On a rainy day, Mrs. Wakeman poured a hot, soothing cup of tea with a self-moving teapot. Unsatisfied with the results after it malfunctioned, she walked her way down to the Radio Shed for a replacement bioprocessor. Taking a shortcut through a dark alley, he returned! She ran screaming.
A paranoid Mrs. Wakeman ran to Brad and Tuck's house where Jenny Brad were watching Tuck's sock puppet show. Mrs. Wakeman explained that when she was younger she built a ventriloquist puppet for the school talent show. The puppet's ego grew so much that when he took over the show for himself, a mob was formed. He couldn't defend himself and he was abandoned in the woods.
Returning back to the lab, it was discovered HE (Little Acorn) has returned! Revealing someone found him and woke him, after being lonely for many years, he asked Mrs. Wakeman to build him a bride. Seeing Jenny, if she wouldn't be his bride, he would bring out his army of paired puppets and they would sing "The Song." Violently taking Jenny as his betrothed, Mrs. Wakeman still wouldn't allow it. He started singing "The Song" and he was shut off.
Mrs. Wakeman wanted to throw away his body but Jenny wouldn't allow it. It was back to the woods for him. When he woke up again, he met the lovely Lucretia (Tuck's sock puppet) and they pranced into the sunset singing a song "that goes on forever."
Trivia
When Little Acorn requested of Mrs. Wakeman a bride, this was similar to the Frankenstein monster requesting his creator to make him a bride; a reference to "Bride of Frankenstein."
Ert and Bernie, part of Little Acorn's puppet army, are like Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street."
"The Song That Goes on Forever" is a reference to "The Song That Never Ends" (or "...Doesn't End") written by Norman Martin for the album "Lamb Chop's Sing-Along. Play-Along." This original song notably was heard on "Lamp Chop's Play Along" (PBS, 1992-1995).
"'Renzetti's' Comic Club"...Hmm...must have been named after someone very, very important.
This episode had another mention of Radio Shed in this series (our "Radio Shack").
More evidence Mrs. Wakeman never married: A "W" monogram was on the the footboard of Wakeman's bed during the flashback scene. Also in those days, the act was called, "Wakeman and Lil Acorn."
Jenny fought a Pinocchio-like puppet styled in the style of the Disney adaptation of the story.
The "Wakeman and Lil Acorn" duo shows an example where the inanimate object grows an ego and takes over the show. (There is an explanation to this.)
Was Tremorton High used to be Tremorton Junior High when Mrs. Wakeman was going there? The Junior high was drawn exactly the same as the current high school, only the signage read "JR HIGH SCHOOL." Though it has not been said in what town she went to junior high.
Goofs
So in the MLAATR world, a "Junch and Pudy" AND Punch and Judy coexist?
Little Acorn said everyone in his puppet army had that "special someone" in their lives. How do we know whether or not he was just saying that as some of those puppets didn't seem to have pairs? Do we not know with whom they are paired? For that matter, who is Pinocchio's pair?
When Little Acorn was about to put his ring on Jenny's finger, why was he about to put it on her pointing finger and not the finger below (remember, this is a cartoon and with cartoons the characters have four fingers. In this case, Jenny has four fingers. Not sure where the ring finger would be. It wouldn't make much sense to put it on the pointer finger.)
During the flashback of "Wakeman and Lil Acorn"'s first show, there was a shot of a boy in the audience wearing a hoodie with front drawstrings. I don't think people were wearing hoodies to school in those days as they might have not been stylish at the time. Sweaters most likely...
Quotes
Brad: "Evil puppets...what has this world come to?"
First public performance at young Nora Wakeman's junior high talent show
Lil Acorn: "What's with this audience? Haven't they seen stiff and wooden performances before?"
Nora Wakeman: "You're not so bad."
Lil Acorn: "I was talking about you."
audience laughs
act continues, Lil Acorn closes...
Lil Acorn: "And on that note, it's time to make like a tree and leaf."
Lil Acorn and Nora did a brief tap dance and the audience continues to laugh
Lil Acorn: "Nora, you don't have to make me a bride," [sees Jenny] "you already have."
Jenny: "Bride? In your dreams, blockhead."
"The Song"
"This is the song that goes on forever
'cause it doesn't ever end.
We will finish singing it never
'cause here we go again..."
TLDR
To ward off his loneliness, Little Acorn the puppet asked Mrs. Wakeman to build him a bride. When he chose Jenny as his bride, much refusal happened.
"Histrionics" (Episode 320)
Directed By: Randy Myers, Rob Renzetti
Plotline
Gliding over a dolphin-wealthy ocean was a beautiful sight! Brad and Sheldon admired the sights on the Jenny air machine. All was great until Tuck almost drained Jenny's battery. They landed in the ocean, leaving Jenny with limited power and Tuck only caring about his electronic game. Stranded on a seemingly deserted island, they couldn't find food or a place to stay but Tuck suggested a building in the distance.
Whey the arrived, they found an electric fence surrounding the building. How would they get in? Avoiding the zombified robotic historical figures, they rode a vine to get over the fence. When they entered, they saw Wizzly World animatronics and met Uncle Wizzly who announced the future opening of his latest amusement park, Histrionics World. This would be a park where history and robotics come together to bring history to life. Because the animatronics were showing violence to all who crossed their paths, Uncle Wizzly was ordered to shut them down. He didn't believe his creations were evil until he felt their wrath.
Brad, Sheldon, and Tuck found a plane that would help them escape from the island. While Jenny was taking care of the zombified robots, Tuck gave her more power by inputting the battery from his game into a built-in battery compartment. Just as Sheldon was figuring out how to fly the plane before it was pushed off a cliff, Jenny, in her "second wind," saved the plane and Sheldon figured out how to fly it before she was low on power again.
Tuck's quick thinking to repower Jenny impressed the rest of the gang. It then seemed that Tuck was not as self-centered as he demonstrated earlier on. While they were escaping on the airplane, Uncle Wizzly got shipwrecked. He was happy to see one of his creations once again, only to make him sink to the bottom.
Trivia
Aw, cartoons! What a place to learn about plants and animals! Sheldon mentioned the digitalis purpurea which is, in fact, a "highly poisonous" plant. He also mentioned the "andigena laminirostris" (plate-billed mountain toucan) whose species is near-threatened, not exactly an endangered species yet.
Has Sheldon ever eaten lizard before? He named off bunches of lizard food ideas.
Robotic Benjamin Franklin said, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man hungry for vengeance!" The actual quote is, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." The latter quote is credited to the actual Benjamin Franklin.
There are multiple Disney-related references throughout this episode:
The appearance of Uncle Wizzly is somewhat similar to "Uncle" Walt Disney, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company with his brother, Roy Disney.
Tuck said, "I'm going to Wizzly World!" The real slogan, "I'm going to Disney World (or Disneyland)," is an advertising campaign used to promote the Disney parks in California and Florida. These commercials are usually shown after the Super Bowl and feature the Super Bowl MVP shouting the phrase while celebrating the team's victory immediately after the championship game. This would be a victory as Tuck proved himself as unselfish. Not exactly a Super Bowl victory, but close.
In the film Uncle Wizzly showed the gang, Abraham Lincoln had a Mickey Mouse-like voice when he said, "Hello folks!"
Uncle Wizzly almost said that Histrionics World was going to be the "happiest place on [Earth]" while being terrorized by the history robots. This is the tagline for Disneyland.
Historical robots in this episode: Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Neil Armstrong (Was that who the astronaut was?), an unknown cowboy, and Julius Caesar. The animatronic Christopher Columbus was introduced outside the film.
Goofs
How wast Tuck able to use a typical household battery for Jenny's auxiliary power? Shouldn't she need more power than that? After all, it didn't last but about a minute.
Quotes
Tuck sees robotic flying pigs biting the back of Brad
Tuck: [jokingly] "You gonna hog all that meat for yourself?"
Sheldon: [to robotic Benjamin Franklin and Julius Caesar] "Hey, bifocals and bedsheets! What's so scary about a guy on an oatmeal box and a sour salad dressing dude? Frankly, I prefer ranch."
Brad and Sheldon run toward the discovered plane with Tuck under Brad's arm. Tuck's concerned
about Jenny's low amount of remaining power.
Brad: "There's no time for whatever selfish thing you're thinking up."
Tuck: "What about Jenny?"
Robotic Benjamin Franklin was about to take out Jenny with a certain book
Jenny: "No, not the almanac! A thousand deadly pages of useless facts."
TLDR
Jenny and the gang got stranded on an uncharted island and attempted to make an escape from Uncle Wizzly's vengeful historical robots.
