so maybe he was getting tired out from doing the show at night and they decided to lighten the load for him during the filming, but he wasn’t the only one in this situation. Jo Gibb, who played Rumpleteazer was in the exact same situation. This whole thing might just be a bunch of really weird coincidences, for all I know. I don’t doubt the qualifications of anyone involved, but this is odd.

So, pretty that Jerrie dances with Tantomile instead of Coricopat. It makes more sense that way.

Mungojerrie’s back for the ballet, but ballet’s not his style, so He Doesn’t Know What’s Going On. Teazer, on the other hand, appears to be hard at work to impress Victoria, the Ballet Queen of the Jellicles.

Okay, Not Mating Dance Time. All pairs of twin siblings end up together for this bit. Coricopat and Tantomile sit next to each other and stare out into space. Meanwhile, Rumpleteazer is really into watching the Platoria action while Mungojerrie is pretty much already asleep, only looking up occasionally. Both Plato and Jerrie are in the club of Tugger’s Boys and both Victoria and Teazer are part of the Hormonal Trio, so they’re both watching their friends hook up here, which has to an interesting experience.

This bit should’ve been in the Teazer rewatch, but I didn’t catch it until later. When everyone falls asleep in the Cuddle Pile, Tugger wraps his arm around a nearby leg. The lighting at this angle made it hard to see whose leg it was, so I, because I have no life, went frame by frame through this portion of the Jellicle Ball and watched the Cuddle Pile form to see where limbs were ending up. I took a bunch of screenshots of everyone’s journey from pairing off to the Cuddle Pile, because why not do that while I was there. But, I eventually figured out that The Leg is Rumpleteazer’s. She tried to cozy up to Tugger when everyone was pairing off and he appeared to turn her down, but I guess he’s humoring her a bit by cuddling with her in the Cuddle Pile.

Jerrie doesn’t acknowledge Grizabella at all, so I’ll just end on this picture of Tugger’s Boys because of my previous claims. George is hiding, but Coricopat and Jerrie definitely swapped out.

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1998 Film Mungojerrie Rewatch Part 2

So, the twins disappear after Tugger’s number and don’t come back until their own. There isn’t much about Jerrie in this number that doesn’t equally apply to Teazer, so this one probably won’t be very analytical and will mostly just my stupid comments on some stupid screenshots I took.

So, Jerrie and Teazer’s song outfits aren’t far from their usually chorus design. While Jenny wears layers and has a different coat, Skimble gets a vest, and Misto gains a bit more black on his body and a lot of glitter, the twins mostly get stuff to make their stripes more bold. Also, Teazer gets a pearl necklace which she stole in a verse that wasn’t included in this version. Jerrie gets a vest. Teazer has a bit of a vest too, but it’s tied in a way that makes it look like a natural part of her costume. But, Jerrie’s is just a vest. It’s just meant to be more colorful stripes over his usual stripes, but it’s a vest. Whenever he calls attention to himself, he tugs on his vest to show how much it’s not attached to the rest of his costume. He just really likes his tiger vest. Maybe he stole it in a verse so not included that it doesn’t even exist.

As Teazer mentions clowns, Jerrie just sticks his tongue out, because that’s what clowns do. I mean, there’s not much else he could’ve done except for nothing, but it’s typical Dumb But Cute Jerrie nonsense.

I like how they both mime counting money with Teazer apparently calculating with a cash register. They’re cats and couldn’t buy things in a human store, so money is useless to them, but they live around rich people and they know what they’re like.

Seriously, Jerrie just wants everyone to notice his cool vest. Actually, considering the length of it...It’s a crop top.

Please pay attention to Jerrie and his crop top.

Okay, Old Deuteronomy time. I mentioned before in the Teazer rewatch, but Jerrie uses her lap like a pillow. There, I mentioned how much they shifted around as a continuity error, but I’ll focus on something else this time.

“Yay! Tugger’s here! I wish I could’ve seen him before but somebody locked me in the changing room...”

“I just didn’t want you to embarrass me by changing into your crop top!”

“It calls attention to my abs!”

“Jerrie, this is exactly why they say I’m the smart one.”

The twins both got dirty from climbing through piles of garbage while doing crimes, so they’re helping each other clean up in a way that wouldn’t look weird if they were actually cats.

“So, I’m the stupid one, but you’re the one who didn’t notice that our legs are covered in garbage!”

“Shut up, Jerrie.”

“Okay, my turn now.”

“You know, the human audience is watching us...”

“So what? We can’t be seen by Old Deuteronomy covered in garbage and evidence of our crimes. What are we supposed to do? Shower?”

Yeah, I got carried away with the characters talking there. I’m short on material.

Anyway, Old Deuteronomy! You can see Jerrie kneel before him, either trying to show respect or getting ready to kitten crawl. He’s next to Bombalurina, if you can’t see.

The twins end up sitting right up front, which they’re quite happy about.

I promise that part 3 will include actual content. The combination of The Pekes and the Pollicles and The Jellicle Ball always means something.

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

1998 Film Rumpleteazer Rewatch Part 3

This section includes so many opportunities for characters to just be themselves and do silly things that I will never get bored of it.

Here’s Teazer in her Peke costume. Onward!

The Chaos Twins weren’t at dog practice and have no idea what they’re supposed to do. Munkustrap is aware of this and carefully directs them, making it obvious what they’re supposed to do, including pointing at each one when it’s their turn to bark. But, Jerrie has the smaller half of the braincell and he keeps barking twice. Both Munkustrap and Teazer start signaling to help him, but he refuses to pay attention to either one of them.

And Teazer hangs her head in shame. At least she tried.

To distract herself from the shame of failure, Teazer decides to make Munkustrap’s job even harder by...grinding on him. Shortly after this number we’ll begin the part of the show when at least half the cast becomes horny on main and Teazer’s trying to beat everyone to the punch. She’s a Tugger fangirl, but she’ll settle for any Deuteronomy brother as a runner-up. 

Of course, Munkustrap is not amused, so this was all pretty pointless.

So Teazer cries to her mom about the terrible day she’s having. 

Whatever Jenny (Mom) told her inspired her to try again. I think this is where Etcetera got her ideas from.

The rejection is brutal. Jerrie still doesn’t know what the fuck’s going on.

Teazer takes off her costume and cries to her dad this time. Jerrie, still not knowing what the fuck is going on, has allowed Pouncival to stand in front of him in line for the March of the Pollicles. This will end poorly.

Teazer doesn’t really do much else in the Pekes and the Pollicles. Other cats have to take their turns being funny. Let’s skip ahead to halfway through The Song of the Jellicles, when Jerrie and Teazer come out of hiding.

Teazer ducks right under the psychic twins. Coricopat is offended but Tantomile doesn’t seem to care.

Anyway, Jellicle cats are of moderate size. Considering how many times it’s stated that Jellicle cats are small, I like to think that Jerrie and Teazer are a bit bigger than most Jellicles their age and insist that “We’re not too big! We’re...moderate size!”

I admit that I have no idea why Jerrie and Teazer are standing this close. Maybe they’re just whispering to each other.

Etcetera, Victoria, and Rumpleteazer would like to remind you that Jellicle cats are black AND white. Victoria, the white cat, and Etcetera, who’s white-ish, make sense for this, but Teazer has almost as much black on her as white. Did she just want to be included? Is she trying to get on Victoria’s good side?

The main thing these three have in common is that they’re all part of THAT group of teenagers who make a big deal out of trying to lose their virginities on prom night. They’re all going to be grounded before the ball is over. Teazer’s probably grounded already.

Then Alonzo sneaks up behind Teazer and nearly gives her a heart attack.

Teazer tries to hide behind Victoria, hoping that she will protect her from Alonzo, who isn’t even trying to do anything. 

Also btw Tugger’s back.

I don’t think Tugger is in the mood to humor his fangirls right now. Misto’s ignoring him again and he hasn’t had a chance to sulk about it. He weaponizes his ass against the Hormonal Trio, especially Teazer. I don’t think Victoria was even hit.

While she recovers from her ordeal, Teazer claws at her ear in a very good impression of Mistoffelees.

So, when Victoria and Etcetera swarm Tugger, Teazer, not wanting to get ass attacked again, keeps her distance. She’ll try again later.

Now the dancing actually starts. The Hormonal trio are joined by Bomba and Demeter On the Prowl. Bomba is Tugger’s favorite fangirl and she taught the kittens how to be horny on main. She’s even more determined to get laid than they are. Demeter just goes where her sister goes and tries not to think about Macavity.

Etcetera is just crazy enough to turn Bombalurina’s Sexy Dance. Teazer is not that crazy, so she hangs out with the kittens on the throne with Munkustrap. Teazer is technically not a kitten anymore, but she’s close to them in age. Jerrie and Teazer are Misto’s age, but while Misto keeps trying to prove that he’s an Adult, the twins would rather still be kittens. They don’t want any of that responsibility crap.

Of the Hormonal Trio, Victoria is the most successful. She gets to do a Symbolic Coming of Age Dance with Plato. But, Teazer doesn’t want to be completely outclassed and asks Tugger if she could join him for Cuddle/Nap Time. He rejects her again, but he’s more polite about it this time. She has to go cuddle with her brother. Again. Like she always does.

If the younger cats see the Jellicle Ball as prom night, than this is The Slow Dance, where if you didn’t bring a date, you’re socially obligated to pair up with somebody and everyone has to scramble to find a partner before the song ends. Teazer falls into the category of girls who have a close male friend or sibling to fall back on.

Teazer is very invested in what Victoria and Plato are up to. Jerrie is already falling asleep.

They have just enough energy to tumble over each other on the way to the Cuddle Pile.

But, when the party gets going again, Teazer gets a chance to moon the camera.

So...Grizabella. The Chaos Twins really don’t have much to do with her, do they? They weren’t even there for her first appearance, so they still probably don’t know who she is.

Teazer is hanging out with Etcetera when Grizabella appears again. Etcetera WAS there the last time, so I’ll assume that she quickly explains.

And Teazer just leaves. I guess she assumes that this any of her business.