This Saturday's annual Earth Day will feature an especially unusual sight, as the Crotoonian Rubbish and Recycling Company will present The 53rd Annual Celgreb City Earth Day Parade with their most colorful show yet!
As the show's lead presenting sponsor this year, the Rubbish and Recycling Company will parade through the city stations and tramways with a decorative line of engines and floats to promote protecting the environment and recyling; a message to be moved with every float being made from recyclable materials.
"It is my pleasure to be in charge of this year's festival.", remarked Irving, lead engine of the C.R.&R. Company. "We want to show nothing goes to waste in Crotoonia by showing how a plastic bottle can be made into a new bin, old scrap can turn into new wheels for an engine, and paper can be made into new books with these ambitious floats designed by myself."
While Irving has designed the floats, co-leader Whiff has taken charge of guiding the contruction of the floats, using old tankers, flatcars, and gondolas sent for scrap to assemble the floats using the materials. In the lineup will be Irving with a large fountain wagon made of bottles and water cooler jugs, Whiff hauling a colorful assortment of tankers and scrap sculptures (donated by various Crotoonian artists), and Scruff the Scruncher pulling a paper mache globe, showcasing the power recycling can bring to the world.
The 53rd Annual Celgreb City Earth Day Parade runs this Saturday from 12-3pm. Residents of Downtown Celgreb City will be advised to take alternative paths while the parade is underway.
It's been a busy time for the Crotoonian Construction Company and partners, as crews are working on demolishing the remains of the old K. Rool Corp. Facility.
The old building, formerly a factory for the company, had been a frequent complaint for residents near the area; smoke and loud noises polluting the air being the major factors behind it. But with dangerous materials now safely cleared from the area, crews moved late last month to begin work on turning the site into a new park with more lush forest space than before.
"When we were approached with the project," began Bob the Builder (leader of the project), "we decided the best course of action would be to turn this area into a safer, greener space so people can enjoy the area and reclaim what was lost with the facility. Now we hope that this can bring back the lush space and envrionment Kongtario prides itself in!"
The town of Kongtario has seen a resurgence in green space over the last few years; in 2020, an old gravel dump yard near Kongtario Depot was reclaimed and turned into Funky Kong's All-Organic Banana Farm, expanding the agricultural industry of the town. In 2021, remnents of the old Barrelworks were cleaned out and turned into a sprawling reservoir, providing a new supply of freshwater for the entire county. And throughout the last few years, the homes in the area have focused less on the standard brick-and-mortar and more eco-friendly straw bale-and-stucco houses. All of this has been assisting in making Kongtario one of the most environmentally mindful towns on Crotoonia!
"Well, it's about time we've moved more to this!", yelled Cranky Kong, Mayor of Kongtario. "Back in my day, we slept under a good 'ol shack and that was just fine for me! If we're gonna keep this town growin', we'd better keep to the smarter way of things unlike those overstuffed alligators! I didn't sleep for years until that horrid factory finally shut up."
The area surrounding the old factory will remain off limits until the park is ready and opened. Engines working near the area are advised to bring loads to the transfer depot for trucks to take over the rest of the way.
Ultratrain is a hero that's fallen a bit out of form. Ever since the dramatic "Train of Steel", in which Ultratrain brutally bumped Traniac into a 5ft deep sinkhole, this train's been derailed by continual dark entries in the hopes of standing out against the far more popular action chugger.
So when this new hour-long TV special was announced, kicking off a brand new TV miniseries going into the newest adventures of this crime-fighting machine, I had some mild hopes they could salvage the old thing. The primetime pilot sees Ultratrain on a mission to locate and investigate the disappearance of several shunting engines in the area, leading him to explore abandoned lines and unearthing a sinister mining scheme.
With a plot like that, it felt like he was nearly on track to being a star again! We had a solid mystery plot with intrigue and daring new depths to explore, even as we witnessed an agonizing five minutes of Ultratrain finds himself questioning if he can truly super puff when the going gets tough on his perilous and dangerous mission. But with the assistance of a surprising guest star, he soon finds out that "nothing chuffs like a chuff chuff chuffs". Finally, back to the simplicity and fun everyone watches Ultratrain for!
And then Ultratrain discovers Traniac is still alive and holding the president hostage unless he gives him a shunting yard's worth of Jolly Ranchers.
I couldn't help but notice that Jolly Ranchers were a prominent sponsor for tonight's special.
And in a Peloponnesian minute, we go from a fun, steady return to form to somehow getting more ridiculous than the darker stuff! It's an overall alright watch, but the constant tone switches are a problem. Is it so hard to make a simple action story without feeling the need to needlessly brood to feel important or to give way to ridiculous plot points to satisfy the bankroll? At least a Jolly Rancher billboard would've been tasteful.
"TRAINIAC UNLEASHED" airs Sunday at 9pm on Teletoonia.