Jinxed

"See, you can't rid of a jinx that easily Ten Cents."
— Boomer

**Jinxed** is the tenth episode of TUGS.

## Plot

One night, out at sea, Ten Cents and Sunshine spot a tug named Boomer; drifting alone, with a stalled engine, a drooping towline, scrappy rigging and without a flag. Since a previous owner renamed him from “Captain Harry”, Boomer had suffered a hard life due to his “jinx” and doesn't want to go to Bigg City Port with them. Ten Cents and Sunshine are concerned about keeping busy sea lanes clear for ships and so Ten Cents takes Boomer in, though not without his towline untying from him while trying to tow him.

Captain Star takes in Boomer and Sunshine brings him in a barge full of coal. Tied to Ten Cents just in case, Boomer tries his engine. It looks like a success until the engine smokes. Ten Cents pulls Boomer clear. Once out of the dock, the tug’s engine mysteriously stops smoking. Captain Star tells Ten Cents to take Boomer to Lucky’s Yard. His megaphone falls out of its place, an occurrence that never happened until the arrival of the unlucky tug.

On their way to Lucky’s Yard, Boomer suddenly takes on water and sinks. Fortunately, he lands onto a sunken garbage barge. Several cranes, including the strongest of them; Mighty Mo are brought to load Boomer onto a barge. As Boomer is lifted out of the water, Mo’s hawser jams with him too low to go on the barge.

That night, Ten Cents and Sunshine tow in the entire convoy to Lucky’s Yard. Before they can reach the raft construction planned to take Boomer, every light goes out. No one is able to see, resulting in a horrific crash. Though the cranes suffer horrendous damage, the three tugs survive that night.

A few days later, Captain Star gives a fully-repaired Boomer to Captain Zero. While the Z-Stacks are transporting munitions, Ten Cents whistles to Boomer as a “good luck”. No sooner, Boomer’s barge, full of munitions, explodes, resulting in his dismissal.

Sunshine realizes that whenever Ten Cents blows his hooter, that’s when the misfortunes on and with Boomer occur. Ten Cents is very disdainful, so Sunshine gives it a test. Boomer is tied to marker buoy and Ten Cents gives two hoots, leading to the marker buoy sinking.

If Captain Star is to keep Boomer, he’ll give him a job where nothing can go wrong. The next morning, he gives Boomer the job of towing a schooner out to sea. There’s nothing to break and if something happens to Boomer, the schooner can assist.

Without a single hoot, Ten Cents and Sunshine escort Boomer to the old wharf and watch him leave successfully. Ten Cents is glad he’ll no longer be a suspect of causing Boomer’s misfortunes. Later that day, during work, Boomer returns, escorted by the Fire Chief and towing a burnet schooner. There are two different stories; Lightning, according to Boomer, and a spark flying out of his stack due to speeding, according to the Fire Chief. O.J. points out the flaw on Boomer’s part; it's a lovely day.

Captain Star gives up on Boomer. He sends him to Lucky’s Yard with strict instruction he can’t be used as a tug ever again, “no matter what.”

A few weeks later, Ten Cents and Sunshine are sent to collect Boomer and deliver him to a place up-river. Ten Cents points out how the Breaker’s Yard is located up-river. Inspecting the worse, it’s a surprise when they find out that Boomer had been refurbished into a houseboat. Boomer is the happiest he’s ever been.

Ten Cents and Sunshine tow Boomer to his mooring up-river, marked *Dun Tuggin’*. During their conversation, Ten Cents gives two toots of his hooter as a goodbye. Immediately after, a tree collapses into the water. Boomer confirms that the “jinx” is gone. He points out that his "jinx" would have had the tree crash down on someone.

Ten Cents and Sunshine return back to work in Bigg City Port, while Boomer is happily retired in his ideal place in the world, with his "jinx" lifted.

## Characters

* Captain Star
* Ten Cents
* Big Mac
* O.J.
* Sunshine
* Zak
* Boomer
* Mighty Mo
* Captain Zero (*only speaks in Japanese dub*)
* Fire Tug (*does not speak*)
* Top Hat (*cameo, larger role in deleted scene*)
* Warrior (*cameo, larger role in deleted scene*)
* Zorran (*cameo*)
* Zebedee (*cameo*)
* Zug (*cameo, larger role cut*)
* Zip (*cameo, larger role cut, speaks in Japanese dub*)
* Sally Seaplane (*cameo*)
* Scuttlebutt Pete (*cameo*)
* Little Ditcher (*cameo*)
* Big Mickey (*cameo*)
* Izzy Gomez (*cameo, larger role in deleted scene*)
* Lord Stinker (*cameo*)
* Fultan Ferry (*cameo*)
* Shrimpers (*cameo*)
* Hercules (*deleted scene*)
* Duchess (*deleted scene*)
* Bluenose (*deleted scene*)

## Locations

* Out at Sea
* Bigg City Port
	+ Star Dock
	+ Lucky's Yard
	+ Zero Dock
	+ Ballantine's
* Up River
	+ Dun Tuggin'
	+ The Breaker's Yard (*mentioned*)

## Deleted Scenes

Though the episode is 15 minutes long, it was filmed at a 30 minute length and was trimmed down twice during production.

### *Boomer's Bad Luck* Montage

Originally, there was a montage of Boomer doing all sorts of different jobs; with all of them going wrong. One accident involved him bumping into Izzy Gomez and sending him out of control. Ten Cents and Sunshine watch in horror as Gomez crashes into some barges, which engulf in flames. Fortunately, Izzy is in one piece.

Footage is featured in the show's sizzle reel.