"The New Kid" is the second episode of the first season of Recess, which was broadcast on September 13th, 1997.
Plot[]
Summary[]
Gus Griswald first appears, and he is introduced to the gang. However, King Bob makes him become ostracized from the rest of the students, and he then goes to get his name back.
Main Story[]
The students of Miss Grotke's fourth grade class finally execute their plan to get to recess early by changing the time on the clock. As the bell rings, a military general enters the classroom to enroll his son, Gus, into the class.
T.J. agrees to show him around school, leading Vince to remind him that students aren't allowed to speak to the new kid until 48 hours have passed. T.J. shrugs it off, as he and the rest of the gang continue to show him around school. Gus starts to cry, stating that nobody has ever been so nice to him in the time he's been to 12 schools. They try to assure him that things are different now, and that he'll always have friends.
Suddenly, King Bob arrives, and the entire playground flees, save the gang, who bow down to him. Confused, Gus follows suit. When King Bob doesn't recognize him, he asks who he is, to which Gus responds by telling him that he's the new kid. Bob releases the old "new kid", a nobody in the school's hierarchy, replacing him with Gus, who now has to go through school without a name, and without any friends, negatively affecting his life.
The next day, the gang tries to make him feel better and they give him a "welcome party", putting banners up around the school. King Bob arrives, and the students hurry to take it down before he sees, and they start to pretend that they don't know Gus. Finally fed up, he stands up for himself and tells King Bob that he has a name, to which he nonchalantly allows him to go by, winning the adoration of his classmates. The previous new kid, gets upset over how easily Gus got his name back to which King Bob tells him, "You should have said something," and leaves.
Timeline[]
- After "The Break In"
- After "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff"
Goofs[]
- Animation/continuity error: In the beginning of the episode, when Gretchen calls Miss Grotke, there is no TV visible. After Grotke arrives, there is a TV set behind Gretchen.
- Animation/continuity error: When Miss Grotke calls on Willy during attendance, his hat is missing.
- Grammar error: Gus' last name is spelled "Griswold" in this episode instead of "Griswald".
- Coloring/consistency error: During the attendance scene, the back of Ashley Q. can be seen, but she has dark brown hair and wears white. This could have been a prototype of her before she was finalized.
- Animation/continuity error: When Vince told T.J. that any guy named Gustav is "found to be trouble", T.J.'s highlights are missing.
- Continuity error: In this episode, Lieutenant Griswald was shown to be in the U.S. Marine Corps. However, in later episodes, he was shown to be in the military.
- Animation/continuity error: In one of the scenes where the kids rush to recess, they are not seen behind Gus after the dust is gone.
Trivia[]
Regular[]
- This episode was adapted for the Disney Chapters book collection in 1998.
- This episode was included as a bonus on the Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade DVD and the VHS and DVD of the Finnish copy of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
- On ABC's official Recess website on the One Saturday Morning site, video clips of when Gus was crying tears of joy about finally having friends and later when the student body does everything, they can to make Gus feel welcome at his new school were put on Gus' character page. The clips would later be put on the Toon Disney website.
Production Information[]
- When this episode was originally recorded, Ryan O'Donohue was the voice of Gus. After Courtland Mead was cast as Gus, the episode was re-recorded.
- When this episode aired as a sneak peek on August 31st, 1997, this episode was shown before "The Break In".
Allusions[]
- The musician Prince used an unpronounceable symbol as his name between 1993 and 2000, causing many people to refer to him as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince".
- The members of pop group Jackson 5 all had names, but Michael Jackson was always far more famous than his brothers.
- The Kansas song "Dust in the Wind" and the Paul Simon song "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" are also alluded to.
- When the group communicates over walkie-talkies, Mikey says "Fat Man to Little Boy"; these code names reference the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, respectively, during World War II.
Continuity[]
- This is the first episode in which Randall Weems does not appear in.
- Ashley T. and Hustler Kid make their first appearances in this episode. However, Ashley T. does not talk until "Jinxed", while Hustler Kid does not talk until "First Name Ashley".
- Gus, Megan, and Miss Grotke make their first appearances in this episode.
- Gordy makes his first appearance in the series, albeit he is unnamed.
Foreign Dub Titles[]
Note - Some dubs keep the episode title in English.
- Dutch: "De nieuweling" ("The New One")
- French: "Le Nouveau" ("The New One")
- German: "Der Neue" ("The New One")
- Italian: "Il novellino" ("The New One")
- Japanese: "新入りはつらいよ" ("Tough Being the Newcomer")
- Polish: "Nowy" ("New One")
- Spanish: "El Niño Nuevo" ("The New Boy") (Spain)
- Latin Spanish: "El Chico Nuevo" ("The New Kid) (Latin America)
Cast[]
- T.J. Detweiler - Ross Malinger
- Vince LaSalle - Rickey D'Shon Collins
- Ashley Spinelli/Morris P. Hingle/Megan - Pamela Segall-Adlon
- Gretchen Grundler - Ashley Johnson
- Mikey Blumberg - Jason Davis
- Gus Griswald (Initial recording)/Kid #2/Kid #6/Kid #9 - Ryan O'Donohue
- Gus Griswald (Final recording) - Courtland Mead
- King Bob - Toran Caudell
- Miss Grotke - Allyce Beasley
- Lt. Griswald - Sam McMurray
- Bertha - Tress MacNeille
- Willy/Kid #1/Kid #3/Kid #8 - Michael Shulman
- Gordy/Kid #5 - Malachi Pearson
- Sixth Grader #1 - Erik von Detten
- Kid #4/Kid #7 - Francesca Smith
Transcript[]
Gallery[]
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