On Ruler of the Rock Day, a Fraggle can become Supreme Ruler of the Rock for a time, if the Finger of Light—in a cave at the opposite end of a deep pit called the Echo Hole—shines on that Fraggle. When Mokey becomes the Supreme Ruler, she is told she can issue three commands for the betterment of all. After accidentally wasting the first two, she struggles with what to do to improve things for everyone.
Deciding the idea of a Supreme Ruler is unnecessary, Mokey tries to encourage the Fraggles to follow their own paths by listening to their inner voices, but is reminded that it's all a game. She thus decrees that Wembley will balance a pickle on his nose to entertain the others.
This episode contains examples of:
- 15 Minutes of Fame: Mokey, after becoming Supreme Ruler of the Rock, gets a lot of attention from the other Fraggles, especially those who have ideas for commands. This lasts for less than a day, though, since it's all a game.World's Oldest Fraggle: [showing Mokey an hourglass] Your reign is to last as long as the sand in this hourglass. Do you read me?
- Ambition Is Evil: Marlon, who wants to start his own cult, makes the trip to the Echo Hole, planning to use behavioral modification on other Fraggles if he becomes Supreme Ruler of the Rock.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: After wasting her first two commands, Mokey goes to the Trash Heap to seek advice. The Trash Heap tells Mokey that to rule well, she should listen to her inner voice... but then Mokey winds up listening to a three-way quarrel when Philo, Gunge, and the Trash Heap start arguing about what the best diet is.The Trash Heap: I like cherry cheesecake. Mmmm...!
Philo: Cherry cheesecake? Yuck! Gimme some of that double-dip chocolate fudge!
Gunge: What are you, nuts? If you're talking quality food, you take a big bowl of spaghetti and slather it with a whole...
The Trash Heap: Ohhh, too much starch!
Gunge: Starch is the spice of life!
Philo: Yeah!
The Trash Heap: Spicy food gives me gas!
Philo: Aw, I'm glad you ain't in charge of the menu around here!
Gunge: That's for sure!
The Trash Heap: Oh, and who do you think is bringing home the coffee grounds? Huh? Junior Gorg, maybe?
Gunge: Ohhh, gee!
Philo: Ehhhh...!
Mokey: Well... uh... thanks... uh... for your help. - Audience Murmurs: The World's Oldest Fraggle announces that only five Fraggles can play the game, then asks who it will be. The assembled Fraggles murmur among themselves for a minute before Marlon, Red, and Gobo say they'll play.
- Call-and-Response Song:
- A chant performed by the World's Oldest Fraggle and the four Fraggles acting as bearers for his sedan chair.World's Oldest Fraggle: Where are we going?
Bearers: To the Echo Hole!
World's Oldest Fraggle: How far is it?
Bearers: Long way to go!
World's Oldest Fraggle: What's gonna happen?
Bearers: Finger of Light!
World's Oldest Fraggle: And when it hits the Ruler...
Bearers: That'll be a sight! - Later, when they get to the bridge spanning the Echo Hole...World's Oldest Fraggle: Whoa, whoa!
Bearers: [singing] Wo, wo, wo...!
World's Oldest Fraggle: Will you stop it! Don't overdo the hype.
- A chant performed by the World's Oldest Fraggle and the four Fraggles acting as bearers for his sedan chair.
- The Chooser of the One: The Finger of Light.
- The Chosen One: Whoever the Finger of Light shines on.
- The Chosen Wannabe: Gobo, Red, and Marlon, though downplayed. Mokey, on the other hand, hadn't even wanted to be chosen; she had just tagged along to observe, take notes for a book she's writing on games, and interview the others on what they would do if chosen.
- Classified Information: Lampshaded when Marlon, on the way to the Echo Hole, tells Mokey what he would do if he became Supreme Ruler of the Rock.Marlon: Mokey, I have a couple of concepts, too.
Mokey: What?
Marlon: Behavioral modification, that type of thing!
Mokey: [taking notes] "Behav..." Would you spell that for me?
Marlon: Oh, no, I couldn't! It's much too secret! - Comically Missing the Point: When Mokey tells the other Fraggles that she believes there is no one command that would make life better for all...Marlon: Yes, yes, very interesting, but please tell us what to do!
- Continuity Nod:
- One of the Pipebangers from "Let the Water Run", complete with his banging stick and vaguely pickled-shaped hat, announces the arrival of the World's Oldest Fraggle.
- One of the Fraggles in the Great Hall is carrying a sign with the Solemn Mark of the Fraggle, first seen on the lid of the music box in "The Lost Treasure of the Fraggles." The mark is a pictograph of a smiling Fraggle putting his thumbs in his ears and spreading out his fingers.
- Cool Crown: Mokey wears one after becoming Supreme Ruler of the Rock.
- Cult: Marlon has been trying to start one for years, but no one is interested in being in it.
- Don't Look Down: Played for Laughs when Gobo, Mokey, Red, and Marlon are crossing the bridge that spans the Echo Hole.Gobo: Don't look down!
Mokey: [looking down] Ooh, pretty! - Ear Trumpet: The World's Oldest Fraggle uses one briefly.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: At one point, Mokey exclaims, "Fiddlesticks!" The World's Oldest Fraggle treats it as a real swear word.
- Gut Feeling: Played for Laughs with the World's Oldest Fraggle.World's Oldest Fraggle: Now, I've called all of you youngsters here for a very special reason. I got a feeling in my bones that today is gonna be Ruler of the Rock Day!
- Holding Hands: Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Marlon do this when crossing the bridge, which is quite narrow.
- Holiday Episode: The Fraggles are celebrating Ruler of the Rock Day.
- Instant Expert: As the episode begins, Gobo, Red, and Wembley are having a contest: balancing pickles on their noses. Wembley's pickle keeps falling off at first, but at the end of the episode, he suddenly balances it very well. A bunch of other Fraggles in the Great Hall then do the same.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Mokey starts to believe this when she gets to be Supreme Ruler of the Rock. She ends up wasting two of her commands and contemplating if the idea of being Supreme Ruler of the Rock is any good.Mokey: [voiceover, while writing in her diary] And so I have taken up the yoke of office... [sighs, then to starts to talk out loud] ...and wound up with egg on my face.
- Lampshade Hanging: Uncle Traveling Matt meets a puppeteer and comments in his postcard about the "family resemblance" between himself and the puppeteer's marionette.
- Large-Ham Announcer: The World's Oldest Fraggle acts as this, announcing in a grandiose manner when Mokey has issued or is about to issue a command.World's Oldest Fraggle: Listen up! The Ruler of the Rock is about to issue her last command!
- Meaningful Name: The Echo Hole get its name from the depth of the echoes that emanate from it.
- The Misophonic: Boober refuses to go anywhere near the Echo Hole, for fear of hearing his voice echoing from it.[Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, and Red have just heard the World's Oldest Fraggle explaining the rules of the Ruler of the Rock game.]
Mokey: Well, are any of you going to play Ruler of the Rock?
Boober: And hear my own voice in the Echo Hole?
Mokey: Mmm-hmm.
Boober: Do you know what that can do to your brain? - Noisy Shut-Up:
- How Mokey wastes her first command. When Gobo, Red, and Marlon are all trying at once to tell Mokey what to use her commands for, she yells at them to be quiet.
- Marlon does this in the Great Hall, when all the Fraggles are trying to tell Mokey what to use her commands for.Marlon: QUIET!
[The other Fraggles shut up.]
Mokey: Why, thank you, Marlon.
- Pacifism: When the Fraggles assembled in the Great Hall are awaiting Mokey's final command, she sings "Time to Live as One" to remind them of the need for everyone to just coexist peacefully. The other Fraggles join in... and so does a Doozer that Wembley's hugging.
- Plummet Perspective: To show Red the depth of the Echo Hole—and its echo—the World's Oldest Fraggle throws a large rock down it.World's Oldest Fraggle: And nothing to hold you safe from oblivion... except that flimsy bridge.
- Rewatch Bonus: When the Fraggles in the Great Hall are awaiting Mokey's second command, several of them are holding up signs. On second watch, you'll see, besides the sign with the Solemn Mark of the Fraggle, a sign with a crossed-out radish, a sign with a picture of a Fraggle with wings strapped to his back, and a sign with a picture of Red, with arrows pointing to her ponytails. (Red wants Mokey to use one of her commands to tell everyone to wear ponytails like hers.)
- Rule of Three: The Supreme Ruler of the Rock can give only three commands.
- Shout-Out: To Ted Lewis. When the World's Oldest Fraggle arrives in the Great Hall, he says, "Is everybody happy?" This is a catchphrase of Ted Lewis' that was used in the song "Wear A Hat With A Silver Lining", by Al Sherman and Albert Bryan.
- Sore Loser: Subverted. Red and Gobo are disappointed that neither of them is Supreme Ruler, but they quickly drop the matter and even sing a cheerful song about how "Yucky!" they feel.
- Take It to the Bridge: On the opposite side of the bridge spanning the Echo Hole is the cave where the Finger of Light shines on Ruler of the Rock Day.
- Terrified of Germs: Downplayed. Boober, wearing a "germ-proof mask", tries to convince Mokey to use her second command to tell everyone else to do the same. Unfortunately for him, he's standing on her tail, and she wastes her second command asking him to move.
- Too Important to Remember You: Boober worries that Mokey has become this, but she assures him that she hasn't.Boober: Madame Ruler?
Mokey: Hmm?
Boober: Do you remember me, Your Highness?
Mokey: Well now, that's a silly question. Why wouldn't I remember you, Boober?
Boober: Well, I thought, with... you know, what with your being Supreme Commander and all...
Wembley: Boober, Boober... that's just a game!
Boober: Yes, the game of power! - Too Important to Walk: Downplayed. As he enters the Great Hall, and on the way to the Echo Hole, the World's Oldest Fraggle is being carried in a sedan chair. He's no more important than the other Fraggles, though, and he doesn't usually travel this way.
- Verbal Backspace: When Red and the World's Oldest Fraggle are standing at the edge of the Echo Hole, he asks her if the moan of the wind coming from it frightens her.Red: Oh, sure. I'm scared to death.
[Her voice echoes back ominously.]
Red: Uh... I mean... nice echo, isn't it? - The X of Y: The episode's title.
