Pumpkins of the Opera

Pumpkins of the Opera is the twenty-third episode of FruityTales.

The main story is a parody on the Rocky and the Karate Kid, with a mix of Gilbert and Sullivan.

## Plot

The first segment is a silent film short in 1920's America.The three fruit stooges are assigned to deliver a piano to a 3-story mansion at the top of a 1000-inch tall hill. While his fellow workers give up on the seemingly impossible task, Harry perseveres and is rewarded for his eventual success.

In the second segment, Hondo presents a story about the origin of Christmas. Nicholas is at church and afterwards, he and his dad go fishing. While they are there, they see Gustav firing a man who has no food, and Nick's dad gives him of the fish they caught. That night, Nicholas’ parents go to help a sick person, but they get sick and die. Nicholas sails to Bethlehem, where he hears about Jesus, and goes back to Greece. While there, he gives coins to three girls to pay the fine, because Gustav had became mayor and made a rule that you must not give people items for free, and they had broken this rule.

In the third segment, the titular story parodies the Karate Kid and Rocky film series, mainly the third Rocky movie, as well as Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Mikado. The story takes place in 1990's Japan. Harry is the "Sweet Leek", a banana wrestler who has difficulty taking anything seriously. He succeeds in injuring his sparring partner Gra-PE-Fru-IT (Henry the Grapefruit) as a result of his clowning around when T slips on a banana peel and falls from the ring, injuring his back.

He is admonished for his joking by Mikey (Pa Orange), who accuses him of being weak, lacking ambition, and never completing what he starts when young Hadrian (Timmy Strawberry) reminds him that he has not yet fixed his bike. Meanwhile, the Champion, Apollo Pumpkin, is looking for an opponent now that T has been injured. The prize is a new "Tiger Bike". Wanting the bike for Hadrian, Leek accepts the challenge. Mikey agrees to become his trainer on the condition that Leek does everything he says.

Leek starts out well and trains hard, but when things get difficult, he quits. However, when Leek sees Hadrian emulating him he realizes that he must set a good example and persevere. He returns to his training with relish and eventually is ready for his match with Apollo Pumpkin, though naturally no one gives him a chance. However, Leek does surprisingly well in the match. He lasts longer in the ring than anyone ever has against Apollo. When they both tumble out of the ring at the same moment, the match is called a tie. Unfortunately this means that Apollo remains the champion. In spite of this, Leek is victorious for having persevered and even completes the repairs to Hadrian's bike.

## Fun Facts

### Explanations

* A spring roll is a rolled Asian appetizer. It is similar to an egg roll, but the wrap is made of flour dough wrap.
* Leek thinking he's going to eat raw eggs was a used practice where during most of the 20th century boxers would eat raw eggs so they can have protein. This was later revealed in the late 1980s that it is considered unhealthily.

### Trivia

* This is the only FruityTales episode to have more than two segments (three if you count the Serious Song).
* Harry's trouble getting to the toy drive is based on Mark's experience when he was in Chicago before trying to help out at a toy drive, though unlike Harry, Mark didn't have any troubles getting there.
* This is also the first time Quirky breaks down. Incidentally, less than three months after the video was released, a similar incident happened towards Strong Bad's Compy. Coincidentally, they're both based on the same computer model.
* During the scene where St. Nicholas was preaching the people of Ireland, the crowd is actually animated versions of the crew at Big Deal (see image)
* This was the only episode where concept artist Joseph Sapulich provided character voices including voicing one of the sailors and the Ireland townsfolk.
* When this aired on Smile of a Child, both the main story and mentions of it were removed (this included the the first half of the What Have We Learned song).
* The numbered bus routes Harry mentioned after he came back are actual bus routes in Chicago.
* There were a few differences between pre-production and the final version:
	+ Ryan Roberts states that there was a Jerry Lewis gag after Maewyn and the ship crew landed in France, but it was cut due to time.
	+ There was a line after Hadrian asks if his bike was finished, Leek says "Yo, Hadrian, know why the kid crossed the playground? To get to the other slide. Get it?". This was absent in the final.
	+ The scene of Apollo Pumpkin saying he doesn't need to train was after Leek was eating at the sushi restaurant. However, it was pushed after the first training at the recycling center.
	+ Originally in the storyboards and concept art, it was going to be an entirely new model for the Sushi Chef. That was probably Hop Sing, who was mentioned in The Ballad of Little Moe script.
	+ After the first training at the recycling center, it was suppose to be night time, and it shows Hadrian throwing newspaper.
	+ After the crowd sings, the script has Mikey, Robby, and Jim Mangoes saying "Wait, wait. The story's not over." However, in the final version, it was only Tim who says "Wait folks! The story's not over!".
* At the end of the show, Hondo revealed himself to be Coral. This was brought over to Lessons from the Vacuum Cleaner.
* The artwork used for St. Nicholas was done by Joe Spadaford and Chuck Vollmer, while Brian Roberts did the animation.
* The sound effects that's used for Scooter after Apollo defeated him is a mix of both chattering teeth and a jackhammer.
* This is the no last episode to show Petunia Broccoli.

### Remarks

* Several fourth wall breaks were done, such as:
	+ Maewyn interrupting Hondo while he's telling the story.
	+ Archibald popping up explaining what the silk screen is made of and what a haiku is.
	+ Leek looking at the audience when Mikey states he injured his knee.
* Considering Maewyn is in England, the church minster should've used the term "Football".
* A semi second flash flare happened when Jim Mangoes was explaining Jerry on Leek’s history.
* Bus 92 is the route Harry took to get to the toy drive. If you look up at CTA, it takes you to Foster, which was the original location of Big Deal.
* In the previews section, The Complete Scooby Song Collection is listed as "Scooby Song DVD Collection".
* Concept art of the mall had the Big Deal logo in English, but it's in Japanese in the final. (See also Goofs)

### Goofs

* During some parts of St. Nicholas, some of the body joints of Nicholas are disconnected at times.
* After the captain is cooking clam, the bearded sailor swapped his voice with the other sailor.
* When Apollo enters the room, the horns on his helmet clips through the black.
* Concept art of the mall had the Big Deal logo in English, but it's in Japanese in the actual episode.
* Leek was missing his tooth can be seen in some shots:
	+ One is seen where Leek was missing his tooth when he tells Mikey he owe it to Ma-N-gO.
	+ Another one can be seen in a millisecond where Leek's tooth is missing when Mikey asked him why he wants to face Apollo.
* The lip-syncing is off at parts.

### Inside References

* In the concept art, Scooter‘s character was Mater.
* If you look closely at the news article on Alexander, you can see the word Marlin.

### Real World References

* Star Trek is a science fiction television series. Luifi stating we'll just believe the Irish folk are speaking English is mostly referring to the alien species the crew encountered claiming they speak a different language, but they just speak English so viewers can understand.
* The small pile of rocks Maywen knocked over is a miniature version of Stonehenge.
* Because it's a spoof of Rocky and Karate Kid, a lot of references and mentions were used, including:
	+ Harry's character, the Italian Leek is the spoof name of Rocky Balboa's nickname, the Italian Stallion.
	+ Mikey is a composite of Mickey and Miyagi, the two mentors from the films.
	+ Hadrian's name is a spoof of Adrian, Rocky's love interest and later wife.
	+ Some of the scenes Pyramid training (punching the can bags and running up the escalator) are similar to the training montages Rocky does.
	+ The illustrator of Mikey's images is Danny LaRusso. That was the main character from the Karate Kid films.
	+ Eye on the Tiger is the name of the song by Survivor, which was used for Rocky 3.
* Ma-N-gO is a spoof on actor Mr. T, who is famous for saying "I pity the fool!". He was also known as Clubber Lang from the third Rocky film.
* E.S.N (Emperor's Sports Network) is a play on words for ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network).
* The Mikado Mall is named after the play "Mikado", which is what the genre of the episode is based after. some of the stores there are play on words of real stores, such as:
	+ Origami-R-Us (Toys "R" Us)
	+ Samurai's Secrret (Victoria's Secret)
* Colors of the Wind is the name of the song heard in Disney's Pocahontas.
* The S. S. Minnow is the name of the ship from "Gilligan's Island".
* Alexander the Orange is a play on words for the Macedon king, Alexander the Great.

### Fast Forward

* A unofficial follow up called Lessons from the Vacuum Cleaner would be made, using some of the same shorts.