The Rider

"The Rider" is an episode of Wander Over Yonder.
Bored with Wander's usual helpings and looking for action, Sylvia gets a surprise visit from her long-lost, action-packed partner Rider, who invites her on a mission to retrieve stolen loot from Lord Hater. Wander tries to join in, but ends up making the adventure difficult, leading him to believe that Rider is better than him. (This is a half-hour episode and the official season finale of the first season.)
==Episode Summary==
Wander and Sylvia are helping a minuscule family, the Brittles, move into a dollhouse, much to the former's disinterest. She tells him that even though she has had fun with him, she thinks that their travels lack some adventure. Wander gets an idea: sneak onto Lord Hater's ship and give Barry, one of the Watchdogs, a birthday cake, since he's turning 30 years old and hasn't told anyone yet, but hopes they remember. Sylvia sighs and tells him that even though she likes helping, she could at least use some action.
Right on cue, a ship crashes in the distance, and Sylvia comes upon the site to find someone, right when Hater's ship flies over. Hater calls the mystery man a thief and tells him to surrender, but is surprised to see Wander and Sylvia there as well. The mystery man jumps onto Sylvia, making a majestic pose. Wander is tending to the Brittles' house, but Sylvia quickly grabs him away from Hater's ship, which is shooting laser beams and chasing after them. The man whispers to Sylvia to do technique number 42, and she kicks up dust into the ship. Coughing and wheezing, the ship leaves angrily. They drop out of a tree and Sylvia and the mystery man face off and wrangle. But they suddenly become friendly with each other, embracing one another. Sylvia introduces him to Wander as Ryder, calling him a "sorry son of a starchaser." He says that they used to be partners, and Wander declares that any friend of Sylvia's is also one of his. Ryder proclaims that he has found the key to Hater's hidden galactic storage station, and that's why he was being chased. Sylvia is extremely excited for the action-packed adventure of finding the place, but remembers about Wander. Wander thinks that stealing is dishonest. Ryder twists the adventure into a trip where they'll return the items in the storage to their owners, making them happy. Of course, Wander agrees.
They go to Weasel's Watering Hole to find the location of the storage facility. The seedy bartender says he could do it for a pretty price, and Sylvia grabs his nose. Wander politely tells him that it's for a charitable reason, and Ryder asks Wander to go outside and see who needs help. Wander comes back seconds later, bringing an ugly-looking gang called the Skuzzbuckets with him. He says that they want the coordinates he promised them, but instead Sylvia and Ryder grab the coordinates and bust through the gang. They engage in a gunfight as Sylvia hotwires a cruiser. She asks them to cover her, and Ryder hands Wander a blaster. He mimics the gun noises, not actually shooting. Frustrated, Ryder asks him to actually shoot them, but Wander climbs atop the boxes and informs the Skuzzbuckets that they will be returning fire. Sylvia flies off with Ryder in the stolen ship, leaving Wander behind to write a letter about how they will return it. They promptly come back and pluck Wander off the planet and into the ship.Sylvia hesitantly asks Wander to leave the whole mission to her and Ryder, but they are interrupted by the Skuzzbuckets, who have their own ships. She then tells Wander that he can help by not touching anything. However, Wander notices that they are heading right for a mess of blimps and ships. Ryder plans to smash right through them as a distraction, but at the last moment Wander takes control and swerves the ship, barely avoiding all the people. As Wander stops to assist a fruit vendor, Sylvia, frustrated, asks why he can't be more like Ryder. Their ship is suddenly blasted by the leader of the gang, and they see that the only shelter is Hater's galactic storage facility. They perform technique number 9,699 together as Wander asks what he can do to help. The Skuzzbucket leader crashes and the 3 land in the storage. They run into the storage, locking the door behind them and leaving a lonely and dejected Wander outside. Sylvia worriedly wonders where Wander is, but Ryder insults him and they go into a room with a massive amount of treasure in it. He claims that he's rich, but Sylvia angrily tells him that he said they would return all of it. He tells Sylvia she's gone soft because of Wander, and lifts a golden gorilla statue. Its eyes turn red and suddenly multiple watchdogs surround them. Ryder ditches Sylvia but he is blasted anyway. They cuff an annoyed Sylvia.
We flash to Wander telling himself that he must let Sylvia do what she wants to, however inconsiderate it is. He remarks that her new partner must be tough on the outside but kind inside. A monster slowly approaches him in the background and it bares it teeth at him.
We go back to Sylvia lamenting about how she'll miss Wander and his niceness. As a watchdog tells her that nobody cares, out of nowhere the monster bursts in with Wander riding him. He mentions that the monster is the cousin of somebody they helped. The duo reunites, and Wander tells Frederick the giant space worm that his advice worked. Hater walks into the fiery destruction site that was his storage, and is not surprised that Wander is behind this. As waves of watchdogs approach them, Wander notices Barry and hands him a cake with candles on it. The watchdogs stop to celebrate his 30th birthday, and Frederick politely tells Hater that the place will soon explode. Wander, Sylvia, and Ryder escape in a bubble and Hater leaves on his ship. The storage place explodes into bits and all the treasure floods back to its original owners, much to Ryder's dismay. As Ryder discusses the next dishonest mission, he is booted out of the bubble and onto Frederick's planet. Sylvia plans their next helpful mission, but they are interrupted by Hater, who is screaming that they will pay for destroying his stuff. The episode ends with Hater chasing Wander and Sylvia into the distance, with Hater yelling "I hate you so much Wander!" and Wander responding with "I love you too!".
==Songs==
*"Your Happy Birthday Song" (instrumental)
*"Wander Over Yonder Main Title" (instrumental)
==End Credits==
A repeat of the final shot of the episode, which pulls out to show it being watched on a screen by Lord Dominator, who laughs maniacally. This scene is a cliffhanger and resumes in the Season 2 opener.
==Background Information==
*This is first half hour episode with no songs in it, as Craig McCracken proclaimed there's no room for them in the episode.https://twitter.com/CrackMcCraigen/status/516436967601364992
*This is the first half-hour episode to premiere on Disney XD instead of Disney Channel.
*This is the first half-hour episode that Peepers does not appear in.
*This is the last Season 1 episode where Lord Hater appears without Commander Peepers.
==Trivia==
*This episode reveals that Wander and Sylvia weren't always partners.
*Third half-hour episode. ("The Pet", "The Little Guy")
*First episode where someone is revealed to have a definite age, in this case Watchdog Barry at age 30.
*Second time a birthday is celebrated ("The Birthday Boy").
*The seventh time a Watchdog besides Peepers was named. In this case, Barry.
*Sylvia is 10'.
**Craig McCracken later stated that 10' refers to her height from the tip of her tail to the tip of her snout. Standing, Sylvia is about 7'.
*Moral: Just because a friend of yours has an oldest friend doesn’t mean they’re better than you are.
==Continuity==
*The intro to "Your Happy Birthday Song" can be heard when Wander mentions the Watchdog's birthday.
*The ending of the animatic foreshadows the Season 2 premiere.
*Planets from the Theme Song are among the planets Hater stole from.
*The key used to get into Hater's storage facility is the same one used by the Locksmith to unlock Hater's research facility in "The Big Job".
==Errors==
*When Wander is trying to get back up after falling from Sylvia's back, Sylvia's eyes remain looking up.
*Sylvia's reins disappear and reappear several times throughout the episode.
==Allusions==
*Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope
**Ryder's appearance and attitude are based on Han Solo's.
**The Cantina scene and the "That's no moon" line are parodied.
**Battle of Yavin: When Sylvia says "I have you now."
*DuckTales - Ryder dives into the treasure like Scrooge McDuck.
*The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Sylvia calls Ryder a 'Narfin' Frood!', 'Frood is a common term in Hitchhikers as a description of a 'Really amazingly together guy'.
*Ali Baba Bunny - Ryder does Daffy's "I'm rich! I'm rich!" routine.
*Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 - This is the second episode to use the final movement of this Beethoven symphony after "The Brainstorm".
*The Lone Ranger - Wander shouts, "Hi-de-ho, Sylvia, away!", a reference to the catchphrase of the title character, "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!" from this old radio serial.
==Production Information==
*Craig McCracken confirmed this episode at Comic-Con 2014.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmkEAB7fL_0
**In that video, he also confirmed that Will Arnett will be the voice of Rider.
*Craig McCracken originally confirmed on Twitter this would be the season finale, but the episode was unscheduled at the time so it was likely intended to air as the finale. "The Gift" will air instead in December 2014 as a season finale.
**He later confirmed on Twitter that The Rider is the official season finale, The Gift simply aired last as a Christmas special.https://twitter.com/CrackMcCraigen/status/528669370017255424
*Unlike "The Pet" or "The Little Guy", which are split in 2 eleven-minute segments, this episode is split in 3 seven-minute segments.
*This episode was made available to verified Watch Disney XD app users and Disney XD On Demand Users starting November 26, 2014.
===Cast===
*Jack McBrayer as Wander
*April Winchell as Sylvia, Additional voices
*Keith Ferguson as Lord Hater, Watchdog 1, Additional voices
*Will Arnett as Rider
*Fred Tatasciore as Lord Dominator, Additional voices
*Additional voices: Tom Kenny
==References==
Category:Wander Over Yonder episodes