After gaining access to an exciting new novelty called the Internet, David gets mixed up with cybercriminals who are stealing millions of dollars from online bank accounts. Meanwhile, Emily commits a little theft of her own when she finds Wanda's lost purse. Wishbone imagines himself in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the Arabian Nights stories.
One tie-in book was released — Wishbone: Tales of a Pup #2: Wishbone and the Forty Thieves.
Tropes
- Adaptational Timespan Change: One thousand and one nights? More like two nights. Or at last Scheherazade telling Ali Baba over the course of what seems to be two nights is enough to convince Shahryar to spare her life permanently, albeit with the promise that she'll be telling him more stories like that one.
- Adapted Out:
- In the original story, Ali Baba initially tries to hide his newfound wealth from greedy Kasim, but Kasim's wife tricks Ali Baba's wife into revealing the secret. Wishbone skips over all this and leaves out the wives, instead having Ali Baba openly sharing the treasure with Kasim from the start.
- The episode really only covers the first half of the Ali Baba story, with Kasim's imprisonment in the cave serving as the climax. After that, Scheherazade quickly wraps up the story by saying that Ali Baba waited until the Forty Thieves had died before claiming their treasure. Let's just say that in the original story, the Forty Thieves did not die of natural causes, which is what the episode seems to imply. The exclusion of the second half of the story also means that Morgiana is left out.
- Adults Are Useless: Apparently, the Feds couldn't crack the cybercriminals' code, but David could. And that code is... a simple substitution cipher. Well done, FBI, well done.
- All There in the Script: King Shahryar is only identified by name in the credits. Within the actual episode, he's just called, "the king."
- "Arabian Nights" Days: The setting of the fantasy sections, since it is an adaptation of a story from the Trope Namer.
- Bowdlerize: In the original story, Shahryar's first wife cheats on him, causing him to distrust all women, and he therefore decides to marry a new woman every day, ordering her execution the next morning before she has a chance to betray him. Wishbone doesn't explain this backstory, but it does include Shahryar sentencing Scheherazade to die, portraying it as the random whim of a capricious tyrant. Evidently, capital punishment is a more acceptable topic for a children's show than adultery.
- Distinction Without a Difference:Wishbone as Ali Baba: Great, my donkeys are gone, bandits all around, but I'm not a quitter. I'm not a quitter, but I am leaving. I'm leaving right now. I am so gone!
- Hollywood Encryption: Slightly averted, since David was never able to figure out the password to get into the cybercriminals' chatroom. On the other hand, he was able to crack their coded conversation, which turns out to be a simple substitution cipher.
- Instant Emergency Response: After the cybercriminals' loot is accidentally transferred into Nathan's bank account, FBI agents show up at the Barnes house immediately.
- I Want My Mommy!: Kasim calls out for his mother after getting locked in the cave.
- Last-Second Joke Problem: Wishbone getting blamed for stealing Wanda's purse.
- Nested Story: Wishbone narrates the story of Scheherazade, who in turn narrates the story of Ali Baba. Given the source material, the usage of this trope is very appropriate.
- Open Sesame: As usual, this is the password to get into and out of the cave of the Forty Thieves. And as usual, Kasim forgets it while inside, trying "Open Barley", before muttering to himself that he knows it's some type of grain and trying again with "Open Oats".
- Karma Houdini: Emily steals Wanda's purse, and in the end, she seems to get away with blaming it on Wishbone. Then again, David already knows it was Emily, so he would presumably clear up what really happened at some point.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: At the end, Wishbone recovers Wanda's purse, only to get blamed for stealing it in the first place.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: When Nathan explains that the FBI have come to their house because they have "a huge amount of stolen money," both Wishbone and Emily innocently assume that the authorities are coming after Emily for stealing Wanda's purse.
- Pooled Funds: Inside the Forty Thieves' lair, Kasim dives into a chest of gold coins.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The FBI agents are amazingly reasonable when Nathan explains that he doesn't know why his bank account contains millions of dollars worth of stolen money.
- Shout-Out: To Casablanca:Wishbone: [Humphrey Bogart impression] Of all the streets in Oakdale, she had to walk into mine.
- Treasure Room: The Forty Thieves' cave, of course. When Ali Baba enters the cave, he takes just one small bag of gold coins and then quickly flees before he can get caught in there. Later on, Kasim enters the cave and sees how little Ali Baba took compared to all the riches in there:Kasim: Ali Baba, you are a fool! We can take as much as we want! They'll never miss it!
- Sequel Hook: A variant In-Universe — after Scheherazade finishes the story of Ali Baba, she and her sister mention she knows many more tales, naming a few (such as Aladdin, The Enchanted Horse and Sinbad)... and Shahryar, who's intrigued and wants to hear them, can't think of a way to fit her execution onto the schedule. Ultimately, he just cancels it and asks her to start telling him the next story.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In this version, rather than being killed by the Forty Thieves, Kasim is rescued when Ali Baba himself arrives at the cave just ahead of the Thieves.
