Calvin and Klein emerge from the theater. Klein checks the time, and upon finding that it's 5:34, tells Calvin to get back to his parents before they sue Klein. But Calvin's parents aren't there, which confuses him. He gets the MTM to search for his parents, which the MTM agrees to do as long as Calvin removes a self-destruct chip. Calvin does so, and the MTM finds his parents.
Back in the house, Andy, Sherman, and Socrates are watching The Twilight Zone on TV. Suddenly it turns to static. Outside the window is Retro, who cut the cable connection. When asked how he managed to escape from Annkor, he reveals that he didn't- instead, he created a holographic stand-in to take over Earth for him. The group is not impressed- how is Retro going to take over the world if he's just light, which passes through everything?. Retro kicks the TV over, revealing that he's made of Hard Light. Oh, and his hologram comes with a ray gun. Cue the Oh, Crap! and running from Andy, Sherman, and Socrates.
At the Grand Canyon, Calvin discovers that his parents are about ten miles away, too far away for him to save them on time. So he uses the Time Pauser. Calvin gives Hobbes a Time Disk, which will allow Hobbes to move during stopped time without having to have been touching Calvin when he uses the Time Pauser.
At the house, the group are hiding under Calvin's bed while Holographic Retro rampages around. Retro finds them, fires his laser gun... which stops in midair. When Retro tries to move towards them, he hits an invisible wall. Turns out, his projector has a limited range, and he just found the limit. He starts to go back to get the thing and move it closer, but then sees Socrates within his reach. He lunges for the tiger, but is thwarted by Socrates stepping back. While Retro is distracted by Socrates, Andy gets the Mega-Shrinker 5000 (which Hobbes had purposefully forgot to bring along) and uses it to disrupt Retro's hologram. The group gets back to watching TV.
Back at the Canyon, Calvin uses his time machine/airplane cardboard box to go find his parents. He then proceeds to fly like crazy, terrifying Hobbes. He does find his parents, but is unable to answer Hobbes' question: How is he going to get them out of that situation?
Andy, Socrates, and Sherman, meanwhile, are watching TV again, but they're rudely interrupted by Rupert and Earl, who heard that they got the crew to go away by giving them peanut butter milkshakes and saying that Earth wasn't for sale. The pair are quite angry at Socrates for ruining their day off, and they begin to fight the group.
At the Grand Canyon, Calvin comes up with a great plan. He'll go back to the visitor's center, get Klein, and then save his parents. Hobbes is not very impressed, but they set off anyway. When they get to the visitors' center, Calvin notices a large crane nearby, and leads Hobbes to it. He finds that the keys are still in there, and he doesn't think the fact that he doesn't know how to use a crane is any impediment to his new plan to use the crane to rescue his parents.
At the house, Andy shows up with the Mega-Shrinker 5000. Faced with that, Rupert and Earl decide that it isn't worth it, and retreat. The group discuss whether to start fixing up the house, but decide to wait until after Spongebob is over. Andy asks Socrates to close the door, as there's a draft, but Socrates responds that Rupert and Earl burned it down.
Calvin locates his parents and gets down to saving them. His plan is to use Hobbes' directions to position the crane to hook onto their shirts, but the first time he tries, he nearly knocks the ledge down. It works on the second try, however. After this escapade, Mom has had enough of the vacation. Dad, on the other hand, complains about not being able to walk the Grand Canyon in a day.
They return to their house to find it in near-perfect condition, aside from some paint scratching. In the day they had left, the group had fixed all the damage that the villains had done. Calvin thinks that there's some part of the story that he's been missing. He's assured that this is the case, but he's probably not going to find out about it soon.
Tropes
- Actually a Doombot: The real Retro is still imprisoned on Annkor, but he was able to create a hard-light hologram to go to Earth in his place.
- Bystander Syndrome: Klein.
- Call-Back: Calvin mentions Episode 1 as one without him using his inventions.
- Deadpan Snarker: The MTM.MTM: Welcome to the MTM. How may I use up a chunk of my precious battery power for you?
- Drives Like Crazy: Calvin in his cardboard box and in the crane.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the first appearance of Holographic Retro, and he doesn't have his trademark light bee. He instead uses a projector, and ends up losing because the projector's range is limited.
- Hard Light: Holographic Retro.
- Mundane Solution: Calvin's first plan.
- Oh, Crap!: Andy, Sherman, and Socrates when they discover the above fact.
- Self-Deprecation: Via Breaking the Fourth Wall. Hobbes comments that the pilot episode (the only one without one of Calvin's inventions) stunk.
- Shout-Out: The group at home watch The Twilight Zone, Jimmy Neutron, and Spongebob.
- Skewed Priorities: After getting trapped on a ledge and being rescued by Calvin in a crane, Dad complains about not being able to walk the Grand Canyon in a day.
- Time Stands Still: Calvin uses his Time Pauser to stop time while he goes to fetch his parents.
- You Fight Like a Cow: Socrates to Earl.Socrates: I've seen blind people with better aim than you, bud!Socrates: Is that the best you can do?! Calvin is more careful in his aiming than you... OOOF![One of the blasts hits Socrates in the chest]Socrates: Even a blind mouse finds a piece of cheese once in a while, pal!Earl: You just never stop, do you?Socrates: Nope, never do.
