Handy Manny’s Big Construction Job
Bored after days of nothing but small, easy repairs, Manny’s tools are looking for something bigger and more exciting to do. They think they’ve found their chance when Manny’s old friend Dandy Dan calls with an invitation to work on a construction site in Concrete Falls, but after seeing some big-city sights- and meeting some big-city power tools- they start to wish they were home in Sheet Rock Hills again. Meanwhile, Mr. Lopart, who was asked to watch the shop in Manny’s absence, starts trying to fill in for him in the repair business, and his “fixes” are threatening to send Sheet Rock Hills collapsing to the ground.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Mr. Lopart seems to be under the impression that Fixit is called “Frisket”.
- Animal Jingoism: Fixit the Robot Dog and Fluffy the cat do not take well to each other when they first meet, although this is downplayed as they're getting along by the next scene they’re in.
- Answer Cut: At one point, Manny and the tools realize that they need to have someone watch Fixit while they’re in Concrete Falls. They ask aloud who they could have pet-sit… cut to Mr. Lopart walking into Manny’s shop.
- Arc Words: “It feels good to take on a new challenge”, and variations thereof. Also, the phrase “big construction job” is said a fair number of times.
- Broken Lever of Doom: Late in the special, a lever in the cement mixer Manny is driving breaks off, leaving him unable to stop the mixer from pouring cement. Fortunately, Kelly just to happenes to have on her a very long bolt which Manny could stick into the socket and use as a replacement lever, allowing him to successfully shut off the vehicle.
- Call-Back: While working for Dan, Manny employs his crane-operating skills.
- Continuity Nod: Kelly once again sold cacti, this time to Mayor Rosa.
- Double Take: Mr. Lopart does one in the title sequence when he sees Manny driving a crane.
- Drives Like Crazy: At one point, Mr. Lopart attempts to ride Manny’s motorbike, having apparently never driven a motorcycle before in his life. Cue this trope.
- Duct Tape for Everything: Mr. Lopart constructs a “bike basket” for Sherman by duct-taping a cardboard box to the latter’s bicycle. Duct tape is also on the list of Noodle Implements he plans to use to fix a loose tile.
- Extra-Long Episode: The special is a full 44 minutes, double (or rather, quadruple) the length of a normal Handy Manny episode.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: At one point during his musical number, Jack jackhammers the ground out from under him, floats obliviously in midair for about half a second, and then looks down and falls into the hole he’s created.
- Had the Silly Thing in Reverse: Due to his general ineptness, Mr. Lopart manages to send Manny’s motorbike rolling in reverse… without anyone on it.
- Hair Reboot: Mrs. Portillo enters Kelly’s hardware store with sopping wet hair (a result of Mr. Lopart’s failed attempts to fix her leaky pipe). In the next scene she’s in, her hair is dry and back to its normal shape.
- Homesickness Hymn: “It's Good To Get Back Home”, where Manny and the tools sing about the joy of returning to one’s home after traveling.
- "I Am Great!" Song: Spinner and Jack sing one about themselves called “Power Tools”.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: A scene at the beginning of the episode has the tools speculating that various broken objects (a mixer and an alarm clock) are going to require a big repair job, only for Manny to immediately fix them by doing one simple thing (fixing a loose screw and tightening a spring, respectively).
- Mangled Catchphrase: Mr. Lopart mangles Manny’s catchphrase while answering the phone in his shop.Mr. Lopart: Handy Lopart here, I break it, you fix it. Wait, that’s not quite right.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: At one point, Mr. Lopart says that “problem” is his middle name.
- Multi-Part Episode: While not one originally, “Big Construction Job” was split into two 22-minute parts in various releases (including its official upload on Disney+)
- Musical Episode: Contains three songs: “Hey Manny”, “Power Tools”, and “It's Good To Get Back Home”.
- Noodle Implements: Mr. Lopart decides that, to fix a loose tile, he’ll need a roll of duct tape, paint thinner, chicken wire, and thumbtacks.
- Offscreen Crash: One happens when Lopart throws a ball for Fixit to fetch.
- Overly Long Gag: There’s a long scene of an exhausted Mr. Lopart sitting in a chair, weakly throwing a ball each time Fixit brings it back to him.Mr. Lopart: And fetch… and fetch… and fetch… and fetch…
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Mr. Lopart engages in this when making a bike basket for Sherman.Mr. Lopart: I think this is the best bike basket I’ve ever built.Sherman: How many have you built?Mr. Lopart: Well… one, but it’s the best one, so…
- Snap Back: While filling in for Manny, Mr. Lopart actually manages to improve his repair skills from “absolutely atrocious” to “vaguely passable”. In the very next episode, he’s back to his normal clumsy self.
- Special Edition Title: Rather than using the normal title sequence, Big Construction Job has a unique one of Manny driving a crane to hang a metal version of his sign on the repair shop.
- Stock Phrases: When his mini-hard hat falls over his eyes, Rusty shouts out “Who turned out the lights?!”
- Stock Rhymes: “It's Good To Get Back Home” uses the home/roam rhyme in the chorus, and the down/town rhyme in one of the verses.
- Title Drop: This is done pretty much CONSTANTLY, starting only a few minutes in when the tools talk about their desire to work on a “big construction job”.
- To Be Continued: The Multi-Part Episode version throws up one of these cards after the scene where Mr. Lopart drives away on Manny’s motorcycle.
