The Picnic
Hater, in a worse mood than usual.
Lord Hater wants to take over the universe via a wish granted from a cosmic being, but Wander merrily arrives and declares that he's going to have a picnic in the exact same spot Hater is planning to conquer. Oh, and Emperor Awesome is also there to grab the wish, and he's brought his Fist Fighters with him. Lord Hater is having a bad day...
Note: Disney Channel advertised this episode as a "series preview" and was the first aired.
Tropes appearing in "The Picnic":
- Demoted to Extra: Sylvia spends most of the episode in the bathroom, emerging only at the very end.
- Enemy Rising Behind: Lord Hater does this when he appears behind Wander, about to strangle him.
- Facepalm: Done by Peepers and the Mooks after Hater accidentally wastes his wish.
- Force Field: Hater uses one to keep Awesome's forces out—only to find that Wander has inexplicably appeared inside it.
- Gone Behind the Bend: Hater chases Wander around a tall narrow rock, until Wander climbs up on it to watch the planets align, leaving Hater to run around the rock until he finds Wander on top and resumes chasing him.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: A frustrated Lord Hater punches out Emperor Awesome with one of Awesome's own fist-shaped minions.
- Magic Countdown: Hater's wish for Wander to shut up for 5 seconds actually lasts around 22 seconds in real life.
- Overly Long Gag:
- Wander scootching down the hill to find the perfect picnic spot.
- "Mustard or mayo? Mustard or mayo? Mustard or mayo? Mustard or mayo? Mustard or mayo?"
- Pass the Popcorn: Both literally (Wander enjoys some popcorn while he and Hater are in the force field together) and figuratively (Wander has his picnic while watching Hater and Awesome's forces fight it out).
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Hater lets out one as he sees Awesome beat him to the tower.
- Staggered Zoom: Hater has one when Wander repeatedly offers sandwiches to him.
- Three... Two... One...: Peepers says this just before Hater's accidental wish to silence Wander wears off.
- Un-Paused: Hater stops Wander mid-sentence from "You always have to take a silly one, 'ca...", accidentally wishing for him to shut up. When the wish ends, he resumes right where he left off when Hater shushed him: "...'cause a silly photo shows you're havin' fun."
- Wasteful Wishing: At the end when Wander pesters Hater to the point that he completely botches his wish from the "Celestial Being"Hater: I WISH YOU WOULD LEAVE ME ALONE FOR FIVE SECONDS!Celestial Being: Yeah, okay, I can swing that.
- When the Planets Align: The plot revolves around a planetary alignment.
- Whole-Plot Reference: A cosmic being of infinite power appears under certain conditions to grant people one wish. Sound familiar, Dragon Ball fans?
- Wilhelm Scream: One of Hater's Mooks does this.
The Fugitives
Now you see them, now you don't: Sylvia and Wander have just skedaddled.
Wander and Sylvia have to get off a planet ruled by Hater, but Wander's Chronic Hero Syndrome makes things a bit difficult.
Tropes appearing in "The Fugitives":
- Added Alliterative Appeal: "Might I propose a proposition to your perplexing and ponderous peanut problem?"
- An Aesop: There are times when you should help others, but there are also times which are serious and you have to get the job done.
- Bear Hug: Wander gets a bone-crunching hug from a rock-alien lady for helping when one of her babies fell out of her cart.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The aliens Wander assisted help him and Sylvia escape in the end.
- Big Damn Heroes: Played straight and subverted. Sylvia's last-minute rescue is foiled because she's outnumbered by Watchdogs. However, the citizens of the planet pull one of their own to repay Wander for helping them throughout the episode.
- Buffy Speak: Wander states his "feeling" at one point floats up past the "dangly thing in his mouth" (uvula).
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Hater's minions attempt to draw out Wander by causing multiple accidents that Wander wants to assist people with, but can't due to promising Sylvia that he wouldn't help anyone else due to it constantly causing their escape plans to fail. Wander caves in.
- Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: A major plot point here. Despite Sylvia's warning, Wander can't resist helping someone in need for more than about a minute, and even then he has to make a supreme effort to hold back.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When one of the Watchdogs remarks having some sure way to find Wander and Sylvia would be "helpful", this gives his superior the idea to cause some trouble for people and exploit Wander's Chronic Hero Syndrome.
- Flaw Exploitation: The Army of Watchdogs victimize random beings to draw Wander out because they know he's compelled to help people.
- The Ghost: While his presence is felt throughout the episode, Hater never actually appears.
- Heart Beats out of Chest: Wander's heart beat out his chest as he describes the good feeling he gets from helping others.
- Meaningful Echo: Sylvia earlier tells Wander the importance of sorting high priorities (getting off the planet) from low priorities (helping every stranger they meet). Later, when she comes back to save Wander, she explains that she decided what she thought was a low priority (leaving the planet without her best friend) and a high priority (going back to save him).
- Mundane Made Awesome: Two ant colonies were at war for thousands of years...over a peanut.
- Nobody Here but Us Birds: During her first escape plan, Sylvia uses bird-calls to attempt to signal Wander.
- Pragmatic Villainy: The Watchdogs pull this on Wander by causing three problems in the marketplace, causing Wander to help all of them. Then when one of the Watchdogs drops his gun, Wander unknowingly helps him, setting up the last trap for him to get caught.
- Real Time: Sylvia points out the garbage barge will be leaving the planet in precisely three minutes. Exactly three minutes after she says that, she and Wander are tossed onto the barge as it is leaving.
- Sanity Slippage: Wander has a brief one while trying to repress his urges to help those in need.
- Silly Reason for War: Wander helps out two tribes of ants that were about to go to war over a single peanut.
