Have You Seen the Remote?

Transcript for Have You Seen the Remote?
(Scene: TJ’s treehouse, home of the International WordGirl Fan Club.)

Narrator: Another exciting day begins as Becky gets ready to attend her very first WordGirl Fan Club meeting!

TJ: We’re about to start. So time for you to get lost!

Narrator: Hmph, guess the excitement will have to wait.

Violet: TJ! WordGirl would want the meeting to be open to everyone! Stay, Becky. I’m almost finished with the mural.

Becky: Thanks Violet, I’m sure WordGirl would want me to be here, although I’m NOT sure how she would feel about TJ!

(Becky climbs down the ladder and Bob gives TJ a raspberry before following her.)

TJ: Hey! (addressing the members) As  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club, I call this meeting to order. First item on the agenda is--

Johnson: Mr.  President ! (kneeling before the podium)

TJ: Johnson, you’re late!

Johnson: Yes sir, Mr.  President !

TJ: Ooh, and so are your monthly dues!

Johnson: Yes, Mr.  President . I offer this as payment, sir!

(He holds out a remote control device.)

TJ: Whoa, where’d you get that?

Johnson: At a yard sale! It’s some kind of super remote or something, Mr.  President  sir.

Violet: I wonder what it goes to?

TJ: Probably nothing. Hey, this would be great for the time machine game that we built at last week’s meeting! As  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club, I propose a short recess from WordGirl business in order to go right to playing Adventures of WordGirl! All in favor?

(Everyone raises their hands and screams, “Aye!”)

TJ: Now, as  president  of the WordGirl Fan Club, I’m sending us to the year one million B.C., where we can help prehistoric WordGirl defeat the dinosaurs!

(Everyone yells “Yeah!”)

TJ: Initiate warp speed! (presses another button)

(Scene: In the kitchen of the Botsford home, Becky sits while Bob is going through the refrigerator.)

Becky: Kind of funny that we’re not wanted at a WordGirl Fan Club meeting, huh?

(Bob walks away from the refrigerator carrying a large bowl of ice cream and a container of chocolate syrup. He chatters at Becky.)

Narrator: I was thinking the same thing. Of course, I still find it  baffling  that nobody realizes you’re WordGirl!

Becky: Why? What do you mean?

(With her super-hearing, she hears someone cry out, “Look out, it’s a robot!”)

Becky: Uh-oh! Sounds like Tobey and his robots are at it again. Come on, Bob! Word UP! (She takes off, dragging him away from his sundae.)

(Scene: A field. WordGirl and Huggy land, only to find one of Tobey’s robots sitting on the ground, pounding itself repeatedly on the head with its fists and yelling “Ow” after each hit.)

Becky: That’s odd, Huggy! I’ve never seen one of Tobey’s robots act so clumsily. And where’s Tobey? The robots usually don’t go anywhere without him!

(Scene: Back at the club house....)

TJ: Hey! Buttons with animals on ‘em! As  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club, I hereby turn you into a chicken!

(The robot starts acting like a chicken, flapping its arms and clucking.)

Becky: Did I just hear that robot squawk? Huh! Well, come on, Huggy-- let’s take this clunky chicken out!

(Huggy covers his eyes.)

Becky: What? (takes off with him)

(After a brief battle, WordGirl and Huggy reduce the robot to an egg-shaped ball.)

(Meanwhile, back at the club house, Johnson is now holding the remote…)

Johnson: Initiating chimpanzee maneuvers!

(He presses a button, and suddenly another robot near WordGirl starts beating its chest and chattering like a chimp. WordGirl takes out that robot as well.)

Becky: I have to admit, I’m  baffled . And where’s Tobey? (Huggy chatters.) Try his house? Hm.

(Above them, another robot has started doing calisthenics between two buildings. WordGirl takes care of that one as well)

Narrator: Meanwhile, across town…

Tobey: With my global positioning tracking device, I’ll be able to reclaim my lost remote, and reclaim my--

(WordGirl arrives.)

Tobey: (enthusiastically) --WordGirl! (hides the tracking device) I mean, WordGirl.

WordGirl: Tobey! What’s the deal with you robots? They’re acting all--

Tobey: Whacky? I know! Someone bought my master remote and is now using it to control them. Oh, the audacity!

WordGirl: You sold your master remote?

Tobey: N-- no, no. My mother sold it at her yard sale by (using air quotes) “accident”-- oh, parents…

WordGirl: Huh. Well we’d better start looking for it.

Tobey: R-right! Good thing I-- (he nearly mentions his tracking device, then stops himself.) Wait! Did you say we? As in you and I? Together?

WordGirl: Of course. You know what it looks like, I don’t.

Tobey: Right! Of- of course! (to himself) Oh, my lucky day has finally arrived! At last, some quality time with WordGirl!

WordGirl: Oh! Hold on a sec! Did the remote have a tracking device?

Tobey: Of course it-- uh, uh-- didn’t! Why, I am  baffled , I never heard of a-- tracking device, was it? (He reaches back and pushes the device further into his back pocket)

WordGirl: Yeah, you know… something that tells you where your remote is. In case you lost it?

Tobey: R-right. Uh, nope, sorry, never thought to make one.

WordGirl: Oh well, let’s get started. You ready, Huggy?

(Huggy is buying a blender from Mrs. McCallister.)

Tobey: Uh, just so you know-- uh, the remote was sold hours ago, so it could be far, far away. Why, it might take days, even weeks of working together to find it!

WordGirl: I hope not.

Tobey: (to himself) Oh, I hope so. (in a louder voice) Um, I remember seeing the librarian at the yard sale, so we search the library first?

(She walks away from him, frowning.)

(Scene: Later, at the library. WordGirl and Huggy walk through the stacks, and go up to Tobey.)

WordGirl: Nope. No luck.

Tobey: Me neither. Although I did stumble across this in the rare book section! (Holds out a book to her, and she looks at it with delight.)

WordGirl: (gasps) A first edition of Webster’s Dictionary from 1806!

Tobey: Uh-- would you like to sit down and read with me?

WordGirl: I’d love to!

Tobey: But no fair peeking and telling me how it ends! (laughs at his own joke)

WordGirl: But I already know. "Z".

Tobey: er- Right. Was just a little joke.

WordGirl: (snickers) Yeah, I knew that.

(Seeing that she is being distracted, Huggy chatters at her, and Tobey glares at Huggy.)

WordGirl: Oh. Huggy’s right. No time to read. We have to find that remote!

Tobey: Might I suggest trying the museum next? I have a hunch!

(Scene: Later at the museum.)

Tobey: Well, uh, so much for my hunch. (they sit down) I am just  baffled ! Where oh where could that remote be? (sighs) Ah well, it is nice to take a break and look at my favorite painting.

WordGirl: That’s my favorite painting too! Something about it just speaks to me, you know?

Tobey: Me too! It says…

(They both look at each other, and speak together)

WordGirl and Tobey: ...Read!

Tobey: Wow, WordGirl, I-- I never realized we have so much in common!

WordGirl: Neither did I.

(Huggy chatters at them.)

WordGirl: Right, Huggy! Uh, the remote!

Tobey: And I know the next place we should search.

(Scene: The playground. Tobey and WordGirl are on the see-saw, eating ice cream cones.)

Tobey: I was just so sure we’d find a clue here. This case is proving to be so--

(After a short pause, they both speak together once again.)

WordGirl and Tobey: -- Baffling !

Tobey: I know, it’s just so--

WordGirl: --Confusing!

Tobey: Puzzling.

WordGirl: Unclear.

Tobey: Wow, you understand me so well, WordGirl. It’s like we can finish each other’s--

WordGirl: Umm… Thoughts?

Tobey: Exactly!

WordGirl: (Looks around awkwardly) Right, well… Hey, I just realized something! Your robots haven’t attacked anything in a while.

Tobey: You’re right! I wonder why?

(Scene: Back at the International WordGirl Fan Club)

TJ: As  president  of the WordGirl Fan Club, I say-- use it or lose it, Violet!

Violet: No! I don’t think we should be pressing these buttons unless we know what they do!

TJ: Well then, as  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club, I say, give me the remote back! (He and Violet struggle over the remote.)

(Scene: Back at the playground. Tobey, WordGirl and Huggy are on the swings.)

Tobey: Those robots could have stopped for any number of reasons. Oh well, we should really plan our next move. Uh, I’m thinking either the movie theater or the candy store.

(Huggy seems to think that is a good idea, and celebrates.)

WordGirl: One vote for the candy store!

(She detects a distant sound with her super-hearing.)

WordGirl: Oh, wait-- hold on. (She hears the sounds of someone yelling “robots”.)

WordGirl: My super-hearing is picking up some chaos of the robot variety! They’re back!

Tobey: Oh! Well, by all means, let’s go then.

(She picks them up and takes off.)

(Scene: The bank. A robot is sitting outside, bobbing its head.)

Tobey: Stop that foolishness! I raised you better than that!

(WordGirl flies with Huggy, sets him on the roof, and hovers in front of the robot’s head. The robot is now standing and appears to be exercising, and slams its hand against Huggy, sending him flying across the street. He grabs onto a flagpole outside an old lady’s window.)

WordGirl: Hang on, Huggy! (He gives her a thumbs up.)

(The robot then slaps her, sending her flying briefly until she stop herself. Then she starts looking around, and notices other robots.)

WordGirl: Huh! The robots are all around TJ’s club house.

(She then hears TJ yelling “Give me that remote!”. She zips back to rescue Huggy from the flagpole, disables the robot next to the bank, picks up Tobey, and heads toward the club house.)

WordGirl: Great new, Tobey! I know where your remote is!

Tobey: (disappointed) Oh-- joy.

Narrator: Meanwhile, back at the fort, TJ has let this presidency thing go to his head!

TJ: Get back! As  president  of the WordGirl Fan Club, I order you to obey my every command!

Violet: We all know you’re  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club, you don’t have to keep saying it.

(TJ starts pressing buttons on the remote repeatedly.)

TJ: As  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club, I say that I can say “as  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club” as many times as I want, as  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club!

(Johnson stares out the door of the club house.)

Johnson: Hey, look!

(An army of robots is moving toward them.)

Johnson: Robots!!

Boy: Cool!

TJ: Whoa! This remote... controls THOSE! (He presses different buttons, and the perform different tricks.) WOOO! Awesome!

(WordGirl arrives, with Tobey and Huggy.)

TJ: WordGirl! In person!

Violet: Hi, WordGirl! Huggy. (pauses) Tobey?

Tobey: I know.

WordGirl: Hi. (looks at TJ’s hands) There’s the remote!

(A beeping sound starts coming from Tobey.)

WordGirl: What’s that sound?

Tobey: Uh-- noise? What noise? I don’t hear any noise! (Huggy pulls the tracking device from his back pocket.)

WordGirl: A tracking device?! For the remote! But you said you didn’t make one!

Tobey: Well technically, I didn’t “make” it, it came free with the remote.

WordGirl: We wasted all this time looking for the remote when--

Tobey: Wasted? Excuse me, I scarcely think a day spent in a library AND museum can be called wasted! I mean-- you did have a nice time, didn’t you?

WordGirl: Th-- That’s not the point! I--

Tobey: A-HA! So you admit it! You had a nice time with me!

WordGirl: That’s not what I said!

(Tobey walks toward TJ.)

Tobey: Alright, that’s enough. You had your fun. Now hand over my remote!

TJ: Never! As  president  of the International WordGirl Fan Club, I refuse!

Tobey:  President ? You don’t even know what the word means!

TJ: I do so! It means, um… Umm… king, right?

WordGirl: Actually,  president  means someone chosen or elected to be the head of a group. You know, like Violet is the  president  of her fifth grade class.

Violet: Right! Wait-- how did you know that, WordGirl?

WordGirl: Oh! Uh-- lucky guess.

TJ: Well I’m the  president , and I order these robots to dance! (presses a button)

Tobey: Give me that--

(He jumps TJ, and holds up the remote. Then he presses a button on it.)

Tobey: Say goodbye to your club house!

(The robots turn toward the club house and move toward it.)

TJ: Oh yeah?

(He continues trying to wrestle the remote from Tobey, as the robots move closer. WordGirl takes off and vanquishes each of the robots in turn. TJ now has the remote.)

TJ: Oh yeah? Well watch THIS!

(He presses a button, but nothing happens. There are robot parts scattered all over the yard.)

TJ: Uh-- here you go. (Throws Tobey the remote.) Here’s your remote back.

Tobey: Ahh! This is totally unfair! It’s going to take me days to rebuild!

WordGirl: Well, maybe if we had found the remote earlier instead of running all over town, Tobey!

Tobey: Yes, well-- I-- don’t have a snappy response to that.

Narrator: And so the  baffling  case of the missing remote and the  president  of the WordGirl Fan Club is solved. And Tobey finally got to spend his dream day with WordGirl!

Tobey: But-- hey!

(There is a shot of Mr. Botsford standing on the deck, observing the wreckage. He faints.)

Narrator: Join us next time for another exciting episode of WordGirl!