In "Fountain of Youth", Howard is feeling a bit insecure about his age. On a tip from Bollo, Vince and Howard Steal an amulet from Naboo, which was gifted to him by the King as part of his destiny as the Chosen One. Using the amulet, Vince and Howard travel to the planet Xooberon in search of the Fountain of Youth.
In the Desert of Nightmares on Xooberon, Howard and Vince are intercepted by a desert tribe who worship Vince as The Chosen One due to his possession of the amulet, but take Howard on as a slave. Vince faces his first test as the Chosen One when the tribe is faced with a deadly sandstorm. Vince placates the monster responsible by giving him a pair of gloves that allow him to release his sexual frustration, and returns to the tribe victorious. Jealous, Howard is convinced by a mysterious, beautiful woman to steal the amulet from Vince, only for her to turn out to be The Hitcher in disguise and run off with the amulet.
Vince and Howard are cast out from the tribe and left in the desert to die, but are fortunately rescued by Naboo and Bollo. Together, they accost The Hitcher at the Fountain of Youth, which turns out to be a bathroom. The Hitcher summons an evil tree, but Vince summons Sandstorm, who fights it off. Naboo defeats The Hitcher by flushing the toilet, turning the Fountain (or Shower) of Youth hot and melting The Hitcher, and the four return home.
The Mighty Boosh episode "Hitcher" contains these tropes:
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Evil Tree tries to use this argument to keep Sandstorm from attacking him, arguing that since Sandstorm is made of sandpaper, which comes from trees, the two are of the same nature and shouldn't fight. The argument doesn't work, and Sandstorm turns him into a table.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: The characters fly from the planet Xooberon to Earth on an open-air flying carpet. Kind of justified with Naboo who has shaman powers, but it's unclear how any of the other characters breathe on the trip.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Sandstorm becomes loyal to Vince and rescues him from one of The Hitcher's minions after Vince gives him gloves that allow him to masturbate.
- The Chosen One: The holder of the amulet is referred to as the Chosen One and supposedly has the power to save the planet from grave danger. The true chosen one is the great warrior Banoo, but as he showed up late Naboo ends up with the role instead. When Vince ends up with the amulet, he is worshiped like a god/king.
- Flushing Toilet, Screaming Shower: How Naboo defeats The Hitcher. He flushes the toilet while The Hitcher is showering in the Fountain of Youth, causing the water temperature to skyrocket, melting The Hitcher away.
- Fountain of Youth: The whole episode is the quest to find a legendary Fountain of Youth, which Naboo uses regularly to keep his baby face and maintain his immortality. The Fountain is somehow key to the Hitcher's evil plan to flood the world with duplicates of him. It turns out to be a shower in a bathroom found in the middle of the woods. At the end of the episode, Howard and Vince drink from it instead of using it like a shower, and are turned into babies.
- Heel–Face Turn: Sandstorm is originally an antagonist who attacks the nomads for no reason, but after Vince helps him out he becomes an ally and saves them from an evil tree.
- I'm Melting!: Naboo causes the water in The Hitcher's shower to spike in temperature, which melts him into a green slurry and he disappears down the drain.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: After Naboo defeats The Hitcher, the King reappears and invites him back to his court to celebrate and reward him. The fete consists of eating lentil-based dishes and singing folk music, which Naboo clearly finds boring, and he makes up a lame excuse to avoid going.
- Poor Man's Porn: Sandstorm, who seems to be sexually attracted to furniture and cabinetry, is seen masturbating over a furniture catalogue, the rough equivalent of lingerie ads.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Played for Laughs. The Hitcher's henchman is a green Cockney like him, played by the American Rich Fulcher. At first he attempts a Cockney accent, but puts less and less effort in over time, and eventually just says "I'm a Cockney, I'm a Cockney" in his normal accent.
- Reclining Reigner: Once accepted by the tribe as their leader, Vince spends all his time lounging on cushions in a tent while being fanned and fawned over by the tribe.
- Sand Necktie: After Vince loses the amulet, the tribe buries Vince and Howard up to their necks in sand and they are left to die in the desert.
- Space Jews: The tribe that picks up Vince and Howard are blue-skinned Rubber-Forehead Aliens with a lifestyle and style of dress similar to Bedoins.
- When Trees Attack: The Hitcher summons a walking, talking tree called Evil Tree to fight off the Boosh.
- "X" Makes Anything Cool: The mysterious, exotic planet Xooberon, pronounced "Zooberon".
- You Are Too Late: Banoo, Xooberon's greatest hero, arrive too late to receive the sacred amulet from the King, and arrives sword drawn to defeat The Hitcher... after he's already been defeated by the Boosh. The King tells him he really needs to get a watch.
