The City of Elephants is the 4th episode of season 1 and the 4th episode of the series. It originally aired on April 23, 1989.
| The City of Elephants | |
|---|---|
| Season 1, Episode 4 | |
| |
| Air date | April 23, 1989 |
| Written by | J.D. Smith |
| Directed by | Raymond Jafelice |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Babar Returns |
Next Babar's Triumph |
Plot[]
Babar recalls when he first built Celesteville and with the rains approaching, he may not be able to build the city he envisions.
Synopsis[]
It is Sunday and Babar is enjoying Sunday with the family. Flora who is having trouble with making her kite asks for his help. Babar asks what's wrong, she says that today is Kite Fly Sunday and she wants her kite to be in the air first, Babar tells her she is more focused on how soon the kite will fly instead of how it's built. Babar tells her that nothing is worth doing unless it's done right, and it just takes care, which is a lesson he learned the hard way.
Back when he was still a young King (right after he was crowned), Babar tells Cornelius his idea of a City of Elephants and the location which Cornelius supports. Babar has ideas of what the city will be like, even saying that it will keep them safe from the Hunter. Babar's plans have a city that is very much like the one he visited, Cornelius does say that this city does look fancy, but Babar tells him that the citizens deserve the best and a roof over their heads. Pompadour than comes to tell Babar that 99% of the citizens are behind the building of the city. He also points out that the Monsumes are coming and in a few months. Pompadour suggests that Babar builds the city as fast as he can but Cornelius points out that building the city he designed will take longer. Babar wanting to give the public what they want decides to start building once the supplies come. The supplies arrive along with Madame, Babar, Arthur, and Celeste all go to greet her. Babar than introduces her to Cornelius and Pompadour, he then asks her to stay and help, which she is glad to. Next, Babar gave the citizens, outfits, titles, and positions for each of their professions, after that he says it's time to start building.
However, Basil the right hand man to Lord Rataxes King of the Rhinos, was listening in the bushes and goes off to tell him. After hearing about Babar's city, Rataxes tells Basil that whenever people get that type of luxury others will want it. Lady Rataxes however says that it's wonderful that Babar is doing that and says they should do the same for their loyal subjects. Rataxes tells his wife he cannot even build but she tells him he can give it a try. As a motive, Basil tells Rataxes he would be the father of civilization if he built a city first. Rataxes does not hesitate to take on that idea.
The weeks became months and construction of the city was starting to shape but was taking a long time, and with the rains coming closer and not much is done, Babar realized he had asked for too much. From the roads falling behind schedules, building supples being stolen, and some buildings or monuments falling down, things are slowing down. With all the delays they won't be able to finish on time, Pompadour advises "quantity over quality," Babar decides to try that instead despite Cornelius' protest. Babar decides to make a few small changes to help speed things up. Everyone started to work fast to speed up the city's building and they were doing very well to, but Rataxes and Basil started taking more of the supplies resulting in Babar cutting out more parts of his plans. Things were eventually coming to a point where nothing was right, Arthur tries to ask Babar to play for a little, but with the storm getting closer each day and with so much that had to get done, Babar had to turn down the offer. Even Madame tries to tell Babar he should spend time with his friends, but with the storm coming, Babar cannot play. Madame says that with Babar building the city, she'll play with them and Cornelius even says that at this rate, it won't be the city Babar wanted anyway. While playing, Arthur is almost attacked by a snake but Madame shielded him and was bitten herself. Unfortunately the snake that bit her was a Speckled Snake, a poisonous one and she needs Medical Attention.
At the hospital Dr. Cappaloose tells them that the cure for this snake bite is juice from the juju plant which is very rare around the area. All the nearby jungle animals are combing the entire jungle searching for one, but if they don't find one soon, the poison will kill her. Babar feels terrible about Madame, he begs Cornelius and Pompadour to let him stay with her and tells them they will have to continue on with the city's construction without him. Cornelius allows it, Babar starts to fear that Madam will not heal and as he reminisce on this he falls asleep and has a nightmare where all of his failures had come to haunt him and was being pursued by Misfortune and Haste. Babar scared questions what can he do, suddenly Madame appears and gives him words of wisdom. With that he is able to must up his courage and fight the demons and is helped by the winged elephants and chases the beasts away.
Babar is awoken by two jungle animals who tell him they found a juju plant and its in Rhinoland. Babar rushes off to Rhinoland and leaves Cornelius in charge of the construction until he gets back. The rhinos’ houses and buildings are falling apart. When Babar arrives and discovers what happened to their supplies Rataxes clasps them. Babar tells him, he’s not here for the supplies, he’s here for the juju plant and it’s for his friend Madame who was bitten by a snake. While Rataxes does feel terrible about Madame, he tells Babar that if he does give Babar the plant, he wants something in return. Babar is willing to give anything to Rataxes and in the end Rataxes exchanges the plant for the city plans, Babar does not hesitate to accept the offer. Soon Madame is giving the antidote and just needs resting, Cornelius was proud that Babar sacrificed the city for her to which Babar responds he would give up a thousand city for her.
In the end though, Rataxes' city does not stay well and has to come up with something else. Babar surprises Madame with a beautiful house which he designed for her hoping that she would live with them. She gladly accepts, Babar tells her this was the only house they could finish on time. Pompadour has a new poll stating that all of the citizens want to take the time to build the right city for all. Seconds later the rain begins, and Babar ends the story by saying that he soon had a plan for the new city that was better and the only thing left was a name. At the end of the flashback, the kids say that he named the city Celesteville (after Celeste herself). Babar says he did and he did complete this city only this time he made sure it was right. Flora believes that the story helped with her kite, she and the boys go fly it.
Characters[]
- Babar
- Celeste
- Arthur
- Madame
- Pompadour
- Cornelius
- Lord Rataxes (first appearance)
- Basil (first appearance)
- Lady Rataxes (first appearance)
- Pom
- Flora
- Alexander
- Beast of Misfortune
- Beast of Haste
- Winged Elephants of Intelligence, Patience, Wisdom, Courage and Hope
Goofs[]
- When Babar is fighting off the beast, he almost falls off the edge, but in the next shot he is nowhere near the edge.
Trivia[]
- This is the first backstory where we see all the elephants walking on two feet.
- This episode marks the introduction of the Rhinos including Basil, Lord Rataxes and Lady Rataxes.
- It is unknown how much time has past since the previous episode.
- In the original books of Babar, Misfortune appears as a witch-like figure while in this episode, it is portrayed as a giant, red elephant.
- Madame gets bitten by a snake and the cure for her is a juju plant, she gets bitten again in the movie Babar: King of the Elephants, later, this also happens to Flora in Witch's Potion.
Gallery[]
