Thinking Cap Trap

**Thinking Cap Trap** is an episode of *The Chipmunks* series.

## Plot

Simon has had it with the incompetence of his family as they rely on his smarts to help them out. Later on, in his laboratory down in the basement, he creates a device simply known as the "Thinking Cap." The said device is capable of boosting the IQ of anyone who wears it. Upon using it on Alvin, who improves his game on the football team by making plays, Theodore, who is trying to train Lilly, and Dave, who is balancing checkbooks.

Seeing the positive effects it has, Simon signs his family up for his favorite show, *Genius in the House*, where they compete against Lester Schmelbacher and his children, Leonard, Leeland, and Lenore. However, Simon loses the thinking cap on the night they are on and the IQs of Alvin, Theodore and Dave revert to normal much to Simon's dismay. After the others flub the first round of questions, Simon pulls the Sevilles to a tie by doing a bang-up job in the next round. However, when the others are to compete in the "Brain Buster" round, whereupon the two teams compete head to head while Simon and Leeland, being the smartest members of their families, are taken out of the competition, Simon panics about his family embarrassed on national TV and then sneaks out as Brain Buster rounds goes on.

While Simon is gone, Dave, Theodore and Alvin manage to get their answers right. Later that night Simon sits outside his school by a statue of the scientific founding father, Thomas Edison. The rest of the Seville find him there. Simon tearfully apologizes to them about the whole thing believing they are angry with him. It turns out that they are not angry a bit. Alvin informs Simon that they won the whole game; the prize was $50,000 and a brand-new car (a red convertible which resembles a 1987 Nissan 300ZX convertible) filled with toys, including an airplane, sailboat, drum, and tennis equipment. Surprised, Simon wonders how they did it. Dave dries Simon's tears with a handkerchief as he explains that Simon and his brothers are all smart in their own way and education and intellect does not always come from school and books, but often through life experience. When Simon asks how they answered the last question that he was supposed to answer, Alvin says it was from an earlier quote of Simon's: "Who said, 'We don't know 0.000001% about anything'?". This cheers Simon up as the whole family shouts the answer happily: "THOMAS ALVA EDISON!".

## Characters

* Alvin Seville
* Simon Seville
* Theodore Seville
* Dave Seville
* Lilly
* Guy Brilliant
* Lester Schmelbacher
* Lonard Schmelbacher
* Leeland Schmelbacher
* Lenore Schmelbacher

## Trivia

* The game show host, Guy Brilliant, may be a reference to Sesame Street's game show host Guy Smiley.
* Dave's Brain Buster question: "*The ozone layer screens the Sun's harmful UV rays. Harvard screens its applicants. What does a washing machine screen screen?*" Dave's answer: "*Lint!*"
* Theodore's Brain Buster question: "*True or false: One of the ingredients for coffee cake is coffee.*" Theodore's answer: "*False.*"
* Alvin's Brain Buster question: "*Who are The Bronx Bombers?*" Alvin's answer: "*The New York Yankees.*"
* A comic version of this episode was included in *Alvin and the Chipmunks Harvey Classics 3*.
* Part of the *Alvin and the Chipmunks: School's Out for Summer* VHS.
* Part of *The Mystery of the Easter Chipmunk* and the *Easter Collection* DVDs.

## References

1. ↑ Copyright Catalog, Cocatalog.loc.gov, Retrieved 2015-07-09.