"He must have shrunk in the laundry."
After a radish explodes out of a pot and gives him a bonk on the head, Boober gets amnesia. His friends try to help him remember who he is by taking him to the entrance to the Gorgs' garden. Pa and Ma, who believe an evil sorcerer was passing by, panic when they can't find Junior, assuming the sorcerer has transformed him. Overhearing their conversation, Boober comes to the conclusion that he's a Gorg and goes out to Pa and Ma, who think he's Junior.His friends return to the garden, planning to capture him and bring him back to the Rock. Boober, overhearing them, thinks they're going to steal radishes and makes a counter-plan. When the others catch him, he pretends to remember them and tells them to wait a minute while he gets a radish. On Boober's signal, the Gorgs drop a cage on his friends, and he and the Gorgs decide to thump them. Before he can open the cage, Boober stresses out and collapses, then recovers and remembers everything. Junior, who had fallen asleep on the roof while dusting the parapets, appears at last. Boober frees his friends, and the Fraggles make their way home, joking about the adventure.
This episode contains examples of:
- Amnesiac Dissonance: After the other Fraggles are captured, Boober decides to open the cage so that Pa and Ma can thump them. Before he can open it, he stresses out and collapses. When he wakes up, he remembers that the other Fraggles are his friends and helps them escape.
- Amnesia Episode: Boober gets amnesia when a radish explodes out of a pot and hits him on the head.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Invoked. When Boober's friends, in an effort to help him remember who he is, mention stewpots while singing "I'm a Little Fraggle," Boober changes it to "I'm a Little Stewpot."Boober: [singing] I'm a little stewpot...
Wembley: What?
Red: Uh-oh...
Boober: [singing] Laundry is my name. - Bait-and-Switch:
- When the Fraggles take Boober to the entrance to the Gorgs' garden in hopes that it will bring his memory back:Gobo: Gorgs take care of radishes, remember?
Boober: And that can mean only one thing!
Everyone else: Yeah?
Boober: I should have known this!
Everyone else: Yeah?
Boober: I'm a Gorg! - Boober leads his friends to think he remembers them and is going to go home, then signals to the Gorgs to drop the cage on them.Boober: [to the caged Fraggles] Don't you know a Gorg when you see one?
- When the Fraggles take Boober to the entrance to the Gorgs' garden in hopes that it will bring his memory back:
- Beauty to Beast: Pa thinks an evil sorcerer may have done this to Junior.Ma: [bawling] Junior! My baby!
Pa: I have scanned the ramparts, but our son and heir to the throne hath vanished.
Ma: [aghast] What would a sorcerer do to him?
Pa: Why, a sorcerer might... might have changed Junior into a... a horrible creature!
Ma: Oh! You mean my gorgeous son is now... ugly? Ohhhhh! [Cries harder.] - Becoming the Mask: Sprocket reluctantly pretends to be a cat in an effort to cheer up Shimmelfinney when Fluffinella is at the vet's. But by the time he gets home, he thinks he is a cat. Doc manages to snap him out of it when he feeds him cat food, but Sprocket, out of habit, lets out another meow.
- Children Do the Housework: Downplayed. Ma is seen doing the laundry and cooking, but both she and Pa make Boober tend the garden and clean the castle, just as they've always done to the real Junior.Pa: Now, while I contemplate my next royal decree, why don't you see if your mother needs any help?
[Boober heads off toward the castle, groaning.]
Boober: Brother, oh brother, oh brother! This being a Gorg is hard work. - Continuity Nod:
- The song "I'm a Little Stewpot" uses the same tune as "Remembering Song," from the episode "Boober Rock." Both songs are intended to help Boober get through amnesia, and both end up failing to keep his memories.
- Junior had fallen asleep on the roof while dusting the parapets. "The Battle of Leaking Roof" has stated that Junior isn't afraid of heights.
- Cooking Stories: Boober has invented a new way to cook radishes. While Wembley is stoking the fuel, the lid blows off the pot—and a radish explodes out of it, hitting Boober on the head and giving him amnesia.
- Crisis Catch-and-Carry: Subverted. When Boober's friends catch him in a net and try to carry him back to the Rock, he pretends to remember them, and they let him go.
- Curse: Pa and Ma believe this has happened to Junior, and they assume Boober is him.
- Defends Against Their Own Kind: Boober is determined to keep the radishes from being stolen by the Fraggles, not realizing that he's a Fraggle.
- Easy Amnesia: Boober gets amnesia from being hit on the head with an exploding radish. He quickly remembers who he really is at the end.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The Fraggles all laugh after Boober tells them he's kidding about having gotten amnesia again.
- Fainting: Boober loses consciousness when the radish hits him. When he comes to, he has amnesia.
- Faint in Shock: Ma does this when she sees Boober, thinking it's Junior and that an evil sorcerer has turned him into a Fraggle.
- Faking Amnesia: At the end of the episode, Boober falls, then pretends to have amnesia again. When he tells them he's kidding, they all laugh, including Boober.
- Great Big Book of Everything: The Encyclopedia of Gorgish Myth and Wisdom. Pa tells Ma that this book says it's the day an evil sorcerer is meant to reappear in the neighborhood.
- Gut Feeling: At first, Ma doesn't believe that the evil sorcerer exists. But when Pa returns home and says that Junior wasn't by the swamp, Ma has a horrible feeling that something has happened to him. Subverted when it turns out he had fallen asleep on the roof.Ma: Well, it's about time you got home. Did you find your silly sorcerer?
Pa: No, but he can't elude the Ruler of Fire and Air forever, by golly, by gum!
Ma: I don't believe the sorcerer even exists. Besides, Junior would take care of him. [There's a short Beat as she realizes what she's saying.] Where is Junior? Didn't you tell him to come home and help me?
Pa: Well, no. He wasn't by the swamp.
[Ma gasps and tosses away the laundry basket.]
Ma: Then something's happened to him! I can feel it! - "I Am Great!" Song: Pa and Ma sing "Gorgs in Glory" to Boober in order to explain that being a Gorg is the greatest thing there is.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: When Boober thinks he's a Gorg and goes out to meet Pa and Ma, Wembley ducks his head, exclaiming, "Oh, I can't stand to look!"
- Identity Amnesia: Boober, confusing his fear of Gorgs and fondness for radishes, thinks he's a Gorg.
- Layman's Terms:Red: Oh, no! That bump on the bean has given him amnesia.
Wembley: Yeah, and he doesn't remember anything either. - Lazy Husband: Pa lounges in the sun while Boober squeezes garlic juice for him and tends the garden.Pa: [as Boober brings him his juice] Ah, yes, Junior. Being the Prince of the Universe means guarding the ramparts, protecting the realm, and tilling the garden.
Boober: Not to mention making life easy for you.
Pa: [laughs] Dragon's breath, you catch on quick! - Lured into a Trap: This happens to Boober's friends when they try to bring him back to the Rock.
- Mistaken for Thief: When Boober overhears his friends' plan to bring him back to the Rock, he thinks they're plotting to steal radishes.
- Mistaken for Transformed: Pa and Ma think an evil sorcerer has turned Junior into a Fraggle. He was really up on the roof and had fallen asleep while dusting the parapets.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Boober, overhearing his friends planning to bring him back to the Rock, thinks they're plotting to steal radishes.Boober: This is more like it. Radishes are my life, and so is protecting them from those devious Fraggles! Why, they're probably planning something right now. Huh! No, they wouldn't dare. Huh!
Red: Where shall we do it?
[Boober stops in his tracks and listens from behind a rock.]
Wembley: Uh... uh... uh, well...
Gobo: In the radish patch!
[Enthusiastic yeses from the other Fraggles.]
Gobo: Let's go get our stuff!
Red: Right!
Wembley: Okay, stuff!
[Boober's friends run off.]
Boober: Yuck! I was wrong. It's a Fraggle invasion! Well, no Fraggle is gonna get this Gorg's radishes. - Product Placement: Averted. Boober is standing on an upper shelf of the Gorgs' pantry, admiring the condiments, then falls into a container of Kellogg's Honey Smacks. The name of the cereal is never seen or mentioned, though.Boober: Listen, is there a safer way to be Prince of the Universe?
- Shout-Out: To the book Mommie Dearest, by Christina Crawford. When the real Junior wakes up from his nap on the castle roof...Junior: Oh, hello, Daddy dear. Hi, Mommy dearest!
- Silly Song: "I'm a Little Fraggle" starts out serious, but it quickly becomes this when Boober changes it to "I'm a Little Stewpot."
- So Proud of You: After Boober's friends have been trapped...Pa: Look, Ma! Our son and heir hath captured a whole passel of Fraggles.
Ma: Oh, I'm just as proud of him now as when he looked like a... Gorg! [Cries.] - Supreme Chef: Boober saves Ma's beetleberry broth by suggesting she add pickled truffles to it.Ma: How creative! But risky. Adventures in eating! I'll just put in a pinch...
[She puts some in and takes a taste.]
Ma: Ohhh, delicious! Oh, Junior, I didn't know you could cook.
Boober: Huh. Neither did I. - Tap on the Head: Boober gets knocked out by an exploding radish. He does get Identity Amnesia, but other than that, he's fine.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Pa thinks this has happened to Boober (who he thinks is Junior) when Boober asks what a Fraggle is.Pa: Why, he's even dumber than he used to be! We're gonna have to teach you all over again.
- Visual Pun: During the song "I'm a Little Fraggle," Boober's friends sing, "And when I think back..." while momentarily turning their backs.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Boober, after regaining his memory, says this when Pa asks, "You mean you're not a Gorg?"Boober: You've got to be kidding! I'm a Fraggle.
