Original airdate: August 16, 2004
Story by Magnus Scheving
Written by Noah Zachary, Cole Louie, Magnus Scheving
Directed by Magnus Scheving, Raymond P. Le Gue
Executive producers - Magnus Scheving, Ragnheidur Melsted, Raymond P. Le Gue, Mark Read, Brown Johnson, Kay Wilson Stallings
Starring Magnus Scheving, Stefan Karl Steffanson, Julianna Rose Mauriello
Puppeteers - Ronald Binion, Gudmondor Thor Karason, Jodi Eichelberger, Amanda Maddock, David Matthew Feldman, Julie Westwood, Sarah Burgess
LazyTown is definitely my favorite TV show and always will be. And this is where it all started. In all honestly, a decent pilot.
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| Filming the episode in April 2004. It seems Stephanie has a gown like a Jedi. |
The episode begins with an (honestly mysterious) cold open from Sportacus, featuring him in the airship, waking up, flipping, blah blah blah. Honestly a very cool start to the show, and I actually think Sportacus is the best character.
Photo taken by LazyPooky. pictures.lazytown.eu
So, anyways, the next scene is them playing video games in Pixel’s house, and is such a blatant introduction to the characters. Pixel is playing the same video game over and over (which is a football game even though the LazyTown kids would not even THINK about playing football), Trixie is asking Stingy for popcorn (this is not something she’d do, she’d definitely steal it in the live shows or in Season 2), Stingy is refusing to give it to her and Ziggy is being the regular kid he is and eating candy. I STILL love his character.
For the record, you must be demented if you eat popcorn for anything other than a slight snack or for a movie/TV night.
I know that it was the sixth episode produced, but it just feels so weird. The opening sequence for the characters are just.. so out of character. So anyways, we’re now in Milford’s office while he’s cleaning up, and Bessie is.. being Bessie and yippity yappiting awayy on da phone. Milford cleans Bessie with a feather duster, then proceeds to tell her why - Stephanie, his niece is coming to visit town. Normally I find Milford funny in the first season of the show, but I didn’t laugh at all during this sequence. I HATE BESSIE. And it confuses me to think that she’s my mother’s favourite character (Her favourite episode is also Remote Control..)
However, this sequence is much much more funnier. Robbie is in his lair eating the same creamy cake he seems to eat about a million times in this show. He then laughs about how lazy the town is and how it’ll stay like that under his watch, then he sits on his piano and throws away his cake. Perfect timing, you’re talking about how where you live is just how you like it and you’re so strong and fierce and scary to keep it that way, but his clumsiness shows out for that. Robbie was never my favourite character, but Stefan portrayed him amazingly.
So, now Stephers is in LazyTown, at shock about how terrible it is. Weeds all over the place, bugs flying, nobody outside. Did she expect a town called LAZYTOWN to be the home of professional athletes?
Anyways, she meets Milford, her uncle, and he offers to carry her stuff. Stephanie declines and Milford says she is strong. In the lair, Robbie has gotten another slice of cake, and he spits it out and throws it away in shock at the word ‘Stephanie’. This is why there was never an episode about wasting food on the show. Except Swiped Sweets where Sportacus says 'Food’s for throwing, not for growing!’ Robbie suspects trouble for his masterplan to keep the town lazy. We are now in Milford’s amazing house, and Stephanie thinks so as well.
Milford talks about how he is baking a cake for Bessie after Stephanie complains about the smell, and of course Milford messed it up. Anyways, Stephanie talks about playing outside and Milford laughs and informs her that nobody plays in LazyTown, but they USED to. Stephanie asks what she can do after Milford takes her to her room and supplies her with a deck of cards.
Supposedly an hour later, Stephanie has made a tower with her cards and Milford comes to check on her. Stephanie says that if she had another deck she would have made the Empire State Building. When I first heard that, I thought if 9/11 had not happened that she would have said 'the Twin Towers’. However LazyPooky on the GLF reminded me she was only making one building with the deck of cards, and that in different dubs the building has changed. So she shut down my theory, and pretty damn well.
Now the two are in the kitchen, checking out the cake. Stephanie compliments it then tries to go outside. Milford stops her for two reasons: Nobody plays outside, and Milford feared an injury. Stephanie convinces Milford to let her go, and as Milford predicted. It’s boring. Nothing happens except her sitting on a bench alone, rolling a ball. Ziggy comes up to her and they introduce one another. Ziggy tells Stephanie to come to Pixel’s house, and she accepts.
Ziggy tries introducing the gang to Stephanie, but nobody listens. Pixel looks at her and then gains an instant crush and loses his game, but he really doesn’t care. Uhm.. I might just say this is one of the most cringe inducing scenes of the whole show, except where Stingy coughs/chokes on his popcorn in shock that Pixel doesn’t mind losing.
Stephanie introduces herself and then asks them to play soccer. Pixel says they’re already playing soccer (the idiot) and Stephanie asks about REAL soccer. They say they have never played a single sports before and Stephanie sings the song “Have You Ever” (not knowing that Robbie is watching), which I find an incredibly mediocre song, unless it’s in instrumental without the vocals. It still boggles my mind how that won the song vote in 2005.
Anyways, they start kicking a ball around, but Trixie kicks it too high and Robbie gains hold of it. Now plays a kid friendly version of bribing - Robbie gives Trixie a ball to throw at a window, Pixel a new video game with “6000 PLUS bonus levels!!” (Robbie tells Stingy the game was his), and Ziggy a large pile of candy. Robbie tells Stephanie to be lazy like a “good girl” and she reprises Have You Ever in a sad way. It is just me, or is singing when you’re sad is totally stupid?
Stephanie is writing in her diary at Milford’s house and he can clearly see how sad Stephanie is. Milford tells Stephanie about “Number 9”, a superhero from the North Sea who swooshed all around and gives her a tube to send a letter to his airship. I’ve seen the color scheme of that tube all over the place, and I think once at a barber shop. So it’s just getting annoying.
Stephanie writes a letter, puts it in the tube and sends it to the airship, all while Robbie keeps on trying to say that it will only makes things worse and she shouldn’t do it. Of course, they’re at such far distances that Stephanie can’t hear Robbie and she sends the letter to Number 9. I have a fond memory of being in second grade, requesting we watch this episode during indoors break time, and having to pause the video on a frame of Stephanie’s struggling face. Everyone thought it was hilarious. I also remember making a GIF out of this. Stephanie was sending a bomb to the airship. I really question my sanity.
Now Number 9 has the letter. He reads the letter, then reads a book about the history of the show (the town existed before pre-colonial Australia), writes a letter to Stephanie, puts it in an airplane shape, then in a bowling ball, then sends it to her. All while jumping and flipping occasionally, but not showing his face ONCE to the camera. Man, this guy is cool!
Stephanie recieves the letter after a long time, and Number 9 arrives in LazyTown, except he isn’t Number 9! AN IMPOSTER! It’s Number 10. People call him Sportacus, but Sportacus calls himself a slightly above average superhero. I call him the best Nickelodeon character ever.
Beep beepity beep! His crystal beeps two times and he goes on a saving rampage - saving Ziggy, Trixie and Stingy. What a dude, always there when you need him.
Now Robbie is pissed. He feels rotten, so he decides to set up a trap for Sportacus, but instead Bessie falls for it. I must say that digging a hole hundreds of feet into the ground is a surefire way to get someone murdered. Luckily Sportacus, Stephanie and Milford save Bessie. Milford gives Bessie a cake. For a few seconds they both forget Bessie is in a life threathening situation and compliment the cake. See, this is why LazyTown is the pinnacle of comedy, not to mention that while Sportacus is saving Bessie, she has no expression at all. Cons of being a puppet.
Sportacus decides to stay in LazyTown (yes!!) and then they all sing the Bing Bang song while pricking weeds. Robbie is not happy for any of it, and he even falls into his own trap (obviously on accident).
I kinda liked that episode. I used to not like it very much, but revisiting it (A.K.A re-reading the transcript, looking at screenshots and watching the trailer), I actually think it’s a pretty good episode, especially for the first one of the whole show.
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