| Child Fearing | |
| | |
| Episode name pun on: child rearing | |
|---|---|
| |
| Airdate: | August 18, 2000 |
| Credits | |
| Director: | Randy Myers and Craig McCracken |
| Story: | Chris Reccardi |
| Writer(s): | Amy Keating Rodgers |
| See also | |
| episode transcript | image gallery |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "Town and Out" | Next "Criss Cross Crisis" |
| Rating | |
| How did you like Child Fearing? | |
"Child Fearing" is the second half of the second episode of Season 3. It first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on August 18, 2000.
Synopsis
The Professor hires a babysitter to look after the girls on short notice. When Mojo takes the job, he gets annoyed by the girls' antics.
Plot
The Professor is running late for the Meeting of the Minds, and isn't seeing straight. He is in such a hurry that he even puts deodorant in his hair and hairspray under his arms by mistake. The girls watch him rush away, and then, when he is gone, smirk at the idea of being alone. Moments later, the Professor rushes back, having forgotten to hire a babysitter. Among other people, he calls the Mayor, who is busy playing a video game, and the Mayor winds up pardoning Mojo Jojo to babysit them in a phone call with the city jail's warden.
Soon after, Mojo Jojo arrives at the girls' home, telling the Girls that while the Professor is gone, they must help him seize Townsville. The Girls promise to obey the babysitter to the Professor, but they exploit a loophole by demanding dinner. Mojo agrees, so long as they help him destroy Townsville afterward. Mojo impresses them as he confesses that he is Townsville's top chef in addition to its top public enemy. Though, after a visually impressive show of teppanyaki, it turns out the Girls think Mojo's cooking is gross and refuse to eat it. Instead of living up to their word, the Girls decide to play hide-and-seek with Mojo, demanding that he find Bubbles in a blindfold, but Blossom and Buttercup lead him into a highway.
The girls enjoy their favorite show.
Having sustained his injuries in connection with vehicular traffic, Mojo is worn out and gives up taking over Townsville, but the girls demand to watch TV. Mojo agrees, but on the condition that they shut up. As they turn on the TV, it is just in time for Blarney the Singing Sea Serpent to start. The music is soft at first, which amuses and comforts Mojo, but the music unexpectedly becomes high, screechy, and cacophonous: ("If I were a rabbit I'd HOP HOP HOP! If I were a rhino I'd STOMP STOMP STOMP! If I were a fish I'd... SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM!"). The girls make Mojo dance along with the uneasy cacophony that is Blarney, but finally, Mojo has had enough and makes them go to bed.
They demand a story, and with tears in his eyes from being stressed, he agrees if they will go to sleep. They nod, and he gives them a short (and false) story about Napoleon Bonaparte. The girls say it was boring, and then go so far as to lecture him with real facts about Napoleon and bash him with pillows.
The night growing no younger, Mojo has had enough. He runs to the phone, calls the police, and begs to be saved. The girls hit him, and as the police arrive, he's thrown in and says, "Free at last." When the police speed off, the girls say goodbye and thank him for all the fun. Later, the Professor returns, asking what the girls were doing outside. "Oh, just saying goodnight to the babysitter," Blossom says. Her sisters nod, and Professor says, "That's my girls. But it's time for bed." The girls high-five, and the Narrator states "If I were a narrator I'd END THIS SHOW!"
Trivia/Goofs
- When the Mayor calls for a babysitter, he is seen playing a parody of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, in which he accidentally kills his own fairy, and says in frustration "Darn fairy!". This is likely a jab at the character Navi, who is universally loathed for her annoyance.
- Utonium's car plate reads emc 2. This is a hint to Einstein's theory of relativity "E = mc2".
- When Mojo puts the girls to bed, Bubbles and Buttercup are on the wrong thirds of the bed sheet. Bubbles is under the green section and Buttercup is under the blue section.
- Blarney the Sea Serpent is a parody of "Barney the Dinosaur." Blarney also speaks with an Irish accent.
- The entertaining cooking show that Mojo puts on for the girls is a Japanese style of cooking known as hibachi.
- Mojo is shown to be an expert in Japanese cooking, having made teppanyaki as dinner for the girls.
- The sound effects at the beginning of blind hide and seek are muted in North American releases but can be heard in other regional airings.
- This is probably one of the few episodes where the fans sympathize with Mojo, particularly because the girls were actually driving him crazy.
- When the Professor tells the girls that it is time for bed and the girls get excited, towards the end of this episode they are in their nighties, but in the 1999-2001 animated episode outro, when the girls appear, they have their clothes on.
- The part when Professor Utonium is rushing for his meeting, the background music is a remake of Dexter's Laboratory soundtrack for Dee Dee's foolish act, the background music is known as "Sabre Dance" by Aram Khachaturian.
- Surprisingly, this is the only episode where Mojo voluntarily gets arrested, considering the mayhem he faced from the girls.
=Production Notes
- Although this episode premiered in 2000, it was produced in 1999 according to the credits. It is also the final episode to be produced in 1999.
