The Greatest Gift
| The Greatest Gift | |||||||||||||||||
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Premise
It’s Ziggy’s birthday, and everyone in LazyTown is excited to throw him a surprise party. When Stingy shows up with an empty box for a present, the kids do their best to find a way to make the present valuable by using their imagination. The kids learn the important lesson that it is better to give than to receive.
Plot synopsis
Prologue
Daytime, Sportacus is checking his calendar in the airship. He realizes that it is Ziggy's birthday. He takes Ziggy's large present out of a wall cabinet and prepares to finish wrapping it. He uses red ribbon which he wraps around the gift by executing a pommel horse gymnastic maneuver. When he is complete he says "Now that's how you wrap a gift!"
Main episode
Stephanie and Trixie are sitting on a park bench. Stephanie is busy writing a birthday song for Ziggy (Boogie Woogie Boo). She plays the tune on a small pink ukulele to let Trixie hear what she has written so far. When Trixie likes it, Stephanie writes the lines into her diary. Ziggy comes walking along and they hide what they are doing as his birthday party is a surprise. Ziggy notices them sitting on the bench and he acts nonchalant while wondering if they have remembered his birthday, while Stephanie and Trixie pretend that they are chatting. Finally, Ziggy cannot contain himself any longer and he greets them, asking if they notice anything different about him that day, to which they reply no. He tells them to look closer, but they tell him to just say what it is. He says he has grown taller, and compares himself to the marks on the tree from the previous year. He says it is because of tomorrow, a very special day. Trixie and Stephanie continue to play dumb. He complains that the thought they would remember his birthday and then the girls burst out laughing. They admit to him that they were teasing and of course they knew. They tell him about their plans for the party. Ziggy gets really excited when they mention cake, and is sure that this is going to be the best birthday party ever.
Rotten Plan
Meanwhile Robbie is down in his lair checking his own calendar and he also notices that there is a picture of Ziggy on the calendar. Robbie wants to know why the Cookie Boy's picture is on his calendar. "Who cares?" he declares and goes to watch some TV. But when his TV begins acting up Robbie gives up. He has to find something else to do when he is bored. He soon decides on spying on the LazyTown people. His periscope comes up outside the Mayor's office window. Mayor Meanswell is busy watering his plants and cleaning his office. The Water spray bottle is the same size, shape and color as the soap bottle. Stephanie arrives and asks the Mayor if they can have Ziggy's birthday in the office tomorrow. The Mayor says "Of course!" then turns around and sprays soap right into Robbie's periscope. Down in his lair Robbie is met with a face full of soap bubbles. Stephanie tells the Mayor she is planning on inviting everybody. The Mayor checks if that also means Miss Busybody. Meanwhile Robbie has switched on his windscreen wipers for his periscope and is back to spying on them. Stephanie begins calling everyone to invite them to the party at the office. As she is calling Bessie, Bessie walks right through the front door (slamming the Mayor behind the door in the process). Bessie is on her cellphone and wants to know what time they start. Stephanie tells her it is the next day. Bessie starts calling for Milford in her shrill voice again so that he can help her with her hair rollers. When the door swings shut again, we see the Mayor behind the door has gotten covered with soap bubbles as well. He runs off after Bessie. The door slams shut again (right on Robbie's periscope and he is bashed in the face).
Robbie now figures out why Ziggy is on his calendar. He takes a look at all the other characters who also have birthdays coming up. We see most of the LazyTown characters listed there. Robbie wonders how many birthdays they really need (one every year?). He knows they will throw a party. And he knows they will invite Sportacus. Robbie declares that he will never go to a birthday party even if he was invited. Right then the phone rings and Stephanie invites Robbie to Ziggy's party. He is swung over by the mention of cake and says "Of course I will be there!" This illustrates Robbie's fickle nature for us.
Stephanie is now going over her list and checking off the names of those she has invited. Stingy comes driving by and orders her out of his way. Stephanie tells him she was looking for him and asks him if he is ready for Ziggy's birthday party. He says no, he cannot come because he is going to have a cold the next day. He rides off. Stingy then starts having a panic attack over the idea of having to give a gift at a party. Sportacus bumps into Stephanie and she tells him about Stingy's hang-up. Sportacus goes after Stingy to see if he can help. Sportacus urges him to come, but when he mentions giving a gift, Stingy has a full blown meltdown and declares he will "not go, Finito!"
We see all the characters going to bed, but two are not sleeping well. Ziggy is too excited (but tries to count sheep - the sheep soon turn into gifts) and Stingy is having nightmares about giving gifts.
Big Save
Sportacus hears Stingy having the nightmare and goes down to talk to him. When Sportacus asks Stingy if he is ill, Stingy finally admits to Sportacus what his problem is. Sportacus advises him that the gift doesn't have to be large, it can also be small - it's the thought that counts.
Moral Lesson
Sportacus tells Stingy that when it comes to giving gifts, it is the thought that counts most. But Stingy seems to have latched onto the "small gift" idea. So small that you can't even see it. The next day Ziggy is awake and talking to himself in front of the mirror. He follows the map that Stephanie gave him to his birthday party. The other characters are all getting set up in the Mayor's office. Bessie tells Milford to water the flowers but he grabs the wrong bottle and sprays them with soap. They soon wilt. Stephanie comes in with a huge pink cake decorated with Sports Candy. The Mayor is freaking out over the wilting flowers and Bessie is freaking out over having to do everything herself. The Mayor tosses the wilted flowers out the window and we hear Robbie cry out from below the window. When Robbie arrives at the front door he still has flowers hanging on his clothing. Robbie seems very unsure of what to do, Stephanie has to guide him. Robbie lacks any form of social experience or any etiquette whatsoever. Pixel greets him enthusiastically and Robbie has no idea what to say. He just says "whatever." Bessie discovers the dead flowers and screams for Milford.
Stingy finally makes it to the Mayor's Office and is surprised by the Party guests who have turned out the lights. Robbie is scared of the darkness and Pixel has to assure him that it is part of the plan. When Stingy opens the door he sees the darkness, but Stephanie flips the light switch on and starts singing "Boogie Woogie Boo". Robbie wants to give his gift to Ziggy right away, but Pixel tells him not yet. Robbie even gets to sing part of the Birthday Song albeit very unsure of himself. After that he joins in the dancing and celebration.
Ziggy begins opening the gifts one by one, starting with Trixie's which is a box full of Superhero seeds. Pixel's gift is a Televiewer 3000 with all of Sportacus' moves uploaded. Sportacus does some moves for Ziggy. Robbie seems to be getting impatient to give his gift, but he joins in on doing Sportacus' moves until he realizes what he is doing. Stephanie gives Ziggy a framed photo of the whole group of friends. This chokes Ziggy up and moves him to tears. Finally Robbie shouts out "My Turn" and he gives Ziggy some "cookies" that are rock hard. When Ziggy taps on them they make a nice metallic noise. They are orange with some kind of purple goop on them. Robbie tells him they are an old family recipe. They give you a little gas (and there is a fart sound in the background), but they are really tasty. Bessie immediately tells Milford to stay away from those. Finally Sportacus gives his gift, a lollipop made out of dried Sports Candy.Ziggy is overwhelmed with all the gifts, but laments that Stingy hasn't showed up to the party. Right then the doorbell rings and Stingy shows up with a gift. He still has a hard time giving the gift to Ziggy. But finally Ziggy is able to open it. Alas, there is nothing inside.Stingy has taken Sportacus words to heart and given Ziggy a gift so small that it is invisible. Everybody is shocked that it is empty. Ziggy thinks quick and tell Stingy that it is a great gift and he loves it. Ziggy pretends that it is a toy and begins to play with it. He acts like it is a model of Sportacus' airship. Robbie has no idea what is going on, but the other friends catch on quick and the gift changes as they hand it around the room. It becomes the gift of imagination. It can be whatever the holder wants it to be. Even Robbie gets in on the action and calls it a football. As he kicks it a crashing sound is heard off to the left. The friends all run outside to go and play with this amazing gift. Stingy stays inside and Sportacus explains to him what just happened and how valuable his gift was. Stingy is ashamed at his gift of nothing, but Sportacus consoles him. Sportacus tells him it was the best gift of all - the power of imagination - a powerful gift indeed. They look outside and see everyone, even Robbie playing with the gift. Stingy runs out to play with the gift as well. Stephanie closes off with Bing Bang.
Epilogue
Robbie goes back inside the office and takes his cookies home with him. Back in his lair he mocks the idea of imagination and says it never works. He mockingly imagines a big fluffy bed and jumps onto it and it actually holds him up in mid air. Within a few seconds he is fast asleep and snoring.
Trivia
- Ziggy's birthday is on the 14th day of the month, but which month is not clear. It could be the same day as his puppeteers, Guðmundur Þór Kárason.
- Chloe Lang, the actress who plays Stephanie, also has a birthday on the 14th.
- Ziggy's birthday was also celebrated in "Happy Brush Day".
- The box that Sportacus used for Ziggy's gift must've be fairly strong to hold his weight while doing his wrapping routine and a hand stand on top of it.
- While pretending not to notice Ziggy, Trixie asks Stephanie what she had for lunch. Stephanie answers "Chicken". So Stephanie doesn't only eat Sportscandy all the time.
- Robbie's TV is set to the Home Shopping Network.
- Robbie's calendar has a picture of Stephanie played by Julianna Rose Mauriello.
- Stingy has previously had a hard time reconciling the idea of giving gifts in the episode "LazyTown's Surprise Santa"
- This episode is one of the few times that we see Sportacus having to save people after bedtime, the other time being "Cry Dinosaur".
- This is one of about three episodes where Robbie gets to sing with the others... even if it is just one very uncertain line.
- There is actually more than one cake at the party. Besides Stephanie's pink cake there is also a white cake.
- Pixel gave Stephanie a similar gift, a Big Diary 6000 back in Dancing Dreams when she was getting ready to leave LazyTown to go to the Dance School.
- Mistake: When Sportacus gives his gift to Ziggy, he just lifts the lid right open with taking off any of the red ribbon that he tied around it at the beginning of the episode.
