Having just passed the 100th episode milestone for Kids Incorporated; we now arrive at episode 101, where the kids learn of a toy drive to help a local orphanage; while Robin - in the first episode where the band’s youngest member takes primary focus - imagines herself in a story of a ballerina and toy soldiernote in the final “Cast of Thousands” episode (referring to the labelnote of episodes from the first four Disney Channel seasons that often featured lighter plot lines and appearances of producers Thomas W. Lynch and Gary Biller and each man’s small children)
We open with “True Love is Hard to Find”. Following the song, Flip tells the kids about an upcoming toy drive for a local orphanage. As he does so; Robin happens to be reading a book about a ballerina and a toy soldier (sparking a “Da-na-na-na” riff by Flip on love and some ribbing from the boys - with Robin clearly not amused {responding to Kenny and Richie’s ribbing by answering “Oh, get out of here”) before the kids return to the stage (“Symptoms of True Love”).
With their set finished, presumably for the day, four of the kids go off in different directions (Stacy and Devyn en route to The Mall; Kenny and Richie to see “The Creature That Ate Detroit”), with Robin staying around to finish reading the story, eventually imagining herself as a toy ballerina in a toy store where the toys come to life at closing time. As the toy ballerina is apparently a newcomer to the toy store, the other toys attempt to point out she might be here for a while (“weeks, months, even years”). However, a toy soldier - smitten by the ballerina - invites the ballerina to dance (“I Still Believe”). However, morning breaks soon after (and thus the toys revert to their inanimate state); but not before the soldier promised another dance that night.
However, a customer purchases the ballerina; and the love-struck toy soldier enlists the others to help find her (“Soldier of Love”), and upon finding the address of the customer march toward the house; where the soldier tries to convince his beloved to return. However, the ballerina emphasizes her responsibility of making a child happy, causing the two to reluctantly bid adieu. End Imagine Spot.
Back in the P*lace breakroom (with Robin still imagining she’s kissing the window of the house); we see the guys return from the movie, briefly resuming their wisecracks. The girls soon follow, and Devyn and Stacy had a gift for Robin: a toy soldier, setting up closing number “Waiting for a Star to Fall”.
Songs performed in this episode:
- “True Love is Hard to Find” (Kids Incorporated original; lead vocals by Stacy)
- “Symptoms of True Love” (Tracie Spencer cover; lead vocals by Devyn and Robin)
- “I Still Believe” (Brenda K. Starr cover; lead vocals by Robin)
- “Soldier of Love” (Donny Osmond cover; lead vocals by Richie and Kenny)
- “Waiting for a Star to Fall” (Boy Meets Girl covernote ; lead vocals by Devyn and Kenny)
Tropes associated with this episode:
- A Day in the Limelight: Joseph Conrad being cast as the toy soldier marks perhaps the biggest role played for one of the dancers since Wendy Brainard got the opportunity to perform guest vocals on two songs during Season 1’s “She’s So Shy”.
- Imagine Spot: Second consecutive episode where most of the action takes place in a character’s imagination.
- Living Toys: Like ‘’The Steadfast Tin Soldier’’ which the script appears to be at least partially based on; the toys come to life once the toy store closes.
- Loved I Not Honor More: The ending of the story where the ballerina explains she couldn’t come back because she had a job to do: making a child happy.
- Recycled Premise: Parts of the plot appear similar to Season 2’s “Ryan, Ryan, P.I.”; complete with the newest member of the band being engrossed in a book and two male characters wanting to go watch a low-budget horror movie.
- Storybook Episode: One that appears to be at least partly based on an original story
- Unabashed B-Movie Fan: Richie and Kenny were interested in seeing “The Creature That Ate Detroit”.
Characters in the story of the Ballerina and the Toy Soldier:
- Robin: Ballerina
- Joseph Conrad: Toy soldier
- Stacy: Raggedy Ann
- Kenny: Willy Silly Billy
- Devyn: White Rabbit
- Richie: Billy Silly Willy
- What roles the other dancers may have had is unclear; though at the end of “Soldier of Love” we see Thomas W. Lynch’s sons, Brendan, Ryan and Thomas III as some of the other toys.
