"Children of the Spore" is the first segment of the nineteenth episode of Amphibia. It premiered on July 17, 2019.
Synopsis
Hop Pop's attempt to get the kids to behave leads to a scary mushroom adventure.
Plot
Hop Pop is putting the finishing touches on his model boat, the Green Lady, when he is interrupted by the kids and their bugball playing. He tells them to stop, but they run inside and cause a mess. Things soon become tense when they knock over and break the boat causing Hop Pop to force everyone to Loggle's. Hop Pop has the kids remain on Bessie while he gets Loggle to fix his boat. While waiting, he meets a frog with a hoodie on named Apothecary Gary (or Apothe-Gary) who sees that Hop Pop's kids are being rowdy. He offers him a special ointment that he claims will make the kids obedient once he applies it to them in their sleep. Despite some reluctance, Hop Pop takes the ointment and walks out to see that the kids have apologized, though they got a ticket for joyriding Bessie. Hop Pop considers holding off, but changes his mind when they break his boat again.
Hop Pop sneaks into the kids' rooms at night and applies the ointment to their heads. The next morning, they are supremely obedient, but give off an alien and aloof vibe that unsettles him. He manages to finally finish his boat just in time for the ointment to wear off. Anne, Sprig and Polly immediately return to their rambunctious and rowdy ways until Hop Pop tells them to go to bed as he will give them money if they do, which works. Even though he is unsettled with the results, he decides to apply the ointment again before going to bed. The ointment this time causes small glowing shrooms to spout from their heads and give them purple glowing eyes. They proceed to make it to the door like zombies as Hop Pop tries to stop them.
Gary arrives at the door revealing that he is a frog possessed by a giant mushroom on his head. Gary reveals that he has transformed Wartwood into his zombies and they chase after Hop Pop. He escapes to the barn and calls upon Bessie who runs around eating the mushrooms until she devours Gary setting the frog (whose name is Lloyd) and the rest of the possessed back to normal. As everyone leaves, Hop Pop apologizes to the kids about controlling them and they apologize for being disobedient. As they leave, they fail to notice some of the extra mushroom ointment on the ground where it soon possesses Hop Pop's beetle Jeremy.
Cast
- Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
- Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
- Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
- Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
- Tony Hale as Apothecary Gary
- Brian Maillard as Leopold Loggle
- Dee Bradley Baker as Bessie
Quotes
- “Hop Pop: Go to bed now and I'll give you 10 coppers each!
Sprig: Well good night.
Polly: Sleep tight.
Anne: I sure like money.” - ―Hop Pop bribing the kids
Gallery
Trivia
- The episode's title is a reference to the horror film series Children of the Corn, based off of Stephen King's short story.
- This episode was most likely intended to be the Halloween episode due to the content and premise.
- When a zombified Polly finds Hop Pop, she points and screams, similar to the aliens in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
- There are fungi that are known to have a negative effect on frogs. One is the dendrobatidis and the other is salamandrivorans which are both from the Batrachochytrium family. They will infect the frog giving them what is known as Chytridiomycosis and is typically deadly sometimes making the frog immobile. The fungus depicted in the episode is actually more similar to Ophiocordyceps unilateralis which affects ants, turning them into literal zombies.
External links
