119: Prince Stingy (prod 132)

Filming in November 2004. This photo shouldn't have been taken - switch off the cameras so you don't give the crazy fans the attention they want.

Original airdate: June 10, 2005

Story by Magnus Scheving

Written by Noah Zachary, Cole Louie, Magnus Scheving

Directed by Raymond P. Le Gue, Magnus Scheving

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, David Matthew Feldman, Julie Westwood

I never really liked Stingy. An episode about him? What will I think about it?

Sportacus is in the airship and he is hitting apples with a bunch of tennis rackets, making sure they all land on the floor in a square-shaped bunch. FOOD WASTING!!! Actually, he is finishing off his Sports Candy Castle. FORESHADOWING!!!

The kids are outside doing some roleplaying and fighting with balloon swords. Sportacus decides to see what they’re doing through his telescope, which I must admit, I have always wanted. Meanwhile, Robbie is trying to sleep and gets woken up by their battle cries.

He then says those kids don’t understand the joy of sitting around doing nothing all day. Funny thing is, Magnus Scheving does. He himself says that everyone is Robbie Rotten sometimes. Anyways, Pixel, Stephanie & Trixie are declaring themselves the 3 musketeers and Stingy is declaring himself the prince. FORESHA- Oh, the episode is literally titled ‘Prince Stingy’.

The kids want to take a juice and snack break but Stingy says that they don’t want to stop and they have to listen to him because he is a prince. Way to take advantage. Robbie is eavesdropping and realizes 'Sticky’ wants to be a prince. He has a brilliant idea to make his wish come true. Meanwhile, Stingy throws his paper crown away in hopes for a real one.

Sportacus’ crystal beeps while he is still looking at the telescope. Stingy is driving his car, and he is in trouble. Then plays a recycled and re-edited rescue scene from 'The Great Crystal Caper’. The stories in this season are so captivating and awesome but so many shots, scenes and songs are reused it just annoys me a lot.

After that Stingy asks Sportacus what is wrong with the world and if he thinks Stingy’s a prince. Sportacus says Stingy is a nice guy (nice my butt, he broke a gift in the Christmas special out of curiosity) but he is interrupted by Stingy who won’t listen any further.

Sportacus has much better things to do then convince an eight year old brat who’s so stingy that his parents literally named him 'Stingy’ as soon as they saw him come out of the womb that he is in-fact a prince. Anyways, Robbie is in his lair, finalizing his plan.

His plan is to go into a disguise as a knight, convince Stingy he is a prince, lock him in a castle, make new laws, and kick Sportacus out of the town! I can think of a bunch of ways this would go wrong, but.. ok. Sportacus is in town and calls for the sky chaser and he goes somewhere. But we have to figure out later.

Because.. IT’S DISGUISE TIME!! Robbie finds the perfect knight disguise (There is only one episode in history where Robbie can’t find a good disguise..) after Lazycus (too hero) & Fordmill Meansbad (too “zero”, get the joke?). Sportacus is going back to the airship.. to drive it into town. Sportacus was in town, he got the sky chaser to drive back to his airship, then he drives the airship back to town??? WHAT??? The logic in this show is non-existent sometimes, and you have to admit that no matter how big a fan you are.Anyways, the kids are still roleplaying when Sir Rottenham comes into the town and tells them who he is. The costume comes with a horse and fake legs on the side. We can see the real legs slightly, LOL!

Robbie is showing them a scroll and pointing the royal seal about how LazyTown used to be ruled by royalty and that he is on a mission to find the lost prince. Stingy is of course interested so he drives over. Robbie then parodies Cinderella by claiming that whoever can fit in Stingy’s shoe is the lost prince.

How in the world did he get his shoe? Something to think about.. so he tries it on Pixel (who actually fits it but Robbie keeps moving the shoe) and Stingy (who pushed Ziggy out the way, this is why I hate him). Of course, it perfectly fits on Stingy. Now the stage is put up, Stingy has a robe.

And then he sings the undeniably awesome song - ’I am a Prince’. This song should’ve been released as a single. It’d fly to the top of the charts in a week! Anyways, Stingy is acting bratty, telling Rottenham to not let the robe touch the floor, and nobody likes it.

Then comes some hilarious dialogue from Ziggy: 'There was once a time when Stingy was just our friend.. it seems like it was yesterday.’ It’s funny because it WAS yesterday. They all get over it and have a sword fight 3 seconds after sulking. Meanwhile, Rottenham tells Stingy to have some laws, but Stingy wants things: toys, candy, electronic devices. Then Rottenham shows him the castle, and he sheds a single tear.

It’s not that deep.. so anyways, Rottenham tells him to look in the castle, and inside is a treasure chest. Inside is a mountain of gold, and it’s shiny. Stingy then shuts the door on Rottenhamburger and the plan is going just how Rottenham wanted it.

Does anyone notice how in the screenshot above, the sky outside the window is purple? The editors were a bit lazy working on LazyTown. Anyways, the kids are still having a sword fight and Rottenham brings a long list of laws “Stingy” has ordered. The first being “No one can play sports anymore forever”. The second being “No more dancing”.

Stephanie is annoyed and says that he can’t do that but he says that she has never slept on a king or queen size bed (I mean.. he got a point..) and knows nothing about royalty. Stephanie has a feeling Stingy isn’t making up these rules, and she says Sportacus will come to the rescue. (I know he’s a superhero, but can’t these kids defend themselves for once?) Then Robbie says the third rule - the blue elf must leave LazyTown forever. Now everybody mad. This bad. Steph sad.

While Stingy is telling knock knock jokes to a coin, he quickly realizes that he wants his friends back. and Robbie locks him in the castle, saying that he’s got everything he wanted. Stingy says he wants his friends, but Rottenham lies and says his friends don’t want him. Robbie tests out his lever that drops you into the ground (seen later in Secret Agent Zero) that is covered by fake grass.

His friends decide that even if he is acting weird, they are all for one and one for all. Stephanie is my favourite kid of them all. She has no health problems and she cares about her friends. This episode proves it further. Meanwhile, Stingy has walked to the top of the ladder and yells for help.. he just put himself in further trouble… what???!!!

Sportacus sees him and uses the Sky Chaser (again..) to save him. But the kids are on it.. until Ziggy, Pixel and Trixie fall in Robbie’s trap. The thing is that, Robbie has pulled the lever, they look down, and THEN they fall.

Honestly, Robbie is so devious, trapping three kids in a hole just so they can be lazy. This show needed to cover the topic of not getting what you want and dealing with it. Anyways, Stephanie has thrown a hook up to the castle and is climbing up.

…and she is in trouble herself now because she doesn’t know how to get down. *sigh* I love this show, but can anyone think?? Then Sportacus comes to the rescue to do exactly what Stephanie did but with an exciting twist.

Because if Magnus (a 39 year old man) visibly touched Julianna (a 13 year old girl) on screen, all the Nick Jr. sissy moms would FREAK, Sportacus wraps one end of the hook over a tree branch, and the other to the airship’s platform.

He calls for a slider from the airship and Stephanie is practically riding on Sportacus’ back, who is on a zipline. All in all a very fun way to get rescued. Then Sportacus CLIMBS UP THE CASTLE to save Stingy by putting him on his back while he goes on the zipline. On the way down, he kicks the lever.

Honestly, I’d get in trouble purposely so he could save me again because that is JUST EPIC! So anyways, Sportacus, Stephanie and Stingy see the kids and they all say 'Oh no’ at different times. Who wrote this part and why? Or were the two rubbing off on Magnus, and caused him to say it on accident?

So he pulls them all up and the episode ends with everyone in safety! NOT. Rottenham still has to serve the consequences for trapping and lying to the kids. So Sportacus uses the sky chaser.. again.. and he stops him.

One thing I notice a lot is that the LazyTowners seem to use anything around them to do something. In Zap It, Pixel uses the soda nearby as an example for the Zapper 6000, and in Rottenbeard, Robbie fights Sportacus using balloon swords. In this episode, Rottenham is going to try to mop Sportacus out of LazyTown!

Sportacus grabs the nearby mop, and the two collide. Robbie is super dizzy (HOW????) and he falls into his own trap. Sportacus offers to help but Robbie says no.

So then they all sing Bing Bang to celebrate… being trapped in a castle and a pit hole, loneliness and lies. All in one episode of a television show targeted at eight year olds. Anyways, Robbie is still trapped in the pit hole, and his puppet horse sneezes on him twice. WHAAATTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!???????????

Ehhhhhhhh..

Not much to say.

6/10