"Child Fearing" is the fourth episode of Season 3 (and the 54th episode overall). It first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on August 18, 2000.
Plot[]
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.
Synopsis[]
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 states that Mojo's story is 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 finally reach the end of his rope. 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 laughs non-stop as he is glad to be away from the Powerpuff Girls. 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. Blossom tells him that they're waving their babysitter a goodbye. Her sisters nod in agreement, and Professor is delighted to hear it before telling them it's time for bed. The girls high-five, and the Narrator ends as he sings, “🎵If I were a narrator I'd END THIS SHOW🎵“
Characters[]
- The Powerpuff Girls (Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup)
- Mojo Jojo
- The Mayor of Townsville
- Blarney the Singing Sea Serpent
- Professor Utonium
- Narrator
- Policeman
Trivia/Goofs[]
- This episode premiered in some countries before the United States.[1]
- It was the the episode to make a pun out of 'Child Rearing'
- This episode premiered in Australia on January 28, 2000.
- This episode premiered in Canada on March 11, 2000.
- This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2000.
- When the Mayor calls for a babysitter, he is seen playing a parody of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64, 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 loathed by that game's community for her constant way of saying "Hey! Listen!".
- Utonium's car plate reads emc 2. This is an easter egg 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 Singing Sea Serpent is a parody of Barney the Dinosaur, and Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent, a character from the show Time for Beany. Unlike Barney and Cecil, Blarney speaks with an Irish accent.
- This is one of the few instances where Mojo gets "punished" by the girls for something he did not do wrong on. Other instances are shown in "Telephonies", "A Very Special Blossom", and "Moral Decay", although this episode delivers it to the extreme, as fans can sympathize with Mojo due to the girls deliberately driving him crazy.
- On the other hand, he did demand that they help him take over Townsville under his guise, so they were acting bratty towards him intentionally to keep him from doing so.
- Surprisingly, this is the only episode where Mojo voluntarily gets arrested, considering the mayhem he faced from the girls.
- The entertaining cooking show that Mojo puts on for the girls is a Japanese style of cooking known as teppanyaki/hibachi. Mojo is shown to be an expert in this.
- 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.
- 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.
- When Blarney says "ROLL! ROLL! ROLL!", his mouth doesn't move and is closed.
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States in 2000, it was actually produced in 1999 according to the credits. It was also the final episode produced in 1999; the next episode, "Criss Cross Crisis", would be the first episode finished in 2000.
- This episode was finished in December of 1999.[2]