The Good Deed
Wander and Sylvia have an "off day" in which every good deed they attempt to do also causes an even bigger problem. When things get so bad Lord Hater attempts to destroy a solar system, Wander almost loses all faith in himself, until Sylvia restores it.
The Good Deed features examples of:
- An Aesop: Every choice, even the right ones, has consequences.
- All There in the Script: The credits list the male leader of the blue family's name as Spats.
- Artistic License: The tarot cards on the table do not match up in number with the real cards.
- Behind the Black: Wander somehow didn't notice the guy holding the stick he took the carrot from.
- Courtroom Antics: Wander stages a frantic courtroom argument by himself in order to bring peace to two feuding families. It works mainly because it makes them that desperate to stop the madness.
- Feuding Families: Wander settles one by enacting an entire courtroom scene by himself.
- Heroic BSoD: Wander suffers one, becoming extremely hesistant to help any further out of fear of the consequences.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Lord Hater screams that he's not emotionally unstable just before flipping the psychic's table over and vowing revenge on the sun because he was upset over his reading.
- Mood Motif:
- The Kazoo of Success: Every time Wander does a good deed that turns out well (immediately before finding out that it made things worse somehow)...right up until Wander loses hope after all the failures. The episode's last one is for Sylvia's success in talking Wander out of giving up.
- Losing Horns: Type B; whenever a deed goes horribly wrong.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Several times throughout the episode. Granted, all of them were both unintentional and completely random.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: For once in this otherwise exceedingly idealistic show.
- Oh, Crap!: When Hater and Peepers see the missile heading back at them.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Wander refusing to help Lord Hater? Usually he does the complete opposite of that.
- Running Gag: The "Ta-da" kazoo whenever a good deed occurs; then the "wah-wah-wah-wah" banjo which plays the second it goes wrong.
- Star Killing: Lord Hater attempts to blow up the sun that threw off his astrological reading.
- Wham Shot: After the sun is slightly shifted, we cut to a fortune teller saying the shift means a bad fortune on her customer. It’s immediately followed by Hater having an angry rant.
The Prisoner
Commander Peepers scoffs at Lord Hater's idea that Wander is some kind of genius. He appears to be proven right when he captures Wander *by just inviting him aboard* while Sylvia sleeps. But then Wander runs playfully amok in the ship, almost driving Peepers mad. When the ship's self-destruct system is activated, Peepers is forced to admit to Hater that he was right before the villain would cancel the destruct sequence. Meanwhile, Wander is rescued off the ship by Sylvia.
The Prisoner features examples of:
- Aside Glance: By Wander when he sees a video of Hater working out.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Wander is distracted by Peepers' laser gunsight, chasing the dot as if he were a cat and seemingly oblivious to the fact that Peepers is trying to capture him.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Wander comes into the room where several creatures are held captive in cages, at first he appears to gasp in shock at what Hater did to them, then he delivers what he's really shocked about...Wander: Well! That's one star off my five-star review! These guest accommodations are lousy!
- Big Damn Heroes: Sylvia punching Peepers out of nowhere and rescuing Wander, escaping with him as the self-destruct is inadvertently activated.
- Cats Love Laser Pointers: When cornered against a wall by Peepers' laser gun, Wander gets attracted to the laser's pointer like a cat, following it everywhere it points. Peepers takes advantage of this to lure Wander into a jail cell and lock him up.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Peepers.
- Eye Scream:
- Peepers gets accidentally teleported into space by Wander and his eye swells to an enormous size and becomes bloodshot. Considering that Peepers is mostly an eyeball to begin with, this can't be very comfortable for him.
- At the food court, Peepers' eye gets hit with hot sauce, lemon, and pepper, causing it to sting badly.
- Food Fight: Wander starts one in the food court on Lord Hater's ship.
- The Gadfly: When Peepers warns Wander not to press the Self-destruct remote, Wander gets this giddy smile and runs off with the remote.
- Homage: The whole episode is basically a giant call-back to the classic chase cartoons like Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote and Tom and Jerry, especially with Peepers' frustrated insistence that Wander can't possibly be smart enough to keep eluding him.
- Humiliation Conga: Peepers goes through a whole episode of this as he learns the hard way not to underestimate Wander.
- Magic Countdown: The 30-second self destruct actually took over a minute.
- Noodle Incident: While explaining to Peepers that Wander is a crafty genius, Lord Hater recounts three past plans of his: one involving a power crystal that Wander just snatches off his hands and accidentally breaks not five seconds later, one involving a power ring that Wander somehow makes Lord Hater drop in a sea of identical-looking rings, and finally an attempt involving a fiery sword of power that Wander, ever the helpful if ditzy guy, extinguishises with a convenient bucket of water.
- Orbital Shot: When Wander walks into Hater's armory, the camera circles around him as he marvels at the sight.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password for Lord Hater's self-destruct system is "Lord Hater #1 super star".
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: Wander activates the self-destruct in Lord Hater's ship. Hater waits for Peepers to apologize before deactivating it at literally the last second.
- Shout-Out:
- Lord Hater's bedroom has a series of five doors that open up one after the other- similar to the door sequences on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- One of Lord Hater's past plans foiled by Wander involved him holding a fiery sword while shouting "I have the power!".
- Villain Episode: The first episode centered on the Lord Hater plot instead of the Wander plot.
- What Does This Button Do?: Wander keeps pushing random buttons, while singing "The Button Song", which serves as the page quote.
