"Mime for a Change" is the 22nd episode of Season 1.
It was produced in 1998 and first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on February 3, 1999.
Synopsis[]
An accidental bleach spill turns Rainbow the Clown into the malevolent Mr. Mime, and he proceeds to turn Townsville black and white (and silent) and dead all over (except Bubbles, who is already in color). The thought of a colorless world has the Girls seeing red, and before he knows it, Mr. Mime's number is up.
Plot[]
At the beginning of the episode, happy and ever-colorful Rainbow the Clown is entertaining a group of kids for a birthday party (which is hosted for a boy named Jim). He sings a song, making the kids laugh and cheer. In the end, he dances to the road, only to hear a bleach truck approach! The bleach truck notices Rainbow and flops on its side, and safely goes around Rainbow. Despite the near-miss for Rainbow, the tipped truck's trailer bursts and spills bleach out all over him. The bleach makes Rainbow's colors disappear and the joy drain out, turning him into the evil Mr. Mime. The truck driver asks if he is okay and, horrified by the color, Mr. Mime drains the color from him, followed by his voice draining as well. A boy tries to speak, but the clown drains his color and voice, too. Demonstrating his new form, Mr. Mime then stomps on the ground, reducing the area black and white. He then moves onto the rest of Townsville.
Meanwhile, the Powerpuff Girls are heading to school on a bus. Bubbles is singing and coloring. When she is done, she holds up a picture of them. Blossom nods, and Buttercup stares. She complains to the bus driver about how close they are, and he says they have one more stoplight to pass. However, with the stoplight being colorless, the bus almost collides with a car when the girls intervene to save both vehicles. Once they snuggle each other, Bubbles yells, "WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE COLOOOOORR?!?!?!"
Sure enough, Townsville is two-toned, looking somewhat like an old-time movie! Bubbles frantically starts to color Townsville as Blossom and Buttercup search for clues. They finally find Mr. Mime, stripping color from people and objects alike, and chase him into an alley wherein he disappears. Just when they don't see him, he goes behind them and drains both their color and movement. Meanwhile, after her coloring spree, Bubbles comes to notice her sisters' absence. Passing those that have lack of color and motion, she looks for them and is so horrified at their comatose, colorless bodies she starts to cry...until she gets the idea to recolor them with her crayons.
Bubbles' horrified look when her sisters have no color.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
She tries the approach, but to no avail; Blossom and Buttercup are still black and white and comatose. Realizing that her beautiful crayons can't help them recover, citing that they aren't magic, she drops them to the ground and screams "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" until she gets another idea.
The girls' lack of color.
Bubbles sets up drums on a big stage, and Buttercup and Blossom up as well, holding a Hofner bass guitar and V-shaped electric guitar, respectively. She begins to play, and the second she starts drumming color starts returning. Her sisters wake up and start playing their guitars and then Bubbles starts singing lead. Yes, the song Love Makes The World Go Round shows everyone that happiness is all in the color. All the color returns, and with it the happiness and life of the people of Townsville. During the song, Mr. Mime, furious as can be, bears witness to this recolorization and attempts to turn the girls black and white again. Blossom begins her guitar solo and notices Mr. Mime approaching. Blossom shoots magic waves from her guitar and zaps Mr. Mime, restoring Rainbow and his colorful, cheerful personality.
The girls save the day with their music.
At the end of the song, Rainbow sings his gratitude to the girls, who, in return, beat him up and throw him in jail, most likely for draining Townsville's color as Mr. Mime. The narrator announces the day is saved once again, and the girls continue performing from there.
Quotes[]
- Bubbles: (angry) (picks up the car) HEY! YOU CAN'T PARK NEXT TO A FIRE HYDRANT!!
- Driver: I didn't- (Bubbles tosses the car far away) KNOOOOOOOOW!!!!
- Bubbles: (to her sisters): Don't just stand there! START COLORING!!!!!!
Trivia[]
- Along with "Just Another Manic Mojo", this episode doesn't include the Professor and the girls' home.
- Bubbles is the only character shown who is never touched by Rainbow's dark corrupted persona, Mr. Mime.
- This is the first episode to include a song, which was written by series storyboard artist David Smith.
- Rainbow and the bleach truck driver are once again seen in "Birthday Bash".
- George Jetson from The Jetsons makes an appearance in this episode.
- Originally, the episode was originally going to have a happier ending where Rainbow is let off the hook by the girls, but the executives decided to change the ending to what is seen in the episode because the executives held him responsible for the whole thing in the first place where he was his evil, dark alter ego, Mr. Mime. When asked about this, Craig McCracken said that the final ending is the original ending, but he would not make a gag like that in his future work due to how mean-spirited the gag was.[1]
- Mr. Mime is the name of a Pokémon from the Pokémon series. However, in August 2021, Craig McCracken confirmed that this was a coincidence.[2]
- This is the first and only episode seen wherein the girls are playing instruments (the country-band makeshift instruments from "Impeach Fuzz" notwithstanding); Bubbles is the drummer, Buttercup is the bassist, and Blossom is the lead guitarist.
- According to the iTunes compilation The Best of the Powerpuff Girls (Classic), this is one of Craig McCracken's 10 favorite episodes.
- Jim is Jim Worthy, a background designer on the show. As an inside joke, some storyboard artists started inserting him into episodes when they needed a random character to appear. Jim did his own voice in "Him Diddle Riddle".[3]
- The girls are shown in a band again in the reboot episode "Electric Buttercup," where their style is harder and trashier, and once more in "Trouble Clef."
- When they finish their song, their heads appear in a black screen which referenced one of Queen's album covers.
Goofs[]
- If you look closely when Blossom is ready to fire her guitar ray at Mr. Mime, her left leg is bare.
- During the sequence where the girls are on stage as their band, they seem to be missing a keyboardist.
- During the line "Hear the birds and bells and you will have a brighter day," Blossom's guitar is white instead of red.
- During the simultaneous harmony, if you look closely, you can see Blossom isn't actually singing her line, she is actually mouthing Buttercup's line. Also, in the final scene of the harmony, both Blossom and Bubbles are mouthing Buttercup's line instead of singing their own.
- Right when the color starts spreading from the drums, there is a gap between Bubbles' body and the drum set, where the background is visible.
- When the girls sing the last line, Bubbles and Blossom sing each other's entrances instead of their own.
- When Bubbles is frantically trying to color Townsville, she isn't carrying a box of crayons with her and her crayons appear to come out of nowhere.
- During Happy Birthday Jim, Rainbow puts a crown on Jim's head, but after the second verse, it disappears magically and never returns.
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States on February 3, 1999, it was actually produced in 1998 according to the credits.
- This episode was finished in November of 1998.[4]