Bug a Boogie

Donkey Kong Country episode
"Bug a Boogie"
Season	2
Episode	7
Airdate	January 29, 1997[?] November 29, 1998[?]
Writer(s)	Erika Strobel
Song(s)	"The Booty Boogie" "The Big Bog Monster"
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"Bug a Boogie" is the twentieth produced episode of Donkey Kong Country and the eighteenth aired in North America. Its title is a pun on "bugaboo." During the episode, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong fool around with their Bananaphones and try to play a practical joke on the Kremlings. Cranky Kong decides to teach them a lesson about doing practical jokes by sending them to the Forbidden Forest with a strange amulet. However, both Kaptain Skurvy and King K. Rool are out to steal the Crystal Coconut while they are gone.

Plot synopsis

Donkey Kong and Diddy are playing a spy-type game in the jungle, using Bananaphones (walkie-talkies that look like bananas) to communicate. DK is having quite a bit of fun, but Diddy thinks their game is rather serious. Unbeknownst to them, General Klump and Krusha are spying on the Kongs themselves. Klump believes that the Bananaphones are genuine eavesdropping devices, and he decides to greedily steal one of them for King K. Rool.

DK and Diddy then come upon an object on the ground that looks like an amulet of some sort, and they start debating as to what exactly it is. They get so distracted by it that Klump and Krusha make off with one of the Bananaphones. DK and Diddy see the Kremlings making off with it and Diddy angrily turns red and throws his hat on the ground. They figure that they probably stole it so they could spy on them, so they decide to try and get back at them with the Bananaphone that they still have. DK at first suggests that they "radio them, and then hang up!" Diddy says that will not work, but he knows what will.

Klump and Krusha bring the Bananaphone to an irate K. Rool, who shows no interest in said phone when Klump refers to it as "a bug," and instead starts up a rant about his obsession with power and desire to obtains powerful objects ("that will make me... powerful"). Suddenly, he is cut short by the voices of DK and Diddy being heard on the Bananaphone. According to what the Kremlings hear, DK and Diddy have a shiny amulet that is supposedly even more magical than the Crystal Coconut, and they are going to hide it in the Forbidden Forest of Kongo Bongo. Convinced that what he is hearing is true, K. Rool commands Klump and Krusha to go to the Forbidden Forest and get the amulet for him.

DK and Diddy then turn off their Bananaphone and laugh themselves silly about the prank they have just pulled. However, when they tell Cranky about the joke, he scolds them and tells them that the object they have now got is the evil Amulet of "Bug a Boogie". He tells them to go to the Forbidden Forest and dunk it into the Well of Woe. DK is too frightened to go into the Forbidden Forest, though. Diddy is surprised that DK is acting rather scared, to which DK replies by telling him "I wouldn't want you to get eaten by a Bog Monster," which Diddy finds laughable. Shortly after they leave the cabin, Cranky laughs at the practical joke he has just pulled on the two in order to teach them a lesson. Unbeknownst to Cranky, though, Kaptain Skurvy is coming to the island again to steal the Coconut.

Meanwhile, in the Forbidden Forest, Klump gets lost and starts calling for Krusha. At that point, K. Rool contacts him, demanding to know if he has found DK and the amulet yet. Klump's only answer is "Almost," which further infuriates K. Rool, and he refuses to believe that he is lost. He then walks off, singing his army chants to himself, which K. Rool mocks.

Back at his cabin, Cranky is still chuckling over his prank when Funky comes in, asking what has him so tickled, so Cranky promptly explains to him that he sent DK and Diddy on a wild goose chase. This angered Funky, who tells Cranky that he had better do something to nullify that prank, or else something bad is going to happen. Cranky doesn't care about that, saying "It's just a practical joke!," but he does not notice that his speech is being picked up on DK and Diddy's Bananaphone (which they left with him).

K. Rool overhears Cranky on the other line and is furious that he has sent Klump and Krusha after an amulet that is worthless when they could have been stealing the Coconut. He turns on his cameras and uses it to find Krusha, and orders him to abort the mission and return to headquarters. Krusha sheepishly admits he cannot do that, though, because he is stuck up to his chest in swamp mud. When he sees that Klump is also stuck in the mud with Krusha, K. Rool decides that he will just have to go steal the Coconut himself.

In the meantime, Cranky's laughing is cut short when Funky asks "How did you fit these little pirate dudes in the zen gem?" Cranky then realizes this means that Skurvy has arrived on the island, and that DK needs to be warned of this; Funky finds this predicament a fitting retort to Cranky's own prank. Cranky quickly transforms to his hologram form, leaving Funky behind to watch the Coconut. Almost immediately following that, Skurvy, Kutlass, and Green Kroc show up. Funky tries to distract them by telling them that they need "cosmic jurisdiction to assign mantras. But before I can do that, you dudes will need a major cosmic cleansing and a total clearing of the chakras." Skurvy and his crew do not understand him, so they instead stuff Funky into a barrel and take everything in the cabin that is not nailed down.

Meanwhile, in the Forbidden Forest, Donkey and Diddy have been wandering around trying to find the Well of Woe, and DK is rather frightened by the forest, which Diddy constantly teases him about. DK explains to Diddy that, in his youth, Cranky always warned him not to go into the Forbidden Forest, and if he did, he encountered a Bog Monster, which he describes through song. Diddy still is not convinced that such a creature exists. Cranky's hologram suddenly appears to them, alerting them to come back to the cabin. DK and Diddy tell them they cannot do so because they still have not found the Well of Woe, but Cranky just admits that the amulet is not evil at all, and that with Skurvy on the island, he needs their help. Suddenly, his hologram flickers, because he is calling them at the moment Skurvy is stealing the Coconut (and as a result, Cranky ends up re-materializing on Skurvy's ship). DK and Diddy head out of the forest, but not before coming upon Klump and Krusha, who are still trapped in the mud. Despite his predicament, Klump demands the apes to give him the amulet, so DK and Diddy do just that and leave, saying they do not want to be here when the Bog Monster shows up. Klump is at first pleased that he succeeded in getting the Kongs to hand over the amulet, but then starts trembling at the realization that there's a Bog Monster lurking about.

DK and Diddy arrive back at Cranky's Cabin and are shocked to find that the only thing left there is Funky, still trapped in the barrel. This makes them realize that Skurvy has already gotten everything on his ship and is getting ready to sail off. Luckily for them, Skurvy did not think to take Funky's plane, so DK and Diddy, forgetting to release Funky from the barrel, take off in the plane. Shortly after they leave, K. Rool (bringing the stolen Bananaphone with him) comes to the cabin to get the Crystal Coconut himself, only to find out that Skurvy beat him to it. Naturally, this does not sit well with him, so he decides that he will just steal it back. Funky points out that Skurvy has a hand-cannon, so K. Rool figures that he will need reinforcements.

K. Rool then heads into the Forbidden Forest and comes upon Klump and Krusha, telling them to get out of the mud so they can go after the Coconut. Klump tries to tell K. Rool that his retrieving the amulet is better news, but K. Rool, already aware that the amulet is worthless, will not listen. Suddenly, he overhears Skurvy on the Bananaphone and gets an idea. Taking a cue from earlier in the episode, he boasts over the Bananaphone so that Skurvy can hear him, claiming that he has a magical, mysterious amulet that is much better than the Crystal Coconut, and that he has it in the forest. This tempts Skurvy enough to get off his ship and head into the forest, taking the Coconut with him.

The moment Skurvy leaves his boat sitting there, DK and Diddy show up. Cranky tells them that they have to go back to the forest to follow Skurvy and get the Coconut. DK is not at all keen on the idea, because he still thinks there is a Bog Monster in there. Upon hearing this, Cranky admits to DK that the Bog Monster he saw in youth was in a disguise that Cranky was using in order to teach DK to stay out of the Forbidden Forest. Now knowing that there was never anything to be scared of, DK takes off for the forest.

Skurvy comes upon K. Rool in the forest and demands that the Kremling King to give him the amulet. K. Rool willingly does so, and then tricks Skurvy into giving him the Crystal Coconut and his hand-cannon, the latter of which he then aims in Skurvy's face. The two villains then start arguing over who exactly is getting what in this trade-off; K. Rool says that he only wants the Coconut, but Skurvy is concerned as to who gets the amulet. Suddenly, DK runs by, yelling that the Bog Monster is on the loose, while a hidden Diddy is heard roaring like one. This frightens Skurvy enough to make him drop the amulet, take his hand-cannon back, and rush off, leaving K. Rool with the Coconut.

K. Rool, on the other hand, is not frightened by Diddy's Bog Monster impression, and he walks up to DK, taunting about how he is now victorious. DK just stands there confidently; it is only when he is finished with his spiel that K. Rool realizes he himself has now sunk up to his chest in swamp mud. DK takes the Coconut out of K. Rool's hand and congratulates Diddy on his impression, but then Diddy fools him by pretending that was not him they just heard roaring, which scares DK into running off. Diddy then sees a strange shadow, mistakes it for that of a Bog Monster, and flees just as Klump and Krusha come in and find their boss stuck in the mud (which Klump believes is K. Rool being eaten by the Bog Monster). K. Rool orders the two to get him out just as they hear an even more fearsome roar behind them.

Back at the cabin, where Cranky has now managed to put everything back, DK remarks that he is glad to be over his Bog Monster fear when they suddenly hear a loud noise that turns out to be Funky snoring. Realizing they forgot to release him, Diddy (who is now holding the amulet himself) gets the napping Funky out of the barrel. Feeling refreshed from all that "negative karma," Funky recognizes the "amulet" as his hood ornament, which he lost during his last barrel run. Funky leaves with his hood ornament, and then Cranky and Diddy begin laughing at this plot resolution, although DK does not seem to find it as funny.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	恐怖の森 Kyōfu No Mori	Forest of Fear
French	Les allumés de l'amulette	The Lighted of Amulet
Spanish	La broma pesada	The annoying joke

Trivia

• In the Latin American Spanish dub of the episode, the narrator laughs after reading the title, something not present in other episodes.