| Substitute Creature | |
| Episode name pun on: Substitute Teacher | |
|---|---|
| |
| Airdate: | September 26, 2003 |
| Credits | |
| Director: | John McIntyre |
| Story: | Lauren Faust Craig Lewis Craig McCracken Amy Keating Rogers |
| Writer(s): | Mark O'Hare |
| See also | |
| episode transcript |
image gallery |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "Save Mojo" |
Next "The Boys are Back in Town" |
| Rating | |
Substitute Creature is episode 4 of season 5 of The Powerpuff Girls. It aired on September 26, 2003.
Synopsis
Ms Keane is out sick and her substitute, Mr. Green is a suspicious-looking character, that gives the girls some bad vibes.
Plot
All the children at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten love Ms. Keane, their teacher. But one day, Ms. Keane falls ill. A substitute teacher, a green-skinned humanoid monster named Mr. Green, is called to replace her for the day. Though he may look rather sinister and monstrous, he is proven to be a nice monster who loves children and enjoys teaching them.
When he first arrives, the Powerpuff Girls are cautious about him and come to the conclusion that Mr. Green ate Ms. Keane. Many attempts to "foil" his "evil ways" fail, and their behavior only gets them time-outs.
While sitting inside as the other children are playing, the girls believe that they hear the other children screaming in fear. Taking action, the girls fly into space, performing a spinning attack, fusing into a blazing orb of energy. Luckily, the other kids catch them and successfully stop the girls from striking Mr. Green with their attack by crying out that he is nice.
After sheepishly landing, the girls receive a stern lesson from him, agreeing that it's wrong to judge people by their looks. Mr. Green hugs the girls, and they smile, finally trusting him.
Mr. Green and the Girls hugging after they have come to trust him.
Characters
Major Roles
- The Powerpuff Girls (characters)
- Mr. Green
- Ms. Keane (Mentioned; Pictured)
Minor Roles
- Susie Jenkins
- Julie Bean
- Elmer Sglue
- Harry Pitt
- Mitch Mitchelson (Non-Speaking Cameo)
- Clara
Songs
- K.E.A.N.E.
Trivia
- The K.E.A.N.E. song is strikingly similar to SpongeBob SquarePants' F.U.N. song. Both have similar tunes and lyrics that spell out the letter.
- There are an abnormal amount of kids marching into Ms. Keane's class.
- Interestingly enough, Mr. Green's horns bent down as he looked up at the girls in their near-successful attack; almost like a scared animal.
- Mr. Green’s silhouette with smoke under him is somewhat similar to what other dark characters do in Invader Zim.
- At the beginning of the episode, Mr. Green's eye is bright red instead of black.
- This is the first of a few times in Season Five that the girls are in their secondary end shot pose: Blossom standing upright, Bubbles and Buttercup bowing at the waist, turning their attention to the viewers.
- After believing that Mr. Green ate Ms. Keane, Buttercup shouts and calls him "Doctor Lecter," most likely referencing the infamous cannibalistic psychopath "Dr. Hannibal Lecter" from Silence of the Lambs.
- This is one (probably) of the most graphic episodes of the series (due to the manga-like still images shown in the Girls' paranoid fantasies).
- Moral: Don't judge a person by their looks.
- When the girls have their illusions, they loosely resemble their PPGZ counterparts.
- However, this is most likely a coincidence considering that this episode premiered in 2003, and the anime didn't enter development until 2005, and wasn't officially released until 2006.
- This episode, The Girls wrongly accused of someone unlike in Schoolhouse Rocked where rightfully accused The Gangreen Gang (1998 TV series) going be in trouble at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten on their first and last day of school and in Gettin' Twiggy With It where rightfully accused of Mitch Mitchelson going tortured and abused Twiggy when Mitch was assigned to watch over Twiggy during the weekends that Twiggy wouldn't even survived Friday afternoon after school with Mitch's abusive care.