Sportafake

**Episode chronology**
	Sportafake
	No, I'm Sportacus.
Episode no.	08
Original airdate	August 24, 2004
Story by:	Ole Olson Steen; Magnús Scheving
Written by:	Noah Zachary; Cole Louie; Magnús Scheving
Directed by:	Raymond Le Gué
Featured song(s)	"No One's Lazy in LazyTown"
Robbie's Disguise(s)	Sportacus
Guest character(s)	-
Hero for a Day	Happy Brush Day
	List of Episodes

Premise

Robbie disguises himself as Sportacus to make the kids do lazy, unhealthy things. Stephanie suspects something is wrong, but won’t stand up and be heard. Now there are two Sportacuses in LazyTown, and nobody knows which one is the real one! A race is called to determine the real Sportacus. When someone cries out for help, the real Sportacus goes to help, giving Robbie the win. But Stephanie finally stands up for herself and says the real Sportacus lost the race so he could help someone.

Plot synopsis

Prologue

Daytime, Sportacus is flying the airship and making flight adjustments. Sportacus always seems to be able to get ahead of whatever he throws. He can move really fast. He throws the ring frisbee and it saves Bessie. When she goes flying through the air, he is right there to catch her.

Main episode

The Mayor is helping Bessie fix some things around her house. The kids are lazing around on sun chairs like Bessie. The day is really hot and Sunny. Pixel is using his arm computer to play Beach Music. Stephanie shows up and wants to play catch, but the other kids just want her to relax and do nothing. Sportacus shows up and joins the kids in doing nothing (or at least he pretends so). He jumps up and invites the kids to play catch. They all jump up and start playing very noisily.

Mini Save

Sportacus has to save the Mayor from a bee when he gets stuck in a tree after Stingy stole the ladder. He catches him when he falls out of the tree. Later he has to save Ziggy when he eats all the Bubble Gum and gets stuck. Then for a third mini-save he has to help the Mayor again. That must be the record for mini-saves in an episode.

Rotten Plan

Robbie is mad that nobody wants to stay inside and be lazy on such a beautiful day. He gets even more upset when Sportacus shows up and starts playing catch with all the kids. Robbie thinks that the kids listen to Sportacus because of his moustache and outfit, so he plans to dress up just like Sportacus and get them to listen to him rather.

Big Save

Sportacus has to save Bessie when Stingy accidentally bumps her with the ladder while she is standing on the little red wagon. She goes flying off down the road and Sportacus executes some super moves to bring her to a stop.

Epilogue

Robbie returns to his underground lair and collapses into his chair and falls straight to sleep complete with snoring.

Moral Lesson

Sometimes you have to speak up, even if no one wants to hear it. Otherwise you won’t be true to yourself!

Trivia

LazyTown's residents are apparently unable to distinguish between the real and fake Sportacus, despite some seemingly obvious physical differences:
- Robbie has "0" on his back instead of "10".
- The band holding Robbie's goggles on is a darker blue than that of his hat; Sportacus' is lighter.
- Sportacus wears his hat with the black and white stripe over one eye; Robbie's hat is off to one side.
- Robbie's 'Sportafake' is nearly 20 cm taller than the real Sportacus.
- While Sportacus' ears are mostly hidden under his hat, Robbie's stick out from underneath his.
While naming different objects through town his own, Stingy refers to a ladder as "his father's". This is the first and only time anything is ever stated about the puppets having parents.
Sportacus is busy flying the airship. He uses various levers and wheels to make adjustments to his flight. In one shot we see him adjusting the fore and aft setting of the wing stabilisers. But then a moment later he uses another wheel to extend the wing stabilisers which were already extended in the previous shot.
The Mayor is helping Bessie out with “only a couple of teeny weeny” chores (her list is about twenty feet long). But he is dressed in his yellow suit and is using the hammer the wrong way around. He already has several bandages on his fingers from some previous mishaps.
Bessie is lying down in an orange striped sun chair (similar to the other coloured ones we see in “LazyTown’s New Superhero”). She has her cucumber face masque on. We have already seen this cucumber facial masque in “Sports Day”.
The head of the Mayor’s hammer comes off and flies toward Stephanie who is walking and tossing her Frisbee ring, oblivious of the danger.
Stephanie walks past a sign that shows no ball playing allowed. It must be a relic of the days when Robbie Rotten was the “king of doing nothing” in LazyTown. Robbie has a whole lot more of those types of signs in his underground lair.
When Robbie sees Stephanie out and about playing instead of doing nothing he delivers a grand soliloquy to great applause. This seems to be a feature of his warped narcissistic personality.
The Kids are all outside sun tanning and lounging around on Deck Chairs. Pixel is using his arm database mobile device thingy to play Ocean music (see him also using it in “Hero for a day” and “Happy Brush Day”).
Trixie is wearing Star Glasses which she might have bought from e-bay!
As usual, Stephanie wants to do something active and play catch with her Frisbee ring. But the kids urge her to go with the flow and do nothing.
Sportacus arrives and shows us that he does have a sense of humour. He sits down on a deck chair and also agrees to do nothing. The kids are a little bit shocked by this, especially Stephanie. But then he reveals that he is just kidding them. Pixel says “This doesn’t compute.” Sportacus then pulls a second joke on Pixel.
They all start playing catch with Stephanie’s Frisbee Ring (except Ziggy who tries to eat it and wear it on his head).
In Robbie’s lair in the background we see the suit for his other failed Superhero attempt – Lazycus (from “Defeeted”).
When Robbie dresses up as Sportacus he tries to practise some of Sportacus’ moves and exercises, but we quickly see how unfit Robbie is.
Stingy seems to have a fascination with stealing ladders. I seem to remember that he steals the ladder in another episode also, which is it? Later we still see him walking around with the ladder over his shoulder during the race between Sportacus and Sportafake.
The Mayor is busy trimming branches with his (curved) clippers. He gets harassed by a bee. He also gets harassed by a bee in the Season Two Episode “Double Trouble”.
As bad as Robbie is at pulling off his Rotten Plans, he really is a master quick change artist. Which other episodes does he do that in?
Notice how Robbie’s ears are sticking out of his hat. Sportacus always wears his ears under his hat (contributing to the legend that he is in fact – an Elf!).
Pixel uses his computer again to determine that [the fake] Sportacus is joking when tells them to eat Bubble Gum. Robbie replies “Bingo Bongo, you are Wrongo!”
The interesting thing about the song for this episode is that it is sung from two different locations. Sportacus in the airship and Stephanie on the ground.
The fake Sportacus arrives again and offers the kids some horrible looking “health food” which is actually junk food from a place called “Slerp”.
The French Fries that Robbie offers the kids look similar to the French Fries that he builds the Eiffel Tower with in his underground lair.
When Robbie walks past the fence that Sportacus repaired, he is able to flick all of the wood pickets right off with just his fingers. Shame on you Sportacus for repairing it so badly! No taking Short Cuts (See episode “Zap It!”).
When Stephanie is back in the Mayor’s House, in his kitchen she asks if she can speak with him. As she does this she glances down again (Is she looking at the puppeteers?). She did this in a previous episode as well.
The moral lesson for this episode – “Sometimes you have to speak up, even if no one wants to hear it. Otherwise you won’t be true to yourself!” is given by the Mayor. Stephanie almost immediately gives him his own advice back.
When the Mayor is talking to Stephanie at home, he now has band aids all over his face and bandages on almost every finger – probably from some of his earlier mishaps.
The scene where Sportacus and Robbie Rotten (dressed as the fake Sportacus) square off is a play on the famous Scene from the movie Spartacus with Kirk Douglas where he is being sought by the Romans and many of the other slaves stand up and claim “I’m Spartacus!”
As Robbie and Sportacus are walking around each other and examining each other, Robbie sticks his tongue out at the real Sportacus.
When Stephanie and the Mayor are trying to determine who is the real Sportacus, Stephanie gives her trademark “There’s always a way!” saying.
Robbie also gives a signature phrase by suggesting that the loser “has to leave town forever!”
Sportacus has to save Bessie when Stingy accidentally bumps her with the ladder while she is standing on the little red wagon. She goes flying off down the road and Sportacus executes some super moves to bring her to a stop. In which other episodes does Sportacus have to save Bessie?
Robbie seems really amazed that he actually won the race and is almost genuinely excited about it.
Eventually Stephanie works up the courage to speak up and tell her mind on the real Sportacus issue. She always seems to have an intuition about the real Sportacus (and you can see the real Sportacus have a little smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye as she does this). This is her fulfilling the moral lesson of this episode.
When Bessie thanks the Mayor for all his hard work, you can actually hear his heart start beating faster. He really has the hots for her. She goes to give him a kiss, but is interrupted when Stephanie starts the Bing Bang Song (this scene is omitted from some broadcasts of the episode).