Handy Manny’s Big Race
Elliot comes to Manny with an out-of-nowhere job- he’s going to be racing in the Wood Valley 500, and he needs Manny to fix up an old car he bought. This is done, and on the day of the race Manny and the tools start working as Elliot’s pit crew- until circumstances force Manny to take Elliot’s place behind the wheel!
Tropes include:
- The Alleged Car: The racecar Elliot buys is one, at least until Manny fixes it up and turns it into a proper Cool Car.
- Anthropomorphic Food: One of the billboards around the racetrack depicts a cartoon pineapple with eyes.
- Audible Gleam: The windshield of Elliot’s car emits one when polished.
- Balloonacy: When Mr. Lopart has Rusty hold some balloons shaped like his face that he was planning to pass out at the race, Rusty ends up being lifted into the air by them.
- The Big Race: Elliot is planning to drive in a car race called the Wood Valley 500; Manny ends up having to drive in his place after he chickens out.
- Brick Joke: When the tools are serving as Elliot’s pit crew, Pat says that he’s in charge of hammering out dents, and demonstrates on a nearby piece of scrap metal. Later, Pat ends up falling on the same piece of metal, and denting it again.
- Broken Lever of Doom: At the beginning of the episode, the joystick snaps off of the controller for an RC car the tools were playing with, somehow causing the car to careen out of control.
- Call-Back: The car race being held in Wood Valley is a subtle one to the Wood Valley Bike Race.
- Continuity Nod:
- Elliot bought the car with money he saved up from working at the video store.
- Milton can be seen in Elliot’s yard at various points.
- Some familiar cans of hydraulic fluid can be seen in the pit crew’s stand at the race.
- One of the racecars appears to be sponsored by Spiffy Soap.
- The billboards around the racetrack are loaded with these- there’s billboards for the company that made a certain kind of camera, Big Town Hardware, 105.3 Radio, and whatever company made that mechanical bull. Oh, and Spiffy Soap gets a billboard, as does The Wing And Nut Show.
- Extra-Long Episode: A full 22-minute episode, while most episodes of Handy Manny are Two Shorts.
- Fanboy: Elliot is a massive fan of Chase Davis, a racecar driver.
- Flashback Effects: A flashback to the time Manny built a go-kart as a kid begins and ends with a ripple effect.
- Furry Confusion: Elliot can be seen at one point working on his car with an inanimate socket wrench.
- Hidden Depths:
- Elliot has always wanted to be a racecar driver.
- Apparently, Manny built a working go-kart as a kid.
- Mr. Lopart claims to have some, although his claim actually being true is fairly… unlikely.
Mr. Lopart: You know, there was a time when I was very well-known around the racing circuit. In fact, they used to call me “Wheels Lopart”. - History with Celebrity: Somehow, Kelly and Chase Davis are old friends.
- Instantly Proven Wrong:
- When a RC car is going out of control:
Pat: I’ll stop it this time, Manny!
(The car turns and heads straight for him; he yelps and dives out of the way)- A Running Gag throughout the first part of the episode is that a part will fall off Elliot’s car whenever someone makes a statement suggesting that, possibly, the car isn’t in too bad a state.
- When Manny is collecting the parts needed to fix Elliot’s car.
Chase Davis: They don’t make these flywheel ring gears anymore. It’s gonna be pretty hard to find.
Kelly: And one flywheel ring gear. I knew I had one left. - I've Heard of That — What Is It?:Pat: We’re gonna be a pit crew! What’s a pit crew?
- Musical Chores: In addition to the series’ usual example, Manny, the tools, and Elliot also sing “One Step At A Time” while fixing up Elliot’s racecar.
- Musical Episode: Downplayed, as the episode contains one song which is not present in a normal episode of Handy Manny: “One Step At A Time”, which is about how you can get big projects done if you tackle them, well, one step at a time.
- Performance Anxiety: Elliot ends up getting this, and chickening out of driving in the Wood Valley 500- Manny takes his place behind the wheel.
- Premiseville: It’s a lot subtler than most of the series’ examples, but Wood Valley is another town named after a building material.
- Ridiculously Fast Construction: Somehow, Manny and the tools are able to restore Elliot’s clunker of a racecar to pristine condition in only a few days, or possibly a single day.
- Stealth Pun: Mr. Lopart, a candy store owner, offers to paint Elliot’s car- and paints it candy-apple red.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: This is done rather subtly, as Chase Davis is a racecar driver, and his first name is also the term for a situation in which you’d need to move fast.
- Tyop on the Cover: The episode’s title card has the title written as “Handy Manny Big Race”, accidentally omitting the apostrophe and “s”.
- Wink "Ding!": One plays when Turner winks at Felipe after Mr. Lopart starts making up Blatant Lies about his supposedly-exciting past.
