"The Great Gonzo's Desert Grand Prix" is the first segment of the twelfth episode of the 2018 version of Muppet Babies. It premiered on July 20, 2018.[1]
Synopsis[]
Gonzo decides to make everything a race and challenges the whole playroom to a Grand Prix.
Plot[]
The kids are all drawing in the playroom. While doing so, Gonzo finishes his drawing before anyone else, declaring himself the winner and doing a victory dance. However, the gang is not amused as they weren’t racing in the first place.
The others start getting frustrated with Gonzo treating everything like a race, where he took Kermit’s tissue when he was about to sneeze, ruining one of Fozzie’ jokes and even taking Summer’s turn to use the bathroom. But then he draws the line when he colors in Piggy’s drawing, which makes her furious. The others tell him that it’s not fun to race since Gonzo’s the only one racing, so to put a stop to it once and for all, Gonzo challenges the other muppets to a race where if he wins, they will have to declare him the best. But if they win, he has to give up racing and never do his victory dance again, to which they all agree.
The kids all go out to the backyard to have a race (in the desert) with Mr. Statler and Waldorf as referees. The race begins with Gonzo taking a head start, leaving the others (literally) in the dust. Once Gonzo sees them catching up, he decides to pull a few tricks up his sleeve. First, he uses a spout to dump some water into the sand, which creates a big puddle of mud. The others are able to move past it, but Piggy’s Sparkecycle gets stuck in the mud, thus leaving her out of the race.
As the race continues, Gonzo sets up another trap. This time, dropping a bunch of banana peels onto the ground, causing Summer and her Atomic Bobsled to slip on them and spin around nonstop. Soon enough, Fozzie manages to catch up in his Wockamobile, which runs on funny jokes. Knowing this, Gonzo sabotages it by telling a bad joke (which doesn’t make any sense) and the car slows down. Fozzie tries to start it up again, but it doesn’t work as the engine dies out.
Animal then takes the lead in his Monster Truck, but Gonzo creates a tornado in the sand, sending him flying into the air. Finally, towards the end of the finish line comes Funnel Canyon and Kermit and Gonzo are the only ones left. Unfortunately, as they go through the canyon, the cliffs get narrower and narrower until Kermit’s Jolly Frogger ship gets stuck.
Gonzo is almost at the finish line, that is until Statler and Waldorf give him a reality check on what he did to his friends. Gonzo then stops and looks back at what he did and starts to feel guilty. He wanted to win so much and wanted them to join in the fun, but that didn’t make it okay to cheat by setting up a bunch of tricks. Feeling remorseful, Gonzo decides to go back for the others. He starts by freeing Kermit and Animal from the canyon, then gives Fozzie a good joke to start up his car, stops Summer from spinning (though she still feels a bit dizzy from it) and finally blows Piggy out of the mud.
With everyone back in the race, Gonzo apologizes to them and they all decide to finish the race fair and square. At the end, Fozzie wins first place, with Summer in second and Gonzo in third. Fozzie then decides to give Gonzo the trophy, not for winning, but for being a good sport.
Trivia[]
- Moral: Not everything in life is a race, and racing isn’t always about winning.
- Gonzo’s racer is actually the Time Machine used in Piggy’s Time Machine.
- In that regard, the Jolly Frogger ship makes its second appearance after Playground Pirates.
References[]
- ↑ "Disney TV Animation News post". Twitter (June 11, 2018).