"Well, you don't see that every day."
Confident after doing an impossible stunt, Gobo goes out at night to collect a postcard from Uncle Traveling Matt. He plays ball with Sprocket for a bit before going back to the Rock. When the ball rolls into the Fraggle hole, Sprocket tries to go after it but gets stuck in the hole. Hearing Sprocket's cries for help, Gobo tries to push out him out, to no avail. He goes to the Gorgs' garden to get greaseberry leaves to loosen him. At the garden, though, he gets trapped in a birdcage.Wembley, having a nightmare about Gobo being eaten by Sprocket, wakes up to find Gobo missing. He wakes the others and they go to the hole, where they find Sprocket playing with Gobo's hat and come to the conclusion that Sprocket has eaten Gobo. Meanwhile, Gobo manages to get Ma to release him and give him some of her greaseberry butter. He returns to the hole, and together they all free Sprocket.
This episode contains examples of:
- An Aesop: Sometimes you have to trust what you fear most in order to achieve a greater good.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear whether the ship "La Gorgola" was a ship made by Gorgs, or if its name is just a coincidence. It's probably the latter, given that it would seem impossible for a Gorg ship to somehow end up in Outer Space.
- Anxiety Dreams: Wembley has a nightmare about Gobo getting eaten by Sprocket. He thinks this has happened for real when he sees Sprocket playing with Gobo's hat.
- Badass Boast: Gobo's song "I Knew I Was Good." Compare to Red's "Do It On My Own" from "Let the Water Run."
- Beware the Nice Ones: Wembley angrily attacks Sprocket when he thinks the dog has eaten Gobo. His friends pull him away, but afterwards praise him for his bravery.
- Birdcaged: Gobo gets trapped in one.
- Blues: Gobo's tearful song "Wise to Myself" fits this category, at least sonically if not in song structure.
- Break the Haughty: Gobo's inflating ego takes a pothole after he gets trapped in a cage.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The episode has two moments of Gobo speaking (or singing) to the viewer—at the end of his song "I Knew I Was Good," and in the Gorgs' garden: "When you've got the moves, you just can't lose."
- Burying a Substitute: The Fraggles discuss burying Gobo's hat when they think he's dead.Boober: I can see the gravestone now: "Here lies Gobo's hat."
Red: At least it will give us something to remember Gobo by! - Crocodile Tears: At first, Gobo's tears are genuine. But when he hears Ma saying she can't stand crying, he uses this to his advantage.
- Door Dumb: Uncle Matt walks into a closet full of brooms and mops, which he mistakes for meditating creatures. He decides to go away and not disturb them, but he can't open the door because he fails to notice that it's bolted (which had happened when a broom fell down and knocked the bolt into place). When asking a mop the way out and then yelling for help has no effect, he sees that the door is bolted. He unbolts it and walks out.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Ma's typical "Eeek... a FRAGGLE!" reaction when she realizes the one she heard crying is Gobo. Nevertheless, her motherly instincts dictate that she must console him, and she manages to overcome her disgust of Fraggles to give Gobo the help he needs.
- Everybody Cries: Gobo's friends cry when they think Sprocket has eaten him.
- Faint in Shock: Wembley does this after realizing he just punched Sprocket.
- Foreshadowing: Pointing toward the ultimate conclusion of the series, Gobo is forced to admit that a friendship with a big hairy beast from Outer Space just might be possible after all. Sprocket even licks Gobo's face out of gratitude after Gobo's song "Count on Me."
- Forgot to Mind Their Head: This time, it's Boober who bumps his head on a pipe.
- Good Samaritan: Gobo for Sprocket, and later Wembley, Mokey, Boober and Red by extension. In fact, this may be one of the more important episodes in terms of Character Development and leading up to the series' ultimate conclusion, given that it involves a Gorg (Ma) helping a Fraggle (Gobo) helping an Outer Space creature (Sprocket).
- Although it could be argued that Gobo's motives in helping Sprocket were self-serving at first (i.e. to get glory for himself and brag about his bravery, which he in fact does at first), but after his Break the Haughty moment, his reason for helping Sprocket is more altruistic.
- Also, Ma Gorg for Gobo—sort of. It takes him threatening to annoy her by crying some more to get her to help him.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Sprocket in the hole leading to the workshop.
- Ironic Juxtaposition: Gobo's friends mourn his apparent death but remark that he wouldn't want them to cry for him, because he never cried (which doesn't stop them from crying anyway). Cut to Gobo's ploy to annoy Ma into setting him free, which, although it involves Crocodile Tears, comes shortly after he sheds actual tears over his predicament.
- Let Me at Him!: Wembley says this when his friends pull him away from Sprocket.
- Licked by the Dog: Gobo's song "Count on Me" ends with him being licked by Sprocket, having now earned the dog's trust.
- Pajama-Clad Hero: Mokey, Wembley, Red, and Boober are in their nightclothes during the second half of this episode.
- Plot Parallel: Doc gets his finger stuck in a ring, and Sprocket later gets stuck in the hole. Both their problems are solved with the use of greaseberry butter.Ma: This will do the trick. Some of my very own Gorg butter!
[Gobo takes a sniff of it, then makes a slight face.]
Gobo: Uh... looks great.
Ma: I used it when Junior got his finger stuck in the teapot spout.
Gobo: [brightening] Oh! Just what I need. - Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Seeing Sprocket playing with Gobo's hat, his friends think Sprocket has eaten him. They tearfully discuss burying Gobo's hat.
- Sniff Sniff Nom: Doc, petting Sprocket, gets greaseberry butter on his hand, which causes the ring to slip off. Curious, Doc sniffs the butter, then tastes it.Doc: Not bad, but it could use a little salt.
- Stuck in the Doorway: Sprocket in the hole leading to the workshop.
- Tastes Better Than It Looks: Gobo thinks the greaseberry butter looks—and smells—disgusting. Boober calls it "a little salty, but not bad."
- Torment by Annoyance: Gobo threatens to annoy Ma Gorg by crying—loud and hard—unless she releases him from the trap.
- Wild Hair: Red's hair, when it's unbound, is a massive mane, as wide as her shoulders and flowing halfway down her back.
- Wrong Assumption: Gobo's friends think Sprocket has eaten Gobo when they see him playing with Gobo's hat.
- You Monster!: Wembley, thinking Sprocket has eaten Gobo, says this just before pummeling him.Wembley: You... you monster! You ate my best friend!
