The Lorraine siblings and Martha are in the yard playing catch (while Skits rolls in the grass) and Helen is attempting to add "catch" to Jake's vocabulary. Just then, T.D. and Truman show up. They invite Helen to go to the park, but Helen declines since she has to watch Jake while their parents are next door. Truman is willing to babysit with Helen, but T.D. feels it's not exciting enough. Truman decides to think of something fun to do while babysitting, but no one can think of anything. Truman makes a joke, but no one finds it funny.
T.D. starts reading a comic book, but Martha is offended that the dogs are the villains. She begins writing a story in which a dog saves some humans who are stuck in a cellar with a steel door and the air leaking out of a crack in the wall. T.D. thinks that it would make a good comic, so the kids go inside to draw comics.
Truman finishes his comic first, and it stars Helen and T.D. working at a bank and getting stuck in the vault, and Martha and Skits trying to save them, but failing, so Truman in a metal suit saving them. Martha complains that the comic doesn't depict her story exactly, then Helen completes hers.
It involves her and Martha babysitting Jake like in reality, and dancing and goofing around to pass the time, only for Jake to stick to the ceiling with peanut butter. When Helen's comic has Nelson (who has a litterbox on his head) speak, Martha complains because cats don't speak, then again complains that it isn't the story she wrote. Helen explains that she thought Martha's story wasn't interesting enough.
Then, T.D. shares his comic, which involves Martha, Skits, and Bert on parachutes trying to rescue Helen and Truman from behind the locked door of a cave, belonging to a muscular boar-man, while a ground squirrel sucks the air out of the cave. However, it doesn't have an ending because he ran out of paper.
Martha becomes angry that none of the kids found her story interesting enough to adapt exactly, so she and the kids (except Jake) decide to deliberately shut themselves in the basement to prove it's boring. However, when they try, the door locks. At first, Martha is happy that her story is true, but then she realises that she and Skits are inside the basement and thus can't save the kids.
When Danny and Mariella arrive home, Jake toddles up and says, "Door" to them over and over. The parents try to record him, then Helen calls from in the basement. When the parents set the kids and dogs free, Mariella initially tells Helen off for not watching her brother, but then perks up when she realises that Jake was trying to tell his parents that his sister and her friends were trapped behind the door. The kids are impressed, though Martha is still salty that they didn't like her story.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal:
- In T.D.'s comic he reads, a cat wears only a space helmet and a belt, while a dog wears only a hat.
- In the comic Truman draws, Martha and Skits wear capes, domino masks, and (in Martha's case) an insignia.
- All Part of the Show: When the door locks, Martha initially thinks Helen and T.D. are just acting out her story.
- Animal Jingoism: In T.D.'s comic, cats are the heroes and dogs are the villains.
- Artistic License – Child Labor Laws: Truman's comic has the ten-year-old Helen and T.D. cast as bank workers.
- Artistic License – Physics: In-Universe — Martha writes a story in which air is leaking out of a crack in the wall, and she insists on keeping it that way even when told that's not how air works.
- Baby See, Baby Do:
- Upon seeing Helen, T.D., and Truman drawing comics, Jake draws too.
- Jake repeats the word "door" when Helen, then his parents, say it.
- Baby's First Words: Mariella describes "door" as Jake's first word. While he has technically said other words earlier in the series, this is the first word he's said that's neither pronounced wrong (e.g. "oggie" for "doggie" in "Martha Calling") nor just him mimicking a word without knowing what it meant (e.g. "baby" in "Martha Blah Blah").
- Babysitting Episode: This episode focuses on Helen, T.D., and Truman trying to entertain themselves while babysitting Jake.
- The Bore: Helen's portrayal of Nelson is described as "dull" and "boring".
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Truman's version of Martha has a red "M" on her front when being a superhero.
- But You Were There, and You, and You: Everyone uses themselves and others as characters in their comics.
- Circling Birdies: When Martha and Skits crash into the steel door in Truman's comic, Skits sees stars.
- Collective Groan: Helen, Martha, and T.D. all groan at Truman's word joke.
- Comically Missing the Point: When T.D. thinks Martha's story would make a good comic, he first asks her to draw it even though she has no thumbs.
- Covered in Gunge: Helen's comic depicts Jake as covered in peanut butter.
- Damsel in Distress:
- In Truman's comic, Helen is stuck in a bank vault (along with T.D.).
- In T.D.'s comic, she's stuck in a cave with a squirrel sucking the air out (along with Truman).
- Distressed Dude:
- In Truman's comic, T.D. is stuck in a bank vault (along with Helen).
- In T.D.'s comic, Truman is stuck in a cave (with Helen) and a ground squirrel is sucking the air out.
- Everyone Has Standards: Martha has no qualms about portraying air inaccurately, or about Jake sticking to the ceiling with peanut butter (which is also unrealistic), but she draws the line at Nelson being able to speak.
- Funny Animal: Helen's comic depicts Martha standing on two legs.
- Her Codename Was Mary Sue: Truman casts himself as a hero in a metal suit saving the day.
- Heroic Dog:
- Conversed. Martha says dogs should always be heroes, then starts writing a story about a dog letting some humans out of a cellar with a steel door and the air leaking out.
- Subverted in Truman's comic, which has Martha and Skits trying to save Helen and T.D., who are locked in a bank vault, only to not be able to.
- Impact Silhouette: In Truman's comic, the dogs make dog-shaped holes in the walls they bust through.
- Inflating Body Gag: The ground squirrel in T.D.'s comic gets fatter as it sucks the air out of the cave.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Zigzagged. T.D., Helen, and Martha groan after Truman makes a joke about "humongous" being a "big" word, but it's unknown if they're groaning because it's a pun, or because they were looking for serious suggestions as opposed to jokes.
- Little Professor Dialogue: Discussed when Truman makes a joke about teaching Jake (who's about 19-21 months old) to say, "humongous".
- Locked in a Freezer:
- Martha's story has humans locked in a basement with the air somehow leaking out.
- Truman's comic has Helen and T.D. locked in a bank vault.
- T.D.'s comic has Helen and Truman locked in a cave with a ground squirrel, who's sucking the air out.
- No Ending: Since T.D. ran out of paper, his comic ends before we find out if Helen and Truman got saved.
- Pun: Truman jokes about "humongous" being a "big" word.
- Superheroes Wear Capes: In Truman's comic, Martha and Skits wear capes while being heroes.
- Talking Animal: Conversed when Martha doesn't like how Helen gave Nelson dialogue in her story, since cats don't speak (even though she herself is a talking animal).
- Tempting Fate: The kids scoff at the idea of a plot revolving around being in a locked basement... only to end up locked in the basement themselves.
- Toilet Humour: In Helen's comic, Nelson has a litterbox on his head.
- Viewer Species Confusion: Defied In-Universe — when T.D. gets to Bert and the ground squirrel in his comic, he outright states that they're not cats.
