"The Core & The King" is the second segment of the fourteenth episode of the third season of Amphibia, and the one-hundredth episode overall.
It premiered on April 16, 2022, alongside "The Root of Evil".[1][2]
Synopsis
King Andrias confronts the demons of his past.[2]
Plot
Darcy explaining Marcy's whereabouts.
In Newtopia Castle, the Core-possessed Marcy is disassembling the latter's phone, claiming its technology to be pathetic. Andrias approaches her by giving cupcakes and tries to find a name to call her. The Core replies with "Darcy," as the portmanteau of dark and Marcy references one of Marcy's video games and appeals to her. Andrias then asks about Marcy's whereabouts with Darcy mentioning that despite possessing her body, she is locked in a section of the hive-mind with the overall collective minds being in control. She does note that she's taken some of Marcy's quirks, however, such as her klutziness and her love of red velvet cupcakes with Ube frosting. She assigns Andrias the mission of overseeing her and turning her back on while she optimizes and reboots her system by purging excess data, such as erasing Marcy's "redundant" memories. Andrias and Darcy pass by an old, tattered portrait of a younger Andrias with a frog and a toad. Darcy sneers at what appears to be Andrias reliving "old memories" to which he assures her that such memories are meaningless to him.
Over 1,000 years ago in Newtopia, Prince Andrias was best friends with the royal gardener, a frog named Leif and one of the royal guards, a toad named Barrel. One day after Andrias made a portrait of the three of them in celebration of his being put in charge of a mission, his father King Aldrich asked him to follow him telling his son that his friends will want to use him because he will be king one day, but Andrias denied this claim. As the two newts enter a secret chamber King Aldrich introduced Andrias to the The Core who was the collective intellect of Amphibia's greatest minds including his ancestors; saying that with the Core at his side, Andrias would not need friends to rule. His father gave him his mission; to invade a world called Earth, destroy its inhabitants, and strip the plant of its resources. While Andrias was unsure of wiping out an entire species, his father assured him it was for the best.
Leif has seen a dark future.
That night, after being given the key Andrias showed Leif and Barrel the Calamity Box, a music box charged with three magic stones that was both used to travel to other worlds and as a power source for Newtopia. While they are playing around with it, the stones give Leif a vision of the future that if left unchanged will bring destruction to all of Amphibia. When Leif told Aldrich of her vision and her suggestion to stop using the box altogether, the king refused, stating that the stones were his family's birthright. He then tells Andrias that Leif is a traitor and that they will do something about her, but Andrias defends his friend, claiming she is just worried while Aldrich pointed out that Andrias' friends were asking for favors too soon after he was appointed in power just as he warned his son. Aldrich reminds his son that he himself will soon become one with the Core so Amphibia will be looking to Andrias for leadership.
Leif tries to talk to Andrias, but marred by his father, he angrily snaps at her. They make up, but she steals the key to the music box from Andrias pocket. He discovers this too late and chases after her, with Barrel also being ordered to capture her. Barrel lets her go after a lapse in judgment and Leif escapes Newtopia using one of the moss men, and a frobot's arm much to Andrias' anger. After her escape, Leif decides to visit the Olms and tell them of her vision.
Andrias' descent into darkness.
Days later, Aldrich states that the music box is no longer in Amphibia, but is told by the Core that it will come back, though they do not know when or how, but when that day comes it will be the day Andrias makes up for his mistake. Hardened from the experience, Andrias is officially put in charge and declares that the frogs will "need to be kept in line". He also harshly orders Barrel to watch the outskirts of Amphibia and keep an eye out on the villages. He slashes the portrait (which ended up being found out during Marcy's sleepover with Anne, Sprig, and Polly).
Reboot and upgrades complete.
In the present, Andrias is seen burning the portrait in a fireplace with Leif's words of encouragement and comfort echoing in his head. By this time, Darcy's optimization is complete and Andrias turns her back on. Darcy congratulates him for fulfilling his mission to oversee her and asked if he was ready to finally start the invasion of Earth. Despite still looking somber from his reminiscence, Andrias agrees and assures Darcy that after 1,000 years he has thought of nothing else. Upon hearing this, Darcy temporarily shifts her voice to Andrias' late father King Aldrich claiming to be "almost proud" of him.
Cast
- Haley Tju as Darcy
- Keith David as King Andrias
- Zeno Robinson as Young Andrias[6][7]
- Jason Ritter as Barrel[2]
- Cassandra Lee Morris as Leif
- William Houston as King Aldrich
Additional voices
- Zeno Robinson as Past Newt Servant
- Haley Tju as Past Newt Woman
Mentioned
Other characters
- Moss Man
- Shadowfish (foreground)
Titles in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Latin American Spanish
|
El Núcleo y el Rey | The Core & The King | |
 Bulgarian
|
Ядрото и Кралят | The Core & The King | |
 German
|
Der Kern & der König | The Core & The King | |
 Japanese
|
1000年前の記憶 | Memory of 1000 years ago | |
 Dutch
|
De Koning & De Kern | The King & The Core | |
 European Portuguese
|
O Núcleo e o Rei | The Core and the King | |
 Polish
|
Sedno i król | The essence and the king | Despite the title, in the actual episode The Core is called "Rdzeń". |
 Thai
|
แกนหลักกับราชา |
Transcript
| For a full transcript of "The Core & The King", click here. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.24 million viewers on its premiere.[5]
- This is the third of four episodes (the others are "Spider-Sprig"/"Olivia & Yunan", "Froggy Little Christmas" and "The Three Armies"/"The Beginning of the End") to not use the Anne's Theme leitmotif in its credits sequence. Instead, it uses a background with the broken portrait of Andrias, Leif, and Barrel burning.
- This is the last of four episodes in the series to not feature any of the main characters. Previous ones include "Prison Break", "Toadcatcher", and "Barrel's Warhammer".
- Notably, this is the only episode in which Anne is completely absent.
- This and "The Root of Evil" are the only Season 3b episodes in which Sasha is absent.
- Due to this, this is the only episode in which Marcy is the only human present (if her hallucinations of Anne and Sasha in "Olivia & Yunan" are excluded).
- This is the last of five episodes to be named after two characters in the show, the previous being "Wally and Anne", "Maddie & Marcy", "Bessie & MicroAngelo" and "Olivia & Yunan".
- When translated from the Amphibian alphabet, Leif's message to Prince Andrias reads "I'm in the garden working on a surprise. -L."
- Darcy gains a different appearance from that in "Olivia & Yunan" and the standard opening sequence. This appearance would later be used in "The Beginning of the End" and "All In".
- It is unknown if this appearance was used in "Froggy Little Christmas", as the Core's eyes were not shown in that episode.
- Nevertheless, her previous appearance would be used once more in the opening sequence for "Newts in Tights"/"Fight or Flight".
- Despite Marcy being possessed by the Core, her eponymous leitmotif still plays in the background.
- The Core's body is still in the basement next to the rejuvenation tank.
- When Darcy’s translation process of the Amphibian alphabet is complete, the Macintosh startup sound can be heard.
Revelations and significant events
- The Core officially acquires the name of Darcy, being a play on words between "Dark" and "Marcy".
- The "Dark" comes from one of Marcy's favorite video games.
- The Core contains the memories of Andrias' ancestors, including King Aldrich.
- The names of Andrias' friends seen in "True Colors" are revealed to be Leif and Barrel the Brave.
- Barrel was previously mentioned in "Barrel's Warhammer", but his identity was not confirmed until this episode.
- The frogs, toads, and newts were once united peacefully as one, but became divided after Andrias' fallout with his friends.
- The fact that Leif performs the Plantar ritual dance, along with her resemblance to Sprig, suggests that she is an ancestor of the Plantar family or is related to it.
- This is confirmed in "All In", where it is revealed that she later moved to Wartwood and changed her name to Lily Plantar.
- It is revealed that Hop Pop's catchphrase, "Say whaaaaaaaaaat?!" originated from Leif; when Andrias announced to Leif and Barrel that he will lead the next expedition to Earth; Leif said, "Say whaaaaaaaat?", while she and Barrel were clapping their hands. Thus, confirming that Hop Pop is also a descendant of Leif.
- The scenes in Leif's vision of the future include:
- Amphibia being mined for its resources as seen in "Olivia & Yunan".
- The Calamity Box creaking open.
- Andrias' mural from "True Colors".
- Flashes of the throne room of Newtopia Castle in ruins with destroyed frobots littering the ground, as would be seen in "The Hardest Thing".
- Newtopia Castle rising above Newtopia as seen in "True Colors".
- A mural of the Olm's prophecy seen in "Mother of Olms".
- Amphibia's moon crashing into Amphibia as civilians run in terror.
- This was previously foreshadowed in the Chibi Tiny Tales short "Quit Bugging Me".
- At the end of the backstory, Leif escapes with the music box to the Olms to prevent her vision from happening, and Barrel is reassigned by Andrias to defend the villagers on the outskirts after he fails to capture Leif.
- It is revealed that King Aldrich was the main reason that Andrias lost his friends. His voice is first heard at the final snippet of the Season 3 trailer before Darcy's reveal.
- Marcy is trapped inside her mind as revealed by the Core during this episode, "The Beginning of the End" and "All In".
Continuity
- The broken portrait of Andrias, Leif, and Barrel is the same seen in "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers".
- Barrel is seen with his warhammer, which was seen in "Barrel's Warhammer", "True Colors", and "Turning Point".
- Leif is shown creating the Plantar ritual, which was later introduced by Sprig as having been in the family for generations in "Anne Hunter".
- The Moss Man that Leif was escaping on was the same one Anne saw in "Wally and Anne".
- Similarly, a single shadowfish can be seen preserved in a vat along with several other specimens.
- Due to Anne not appearing physically, this episode's events are not chronicled in Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia. In its place (entry 118), Anne reflects on Andrias dropping Sprig out of Newtopia Castle in "True Colors", thinking that Andrias was trying to hurt her the same way that Leif hurt him.
Production notes
- Translating from the Amphibian alphabet what it says on the screen when the Core is rebooting reads "Memory Wipe in Progress", implying that Andrias and the Core are wiping Marcy's memory. However, editor Andrew Sorcini clarified on Twitter that the intentional message was supposed to be "Optimization in Process" as shown in the English text on the screen but the Amphibian script wasn't changed to adjust to it.[8]
- This could also refer to the Core purging what it calls "excess data," among such being "redundant memories."[9]
- Entry 122 of Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia confirms that Marcy did lose some memories while being held in captivity.
- This is the final episode of the series to be animated by Rough Draft Korea. Afterwards, Saerom Animation animates the remainder of the show.
Allusions
- Mario - When the Core-possessed Marcy tells King Andrias that she would be preferred to be called Darcy, it says that she got the name from one of Marcy's video games. This could possibly be a reference to the character Wario; the greedy, rude, mischievous, arch-rival of Mario (whose names also rhyme).
- Sonic the Hedgehog - Two of the specimens on the laboratory shelves are a blue hedgehog and an orange creature with two fox-like tails. These reference Sonic and Miles "Tails" Prower from the Sega videogame series.
- The Owl House - One of the specimens on the shelves is a fish-like creature with a face identical to Hooty.
- Pokémon - One of the specimens on the shelves is a starfish that resembles the Pokémon Staryu.
- Studio Ghibli - One of the specimens on the shelves is a susuwatari from My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away.
- Gravity Falls - One of the frogs in the throne room is wearing a fez similar to Stan's.
- MacBook - The reboot sound Darcy makes is the sound that the Apple brand computer makes on startup.
Errors
- In Leif's hidden message, "surprise" is misspelt: it's missing an "r", so it reads "suprise".
Memorable quotes
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Disney Animation Promos [@DisneyAPromos] (March 10, 2022). Disney Animation Promos on Twitter (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-03-11.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "April 2022 Programming Highlights". Disney General Entertainment Content (March 21, 2022).
- ↑ Disney Schedule Archive [@DisneySchedules] (Jun 16, 2022). "Here are the rest of the episode titles for "new" #Amphbia in June on Disney XD. The Series Finale airs Monday, June 27 at 11 am ET/PT.
The final four episodes will stream on June 22 on Disney+." (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-06-17. Retrieved on 2022-06-17. - ↑ Ducker, Danny [@DannyDucker] (April 21, 2022). "Episode storyboard sequence". SlideShare.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Metcalf, Mitch (April 19, 2022). "Saturday 4.16.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily.
- ↑ Disney Branded TV PR [@DisneyBrandTVPR] (April 15, 2022). ".@JasonRitter and @childishgamzeno guest star as Barrel and Young Andrias, respectively, in the new episode of #Amphibia premiering tomorrow on @DisneyChannel and DisneyNOW." (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-04-15.
- ↑ Robinson, Zeno [@childishgamzeno] (April 15, 2022). "AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!! GLORY TO GOD!!!! I guess the frogs out of the bag!!! I’m IMMENSELY honored and excited to be playing Young King Andrias in AMPHIBIA !!! Thank you so much @Radrappy for entrusting this role to me. This episode is amazing I can’t wait 🙌🏾🙏🏾" (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-04-15.
- ↑ Sorcini, Andrew [@MrBabyMan] (Apr 17, 2022). "We made a late revision to the text on screen, but seeing this makes me realize we never changed the Newtopian script! Oops!!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2022-04-17 – via Twitter.
- ↑ Todd McClintock (writer) and Roxann Cole (director) (April 16, 2022). "The Core & The King". Amphibia. Season 3. Episode 14B. Disney Channel. - Darcy: "We need to purge our system of some excess data, redundant memories, that sort of thing."