I know I try and thump you guys all the time. But can we be friends?
Pa shows Junior the Nirvana Tree, telling him when all the leaves fall, the latter will be King. As soon as Pa says this, the leaves all fall except for one. Unwilling to take on the responsibility, Junior secretly eats the last leaf, which shrinks him.Thinking he's a Fraggle, Pa attacks him. Escaping him, Junior meets Wembley. Wembley takes him to the Trash Heap, who advises Junior to learn more about the universe. Wembley then takes him to the Rock and introduces Junior to the Fraggles' lifestyle. After meeting Cotterpin, Junior realizes the connection between Fraggles, Gorgs, and Doozers. He rushes home to inform Pa and Ma—just in time to see Pa throw a time bomb into the Rock to get rid of the Fraggles.
Junior runs back to the Rock and defuses the bomb just before it goes off. Returning to the garden, he tells his parents what happened to him, about his new friends, that the bomb nearly killed them, and that Pa doesn't know the first thing about ruling. As he tells them that he's now King, he returns to normal. He's crowned later that day but abdicates and abolishes the monarchy.
This episode contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Response: After Junior's second narrow escape down the Fraggle hole from Pa...Junior: Boy, doesn't he ever get tired of thumping Fraggles?
Wembley: Did you? - Awesome Moment of Crowning: Junior subverts this. After being crowned King of the Universe, he throws the crown away, believing the universe doesn't need a ruler.
- Came from the Sky: Doc and Sprocket are on a camping trip. Through the telescope he's brought, Doc sees a meteor heading for the forest they're in, and he and Sprocket go to look for it. It turns out to be the crown.
- Character Development:
- Junior, over the course of the episode, learns about the connection between the Fraggles, Doozers, and Gorgs, and becomes friends with the Fraggles.
- Wembley. A nervous ditherer at the beginning of the series, he's now assertive to the point that Junior thought he was the leader of the Fraggles.
- Continuity Nod: As Wembley is leading Junior to the Great Hall, some of the Fraggles are playing Rock High, a game first seen in "Mokey and the Minstrels".
- Didn't See That Coming: When Junior ate the Nirvana Tree leaf, he never dreamed that it would shrink him.
- Dude, Not Funny!: When Wembley, on first meeting the shrunken Junior, bursts out laughing, Junior has this reaction.Junior: It's not so funny, you know! My own Pa tried to kill me.
- Easily Forgiven: Downplayed. The other Fraggles do start laughing at Junior when they see how small he's grown, but Wembley shuts them up, and they decide not to hold a grudge against him for the times he's tried to thump them. It helps that Junior defuses the Time Bomb Pa threw into the Rock in an attempt to get rid of the Fraggles.
- Eat the Evidence: To prevent the last leaf of the Nirvana Tree from falling, Junior picks it. As soon he does, though, he worries that if his parents see that he has the leaf, they won't believe that it didn't fall. He decides to get rid of the leaf by eating it.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Ma's typical "Eeek... a FRAGGLE!" reaction when she sees Wembley and the shrunken Junior.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: When Wembley takes Junior to the Great Hall, all the assembled Fraggles start laughing on realizing how small Junior now is. Wembley, though, quickly puts a stop to this.Wembley: Everybody stop laughing right NOWWWWWW!
[The other Fraggles stop.] - In Another Man's Shoes: Being chased and nearly thumped makes Junior realize what he's been putting the Fraggles through for so long.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Junior, as a result of eating the Nirvana Tree leaf.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Pa assures Junior that the Nirvana Tree's leaves won't fall for years. Almost immediately, every leaf but one falls, causing Pa to Faint in Shock.
- Interspecies Friendship: Junior makes friends with the Fraggles.
- It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Junior eats the Nirvana Tree leaf so he won't become King of the Universe, because he doesn't know what the universe is. When he tells this to the Trash Heap, she responds like this:The Trash Heap: Well, if you don't know what it is, how can you be so sure you don't want to be the King?
Junior: Well, uh... gee, it made sense a minute ago. - Just in Time: Junior manages to defuse the Time Bomb just before it goes off.
- The Leader: Discussed. Junior thinks Wembley is the leader of the Fraggles, but Wembley explains that Fraggles have no leaders—they each lead themselves and they all lead one another. The song "Boss of Yourself" is all about this.
- Melancholy Musical Number: Junior doesn't want to be King of the Universe—he doesn't even know what the universe is. In despair, after all the Nirvana Tree leaves but one have fallen, he sings "How Wide, How Far, How Real" while trying to understand the universe.Junior: [singing] But when I try to understand,
I always wonder in despair,
How wide, how far, how real it is. - Mistaken Identity: After Junior shrinks, his parents think he's a Fraggle, and Pa tries to thump him.
- Nice Guy: When Junior is in despair over how to grow big again, Wembley takes him to the Trash Heap, then lets him stay at the Rock while he helps him work things out.
- Odd Friendship: Junior develops this, first with Wembley and then with the other Fraggles, despite the fact that, in the past, he's trapped them and tried to thump them. Learning what it was like to have someone nearly thump him does a lot to bring about this friendship.
- Oh, Crap!: Junior, when he sees Pa throwing the Time Bomb down the Fraggle hole.Junior: Oh, no! All my new friends will die!
- Race Against the Clock: Junior chases the Time Bomb down a tunnel, then tries to figure out how to stop it before it explodes.
- The Reveal: Cotterpin tells Junior and Wembley that Doozer constructions, which Fraggles love to eat, are made from the radishes in the Gorgs' garden. Suddenly Junior realizes the connection between Fraggles, Gorgs, and Doozers.Junior: Wait a minute!
Wembley: What?
Junior: I think I understand! You see, I love to grow radishes...
Wembley: Yeah...?
Junior: ...and Doozers love to build with radishes...
Wembley: Yeah...?
Junior: ...and you Fraggles love to eat radishes!
Wembley: Yeah!
Junior: It all fits together!
[A Beat as Wembley realizes what Junior's just said.]
Wembley: It does!
Junior: Wait 'til I tell my mommy and daddy about this!
Wembley: Okay!
Junior: Oh, boy! [Runs off.]
[Wembley laughs happily, then picks up a Doozer stick and looks at it in awe.]
Wembley: These are made of radishes? - Rhetorical Question Blunder: Wembley does this moments after seeing that Junior has shrunk.Junior: [bawling] How could something this terrible happen to me?
Wembley: Well... maybe it was something you ate.
[Junior cries harder.] - Royals Who Actually Do Something: Junior, who saves the Fraggles from being blown up and abolishes the monarchy.
- Stopped Dead in Their Tracks: When Wembley says the source of wisdom they're going to visit is the seemingly ordinary heap of trash behind them, Junior is ready to leave.Junior: You Fraggles are crazy! I'm getting out of here.
[From behind him, the Trash Heap rises up.]
The Trash Heap: Junior Gorg! How nice of you to drop by.
[Junior stops short, his mouth gaping in shock. After a moment of Stunned Silence, he turns to see who's speaking.]
Junior: Are... are you... you talking to... to me?
The Trash Heap: You see another Gorg who looks like he just ate a Nirvana Tree leaf anywhere around here? - Sympathy for the Devil: Even though Junior has tried to thump him more than once, Wembley feels bad for Junior after the same thing nearly happens to him.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Lampshaded by Cotterpin when Junior accidentally knocks down a Doozer construction.Cotterpin: Hey, Funny Face! If you're gonna knock these down, the least you could do is eat 'em.
- Time Bomb: Pa throws one into the Rock to try to get rid of the Fraggles.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Junior comes to understand the Fraggles and ends up as their friend.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Despite the fact that Junior has repeatedly tried to thump him, Wembley feels terrible for Junior on learning that his own father mistook him for a Fraggle and tried to thump him. Wembley takes Junior to the Trash Heap for advice, then lets him stay at the Rock while helping him try to figure out the problem of how to get big again.
- Wants Versus Needs: Junior finds out that he will become King when the last leaf falls off the Nirvana Tree, and all but one have already fallen off. Not wanting the responsibility of ruling the whole universe, Junior thinks that getting rid of the leaf would mean he'd never become King, so he eats it... and is shrunk to the size of a Fraggle. When he tells the Trash Heap he ate it because he didn't want to rule the universe, she explains that "when you eat a Nirvana Tree leaf, you don't always get what you want. But you just might find you get what you need." What Junior needed was to understand the universe, see what it's like to be a Fraggle, and learn how the Fraggles, the Doozers, and the Gorgs are all connected. In the end, Junior understands how the universe works and stands up to his father after he almost destroys the Fraggles with a bomb. He grows back to normal and is crowned King, then decides that the universe doesn't need a king and throws the crown away.
- Where's the Kaboom?: After throwing the bomb into the Rock, Pa is listening at the tunnel entrance for an explosion, not realizing the bomb has been defused.Pa: Huh. That's funny. I don't hear anything.
