- King George and the DuckyEpisode number: 13Original release date: 4/11/00
- Countertop Intro
We are treated to the Countertop, where this time, we see Jimmy and Jerry Gourd, who are not-so cleverly disguised as Bob and Larry, respectively, in an attempt to host the show. Jimmy then says that they got a letter from a kid named Jimmy, who lives "near Texas somewhere", before explaining that this kid named Jimmy knows this other kid named (at Jerry's urging) Jerry, who is so selfish. However, Jerry changes his mind, saying that Jerry is not selfish, but nice. When Jimmy tries to say otherwise, Jerry disagrees, saying that Jimmy said that Jerry is nice while another kid named Hubert is selfish. Jimmy is not pleased, before telling Jerry that in the letter they got from Jimmy who lives "near Texas somewhere", he said that his friend Jerry was selfish. This angers Jerry very much, as his Larry mask falls off, before saying, "You want a piece of me?!?" A somewhat intimidated Jimmy then argues back, saying that Jerry was the one who suggested 'Jerry'.
Before the argument can continue even further, the two Gourd brothers become alert when they hear Bob ask what's going on. Jerry frantically puts his mask back on, but he puts it on upside-down. The real Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber then show up, wanting to know what's going on. Bob then recognizes Jimmy and Jerry, asking them what they're doing. Jimmy explains that he and Jerry are just trying to help and that they figured that Bob needed a break. Bob retorts that he just had a break and that he doesn't need another one. Jimmy pleads to Bob to let them host the show, because they've wanted to do so ever since "Dave and the Giant Pickle". Bob is unsure about this, until Jimmy tells him that they have a story, which Jerry wrote himself. When Larry asks what the story is about, Jimmy answers that it teaches kids not to be selfish, which Bob agrees is a good thing to teach kids, so he decides to give Jimmy and Jerry a chance to host the show. When Larry asks the two Gourds what the story is called, Jimmy doesn't know so he asks Jerry what it's called, to which Jerry answers, "It's called 'The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill (And Came Down With All The Bananas)'". Jimmy then gives Jerry a nudge in the side, which causes Jerry's mask to become right-side up once again. Bob and Larry then leave the show to Jimmy and Jerry, but not without Larry telling them to "break a leg", which confuses Jerry. Jimmy and Jerry then introduce their story, which is "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill (And Came Down With All The Bananas)".
- The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill (And Came Down With All The Bananas)
An Englishman (played by Scallion # 1), surrounded by a huge pile of bananas, introduces himself to the viewers as 'The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down With All The Bananas', explaining that he left the inhabitants of the hill with no bananas, so they are now bestowing the term "selfish" upon himself. Jean-Claude Pea then yells from off-screen, "You're so selfish", to which the Englishman replies that he got all the bananas. Jean-Claude then asks the Englishman if he's going to eat them, but he answers that you cannot eat bananas without strawberries. The camera then pans over to a Swede (played by Jerry Gourd), surrounded by a huge pile of strawberries, who introduces himself to the viewers as 'The Swede Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down With All The Strawberries', explaining that he left the inhabitants of the hill with no strawberries, so they are now bestowing the term "selfish" upon himself as well. Jimmy Gourd then shows up, telling Jerry that he's not Swedish, but Jerry shushes him, so Jimmy hops off after that. Phillipe Pea then also yells from off-screen, "You're so selfish", to which the Swede replies that he got all the strawberries. Phillipe then asks the Swede if he's going to eat them, but he answers that you cannot eat strawberries without bananas. The Englishman asks the Swede if he could spare a strawberry, to which the Swede replies, "No". Jean-Claude then yells that they're so selfish. The Swede then asks the Englishman if he could trouble him for a banana, to which the Englishman also replies, "No". Phillipe then also yells that they're so selfish, and that they're not so bright, before the story then concludes after that.
- Countertop Part 2
After the show ends, Jimmy comments that that was something, saying that it's not good to be selfish, which Jerry agrees with. The two Gourd brothers then go to consult Qwerty for a verse, while Bob and Larry look at each other with looks on their faces that read "Are they kidding?" Jimmy and Jerry then hop up to Qwerty and ask him if he has a verse, but Qwerty is turned off, with Jimmy yelling, "Who turned off Qwerty?!?" Bob and Larry are both exasperated by this. Jimmy tries pushing random buttons on Qwerty's keyboard to turn him on, to no avail, while Jerry hops off, then comes back while holding a piece of cardboard with "Don't be selfish" scrawled onto it. When Jimmy notices the so-called verse, he compliments Jerry for it, but when they try to end the show, Bob and Larry stop them, with Bob telling the Gourds that their show was way too short and there wasn't even a verse. Bob then apologizes to the viewers and tells them that they're going to give it another go-around. Bob then tells Jimmy and Jerry to "take off those ridiculous costumes" and that they have a real story to tell, which saddens the Gourd brothers, but they comply as they hop off afterwards. Bob then asks Larry if he remembers the letter that they got from Lucy Thomas from Bismarck, North Dakota, which Larry says that he does, asking if Lucy was the one who said that she didn't want to play with her sister because she wanted to keep all her toys to herself. Bob confirms this before saying that it's time to teach Lucy a thing or two about being selfish, which Larry agrees with. Bob then states that it's good to be back, before he yells, "Action!"
- King George and the Ducky
Bob then narrates the story of King George (played by Larry the Cucumber), a king who loves rubber duckies and taking baths more than anything else. The king's adviser Louis (played by Bob the Tomato) asks King George if he has enough time to talk with him about an important matter, but King George replies that he and his ducky are not finished with their bath. Bob then narrates even further that the kingdom was at war, the pie war to be exact, and that usually when the kingdom was at war, the king would help. While King George continues bathing, he starts singing about how some kings love horses and that some kings love cattle, as well as leading their troops into battle, but as for him, he'd rather spend time with his ducky. King George then sings about how much he loves his duck, with Louis trying to tell him that there are some things that they need to discuss. After getting dressed, King George tells Louis to sing with him, which Louis does rather reluctantly. King George then sings that unlike his father, he finds the particulars of war a bore, before he then hops out on the balcony while still singing about loving his duck.
However, King George stops singing when he notices something just a little ways off. After acquiring a quarter from Louis to look through his binoculars, King George sees a young boy named Thomas (played by Junior Asparagus) taking a bath with his own rubber ducky. Thomas also sings about how much he loves his duck and that it's his favorite toy. King George then throws his own ducky aside before deciding that he wants Thomas's ducky, with Louis trying to talk him out of it because he already has a duck. King George then becomes angry, singing to Louis that he must have the duck. Louis then tells King George that he already has quite a few duckies, revealing a whole cabinet full of rubber duckies, but King George rejects them, saying that they're yesterday's duckies. Louis then tells King George that most of his loyal subjects would love to have one ducky as nice as the ones he has, before King George resumes singing, saying that he doesn't want these duckies any more, before throwing them all over the floor. During the song, King George used the word "wronger", which Louis tries to correct as "more wrong", but King George angrily says that it had to rhyme then angrily tells Louis not to question the king's grammar before telling him to go get that duck. Louis then tells King George that they can't just barge in and take Thomas's duck because if they did, he'll tell people and everyone will think that he'll come and take their stuff. King George then concludes that they'll have to do something about Thomas.
The door then knocks, as Cedric (played by Scallion # 1), the General of the Pie War, hops into the room, explaining to King George that the Pie War has gotten ferocious, before telling him that they need more men at the front. King George is confused, saying that Louis didn't tell him that, while Louis tells Cedric that he was trying to tell King George, but he wouldn't give him a chance to explain. This gives King George an idea as he tells Cedric that Thomas would be glad to help out. When Cedric tells King George that Thomas is rather small, King George replies that Thomas is surprisingly strong for his size, so Cedric decides to grant King George's request. King George also requests that Thomas be placed at the front of the battle while everyone else steps back, to which Cedric fearfully replies, "But he'll be... creamed!" When King George tells him "Your king has spoken", Cedric then reluctantly goes off to do as King George told him. After Cedric leaves, King George then tells Louis to meet him at the East Gate at dusk, for they have a little job to do. Bob then narrates that Louis didn't want Thomas to get sent to the Pie War and that he didn't want to take Thomas's duck, but he also did not want to get sent to the Pie War too, so he does as the king asks as he leaves.
- Silly Songs with Larry
Larry is watching a soap opera on TV called "Endangered Love", before he starts dancing and singing with a plush toy of a manatee named Barbara Manatee. On the TV, Barbara and her boyfriend, Bill, who are both manatees, are both conversing, with Bill saying that he must "go into the world and do noble things for the good of all", and that Barbara can't come because she doesn't speak French. Barbara then says that she wants Bill to take her to the ball, and wonders, "who will take me to the ball?" Larry then yells that he'll take Barbara to the ball. Larry then starts dancing and singing with her Barbara Manatee plush once again. Barbara then tells Bill that she learned French, which Bill is overjoyed at, asking Barbara to "go into the world and do noble things for the good of all". Barbara accepts, then asks Bill if he'll take her to the ball. Bill then says that he can't dance, which surprises Barbara. Once again, Larry then dances and sings with Barbara, but then Bob comes in, asking Larry what he's doing. When Larry sheepishly answers that he was just watching a little TV, Bob then tells Larry that he should just read a book. Before the segment ends, Bill tells Barbara that he learned to dance.
- Act 2
That night, King George then meets up with Louis while wearing a pair of funny glasses so that no one will recognize him, before telling Louis to follow him and to try and act inconspicuous. Soon, King George and Larry then enter the village, before they enter Thomas's house, to which King George then nets Thomas's rubber ducky. After returning to the castle, King George is happy that he has finally gained possession of Thomas's ducky. The ducky is then placed on a pedestal (at the same time that King George's funny glass fall off). When Louis tells King George that it looks like all his other duckies, King George retorts with, "Hold your tongue, infidel! This is the most perfect ducky the world has ever known!" King George then proclaims that it's time for a bath, just as the door knocks once again. The door then opens up to reveal Cedric with Thomas, who has been covered with pies. Cedric then explains that even in spite of being outnumbered, Thomas was able to stop the advancing hordes and is therefore labelled a war hero.
However, it turns out that Thomas has developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to what Cedric describes as "the trauma of war". Cedric then leaves to take Thomas to his room, with King George proclaiming that he can finally take that bath now. However, Louis feels terrible about what happened to Thomas, with King George telling him that now that Thomas has lost his marbles he won't be needing the duck, to which Louis angrily asks King George if he's the only one who he thinks about. King George answers that he's been thinking about the ducky for quite some time now, before asking Louis to help him with his bath. However, the door then knocks once again, before a wiseman named Melvin (played by Pa Grape) shows up, telling King George that he has come to tell him a story. King George tries to tell Melvin to come back another time because he has a bath to take, but Melvin tells him that it's important. By use of a flannelgraph, Melvin tells, in song, the story of a rich man who had a lot of sheep and a poor man who only had one sheep. Melvin then sings that one day, the rich man had a guest and asks King George what the rich man did to feed the guest. King George then guesses that the man had plenty of sheep so he could share one of his sheep, but Melvin answers that the rich man took the lamb of the poor man in order to feed his guest.
After this story, King George is enraged, asking Melvin if this is a true story, before Melvin confirms that his story is true. King George then asks who this man is, feeling frustrated that this man would take the lamb of the poor man. Melvin then answers to King George that he is that man, which shocks King George very much. Melvin then explains to King George that he has very many duckies while Thomas only has one, and what he just did has made God very unhappy, before further explaining that "for whether you are a king or just a kid, God wants us all to think of others first". When King George asks Melvin what he should do, Melvin tells him to ask God to forgive him and to ask Thomas to forgive him, before he leaves. King George knows just what to do, so he asks Louis to draw a bath, which confuses Louis, but this time, King George has a good reason for Louis to draw a bath, saying that he has to find Thomas.
Soon, Thomas has been found has now been given a bath in King George's royal bathtub. King George then cleans up Thomas, which causes Thomas to regain his senses once again. King George then gives Thomas his ducky back, explaining to Thomas what he did and asks Thomas to forgive him, which Thomas does. King George then prays to God and asks him to forgive him too. Louis and Thomas are especially happy that King George has decided to amend his selfish ways. Melvin shows up again asking King George what he learned, before King George then starts singing "The Selfish Song", explaining about how he learned about how being selfish doesn't pay and that he now realizes that before thinking about himself, he must think about others first. Louis, Thomas, and Melvin also join in the song as well, but when King George sings that when he thought that it was the way "but it weren't", everyone starts singing "weren't" repeatedly, before Louis tries to correct him that the correct word is "wasn't". The song then ends, as does the story.
- Countertop Outro
Back on the Countertop, Bob and Larry comment that that was really something and that King George really learned a lesson about being selfish. Bob then explains that the next day, King George even gave away all of his old duckies to his loyal subjects so that they would be happy too. When Bob explains that they're over by Qwerty to talk about what they've learned today, Jimmy and Jerry then hop in while singing the "What Have We Learned" song, much to Bob's anger. Jimmy then tells Bob that he wouldn't let them do the show and that they have to do something. Bob finally gives the Gourd brothers a chance, before they resume singing the song again. After the Gourds sing the song, Bob then explains that King George learned that when we're selfish, it hurts the people around us. Bob and Larry then check to see if Qwerty has a verse. Qwerty then brings up the verse, which is "Love each other as brothers and sisters, and honor others more than you do yourself. Romans 12:10". Bob then explains that the Bible says that instead of trying to honor ourselves or make ourselves feel happy, we should think about the people around us and what we should do to make them feel happy too. Bob then tells Lucy that it would make her sister really happy if she shared her toys with her, which Larry agrees with. Bob and Larry then prepare to sign off, when Jimmy and Jerry tell Bob that if it's okay with him, some friends of theirs would like to take the next show. Jean-Claude and Phillipe Pea then hop in while dressed as Bob and Larry, respectively, which Bob is not very comfortable with. Jimmy and Jerry then say goodbye to the viewers, which surprises Bob, before the episode ends abruptly.
Tropes:
- Animation Bump: While the animation generally got progressively better through the years, this installment saw the series get dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, as it was the first to upgrade its animation software from SoftImage to Maya. This allowed for much more fluid and expressive animation, better lighting and better texturing, all of which are noticeable from the beginning.
- An Aesop: Selfishness will not lead to happiness.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Jerry actually showed shades of this in the countertop intro, threatening Jimmy over using his name for the selfish kid stated in the letter they got after trying multiple times to make him stop.
- Bowdlerize: The original story had the King seeing a woman bathing outside. Of course, this can't fly in a kid's show, so rubber ducks it is.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase
- Didn't Think This Through: In "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill (And Came Down With All The Bananas)", the Englishman refuses to eat his bananas without strawberries, while the Swede refuses to eat his strawberries without bananas. Of course, when neither of them is willing to share his fruit with the other, they are left in awkward silence, as they now have heaps of fruit that they won't be able to eat.Phillipe: You guys are not so bright!
- The Door Slams You: Happens to Louis when King George comes out from the bathroom during the "I Love My Duck" song.
- Epic Fail: After Jerry's mask falls off while he argues with Jimmy, he frantically puts it back on, but he puts it on upside-down.
- Food Fight: The Pie War in this episode and in "Duke and the Great Pie War".
- Frantic Object Concealment: King George does this by hopping right in front of the pedestal where Thomas's ducky is kept, when Thomas has returned from the pie war.
- Insane Troll Logic: From "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill (And Came Down With All The Bananas)", both the Englishman and the Swede say that you cannot eat bananas without strawberries, and vice versa.
- Lack of Empathy: King George doesn't care about what happened to Thomas or stealing his ducky, which Louis (and soon enough, Melvin) proceed to call him out on.
- Manchild: King George, a grown man who wants to steal a humble child’s rubber duck. Not only that, but he completely neglects his royal duties to play with his rubber duckies.
- Moment Killer: Happens in "Endangered Love", when Bob inadvertently walks in on Larry, who is dancing with his Barbara Manatee plush.
- Never My Fault: First King George contently brushes off Louis when they see how scarred the former's actions left Thomas, and when he's finally called out by Melvin, he stutters as he tries to justify them.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Thomas somehow wins the entire Great Pie War SINGLEHANDEDLY. Too bad he got post-traumatic stress disorder in the process, but who would've thought a kid could be a One-Man Army outside of anime?
- Oh, Crap!: Jimmy and Jerry both get this reaction when they hear Bob arrive on the countertop.
- Pie in the Face: The Great Pie War is exactly that, a war fought by flinging pies at the enemy with catapults.
- Prompting Nudge: Jimmy does this to Jerry, while he and Jerry are dressed as Bob and Larry, when Jerry does not finish his introduction.
- Spared by the Adaptation: See Uriah Gambit right below.
- Stylistic Suck: "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill (And Came Down With All The Bananas)", full stop.
- Uriah Gambit: In a Shout-Out to the original Trope Naming Biblical story that this story is based on, King George has Thomas get sent out to the Pie War, which gives King George a chance to take Thomas's ducky. However, unlike the original story where this resulted in the character's death (couldn't have that obviously, since this is a kids show), Thomas singlehandedly wins the entire war, but goes completely insane in the process.
- Villain Protagonist: Unlike the other episodes, Larry portrays the villain instead of the hero. In fact, there were a few letters from fans saying they didn't like Larry being mean.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Melvin the wiseman calls out King George for taking Thomas's ducky by way of telling a story about a rich man who had a lot of sheep and a poor man who had only one sheep, much like the original story.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: In the opening countertop scene when Jerry says that the selfish kid talked about in the letter is named Hubert, Jimmy asks "Who's gonna name their kid Hubert"?
