| Criss Cross Crisis | |
| Episode name pun on: Criss Cross | |
|---|---|
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| Airdate: | September 8, 2000 |
| Credits | |
| Director: | Genndy Tartakovsky Craig McCracken |
| Story: | Don Shank |
| See also | |
| episode transcript |
image gallery |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "Child Fearing" |
Next "Bubblevision" |
| Rating | |
"Criss Cross Crisis" is the 29th episode in the third season of The Powerpuff Girls, following "Bubblevision."
Synopsis
One of Professor Utonium's failed experiments causes everyone in the city to switch their brains. He must find a solution whilst the girls fight Mojo Jojo, in the guise of an old woman.
Plot
When the professor's inventions go wrong, it causes everyone to switch bodies. Buttercup switches with the Professor, Blossom switches with Miss Bellum and Bubbles switches with the mayor. Buttercup starts to cry at her wrong body and gets pushed by Blossom "Keep it down! I'm trying to sleep!." Later, the professor shows them what he was trying to do, by turning apples into oranges by using an alchemy he devised. Although it worked, but not quite since the interiors have interchanged as the Professor (in Buttercup's body) slices the two fruits. So the Professor will need higher theta waves from REM sleep from every citizen in Townsville to achieve total conversion. Unfortunately, he overloaded the power matrix causing the entire citizens of Townsville to swap bodies with each other instead of the apple and the orange. Then, the mayor calls and Ms. Bellum explains that all of Townsville exchanged bodies and someone has taken advantage of the confusion and robbed the bank. After he calls, they get dressed in their clothes. Bubbles won't leave because she has a bald spot. Blossom just combs some hair on the bald spot. They go to the bank and see that everyone has switched bodies (a security guard to that of a baby, and a female bank teller to a guard dog). An old woman (who is later revealed to be Mojo Jojo) is there and tells them that it was Fuzzy Lumpkins ("A pink fellow concerned over his property") and they go find him. But when they get to Fuzzy Lumpkins' shack, it is just a British gentleman in Fuzzy Lumpkins' body. Bubbles gets a call from the Mayor about another robbery. Once again, the girls find the old woman at the crime scene. This time, she said it was the Gangreen Gang ("Seasick-looking young lads"). The girls rush off and burst into the gang's hangout to find that they had switched bodies with teenage girls, and they are seen reading girly magazines and getting pedicures. The girls in Snake's and Grubber's bodies suggest that it was Mojo Jojo ("The monkey you were chasing around. He seems like a pretty bad guy") that's been committing the crimes. The girls burst into Mojo's lair and beat up the old lady that he switched bodies with. The girls rush back into town and fight Mojo Jojo. Soon, the professor manages to fix everything and the girls send Mojo Jojo to prison. And once again, the day was saved, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls! As the episode ends, it is revealed that the Narrator switched voices with Bubbles.
Characters
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Professor Utonium
- The Mayor
- Ms. Sara Bellum
- Mojo Jojo
- Fuzzy Lumpkins
- Gangreen Gang
Trivia
- This is Don Shank's last episode in storyboarding. He was still the art director until the end of season 4.
- The Powerpuff Girls, The Mayor, Ms. Sara Bellum, Professor Utonium, wake up in the opposite bodies, and the villains all wake up as the opposite people in their bodies.
- Paul Rudish, Craig McCracken, and Don Shank make a cameo appearance in the body-switch scene in the laboratory.
- During the bank scene, Totoro makes a cameo.
- When Buttercup (in Professor's body) asks the female teller who robbed the bank, she said "who stole the moneys (sic)?" instead of "money"
- Dexter, from Dexter's Laboratory, makes a brief cameo appearance in this episode switching bodies with Ms. Sara Bellum.
- Somehow, Bubbles switches voices with the narrator at the end. This may reference the rainy day episode, as the narrator once claimed he wanted to play Bubbles in that episode.
- Some references from the rainy day episode include
- Blossom as Ms. Bellum
- Bubbles as The Mayor in their pretend game of The Powerpuff Girls
- Some references from the rainy day episode include
The two girls eventually swapped bodies with their respective roles in this episode
- Behind the scenes this episode was an animation disaster, having to draw all the characters differently then normal.
- Mojo Jojo's glasses (inside the old woman's body) resembles that from Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory when he got hit by the laser.
- This episode is the first 22-minute full-length one-story episode since "Uh-Oh, Dynamo".
- When standing on the old lady in Mojo Jojo's body Ms. Sara Bellum's shoes are red but in the rest of the episode her shoes are black.
- This episode was the first Season 3 episode produced during the year 2000.
- At the scene when the six are on the couch, Ms. Bellum's neck is longer than usual.
- This episode is also a reference to a Lalaloopsy episode of the same name.
- Running gag: Mojo Jojo saying that he is the old lady whom he switched bodies with. and Professor Utonium trying to rearrange their bodies during the episode.
In the episode Criss Cross Crisis, Ms. Sara Bellum switches bodies with Dexter from Dexter's Lab. Look closely to the left.