"Boogie Frights" is the ninth episode of The Powerpuff Girls Season 1.
It first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on December 16, 1998.
Plot[]
The Boogie Man, a monster that lives underneath beds, launches a machine that blocks all the sunlight in Townsville, allowing all monsters to come out, party, and scare people. The Powerpuff Girls fly into space to fight him and take down the machine to restore both peaceful nights and mornings.
Synopsis[]
While the girls are getting ready for bed, much to Buttercup's reluctance, Blossom reminds them of the benefits of going to bed early. Buttercup explains that all the fun stuff happens after dark, including parties, dancing, and nightclubs, and says that she can't wait to be old enough to go out after dark to enjoy such festivities. When she tries bringing Bubbles into the conversation, all she does is say "no" without providing any context, much to Buttercup's irritation.
Making fun of her obvious fear of the dark, Buttercup torments her sisters with the story of the Boogie Man (a play on "bogeyman"), the world's scariest monster, and menacingly tells them that he only comes out "after dark". She makes Bubbles scream in terror and Professor Utonium rushes in when she hears the scream. Both Blossom and Bubbles are terrified, believing the Boogie Man has just knocked down their door until Utonium turns on the lights. He comes to Bubbles's aid and assures them that Buttercup is just being an instigator.
Bubbles wishes she were brave, and the Professor explains that being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of, confessing he was scared when he heard his daughters screaming. He explains that in order to master your fears, you must face them; and the girls finally fall asleep, with the Professor leaving the hall light on with the door cracked for Bubbles.
Boogie Man requesting Jerome to call Scissors so they can "proceed with step two."
When the girls are fast asleep, there is a strange disco-beat emanating from under their bed. In the dark world underneath their bed, the Boogie Man is working on some sort of ball-shaped machine. He tells his right-hand man, Jerome, to inform the other monsters and frackles that are partying out in the Boogie Man's nightclub. The Boogie Man is apparently the leader of the monsters, with a penchant for '70s fashion, and a Barry White-ish sound in his voice.
When he shows up, the Boogie Man says that it has been too long that they have been vulnerable to the night lights, street lights, hall lights with the door cracked, and deeper still, the sun. He makes a promise to his fun-loving minions to destroy the sun, so they can party on the surface forever. He asks Jerome to make a call to Scissors, a monster at the city's power plant, who severs the main power line, leaving the city in darkness.
The Boogie Man appearing fashionably late.
Monsters and frackles from under beds everywhere in Townsville emerge to join the Boogie Man's midnight bash, and the host himself shows up in his white stretch, dressed to kill, just before sunrise. As all the demons prepare to wrap things up before they are beset by daylight (which is deadly to them), the Boogie Man reminds them of his plan, pushes a button in the top of his cane, and launches a mysterious projectile from the abandoned roller rink in town. That projectile is a disco ball, the size of a moon, that ascends to the atmosphere and eclipses the sun.
With the sun blocked out, daylight has effectively ceased to exist, and the nightmares are free to terrorize Townsville with their hard partying as long as it remains so. They terrify innocent people in the dark and lay waste to the downtown area, but worst of all, they keep the girls from their slumber.
Buttercup and Bubbles crashing Boogie's party as they dance to the beat
The girls have been awakened by the loud disco-music, furious that they cannot get any sleep with all the racket. Blossom notices the commotion going on downtown, and the girls take off like rockets to investigate. When they arrive, they discover the whole city has been transformed into a Nightmare Nightclub. Buttercup and Bubbles are immediately swept off their feet by the music just like Buttercup imagined. However, one of the monsters catches them off guard. Both Bubbles and the monster note that Buttercup got scared just then, in irony of her scary story from before. Remembering what they came all this way for, Buttercup readies for battle and sucker-punches the monster to the horizon. However, the rest of the frackles and monsters do not approve of their gatecrashers, and an epic all-out brawl breaks out.
The girls defeat as many monsters as they can, but are completely surrounded no matter what they do. Just as they realize there are too many of them to beat head-on and need a plan, the Boogie Man appears and besets the girls, making them realize he is the culprit responsible for the havoc and the racket. He explains his masterpiece to them, gloating that the frackles and monsters are "...gonna make this night last forever".
Realizing that the celestial disco ball is the source of the Nightmares’ power as long as it blocks out the daylight, the girls blast off for the stars, setting an immediate course for the disco ball. However, the Boogie Man will not give up without a fight, so he takes off in his stretch-limo, which also works as a weaponized starship. The girls arrive at the surface of the celestial disco ball and Blossom explains the plan; all they have to do is follow a canyon all the way to an exhaust port that when struck with an eye laser should obliterate it for good. Boogie Man catches up to them and shoots laser beams at them from his limo spacecraft.
Blossom and Buttercup take cover, leaving Bubbles alone as the Boogie Man closes in on her. Bubbles cowers and cries at first when she realizes she has been left behind, but then remembers the Professor's words: that she must face her fears in order to triumph over them. With her determination restored, she dodges all of the Boogie Man’s attacks as she continues straight to the disco ball's core. The Boogie Man gets a lock on her and prepares to strike her down. Just before he can fire, Blossom and Buttercup come to the rescue, firing a barrage of eye lasers that knock out the Boogie Man's spacecraft and sending him flinging into space.
With Bubbles now safe, the girls give her a fine salute as she successfully shoots her eye beams down the exhaust port and into the core of the disco ball. The girls set a course back to Townsville as the celestial disco ball explodes to glittery space dust, unveiling the light of the morning sun. The episode ends as the nightmarish clubbers disintegrate in the sunlight.
The closing title card commences, and the girls appear in bed in front of the pulsating hearts. The narrator starts the outro, but drifts off joking about the daylight, explaining how “the Day is saved” once again. He laughs, but Blossom shushes him, Buttercup glares at him with one eye, he apologizes, and they go back to sleep (Bubbles is not disturbed one bit). He whispers the rest of the outro, and then bids the viewers goodnight.
Quotes[]
- [The girls arrive downtown right in the middle of the partying Nightmare crowd]
- Blossom: Oh my gosh! Townsville’s been turned into a Nightmare Nightclub!
- Buttercup: Right on!!! Right, Bubbles?
- Bubbles: Well, it’s got a great beat, and I can dance to it.
- Buttercup: HEY!!! (Singsong Chant).
- [Bubbles and Buttercup scream in horror as they are suddenly frightened by a giant razor-claws cougar-like nightmare monster]
- [Bubbles is holding Buttercup in her arms]
- Bubbles: (to Buttercup) Hey, you got scared.
- Nightmare Cougar: Yeah, little girl. I thought you liked to party.
- [Buttercup stands back up (in the air, that is) and readies for battle]
- Buttercup: Let’s get down.
- ___
- [The girls arrive at the celestial disco ball]
- Blossom: I can see a small exhaust port at the end of the chasm. If we can just hit it with our laser vision, it should destroy the ball.
- ———
- [Bubbles is left alone to destroy the disco ball]
- Professor: (memory) Bubbles, if you can just face your fears, then I know you can find the courage to beat 'em.
- [saving their sister from the Boogie Man]
- Buttercup: You're good to go, kid!
- Blossom: Now blow up that disco ball so we can go back to bed!
- Blossom: Now, girls, you know we need to get plenty of sleep. It’s our responsibility as super-heroines to be well-rested, so that we’ll be at peak crime-fighting performance whenever evil rears its ugly head and, like Ben Franklin always said, "Early to bed, early to wake, makes a lady smart, pretty, and great."
Home Videos Released[]
- Boogie Frights (VHS)
- Scooby-Doo! Greatest Mysteries (VHS only)
- Cartoon Network Halloween: 9 Creepy Cartoon Capers (DVD)
- The Mane Event (DVD)
Trivia[]
- The Boogie Man and Jerome are both voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
- The episode's title is a reference to the 1997 film Boogie Nights and the 1977 song of the same name by the disco group, Heatwave. Coincidentally, Ernie Anderson, father of Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson, was the narrator of the Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins and Crime 101 shorts.
- In this episode, Bubbles' and Blossom's blankets exchange places. This is the only time Blossom's blanket is on the side, and also the only time Bubbles's is in the center.
- Blossom evidently sleeps in her bow.
- The climax where the Powerpuff Girls destroy the disco ball has multiple references to the Death Star attack scene from the first Star Wars film, Star Wars IV: A New Hope. In fact, that movie's star, Mark Hamill co-starred with Tara Strong in The New Batman Adventures, and Hamill would voice the White Kitty in "Cat Man Do".
- The Professor's words of wisdom allowing Bubbles to destroy the disco ball is a reference to when Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke Skywalker to use the force in order to destroy the Death Star.
- The scene where Blossom and Buttercup shoots eye lasers, blasting the Boogie Man's spacecraft, is a reference to Han Solo piloting the Millennium Falcon, blasting Darth Vader’s TIE fighter.
- Buttercup telling Bubbles “you’re good to go, kid. Now blow up that disco ball so we can go back to bed.” is a reference to when Han says to Luke “You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!”.
- According to the iTunes compilation The Best of the Powerpuff Girls (Classic), this is one of Craig McCracken's 10 favorite episodes.
- This is the first time that the girls all fight a villain at night (Buttercup fought Ace by herself in Buttercrush), preceding Abracadaver, Burglar Alarmed, and Aspirations.
- One of the monsters that appears out of a kid's bed bears a resemblance to HIM. Another is literally a sock with feet.
- Moral: Face your fears, as trying to avoid them will allow them to become more prominent and affect your lifestyle.
- Jerome tells the monsters to "chill the frag out". Two years later, Kevin Michael Richardson would voice Lobo, who would say "frag" as a catchphrase.
Errors[]
- When the girls take off for Townsville, they are wearing their nighties. When they arrive, they have their regular clothes on.
Availability[]
- This episode was released on a VHS of the same name. It was also released on the Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries VHS. A DVD named "The Mane Event" has this episode.