Story Hour
Manny and the tools go to the library to enjoy story hour- until a storm-induced power outage leaves everyone in the dark.
”Story Hour” provides examples of:
- Continuity Nod: After mentioning wanting to keep a library book about music for one more week, Felipe sings “De Colores”.
- Fictional Document:
- At the beginning of the episode, Manny and the tools are shown with some of these, which they borrowed from the library- Felipe has a book about music, Squeeze has a book on puppies, Dusty has a book of fairytales, and Pat has a book about… hammers.
- Marion plans to read one out loud for story hour, although the power cuts out before she can get any further than “once upon a time”. Robert ends up reading to them from a braille book, which is apparently about a boy named Eric who took a trip to the farm.
- Hollywood Darkness: When the power goes out in the library, the audience can still see everything perfectly clearly, but the characters can’t. This gets even worse when the storm that caused the blackout ends, as there’s lots of sunlight streaming in through the windows and yet the characters still act as if they can’t see anything.
- Ironic Name: Robert, a blind boy, named his seeing-eye dog Sunshine, after a kind of light.
- Library Episode: Manny and the tools go to the library for story hour, but end up having to contend with a power outage.
- Once Upon a Time: The book Marion wants to read for story hour starts this way.
- Power Outage Plot: A storm ends up knocking out the power to the library during story hour, and Manny and the tools have to figure out how to hold story hour in the dark.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: Flicker conveniently burns out his bulb, preventing his light from easily trivializing the “you can’t read in the dark” conundrum of the episode.
Long John Lopart
Mr. Lopart, um… dresses as “Long John Lopart”, a pirate cousin he doesn’t actually have, in order for… Manny to help him put together a table? What?
Tropes in “Long John Lopart” include:
- Accidental Misnaming: This is invoked by Mr. Lopart; in order to help sell “Long John” as a separate person from him who’s new to Sheet Rock Hills and unfamiliar with Manny and the tools, he “accidentally” calls Rusty “Crusty”.
- Aesop Amnesia: You know the lesson Mr. Lopart learned, about admitting he needs help? Yeah, that’s not going to stick in the slightest.
- Animal Reaction Shot: Fluffy gets two eye-roll shots- one after Mr. Lopart says that he doesn’t need any help building a table, and one after Mr. Lopart says “Manny thinks I can do anything!”
- Answer Cut: When Mr. Lopart’s table falls apart for the umpteenth time:Mr. Lopart: Oh, now what am I gonna do?
(Camera cuts to Fluffy by a photo of Mr. Lopart and Manny) - …But He Sounds Handsome: While on the phone with Manny, “Long John” calls Mr. Lopart “a handsome fellow, tall and muscular”.
- Character Title: The episode is named after the pirate cousin Mr. Lopart doesn’t actually have, whom he pretends to be for… reasons.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mrs. Lopart has one of those bottles of vegetable oil Flicker found he could play in “Flicker Joins The Band” in her kitchen.
- Once again, Rusty is shown to be scared of pirates.
- Dressed to Plunder: Long John Lopart has a hat with a skull and crossbones, a bandanna, an eyepatch, and a hook hand. Justified, as his outfit is really just a pirate Halloween costume.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: When the tools give Mr. Lopart a pirate flag, and he accidentally reprises an old Lame Rhyme Dodge.Mr. Lopart: Oh, I love it. I’ll hang it in my candle sho- I mean, candy shop.
- Furry Confusion: Among the flags in Kelly’s store is a flag with icons of inanimate versions of Manny’s tools on it.
- Hook Hand: Mr. Lopart’s pirate costume comes with one.
- Invented Individual: Mr. Lopart makes up “Long John Lopart”, supposedly a pirate cousin of his, and dresses as him in order to call Manny for help without Manny having to know that Mr. Lopart needed help.
- Jolly Roger: Mr. Lopart’s “Long John” outfit has a skull-and-crossbones on the hat; later, Kelly gives “Long John” a proper pirate flag.
- Lame Rhyme Dodge: After accidentally mentioning his “candy shop” while disguised as Long John, Mr. Lopart immediately claims that he meant “candle shop”.
- Long John Shout Out: Mr. Lopart decides to name his fake pirate cousin “Long John Lopart”.
- Offscreen Crash: Mr. Lopart produces one at the beginning of the episode, while trying to put together a table.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Mr. Lopart’s “Long John Lopart” outfit is nothing more than an old Halloween costume, but somehow Manny and the tools (except for Turner, who sees through it instantly) are fooled. Oh, and Fluffy has one that’s even worse; he dressed her up as his Pirate Parrot.
- Pirate Episode: Well, sort of; Mr. Lopart pretends to be his (nonexistent) pirate cousin for very convoluted reasons.
- Pirate Parrot: Long John Lopart has one, named “Tuffy”, who is very definitely not Fluffy in a bad parrot suit.
- Series Continuity Error: Mr. Lopart has a variety of old Halloween costumes in his closet, despite having said in “Halloween” that he goes as a superhero every year.
- Snap Back: At the end of the episode, Mr. Lopart is given a Jolly Roger flag, and says he’ll hang it in his store; the flag is promptly never seen again.
- Talk Like a Pirate: Long John has all the stereotypical pirate vocal traits, although Mr. Lopart keeps slipping back into his normal voice.
- We Sell Everything: For some reason, Kelly’s hardware store sells a bunch of random flags, including a Jolly Roger.
