Reunion
Inventions
Originally Aired
September 16, 1986
~"In
your imagination. That's the best place to play." - Simon to the Elm
Street Kids~
quick links: Stringless Yo-Yo / Spit Tester / Grunt
Stringless
Yo-Yo
This Wizard toy doesn't take electricity or batteries or radio
controls ~ or string. It works by sheer magnetism. Something the
inventor has plenty of in more ways than one.
Instead of being controlled by a string, this yo-yo works based on the distance
between the magnet in the disc & a magnet placed on the user's finger.
Kept a certain distance apart, the user can make the disc do any yo-yo trick ~ walk the dog, around the world,
etc.~ by moving the corresponding magnet attached to their finger. When the magnets are brought close enough together, the disc
will pull back to the user's hand.
Perfect for a novice. No more untying knots or rewinding
string.
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Spit
Tester
This hand-held gizmo really did have a purpose. It was anything Simon wanted it to be. The Health Inspector (a.k.a. Alex) & Mr. Baggit
(a.k.a. Simon) from the Bureau of Disease Control, for example, found it very useful in their food poisoning charade
to save Tillie from the thugs Troyan had assigned to watch her every move.
Kudos to Alex for inventing the charade!!
Once turned on, the gizmo's lights flashed & moved around. It made a
futuristic noise as though it were taking a reading of the atmosphere in the
room. Simon
pushed a button & a small drawer compartment suddenly opened at the end. Directing
one of the thugs to carefully spit into the drawer, Mr. Baggit proceeded to
'test' the specimen for signs of ptomaine poisoning by closing the drawer &
staring at the gizmo's screen in a very concerned & learned manner. The
Health Inspector
didn't look very hopeful, either.
Between
performers & prop, it was a very convincing show.
The test results? "Very bad, very bad", sighed Mr. Baggit in the
gravest tone of voice he could muster. The cure? A piece of candy
& marching orders to go outside & get some fresh air. Proving,
once again, that silly confusion can often be much more effective than serious
order or strong arming.
The down side? Somebody had to clean out that drawer. Yuck!!!
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Grunt
The strong man. As versatile as any other Wizard toy,
Grunt's body could be kept inside his head. This allowed Grunt to roll
around like a ball, if necessary. Instead of having a radio control, he could be summoned
& worked remotely by playing
a certain circus-like tune on a single octave diatonic harmonica.
In this episode, Grunt is needed to push open the bars on the window of the cell
where Troyan's minions have placed Simon, Alex & Tillie. Once Grunt had
made his way from the carpet bag a street or two over to the window in question,
Simon gave Alex a bow & suction-cupped arrow with string attached to secure Grunt the ball &
pull him up from the street to the window. Directing Alex to place the now
secured Grunt in between the bars, Simon started again to play that circus-like tune on his
harmonica sending Grunt the strong man into action.
Grunt's head slowly rose up to reveal his feet, legs, torso & arms. As Simon
continued to play, Grunt placed one hand on each bar & began to push until
the bars had moved far enough apart to let prisoners escape.
Grunt also makes an appearance in The
Aztec Dagger.
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written
by The MGT. ~ Updated March 29, 2007
Grunt's remote control song performed on Diatonic Harmonica by David Rappaport
email: themgt@thewizardtvfansite.com