"Surprise! No one can tell the difference!"
Upset because of his lack of merits, Wembley meets up with a traveling wizard who's come to give a magic show. After the show, the Wizard proposes they secretly swap places for the day. Wembley finds out later that the Wizard had an ulterior motive. There's a Poison Cackler chasing him!Wembley tries to tell everyone of the swap, but nobody listens. Just then, the Cackler arrives. Wembley throws one of the Wizard's smoke pellets at it, and it turns out that it just wants the smoke pellets, which it likes the taste of. Wembley throws the smoke pellets down a cliff, the Poison Cackler jumps after them, and Wembley explains to everyone what happened. The Wizard has a change of heart and takes up selling banana-tree shirts.
This episode contains examples of:
- Accidental Discovery: Wembley throws a smoke pellet at the Poison Cackler—and the Cackler gulps it down. Wembley and the Wizard then realize that the Cackler likes the Wizard's smoke pellets.
- An Aesop: Be upfront when you have a problem instead of trying to run away from it—and especially, don't concoct an underhanded plan that could easily put someone in danger.
- Batman Gambit: The Wizard, on learning that Wembley is bored with his life, figures that Wembley will be happy to switch places with him in order to get praise and attention.Wizard: [after Wembley, disguised as him, runs off] You're gonna get attention, all right... but not the kind you think.
- Beardness Protection Program: As part of his disguise, the Wizard lends Wembley his fake beard.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Poison Cacklers have large teeth, protruding tongues, and tails similar to those of scorpions.
- Big Damn Hug: Red gives Wembley one when he saves everyone from the Poison Cackler.
- Blind Mistake: After the Wizard lends Wembley his glasses, he can't see well enough to notice that he's sticking his beard on Wembley's chin with a new Doozer glue designed to hold forever instead of with some weak glue from his makeup kit.
- Blind Without 'Em:Wizard: [after lending Wembley his glasses] Boy, I hope you can see, 'cause I sure can't.
- Breaking the Bonds: After Wembley and the Wizard switch places, 7-Words-Max wants to see the Wizard's "Double Twisted Over Back Flip While Escaping from Ropes and Waiting to Be Eaten While You're All Tied Up" trick. Before Wembley can stop them, the Wizard's followers tie him up.Wizard: [seeing Wembley trying to escape] Oh, no, there he is!
Gobo: What's that, Wembley?
Wizard: [quickly] I said, look, there's the Wizard! And he's botching my famous rope escape.
Gobo: Oh, yeah. That Wizard would do anything to fool someone.
Mokey: Yeah. How's he gonna get out of those ropes, huh?
Wizard: Oh. Well, he could [louder, to Wembley] twist his right arm back and turn his body so that he can slip his hand back and then break out! [to Wembley's friends] But that's just a guess.
[Wembley follows the Wizard's instructions and bursts out of the ropes.]
Gobo: Wow!
Red: Wow! You sure learned a lot helping the Wizard today, Wembley.
Gobo: Yeah!
Wembley: Hello, everyone!
Gobo: Boy, that was some great escape, Wizard! - Cassandra Truth: Subverted. After learning about the Poison Cackler, Wembley tries to tell his friends who he really is and why the Wizard wants to be him, but none of them believe him—until his beard falls off.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Wizard's smoke pellets turn out to be why the Poison Cackler was chasing the Wizard. Wembley saves everyone by luring the Cackler down a cliff with the rest of the smoke pellets.
- Continuity Nod:
- Poison Cacklers were mentioned by Boober in "The Beast of Bluerock" and by Wembley in "Sir Hubris and the Gorgs."
- When the Wizard is Playing Sick in an attempt to hide in Wembley's room so the Poison Cackler won't find him, Mokey offers to get him a mosspack, first mentioned in "We Love You, Wembley."
- Conversation Cut: Wembley tries to convince the Cackler he's not the Wizard—and then his beard, stuck to him because it was accidentally attached with a new Doozer glue designed to hold forever, falls off. The scene changes to a Doozer construction with the same glue used falling apart and a Doozer declaring the glue is a failure.
- Dramatic Irony: Only the Wizard and the audience know that there's a Poison Cackler chasing Wembley because he's disguised as the Wizard. Poor Wembley thinks he'll just have admiring Fraggles following him—not a Poison Cackler.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Everyone believes that Wembley is the Wizard and that the Wizard is Wembley—until Wembley's beard falls off.
- Gag Haircut: Uncle Traveling Matt gets a gag hairdo when he mistakes bonnet hair dryers at a beauty salon for hats and decides to try one on.
- Have We Met?: Boober's reaction on seeing Wembley disguised as the Wizard. He shrugs it off, though, preoccupied with thinking Wembley's not looking well.Boober: You know, you look... you look kind of strangely familiar.
Wembley: Well... uh...
Boober: Hmmmm...
Wembley: Do you want to see a trick?
Boober: Well, not right now. I really should go see if Wembley's okay. [Looks Wembley up and down, then walks off.] - Heel–Face Turn: The Wizard, at the end of the episode.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Wembley, when the Wizard's followers tie him up.
- Identical Grandson: Doc's great uncle looks just like him but with a mustache.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Wembley swaps places with the Wizard because he wants to lead a more exciting life and have everyone praise him.
- Just Take the Poster: The Poison Cackler, looking for the Wizard, does this after recognizing him from a poster on a wall.
- Layman's Terms: At the end of the episode...Gobo: You know, Wizard, that was a dirty, lowdown thing you did to Wembley!
Wembley: Yeah!
Mokey: Not to mention mean and nasty! - Let's Get Dangerous!: Wembley goes from being a Fraggle without merits to saving everyone from the Poison Cackler by luring it down a cliff with smoke pellets.
- Liar Revealed: The Wizard, at the end of the episode.
- Manipulative Bastard: The Wizard, talking Wembley into switching places with him, without telling him it's so the Poison Cackler will come after Wembley instead of him. He reforms at the end of the episode.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Wizard, Wembley, and Wembley's friends, when the Wizard's flunky, 7-Words-Max, announces that the Poison Cackler has arrived.
- Oh, Crap!: Wembley, upon finding out the Poison Cackler is after the Wizard and that he is the Wizard. His panic increases when he can't get the beard off.
- Playing Sick: After switching places with Wembley, the Wizard does this in an effort to get the other Fraggles to leave him alone in Gobo and Wembley's room so the Poison Cackler won't find him. When they insist on taking care of him, he manipulates them into bringing him food.
- Poor Communication Kills: If the Wizard had just told the other Fraggles about the Poison Cackler, they would have helped him, and the whole mess of switching places with Wembley wouldn't have happened.
- Prince and Pauper: As displayed in the page image, Wembley and the Wizard look exactly like each other, barring the Wizard's heavy eyelids. They swap roles for the day to live each other's lives. It's revealed the real reason the Wizard does this is to escape the Poison Cackler.
- Smoke Out: To disappear from a place, the Wizard drops a smoke pellet, then slips away while the other Fraggles are distracted by the smoke.
- Stage Magician: The Wizard is basically this. He's come to Fraggle Rock to give a magic show, planning to leave soon after, in hopes of evading the Poison Cackler. This changes when he sees Wembley and talks him into switching places with him.Wizard: Now, remember, the blooming flower trick is in that pocket.
Wembley: Yeah.
Wizard: And if you're ever in trouble, throw a smoke pellet. They always fall for smoke pellets. - Sticky Situation: Wembley finds himself in one when the beard won't come off.
- Taking Advantage of Generosity: The Wizard, after trading places with Wembley, plays sick to try and get the other Fraggles to leave him alone. When they insist on showering him with attention, though, he decides to make the most of it.Mokey: Oh, poor Wembley! He still looks bad. We're gonna have to take care of him.
Wizard: [lying in Wembley's bed] You said it! Why doesn't somebody bring me a Doozer stick? I'm too weak.
Gobo: Sure, Wembley, if it'll make you feel better.
Wizard: And I wouldn't mind an extra pillow.
Mokey: Oh, okay. And a nice mosspack and some hot garlic soup.
[The Wizard nods eagerly.] - The Trickster: The Wizard, while a great Stage Magician, is known for being untrustworthy.Boober: The shiftiest Fraggle in the Rock!
Gobo: Yeah! I wouldn't trust him at all. But I love his tricks. - Twin Switch: Wembley and the Wizard do this.
- Undesirable Prize:
- It's Trophy Day, when every Fraggle gets to choose a trophy for whatever he feels most proud of. Wembley, however, can't think of a thing he's done that's especially praiseworthy. Reluctantly, he chooses the same trophy he always does: Best Shirt With Banana Trees On It.Red: Why so glum? You do have the best shirt with banana trees on it.
Wembley: So what? I'm the only one who wears one.
Gobo: And you're the only one who has a trophy for it.
Wembley: But I didn't do anything, Gobo! As usual. - Later, his friends make a trophy for him, complete with an inscription: "To Wembley, for being our friend." Wembley sees them with it, but they don't recognize him because he's still dressed as the Wizard.Gobo: Oh, sorry, no time for tricks. We gotta take this trophy to Wembley.
Red: Mmm-hmm.
Wembley: You... you mean that trophy is for me?
Mokey: No! It's for Wembley.
Red: Yeah! And don't try to trick us into giving it to you. It won't work.
- It's Trophy Day, when every Fraggle gets to choose a trophy for whatever he feels most proud of. Wembley, however, can't think of a thing he's done that's especially praiseworthy. Reluctantly, he chooses the same trophy he always does: Best Shirt With Banana Trees On It.
- Visual Pun: At the magic show, after the Wizard produces a ball from Wembley's mouth...Gobo: Wow! How did Wembley do that?
Red: I didn't know he had it in him!
Boober: Good thing he got it out! - Wizard Beard: The Wizard sports a fake one.
- Wrong Assumption: The Wizard thinks the Poison Cackler is after him. It's really after his smoke pellets, which it likes the taste of.
- The X of Y: The episode's title.
