Mr. Pruitt assigns the kids to each write a poem for class. David is unable to come up with anything, so when he happens to receive a beautiful poem of mysterious, unknown origin, he decides to pass it off as his own work. Wishbone imagines himself in Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.
Tropes
- Adaptational Heroism: Cyrano de Bergerac is still a Deadpan Snarker but not an Honor Before Reason Starving Artist. He agrees to help Christian woo Roxanne because he wants Roxanne to be happy and doesn't confess on his deathbed.
- Bowdlerize: The show's ending to Cyrano de Bergerac was significantly more cheerful than in the original work. When Cyrano confesses that he wrote the letters under Christian's name, he was dying in the original; here, Roxanne and Cyrano are alive and well, if much older, and Roxanne is the one who figures it out.
- First-Name Basis: Wanda transitions from saying "Mr. Pruitt" to "Bob."
- Geeky Turn-On: When T. S. Eliot is revealed to be the favorite poet of both Wanda and Mr. Pruitt.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: David brings a poem to class that he didn't write. He confesses when Mr. Pruitt wants to publish the poem, though his only punishment is to write a new poem because Mr. Pruitt is a Reasonable Authority Figure not bound by modern school rules.
- Playing Cyrano: Of course, this episode is adapting the Trope Namer. It's paralleled in the real-world story by David passing off someone else's poem as his own.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr. Pruitt. When David confesses that he didn't write the poem, Mr. Pruitt merely says "I'm Disappointed in You," tells him to write another poem, and allows David to recite it. He also listens to David's story that the latter found the original poem on his porch and decides to track down the actual writer (Wanda Gilmore).
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Subverted when Wanda delivers a poem to David without signing it, which he brings to class as his homework assignment. Although David could have gotten in trouble for plagiarism when he confesses the truth, Mr. Pruitt's desire to find the real author and the different values of the '90s allow David to only have to write another poem. Mr. Pruitt and Wanda subsequently start to date.
- What You Are in the Dark: Much as in the source material of Cyrano de Bergerac, Christian feels guilty when he realizes that Roxanne is in love with him for the letters Cyrano is writing under Christian's name. He tells Cyrano they need to tell Roxanne the truth, and he will after a battle. Of course, he dies, and Cyrano can't bring himself to break Roxanne's heart further by confessing that he wrote the letters. Roxanne, when she finds out years later, reassures Cyrano that her heart isn't broken and wishes he had told her.
- Wrong Insult Offence: "Cyranose" does a Compressed Adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac with, of course, Wishbone playing Cyrano. It opens with the famous "how to insult my nose" scene (paraphrased from the play).Upper-Class Twit: Excuse me, Dog-face, but your nose is rather large.
Cyrano: "My nose is rather large"? "Rather large", you say? Is that the best you can do? (laughs) I do not need my sword to teach you a lesson! I have... words! (drops sword out of his mouth) Let me teach you how to insult my nose, monsieur! You could have said, "Your nose is so big, you should call a doctor and have it amputated!" Or, how 'bout this: "What do you carry around in that snout, your pens or your whole writing desk?" Ooh, how 'bout this one: "Do you love the birds so much that you let them perch on your nose?" But no! The best you can come up with is, "Your nose is rather large." Well, any fool can see that my nose is rather large, but your brain is rather small.
