"Little Frogtown" is the first segment of the ninth episode of the second season of Amphibia, and the fifty-fifth episode overall.[4]
It premiered on September 12, 2020, alongside "Hopping Mall."
Synopsis
Hop Pop investigates the disappearance of an old friend and the shadowy crime syndicate he suspects are behind it.
Plot
Anne and the Plantars are driving through town when they come across an arcade. However, Hop Pop reveals that he's taking them to a small, run-down sandwich place called Sal's. Sal was an old friend of Hop Pop's who traveled to Newtopia to fulfill his dream of running a successful sandwich shop. However, Anne, Sprig, and Polly insist on going to the arcade and Hop Pop concedes, accusing the kids of not appreciating the glory days. As Hop Pop enters the shop, he finds that the interior is just as run-down and destroyed and Sal's signature hat lying in the middle. Believing that Sal would never go anywhere without it, Hop Pop places it on his head and begins talking like a film noir (such a film which Anne had shown them earlier). Throughout his portion of the episode, Hop Pop's scenes are entirely rendered in black and white.
Meanwhile, Anne, Sprig, and Polly wait in line for the arcade and end up waiting three hours. A child cuts in front of them, resulting Anne becoming impatient while Sprig and Polly tell her to ignore him. When the child brings his friends over just as they get close to the entrance, Anne loses her temper and threatens to devour him, causing the child to cry. Hop Pop finds clues indicating that someone was after Sal's sauce and he heads to a fancy gathering where he discovers the sauce spread on hors d'oeuvres. Hop Pop does not think that Sal would allow such a thing and in an effort to gather clues, gets kicked out of the establishment, though he does discover that the sauce came from a factory.
Hop Pop breaks into the factory and is confronted by security. He fights him and knocks him into a vat of sauce (which kills the security guard), but is captured. Hop Pop meets the "big cheese" who turns out to be Sal himself. Sal reveals that the sandwich business was not working, but realized that people loved his sauce. Knowing that he can at least sell that, he branched out and became successful (he further abandoned his hat). While Hop Pop is upset, Sal tells him he should embrace change as long as he gets to have a say in it as well and to take some of the old things with him. Hop Pop returns to the kids where they reveal that Anne was tased because of her confrontation and they were banned from the arcade for life. Hop Pop tries to tell the kids what happened, but is stuck talking in his head like a noir.
Cast
- Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
- Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
- Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
- Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
- Maurice LaMarche as Sal
Additional voices
- Zeno Robinson as Salamander Waiter, Salamander Security, & Factory Worker
- Travis Willingham as Chef, Floor Manager, & Bodyguard
- Roger Craig Smith as Movie Detective, Poncho Salamander, Male Arcade Salamander, & Arcade Security Guard
- Misty Lee as Salamander Singer, Fancy Salamander, & Female Arcade Salamander
- Tucker Chandler as Purple Kid Frog & Spiked Hat Kid
- Raphael Alejandro as Green Line Cutting Kid With Hat
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bulgarian
|
Малкия Фрогтаун | Little Frogtown | |
 German
|
Hop Pop ermittelt | Hop Pop determines | |
 European Spanish
|
Pequeño pueblo de ranas | Little town of frogs | |
 Italian
|
Il mistero della salsa | The mystery of the sauce | |
 Japanese
|
探偵ホップポップ | Detective Hop Pop | |
 Korean
|
사라진 옛 친구 | A Gone Old Friend | |
 Dutch
|
Kleine kikkerstad | Little Frogtown | |
 European Portuguese
|
Vila de Sapos | Frog Town | |
 Polish
|
Mieścina | The little town | |
 Thai
|
ลิตเติ้ลฟร็อกทาวน์ | ||
 Vietnamese
|
Phá Án | Break the Case |
Transcript
| For a full transcript of "Little Frogtown", click here. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.36 million viewers on its premiere.[2]
- Most of Hop Pop's scenes in this episode are set in monochrome or faded color, like old detective noir films. During his narration, the aspect ratio switches to letterbox, to resemble said films.
- "Little Frogtown"/"Hopping Mall" is the only pairing in Season 2's Newtopia arc in which both Marcy and Andrias are absent from both segments.
- However, Anne mentions both in the latter episode.
Revelations and significant events
- Hop Pop breaks the fourth wall, in which he says he likes detective films in black and white and also says "...with all that color nonsense getting in the way." revealing he hates TV shows and movies in color.
Continuity
- When Anne threatens the kids who cut in line, she tells the kids she's a monster from another world, scaring them and the citizens who are waiting in line for the Arcade. She references the events of several Season 1a episodes,[note 1] where Wartwood saw Anne as a monster.
Allusions
- Chinatown - The title is a reference to the 1974 film noir starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Roman Polanski.
- Bitcoin - The Rich folk discuss 'bugcoin" during a scene at the ball, which is a reference to the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin. It could possibly be electronic virtual currency like Earth's Bitcoin as well.
Notes
- ↑ These episodes being "Anne or Beast?", "Best Fronds," "Flood, Sweat & Tears," "Breakout Star," "Girl Time," "Dating Season" and "Toad Tax."
References
- ↑ Garner-Flexner, Andy. "Color design's file names". Andy Garner-Flexner's website.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Metcalf, Mitch (September 15, 2020). Top 150 Saturday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 9.12.2020. Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-09-16.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DisneyGrillasLA/status/1425272002370224130?s=20
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DisneyTVA/status/1285709040891449344