"Fixing Frobo" is the first segment of the fifth episode of the third season of Amphibia, and the eighty-third episode overall.
It premiered on October 30, 2021, alongside "Anne-sterminator".[1]
Synopsis
Polly tries to bring Frobo back to life.[1]
Plot
Polly showing Anne and the Plantars how she tried to fix Frobo.
Anne introduces Sprig and Hop Pop to the internet and they browse the endless expanse of knowledge that it contains, only to fall down a rabbit hole of cat videos. Polly then interrupts and shares that she has fixed Frobo, who's been inactive since his destruction and their arrival on Earth.
Polly brings the family into the garage to see her newly-fixed friend and just as she's about to power him on, the group expresses their displeasure in the decision, suggesting that she wait until they get back to Amphibia. Polly is frustrated and turns Frobo on anyway, but since he isn't calibrated right he starts firing laser beams and blasting holes in the Boonchuy's home, destroying the package containing Mr. Boonchuy's new game controller.
Hop Pop tells Polly to stop working on Frobo, with Anne agreeing with him and Sprig tells Polly that they should wait until they get back, and Polly reluctantly agrees, though she likely won't. She asks Anne if she could use the computer which she agrees.
Ally and Jess.
That night, Polly jumps on the computer and finds videos by Ally and Jess (a couple known as "the I.T. Gals") who specialize in programming and fixing robots. Polly stays up all night watching the videos and working on the robot, and when she gets to a problem with powering Frobo, calls the duo directly who help her learn what battery to put in place of the two AAs she stole out of the TV remote.
Even the I.T. Gals tell her not to power it on in the garage, take it to an empty warehouse or open space, and even offer to help her find one before Polly disconnects the call and goes to power on Frobo with a battery from one of Anne's old toys. She calls her family in to celebrate her progress but when they forbid her from turning Frobo on again, Polly angrily locks them out of the garage and presses the on button. Frobo comes alive, but has been factory reset, forgetting all the memories he had of Polly and the Plantars, and blasts up into the sky, with Polly attached as he tries to find a signal to contact King Andrias.
As he launches, Anne, Sprig, and Hop Pop watch them from the ground and when the I.T. Gals show up looking for the girl they were talking to, they just point up. Frobo's boosters start to fail, and the two start on path crashing back to Earth. Polly, mourning her lost friend, starts to sob and the tears seep into Frobo's hard drive, shorting him out and restoring his memory. He places Polly in the dryer portion of his torso that Polly has given him to keep her safe, and they smash back into the ground.
Polly is devastated, realizing that her family was right about her being impatient. But while all of his body is destroyed, Frobo's head stays intact and powered on, still able to communicate with Polly, making her very happy that her friend is ok.
The I.T. Gals show up and discuss with Polly how to fix him. Just as Anne, Hop Pop, and Sprig agree that the internet should be used for education, they get distracted by a cat video as Mr. Boonchuy runs out screaming over the damage to the backyard.
Cast
- Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
- Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
- Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
- Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
- Brian Sounalath as Mr. Boonchuy
- Melissa Villaseñor as Ally
- Dana Davis as Jess
Additional voices
- Matt Braly as Frobo
- Melissa Villaseñor as Female Movie Actor
- Silver Paul as Teddy Lovekins, Male Movie Actor
Non-speaking cameo
- Marcy Wu (flashback)
- Sasha Waybright (flashback)
- Captain Grime (flashback)
- King Andrias (flashback)
Mentioned
Other characters
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Latin American Spanish
|
Reparando a Ranabot | Repairing Frobo | |
 Bulgarian
|
Да поправим Фробо | Fixing Frobo | |
 German
|
Frobos Rückkehr | Frobo's Return | |
 Japanese
|
ケロボの修理 | Frobo Repair | |
 Polish
|
Nowy Żobot | New Frobo | |
 Thai
|
ซ่อมโฟรโบ |
Transcript
| For a full transcript of "Fixing Frobo", click here. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.33 viewers on its premiere.[3]
- This is the first episode since "The New Normal" where the Plantars don't lose or abandon their human disguises while out in public.
- This is also the first episode of Season 3 taking place on Earth in which Mrs. Boonchuy is absent.
- Albeit via a silent cameo in a flashback, this is Andrias's last appearance in the first segment of an episode, following only "Lost in Newtopia".
- Marcy's non-speaking cameo in the flashback is her only appearance in the first segment of a Season 3 episode.
Revelations and significant events
- Mr. Boonchuy is revealed to be an online gamer.
- Frobo returns to life and manages to remember Polly.
- Polly's eye color is revealed to be purple.
- Frobo's production number is F0-R1.
- Anne's username is Anna_Banana, Marcy's nickname for her.
Continuity
- Flashbacks from the episodes "Friend or Frobo?" and "True Colors" are shown.
- Mr. Boonchuy has a copy of Vagabondia Chronicles (first mentioned by Marcy in "Marcy at the Gates") in his office.
Memorable quotes
Allusions
- Keyboard Cat - When Anne, Sprig, and Hop Pop are looking at videos on Anne's laptop, this cat video meme appears.
- Amazon - Mr. Boonchuy is seen carrying a box that looks like the Amazon box, except with the logo upside down/holding the box upside down to avoid trademark issues. Later on in the episode while Polly is looking at stuff for robotics on Anne's laptop, the site appears on the screen.
- Fortnite - While Polly is still searching for ways to get Frobo fixed, a video titled "New Epic Robot Skin Forknife" is shown.
- TikTok - While Polly is still searching for ways to get Frobo fixed, a video titled "Robot Dance Meme Tigtog Compilation #100" is shown.
- Zoom - Polly contacts the IT Gals through a parody site called Vroom.
- Gravity Falls - In Anne's garage, there's a totem of Stan Pines.
- Teddy Ruxpin - Teddy Lovekins is a reference to the famous animatronic.
- Google - Polly looks up robotics info on a parody site called Doogle.
- YouTube - The video site Polly looks at videos is a play on wording of the site of the same name. The logo, however, is YouTube Music, a sub-app of the website.
- Wikipedia - The "Big Ol' Wiki" website is a reference to the website.
- Star Wars - Anne, Sprig, and Hop Pop are watching a movie, where a line similar to Anakin's line about hating sand can be heard. Anne questions why they like the prequels, a reference to how the Star Wars prequels were initially bashed on. In addition, DVDs with covers that resemble the posters for The Empire Strikes Back, The Last Jedi, and A New Hope can be seen.
- Gundam - While Polly is still searching for ways to get Frobo fixed, a parody robot toy is shown on the famous website.
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - While Polly is still searching for ways to get Frobo fixed, she gets distracted and watches a gif called "Bibsy_busts_a_move_gif". The dances that Bibsy does is the Carlton Dance.
- MacBook - Anne's laptop is an Apple brand, judging by the tab buttons being lights and the logo of the monitor being a bell.
- Super Mario 3D World powerup: Super Bell - The logo on the laptop looks like the power up from the game.
- Thor washing machine - The washing machine Polly used to build Frobo is a Hurley. It was the name for the washing machines for the company, Thor, back in the 1920s.
- Best of Angry Gamers (Sept 2020) - One of the videos on Polly's screen is called Best of Angry Gamers SEPT 2020, a real-life video trend on YouTube where real gamers rage on games they're playing and lose it after losing on the online server.
- Game controllers (GameCube style Switch PRO and PS5) - also on the thumbnail the controllers on it are (top) GameCube style Switch PRO with the buttons changed to A, B, C and D buttons instead of A, B, X and Y and (bottom) PS5 controller with X, Minecraft barrier (item name in-game) square, /, and O (circle)
- Another thumbnail shows the PS5 console with said PS5 controller.
- Sleep Lofi - A relaxing 24/7 live stream video by the channel of the same name on YouTube.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventures - As Polly is looking at robot frog photos, one blue frog at the top has the Japanese symbols of menacing on its left, and an arrow at the bottom right, and the caption "is this a jo-" cut off of JoJo's Bizarre Adventures.
- My Hero Academia - The thumbnail for the video titled "Robot's are cool. i'm 5 years old"; the kid in it has a poster on his wall called "My Hero Macadamia Nut".
- The Iron Giant - Like in "Friend or Frobo?", the references are shown.
- World of Warcraft - The RPG game Anne's father plays on his gaming PC is a possible parody of the fantasy MMORPG.
- Dancing Kermit - The Bibsy_busts_a_move.gif is based off of the Dancing Kermit meme with the exact same idea.
- Five Nights at Freddy's - Bibsy in the gif is textured to look like Bonnie from Five Nights at Freddy's.
- Neopets - One of the websites Polly looks at looks akin to Neopets. One animal on said website looks like an unconverted robot Kacheek.
- 4 Dummies - One of the books on Anne's father's bookshelf is called "BUSINESS 4 Pummies".
- G-fuel - The drink Anne's father is drinking is a play on the energy drink.
- Tic-Tac-Toe - On Frobo's screen is a Tic-Tac-Toe board with O placed in the middle.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "October 2021 Programming Highlights". Disney General Entertainment Content (September 21, 2021).
- ↑ Boyle, Caitlin Rose. "AMPHIBIA REVISIONS". Boyle's website. “S3E09, Fixing Frobo - character C/U by me, boards by Silver Paul, Roxxan Cole, & Alex Swanson”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Metcalf, Mitch (November 2, 2021). "Saturday 10.30.2021 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily.