It's the best of times and the worst of times when Joe and David have a new remote-control car to play with, but at the same time, they're expected to babysit David's little sister Emily and her friend Tina. Wishbone imagines himself as Charles Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
This is the second of three episodes based on a Dickens novel. It comes between "Twisted Tail," which adapts Oliver Twist, and "Groomed for Greatness," which adapts Great Expectations.
One tie-in book was released — The Adventures of Wishbone #9: A Tale of Two Sitters, a straight adaptation of the episode.
Tropes
- Adaptational Context Change: Sydney Carton utters his famous line "It's a far, far better thing..." as he switches places with Charles Darnay. In the book, it is spoken as part of a monologue when he is taken to the guillotine, which is not shown in the episode.
- Adapted Out:
- Sydney and Charles being Identical Strangers, since Wishbone plays Charles while Sydney is played by a human actor. Thus in the switcheroo Sydney only says he will die in Charles's place.
- Since Wishbone picks up the story after Charles and Lucie are already married, the Love Triangle involving them and Sydney Carton is only vaguely hinted at.
- Ernest Defarge and the Vengeance are not included, effectively making Madame Defarge a Composite Character of all the revolutionary characters. Well, maybe. After Darnay is sentenced to the guillotine, Madame Defarge is shown sharing a hug with an unnamed male revolutionary, so it's possible he's meant to be Ernest.
- As in many other screen adaptations, Charles and Lucie's daughter doesn't exist. Madame Defarge turning on the Manettes is likewise excluded from the story.
- Babysitting Episode: The contemporary story centers on Joe and David having to babysit Emily and Tina.
- Bowdlerize:
- They don't show the beheadings, but they do show a cabbage being cut in half by the guillotine, with several of the characters staring at it in horror.
- The episode is notably vague on what the Evremondes did to make Madame Defarge hate them so much, with her only explaining that she was the only member of her family "who survived their cruelty." Presumably, the creators were understandably reluctant to mention rape on their PBS kids' show.
- Compressed Adaptation: A Tale of Two Cities is divided into three "books." The Wishbone version, naturally, focuses almost entirely on "Book the Third: The Track of a Storm," which contains the most iconic parts of the story. The first segment of the adaptation is basically an Infodump that covers the events of the first two "books."
- Demoted to Extra:
- Dr. Manette is included in the story, but he does little more than standing around in a few scenes. He's only identified as Lucie's father, with no mention made of his imprisonment in the Bastille.
- Lucie has a maid whom she addresses as "Miss Pross" one time. The actress playing the maid has no dialogue and is way younger than the book's Miss Pross.
- The man who sneaks Carton into Darnay's cell is only identified in the credits as, "spy." He would be John Barsad, who is a supporting character in the original novel. Notably, his actor is using an English accent instead of a French one, which would be consistent with him being Barsad. That said, he comes off as an Adaptational Nice Guy compared to the novel's Barsad, who only helped Carton after being blackmailed by him.
- Double Take:Wishbone as Darnay: [looking out his cell window] Hmm, 'least I've got a nice view of the guillotine... THE GUILLOTINE?! Maybe it's better not to look. [leaves the window]
- Fainting: Lucie does this after Darnay is sentenced to death.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Whenever Emily and Tina promise to be good, they do so in the most obviously insincere manner possible, with giggles and guilty smiles. And yet, Joe and David keep buying it.
- Idiot Ball: Handed to Ellen, who immediately blames Wishbone for a mess that could obviously have only been created by someone with opposable thumbs. It's especially glaring because she's usually portrayed as a Reasonable Authority Figure.
- Kangaroo Court: More so than in the original book, in which Darnay had two trials in Revolutionary France. The first trial actually found him innocent, and the second one only found him guilty due to Madame Defarge manipulating the words of Dr. Manette. In the Wishbone version, there's only one trial, and it finds Darnay guilty on the basis of nothing more than Madame Defarge going off on a rant about the Evremondes.
- Mandatory Line: Sam briefly stops by for one scene, apparently just for the sake of her being included in this episode.
- Or My Name Isn't...: The episode uses a line like this to establish Madame Defarge's name: "As sure as I am Madame Defarge, he is an Evremonde!"
- Pet Dress-Up: Emily and Tina towards Wishbone.Emily: Let's make Wishbone pretty!
Wishbone: Excuse me, I am not a poodle, I do not wish to be "pretty"!
Tina: Let's put a bow on his head!
Emily: Yeah!
Wishbone: Oh no! - The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: This being a Tale of Two Cities adaptation, The French Revolution is portrayed in this fashion, albeit with the violence toned down since this is a kids' show.
- Sins of Our Fathers: As in the source material, Madame Defarge is obsessed with wiping out the Evremonde bloodline, and it doesn't particularly concern her whether Charles has personally done anything wrong.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Madame Defarge is last seen at Darnay's trial, leaving her death out of the story.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The episode never mentions what happened to the servant whom Darnay was intending to save.
