Epic Fiddle Time!
When a popular talent competition comes to Wartwood, Hop Pop goes overboard in training Sprig to win.
This episode has examples of:
- All Part of the Show: Everyone assumes Sprig being taken by a bat and the others rescuing him was part of the act.
- Bait-and-Switch: Hop Pop putting Sprig through Training from Hell may lead the viewer to think the final conflict will be Sprig cracking under pressure or quitting since playing the fiddle isn't fun anymore, but instead Sprig is almost eaten by a giant bat since his costume is too eye-catching, and THEN Sprig snaps that he just wanted to have fun.
- Bat Out of Hell: The bat, while it looks scary and is a lot larger than a frog, only hunts moths. Unfortunately, Sprig is dressed like a moth, which triggers the bat's hunting instinct.
- Brick Joke: Anne mentions in passing having to mortgage the Plantars' house to pay for the shopping. At the end of the episode, Anne says they'll have to sell the solid-gold trophy they won to buy their house back.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The springboard used to eject losing acts is used to launch Hop Pop and Polly towards the bat.
- Polly's bad singing is used to attack the bat.
- Company Cross References: Mayor Toadstool's act involves juggling oranges while perched atop Toadie riding a unicycle, much like a similar toad atop a smaller amphibian on a unicycle on stage in The Great Mouse Detective. Both even get booed/ejected from the stage!
- Continuity Nod: There's actually a fairly good reason why Hop Pop would be imagining Anne still living with the Plantars in the future. After all, he got rid of the Calamity Box, perhaps her only possible ticket back to Earth.
- Fantastic Racism: The newt talent show judges assume that Anne is a non-sapient beast.How did you train the bat? (looks at Anne) Or that thing, for that matter?
- Foreshadowing: Wartilda, the ascot vendor, mentions that her daughter has been accepted to Newtopia University, a place the Plantars visit in a later episode.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The bat that takes Sprig during his act is seen eating moths not long before Sprig takes the stage.
- Imagine Spot: Hop Pop imagines Sprig becoming a rich musician in the future, able to provide for Anne, Polly, and himself during his dying days. Anne and Polly point out something is wrong with this picture:Hop Pop: At last... I can rest... forever...Polly: Wait, if this is the future, then how come I don't have legs?Anne: Why am I still here?!Hop Pop: Hey, can't you see I'm trying to pass on?!
- Just Eat Him: Had the moth simply swallowed the food in his mouth rather than erratically flying around with it, he could have likely easily made off with his meal.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Mayor Toadstool gets back at the judges for ejecting him off the stage by using their own spring trap on them.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: Polly's "singing" is so loud and shrill it causes a cart outside to fall apart, shatter the shell of the snail pulling it, and makes flies and a giant bird fall from the sky. It later proves the perfect weapon against the bat who took Sprig.
- Saved by a Terrible Performance: At the beginning of the episode, Polly reveals herself to be a Dreadful Musician. When Sprig gets snatched by a giant bat, Polly's voice is what saves the day.
- Space Whale Aesop: Don't push your kid to success, or else... he'll get eaten by a giant bat? Alternatively, method of pushing your children to success while pursuing dreams and goals too idealistic is not effective for preventing certain situations in the future. After all the bat did go after what was made out to be the best.
- Stage Parent: Worried that he can't provide for his grandchildren's future, Hop Pop becomes obsessed with making Sprig's act spectacular.
