The First Picture Show

"The First Picture Show" is the first segment of the thirty-fifth episode of Recess.
==Synopsis==
T.J. finds out about the first Señor Fusion movie and vows to see the first show, but the first showing happens to be during school hours.
==Plot==
T.J. is riding his bike to school when he suddenly passes by the movie theater and discovers that a Señor Fusion movie is coming out that weekend. He tells his friends who are all excited, until Lawson shows up to mock T.J., declaring that he will be the first to go see the movie when it opens. Gretchen tells them that the movie will open while they are all still in school, but Lawson reveals that he has a permission slip that will get him out of school early, disappointing T.J. He passes by the movie theater and egged on by the film's tagline as well as a friendly janitor, T.J. decides to find a way to fight to see the first screening.
T.J. tells his friends that he is determined to see the movie and concocts a plan to see it legitimately during school hours. The Recess Gang proceed to pitch to each of the faculty members about possibly taking a field trip to see Señor Fusion with Miss Grotke convinced about its positive message, Coach Kloogey convinced by the physical action and Mr. Dunn convinced by the movie theater's design. Soon, the whole school supports the idea of going to see Señor Fusion, until Principal Prickly hears and turns them down. T.J. reveals that it was his plan and accuses Prickly of being a closeted Señor Fusion fan. He decides to challenge him to a trivia contest to determine the trip.
Everyone overhears Prickly testing T.J. which despite the difficulty, he manages to easily breeze through them. Prickly finally hits T.J. with the last question of who Señor Fusion's sidekick was from the Golden Age, issues that T.J. does not possess. He manages to deliver a suitable answer, but Prickly counts it wrong because of how he pronounced "Femme Fatale" (Fem-ee Fatal-ee). T.J. calls Prickly a false Señor Fusion fan for tricking him and after overlooking his own memorabilia, breaks and announces T.J. as the winner. Everyone goes to the movie theater while Miss Finster catches and kicks out Lawson with his fake permission slip and everyone enjoys the movie.
==Cast==
*Andrew Lawrence as T.J. Detweiler
*Rickey D'Shon Collins as Vince LaSalle
*Pamela Adlon as Ashley Spinelli
*Ashley Johnson as Gretchen Grundler
*Jason Davis as Mikey Blumberg
*Courtland Mead as Gus Griswald
*April Winchell as Muriel Finster
*Allyce Beasley as Miss Grotke
*Dabney Coleman as Peter Prickly
*Erik von Detten as Erwin Lawson
*Paul Willson as Coach Kloogey
*Gregg Berger as Mr. Dunn
*Frank Welker as Señor Fusion, Janitor
==Trivia==
*On Disney+ and outside the U.S., this episode is first next to "Gus' Fortune".
*The title is a reference to the 1971 film, The Last Picture Show.
*It seems unlikely that T.J. would only just know about the movie a week before its release, though this was clearly done to drive the plot of the episode. Additionally, Gretchen explains that the first showing is Friday afternoon. While movies do advertise opening during this time, it is quite common for them to open Thursday evening.
*The janitor tells T.J. that he had been in the movie business for years. This is clearly intended as an in-joke for actor Frank Welker who has had a famously long and detailed career.
==External links==
*The First Picture Show at the Recess Wiki
Category:Recess episodes