Learning To Fly
A relaxing trip to the park takes an unexpected turn when a hot-air balloon piloted by Captain Ciello is forced to make an emergency landing- and goes even more haywire when, while fixing the balloon, Manny and the tools accidentally turn it on and are carried off into the sky!
Tropes in “Learning To Fly” include:
- Adventurer Outfit: Captain Ciello wears the stereotypical pilot version of this.
- Answer Cut: One happens when Manny finds out that Captain Ciello’s hot air balloon needs a replacement blade for its fan.Rusty: But where are we gonna get a new fan blade in the middle of the park?”
(Kelly’s truck drives up) - Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: When Squeeze is flying Manny’s kite.Squeeze: Okay, just let me try one last trick! It’s the Super-Duper Loop-De-
(The kite falls to the ground and breaks)
Squeeze: Oops. - Continuity Nod:
- Elliot can be seen skateboarding in the background at various points.
- Captain Ciello mentions that she was ballooning over Lake Nochanailin when her hot air balloon started to malfunction; later, when Manny and the tools are in the balloon, the wind carries them back to Lake Nochanailin, and Abuelito can be seen fishing on the lake.
- The episode’s "Everybody Laughs" Ending is fairly similar to the one in “Squeeze Sticks”.
- Duck!: This phrase is yelled when a flock of birds are heading straight for the balloon; Stretch, before hitting the deck, takes the time to point out that the birds aren’t ducks.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending:Manny: So, does the honorary balloonist want to be the first to try the new kite?
Squeeze: No thanks. I’ve had enough flying for one day.
//Manny and the tools laugh// - Foreshadowing: Early in the episode, Captain Ciello mentions that she was ballooning over Lake Nochanailin; when Manny and the tools accidentally launch her balloon with themselves inside it, the wind ends up carrying them to nowhere else but Lake Nochanailin.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?:Captain Ciello (referring to the kite she and Kelly designed for Manny): And aerodynamic.
Pat: (Sounding impressed) Oh! (beat) Aero-what?” - Lampshade Hanging: Captain Ciello hangs a fair few lampshades on Manny and Kelly’s Good Samaritan tendencies.Captain Ciello (after Kelly shows up with the part needed to fix her balloon): Well, it seems I have landed in the most helpful town in the world.
- Parrot Expo What: Pat combines this with I've Heard of That — What Is It?.Captain Ciello (referring to the kite she and Kelly designed for Manny): And aerodynamic.
Pat: (Sounding impressed) Oh! (beat) Aero-what?” - Public Domain Soundtrack / Standard Snippet: At various points, most notably when Manny and the tools are carried off by the hot air balloon after accidentally turning it on, an arrangement of “Ride Of The Valkyries” (made to be significantly more laid back than the original) plays.
- Quaking with Fear: Rusty, being Rusty, spends most of the tools’ unexpected hot air balloon flight lying on the floor of the balloon basket with his eyes closed and shaking.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: Captain Ciello is a hot air balloon pilot whose last name is Spanish for “Sky”.
- Stock Sound Effects: Whirling wind whenever wind kicks up.
Tools In The Candy Shop
Mr. Lopart has to go to the dentist to get a hurting tooth checked out, and conscripts Manny and the tools to work in his store while he’s gone. He leaves them with instructions not to touch a soccer-ball-shaped piñata he made for Coach Johnson’s soccer team, but- of course- it ends up being broken.
”Tools In The Candy Shop” provides examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Mrs. Bouffant at one point refers to her husband Dwayne as “Dwayney”.
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: Felipe does this when the tools have fixed, and Manny leaves to go clean the grease off his hands.Felipe: Is anyone else thinking what I’m thinking?
Turner: Yes. You’re about to do something you shouldn’t do. - Brick Joke: About halfway through the episode, Felipe attempts to “use his head” on Fixit’s Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball, but only succeeds in heading it into Mr. Lopart’s soccer ball piñata. Later, at the end of the episode, Mr. Lopart accidentally drops the newly-repaired piñata, and Felipe successfully heads it back to him.Turner: Now that’s what I call using your head.
//Cue "Everybody Laughs" Ending// - Broken Treasure: Hanging in Mr. Lopart’s shop is a soccer-ball shaped piñata he made for Coach Johnson’s soccer team, which he instructed Manny to under no circumstances touch. Naturally, the piñata ends up being broken (by a Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball), and Manny and the tools have to rebuild it before Mr. Lopart gets back- which they do manage to do.
- Continuity Nod: Mr. Lopart’s taffy-stretching machine provides a minor plot point, while his automated candy maker can be seen in the background of his shop.
- Covered in Gunge: Rusty ends up covered with pink taffy after he tries to activate Mr. Lopart’s taffy-stretcher and the machine’s violent shaking throws him into its bowl.
- Deus ex 'Scuse Me:
- At the beginning of the episode, the tools have just fixed a roller skate, and Manny leaves to wash some grease off his hands. Unsupervised, Felipe decides that it’s be a good idea to try to ride the roller skate around the shop, and ends up narrowly avoiding crashing into pretty much everything, bumping into some jars of parts and spilling them, and finally falling into a cardboard box.
- While working in Mr. Lopart’s store, Manny steps out to help Mrs. Bouffant carry some heavy bags of candy into her car; while he’s out, Fixit starts wanting to play fetch, and ends up creating a Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball that she then chases around the shop.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Triggered by a Brick Joke (see above).
- Failures on Ice: Felipe, Squeeze, and Pat perform a variation on the roller skate version of this, as they all hop into a single roller skate in order to “test it out” and end up careening around Manny’s shop narrowly avoiding crashing into things.
- Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball: Fixit ends up sending a rubber ball bouncing all around Mr. Lopart’s candy shop, where it knocks all manner of things off of shelves and puts a hole in the very important soccer-ball-shaped piñata.
- Offscreen Crash: Manny hears one while talking with Kelly outside Mr. Lopart’s store; when he goes inside to check on the cause, he sees the mess Fixit’s Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball has made.
- Pun: When the tools are trying to stop Fixit’s Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball, Felipe says that he’s going to “use his head” to do so… and promptly performs a header on the ball.
- Slippery Skid: At the end of the episode, Mr. Lopart, while holding his all-important piñata (which Manny and the tools had just rebuilt after a Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball destroyed it and made a mess in his shop), steps on a loose gumball that was apparently missed while the aforementioned mess was being cleaned up and drops the piñata. Fortunately, Felipe is able to prevent it from breaking a second time.
- Wasn't That Fun?: Felipe, after crashing a roller skate in the episode’s opening.Felipe (with full sincerity): That was awesome! Let’s do it again!
