Recap / The Fairly OddParents S1 E2 "Power Mad"

Original air date: 3/30/2001 (produced in 2000)

Episode number: 1b

Timmy wishes for a video game that's more of a challenge, and ends up getting trapped in there along with his friends, Chester and AJ. Meanwhile, Vicky is trying to plug in as many electric appliances as possible, risking a power outage that could trap the three in the game forever, so Cosmo and Wanda distract her with a series of fake TV programs.

This episodes contains examples of:

• 1-Up: Timmy posthumously earns enough points to earn one which brings him back to life after sacrificing himself to save Chester and AJ.
• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: During a Shout-Out to The Matrix.
• And You Thought It Was a Game: Chester and AJ remain oblivious that they're in a deadly game, thinking it's all fun. Unlike most examples, they never learn the truth.
• Big "NO!": The Vicky Bot's last words upon being defeated.
• Black Dude Dies First: After Chester and AJ enter the game, the latter is the first to lose a life.
• Close Up On Head: When Timmy, Chester and AJ enter the final level and end up in the Turners' living room, we get close-ups of their faces before a pull-out reveals Timmy still has his helmet on, and the game's not yet over.
• Cyber Green: The virtual reality game that Timmy, Chester, and AJ play features a bright green interface with a stereotypical computer font; the opening level is additionally vivid green and littered with bright green Tron Lines.
• Disney Death: After Timmy sacrifices himself, he gets enough points for an extra life.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Cosmo and Wanda need to use human electricity to power their wands for an especially complicated wish. In any other episode after this one, they draw their power from the tower in Fairy World.
  • If Timmy, Chester or AJ lose all their lives in the video game world, they would die for good. Later episodes would establish that fairy magic can't be used to kill/seriously harm someone.
• Exact Words: Invoked by Cosmo when Timmy tries wishing Chester and AJ out of the game.
  Cosmo: You can't! (changes his head into Timmy's) Quote: "I wish for a video game that's challenging! A game that you can't wish yourself out of!" Unquote.
• Hamster-Wheel Power: Cosmo eventually transforms into a hamster and runs on a treadmill to keep the game going. When he enters the game after Timmy touches a Cosmo coin, Wanda takes over.
  Wanda: (Wearing jogging clothes) This will be great for my glutes!
• Heroic Sacrifice: Timmy sacrifices himself against the Final Boss. Luckily, it doesn't stick.
• I'm Melting!: Happens to the Vicky Bot when apparitions of Mom and Dad tell her it's time to leave.
• Literal Genie: Timmy wishes for a game that's "challenging, that I can't wish myself out of." Cosmo and Wanda do that, meaning he can't just wish Chester and AJ out of the game.
  Timmy: You two don't do anything half way, do you?
  Cosmo: Nope. We're two halves of a whole idiot!
• Me's a Crowd: In one of Cosmo and Wanda's shows, Wanda pretends to be a talk show host with various Wanda clones making up her audience.
• Mood Whiplash: One of Cosmo and Wanda's shows is Cosmo in a Frank Sinatra Expy being introduced suave and smoothly, before suddenly lapsing into a famous children's song.
• The Most Dangerous Video Game: The game Timmy wishes for turns out to be lethal.
• Power Outage Plot: Timmy wishes for an intense video game that one can't wish themselves out of. Timmy finds out that Chester and AJ have gone into the game, and if either the game is turned off while they're inside it or they lose their three lives, they'll disappear forever. What's worse is that the game uses up so much electricity that anything that Vicky plugs in will cause a blackout and turn the game off. While Timmy goes into the game to rescue Chester and AJ, Cosmo and Wanda do their best to keep Vicky from using up any more power. They first take over the downstairs television with their own television shows, then when Cosmo runs out of ideas for those, he powers the game with a treadmill that he runs on like a hamster.
• Sealed with a Kiss: Cosmo and Wanda share a kiss in their fishbowl as the episode ends.
• Shout-Out:
  • At the beginning, Timmy parodies The Matrix famous bullet dodging scene.
  • The basic premise of being in a video game is reminiscent of TRON, and the costumes Timmy, Chester and AJ wear when in said game resemble the ones from the movie.
  • When distracting Vicky, Cosmo and Wanda recreate I Love Lucy and Seinfeld.
• Single-Attempt Game: In the game, if you lose all your lives or if the power goes out while you're still inside, you disappear forever.
• Smart Ball: Cosmo, who first came up with the idea to distract Vicky by pretending to be television programs, and then when they run out of program ideas, he comes up with the idea to keep game's power going manually. It's even mentioned In-Universe when Wanda writes that it was a brilliant day for Cosmo.
• Unexplained Recovery: At the end, Vicky gets trapped in the game, and we hear her lose three lives. Despite this, she's alive and well in the next episode.
• Win to Exit: The game Timmy wishes for. Bizarrely, he specifically asked for "a game you can't wish yourself out of," for no apparent reason other than so this trope could happen (the concept of wishing oneself out of a video game being utterly meaningless in any other context). While it was possible for a player to quit the game by removing the helmet, this never unfolded. Chester and AJ didn't take Timmy's warnings seriously, and Timmy didn't want to abandon them.

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