- "When you cheat, everyone looses. That's why God loves it when we play fair- everyone wins! Not many feelings better than winning fair and square."
- — Grandmum
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| The Cheating Scales of Bullamanka | |
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| Music by | |
| Released |
September 16, 2001 |
| Runtime |
33 minutes |
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The Cheating Scales of Bullamanka is the second direct-to-video episode for 3-2-1 Penguins!
Plot
In a space captain's blog style, Jason reports live stranded on Planet Grandmum's house. Michelle is also reporting live. Together, they recap what they did at Grandmum's cottage.
Jason and Michelle are finishing their second game of Squid-Tac-Toad. Jason is about to use his Squid-Hopper to knock off one of Michelle's Yellow-Capped Whopper Dingies when Grandmum interrupts them. She tells them that their Granddad gave her that game on their fifth anniversary when they were in Australia. She asks how their game is going. Jason answers that Michelle tied them at two games. Michelle proudly declares that she has one more game to win to be the champion. Grandmum says that both Jason and Michelle are both good players, but girls have a better chance at winning because their fingers are bigger for the spinners.
Jason and Michelle begin their third game. Some of the things that happen in the game are Jason placing his Red-Naped Ib on D-3, Jason using his Squid-Hopper again, and Michelle using her Toad-Roller. As the game is coming to an end, A-1 is the only space where either of them could win. Jason and Michelle spin their spinners to determine whose piece will land their. Michelle, concerned that her piece won't land there, distracts Jason by saying hello to "Pidgel." When Jason turns around to find out who that is, Michelle turns the arrow from the Red-Naped Ib to the Yellow-Capped Whopper Dingy. After Jason turns back to the game, Michelle places her piece in the empty space and claims victory. Jason doesn't hold the loss against her, instead, he congratulates her on her winning the game.
As soon as Jason walks upstairs, Michelle takes off her glasses and looks at the Penguin figurines in the ship and tells them that she didn't cheat at the game. Grandmum agrees with her and says she knows better than that. She asks if Michelle knows what the Bible says about cheating. "The Lord hates cheating scales, but accurate weights are His delight," she quotes. Michelle says that she doesn't know what that means. Grandmum starts to use an analogy to explain the meaning. In her analogy, she takes five pounds of socks to the laundry, but the person at the laundromat adjusts the scales so that it says that she's got ten pounds. Now she has to pay double to get her socks washed. She concludes her analogy by saying that cheating is no different than stealing. Michelle points out a flaw in her analogy by stating that the game pieces aren't socks. Grandmum replies that the analogy also applies to playing a game, but instead of cheating something out of their money, it's cheating someone out of the good feeling they would get by winning fair and square. She goes on to tell Michelle that when she cheats, everyone loses. And the reason why God loves it when they play fair is that everyone wins if they do so.
Michelle thinks that she just bent the rules a little when she was playing. The Rockhopper starts to fly and Zidgel calls out to Michelle. Michelle thinks they want Jason, but Zidgel points out that his crew needs her this time. Michelle realizes that Jason was telling the truth when he said the Penguins were alive. Midgel says that she is probably daydreaming. Fidgel galeezles Michelle into the ship. After that, he notices that Michelle looks exactly like her brother, but with pigtails. Michelle corrects him by saying that she and Jason aren't identical twins, they're just the same age, although she is five minutes older. Kevin interrupts her by pointing out that there's no "Pidgel" in their crew. Midgel notices that Michelle isn't wearing her glasses. Fidgel then galeezles Michelle's glasses. Michelle tells Fidgel not to worry about her glasses because she doesn't need them. Midgel says to Michelle that she needs to wear her glasses. Zidgel comments that if the glasses leave red marks on her beak, she doesn't have to wear them. Michelle complains that the glasses make her look silly. Zidgel agrees with her, but not before accidentally saying that glasses make him look silly. Fidgel disagrees, he thinks Michelle looks good wearing them. The crew then gets ready for their next mission as Midgel flies the ship off into outer space.
Zidgel is about to introduce himself and his crew to Michelle when she attempts to guess who's who, but fails. After Michelle's failed attempt at guessing the Penguins' names, she says that her brother told her a lot about them. Zidgel informs Michelle that there is a problem at the Colossal Aussie Colosseum at Space Base Bullamanka.
Locations
Fun Facts
Explanations
- Zidgel explaining about the demands of space travel is mostly based on what fictional media portrays on how traveling through space can be done easier than in real life. Best examples that showcase this are the Star Trek series and Doctor Who.
Trivia
- This is the first episode to have a title card, as well as the first episode with a song at the end.
- This marks the first appearance of the Lizard King and the Bandicoot King.
- The Arena voicover is Kurt.
- Some of the scenes in this episode were removed in the televised version on Qubo and Smile of a Child, including...
- Jason and Michelle's dialogue in the beginning.
- The final scenes of the Comet Lounge.
- It is revealed that Michelle's middle name is Francis.
- In the DVD scene selection, the first chapter has an overview of the cottage, with stock footage from the previous episode. However, that was not included in the DVD. That is because in the original VHS release, there was a intro of Jason and Michelle recapping the events from that said episode.
Remarks
- Zidgel saying it'll take days to travel through space is somewhat odd, considering the previous episode he asked Midgel to go into hyper drive.
- According to Fidgel from the commentary, the Gurgler sends the game pieces to the snackbar of the arena. So the Lizard King was just probably trying to make it look scary.
- Kevin breaks the fourth wall when he's the only character moving when the voiceover describes "ombudsmen", while everyone else is frozen in place.
Inside References
- A lot of mentions and references from the previous episode are included here, such as;
- Midgel stating that Michelle might be daydreaming. Even Kevin says "Deja vu!"
- Him also trying out the new landing gear after hearing Jason's advice, as well echoing "No job's too hard when you use your head."
- President "No, I'm the President" is still flying through space.
- The verse quoted is "Proverbs 11:1."
Real World
- Zidgel's laugh when he and the other penguins were free is the famous Woody Woodpecker laugh.
Commentary
Click here to see transcript for the commentary.
