The Seed of an Idea

**The Seed of an Idea** is the second segment of the third episode of *Elinor Wonders Why* in production order, and fourth in airing order.

## Synopsis

Elinor becomes fascinated by the Velcro on Ari's new watch and convinces her friends to help her find out how it works.

## Plot

Elinor walks into school one day and notices that some of her classmate's clothes create some kind of scratching sound. Even Ari's new watch made it thanks to the strange patches it has! Elinor notes that despite not being sticky like glue or tape, it holds whatever it's attached to together. Elinor, Ari and Olive make a list of what the Velcro sticks to and what it doesn’t stick to, but they need more observations, so they head out onto the playground. While outside, they observe that Velcro is very similar to a burr seed that is stuck to Ari’s shirt, which is no coincidence at all! That’s when they learn that the invention of Velcro was based off the burr seed. Nature is full of all sorts of inventive ideas!

## Characters

### Major

* Elinor Rabbit
* Ari Bat
* Olive Elephant

### Minor

* Ms. Mole
* Javier Moose
* Ashley
* Medhi
* Seku
* Camilla
* Goat twins
* Koa
* Rollie
* Sally Beaver
* Miro

## Trivia

* This episode, especially its animations, is unique in that:
	+ It is made with an extra director.
	+ Elinor can be seen smiling wider than she usually does.
		- When she grins, her mouth shows full teeth instead of being mostly lineless.
		- Elinor also has more pronounced paw pads on her feet.
		- Her nose shading is also stronger than usual.
	+ Olive's skirt uses the pre-release design shown in posters (it has an additional cyan stripe).
	+ Ari's shirt is referred as a "sweater".
		- His mouth is also sometimes filled in completely white when he's talking.
	+ The floating eyebrows kid has a very different design.
	+ Koa has no eyebrows, and his eyes are styled like the rest of the cast, being simple dots instead of being closed like his normal design.
	+ Camilla has two humps unlike her final design which only has one, her eyes are slightly smaller, she has no eyebrows, and her mouth seems to be wider.
	+ Ms. Mole's voice characterization is slightly different in some scenes.
	+ Sally Beaver's eyebrows are thicker.
* According to Ari's watch, the episode takes place over the course of around an hour. The first time the watch is shown, it reads 8:57. The last time it's shown, it reads 9:52.
* This story was adapted as a picture book, published on September 6, 2023.
* The series pilot follows *The Seed of an Idea's* plot exactly, proving a long-held fandom theory that *The Seed of an Idea* was indeed the pilot episode.
* **Animation Error:** The Platypus and Rollie are strangely absent during Ms. Mole's roll call. They appear in the next cut.
	+ However, they are always present in the pilot version of the episode.

 **SEASON 2**  The Violin Lesson/Flying High • Elinor's Nest/Foody Fuel • Spice Is Nice/Ari's Muscles • Teacher's Day/The Nose Knows • Clean Captain/The Moment of Tooth • Just Mist/Crayon Quest • Junior Ranger Elinor/Big Brother • Flower Power/The Snow Must Go On • The Fright Stuff/Doug The Mold • Going With The Tide/Slime Time • A Little Help/Elinor's Meadow • Tasty Rainbow/Olive Gets the Big Picture • Circus Tricks/??? • ???/??? • Adventure in Moose Mountain