| The Phantom of Retroland | |
 | |
| The title card for The Phantom of Retroland. | |
| Episode | 8a |
| Season | 1 |
| Airdate (US) | October 30, 2002 |
| Previous | Trading Faces |
| Next | My Son, the Hamster |
The Phantom of Retroland is the first segment of the eighth episode of season 1.
Plot
It is show-and-tell day in Ms. Fowl's classroom. Jimmy brings in a mini model of Foucault's pendulum while telling the class about the physicist. Nick is up next and tells a tale about the Phantom of Retroland, a ghost monster who lives at the local amusement park and eats people during the night around midnight. In the interest of science, Jimmy sets out to disprove this urban myth with the help of his reluctant friends Carl and Sheen. Jimmy activates a hologram to fool his parents into thinking he's home in bed, but it malfunctions causing the hologram image to change to Jimmy playing limbo on the playground, and his parents go out to find him when they find out about it.
Once he meets up with Carl and Sheen, the three of them enter Retroland. They meet the Phantom, who turns out to be Nick in disguise, followed by another Phantom who turns out to be Cindy and Libby in disguise to punish Jimmy for his know-it-all behavior. As they're leaving, they encounter who Jimmy believes to be the real Phantom of Retroland, and he and his friends scream loudly and run for it in fear. This Phantom turns out to be Judy accompanied by Hugh who were there to teach Jimmy a lesson about using his hologram projector to sneak out after bedtime, though soon after they too run away screaming loudly in fear upon encountering the real Phantom of Retroland, thus neither having a happy ending at all.
Quotes
- Jimmy: Glad you could make it, Sheen. How did you sneak out?
- Sheen: Oh, I just told my grandma that I had to go to a deserted theme park to be eaten by a maniac. She told me to wear clean underwear.
__
- Sheen: I wonder what order he'll eat us in.
- ____
- Jimmy: That is so ridiculous, it doesn't even deserve--
- Cindy: What, a 600-page report on how ridiculous it is, in French?
- ____
- Phantom #3: (sniffs) What's that smell?
- Sheen: You mean (points to Phantom #3) your salami leg, (points to Cindy and Libby) their salami leg, (points to Nick) his salami leg, or Carl's shoes? (points to Carl's shoes)
- ____
- Carl: Sheen, the phantom of Retroland is gonna tear us limb from limb and eat us! Say something!
- Sheen: You ever notice how Jimmy's hair is like one of those gum massager things? It's all swirly and-- (Looking at the audience, thus breaking the fourth wall) WHAT?!
- Carl: (reading his letter to Jimmy) Dear Jimmy, I can’t come with you tonight, as I have decided to join the French Foreign Legion. This is a decision I do not make lightly as I (stops when he sees Jimmy) Haugh! Hi, Jimmy!
Trivia
- Nick triple dog daring Jimmy is a reference to "A Christmas Story".
- One of Jimmy's criticisms of Nick's story is of "Billy's last words." However Nick did not mention any of the kids names nor did he alleged any hearsay ("the last words").
- The Pendulum ride is a reference to the Edgar Allan Poe poem "The Pit and the Pendulum".
- When the first Phantom chases after Jimmy, Carl and Sheen, he is seen floating above the ground as he goes after them, and hovers in front of the pendulum ride after the three boys initially start it up. We later learn this Phantom was actually Nick in disguise, so how was he able to float and hover above ground if he wasn't really the Phantom?
- The voice Frank Welker uses for the real Phantom at the end is the same voice he uses for Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, Soundwave from Transformers and Rajah, Abu, and the Cave of Wonders from Disney's Aladdin.
- Jimmy didn't question how Retroland could have existed in '97, when it was opened up in 2001.
- A major animation error occurs with the conversation in the school hallway. As Nick walks up to Jimmy, he points his finger in his face causing Jimmy to tilt his head back. This in turn, makes most of Jimmy's hair phase through the lockers behind him for a brief moment. This was likely the result of an oversight by the animators, who put Jimmy's reference model too close to the lockers as they were animating him.
- These are the reasons why everyone dressed up as the phantom:
- Nick: To scare Jimmy, Sheen, and Carl.
- Cindy and Libby: To get back at Jimmy for ruining Nick's class report
- Judy: To teach Jimmy a lesson for sneaking out after bedtime.