Ducks for Hire
Original air date: September 20, 2001
Ed, Oly, and Waddle are arguing over where to put the refrigerator and wind up dropping it out the window. It lands on another duck's scooter, destroying it and infuriating the biker. Ed, Oly, and Waddle take cover in Bill's apartment, but are seen by the biker, who gives the trio three days to pay for the damage "or else". Since they don't have jobs, and therefore a source of income, Bill agrees to help them find jobs.
Bill puts them to work first at Bev's café, then at another duck's food stand, then delivering papers. They fail each time, and when the biker affirms they've got one day left, they lose hope. Bill has one more opportunity available: they can help him paint a billboard for Mr. Quackenbush's opera.
The next day, Bill reiterates that Ed, Oly, and Waddle are to paint only the background of the billboard. Bill fears they'll ruin everything, but unexpectedly, they actually do the job right. He has them clean up while he goes to get Mr. Quackenbush to show him. While he's gone, Waddle bumps into Oly, who bumps into Waddle, causing the billboard to get a streak of unwanted paint across it. Ed and Oly fight using paint, ruining the billboard even more. Bill shows Mr. Quackenbush the billboard, and both are horrified to see the state it's in. While Quackenbush is chewing out Bill, a crowd gathers to see the spectacle, which Bill points out to Quackenbush, who takes credit for the "performance" and lets Bill off the hook… just as long as Ed, Oly, and Waddle stay put.
The biker comes by with his new scooter, demanding the money for it from Ed, Oly, and Waddle. The latter duck knocks several cans of paint onto it, ruining it again. The biker is still at the billboard that night, waiting for the trio to come down from it.
"Ducks for Hire" contains examples of:
- Agony of the Feet: The fridge briefly hurts Waddle's foot.
- All Part of the Show: The residents of Ducktown think Ed, Oly, and Waddle spraying each other and the billboard with paint was the performance Mr. Quackenbush intended, and applaud.
- Bookends: The episode begins with Ed, Oly, and Waddle accidentally destroying a biker's scooter, and at the end, when the biker buys a new scooter, the three ducks accidentally destroy that one, too. The biker even screams a Big "NO!" in both instances.
- Failure Montage: There's one that shows Ed, Oly, and Waddle screwing up the various jobs they try to take on.
- Insane Troll Logic:Bill: Lemme guess, you wrecked his scooter.Oly: Hey, his scooter wrecked our fridge!
Ed: Yeah! What about our loss? - Hope Spot: Ed, Oly, and Waddle manage to help Bill paint the billboard without a hitch. However, after he leaves to get Mr. Quackenbush, the three brothers ruin everything when they get into a paint fight, making the billboard a big mess. Fortunately, everyone watching below mistakenly it’s a live performance Mr. Quackenbush set up.
- Ironic Echo: Bill tells Ed, Oly, and Waddle's employers, "You won't be sorry", only for the three slackers to mess up the jobs they're given. Later, when Bill offers them the chance to help paint a billboard, Waddle tells him, "You won't be sorry!", after which Bill begins to regret his offer.
- Offscreen Crash: When Bill sees Waddle carrying a very tall stack of paint cans, he looks away and declares, "I can't watch!" A crashing sound is then heard. When he looks up, the paint cans are still in a stack, and he then sees that the sound came from a truck hitting a dumpster.
- Ow, My Body Part!: Waddle says, "Ow, my foot" while he, Oly, and Ed are having a dispute over where to put the fridge.
- Rule of Three: Ed, Oly, and Waddle work at Bev's café, then at a food stand, then delivering newspapers. Bill tells the employer, "You won't be sorry" each time, on the third time sounding hesitant rather than confident.
- Saved by a Terrible Performance: At first, Mr. Quackenbush snaps at Bill over Ed, Oly, and Waddle ruining the billboard. But when the crowd is shown to enjoy the "live performance", he says as long as they stay up there, they have jobs.
- The Scottish Trope: When Bill says "jobs" and "employment" to Ed, Oly, and Waddle, they have difficulty understanding what he's talking about. When he says "work", they scream and Ed and Oly run away while Waddle scolds Bill, "You said the bad word!"
- Your Size May Vary: Inside the apartment, the fridge Ed, Oly, and Waddle are fighting over is too big to fit through the window. Shortly after, it can be seen coming out of the window, and has been made smaller to fit.
Hic Hic Hooray
Original air date: September 20, 2001
Bill is getting his apartment ready for the game of Squaddo he'll be having with relatives tonight. When Aunt Rose talks to him on the phone, however, she informs him Cousin Fielding can't make it, and they need a fifth person in order to play the game. Aldo walks in and overhears the conversation and becomes excited to play a game. Aldo accepts the invitation from Aunt Rose, but Bill isn't enthralled about the idea, since his relatives don't know he's an alligator. To make the best of the situation, Bill makes Aldo wear a duck mask for the tournament.
When Aldo has difficulty learning the rules, Bill panics even further. It gets even worse; Aldo experiences a case of the "giccups" (that is, long and extremely loud and forceful burps) from the fried tadpole buttocks he's been eating. Not wanting Aldo's already-flimsy cover blown, Bill resolves to get the giccups to stop.
Bill takes Aldo to Bev for advice. She suggests hanging Aldo upside down and feeding him a drink of swamp water with dried moss and beetle larvae. It seems to work… but then he lets out another huge burp, causing him to fall down from the ceiling. The next person they go to is Claire, who has Aldo hop on one foot while saying, "Hick, hack, quack, giccups go back", but this just culminates in some smashed plates. Cecil tries popping a balloon to startle a blindfolded Aldo into losing the giccups, but this doesn't work either.
While Aldo and Bill are commiserating later, however, it seems Aldo's giccups have finally gone away, meaning Squaddo can go ahead. At the tournament, Bill's relatives are not only fooled by Aldo's disguise but take a liking to him. All seems well… until it turns out that they've been feeding him fried food, causing his giccups to resurface. Bill convinces his family that these are just platypus hiccups, and they try to scare the hiccups out of Aldo. This fails, but he shrieks in fear at the sight of a spider, causing him to stumble backwards and out of the window. The ducks try to pull him back up, but he falls. Fortunately, the fall is not at all long, meaning he, as well as the ducks when they too fall, are unharmed.
Aldo's mask abruptly falls off, terrifying Bill's family. Bill admits Aldo is his best friend, and Aldo is allowed to keep playing with them. They're visibly terrified of him, though he's oblivious while Bill sits there in annoyance at the situation.
"Hic Hic Hooray" contains examples of:
- Aside Glance: Bill looks into the camera in dismay while it zooms into his face at the end of the episode.
- Ass Shove: Implied to be feared by Aldo when Dr. Cecil takes out a hose. Thankfully, Cecil just uses it to blow up a balloon and then pop it.
- Calvinball: It's not clear how Squaddo works.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Literally. Fred, the melancholy penguin immigrant, makes such in this episode, then makes his proper introduction in the episode following, "Fred's Meltdown".
- Faint in Shock: The reaction Bill's family have to Aldo offering to invite them for dinner, thinking he means they'll be the food.
- Hiccup Hijinks: Aldo catches a case of ‘’giccups’’ after he eats fried tadpole buttocks. The giccups, in question, are merely burps, but cause the entire town to shake. Bev, Claire, and Cecil all conjure up solutions via drinking upside down, jumping and crossing his eyes, and popping a balloon respectively, but ultimately fail in the end.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs:Oly: What do you take us for? We weren't hatched yesterday.
- Hope Spot: It seems like hanging upside down and drinking something from Bev has cured Aldo's giccups, but then they come back.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Aldo comments, "You know, I think they're really warmin' up to me!" (and then burps) about Bill's family… after they have just fainted from thinking he intends to eat them. Bill just stares into the camera, fatigued.
- Human Ladder: When Aldo falls out the window, Bill and his family form a Duck Ladder to try and pull him back up. They all fall to the ground outside, but are fine.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Ed doesn't believe the earthquake that just occurred could have been the result of Aldo's giccups, but then learns that's exactly it.Ed: There's no way all that could have been caused by a simple case of—(Aldo releases a long burp, during which Ed grabs the table)
Ed: …giccups. - Invited as Dinner: Inverted; Aldo sincerely offers to invite Bill's family to his place sometime to feed them. His cheerful, "I'd love to have you all for dinner!" now that they know he's an alligator causes them all to faint.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: In order to pose as a duck, Aldo puts a mask over the top half of his head. Bill's main concern is not how little Aldo is disguised, but rather that Aldo's "giccups" (gator hiccups) will blow his cover. And until his mask abruptly falls off, it actually fools Bill's family.
- Rule of Three: To try and cure Aldo's giccups, he and Bill go to Bev, then to Claire, then to Cecil.
