"That's sure one confident Fraggle."
When Wembley is unsure of what job to get, his friends try to help by describing or showing him their jobs. None of them seems quite right for him, though. In an effort to help him, Gobo firmly tells him to get a job or they won't be friends anymore.In despair, Wembley visits the Trash Heap, who gives him the idea of working for the Fraggle Rock Volunteer Fire Department. There's just one problem: he doesn't know how to start a fire. As it happens, none of the other members of the Fire Department know how—and they're all glad to hear that Wembley doesn't know how, either. Wembley happily takes the job of being the Fire Department's siren.
This episode contains examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: At one point, Mokey calls Wembley "Wembles".
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: The President of the Volunteer Fire Department gives Wembley a job interview and likes his answers to the first two questions. But the interview isn't over yet...President: And now I must ask you the final question.
[Wembley gulps.]
President: How do you start a fire?
[Wembley starts to tremble. His friends watch tensely from the sidelines.]
President: Come, come, young Fraggle! Can we have an answer? How do you start a fire?
Wembley: [in a small voice] Please, sir... I don't know.
President: Well, thank goodness! Neither do we. - Beware the Nice Ones: Mokey lets Wembley gather radishes with her to help him decide if he'd like it to be his job. When Junior sees them...[Junior swings his club at the Fraggles, just missing them.]
Junior: Oh, you... you Fraggles! [He leaps onto his stomach, with his face inches away from Mokey's.]
Mokey: Oh. You almost hit Wembley! [She bops him on the nose with the radish she's holding.]
Junior: Ooh!
Mokey: Come on, Wembley, let's leave.
Wembley: Ohhh, gladly!
[The Fraggles run off, with Junior staring after them in astonishment.]
Junior: That Fraggle hit me! - Break His Heart to Save Him: In an attempt to motivate Wembley into finding a job, Gobo tells him he won't be his friend anymore if he doesn't get a job.Red: [whispering to Gobo] Now's the time. Get tough, kid.
Gobo: Wembley...?
Wembley: Yes, Gobo?
Gobo: You mean you haven't chosen a job yet?
Wembley: Well... no.
Gobo: Okay, that's it! I don't pal around with wishy-washy Fraggles.
Wembley: What? What do you want me to do about it? I can't just go away.
Gobo: Oh, yes, you can.
[Beat]
Wembley: [on the verge of tears] Well... if that's the way you feel... I'll just pack my things.
Gobo: Well, that shouldn't take long. You've only got one spare shirt.
Wembley: [sniffling] Right. I'll pack my thing. [Sadly walks off.]
Red: Boy, when you're tough, you're tough. - Bucket Helmet:
- Junior, while guarding the castle, wears a colander as a helmet.
- One of the members of the Volunteer Fire Department wears a bucket as a helmet.
- The Cameo: The man next to Matt on the roller coaster is his performer, Dave Goelz.
- Career Not Taken: Played for Laughs after the Trash Heap reveals that she always wanted to be a fireman.Philo: So how come you didn't become a fireman, Marjory?
Gunge: Yeah!
The Trash Heap: Oh, I couldn't have. I don't even know how to start a fire. - Cuckoo Clock Gag: At one point, Doc's cuckoo clock announces it's noon. The bird doesn't cuckoo twelve times, though—it cuckoos once while holding a sign that says "Noon."
- The Ditherer:
- Sprocket, who struggles with what kind of donut he should eat, and later which type of soup.
- Wembley, who can't decide on his profession.Gobo: Poor Wembley. Sometimes he can't even walk because he can't make up his mind which foot to use first.
Red: Picking an occupation is not gonna be easy for him.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This, although not the first episode in the series run, was the first episode shot (March 1982), and features considerably different designs for Sprocket (particularly in the eyebrows) and Marjory the Trash Heap. That's in addition to the early versions of Ma Gorg and Gobo seen in the opening and throughout the first half of season one.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Uncle Matt decides to try out one of Outer Space's transportation systems. It turns out to be a roller coaster.Uncle Matt: [voiceover] You know, they call this train system "rapid transit." At first, it wasn't very rapid at all.
[Matt screams as the ride descends the first slope.]
Uncle Matt: [voiceover] But after a while, it lived up to its name. - Face Your Fears: After Gobo tells Wembley to get a job or they won't be friends anymore, Wembley becomes desperate enough to brave the Gorgs' garden alone in order to visit the Trash Heap for advice.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Boober loves his job of doing laundry because it's so dull.Boober: Listen, you want a good job? You gotta try mine: laundry!
Red: Boober, you have the dullest, the most boring job there is!
Boober: Well, that is my favorite part about it. - Job Song:
- Wembley's friends sing "Workin'," a song about their jobs and the importance of work in general.
- The members of the Volunteer Fire Department sing "The Fireman's Anthem," a song about a typical day in the life of a Fraggle fireman.
- "Number of Objects" Title: The episode's title.
- Oh, Crap!: Wembley, when he sees Junior headed toward him.
- One-Hour Work Week: The Fraggles' work schedule is hilariously short.Wembley: Do you really enjoy your thirty-minute work week?
Mokey: Oh, yes. Why, sometimes I put in two, maybe three minutes of overtime, just for fun. - Opinion Flip Flop:Mokey: [as she and Wembley return from the Gorgs' garden] And that's gathering radishes. Isn't it wonderful?
Wembley: Oh, it was terrific!
Mokey: Yeah!
Boober: You have got to be kidding! Every time you go up to the garden, you almost get thumped by a Gorg.
Wembley: I know, Boober. It was terrifying! - Parrot Exposition: When Wembley tells Mokey there's a Gorg approaching...Mokey: [calmly] Oh, I can handle Gorgs.
Wembley: HANDLE Gorgs? - The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The members of the Fire Department don't do much besides singing when they meet.
- "Pop!" Goes the Fraggle: Boober tells Wembley this will happen to him when he applies for a job with the Volunteer Fire Department.Boober: They're gonna ask you all these questions you don't even know.
Wembley: They... they... they are, aren't they?
Boober: You're gonna die.
Wembley: You think so?
Boober: Yes! When you don't know the answers... you'll get so scared, you'll blow up!
Wembley: I'm gonna blow up! - The Promise: Wembley has promised to choose a job before the day is out.
- Refuge in Audacity: How Mokey and Wembley escape Junior. Mokey hits Junior on the nose with a radish, and the pair leave a dumbfounded Junior behind.
- Sarcastic Well Wishing: Gobo, after getting Uncle Matt's postcard, goes back through the hole, accidentally knocking Red down.Gobo: [helping her up] Oh, here. Thanks for breaking my fall, Red.
Red: Terrific. I break your fall; you break my neck.
Gobo: Well, one good turn deserves another. - Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted. Wembley is so nervous, he tries to run away from his interview with the President of the Volunteer Fire Department, but the other members stop him.
- These Questions Three...: The President of the Volunteer Fire Department asks Wembley this amount of questions when interviewing him.
- Tranquil Fury: Mokey has a moment of this when Junior nearly thumps Wembley.
- Useless Accessory: Even though they don't wear pants, the members of the Fire Department wear red suspenders (attached to belts).
- Who's on First?: The Gorgs go through this when Junior is guarding the castle.Junior: Stand and give the password!
Pa: [clears throat] "I don't know the password."
Junior: Oh. Then you can't come in.
Pa: "I don't know the password" IS the password!
Ma: Oh, then you know the password!
Pa: Of course!
Junior: Okay, what's the password?
Pa: "I don't know the password"!
Junior: But you said you KNEW the password!
Pa: [groaning] Ohhh! "You said you knew the password" was YESTERDAY's password!
Junior: [groaning] Ohhh! Just come in, Daddy!
