Dante the Entertainer

"Dante the Entertainer" is the second segment of the 4th episode of the third season of Trolls: TrollsTopia, and the 45th overall episode in the series. It premiered in June 10, 2021.
== ==
When Dante draws the Balloon Sword from the Stone, it is revealed that he is destined to become the greatest children's entertainer in history.
== ==
The episode starts with a scrapbook story where Poppy mentions a destiny and a balloon. Cooper appears and makes a balloon animal of himself, to which Tiny Diamond and several other Troll children cheer him on. Cooper tells the balloon version of himself that its work is done, and the balloon walks off. Tiny interrupts and calls Cooper the greatest children's entertainer of all time, to which Cooper corrects Tiny that title belongs to a Troll who has yet to discover their destiny. Poppy confirms of something called "the prophecy".
The kids are led to the Balloon Sword in the Stone where Cooper states the prophecy fortolds whomever draws it from the stone shall hold a show like no other before. Poppy encourages the kids to pull it, with Tiny getting annoyed as his father has been telling him he's special everyday. They all fail to pull the Balloon Sword from the Stone. The group is interrupted by Dante, who is calling for help from Poppy as it's an emergency. He just finished a symphony in D♭ and has learnt that D♭ is "so last season". Poppy responds that she can't help due to watching the kids pull the sword. Dante flies over and pulls it out of the Stone effortlessly, much to the hushed awe of the others, leaving Dante confused.
Dante flies away, stating he cannot be a children's entertainer, as he has nothing in common with them despite looking like a baby. He states that he is a great conductor who makes beautiful music, while children just make whatever "that" is called, pointing to a group of noisy kids. Poppy points out the sword chose him for a reason, and he can't run away from his destiny. Dante likes the idea of being the chosen one of legend has a nice ring to it, and agrees to give it a go. Cooper goes to tell the rest of the village that in a week's time the great entertainer shall deliver his performance. He rides away on Balloon Cooper. Dante suggests a small test audience and he asks what a children's entertainer does. Poppy states they do lots of things: be a clown, ventriloquism and perform magic; the latter gets a gasp from him.
Dante tries the magic act first, but it turns out he just wanted to tell the kids there is no such thing as magic and just wanted to sit with them and have them enjoy the magic of silent contemplation. Dante tries ventriloquism next and introduces Caruthers. At first, it works, but Dante's jokes using Caruthers soon turn flat as he overexplains them, then uses other jokes as a lead into the telling of "The Complete Works of Leon Trollstoy"; this sends his test audience to sleep. Dante wants to give up, but Poppy points out there is still a whole week before his big show.
Over the next week, time has gone fast and Dante is nowhere ready for his show. He states he might faint and doesn't know what to do, but Poppy points out his conducted for crowds 10 times this size. While the speech was inspiring, it did nothing for Dante at all. He faints and wakes up and decides he's had enough. Using the sword, he dubs Cooper his replacement so he doesn't have to do it and then flies off, running from his destiny.
As Dante flies along, he suddenly finds himself surrounded by balloons and then confronted by Caruthers, who tells him he has to go back. When Dante questions how he's talking on his own, Caruthers states this is the will of destiny. Dante pulls out the Balloon Sword and Caruthers pulls out his own double sword. They fight with them, until Caruthers knocks Dante off a cliff and he lands in a pile of noisemakers. Caruthers states he cannot run from destiny, and when Dante says he can't do it Caruthers reminds him who he is.
Dante wakes up, and it turns out everything after he fainted was a dream. When Cooper explains he has been dreaming, Dante asks about the show, and goes out to put on it. Using the Balloon Sword as a conductor's baton, Dante conducts the children to use their noisemakers and the group creates a song, ending the episode.
== ==
;Pop Trolls
*Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
*Gemma Fur
;Classical Trolls
*JP Karliak as Dante Crescendo & Caruthers
;Funk Trolls
*Ron Funches as Cooper
;Other
*Kenan Thompson as Tiny Diamond
== ==
*"Find Your Destiny"
== ==
*The story is a reference to the legend of Excalibur.
*The episode's title may be a reference to actor Cedric the Entertainer, who is perhaps best known for voicing Maurice in the Madagascar films.
*The plot makes reference to how prudish and snobish people who are considered "upper class" can be, seeing anyone below them that doesn't meet their standards. Particularly, children are often looked down upon because of their behavior and seen as uncivilized.
*"The Complete Works of Leon Trollstoy" is a book title previously mentioned in the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "Queen of the Castle".
*The red dual blade sword Caruthers wields against Dante is based on Darth Maul's double-blade lightsaber.
*The comment that Dante makes about him looking like a baby is a nod to the fact the Classical Trolls are based on cherubs, which are depicted as very young children or babies in Renaissance art.
*There are symphonies in the scale of D♭.
*This is the second episode to have Dante's name in the title, the first being "My Dinner with Dante".
*The storyboard animatic version of the song sequence can be watched here.
Category:Episodes
Category:Trolls: TrollsTopia episodes
Category:Classical Trolls Story Arc Episodes
Category:TT Season 3 episodes
Category:2D animation