♫ Once upon a time, I knew my name. ♫
After a bad scare in Outer Space, Gobo considers giving up exploring and becoming a juggler. He becomes certain of this after he gives Boober and Wembley the wrong directions to the Squeaky Cavern, accidentally sending them to the Great Outer Maze, home of the dreaded Invisible Garboil.Gobo tries to find them, only to get lost in it himself and narrowly make it out... then learn they hadn't entered the Maze in the first place. On top of that, it turns out that he's disturbed the Garboil, who's going on a rampage, trying to flatten Fraggles. Gobo manages to trap the Garboil back in the Maze, then realizes he wants to be an explorer after all.
This episode contains examples of:
- Beast in the Maze: The Invisible Garboil, which lives in the Great Outer Maze.
- Blow You Away: The Invisible Garboil brings strong winds with it.
- Bold Explorer: Gobo doubts he wants to be this but realizes, after walling the Invisible Garboil back up in the Great Outer Maze, that this is his calling after all.
- BSoD Song: Backed by his friends, Gobo sings "The Me I Wanna Be," more sure than ever that he wants to give up exploring. It doesn't help that he's just tried to rescue Boober and Wembley from the Great Outer Maze only to get lost in it himself and narrowly make it out.
- Cassandra Truth: The others exclaim that the Invisible Garboil is attacking them. Gobo doesn't believe them, thinking this is another trick to make him feel better, as they had tried it before. He discovers it's not the case.
- Cathartic Scream: Mokey, Red, and Wembley suggest that Gobo try a cathartic howl.Mokey: Why don't you try it, Gobo? A good howl might make you feel better.
Wembley: Well, sure! It makes me feel terrific. Now, come on, give it a try! [Does his siren wail.] - Character Name and the Noun Phrase: The episode's title.
- Clothing Damage: This happens to Gobo in the Great Outer Maze.
- Continuity Nod: Wembley suggests to Gobo that he take his job: being the siren for the Volunteer Fire Department, which he got in the episode "The Thirty-Minute Work Week."
- Follow in My Footsteps: Gobo, after a failed attempt to get Uncle Matt's postcard from Outer Space, asks himself why he keeps risking his life out there... and then recalls that it was Uncle Matt who determined that Gobo would be an explorer. Gobo has a When It All Began flashback to when Uncle Matt asked him what he planned to do with the rest of his life.Gobo: Well, I'd really like to be a juggler!
Uncle Matt: Excellent! I knew you'd want to be an explorer, just like me.
Gobo: What?
Uncle Matt: Why, you're not the nephew of Traveling Matt for nothing, you know.
Gobo: No...
Uncle Matt: Exploring is a wonderful destiny!
Gobo: But I...!
Uncle Matt: And you will follow in my footsteps.
Gobo: But I...!
[Uncle Matt takes a wrong step and falls over backward. Gobo shrugs.] - Gag Haircut: Uncle Matt is mistaken for a sheep and gets shorn himself.
- Imagine Spot: Gobo imagines Uncle Matt approving his choice to be a juggler.Uncle Matt: Gobo! Nephew! Is that you? Why aren't you out following in my footsteps?
Gobo: Because I don't want to, Uncle Matt. I've become a juggler instead. And I'm a pretty good one, too.
Uncle Matt: Well done, Gobo! I like a Fraggle who knows his own mind. And juggling is a noble career.
Gobo: You really think so?
Uncle Matt: Why, certainly. If I had to do it over again, I would do exactly the same. I would be a juggler, too. After all, I possess all the necessary qualities: keen reflexes... [backs into a boulder] ...physical agility... [trips but doesn't fall] ...and a good sense of direction. [He trips again, falling this time.] WHOOOAAAAHHH! - Invisible Monster: The Invisible Garboil.
- Leave Me Alone!: Gobo says this when his friends try to talk him out of giving up his career as an explorer.
- Loss of Identity: Doc and Gobo have identity crises in this episode. Gobo sings about his in "Once Upon a Time (I Knew My Name)," and later in "The Me I Wanna Be."
- Lured into a Trap: Gobo makes Wembley's siren call to lure the Invisible Garboil into a hole in one of the Great Outer Maze's walls, which he seals with a boulder.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Fraggles in the Great Hall, and later Gobo's friends, when they realize the Invisible Garboil is loose.
- The Maze: The Great Outer Maze is a location that Fraggles avoid at all cost. Not only could they get lost forever in it, but there's a chance that they could disturb the Invisible Garboil.
- Meaningful Name: In the Great Outer Maze, Gobo asks for directions from Belching Boulder, a boulder that belches.
- Melancholy Musical Number: Gobo sings "Once Upon a Time (I Knew My Name)."
- Misery Poker: After trying to rescue Boober and Wembley from the Great Outer Maze—only to get lost in it himself, narrowly make it out, and then find out they hadn't entered the Maze in the first place—Gobo sulks in his room, more sure than ever that he wants to give up exploring. Red tells him, "Oh, come off it, Gobo. You're not the only one with problems, you know." Gobo responds by angrily singing "The Me I Wanna Be".Gobo: [singing] You tell me you got troubles, brother.
Let me tell you mine!
Take your crummy troubles, brother.
Hang 'em on the line! - Must Make Amends:
- After giving Wembley and Boober the wrong directions, Gobo goes to the Great Outer Maze to find them, not knowing that Wembley had noticed they were going the wrong way and had pointed himself and Boober in the right direction before they could enter the Great Outer Maze.
- Later, when Gobo realizes he's accidentally freed the Invisible Garboil, he walls it up in the Great Outer Maze.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Gobo is pretty hard on himself for giving Wembley and Boober the wrong directions.
- He also has this reaction when he realizes he's accidentally freed the Invisible Garboil.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Gobo's friends, in an effort to cheer him up, pretend that the Invisible Garboil is attacking, but he sees through their terrible performance. Later, when the Garboil is attacking for real, Gobo's friends run to his room to tell him. He doesn't believe a word of it... until a wind from the Garboil knocks him off his feet.Mokey: The Invisible Garboil's after us!
Boober: Yes! It'll flatten us all!
Gobo: Yeah. And I'm the Belching Boulder!
[Gobo laughs, then heads for the door.]
Red: No!
Boober: Gobo, don't!
[Gobo starts out the door. A blast of wind knocks him down.]
Gobo: [getting up] You guys are right! It is the Invisible Garboil!
Red: It's gonna get us all!
Gobo: Well, it'll have to get me first!
[Gobo, despite his friends' protests, marches out the door.] - Nervous Wreck: After arriving back home, Wembley and Boober sing "What If," stressing out about the terrible things that could have happened if they had wandered into the Great Outer Maze. Mokey and Red calm them down by reminding them that those things didn't happen and that they returned home safely.
- Non-Indicative Name: No mention is made of the Squeaky Cavern squeaking, unless the name is an indication of "squeaky clean." This cave is the only place where rock soap can be found.
- Oh, Crap!: Wembley and Boober, on realizing that they made it home safely, but Gobo's still out looking for them.
- Orphaned Set Up: Aunt Granny Fraggle starts to tell her radish joke to some Fraggles in the Great Hall but doesn't make it to the punchline before they're all blown away by the Invisible Garboil.Aunt Granny Fraggle: And then, you see, the Gorg put down the radish, and then he... well, let me see, what was it...? Oh, yes, he put down the radish, and then, just he was about to do some... WHOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
- Plot Parallel: In the North American episode, it has to do with Gobo and Doc both having identity crises. Doc, sick of having his ideas ridiculed by the scientific establishment, decides to forsake being an inventor for his original career choice: a barber.
- Security Cling: When Gobo starts to sing "The Me I Wanna Be," Wembley backs away from him and huddles against Mokey, who puts a hand on his shoulder.
- Shaky P.O.V. Cam: A few shots as the Garboil attacks are from its point of view.
- Someday This Will Come in Handy: Wembley demonstrates his siren wail for Gobo. It comes in handy later on, when Gobo makes it to lure the Invisible Garboil into a hole in one of the Great Outer Maze's walls, which he seals it up in.
- Squashed Flat: What Boober fears would have happened to himself and Wembley if they had disturbed the Garboil, as well as what they fear for Gobo.Boober: I wonder how you talk when you're flat?
- Unwanted Assistance: Gobo angrily refuses his friends' attempts to cheer him up.
- Wrong Assumption: Gobo thinks Wembley and Boober are lost in the Great Outer Maze. It turns out that Wembley had noticed they were heading toward the Maze and had pointed himself and Boober away before they could enter it.
