Stop the Clock! | |
Season 2, Episode 5 | |
Air Date | 1987 |
Previous | Power Trip! |
Next | The Artful Dodger! |
For the song, go to Stop the Clock (song)
Stop the Clock! is the 16th episode of The Raccoons.
Premise[]
Cousin Bentley comes to visit the Evergreen Forest, and Bert is determined to pry the reclusive little raccoon away from his laptop computer, and show him just how fun games can be.
Meanwhile, Cyril Sneer is preparing for the annual Forest Games, and tasks the Pigs with finding the mystical Fountain of Youth, in the hope that its powers will lead him to an easy victory.
Plot[]
Spring has arrived in the Evergreen Forest, and up at Sneer Mansion, the Pigs are trying (with some difficulty) to give the place a good spring clean. Cyril is reading the newspaper, when he learns about the first annual Forest Games, and its prize of an athletic cup, and begins to reminisce about his days as a star athlete. He leaves willing to give anything to relive those young days. Pig One realizes that 'anything' could well mean a raise for the three of them, and discovers the answer in a book he accidentally vacuums up.
Elsewhere, Bert and Broo are out on their morning run. Bert has already learned about the Forest Games, and is determined to train as much as he can, in the hope of winning the Cup. However, when he returns home, he is absolutely exhausted. When he learns that Ralph and Melissa's nephew Bentley (referred to as Ralph's cousin in this episode) will be visiting the Evergreen Forest soon, he perks up, thinking that Bentley will be the perfect person to train for the Games with.
Cyril has allowed Cedric to borrow his old athletic outfit for the track meet. After jokingly suggesting that he once owned a coat made of raccoonskin, he has some more happy memories of his athletic career, when he won first place in many events (except, unsurprisingly, sportsmanlike conduct). However, he is soon interrupted by the Pigs, who have come with their idea on how to make Cyril young again: a drink of water from the Fountain of Youth. Initially thinking of the idea at absolute nonsense, Cyril then orders the Pigs to acquire a sample of the water.
Bentley finally arrives at the Raccoondominium, and makes brief conversation with Bert, before returning to his laptop computer. Bert is taken aback by this reclusive behaviour, until Melissa explains that Bentley's family have never stayed in one place long enough for him to properly make friends. Bert decides it's up to him to pull Bentley out of his shell, and tries to convince the little computer geek to play some games with him. Eventually, Ralph suggests that the two go outside and get some fresh air. Bert is pleased with this idea...until he sees that Bentley has decided to take his computer with them.
When the two try having a game of baseball, Bentley demonstrates his unconventional method of catching the ball: using his computer to calculate the precise point the ball will land, and simply placing his forepaw there. Unfortunately for the little raccoon, his calculations are a bit off, and the ball simply hits him on the head, knocking him out cold.
That night, while Cyril tries to polish up on his pole vaulting, Bentley finally gives Bert a piece of his mind, and makes it clear that he doesn't want anymore to do with physical activity, leaving Bert wondering how he's to get through to the kid now.
The next day, the Pigs have set out to search for the Fountain of Youth, but their efforts lead them to a lawn sprinkler, a leaky fire hydrant, and the water pipe for Cyril's shower. Despite the setbacks, they're not prepared to give up.
Their quest leads them to the clubhouse, where Bert is giving Bentley a sample of his peanut butter soda. The initial mix doesn't agree with Bentley, so Bert heads outside to add some water to the mix. When the Pigs arrive, they see Bert testing the mixture before going back into the clubhouse. A few seconds later, Bentley exits with the jar of peanut butter soda. However, because he's wearing one of Bert's sweaters, the Pigs think it's a much younger Bert Raccoon, and assume the contents of the jar to be what they've been looking for. So while Bentley is distracted embracing the great outdoors, they steal the jar and run back to Sneer Mansion with it.
Cyril is having some chiropractic work done on him when the Pigs return. He tastes the strange concoction, and decides it must be good for him if it tastes so bad. The Pigs assure him that the formula has made him look much younger, and he excitedly heads off to prepare for the Games.
Soon enough, it's the day of the Forest Games. Bentley isn't there, and is instead listening to the events on a radio in the Raccoondominium. Just before the first event, Cyril turns up as a last minute entry, determined to win. The first event is the 100-meter dash, which Bert wins easily. Cyril is still confident despite coming last, and ends up winning the hurdles.
Things take a turn for the worse for Bert during the bike race, when he ends up colliding with Cyril and injuring his leg. Melissa, who is acting as commentator with Dick Ermine, attributes the injury to not doing as much training as he'd planned to, due to being distracted with something else. Bentley realizes what this means, and is determined to make it up to Bert.
A short while later, Bentley arrives at the stadium to take Bert's place. Cyril doesn't believe a kid as short as Bentley would be able to beat him, and becomes even more confident. When Pigs One and Two see Bert and Bentley together, they come to the horrific conclusion that their formula doesn't work after all. After Cyril has participated in the long jump, they try to tell him, but he refuses to believe that the formula is a fake. Much to everyone's surprise, Bentley manages to beat Cyril in the long jump. Not wanting to be beaten by 'Short Stuff', Cyril demands that the bar be raised as high as possible for the final event: the pole vault.
Despite the concerns of Ermine, Cyril manages to clear the bar. Bentley isn't so lucky, knocking the bar loose on his turn. This means that Cyril Sneer has won the Games. While he gloats over his victory, Bentley sadly explains to Bert that he was dead set on winning the cup for him, and feels he's let him down. Bert reminds him that on the plus side, he's now learnt how much fun games can be.
Later, Cyril is trying to take credit for the special formula, and is explaining his intentions to mass market the product when Bert takes a sip of it, and realizes it's his own peanut butter soda. Naturally, Cyril is annoyed at the Pigs for misleading him, and ends up causing his back to give out once again!
Characters[]
- The Bears
- Bentley
- Bert
- Broo
- Cedric
- Cyril
- Dick Ermine
- George (indirectly mentioned)
- Lisa (indirectly mentioned)
- Melissa
- Narrator
- Nicole (indirectly mentioned)
- The Pigs
- Ralph
- Schaeffer (credited)
- Snag
- Sophia (silent cameo)
- Sidekick (silent cameo)
Songs[]
- Growing Up
- Sooner or Later (instrumental)
- The Sweet Smell of Success (instrumental)
Trivia[]
- First appearances of Bentley Raccoon, voiced by Noam Zylberman, and Dick Ermine, voiced by Len Carlson.
- Bert and Cedric's clubhouse is introduced in this episode.
- We learn that Cyril used to be an athlete in his younger days.
- Stock footage from "Opportunity Knocks!" is used at the beginning of this episode.
- Among those who competed in the 1st Annual Evergreen Forest Games are the following - Bert (later Bentley subbing for Bert), Cyril, Cedric, Ralph and Sophia.
- Carl Banas and Sharon Lewis are credited as the voices of Schaeffer and Sophia respectively, but Schaeffer does not appear in this episode, whereas Sophia had no dialogue.
- This is the only episode to be excluded from the 2003 DVD release.
- Bentley is referenced in this episode as Ralph and Melissa's cousin, but episodes after this reference him as Ralph and Melissa's nephew.
- When Bert is making his peanut butter soda, look closely at the jar; it has 'Gibbons' written on it, presumably a reference to background artist Greg Gibbons.
- During the scene where Cyril thinks the potion works, the pigs refer to him as a "Boy Wonder" and a "Teen Titan", a reference to DC Comics' Batman's sidekick, Robin and/or Boy Wonder (or Wonder Boy), who himself is a Teen Titan.
- Watch closely at the scene during the bike race when Bert Raccoon and Cyril Sneer both collide into each other, you'll see Cyril push Bert away from him causing Bert to fall off his bike as well as Cyril also falling off his bike.
- During the flashback scenes to when Cyril Sneer was younger, you hear people cheering as well as a female aardvark saying 'Oh Cyril' and later on during the other flashback scenes you hear the announcer say about Cyril about how he won and then came last due to unsportsmanlike conduct.
Errors[]
- In the first event, we see Melissa Raccoon in the line-up, however moments earlier she is shown to be one of the commentators of the event in the commentators' box.
- For a brief second, Sophia's top and shorts switch colors when she does the long jump.
- In the preview for this episode before the opening credits, Bert says "Me competing against Cyril Sneer? You don't stand a chance old timer" yet in the episode he never says it at all and instead says "Me competing against Cyril Sneer? That cup already has my name on it."
- Also when Cyril shows up at the Evergreen Forest Games he is seen wearing no shoes and then in the next scene he is wearing shoes.
- When the Pigs are searching for the fountain of youth,we see they are watching Bert and when they see Bentley and think it is a younger Bert, we hear the first pig say 'did you see that' and he sounds like the other two who say the same thing and when he speaks again he sounds like Lloyd and not how he did before.
Quotes[]
- Cyril: The search for the fountain of youth? What's this all about?
- Pig One: According to this book sir, one sip from this legendary elusive fountain can give someone eternal youth!
- Cyril: Eternal youth? Preposterous! Ridiculous! Ludicrous! (A short pause while Cyril thinks the idea over in his head) Find it immediately!
- Pigs: Oh, yes sir! Yes sir, immediately!
- Melissa: Bert! Come on down! There's someone here to see you!
- Bert: I'll be right there!
(Bert comes down to meet Bentley, but slips on the stairs and falls down)
- Bert: Uh... hi! You must be Bentley!
- Bentley: And you must be hurt.
- Bert: (chuckles) That's uh... Bert. How was your trip?
- Bentley: Fine. How was yours?
- Melissa: Bentley, you're gonna be sharing Bert's room.
- Bentley: Mr. Bert, pleased to interface with your acquaintance.
- Bert: Hey! Smart kid there! (chuckles) He knows a foreign language!
- Bert: Just you and me! And... your computer.
- Melissa: Hi, Bert, how was your run? (Bert pants then faints) That's nice!
- Cedric: Say, Pop, can I borrow those old track shoes of yours and your old varsity sweater? It's for the track meet.
- Cyril: These shoes and I saw a lot of good years together. And this sweater, it went great with my old raccoonskin coat!
- Cedric: (appalled) Pop!
- Cyril: (chuckles) Just a joke, Cedric...
(Bentley is in bed, recovering from being knocked out by a baseball. Melissa and Bert are by the bedside)
- Bert: Gee Bentley, I thought you had that ball for sure. Uh, you were right under it. Oh well, that's okay. Tomorrow, uh... we're gonna play football. Yeah, footballs are much easier to catch. And uh... after that, you can help me practice for the Forest Games!
- Bentley: Bert, enough! I prefer that tomorrow weren't like today.
- Bert: Huh? What does that mean?
- Bentley: Today, I tried everything you wanted me to. (He takes the hot water bottle off his head, showing a large bump) And what have I got to show for it?!
- Melissa: Gee Bentley, Bert was just trying to show you how much fun games can be. He meant well.
- Bentley: He made me feel unwell. I just wanna sleep now, okay?
- Bert: Okay, okay. Good night Bentley.
- Melissa: Good night.
(Bert and Melissa close the curtains behind them. Bentley is sad.)
- Bert: Hey Melissa, what am I doin' wrong? What have I got to do to get through to that kid?
- Cyril: If I gave out as much as my back does, I'd be broke!
(Cyril tries the "Youth Water" and spits it at Pig One)
- Cyril: This stuff tastes terrible! It must be good for me! (He gulps more) Huh, strange taste. Would go well with jelly!
- Cyril: You call that a jump? Now lift that bar. I want it higher!
- Pig Two: Higher sir?
- Cyril: Higher! Higher than my bank's interest rates!
Gallery[]
- Main article: Stop the Clock!/Gallery
Credits[]
- Main article: Stop the Clock!/Credits