"Him Diddle Riddle" is the fourth episode of season 4 of The Powerpuff Girls and the 78th episode overall.
The episode was completed on January 4, 2001 [2] but didn't premiere on Cartoon Network in the United States until June 21, 2002 as part of Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.
Plot[]
HIM sets up a series of obscure challenges for the girls to complete under a certain time limit. If they fail to meet his bizarre orders, The Professor will... "pay".
Synopsis[]
The episode starts with the girls trying to answer a riddle within a time limit of two minutes. After they have solved the riddle, seemingly involving a school bus in danger of an accident, HIM appears to congratulate the girls for solving the first among many, telling them that they have eight more to go.
HIM then gives them the second riddle about trying to bring tears to the entire town. After The Powerpuff Girls solve the problem with a rain cloud within another two-minute time limit, HIM orders them to run to an intersection of two roads, Chang and Ching, without flying within three minutes. The girls try to split up and use different modes of transport; Blossom hitches a ride in a truck, Buttercup takes the subway, and Bubbles takes the bus and later rides a pony. Blossom arrived first and answered the phone call. HIM gave them the next quiz about two trains involving one coming from Pokey Oaks and the other from Norwalk, asking them where the train will collide. As the girls struggle to do the math over the minute given, they realized that it was not a matter of the time of the collision as it was about the potential crash site. The girls quickly flew to a common point between the two routes and thwarted the collision. With the riddles about halfway completed, HIM leaves to the girls another riddle involving a monkey, which is solved within two minutes and forty-five seconds.
As the conclusion of the episode starts, a new puzzle involves two versions of Ms. Keane suspended over a vat of shark-infested, boiling water; HIM tells them that the true Ms. Keane would tell the girls the truth while the false would only tell lies. Blossom deduces and solves the riddle by questioning both Keanes about who they would claim was the real Ms. Keane (Unfortunately she takes fifteen seconds too long and answers incorrectly, but this goes unnoticed by the other characters).
Next, HIM decides to test them in the spirit of the SATs. He states that success depends on whether or not they score combined one-hundred points with the one minute provided, otherwise the Professor will "pay." HIM and the girls arrive at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten and HIM told them to begin. After time runs out, HIM checks their test papers with a scanner inspired by a Scantron machine. Buttercup got 25 (much to her irritation and Blossom's amusement), Blossom got an even lower score of 10 (much to her shock and Buttercup's triumph), and Bubbles receives an unexpected (though remarkable) 1075. Blossom, Buttercup, and HIM are caught by surprise as the villain says "Well, I'll be darned."
The next challenge is to defeat a monster without superpowers. Despite efforts as hyperbolic as pelting him with machine gun fire, the girls' efforts at attacking the monster first prove ineffective. Crafting a new plan, Buttercup and Bubbles distract the monster while Blossom climbs up a building to attack the monster by pulling his hair. The monster reacts by stomping loudly until it slips on a banana peel thrown by Bubbles and lands butt-first onto a taxi called by Buttercup. The monster is then hauled to an airport, thus "defeating him".
The girls meet up for the final challenge where HIM then asks, "Where is boiling and freezing at the same time?" The Mayor assists the girls and tells them that this refers to the coordinates of where they were supposed to go, within Townsville itself. However, they went to the wrong building while their real destination was across the road. The girls do not make it in time and HIM declares that the Professor must pay.
"Say what?"
In the end, it is discovered that HIM had made a deal with the Professor that if the girls could solve all his riddles in time, the Professor could have a free breakfast on him at the Otto-Time Diner. Of course, having failed the final challenge, the Professor pays full price, frustrated, and decides that he'll go to another diner as HIM tries to bargain desperately for his continued patronage. The girls are stunned by this and even the narrator ends the episode, sounding just as baffled as the girls, "And so... erm... hmm... yeah."
Characters[]
Major[]
Minor Roles[]
Trivia/Goofs[]
- This episode premiered in some countries before the United States.[3]
- This episode premiered in Australia on July 13, 2001.
- This episode premiered in Brazil and Canada on October 5, 2001.
- This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on December 9, 2001.
- This episode premiered in Mexico on February 7, 2002.
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Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, as they appear in this episode.
- Despite being produced by Cartoon Network Studios instead of Hanna-Barbera, it shows the latter's logo at the end.
- The events of this episode were featured on disc 2 of Scooby Doo and the Toon Tour of Mysteries; a set of 5 DVD releases featuring the cast of Scooby Doo solving mysteries from several episodes of Cartoon Network shows. They were available by purchasing Kellogg and Keebler products through June 2004.
- With the riddle involving 65 eyes, in reality the bus had 66 eyes, as the bus driver also had 2 eyes (albeit one covered by an eyepatch).
- When Buttercup says “Ha!” After Blossom got a 10 on her test, Blossom’s mouth moves the same way as Buttercup’s.
- In the picture where Blossom is using a phone, her arm is detached from her body.
- This episode aired on December 9, 2001 on Channel 5 (UK) before it aired on Cartoon Network.
- One of the clones of Ms. Keane always tells the truth, and the other one always lies. This segment of the episode is based on a very well-known logic problem, notably used in a scene from the 1986 movie Labyrinth, which featured two castle guards: one who always told the truth, and one who always lied.
- This episode was produced after the episode "Get Back Jojo" finished production.
- In the scene where Buttercup is doing her test, you can vaguely see a faint reflection of an animator working on the cartoon.
- This is HIM's second appearance in a 20-minute episode, with the first one being "All Chalked Up".
- At the Ms. Keane puzzle, Blossom claimed the wrong Ms. Keane was the real one, even though she reasoned correctly, but simply pointed out the wrong one. No one in the episode seemed to notice this, as HIM lets Ms. Keane go anyway.
- The coordinates of 212 degrees longitude are not possible because longitudinal coordinates only extend to 180 degrees.
- In the bus stop, there is a poster with "Drink Soda", featuring a man who looks remarkably similar to HIM.
- Jim from "Mime for a Change" makes a cameo in this episode.
- In reality, the lowest score to get in the SAT exams is around 600.
- The clocks in this episode are far from consistent, often standing still or making strange time jumps.
- A Poké Ball from Pokémon makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in this episode. It appears in the top left-hand corner of Blossom's test booklet (while the girls are doing the SATs).
- Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory makes a cameo appearance among the children in the school bus.
Goofs[]
- When this episode first aired on Cartoon Network, the episode incorrectly had a 2000 copyright date at the end. Later reruns corrected this to 2001.
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States on June 21, 2002, it was actually produced in 2001 according to the credits.
- This episode was completed on January 4, 2001.[4]
References[]
Home Media
- Kellogg's Scooby-Doo and the Toon Tour of Mysteries DVD-ROM Disc 2 (The Powerpuff Girls)