"Ticket to Rod" is the 9th episode of season 5 of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
Plot[]
SPOILER: Plot details follow.
Bloo discovers that radio stations have contests where they give away prizes, and the one he has his sights on is tickets to Rod Tango's newest movie, Out of Ammo II: Miami Nights. At first, Bloo tries to trick Boomer, a friend in the shape of a boombox, into tuning to the radio station by staging a party, but Boomer readily agrees after Mac explains the situation and asks him to help.
Bloo, Boomer and Mac play games while they are waiting to hear the chime that signals when it is time to call in, but eventually Mac has to leave. Bloo and Boomer stick it out, though the constant exposure to showtunes causes Bloo to begin singing them.
Through the night, Bloo has been drinking juice and cola to stay awake so that he won't miss the chimes. He begins bouncing around the room, both from being driven crazy by the music and by his full bladder. In the morning, he can't wait any longer and gets Frankie to stand in for him. While he's in the bathroom, the "Take Two to Tango" contest chimes are heard. Quickly, she calls in, and with a little help from Mac, answers the trivia question correctly.
Bloo returns and learns that Frankie won the contest. Immediately, there is a dispute over who should get the tickets: Bloo, who put in the effort, Frankie, who was eligible to participate and won the tickets, Mac, who knew the answer, or Boomer, who provided the radio station holding the contest. When Frankie offers to take Mac because it would be "a little date", he becomes all wibbly and has all the more reason to want to go. Bloo has a case of sour grapes, telling Eduardo that the reason why Frankie chose Mac is that he's human and she "hates imaginary friends". Eduardo is upset by this, and Frankie says it isn't true; she just needs time to decide who to take with her.
The next morning, Bloo tries bribing Frankie with breakfast in bed, but winds up eating most of the hastily-assembled junk food himself. When she wants him to stop, Bloo considers sabotaging the efforts of anyone else who might also sweet-talk her, but Frankie nixes that. As Mac arrives, Bloo has planted himself in the hallway, frustrated that he can't be good or bad, due to wanting the tickets.
Mac brought a DVD of a Rod Tango movie called Suntan Man, knowing Frankie likes how awful Tango's movies are. They head off to watch it and are soon having a grand time. Bloo hears the laughter and is distraught over how they are disrespecting Rod Tango's movies and acting ability, but he determines that if he can make Frankie laugh more than Mac, she'll take him to the movie. He overdoes it, leading to Frankie picking Mac.
As Bloo lies in the hallway after his defeat, Madame Foster walks up to see what he is doing and tells Bloo how much she likes Rod Tango, calling Tango a "babeous maximum rex". Bloo finagles her into helping him by saying that he knows Rod personally, and the two devise a way to get the tickets.
Just before Frankie and Mac leave for their date, Frankie learns that Madame Foster has gone missing, so she gives up her tickets. Bloo and Madame Foster celebrate, but Frankie and Mac discover their deception. However, Mr. Herriman confiscates the tickets and holds a call-in contest to decide who should have the tickets. Boomer wins the contest and Madame Foster gives him a ride to the movie.
Bloo consoles himself by drinking lots of apple juice. He gives Jackie Khones a summary of what's happened, so Jackie offers to call in a favor that Rod owes him. After a quick call, he and Bloo have two tickets to Rod's movie, so they head off to see it. Unfortunately, the tickets are to a previous movie called Last Summer's Wine, a drama instead of the action-packed Out of Ammo II that Bloo was expecting to see, so he sets out to crash that movie's premiere.
Bloo succeeds in getting in, but Jackie phones Rod to alert him of the party crasher. Rod stops the movie, offended that someone would take advantage of repaying a personal favor. Bloo is also offended, not realizing that Rod is talking about him. Rod personally ejects Bloo from the theater, which Bloo interprets as he is now an official part of the Rod Tango lingo. Bloo goes a little crazy describing all the things he can now be a part of relating to Rod Tango's works and businesses. Rod sums it all up with one word: "Wacko".
In the end credits scene, Bloo shares his favorite Rod Tango movies with the "airdancer" atop the car wash.
Running gags[]
- Bloo getting Boomer's name wrong.
Spoilers end here.
Trivia[]
- This is the first appearance of Eyeborg and Rod Tango.
- Frankie is wearing the same black dress from "Frankie My Dear," which she wears a third (and final) time in "Fools and Regulations."
- Mac's confirmed to still have a crush on Frankie, which had started back in "Frankie My Dear."
- The aborted trip to Europe from "Foster's Goes to Europe" is mentioned in this episode.
- Unlike "Foster's Goes to Europe", Madame Foster is seen getting scolded by Frankie for being sneaky and attempting to steal an item. Also, Madame Foster confesses to Frankie about being sneaky and "would do it again (for the love of Rod Tango)".
- "Talk to The Jeans" by Pizza Party can be heard in this episode through Boomer's speakers.
Cultural references[]
- The title is a reference to The Beatles song "Ticket to Ride". Bloo parodies a line from the song when he says "Make no mistake. She's got a ticket to Rod, and I do care."
- The following show tunes are heard while Bloo is listening to the radio station:
- "Cap'n Andy's Overture" from Show Boat (played twice) (the actual title may be "Cap'n Andy's Ballyhoo")
- "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" from The Harvey Girls
- "Girls, Girls, Girls!" from The Merry Widow (played twice)
- The title song from Singin' in the Rain
- "The Trolley Song" from Meet Me in St. Louis
- The title song from Going Hollywood
- "Sobbin' Women" from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
- One scene has Mac and Boomer playing a game similar to Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
- Rod Tango may be an allusion to Sylvester Stallone, an actor that has appeared in many action movies, including Tango & Cash where he played a detective named Ray Tango.
- Bloo says "Two tickets to Tango-dise" after learning Frankie won the contest, a reference to the Eddie Money song, "Two Tickets to Paradise".
- Rod's line in Suntan Man, "I'm gettin' too gold for this", is an allusion to the famous Danny Glover line from the Lethal Weapon series of films.
- One of the people walking on the red carpet at the Out of Ammo II premiere looks like Steven Spielberg.
Goofs[]
- The DVD release has many subtitle errors:
- When Mac asks Boomer, "Would you mind helping us?", the subtitles omit the last word.
- When Bloo says, "Two tickets to Tango-dise!", the subtitles read "Two tickets to Tango Days."
- When Frankie asks, "Mac, would you like to go to the movies with me tomorrow?", the subtitles omit the last word.
- When Mac asks Frankie, "Is there anything I can do to help?", the subtitles omit the first two words.
- Immediately after, when Frankie responds, "No, why don't you just go to the movies without me.", the subtitles omit "No" and "just".
- When Mac says, "How about I stay and help you and then maybe we can watch TV or something.", the subtitles omit "and then".
- When Bloo explains what happened to Jackie Khones, the subtitles omit "two", "new", "but", two "and"s, "then", "only", "web of", "for them", another "and", and "ever get to", in that order.
- In the credits, when Bloo says, "And then there's the one where he played the mummy in Tango Ciaro A-Go-Go.", the subtitles omit "And" and "where".
- During the red carpet sequence, the same set of people can be seen in the background along the carpet several times. This may not actually be a goof, since many cartoons have background images that repeat continuously.