Recap / The Powerpuff Girls (S3E6): "Three Girls and a Monster"/"Monkey See, Doggy Two"

Original air date: 10/6/2000

Production code: PPG-307

Three Girls and a Monster: Blossom and Buttercup can't agree over whose tactics are better when the Girls are overpowered by a giant monster, but Bubbles just wants them to get along.

Monkey See, Doggy Two: Mojo Jojo once again steals the Anubis Dog Head and turns the people of the world into dogs, but recaps to the Girls what he did wrong.

Three Girls and a Monster contains examples of:

• Affably Evil: The monster attacking Townsville is a rampaging kaiju, but apparently isn't as bad as it appears since all it takes to stop it is asking it to leave.
• An Aesop:
  • Politeness is a better way to solve issues than confrontation.
  • Brains and brawn are equally important. You can't have just one or the other.
• Aside Glance: Hilariously the monster looks straight at the viewer◊ with a Disapproving Look that practically says "Really?" as Blossom and Buttercup fail to understand they can't win this one through fighting.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Deconstructed. Buttercup is frustrated by Blossom's insistence on a plan of attack and decides to take a more straightforward approach. Unfortunately, the Monster of the Week is too tough to simply be overpowered.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The monster's size varies depending on the scene, but it is always a giant. At its largest, it crushes city hall with a single footstep.
• Attack Pattern Alpha: Also deconstructed. Blossom's approach to fighting using a battle plan ultimately consists of the girls spending so much time flying into formation that they never actually get around to attacking. Parodied at the end when she decides to take on the monster herself and simply flies around in front of it in an intricate pattern.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The monster stops destroying Townsville after Bubbles approaches him and politely asks to stop.
• Big "SHUT UP!": When Blossom and Buttercup are arguing after one too many defeats by the monster, Bubbles screams, "QUIET!!!!!!" to shut them up.
• Big Stupid Doo Doo Head: From Bubbles after she gets rid of the monster by telling it to leave: "THAT'S HOW YOU GET RID OF A MONSTER, YOU BIG! FAT! DOO DOO-HEADED! NINNIES!!!!!!!"
• Boring, but Practical: After Blossom's strategic plan and Buttercup's attacks fail, Bubbles gets fed up with them arguing, and does it her own way: politely asking the monster to stop destroying Townsville. It works.
• Brains Versus Brawn: Blossom and Buttercup can often fall into this dynamic as The Leader & The Smart Guy versus The Big Guy. This episode focuses on their constant bickering with brute force or well-thought plans to defeat giant monsters. However, neither strategy works giving the sheer size of this kaiju. What works instead is Heart. Bubbles politely asks him to leave.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: You wouldn't think something as intimidating, feral, and gigantic as the Orange Monster would care about manners and unable to refuse kind requests.
• Crazy-Prepared: The traffic signs above the highway leading into Townsville actually come with an option to inform about a monster attack.
• Dark Horse Victory: Bubbles manages to get rid of the monster by asking it to leave.
• Foreboding Fleeing Flock: As the girls fly into town they run into a huge swarm of birds escaping the monster's destruction.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: Right before Bubbles asks it to leave, the monster roars in her face, a thin coat of saliva stretched between its teeth.
• Helping Granny Cross the Street: A boy scout is seen doing this. However, he forgets to wait for a safe moment and the two of them are nearly hit by multiple cars. When they reach the other side, the old lady faints and has to be taken to the hospital.
• Hypocritical Humor: Bubbles gets rid of the monster by asking it nicely to leave, and then flies back to her sisters to loudly and angrily scream at them that that's how you get rid of a monster while calling them "big, fat, doo doo-headed ninnies". Though this might be justified, considering she had to put up with their pointless arguments all day.
• Ignored Aesop: Blossom and Buttercup are both stunned that Bubbles got rid of the monster by asking it nicely to leave, but after she screams at them, telling them that's how it's done, the two of them act like that was the "easy way" of doing it and resume their argument that their way was the "right way".
• Invincible Villain: The giant monster is indestructible, and its rampage is only stopped because Bubbles asks it to leave.
• The Juggernaut: The monster is too powerful to be stopped by fighting and can only be stopped by asking it to leave.
• Kaiju: The monster the girls have to fight this episode.
• Monster of the Aesop: Not all threats can be dealt with by force. The invincible Giant Orange Not Zilla could not be stopped and would never leave… until told the people of Townsville love their city, and asked nicely to stop terrorizing them.
• Mundane Solution: Bubbles manages to defeat the monster by kindly asking it to leave.
• Never My Fault: Buttercup and Blossom have very conflicting ideas about how to fight the monster, and instantly blame each other when a strategy fails.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: The Giant Orange Monster was completely impervious to every attack that the girls threw at him, physically or otherwise, as well as being able to counterattack with lightning speed.
• No-Sell: The monster easily shrugs off anything the girls can throw at it (except when Bubbles kindly asks it to leave).
• Non-Standard Character Design: The monster is more realistically detailed than almost anything else in the show.
• Not Zilla: The giant monster is a huge dinosaur-like creature that walks upright and has a row of spikes going down its back, having all the basic Godzilla appearance traits aside from being orange and having horns.
• Rage Breaking Point: Bubbles, after hearing her sisters argue one time too many.
• Sheathe Your Sword: When every attempt to defeat the monster fails, Bubbles manages to defeat it herself by politely asking it to leave.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is a reference to Three Men and a Baby.
  • The monster rises up from the sea in a manner similar to Godzilla. His appearance and counterattacks are a nod to Geof Darrow's "Yellow Taoking" from The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot.
• Suddenly Shouting: "There. THAT'S HOW YOU GET RID OF A MONSTER, YOU BIG FAT DOO DOO-HEADED NINNIES!!!!!!!"
• Surrounded by Idiots: Bubbles of all people has this reaction to her sisters continuing the same ineffective attacks on the monster over and over again.
• Swiper, No Swiping!: Bubbles defeats the monster just by asking it politely to leave.
• Take a Third Option: Bubbles, fed up with her sisters not realizing that neither of their plans are working, decides just ask the monster to stop destroying their town, and that is what works as the monster agrees.
• Talking the Monster to Death: In the end, Bubbles simply asks nicely for the monster not to destroy their beloved city. And it works! He promptly leaves, returning to the ocean.
• This Banana is Armed: At the start of the episode we see a robber mugging a man, with a banana as a weapon. When the victim makes him realize this, both he and the crook laugh about it….and then the crook pulls out an actual gun.
• Three... Two... One...: Done by Bubbles as her sisters attack the monster just before they get outmatched once again.

Monkey See, Doggy Two contains examples of:

• An Aesop: A two-fer this time:
  • Never Recycle Your Schemes as it means your enemies will easily figure out what you're up to and foil it more quickly.
  • The need to cover your previous mistakes will just create new ones that will be easily overlooked until it's too late.
• Continuity Nod: The Anubis bust has visibly been put together again since it broke in the previous episode it appeared in.
• Didn't Think This Through: Mojo Jojo thought that he covered his bases by not turning the girls into dogs and armoring his butt so they couldn't bite him, causing him to drop the Anubis head. He failed to remember that they could just kick his butt.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Mojo quietly narrating the events of Monkey See, Doggie Do as he and the girls watch it feels like an in-character DVD Commentary.
• Epic Fail: Mojo's attempt to avoid being defeated the same way instead leads him to overlook a glaring flaw in his "precautions", namely the Girls being free to kick his butt normally. His plan fails even worse than it previously did.
• History Repeats: Just like last time, Mojo's plan with the Anubis Head is foiled, reversing the transformation he inflicted on everyone in the world while turning him into a dog, though this time he just gets sent to the pound instead of becoming the Girls's pet.
• Lampshade Hanging: Blossom questions where Mojo got all the footage, especially the stuff from other countries, and asks if he has cameras all over the world. Mojo says he does.
• Laser Hallway: The Anubis bust is surrounded by invisible lasers. Mojo uses a special spray to see them.
• Mooning: Mojo Jojo, much to the girls' disgust, does this to show the girls he placed a metal protection plate on his butt to prevent Buttercup from repeating her Butt Biter technique from last time... completely forgetting that, since the girls are not dogs now, they don't have to resort to that.
• Never Recycle Your Schemes: Averted. Mojo Jojo's plan in this episode is identical to his plan from Monkey See, Doggie Do. He tries to get it right this time by NOT turning the girls into dogs (since, he theorizes, they defeated him last time while they were dogs). Of course, this ends about as well as can be expected.
• No Ontological Inertia: Just like last time, breaking the Anubis bust also breaks the curse and turns everyone back to normal (and Mojo into a dog).
• Police Are Useless:
  • The sleeping cop from the first episode makes a reappearance, still sleeping.
  • Another cop at the museum isn't too bright.
    Cop: Well, uh… there was something else stolen… uh… would that qualify as a clue?
• Recycled Animation: Parodied. Old scenes from the original episode are reused, and Mojo even plays clips on a monitor.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: Mojo does it when he shows the last part of the video.
• Sequel Episode: To "Monkey See, Doggie Do".
• Stating the Simple Solution:
  Mojo: So, Powerpuffs. Now that you have seen these special precautions, what do you plan to do?
  Blossom: (shrugging) We're gonna kick your butt!
  Mojo: Wha- (the girls do exactly that)
• Too Clever by Half: Mojo reviews his original scheme "very carefully" and concludes that where he went wrong the first time around was turning the girls into dogs. It apparently never occurs to him that the reason he turned them into dogs was because they're otherwise a trio of superpowered girls who could easily just beat him up. Or that the other protective measures he took anyway would have solved the problem that turning them into dogs caused.
• Too Dumb to Live: Mojo takes it up to eleven in this one, repeating his earlier scheme nearly point-for-point, taking precautions to keep the girls from repeating their former success... and leaving himself open to getting his butt whooped in the process.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: As the girls see things playing out exactly like the original episode:
  Buttercup: He couldn't be that stupid, could he?
  Mojo: [at work in his lair] YES!
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: The girls are locked into this trope for most of the episode once they realize Mojo is trying his dog scheme again.

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