The Greater Hater

When a new villain, Lord Dominator, makes a sudden arrival in the galaxy, Wander tries to make friends with him, while Lord Hater is completely dissatisfied and attempts to top him to be the greatest in the galaxy. Both soon realize this new villain is hard to defeat, and Wander soon learns that not every villain wants to be friends.

Episode Summary
Lord Hater is seen putting his flag on a planet as a sign of conquering it, when Wander steals it, thinking they're playing "Capture the Flag". Hater begins to chase him, but Commander Peepers advises against it, saying Wander is just a distraction. Sylvia, who is sleeping, decides to save her friend.

Just as Peepers complains that nothing ever changes, a giant spaceship drills into the planet's surface. All four of them are scared out of their wits by this new presence in their midst. Wander, being the optimist that he is, is confident that whoever is the owner of the ship is simply a friend that they have not made yet. Sylvia tries to keep Wander away from the ship, but Wander is going up the drill to try to meet this "new friend", bringing along his "secret weapon": a fruit basket. So Sylvia decides to follow him. Meanwhile, Hater decides to go up to the new guy to give him a piece of his mind.

Once on the ship, Wander nervously tries to be friendly, but no one answers. The new villain decides to implement his minions to take care of Wander and the scared zbornak. Wander introduces himself and Sylvia to the minions, but they do not accept their friendly gesture. Sylvia tries to punch one of them, but they are hard and metal. One of the minions cuffs Sylvia. She tries to break out of her cuffs, but they instantly re-form. One of the minions finally takes the fruit basket, but they also capture Wander and Sylvia.

Hater and Peepers board the ship and explore the artillery room. Hater pretends not to be jealous, but Peepers is easily impressed by all the weaponry their new foe owns. After seeing a giant blaster, Hater lets his jealousy fly. Hater once again declares himself the "Greatest in the Galaxy", but Peepers reminds him he is merely the 29th greatest. Hater becomes so mad that his pencil tests become exposed. He kicks the giant blaster and does a victory dance, but the weapon activates and starts chasing Hater and Peepers.

Meanwhile, Wander and Sylvia become imprisoned. Wander finally admits defeat, much to Sylvia's surprise. Sylvia attempts to bust them out, but the prison walls become further enclosed. But Wander's optimism reappears when he believes that the new "friend" is only trying to be hospitable. The weapon that was chasing Hater and Peepers blasts Wander and Sylvia out as the new villain's minions once again chase them. The new villain then presses a button leading Wander and Sylvia into his control room. Despite Sylvia's attempt to get Wander to stay away after seeing how intimidating the villain is, Wander finally climbs up the stairs to present his fruit basket to his new "friend". He tries to talk to him, but he doesn't pay attention. So Wander tries different ways of greeting his new "buddy". Finally, he decides to get out his banjo and sing a song to him, but the new villain traps Wander in goop instead.

Hater and Peepers attempt to hide from the weapon and Hater also accepts his defeat, so Peepers blasts a part of the ship in order for them to escape. But instead, Hater ultimately decides to meet his new rival face to face.

Back in the control room, Sylvia almost sobs thinking Wander has perished. But he opens his eyes, and Sylvia is suddenly infuriated. She introduces herself to the new villain and attempts to fight him, but her cuffs become a boulder, which encases her. Hater and Peepers become captured by the weapon so that they can finally meet him. The weapon addresses the new foe as "Lord Dominator", which infuriates Hater because it rhymes with his name. He is further annoyed when he notices that Dominator looks very similar to him, right down to his lightning bolts. He becomes enraged when he see that Dominator has captured Wander. Hater finally gets even by attempting to destroy Dominator, unintentionally freeing Wander in the process. Peepers is finally convinced that Hater truly is the Greatest in the Galaxy. However, Lord Dominator returns. Hater attempts to destroy Dominator, but his lava glove traps Hater. Peepers decides to take matters into his own hands by destroying Dominator's control panel. But Dominator brushes Peepers away.

Wander has decided this is the last straw, and gives Dominator a talking-to. Meanwhile, Sylvia saves Wander, but also unintentionally saves Hater and Peepers. The foursome escape the ship, avoiding all danger in the process. Dominator's ship leaves, with the foursome still having no idea who this new villain is.

In the smoldering damage of the ship, Dominator is revealed to be a teenage girl after shedding her armor. She expresses her excitement over her encounter with the foursome. Although she calls them "dorks", she believes she is going to have fun with them as she dons her armor again and laughs evilly.

Credits
The Watchdogs are playing cards while one of the Watchdogs reveals he's been calling Lord Hater the wrong name.

Songs

 * This Guy's the Real Deal
 * Hello Song
 * Commander Peepers' Theme

Background Information

 * In this episode, it is revealed that Wander is not his real name.
 * Hater wasted so much time chasing Wander that he became the 29th greatest in the galaxy.
 * Running gag:Wander is trying to give Lord Dominator the fruit basket multiple times in the episode

Trivia

 * This episode was confirmed by Francisco Angones as part of his "Bad DVR Previews". His description simply read "Uh-oh."
 * Third time Wander says, "Folks call me Wander." ("The Greatest", "The First Take")
 * Just like "The Rider", this episode is divided into three 7-minute segments instead of two 11-minute segments.
 * This is the first episode to have a cliffhanger.
 * Second time Hater's ship is destroyed. ("The Good Deed")
 * This is the first time Wander is actually hurt by the villain, which has never happened throughout the series.
 * This is also the first time Wander and Sylvia fail to defeat a villain.
 * Lord Dominator doesn't say a word until the very last scene.
 * This is the first episode to use the full theme song since "The Toddler".
 * The day after this episode premiered, every Wander Over Yonder episode on Watch Disney XD was replaced with this one.
 * The pencil drawings shown during Hater's freakout were drawn by storyboard artist Mark Ackland's daughter Sadie.

Continuity

 * This episode picks up where "The Rider" left off, as in the animatic, Lord Dominator was seen laughing maniacally at the final scene.
 * This is the first episode of the Lord Dominator story arc, which is the basis for the season.
 * After kicking away a leg of one of Lord Dominator's machines, Lord Hater hit the floor and does a tumbling sound like Wander did in "The Rider".

Errors

 * As Hater chases Wander for the flag, his tongue continues to spasm even after he stops screaming.
 * At some points in the episode, Dominator watches some scenes even though none of his minions are either there (Hater dancing) or in the correct angle to see it (Sylvia's escape).
 * After Dominator's giant machine hits and destroys some of the walls, it takes the wall a longer time to regenerate than before, allowing Sylvia and Wander to escape.
 * As Sylvia and Wander escape from Dominator's minions, they don't shoot at all during the chase.
 * Near the credits scene, Dominator remarks that Wander, Sylvia, Hater and Peepers said "Who is that guy?", however she shouldn't know this since she left the planet before they said it.
 * Closed captioning errors:
 * When Wander says "Maybe we should go say hi," the captions say "I think we should go say hi."
 * When Sylvia says "Oh, Wander, thank grop.", the captions say "Oh, Wander, thank Grab."

Allusions

 * Star Wars - The shot of Dominator's ship coming in is a parody of the opening shot of Episode IV: A New Hope.
 * During the credits, one of the Watchdogs admits he has been calling Lord Hater "Lord Vader" this entire time, a reference to the villain of this franchise.
 * Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Wander grabbing his fruit basket before the wall closes is a reference to Indiana Jones grabbing his hat before a door closes in this film.
 * Seinfeld - Wander says, "Helloooooooooo!" like Jerry and his friends do in the episode "The Voice".
 * Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - The giant blaster looks very similar to an "Extremesaurus" from the pilot, "House of Bloo's", another show that Craig McCracken created.

Production Information

 * From this episode onward, episodes are animated at Boulder Media, an Irish animation studio that also worked on McCracken's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, among other projects.
 * This episode is the first episode of Season 2.
 * Production began in February 2014 and ended in June 2015.
 * This episode is the fourth half-hour special (22 minutes without commercial breaks; "The Pet", "The Little Guy", "The Rider").
 * Starting with this episode, the new "Disney Television Animation" logo with the Paul Rudish-designed Mickey Mouse and the "Disney XD Original" tag are shown after the credits.
 * The final scene was first used in a trailer for the season, as the stinger.
 * The silhouetted animation of of Wander being chased by Hater and the Watchdogs is virtually identical to that of Wander being chased by the Watchdogs in "The Fugitives".
 * The animation of Wander picking up his banjo is reused from "The Egg".
 * When Lord Dominator throws Hater to the ground, the same pose of Hater dilapidated is used from "The Birthday Boy".

International premieres

 * August 9, 2015 (Canada)

Cast

 * Jack McBrayer as Wander
 * April Winchell as Sylvia
 * Keith Ferguson as Lord Hater, Additional Voices
 * Tom Kenny as Commander Peepers, Additional Voices
 * Noel Wells as Lord Dominator
 * Fred Tatasciore as Lord Dominator (mech suit, credited as "Additional Voices")