"Dance Plants" is the first segment of the 1st episode of the fourth season of Trolls: TrollsTopia, and the 52nd overall episode in the series. It premiered in September 2, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Each tribe is excited to have their own unique plants growing side by side in horticultural harmony in TrollsTopia's first community garden.
Plot[]
Poppy is thrilled to open the first TrollsTopia community garden. With the opening of the garden, Trolls now get to experience the agricultural wonders of other Tribes' plants. To everyone's surprise, Poppy cuts an extra red ribbon. She apologizes, claiming that when she is extra excited she just does that. Laguna and Synth approach Poppy after the grand opening with a problem; the Techno Tribes' plants only grow underwater and they have no idea if they would fair above water. Poppy cuts a grey ribbon while thinking. She apologizes again, but they already "got it". Poppy says that she is sorry for the situation, but they can't have a TrollsTopia garden without the Techno Trolls' plants, so she asks them to plant something on dry land. Laguna thinks they could try subverting thousands of years of evolution and "give it a go", to which Poppy cuts a blue ribbon in relief.
Poppy comments on the plants, and notes Minuet's "Orchestral Orchid", Biggie and Smidge's "Laughadil's", Holly's "Wheeping Willow", Val's "Hard Rock Hedges" and finally Lownote's "Funky Fruit Bush". When it comes to the Techno garden however, things aren't looking good. Laguna shows Poppy one of their Dance Plants in normal conditions. The Dance Plants, however, grow way bigger on land due to the higher exposure to light.
Even though the garden is a success, a new problem instantly occurs; Mr. Dinkles begins to eat one of the Dance Plants. No matter what Biggie tries, however, Mr. Dinkles continues to eat the plants. Holly suggests they put up a "Scare Troll", as this is what the Country Trolls do in Lonesome Flats to keep critters away. The only problem is they don't know what kind will keep Mr. Dinkles away, so they do a Scare Troll fashion show. Each Troll tries a fashion look, but Mr. Dinkles isn't scared of any of them. The Techno Trolls try a fish-scare crow, which seems to work. However, Poppy's speech about working together to overcome any obstacle echoes over to Mr. Dinkles, who uses the speech to overcome his fear of fish, leaving them back at square one. Biggie confirms this being the case as well.
Rhythm and Blues appear out of a wormhole and offer a new solution. They suggest a method that their parents used back when they were little; they kept sneaking cookies out of their cookie jar, so their parents resolved the issue by letting them eat so many they got sick of them. They get a load of the Dance Plants and attempt to fill Mr. Dinkles full of them, and it appears to work.
Poppy is celebrating, but soon they come across another problem; without Mr. Dinkles eating them, the Dance Plants now have grown super huge. They grow again, but this time merge into one huge plant, which is now a threat. It chases the Trolls and destroys anything in its path. Cooper appears and tries to communicate in the "universal language of dance", before realizing that the universal language is maths.
The plant corners Poppy, Synth and Laguna and they note nothing can stop it. Mr. Dinkles "mews" and Biggie translates that to "Yes, I know". It turns out Mr. Dinkles knew about the threat the plants posed and was eating the plant for that reason. Mr. Dinkles quickly pulls himself together and slides under the plant as it leaps, he takes a single bite out of it, which causes the plant to fall into the water. In the water, it shrinks back to many smaller plants again.
The Techno Trolls are saddened, as this means their plants can't be in the garden, which Poppy can't accept either. Mr. Dinkles offers an obvious solution; just dig a pond.
Cast[]
- Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
- Sean T. Krishnan as Guy Diamond
- David Fynn as Biggie
- Smidge (non-speaking)
- Minuet Sonata (non-speaking)
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- Laffodils were first mentioned in the book Poppy Follows Her Nose!.
- Horizontal stripes are generally considered bad due to how they make a figure look. Vertical strips in theory make a wearer look slimmer and taller, while horizontal ones make them look wider and fatter.
- The running gag of this episode is Poppy cutting different color ribbons for each of her emotions.
- Rhythm and Blue's suggestion was also previously suggested in "Giggleyum" to help with the situation of the entire Pop Troll population from only eating the Giggleyum flavor.
- The theory does have some merit to it. This is the opposite to "Potluck Poppy", where trying new foods becomes off-putting to a consumer due to their unfamiliarity. Instead, too much of the same food can be off-putting due to the fact the consumer can get bored of the same flavors and tastes. So foods restricted in their availability are often thought to taste better than foods eaten regularly, and therefore it makes those foods more enjoyable.
- The Dance Plants are most likely a nod to Triffids, a fictional plant from the book The Day of the Triffids whose weakness was saltwater.
- The Funk Fruit Bush likely is a reverse of the idea of the voice impacting a growing plant, except instead of the voice impacting it, the plant changes the voice. There are also plants like Dieffenbachia that can completely take away the voice due to its milky sap burning the throat, which causes a swollen throat and vocal cords that lead to temporary muteness.
- The Universal Language has been a conundrum of common interests throughout human history and culture. In the real world context, it is a need to find a method by which all humans can understand each other regardless of their origins.
Videos[]
