Rupert and the Great Mephisto

Rupert and the Great Mephisto
Episode information
Episode	52
Season	5
First Air date	3 April 1997
Production code	502
Written by	Nicola Barton Frank Diteljan
Storyboard	Frank Lintzen John Flagg
Directed by	Gary Hurst
Main Villain(s)	The Great Mephisto
Episode Guide
← Previous Episode	Rupert and the Jolly Roger
← Previous Episode	Rupert and the Jolly Roger
Next Episode →	Rupert and the Little Bear
Next Episode →	Rupert and the Little Bear

Rupert and the Great Mephisto is the 52th episode of Rupert and the 2nd of Season 5.

After a traveling magician arrives in town and performs a magic show, numerous burglaries occur in Nutwood, and Rupert and Bill discover they are linked to hypnotism by the magician.

Appearances

• Rupert
• Bill Badger
• Algy Pug
• Podgy Pig
• The Great Mephisto
• Mr. Bear
• Mrs. Bear
• Constable Growler
• The Professor
• Freddy and Ferdie Fox (non-speaking cameo)
• Reggie or Rex Rabbit (non-speaking cameo)
• Ottoline Otter (non-speaking cameo)
• Edward Trunk (non-speaking cameo)
• Pong Ping (non-speaking cameo)
• Granny Goat (non-speaking cameo)
• Gregory Guinea Pig (non-speaking cameo)
• Willie Mouse (non-speaking cameo)
• Cedric Pig (non-speaking cameo)
• Lillian Pig (non-speaking cameo)
• Mr. Chimp (non-speaking cameo)

Quotes

• Algy Pug: "The hand is quicker than the eye." Bill: "And nothing is quicker than Podgy's stomach."

• Mephisto (looking for a volunteer): "Who among you is brave enough to assist me?'' Rupert (enthusiastically jumps up, waves his hands and stands up the bench): ''Over here!'' Bill (ashamed for his friend): "Oh, brother..." Mephisto (pointing to Bill): ''You!'' Bill: "Huh, me? Rupert's the one with his hand up!"

• Bill: "Did I miss something?"
• Bill: "What's so funny?" Rupert: "It's a long story, Bill."

Trivia/Goofs

• When under hypnosis, Rupert's eyes are enlarged, and emotionless. The white fonkeling pupils are gone, and he has just two big, black dots as eyes.
• It's unknown how and when Mephisto manages to hypnotize everyone during his show, because it isn't shown.
• While Rupert is not the only one who is being affected by the hypnosis of Mephisto, it is the first time he is under effect and is one of the thieves and didn't noticed or had a suspicion about his condition or what Mephisto had done.
• One of the few episodes where Rupert has to be rescued from danger instead of him doing the rescuing. Rupert is first saved when Bill stops him from stealing a mirror, and is saved again when Mephisto is distracted from hypnotizing Rupert. Both times, Bill is the one who saved Rupert.
• The Professor and Constable Growler are the only characters in this episode that didn't attend the show and therefore weren't hypnotized. PC Growler only got hypnotized after he confronted Mephisto and the Professor didn't make an appearance in the episode and wasn't seen in the background.
  • The Wise Old Goat lives just outside Nutwood and doesn't appear in this episode, therefore he probably wasn't affected either.
• During his hypnosis, Bill turned into two separate animals, a chicken and a dog. Constable Growler turned into a chicken only.
• A running gag in this series is that every time Bill snaps out of hypnosis, he asks if he missed something. When everyone else around him laughs, he then demands what is so funny.
• Goof: In the scene where Rupert, Bill, Algy and Podgy are sitting on the bench and Mephisto asks Bill to be his volunteer, it is clearly visible that the characters on the background (Mr. Bear, Mrs. Bear, Freddy and Ferdie Fox, and Algy's mother) are to large for their usual appearance and that they don't move at all. The entire time they sit like statues. The background painting was too obvious in this scene.
• Goof: At the end of Mephisto's show, an aerial shot shows Pong Ping sitting next to Podgy at the left end of the first row. However, Pong Ping was not there in any scene before, and when the camera goes back to ground level, Pong Ping disappears again.
• Possible goof: Mr. and Mrs. Bear were also present at Mephisto's show, therefore they also should be affected by his hypnosis. But it's only mentioned that they are missing one item each time after the burglaries and that Rupert was the one stealing it from their house for Mephisto.
• Goof: Mephisto keeps a book with the names of all residents of Nutwood he has hypnotized and that he marks them every time they bring him an item. But since this was the 3th day, it's notable that everyone in his book, got his first X behind their names.
  • Bill was the only one who got out of the hypnosis before anybody else. To be exact, one day before Rupert on the 2nd day after the show. So when Mephisto noticed that he and Rupert hadn't showed up to bring him something on the 3th day, he realizes that they were no longer under his influence. But if he checked and marked everyone, everyday, he should have noticed the day before that then only Bill failed to show up, but somehow he didn't.

Gallery

Rupert stealing under the effects of hypnosis

What am i doing here with great grandmother Bear's mirror?