By the Solemn Oath of the Fraggle.
Believing the Fraggles are taking advantage of the Doozers, Mokey makes Gobo, Red, Wembley, and Boober swear never to eat the latter's constructions ever again. This results in the Rock being overcrowded with constructions. Mokey's friends beg her to release them from their oath, but she instead enlists the help of Convincing John, a Fraggle who can convince anyone of anything.His convincing works, and all the rest of the Fraggles take the oath. But the Rock becomes more crowded with Doozer constructions than ever. When the other Fraggles demand that Mokey release them from the oath, she seeks out the Doozers, thinking they'll appreciate her efforts—only to find that they are as unhappy with the situation as the Fraggles are, as they need the constructions to be eaten so they'll have room to build more. Since there is no more room left, they must move on or die. Mokey finally understands and releases the Fraggles from the oath.
The Tropification of Convincing John:
- An Aesop: Before you try to help others, make sure that they need help.
- Balloon Belly: When Mokey lifts the the Solemn Fraggle Oath, and the Fraggles can eat Doozer constructions again, there are so many throughout Fraggle Rock, it results in everybody having one, along with a huge stomachache. Mokey concludes in her diary that she learned that day that there is such a thing as eating too many Doozer constructions.
- Big "NEVER!": Mokey gives one of these when one of the older Fraggles tells her to release them from the oath.
- Bindle Stick: Mokey goes to find the Doozers, thinking they'll appreciate her efforts more than the other Fraggles did. Over her shoulder, she carries a stick with a cloth-wrapped bundle tied to one end.
- Can't See a Damn Thing: Mokey drags Red along with her to ask Convincing John to get Fraggles to stop eating Doozer buildings. On the way back, Red keeps walking into walls, thanks to John having convinced her that wearing a blindfold is the only way to live.[Convincing John is waiting for Mokey to introduce him.]
Mokey: Red, go introduce me.
Red: Oh, yeah.
Mokey: Go on. Go.
[Red feels her way to the podium, gets behind it, then takes a wrong step and falls down.]
Mokey: [exasperated] I'm gonna have to do it myself. [Goes up to the podium.] - Captain's Log: Mokey narrates the episode while recounting the events in her diary.
- Characterization Marches On: Mokey respects Doozers enough to act as a Soapbox Sadie for their rights, when just two episodes before, in "You Can't Do That Without a Hat", she was banging them on the heads with Doc's stave shaver to make music.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Remembering their promise not to eat Doozer constructions isn't easy for Mokey's friends, especially since the Doozers keep building more.[Gobo and Wembley, who have gone three days without Doozer constructions, begin eating a tower.]
Mokey: [pulling Wembley off] What are you two doing?
Gobo: Oh... uh, sorry. I forgot.
Wembley: I forgot with him. - Comically Missing the Point: Doc is completely absorbed in his latest project: figuring out how to sew a button to a fried egg. Meanwhile, a hungry Sprocket is trying to get his attention by showing him his dog dish, then a can of dog food, then a can opener.Doc: [looking up from his drawing board] Don't be absurd, Sprocket. You can't sew a button on a fried egg with a can opener.
- Community-Threatening Construction: The Doozers' buildings become this after everyone swears off eating them.Boober: Hey, Gobo, couldn't we interfere just a little bit?
Gobo: I wish we could. They just built my guitar into an overpass.
Boober: You think that's bad? My washtub is full of Doozer constructions. Laundry as we know it is a thing of the past. - Company Cross References: When Gobo first enters, he says Kermit the Frog's catchphrase, "Hi-ho!"
- Crowd Surfing: After singing his song, Convincing John falls backward into a crowd of Fraggles, who lift him up.
- Didn't Think This Through: Mokey makes her friends, later every Fraggle in the Rock, swear off eating Doozer constructions, because she believes eating them hurts the Doozers' feelings. But she never thinks to get the Doozers' opinion of building-eating first.
- Dragged by the Collar: Mokey, when going to see Convincing John, takes Red's hand and drags her along.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Mokey believes the Doozers are hurt by their constructions being eaten, not realizing that they need them to be eaten so there will be room to build more.
- The Dreaded: Convincing John is treated as this. Red calls him "the type of Fraggle nobody goes to see."
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Mokey takes this attitude when one of the other Fraggles calls a meeting, not to thank her for saving Doozer buildings from being eaten, but to demand that she release them from the Solemn Oath.Mokey: [voiceover] Well, dear diary, I was so angry. I had worked hard to do the right thing, and nobody appreciated me.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: During his first song, Convincing John uses the term "human being", despite it being established later that the Fraggles refer to humans as "silly creatures" (well, at least Traveling Matt, the only Fraggle to have ever actually seen a human, calls them that).
- Easy Evangelism: Convincing John is extremely good at this. Within minutes of listening to him, every Fraggle in the Rock has taken the Solemn Oath of the Fraggle to never eat another Doozer building.
- Eating Solves Everything: The Doozers' problem of having to move on or die is solved when they hear the Fraggles eating the constructions, after Mokey has released them from the Solemn Oath.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Uncle Matt sees a construction crew at work on the skeleton of a building and thinks they're Doozers. When a whistle blows and the workers leave, he decides to have a feast.Uncle Matt: [voiceover] But then I learned something else about this world. [He tries to bite through one of the bars, then bounces off, vibrating.] The food is terrible!
- Exercise Excuse: Mokey uses this when following Gobo and Wembley to make sure they don't eat Doozer buildings.Gobo: Mokey, you don't have to follow us. Wembley and I are just going up to the First Room to get my Uncle Traveling Matt's mail.
Wembley: Yeah, me and Gobo always do that.
Mokey: Oh, it's okay. I just came along for the exercise.
Gobo: You just came along because you know the Doozers built a big construction up here yesterday. - Forgot to Mind Their Head: Wembley bumps his head on the pipe again.
- The Gadfly: Convincing John is not above convincing random Fraggles to walk around blindfolded or wear plastic cups as gloves, purely for laughs.[Red and Mokey are on their way back from seeing Convincing John.]
Mokey: What a nice man he is. You can sort of see why they call him Convincing John.
Red: Well, he convinced you to wear plastic cups on your hands.
Mokey: Well, he made me see what a sensible idea it was. Besides, how would you know? You're wearing a blindfold.
Red: Well, of course. Convincing John told me that it was the only...
[She bumps into a stalagmite]
Red: ... only way to live. - Group Hug: Mokey's friends, after swearing off eating Doozer buildings, grudgingly share one with her, and she gives them a Forceful Kiss or two.Boober: Yuck.
- Heartfelt Apology: Mokey makes one to all of the other Fraggles before releasing them from the oath.Mokey: Um... I... I thought I understood Doozers, but... I didn't, and I was wrong. And... well... I'm sorry.
- High-Class Gloves: Convincing John always sports a pair of short white gloves. He even wears a bejeweled pinky ring over the left one.
- Insane Troll Logic: How Convincing John gets the Fraggles to stop eating Doozer buildings.Convincing John: [singing] Well, you eat a Doozer tower,
And it's as pretty as a flower,
And a flower's what you pick up in a field.
But the field can have a hole,
And you can fall in while you stroll,
And then a Gorg can come along to find a meal.
And he can pack you in a sack,
And you can try to scramble back,
But then you'll never, ever, ever get free,
'Cause every time you eat a tower, you'll be shut up for eternity! - Instantly Proven Wrong: When Mokey tells her friends that they should stop eating Doozer buildings...Red: Mokey, you are silly. There is no way you could make us stop eating Doozer constructions.
Mokey: I could always call for the Solemn Oath of the Fraggle. - Ironic Echo: When the other Fraggles demand that Mokey release from the oath, she accuses them of being heartless. Later, Mokey overhears a Doozer telling her daughter that the Fraggles, in refusing to eat the constructions, have become heartless.
- Just in Time: When Mokey realizes her mistake as the Doozers are leaving, she manages to undo her mistake while the Doozers are still in earshot, and they are convinced to stay.
- Lovely Assistants: Convincing John's trio of female backup singers, the Fragglettes, who all wear identical sequin-covered gowns, with headpieces to match. They accompany John almost everywhere and let Mokey know when to introduce him.Mokey: Uh, Mr. John? Yoo-hoo, Mr. John? Are you ready?
Lavender Fragglette: He'll be ready. Just get started. - Manipulative Bastard: Convincing John can convince anyone to do anything. As bastards go, however, he's a fairly harmless one.
- The Meaning of Life: Mokey ponders this in the song "Why?"Mokey: [singing] Why do caterpillars crawl?
Why is there a sky?
Why is there a world at all?
And why do I ask why? - Must Make Amends: After realizing her mistake, Mokey admits it to the other Fraggles and releases them from their oath not to eat Doozer buildings.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Mokey, when she realizes that she was wrong about the Doozers' constructions and that, if the buildings remain uneaten, the Doozers must move on or die.
- Obsessed with Food: Or, rather, with Doozer buildings. Gobo and Wembley start to become this after Mokey makes them swear off eating them.Gobo: Aww, let me just nibble on the bridge. It's been three days, and all I've had to eat is food.
- The Only One: Since Mokey was the one who called for the Solemn Oath, only she can release the others from it.
- Pinky Swear: The Solemn Fraggle Oath: "Weeba weeba, waffa waffa, garpox gumbage, whoopee!" Mokey, with help from Convincing John, makes every Fraggle take this so that no Fraggle can eat Doozer constructions anymore.
- Releasing from the Promise: After learning that the Doozers need to have their constructions eaten, Mokey releases the Fraggles from their oath not to eat Doozer buildings.
- Sarcasm Mode: Boober goes into this when the Fraggle Horn sounds, after the Doozer constructions have taken over the Rock.Gobo: Hey, it's the Fraggle Horn! Someone's calling a meeting.
Boober: Oh, I wonder what it could be about? - Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted when Mokey calls for the Solemn Oath of the Fraggle. The others start to leave, but Mokey calls them back and makes them take the oath.
- Soapbox Sadie: Mokey, who wants to keep Doozer buildings from being eaten. Her well-meaning attempt to help the Doozers backfires.
- Starting a New Life: Convincing John convinces all the Fraggles not to eat Doozer buildings, but they soon beg Mokey to release from their oath. Instead, Mokey goes to find the Doozers, thinking they'll appreciate what she's done, and overhears a conversation between a Doozer and her daughter.[Mokey, carrying a Bindle Stick, stops short on hearing a crying baby Doozer, who is being rocked by the mother. Sitting next to them is another Doozer, a little girl.]
Daughter Doozer: But, Mommy, I don't want to leave.
Mother Doozer: None of us do, dear. But Doozers have to build, and soon there'll be no more space left in Fraggle Rock.
Daughter Doozer: But why, Mommy Doozer?
Mother Doozer: No one knows. The Fraggles have become heartless. If they will not eat the constructions, we must move on, or we will die.
Mokey: [voiceover] So, for the first time, I understood.
[The father Doozer, also carrying a Bindle Stick, walks up to his family.]
Father Doozer: Well, time to go. Say goodbye to Fraggle Rock. [Sadly walks off.]
[The mother and daughter deeply sigh.] - Sting: One is heard right after Mokey announces her intention to get the help of Convincing John.
- Unwanted Assistance: Mokey makes her friends, later every Fraggle in the Rock, promise never to eat Doozer constructions, because she believes the Doozers are upset by their constructions being eaten. The Fraggles are unhappy about this because they love eating Doozer constructions and because the uneaten ones are overcrowding the Rock, but Mokey brushes off their complaints in favor of the Doozers. She later discovers that the Doozers like having their buildings eaten so they'll have more space to build. If they run out of room, they must move somewhere else or die.
- Verbal Backspace: Mokey does this as she's about to ask the other Fraggles to join her in applauding Convincing John, due to his having convinced her to wear plastic cups on her hands.Mokey: My fellow Fraggles, today I bring to you a Fraggle with a message for the world. A message that I believe, in all modesty, is a great one. Please join me in a warm round of applause for...
[She starts to clap, then looks at her hands and lowers them.]
Mokey: ...in a warm cheer for Convincing John! - Voiceover Letter: The episode uses this for its frame story (although it's Mokey's diary, not a letter).
- Whole Episode Flashback: The episode is about an event that happened a few days ago. Mokey records it in her diary.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Wembley and Gobo discuss this after Mokey announces her intention to get the help of Convincing John.Wembley: She... she wouldn't really get Convincing John, would she?
Gobo: No. Nobody'd do a thing like that... I think. - Word, Schmord!: Mokey and one of the older Fraggles have an argument containing this.Old Fraggle: I have called this meeting because of Miss Mokey Fraggle.
Mokey: Oh, thank you!
Old Fraggle: Thank you, schmank you! You've made a mess of things here today. Now, admit it and release us from this Solemn Oath!
[Loud agreement from the other Fraggles.]
Mokey: Never! You are all just heartless. You don't understand. I'm the only one that truly cares about the happiness of the Doozers.
Old Fraggle: Doozers, schmoozers! What about Fraggles?
Mokey: Well, Fraggles, schmaggles! [The assembled Fraggles gasp.] And if you don't appreciate me, I'll just go find someone who does. [Walks off.] - Wrong Assumption:
- Mokey assumes that the Doozers are hurt when their constructions are eaten, even though she hasn't heard any of them say how they feel about it. Later, after the Rock is overcrowded with Doozer towers, Mokey overhears one of them say that if the buildings remain uneaten, they must move on or die.
- When a meeting is called, Mokey thinks that it could be to thank her. This turns out not to be the case.
- The X of Y: The episode's title.
- You're Insane!: When Mokey tells her friends that they should stop eating Doozer constructions...Boober: What has happened to Mokey?
Gobo: Oh, the plug came out, and her brain drained away. - Zombie Advocate: Mokey, trying to help the Doozers by making the Fraggles swear off eating the constructions.
